Places Addendum (i.e. Places my mom reminded of this morning)

Apparently I forgot a bunch places in my last list... thanks motorcycle mama for helping me remember. 

North Battleford, SK

Stratford, ON

Niagara Falls, ON and NY

Buffalo, NY

Swift Current, SK

Wainwright, AB (at least a lake near there)

Cranbrook, BC

Panorama, BC

Moose Jaw, SK

Russell, MB

There may be more to come... 

A Year in Review

The year is winding down. Everyone is thinking about Christmas, New Year's resolutions, and 2008. 

Thinking about my trips this years, I decided to list all the places I've been this year. Mostly just for trivia, and to help me remember.

Nuremberg, Germany

Abbotsford, BC

Dallas, TX

Monterrey, MX

Banagkok, Thailand

Cambodia (Seim Reap and Phnom Penh)

Vietnam (Chau Doc, Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang and Dalat)

Chicago, IL

Toronto, ON

St. Louis, MO

Orlando, FL

Ireland (too many places to fit on one line)

New York, NY

Calgary, AB

Edmonton, AB

Regina, SK

Park Valley, SK

Spokane, WA

The other list, all the airports I've spent time in this year. 

Saskatoon

Calgary

Edmonton

Vancouver

Abbotsford

Toronto

Frankfurt

Nuremberg

Winnipeg

Dallas-Fort Worth

Monterrey

Bangkok

Ho Chi Minh City

Chicago

Minneapolis

Denver

St. Louis

Orlando

New York-JFK

Shannon

Los Angeles

Hong Kong

Cruzin' the Green Mile

Something I have never done in my 9 years in Saskatoon, cruised down 8th St. Its the thing to do when you're in high school, not when you're my age.

But last night, after The Roughriders won the Grey Cup; our first in 18 years, that is exactly what we did. What a night in Saskatchewan. Words are some how not sufficient to express the excitement in our province and for Saskatchewanians nation wide have for our team. But videos... they can tell the story. I've attached a few for your viewing pleasure. I apologize in advance if your ears hurt afterwards. There is lots of screaming.

Do you bleed green?

While not in the cards to travel to TO to cheer them on it person, I want to wish the Green and White the best this Sunday at the Grey Cup! Go Riders Go!

The End

Monday morning, bright and early, my great-aunt and I were dropped off at the train station, and headed into the city. My aunt has gone into the city at least twice a trip since they started going down in 2001 (I think). So she is as familiar with Manhattan, if not more than, her kids.

At Penn Station, I dropped off my other piece of luggage. Not that great to be walking around for 6 hours with 20lbs of baggage attached to you. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't fit down the busy streets with the pack.

First stop, Macy's, the world's largest department store. Did you know that some of the upper floors still have the original wooden escalators? They are scary, but really cool at the same time.

Outside Macy's we caught a cab to head up-town. There was a cabbie strike going on, but we didn't have any trouble catching a cab right away.

Second stop, Carnagie Hall. Sadly it wasn't open yet , so we couldn't go in and look around. I'm sure we could have waited the 20 minutes until it opened... but we had a busy schedule... had to keep moving.

Third stop, Fifth Avenue. I wish I wasn't so cheap. All I bought was Lindt Chocolates, and only cause they were a good deal. But we walked by all the luxury brandname stores, and even walked through Saks Fifth Avenue.

Fourth Stop, St. Patrick's Cathedral.

It was beautiful, much like the cathedrals I had seen in Ireland, though a bit more modern. Something I'm not used to in American or Canadian cities, police officers everywhere. They were lined up every 10 feet around the cathedral. I've seen that in Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam, something you would expect there, but not here. Kind of weird.

Fifth Stop, Time Square. Talk about sensory overload. I've never felt so bombarded with advertising than I did there. Usually I am not affected by what I see on live or in print media. But something about that place made me crave Coke, chocolate and Corona. Molding young minds much?

Sixth stop, Radio City Music Hall, on the way to Rockefeller Center. I had miscalculated where we were, so we ended up having to backtrack a bit. The Christmas tree wasn't up yet, but the skating rink was! Maybe it runs all year... I don't know, but it was fun to see anyways.

"I believe thrift is essential to well ordered living and that economy is a prime requisite of a sound financial structure, whether in government, business or personal affairs" ~ John D. Rockefeller

Last stop, Empire State Building.

We would've gone to the top, but there was a 90 minutes wait, and we only had 90 minutes before I had to catch the train back to the airport.

Total time to tour Manhattan, 6 hours. I had trouble keeping up with my aunt! She moves fast! A lot of ground was covered. In general, I think I like NYC, but only to visit. Too many people though. I obviously don't know much about the city, but it's history and origins seem very fascinating, so I'll have to learn. I'm sure I'll end up there again. Any one up for a girl's week away?

New York, New York

Sunday, in the Big Apple. What a dumb nickname... I'll never use it again.

We started Sunday off early, with church in Brooklyn. That was super fun. Most of the local assembly are from the Caribbean, so the people were really, really friendly (never had so many hugs from strangers as I did that morning), and the worship was lively. I loved it! Motorcycle mama, you would have loved all the over-beat clapping.

After church, 5 of us headed into Manhattan to do a bit of touring. We started with South Street Seaport, a touristy shopping centre. There are old, restored tall ships on the dock, and boats everywhere. It was neat, but not some place I wanted to spend a lot of time. Too many tourists. But, it had a great view of the Brooklyn bridge.

Did you know that the Staten Island Ferry is free? Neither did we, but it is! Instead of paying U$30 to take a ferry to Liberty and Ellis Islands, we just took the Staten Island Ferry, and got a great view of the Statue of Liberty for free.

Oh wait, that's not the real statue, sorry.
While we didn't have time to get there, it was neat to see Ellis Island, especially since I had been at Cobh the week before. Pretty cool to be in both places that are so important to immigration in American (and Canadian!) history.

Rest of our Sunday afternoon tour was done driving. While trying to get to 42nd St, and home, all traffic was re-directed through the Lincoln Tunnel. Being a prairie girl, I didn't think the detour was that big a deal. But, we were in New York, and a wrong turn through a tunnel (that leads to New Jersey), added 10km and 2 hours to our trip.

Once we got back to Manhattan, the traffic was horrible. It amazed me how drivers would not move out of the way of siren-blasting ambulances and police cars. Give them room! They are saving lives!

Ooo, one more stop we made on the way home, an exotic car dealership. Lambourghinis, Ferraris, Maseratis, Bentleys, Rolls Royces... I nearly cried at the sight of all the beautiful cars. I'll never be able to afford one, but at least I have pictures.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Saturday on Long Island. Despite the jet-lag, I managed to be up by 8. The day started off a little cool, watching 8-year olds play play flag football. They were pretty good for such little guys!

After a little retail-therapy, we headed for the Smith Point beach. This is the beach where the TWA 800 flight crashed in 1996. There is a memorial that overlooks the ocean, with wild grasses and shrubs growing all around it. Flags of all the nationalities of people who died on the flight line a boardwalk, with several memorials detailing the names of the victims. Very serene.

It was a little breezy, so the waves; were awesome.

We really did try to fly a kite, but the wind just whipped it every which way, and it crashed more often than it flew.

I had the privilege of getting to fly over parts of Long Island. My cousin's husband recently got his pilot's license, and took me and his in-laws up. It was tons of fun. We even flew over the beach we had stood on earlier in the day. You could really see the brilliant red maple trees from 1500 feet in the air.

We finished things off with a visit to a local pizzaeria, where I got to try the Salad pizza. Its a pizza crust with salad on top. Anthony, who owns the place, makes his own salad dressing, and its pretty much the best I've ever had.