Although we once thought of moving to Manhattan for a year, we have now completely reconsidered and are very content with that decision. For the time we stayed, however, it was an adventure. The first day we walked all around the city from West 50th, through Greenwich village, down to ground zero which is surrounded by construction barrier and scaffolding. While there we discovered a small church which is the oldest, still used, building in Manhattan. Because it was unaffected by 9-11, it has become somewhat of a memorial ground after serving as a refuge for volunteer firefighters during t [View Full Entry]

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I don’t think either of can say enough about how wonderful our transatlantic trip has been. We were shown to our state room where our bags had been deposited. There we found a half bottle of champagne and a tray of canapés, courtesy of our wonderful travel agent Joan. Have just eaten, we left it for later and went to explore the ship. There were 14 floors in all, our room being on the 6th. We went up to the very top to get a view of the surrounding area joining the other passengers in the embarkation celebration. Alllllll Aboooooooard the [View Full Entry]

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Our original plans were to spend two nights in Nottingham, one in Manchester (and catch a Manchester United soccer game) and one night in London. Our main goal was to NOT spend all of our time in London, but to venture out and see the country side. Apparently this was a good plan but the way we intended to go about it was not the best idea. We were talked out of Nottingham by everyone with whom we spoke. And so it took us a while to get our bearings with our new itinerary. A good thing about taking a boat [View Full Entry]

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Up the road to Buffalo we stopped at this little Amish restaurant. I have recently read a book all about the Amish community so I was quite happy to delve into this new cuisine. In the end, I don’t think it was quite authentic. I enjoyed my grilled cheese sandwich but there was no shoofly pie as I had been hoping for. As we took several side roads through New York instead of the main highways, it took longer but was well worth it. The mountains were incredible and the foliage so different from that in Colorado—much fewer pines and tons [View Full Entry]

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Hello all! I thought I would be much better at this blog but we have been soooooooo busy doing, seeing and running around that I have barely to catch my breath. The end of the road is here, in Manhattan, but maybe I should start back at the beginning.... We left North Carolina on the first of October in anticipation of Washington D.C. It was a beautiful drive and we stayed in a little hotel outside the city in Arlington, which is right across the bridge from D.C. Everyone was super friendly and offered help if we needed it. The metro [View Full Entry]

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I'm still learning the ropes of this blog site so this is pretty much a test run. So we're on the first part of our little journey. We arrived in good ol' "historic" Hickory, NC on Friday evening after a nicely uneventful drive. We're feeling very relaxed. Here we're visiting my uncle Masood, my dad's youngest brother and his family. It's really beautiful and I've already thrown my sneakers on and started exploring the area. It's rainy and chilly but that doesn't stop us. I met a neighbor who let me drive his tractor. I pet some horses and dogs. Took [View Full Entry]

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