Okay! Okay! I love this place!

After resting our weary bodies it was time to go exploring again.  This little spiderweb of a city was drawing us in once more.  And what better place to start than Central Park.  I love this park and it's people and it's energy!

We even saw "something" being filmed.  This guy was gracious enough to give me a good photo op between shots.  No idea what this was for!

Cudos to Alexa!  She knew just how to create a great action shot.  Run flat out at the pigeons!

Flat Iron Building-Just plain cool!

Miracle... David perusing a book, in a bookstore with 18 miles of books!  Thanks Strand!

So Manhattan has this place called Rice to Riches, all rice pudding and all heavenly!

Especially when you add buttery graham cracker crumbs!  YUM!

Rice pudding sure made us happy!

Grand Central Station takes my breath away!

So do really cool Irish Pubs!

and Pints of Guinness.

Ok, it's that time of year.  I think I'll try one of these too!

 Subway people love to play peek-a-boo!

Even David joined in on the fun!

Good morning!  Who needs animal crackers when you're in New York?  How about some Taxi Treats instead? 

I think this little guy is hoping his human brings him out some Taxi Treats from Sensuous Bean!

The poor persons way to see the Statue of Liberty!  Free!

Thanks Isamu Noguchi for your Big Red Cube teetering in the Financial District!

We had fun!

And thank you Miss Alexa for stumbling on this little gem!  Cafe Lalo!  I think it is so funny that we had no idea it was a location shoot for You've Got Mail!  The Warm Apple Crumb Pie a la mode was devine! 

Goodbye for now Alexa and NYC!  You can count on many more visits from us in the very near future!

Onward!!

OK, time to get serious!  Enough of the pretty valleys and meadows and farmland!  Our trip is about to get interesting!

A little nail biting begins.....

Ugggh!  This tunnel goes UNDER the Hudson River!

To get here...

We must go here! 

OOPS!  I think we missed a toll!

Now...we were not sure what to do about getting gas for the truck.  We were told that it would cost $6.00/gallon if the rental company had to top the tank off when we returned it.  Welllllll, since I have my handy, dandy new Droid, I was able to track down several gas stations on Manhattan!  Really??  Gas stations on Manhattan?  Yep!  And I have the pictures to prove it!  See how much money we saved?

So we did it!  We managed to make our way into Manhattan, gas up and head to the little lady's new digs.

LET THE FUN BEGIN!

After 2 or 3 laps around Alexa's block, we finally were able to park the truck.  Let me tell you, I swear people were going around us in their cars, garbage trucks, and school busses with only a "frog's hair" width between us.  Yeah!! That close!

David was so happy I was here to photograph the whole experience!

Alexa cheesing it up for the photographer!





This pictue makes my legs hurt!



David counted and Alexa confirmed that there are 73 steps one must climb to reach the top floor, which by the way happens to be the floor our dear one lives on (see the two tippy-top windows?).  Who needs the stairmaster or the eliptical machine when you have this little gem of a studio apartment?  Add a few boxes and you have a total workout! 

When we were finally done, we took the truck back (David got a shower at the rental place-tee-hee-hee!), grabbed dinner in Hell's Kitchen at a great little Italian restauant called 44 Southwest and went home to grab some sleep and attempt to recover our tired bodies. 

Another beautiful New York day awaits our curious, exploring minds!  Yippee!

A Moving Adventure For All

It all started with a big yellow truck, some furniture and loads of DVD's.  Alexa and the Upper West Side...Here we come!

It's kind of scary thinking about driving into the Big Apple with a 12 foot moving van and having to navigate traffic and crazy taxi drivers, but that we did and what an exciting, beautiful adventure!

If it weren't for Alexa's move to NY (and a little man-handling on my part about which route to take), we may never have seen the beautiful countryside of the Shenandoah Valley.  This valley stretching through Virginia and West Virginia offered miles and miles of meadows, farmland, and pastures filled with cows and horses and goats.  To the East of the valley were the Blue Ridge Mountains and to the West, the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians.  To the North, the Potamac River and to the South, the James River.  To top it all off, the leaves on the trees were in their full fall glory and the sun was just starting to rise! 

Good morning Shenandoah!

What beautiful country we saw on our way to the big city!  These pictures did no justice to what we actually saw with our own eyes!  This little stretch of Interstate 81 is a must for anyone seeking scenic perfection!