One of the items on my bucket list items is the Grand Canyon. I once saw photos of the river with the massive canyon walls reaching up into the sky on either side and since then, I harboured a wish that someday I might gaze upon this scene myself. But I never wanted to view it from the rim and wanted to experience it from the Colorado River itself, knowing full well, that this may forever remain just that, a wish.
The early months of 2019 however, had me thinking about this more than usual, and before I quite knew it, this wish was starting to become concrete and developing into a trip which would find me visiting Kirsty and Kevin in New York, seeing Yosemite National Park and also the ‘big trees’ the Sequioas in Grand Sequoia National Park, and then the grand finale, a visit to the Grand Granyon. Kirsty and Kevin decided that they would like to come along which made it all the more exciting and enjoyable for me, and before long I was boarding my flight to New York for another unforgettable experience.
New York arrival
After a long and sleepless night we touched down at JFK amidst mist and cloud. The approach and landing appeared quite far from the forest of skyscrapers that I could see in the far distance. Surprisingly it took some one and a half hours to get through customs, but the fact that there were three flights to process didn’t help. Kirsty was waiting patiently and it was great to see her! We took an Uber from the airport to their apartment in Chelsea, Manhattan and I was all eyes despite my tiredness. I noticed the huge trucks and masses of huge black cars everywhere and even at this early hour the roads were busy. It took an hour to get through the traffic and to the apartment which had 6 flights of stairs to negotiate as Kirsty and Kevin live on the top floor. A lovely place and perfect for their needs, they are close to everything. They have a NYPD police precinct a couple of doors down so thats handy! First order of the day was a refreshing shower, and breakfast, and then Kirsty announced a walk was just the thing to show me around. We walked several blocks ( actually - many!) Me of course having no clue where I was, but we saw the well known Flatiron Building, and visited Madison Square Park, Gramercy and Lincoln Parks. I was impressed with their organic market, the variety of fruit and vegetables on display was mind boggling! I loved the Brownstone apartments. There is a lot of greenery everywhere, pretty flower beds and an abundance of trees which I hadn’t expected. Lots of dogs being walked by their owners and of course people everywhere. I was also amazed at the amount of construction going on everywhere - it appears that the New Yorkers are building ever upwards and also a lot of renovations of old buildings. There is hardly a street that you walk that does not have construction going on. After lunch at a local eatery I started to fade and it was back to the apartment to relax, order take outs for dinner and then an early night for me.
