Gator Girl & Lady McBec's Big Apple Adventure

Swamp Boy has headed away for a couple of days, so I have taken over the blog (please even note its new look - he is just lucky it is not bright pink.... I thought it best to keep him on side as he will have to help me restore the links to our friends pages that seem to have.... um... disappeared with my upgrade!) and am finally getting up to date with some of my recent adventures.

Lady McBec decided she was heading to the 'Old Country' on the traditional Australian young adult right of passage known as the 'working holiday'. On the way, she decided to grace us with her presence. She visited Fitness Boy (Her name for him and well, I can't think of anything better to call my little Bro' at this stage) and his lovely wife in Aggie Land. She then had NYC in her sights. As I am always up for an adventure and have plenty of holiday time up my sleeve, I joined her for the fun.

We had a fabulous time. I flew in late on Monday night from the Swamp and found that Lady Mc had already hit the 5th Ave shops without me! Alas, there would be plenty of time to shop after we had seen the sights. As we had organised a 2 day hop-on-hop-off bus pass (complete with tour guide), and Tuesday was sunny so we headed off to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. The sun may have been out, but it was absolutely freezing. Sitting on the top deck of the bus had chilled us both to the core (the picture was from early in the day when Lady Mc was still glamorous)!

As a result we didn't get off the boat to visit Lady Liberty, but we did manage about 50 photos each on our way past. But of course, you have all seen pictures of the NYC sites, so am not bothering to upload my swag of tourist shots. I will include one taken at the top of the Empire State Building, only as it shows the snow that had not yet melted!

After the ferry ride, it was time to do a quick wander through the shops, so we could make an informed decision as to where to spend our money on our designated shopping day (Thursday). We found our store on 5th Ave and marked it off on our map for Thursday afternoon as a must see. But we have do discuss Wednesday first!

A work colleague from New Jersey told me about a booth where you get 1/2 price Broadway tickets, so that was our first stop on Wednesday morning. Unfortunately they were all matinee shows, so we needed to head back after 3.00 pm. So what better way to spend the morning than on a bus touring Queens. Highlight - the bus was warm and provided Lady MacBec the perfect place to nap. Once we returned from that misadventure (don't bother if you are in NYC), we walked 20 blocks through Central Park.

Now this was very worthwhile - it was lovely, despite the cold. Lady McBec provided the tour commentary, which all seemed to revolve around the squirrels that were in near plague proportions and their affairs. After a quick bit to eat, it was time to explore the Met. Lady McBec was in paradise and I am sure could have spent days wandering the halls.

But no time to dawdle. We had tickets to get for our show!

We managed to get Phantom of the Opera tickets for an 8.00pm show. Unfortunately we did not have time go back to our hotel and change or drop off our collectibles from the Met. But we did have time for dinner. We selected a very trendy looking Asian Fusion restaurant for dinner - full of trendy after work types in suits. Us - jeans, hiking boots and warm clothes, but none the less - the food was amazing and after a cosmopolitan, who cared! Oh yes, and the show was also terrific.

Thursday was shopping day and boy did we explore every shop on Madison Ave and 5th Ave. Mostly as it was really cold and we wanted to escape to the warm, but also because it was our designated shopping day. As we were both in thermals under our outer layers, there was specific criteria evaluated prior to trying on clothes. Was there more than one item worth trying? Did we really really like the item? I think by the end of the day we were exhausted and had spent all our money. It also left Lady McBec's back pack overflowing and required a trip to the post office to dispatch items back to Oz as well as the London.

After a farewell Cosmo on Friday, it was time to head to the airport and farewell Lady Mc on her big adventure. I hopped on my plane first, and should have been home in 4 hours. Unfortunately I missed a connecting flight and made it back to my swamp after a 15 hr delay in the Carolina's. Hmm. So Lady Mac made it to London well before I made it home.

(I also maintain half a Cosmo consumed at 12.30pm cannot make someone ill 10 hrs later Lady Mc!)

Again - another successful adventure.

Swamp Boy's Christmas Get Away

Being the fantastic wife I am, I came up with the 'perfect' Christmas gift for my husband. Possibly not the best idea in this our first year of marriage, as where do you go after you have given the best of the best? But that is an issue I will just have to deal with in April when it is Birthday time.

So what was this gift you ask?

Well, those of you that know Swamp Boy, know that he likes to live on the edge of his snowboard and with his head in the clouds. So the gift was obvious. A weekend in Vail, Colorado, at 13,000 feet and in the middle of winter. What more could he want. The weekend was beautifully timed to coincide with a work trip I needed to take to a location in the high plains north of Denver. We left on separate flights from New Orleans - Swamp Boy flying via Houston and me on a work paid direct flight.

Swamp Boy flying time = 7 hour including an hour delay. Gator Girl = 3 hours.

We picked up a four wheel drive hire car and hit the road after waiting an eternity for the snowboards to arrive (the airport in Denver actually has a dedicated ski/snowboard conveyor belt). Swamp Boy looked at me a little oddly when he realised the rental car was costing as much as the accommodation for the weekend. Did we really need a 4x4?

The answer to this question is a big YES! As we hit the outskirts of Denver it started snowing. And snowing, and then snowed some more. Visibility was down to about 50 metres, the windscreen wipers were going as fast as I could get them and we crawled along the highway at about 35 miles an hour (in a 75 mile/hr zone). This drive takes you over the US continental divide, so it gets pretty high and treacherous. Finally we made it over the Vail summit and into Vail village and would you believe - it stopped snowing. The concierge at the hotel let us know that they were in desperate need of snow as they had not had any for about 8 days (the rest of Colorado shut down during that time due to snow storms!). What to do? Would we have snow?

Of course we would. We awoke Friday morning to find 6 inches of powder. We were in heaven! Swamp Boy ripped up the back bowls, while an early somersault did me in and ensured a long lunch. The day was so big, that for the first time in his life Swamp Boy actually turned down Apres ski and headed back to our room for a pre-dinner nap. That is usually my domain!

On Saturday morning there was no more snow, but Friday's snow had been beautifully groomed and I was in my element. What a day. Magical sunshine in the morning and clouds and lots of wind to scare the less hard core enthusiasts away in the afternoon. Swamp Boy was in fine form and once again ripped it up! This time his exhaustion was so adrenaline filled, beer was a must before we headed out for a German style dinner in Alps style chalet. Nothing like schnapps and apple strudel for dessert while reminiscing about previous adventures with friends in the snow!

That was all the boarding we got in, as due to high winds we headed home early on Sunday morning. After Swamp Boy dug the car out of course (it had turned to ice and was very hard going). On Sunday an avalanche across a road took out 4 cars on a pass about 50 miles from where we were. No one died, but it was pretty scary. I have put one of our snaps from our drive below. Again - a long slow trip home - don't let the sun deceive you, the wind and the snow blowing across the road were hellish.

It was however a sensational weekend.