New York

Saturday 11th April. We flew to New York today from Denver and have booked into a hotel near the airport. It was rainy and windy when we arrived, so we felt like we were preparing ourselves for the UK. Should be a better day tomorrow.
We had intended to go shopping downtown tomorrow, but because it`s Easter Sunday, the shops are closed! Good timing.
So we hope to have a look at The Statue of Liberty instead and then we`re on our way HOME.
We`re really looking forward to seeing everyone again. If you`ve been following our blog, we hope you`ve enjoyed it. We have had a fantastic time and have appreciated all of you who have written, phoned or sent a text. It`s always good to hear from friends and family.
See you all soon
Lyn, Steve and Em.

Snowshoeing

5th April. We all went snowshoeing in the beautiful Rocky Mountain National Park. You wear these strange things on your feet which help you grip in the snow. We trekked up to where a waterfall should be, but it was so cold and snowy there was no running water.

We saw some beautiful scenery and it felt good to be out in the countryside in such clean fresh air.

Another amazing day. We all stayed upright all day this time.

Stanley hotel

Nan, Em and I went for a guided tour of The Stanley Hotel which was the inspiration for Stephen King`s book, `The Shining`. The tour guide was more scary than the ghosts who were supposed to haunt the hotel, but she did have some interesting facts to tell us.

The hotel was built in 1915 and was originally for Mr Stanley`s town loving wife who didn`t like being so isolated for a whole summer. The Stanley twins made their money by improving the process of photography. They added gelatine to the chemicals to get a good photograph every time rather than the hit and miss method that was in use at the time. The Stanleys sold the idea to Kodak and got very rich. They then bought the hotel.

In the 1970`s, the hotel had been going through a hard time financially and lucky for them, Stephen King and his wife stayed the night in the hotel with no other guests there as it was off season. Mrs King went up to bed and left Stephen drinking. He eventually went up their room, but got lost and as he was wandering around, he saw a young girl and boy dressed in old fashioned clothes. (Ghosts?)

By the time he left the hotel. he had the idea for the whole book in his head. The book prompted a lot of tourism for the hotel and it became solvent again.

In our pictures, there is one of the guide showing us where some ghostly voices have been heard in the basement. (Oooooooooohhhh!)

There is a picture of Em on the computer in the hotel and just outside are some elk wandering around but we didn`t see any ghosts!

Snowboarding

This was great fun. We all had a lesson from Mac, who was quite easy going, but got a little tired of trying to teach the slow learners (me and Em!). He eventually concentrated on Nan and Steve and left us to practise on our own which suited us fine.

This activity works best if you can relax and put on a `dude` pose when you are standing up!

I just kept panicking everytime I sped up and fell over many, many times.

Respect, Matt! (As us boarders say!)

Steve stayed up the longest and he looked really natural on the board. We only have a picture of him lying down though. This was a pose I often felt more comfortable in, but there is one picture of me standing. The other standing person is Em, (we can see her back.)

Estes Park

3rd april. We travelled up to Estes Park on Friday and stayed in a lovely wooden cabin near the mountains. It snowed really hard one day and we made a snowman who was so small we changed him into E.T.

Denver

28th March . We flew to Denver via LA and our friend Nan picked us up. After we recovered from jetlag, Nan took us for a tour of the neighbourhood. We went to the local park where a sign names all the mountains in the background. Denver is a mile high (5,280 ft) and most of the mountains are higher. There are 54 mountain peaks over 14,000 ft. Colorado has the highest elevation in all of the continental USA ( which means not including Alaska and Hawaii).

We stayed in Denver for a few days before we headed to the mountains because we needed to get used to the altitude. It can give you headaches, nose bleeds and make you feel sick.

However, we took it easy and everyone was fine. The weather could be really sunny and warm one day and snowy the next (up to 5inches of snow).

Auckland sailing

24th March. We booked a trip out in the harbour on a sailing boat, `Ted Ashby`. This was run by retired men who volunteered so that they could still get out on the water. They were really friendly and interesting to talk to. Steve and I chatted to them and Em read a book!
It was lovely to be out in the fresh air again. The weather was great and just enough wind to get the boat sailing. The boat was called a scow, it had 2 masts and a centreboard which could be raised up and down.