It is every New Yorkers dream to someday travel the entire NYC subway system. Until reality kicks in: the subway system covers 840 miles!  You could be almost to Miami with those miles. Still, a dream is a dream. The next best thing to riding the entire system is riding one subway line from end to end. Surely there is some line that goes from someplace I want to be (or at least is convenient) to someplace else I want to be.

A brief consideration of the far-flung places that I love most in the five boros revealed all to me. As regular readers of this blog will know, one of my all time favorite places in the world is…Coney Island! This choice opens up a world of opportunity, because all trains lead to the fabulous beaches of Brooklyn. No fewer than four subway lines converge one block away from the legendary Coney Island Boardwalk: N, Q, D and F. Suddenly, I realized that I could kill two birds with one stone.

Build it and they will come. Actually, it was more of a case of please, please, please build the damn thing. It took just under 100 years and four and a half billion (yes with a B) dollars to build the two miles of track that is now the first stage of the Second Avenue subway line. The grand opening of this engineering marvel was almost a year and a half ago—and I have yet to ride it. Q is the answer!

At the dawn of a postcard picture perfect summer Coney Island day, I knew it would be a special day. I made my way to the corner of 96^th Street and Second Avenue and the adventure began!

By the time we crossed the Manhattan Bridge (BMW—south to north Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg bridges), I was ready to be there. Alas, the Q train was not. It is a very long ride when one goes the full length of any subway line. As with any long trip, suddenly we were there! And I was rewarded. First with a Nathan’s chili dog.

Then with a spectacular consultation with my man, Zoltar.

Twelve fun filled hours later, we boarded the Q train back to Manhattan. It was indeed a wonderful day!