Travel, Travel, and more Travel

Yes, it has been 6 weeks since I last blogged and I am sad about it.  For a gal that LOVES to travel, I have to say that I have missed blogging so very much. Blogging helps to keep my head clear-much like journaling once did.  Of course I'm sure those that know me well will totally understand my need to express myself on the page.  Well, the title says it all and I don't know how much I will be able to blog about my recent travels before time gets away from me, but I will do my best to cover as much ground as I can.

Well, the last time I blogged, it was shortly before my slew of travels began. The last weekend of April, we drove to western KY to youth bible retreat weekend. Due to all of the recent rain/flooding, we thought that perhaps we may have trouble arriving...but alas, God blessed us with safe travels coming and going.  The retreat weekend was somewhat surreal for me-I actually realized that '11 summer camp will be my last at western KY...I was sad:(  But, knowing that I may possibly be blessed to attend the fall and spring retreats of the coming year-I tried to put aside my sadness for the weekend.  The weekend was very rainy/wet so a lot of our time was spent indoors.  We had several good lessons spoken to us about "the devil" and the way that he is always in our backyard trying to mess things up.  While I listened to the wise words being spoken with the scripture, I thought about how difficult it is to live in this world. There are so many temptations everywhere. They abound and are prevelant through movies, music, computers, cell phones, etc...just difficult to escape it all sometimes. I suppose that's what I love so very much about youth camp/retreats.  Seeing everyone disconnect from the world and just come away to "focus" on the Lord and His purposes for us is truly the most encouraging experience of my entire year.  It was a wonderful weekend spent with dear God peeps that I've been blessed to know and love over the last few years. I pray that I will find a youth camp that I can be active with when we move to Arizona.  I want to be used by the Lord and I want to be available to these Christian young people that desire to serve the Lord.

My lovely daughter, Rebecca, attended her last day of H.S. on May 5th. She was so relieved that this time in her life is completed and that she is now moving on to a new stage in her life.  Her graduation weekend was very hectic. My daddy, 3 little brothers, and my brother/his wife came to spend the weekend. None of them had ever been to a graduation with so many Sr.'s in such a big arena.  They were astounded at the amount of people that were in attendance for a H.S. graduation.  The ceremony was actually very impersonal and not very memorable, at least that was my perspective.  Following the graduation, we came home and crashed. Saturday a.m., we had a small reception here at our home to honor Rebecca's accomplishments and were so pleased that so many were able to drop by and congratulate her.  It was a special day finished with a celebration meal at Texas Roadhouse with our family that was here visiting.  Saturday evening, I decorated for a second graduation celebration-for the 7 young people in our congregation that graduated from H.S. and college this year.  We had a potluck celebration lunch and cake at my friend's home on Sunday after a.m. services.  After the celebration potluck-Rebecca and I headed home to pack for our week long trip to NYC.

Oh, our trip to the big apple...what an adventure that was! We had an absolutely lovely time-the only thing that could have made the trip better would have been if it had not been raining.  We arrived early Monday afternoon and arrived at our guest house about 3:30 p.m. After getting settled, we headed out to purchase subway tickets for the week and to use the subway a bit so we would know what we were doing!  Sure glad we did...wow, that was a subway system to figure out! The most frustrating part was the fact that we could not find a "map" to carry in our hands to look at...so we weren't sure if we were heading in the right direction! Needless to say, we got lost a LOT those first 3-4 hours trying to figure the subway out. But, we made it to our location for the food tour that we were to go on Tuesday a.m., so it all worked out.  We walked the city/rode the subway, took pics of Times Square at night, etc...and didn't arrive back at our room until about 10 Monday night.  Tuesday-we took our food/culture tour in Greenwich village.  It lasted about 3 1/2 hours...we had some excellent food, the tour of the area was very informative, our tour guide was incredibly funny, and it was just a very good day.  This was the day we enjoyed the most.  Greenwich village is primarily the old Italian area...so lots of yummy food.  Rebecca does not prefer the NY style thin crust pizza-but I thought it was delicious! After the food tour, we actually spent the evening heading down to the shops on 5th Avenue-we weren't too impressed. Lots of high prices, but fashion wise, we just didn't "get it"! We were also able to go to Grand Central Station and FINALLY locate a subway map-after this, we had no problems using the subway system. Wednesday, we headed down to Broadway to get tickets for an afternoon matinee.  Rebecca really wanted to see Phantom and alas, they were 50% off that day...so we were blessed to get 2 tickets to the Phantom that afternoon.  It was a lovely theatre, old, but very quaint and suitable for the Phantom.  Even knowing the story, I cried at the end...I always feel bad for the Phantom:(  Again, we walked to see some of the various sites and things of interest that evening and didn't arrive back to our room until about 10.  Thursday was the only "clear" day we had while in NYC...it got a bit warmish-about mid 70's w/sun blaring! But, the temps had been highs of mid 60's w/drizzle and occassional rain showers to that point-no sun-so we were feeling a bit warm on Thursday. We met our Big Apple Greeter, Michael Pollack, for our tour of the day at our room about 9:30 a.m.  It was a VERY long, packed day of touring.  We walked the Brooklyn bridge and toured old Brooklyn neighborhoods, went to the Top of the Rock (69th floor of Rockefeller center) to view the city, went to Central Park, rode the Staten Island Ferry to view the great symbol of our nation's freedom-the statue of Liberty, went to ground zero, went into a few museums, etc...it was a very hectic last full day.  We finished that night by meeting up w/my dear sisterchick-Ginger-and her family, at a bakery in Chelsea where we were staying.  They were just arriving in the city for a long weekend as we were preparing to leave the next day.  I had not seen Ginger in 4 years and it was SO good to see her smiling face and visit with her even if only for a short while:)  We left NYC mid-morn on Friday to arrive at the airport and find our flight to be cancelled due to weather in Dallas.  After 3 hours, we were finally rebooked on a Delta (yuck) flight and headed to Atlanta later that afternoon.  Unfortunately, when we arrived in Atlanta-we didn't think that flight would EVER leave the airport! We ended up arriving home at 1 a.m. Saturday morning...our flight was due to arrive at 5 p.m.! Needless to say, LOTS of time spent in the airport in NYC and Atlanta that day...sure made us grateful to get home to our own beds!  Besides the airline trip and the weather...the trip to the city was absolutely amazing! We had a great time and made some wonderful memories.  I loved traveling to NYC for the first time w/Rebecca.  We walked our legs off...wish we'd had a pedometer to actually register the miles we'd put in...my guess would be at least 10 miles/day. Every day, we would get up/ready/have b'fast and be "going" full strength by 9 a.m.  We would come back to room about 2:30 in afternoon to rest about an hour, then would hit it again full strength til about 10 pm each night!  We walked, and walked, and walked some more! We really saw a LOT of things...actually everything we wanted to do/see...the highlights! We'd both love to go back...I think it would be amazing at Christmas time!  The city is VERY busy, fast paced, and you can't "stroll" or you will be run over!  We never felt "unsafe" at anytime we were in the city at all.  The people were very friendly/helpful.  The room we stayed in was actually outside of "Manhattan" in Chelsea.  It was in a residential community, a brownstone, it was VERY quiet, very private, and our room even had a back door that opened into a garden.  It gave us the "feel" of living in NYC for the week.  Very nice indeed.  The taxi rides to/from the airport were an experience in themselves and one that is amusing to say the least.  At times, I just had to close my eyes and pray:)  We ate real NY cheesecake at a bakery-amazing stuff...VERY different than any I've ever had before-the texture was amazing:)  We had a real NY hotdog from a stand in Central Park-eh-just tasted like a hotdog to me!lol  We did spend some $'s to eat at a nice culinary restaurant w/professional chef one evening.  It was absolutely delicious and quite a dining experience.  We both enjoyed the Chelsea Market VERY much...it was a foodie's delight! We enjoyed real Italian gelato there one evening for our treat.  So, in the end, I would say that NYC is a great place to visit...but definitely remember to wear some comfortable walking shoes and be prepared to "keep moving" because there are very few places to just sit/relax once you are in the city.  I would also recommend staying at a place "outside" the hustle/bustle of downtown Manhattan.  Rebecca spotted 4, yes 4, movie stars during our time there. She really wanted to meet Hugh Jackman as apparently he is known to hang out/visit a bakery in Greenwich village daily.  We never saw him, but we did see Brad Garrett (Robert from Everybody Loves Raymond) in a pastry shop we were eating at on Wed a.m.:)  It was a fun week and we made loads of memories. This was our first ever mother/daughter trip and certainly I pray it isn't our last...it's actually very enjoyable to go on a trip when your child becomes a young adult and can be responsible for themselves:)

That's all I can blog today-I have a few other things that must get done-though I'd love to spend some more time just rambling.  Next time-I'll write about my next travel experience-to Washington, DC:)  For now-hope you enjoy reading about our experience in NYC:)