What kind of world do we live in.

Todays headline in the Ravalli County paper.





Man pleads guilty for shooting horse.





Beware Mr Ed! Nowhere is safe.

Ode to a Bad Hot Dog

It was on food network .

We had heard such great things

so we plotted our course

to go to the Papaya Kings. (Supposedly, the finest hot dogs in the world)



Two subways later,

we thought we were in luck

until we took the first bite

and wanted to upchuck.

** I know my mom is very proud of my rhyming skills :)**

My mother said "Never talk to Strangers"

Ya know, I have zero skills when it comes to reading a map. I can never find north and south, and in general, I just have a lousy sense of direction. ( I thank my mother for this.) When I was first married and living in Provo, Dave told me that my job interview was in the next town over called Orem. I kept driving until I hit the next town and ended up in Salt Lake. ( I am not kidding. ) Anyway, one thing I can do fairly easily is talk to strangers. This skill was imperative while trying to navigate through New York.

1. While chatting on the subway, I learned that you can get greatly discounted tickets to museums just by asking. Cha Ching!

2. A nice man from Bulgaria let us know that we were definitely on the wrong train. This was not comforting since it was an express headed to the heart of Harlem. ( more on that later ) 3. An actress named Christy left the subway early just to show us around and point out her favorite pizza place. Take a good look, someday we might recognize her.



I thought I had lost my conversational skills when I sat down for "Phantom of the Opera." How many of you just started humming "Music of the Night"? Anyway, I am so glad that this was Ben's first experience with Broadway. It was fantastic! I started making small talk with the man sitting by me, and he would just smile and nod. By the time the play started I had convinced myself that he was the rudest man I had met in New York. Maybe he was sticking to the advice of not talking to strangers. When he spoke to the person on his other side. I realized it wasn't my people skills, it was that he didn't speak any English.

Panic attack with Lady Liberty

The first morning after our happy breakfast, we got on the subway and headed south. We hit the 9/11 site, Trinity church, the cool Bull, and Battery Park. After the ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty, we had special tickets to allow us to go inside and make the 156 step climb to the observation deck. 156- that doesn't' seem so bad.

at 50 steps: "Hmmmm, my legs are starting to burn a little."

75 steps: "How come they don't have benches to take a small rest?"

90 steps: "I should have brought some bottled water with me."

100 steps. "I can't breathe. Is this because I am totally out of shape or the fact that I am feeling quite claustrophobic in this stairwell?"

120 steps: " If I pass out, will I just fall back down. That could really hurt."

140: " I wish Ben wouldn't count each step aloud. It's making this so much worse.)

150: " I should ask Melissa to carry me the last 6 steps."

156: FREEDOM! Give me your tired people wanting to get free. Yep that's me.Ellis Island! It did bring my sad plight of 156 steps into perspective. One of the tour guides mentioned that a "Christian Group" was on the second floor helping with name searches. I was surprised to see the "Christian Group" was none other than some very nice Sister missionaries. It was a great start to our day.

Breakfast of champions

We started our first day in New York with a very happy breakfast. Yes, that is a picture of Ben drinking Pepsi at 7:30 a.m. I usually would not let Ben drink Pepsi with breakfast, but I figured after the all night flight and a full day ahead of us it couldn't hurt.

3 Hours with a Crazy, Puny, Russian Woman

When leaving for the big apple, the red eye flight seemed like a brilliant idea. We sleep on the plane and hit the ground running. When our Red Eye flight was delayed until 2:00 a.m. I was more nervous. Then, the trusty captain announced that they would make up the time in the air, so our 5.5 hours of sleep just got cut to a little over 3 hours. Then , I sat down by this crazy, puny, Russian lady.

Picture this:

Aisle/me/Crazy Russian lady

Maybe I should clarify this. She was Russian, but probably not really puny. She was just shorter than my sister-in-law Angie, which is how I determine if someone is puny.

The whole plane is dark and peaceful. (This should be obvious as people are trying to get any precious sleep they can. There is one lone TV on right by me. She is laughing and making comments. (in Russian)

2:30 a.m. I drift off in a restless sleep

2:50 Ring ring. (enter: flight attendant)

Russian lady: I neeta dose melba toost tings. Nota crackers. Conversation ensues.

2:55 a.m. I drift off lightly.

3: 15 a.m. Laugh, laugh. Change channel, laugh, laugh, Russian muttering

3:45 a.m. Dead asleep when I feel the full weight of someone on top of me. The puny Russian lady needed to get up, but her legs were so short she couldn't get all the way over me, so she is now stuck. I help her by pushing and she exits into aisle.

Some time later: She comes back, repeat of previous experience getting her back to her chair.

4:00 a.m. I give her my "look," you know the one I give my kids in public when they are in big trouble?

4:45 a.m. Russian conversation ensues. I realize that the person on her right also speaks Russian. I am guessing they were together.

5:15 Actually it is 7:15 with the time change.

Captain: (Ding) " Please put your chairs in upright position for final decent into J.F.K."

I am not kidding the Crazy, puny, Russian lady gets out her pillow, turns off the TV, and falls asleep.

I glare at her!

Somewhere there is probably a Russian blog entitled " The crazy, neanderthal, white girl who stared at me"

Pomp and Circumstance

(Must sing) Duuun dun dun duuun, duuuuuuuun duuuuuuun. Since our new job started right after Dave defended last year, he never did the whole Graduation thing. So, our first stop on our trip was to celebrate his 3 degrees, and 13 years of college. (Yep, ya heard that right.) Ya know how M*A*S*H* was on T.V. forever? Dave attended college two years longer.) I was so proud of him.
Even though none of our family from Wyoming were able to attend, we had our adoptive family from Denver. They skipped work, and school, and when the Dean read Dave's name, the back row exploded with a small primary of kids yelling for Dave. The Dean whispered to Dave when handing him his diploma, "It seems like you have quite the following." Yes, we did. Thanks to everyone who helped Dave along the way!!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

In the last two weeks I have covered:

1892 Miles by car ( Oh, Denver, how I have missed you.)
3955.66 by plane (Which seemed like a lot longer, since I sat by a crazy, puny, Russian lady)
Roughly 20 miles on a train, (subway) Also including an unplanned trip to Harlem , rats and all.

We ate, and ate, and ate, and shopped. Our eating included; Monkey brains, (very good) many kinds of Sushi, Thai food, BBQ, Mexican and Chinese in China town. Hmmmmmmm, I have to say I did not miss the good old Coffee Cup Cafe. ( One of our only restaurants here in Montana.)

We spent time with our friends and family, Dave did the whole cap and gown thing, and we had a fabulous time.