This is Noo Yawk baby!

In my teens, growing up on endless episodes of sitcoms, America, to me, meant New York and New York meant only one thing - F.R.I.E.N.D.S! (okay, there's also Bruce Willis dangling from rooftops in Die Hard)
I do realise how shallow this sounds but hey, shallow see, shallow do!
And when I did land in the city, all bedraggled from one missed flight and one sleepless night, boy oh boy was I thrilled to bits - This was Nooo Yawkkk!! I had finally arrived. Er, literally speaking.
There was Brooklyn Bridge and Empire State and the other tall buildings with those fire escape stairs hanging behind them and Fifth Avenue and Times Square and oh-my-oh my there it was - Central Park . Now if only I could find the coffee shop with the over-sized mugs and maybe also get a How you doin' I'd be pleased as punch.
New York is all this and much more, most of which, I didn't see. The trip was short and it was like getting a whiff of your favourite food as it cooks. It gets you all delirious just standing there.
New York is huge, crowded, filthy, vibrant and colourful. Takes your breath away, it does. And the subways offer the best and worst the city's got -  you can find everyone from everywhere (along with the drunks, singers, weirdos, blue heads, everything under the sun and some from Mars too)
Whatever else you do, don't miss this one. And, yes, I will find out if there's a FRIENDS tour of New York.

Tulips and more!

Its a bright and sunny Saturday in April and if you live in Seattle, you know that doesn't happen very much. That's just understating it really, more like a freak accident. So there it was, bang in the middle of the wonderful rains and clouds came a shocking shiny blue day and we decide to chug off to see the flowers! And what a ride it was  we chugged and chugged but got, not too far! It seemed the whole state had decided it was time to see those tulips! Now what are the odds of that happening!

Three hours later we actually do manage to reach Skagit valley, in what should have a been an hour's (or so) worth of ride, but guess what? Oh yes, you would have to fly across the row of cars waiting to take exit 226 and you still wouldn't be able to land!

Two miles to the tulips and no way is sight. It was nothing short of a miracle that we actually got did reach. And what a sight for sore eyes those glowing fields of tulips were! Extraordinarily set in the valley beneath the Cascades, rows and rows of endless beauty!

And so ended our day in the sun. Wondering how was the ride back? Just over an hour. Makes you want to smile, doesn't it?