Pete has wanted to go to New York City for years, but we had not managed to get it onto our travel schedule. So when I got an email from Alaska Airlines advertising a new non-stop route from our home airport to NYC, I immediately booked two tickets for a long weekend in NYC over Pete's birthday. I blocked out the days on his calendar so he couldn't get scheduled for any work trips, but I didn't tell him where we were going. I kept the location a secret until one month before his birthday so he could come up with some travel goals. He was surprised!

We stayed at a guest house in Harlem that was close to two subway lines and a main bus line, which made it very easy to get to all the sites. It was also a block from St. Nicholas Park, which was a great place for an evening stroll. We had three full days in the city and had no trouble filling them.

Our first full day was a Wednesday, which happens to be matinee day on Broadway. We got last minute tickets to a play we had never heard of at 10 am for a 2 pm show. On our way to the theatre, we strolled through the chaos that is Time Square and visited St. Patrick's cathedral. When we arrived at the theatre, we found out that the play was a Tony nominee for Best Play. And we got better seats than we paid for because they were not sold out. Sweet as! The play didn't win the Tony for Best Play, but it did win for Best Lighting and Best Direction. If you are headed to NYC anytime soon, I highly recommend it.

After the play, we continued our walking tour of Manhattan, including Grand Central Station, the New York City Public Library, and a trip up the Empire State Building.

Grand Central station

one of the infamous library lions

hallway to the map room

so many books filled with maps!

“A good book
is the precious life-blood of a
master spirit, embalmed and treasured
up on purpose to a life beyond life.”
John Milton

Looking out over lower Manhattan from the 86th
floor of the Empire State Building

Thursday was our day for seeing Lady Liberty. I was really happy I had booked our tickets ahead of time! Over 10,000 people visit the island every day; around 4,000 are allowed in the pedestal; and only 300 are allowed to go into the crown. I had booked tickets in January so we were able to do all of those things, which was really neat. Our boat left Lower Manhattan around 11:00 and we were on Liberty Island about 15 minutes later. We headed straight for the line up to the crown so we wouldn't miss it. I've never given much thought to what being inside the Statue of Liberty might be like, but it was different than what I expected. I think my expectations were tempered by cathedral towers where you climb narrow staircases but don't really have a good sense of where you are in the tower with relation to the rest of the building. Being inside the statue was the complete opposite. You could see every fold and curve of the copper and iron panels, as well as the steel ribs that give the statue structure. It was really interesting! And at the top of the stairs, you emerge into the crown where you can look over the harbor and fully imagine the feelings this giant woman must have stirred in so many immigrants. It was a really powerful experience, made even more so by our then-impending immigration to New Zealand.

the flotilla of boats moving around in the harbor

looking up the skirt of Lady Liberty

inside the crown

From Liberty Island, we took the quick trip over to Ellis Island to learn about the immigrants who came through there and how they were processed when they arrived. One of the things we learned on Ellis was that only people in 3rd class and steerage were processed on Ellis Island. Passengers in 1st and 2nd class on the ships were processed onboard and released directly onto the streets of lower Manhattan. We did a quick search in the extensive database for people from our families, but didn't really have enough information to do a proper search. The search for "Foley" returned over 10,000 names...

barracks at Ellis Island

processing hall

The weather for Friday called for rain so we made that day our museum day. We were not the only ones with that plan. We only managed one museum for the day, but I think we picked a good one...the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The collections there are immense and varied, and it kept us occupied long enough for the rain storm to pass over the city.

winged bull (Lamassu) from ancient Assyria

guardian king of the four directions

art from oceania

Chelsea Market and The Strand bookstore were the final tourist stops of our whirlwind trip. Before flying home on Saturday, we met up with my cousin Jay and his girls in Brooklyn. It was a great ending to a wonderful trip.

The second part of my wildflower journey in April took me from Pinnacles National Park to Carrizo Plain National Monument, about four hours south. I had hoped to make it to Anza Borrego State Park in Southern California during the super bloom but couldn't make the details work, so I was excited when the super bloom arrived a bit closer to home. Carrizo Plain is a bit of a hidden gem in California that lies quite close to major population centers, but is far enough away to be amazingly quiet. Carrizo Plain is all that is left of the vast grasslands that used to be found in the area. Soda Lake is a prominent feature of the plain and is the largest remaining natural alkali wetland in Southern California. It is usually dry but after all the rain this winter it was quite full.

The super bloom was still in full swing when I arrived and I have never seen anything like it in my life. It was amazing! The abundance of flowers was mind blowing. I tried to capture the magic with my camera, but some of it is definitely lost in the translation from 3-D to 2-D.

The flowers on the valley floor were spectacular, but the eastern hills were absolutely stunning! I arrived home late for dinner just so I could soak in their majesty for a little longer. (Sorry, Pete!)