A city in the state of New York...

When I was young, I had this thing for New York City. As I grew older, it became more and more of a dream to go there. I honestly never thought I’d actually get there, but my friend Jeanne made it happen!

I was tired by the time we headed to NY – but I still enjoyed it and picked up energy from the vibe around NY….and picked up pace walking with Jeanne! J I can only hope she didn’t find me too slow as I paused to take pictures or too quiet as I absorbed this unbelievable reality.  It was something unbelievable to see and to get to walk around – sometimes I would think I was in a dream…like standing at the bottom of the Empire State…wow. Thankfully King Kong didn’t show up while we were there! We walked that place flat… …well close enough and we conquered the subway!! *high five* We had a slight detour the day we arrived, but after that we got the subway down to a tee…except for when they were working on a line and we landed up being detoured away from our destination….but then we caught a yellow taxi! We didn’t see everything but we saw a lot…I think one would need a month to see everything special in NYC.

We did a few walking tours, one day we did Chinatown and Historic Downtown and then another day we did Times Square with Broadway and Greenwich Village. We also did Battery Park, Washington Square Park, Broad Street, Wall Street, 9/11 memorial, Staten Island, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, United Nations, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park……just to name a few. J

Jeanne got us a nice place to stay in Harlem, within a decent walking distance to the subway as well as a bus stop for a bus ride to the airport.

I appreciate Jeanne taking time off work and doing this adventure with me…and thanks to Paul for letting her travel with this odd South African. It was a fantastic time and I’d honestly do it again.

 

Some pictures from NYC...

Delayed planes and more...

My flight from Oregon to North Carolina was not as plain (or in this case, plane) and simple as I was hoping. My flight out of Oregon got delayed…and them some more and we only landed up boarding around 1:20am! This meant I missed my connecting flight out of Houston. The flight to Houston was long and also frustrating as I felt I couldn’t rest or sleep as my mind was running through scenarios….even though before my whole trip I said I’d take things, like this, as they came. We landed in Houston three minutes before my next plane was due to leave….by the time we reached the parking bay, my plane was gone without me.

Stupidity seems to rule when I don’t sleep well as I think one of my most stupidest mistakes on my whole trip was made in Houston airport, where, without thinking, I walked OUT of the security area to find out about my next flight….meaning I had to go through the WHOLE security check AGAIN!! *sigh* One learns from these mistakes though….so after standing in the security line for more than 30 minutes, I made my way to the airtrain to go to a new terminal and hope to catch the standby flight….or I’d have to catch another airtrain and head to another terminal. Tired and frustrated without any communication with the outside world (Houston airport only gave me 40min free wifi), I parked myself and my bags in a corner in hope of getting on this flight….wondering how I was going to let my friend know which flight I was on. I had let her know that I was going to be on one or the other before I ran out of wifi. I chatted with a lady who asked a lot about Africa, and was tempted to ask if I could use her phone to text my friend…but I still wasn’t sure what was happening so it wouldn’t have helped anyway. People boarded and I waited. I was the second last person on that flight! I was so relieved cause I had a window seat and thought I could catch up on some sleep…..only to find I was next to a mother and her under two year old son who, not only took my window seat, but took a liking into me and kept passing me things. He finally fell asleep and I thought ‘Yes, I can snooze’ only to hear the announcement that we were beginning out decent and would be landing in about twenty minutes.

So I arrived, finally, in North Carolina to meet my friend, who was waiting even without knowing which plane I was on, for the first time after all the years of communication, tired and frustrated with life. Jeanne did a good job though at keeping me going, entertained and awake despite all my yawns that could have easily swallowed a person.

The day of the nightmare long day…well maybe I should specify…after that nightmare of planes and airports, it because a nicer day…it was still a long day though. Jeanne and I went to a shop…the first for me, surprisingly, since my time in the states, and I was “lost” at the number of varieties of items available. Jeanne was kind enough to let us chill at her house for the rest of the day…I did my best to stay awake. I also got to meet Paul finally too. The next day was, thankfully, a bit more restful day and Jeanne was kind enough again to let me sleep in (the first time the whole holiday) before driving me around and taking me to see our head office in Cary. It was nice to meet people you work with and have worked with and to see this office you hear about it. We also went to the Wake County animal shelter where I got to look around at dogs before we headed home with Tango. We then plotted our time in New York….

Finally on the plane leaving Portland...around 1:20am

 Tango

 Olivia

 Paul and Jeanne

I know Jeanne doesnt like her picture to be taken...I never actually got to ask Paul if he does...so I drew a picture instead.

(I think my first rough drawing was better than this one)

Beautiful Oregon

So, I've been trying to think of various ways to write about Oregon....but truth is, it was just that amazing (as was the whole trip) that I'm not sure how to write about it.

In Oregon we did something EVERY day with our friends...which was good as it kept the jet lag at bay! Since its hard to write about it, I'll just post some pictures from the various days there!

Day 1 - 28 June: We arrived in Portland around supper time. Our good friends took us to Red Robin for supper where I took this picture for my sister.

Day 2 - 29 June: We headed to the beach for the weekend for our friends family reunion at Yachats. This is one of the places we stopped on our way. 

Day 3 - 30 June: One of the paths we walked on a wet day. Was beautiful scenery. (Sorry its sideways, the origional isnt...)

 Day 4 - 1 July: Standing in the Pacific ocean.

  Day 4 - 1 July: I just loved the greenery!

 Day 5 - 2 July: Heading back home, we stopped at a few more places along the coast.

 Day 6 - 3 July: A personal highlight...WHITE WATER RAFTING! This is my groups raft heading down a rapid.

 Day 7 - 4 July: Getting to experience the 4th of July was also something special. A lovely day ending with fireworks!

 Day 8 - 5 July: Shopping day...so this picture was taken at the outlet store!

 Day 9 - 6 July: Columbia River Gorge!

  Day 9 - 6 July: Mount Hood! Another favourite for me!

 Day 10 - 7 July: Portland Rose Garden

 Day 11 - 8 July: The day  my friends left for various destinations so it was a chilled day at the house after church in the morning.

 Day 12 - 9 July: My last day in Oregon was spent mainly in the state of Washington as we went to go see Mount St Helen's before heading home, packing and getting to the airport for my flight which was delayed until 1:30am!

So this is just some of the beauty I got to see in my time in Oregon. I had a fantastic time and really do appreciate the effort my friends (and their family) made to take us places. I'm also thankful for their families who made me feel very welcome!