Since it’s New Year’s Eve and many Americans will be tuning in to watch the ball drop in Times Square tonight, it seemed like a good time to share my weekend trip to New York from earlier this fall. A friend had an art opening which was the perfect excuse to hop a train and spend a day or two window shopping and looking at art.

Usually I go to New York with friends, but this time I went on my own and was able to maintain the usual crazy walk-15-miles-despite-riding-public-transit-and-doing-a-lot-of-shop-browsing-and-coffeeing pace that I tend to adopt when traveling alone. And this time, I finally (FINALLY!) got over to the Highline.

I’ve been eager to check it out since it opened a few years ago, but clearly not enough to have made that happen until now. Anyway, after debarking a red-eye and dropping a bag at my hotel, I made a beeline to the Highline to enjoy the park before it got crowded. I lucked out with gorgeous (and absurdly HOT) fall light and weather and minimal crowds. Here are a few snapshots from one of my walks along the Highline that weekend: