Thursday, 31st December

We woke up this morning to SNOW falling. All the snow from last week had long gone. It fell quite heavily and was about 50mm deep within an hour.

After breakfast, Joe headed downtown to by a new 'toy' - an MP3 player. The rest of us rugged up and walked 10 blocks in the falling snow the the American Museum of Natural History. We went via Central Park which looked just like a winter wonderland.

This is West Park Avenue looking North

Even though it was snowing, it wasn't very cold - about 0 C which is a lot warmer than at Niagara Falls. This is more of Central Park.

Amelia was very excited by the snow and kept running around in it.

This is a statue in front of the Natural History Museum. I put it in as you can see the snow falling - it was falling with such big flakes!

The museum was such a treasure trove of dinasour skeletons, rock samples and all sorts of wonderful displays. The place was absolutely packed but I did manage to see most of it. After a while, one dinasour skeleton started to look pretty much like any other!! I nearly got sucked in to buying stuff in the museum shop but reason prevailed and I left with my Visa card in tact!

I enjoyed the walk back to the apartment and one of the streets in particular looked very much like the one where Meg Ryan lived in You've Got Mail. Checked it later on the internet and it was just a block away!!

Bought dinner supplies at the local supermarket and headed back.

Joe and I then went for a nice walk in Central Park and found the reservoir. The light was starting to fade but there were joggers and people walking dogs everywhere. Can't wait to explore the park some more.

It seems funny that it is already 2010 in much of the world when I am used to being in a city that sees the New Year in first.

Jess got tickets to a New Year celebration at a place called The Mean Fiddler (!!!!) down near Time Square. They left at about 6pm and knew that they would have to walk for miles and most of the Underground in the area of Times Square were closed down due to the shear number of people about. We staying in and babysat. I hope I make it to midnight!

Wednesday 30th December

Today was a travelling day. We got up early, had breakfast and were on the road by 8:30 am. We were concerned that the border crossing into the USA would take ages but we were there before the queues and got through quickly. We drove almost straight through to New York with only 2 short stops. Once out of the Central New York state area there was very little evidence of snow - it seems they missed the blizzard we had on the way up.

We got to New York city in very good time until we hit the tunnel to Manhattan - over an hour crawling and then had to find out way to the office to pick up the keys to the apartment. The apartment is nice but small. It is in W 92nd street, just 2 blocks from Central Park. We left Stephen, Jess and Amelia with the luggage and we took the rental car back.

This seems to a be a very residential area and people are generally friendly. Everyone seems to own dogs and they take them walking every morning and evening. We found a cute Jewish grocery store and bought a few provisions.

Tuesday, 29th December

We woke this morning to see how beautiful the view from our window really is. It is -12C and it is snowing lightly.

After breakfast we rugged up in as many layers of clothing we could find and headed out. There weren't many people out! We walked down to the falls and took lots of pictures!! It was just so beautiful.

Amelia was well rugged up.

The sun came out and it looked just beautiful on all the snow.

We did the Back of the Falls tour where you go down in an elevator behind the Falls. It was amazing and the sound and power of the water was mind blowing. I got talking with an family from Brisbane who had been to London, Washington and were headed to Whistler and had had snow, snow, snow all the way and couldn't believe how cold it was. Amelia was very excited by the noise of the Falls.

I took lots of pictures of the Falls from all different angles but have only put a few here.

This is the hotel we are staying at. Our room is second floor from the top 3rd window from the left. Stephen, Jess and Amelia are next door.

After spending a good time exploring the Falls, Joe and I walked back to our hotel. We spent the afternoon relaxing in the warmth of our room just looking at the Falls. The sun was out and the c colour of everthing brightened. The sun was as just the right angle to form a rainbow. Who needs a TV when you have a view like this!!

Unfortunately, the sun was gone by 4:30 and the temperature outside was already -9C and that is without wind chill!!! Tomorrow we drive to New York City and the weather forecast is fine. Hopefully, it won't take an hour to get over the border back into USA. The drive is supposed to be 7 hours!!

Monday, 28th December

I have started writing the day in the title so I have some sense of where I am in the week. As everything seems to be open all the time, the days seem to blur.

We woke this morning to SNOW. A dusting of snow was covering everything and continuing to fall. The grass had disappeared again. Amelia went running and jumping in it and had a great time - with a snow suit over her pajamas. She couldn't wait to get dress properly. It was truly magical for us visitors but not so for the locals!!

After breakfast, Jess and I went to the quilt shop about 3 miles away. It had been closed for the Christmas break. We were the only ones there as it was still snowing. I bought some nice flannel fabrics and a kit that Jess particularly like that Amelia and I can work together on to make a raggy quilt.

We left Cooperstown at about 10:30 and the trip to the interstate was slow as it was still snowing and the roads were quite icy. Once on the main roads the driving was fine. There are lots of rest stops along the way that have resaurants etc. We stopped at one for lunch then Jess took over the driving. The sun was shining as it was generally a beautiful day.

THEN just after Syracuse we hit SNOW which became a blizzard. This is what it was like driving.

Jess did really well as it was over an hour driving in blizzard conditions at 25 mph! The scariest part was went a snowplough passed us and the car was engulfed in a complete whiteout and Jess had to just keep moving slowly, hope she didn't hit anything and wait for it to pass.

The next delay was getting over the Canadian border. We queued for over an hour but the actual processing only took a short time.

We were very glad to reach our hotel as a 4 1/2 hour trip had taken 7 hours!! We are staying at the Sheraton Falls View and this is the view from our window. We are on the 30th floor and have a beautiful room - a great deal that I got on booking.com.

Sunday, 27th December

We went to church at the Methodist Church next door to the B & B. It was a lovely, small, friendly congregation.

We then walked up to the Baseball Hall of Fame. As both Joe and I have made donations (Joe his thesis and me a Sydney Olympics ticket) we had free entry. They have been working on it a lot since we were last here about 6 years ago and there was much more on display. Everything was set out really well and we spent over 3 hours there.

This is the Hall of Fame with plaques on the wall. Each year several player are inducted and the selection is rather complicated. If you really need to know - Google it!

This is the ticket I donated - we found it on display in the Olympic section. It even acknowledges us as donors!! It was kind of weird to see a ticket on display that I had used to get into a game and carried around with me.

This is one of the gold medals from the Sydney Olympics

It was much warmer today and much of the snow had melted and there was green grass visible everywhere. This is a beautiful home across the road. I just loved the colours that it was painted


Tomorrow we drive to Niagara Falls.

26th December

We had a quiet day today. Jess and I went 'down town' to find a laundromat and catch up on the washing. We bought an enormous, delicious pizza and brough it back to the B & B. We all snoozed after lunch then donned our snow gear and tried out the 'sled' (sliding disc) Jess had bought. I thought Amelia might be a bit frightened but she loved it. Below are pictures of everyone - I put the camera back inside before anyone could take a picture of me!! We ended up with a snowball fight which was a lot of fun.
Stephen has worked out that we are halfway through the trip!!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning and Amelia came in with her stocking and climbed on the bed and shared the contents with us. Such a special moment.
The owners left fruit, cookies, coffee etc out for us to serve ourselves for breakfast as they give their staff the day off.

This is Amelia, the budding photographer. Now she is checking how the picture turned out.

Amelia waiting to open presents and posing with the tree.

This is the gorgeous original fireplace.

We all sat around the fire opening our presents. Amelia is checking just to make sure that there aren't anymore presents hiding under the tree.

This is the official Christmas photo!!

After breakfast and presents, we rugged up and went out into the snow.

This is Amelia and Jess building a snowman. Grandpa helped by finding a snow shovel!!

Amelia making a snow angel

This is the outdoor setting - we decided not to eat breakfast out here!!

This is the street scene outside of the B & B - looks almost staged!!

This is the front of the B & B called the Landmark Inn. It was renovated about 4 years ago and retains most of the original features.

Amelia with the snowman

Stephen, Jess and Amelia with the snowman

Lynette, Joe and Amelia

Amelia turned out to be a real snow baby and didn't complain about the cold at all. She really entered into the spirit of things, even sliding on her behind in lieu of a sled!

At 5pm we went to the only restaurant we could find for Christmas dinner. It was a gorgeous inn and the food and service were excellent. We had a wonderful relaxing time.

This is Amelia enjoying the chocolate dessert.

What a special way to spend Christmas!