Welcome to My World

Yesterday I was ill so that I couldn’t do sightseeing; today I have to see more places! One the way I was worried about my illness, maybe I could vomit or have to go to the restroom any time!

Today the weather was nice! The view on the highway was so amazing!( I took risks to get pictures while I was driving…)

After driving 40 minutes, I arrived the Dinosaur Ridge, no admission. Colorado is famous place where has discovered fossils and rocks.

The snow was not all melted, so some tracks were under the snow.

Even no snow, I couldn’t exactly tell where the tracks are.

Finally I finished the language school, I have more free time to do whatever I like. But I don’t know why, since the last month, I have been busy at doing sightseeing and had some parties. I didn’t sleep much, almost less than 5 hours per day. The day before taking a flight to Denver, I only slept 2 hours! In the early morning, I left from my room at 6 o’clock, and my flight was at 8 o’clock…

I was just in time to get to the gate; luckily I have traveled many times, so I was not nervous and still had time to buy a cup of coffee.

I had to transfer at Minneapolis airport, the first flight was a small airplane. The attendant waved her handkerchief to hurry me to board.

After around three and half hours I arrived to MSP, I could feel the cold weather it would be. Just a short stay, most of visitors looked like Americans.

The flight to Denver was bigger and still had vacancy; the man sat next to me was very friendly. I thought it’s a good start. Probably I could meet nice people in Denver.

I made a lot of first-time experiences. Today I woke up in a empty room; I realized I stayed in a motel, of course I had to have breakfast alone! This motel supplies simple American breakfast. When I walked to dining room, other guests looked strangely at me. I guess it’s weird a weak Asian girl stayed here without company!

Last night I supposed to cancel the second-night reservation, but the staff said I couldn’t get any refund; I had to stay here one more night! I left my stuff and started my single tour! My room was the third from the right side o the first floor. From the room, I could see my car over there.

I took some brochure at the motel, then I saw the view of Mohonk Mountain House is beautiful. I decided to visit there, but it took 50 minutes to get there! Okay, the second I could drive better! On the country roads, the good weather made me feel lucky. I recalled the time when I was in southern France!

My friends said they wanted to see me driving. It’s just like that!

That’s where I was going to. Mohonk mountain House founded in 1869 is a Victorian-castle style resort near Lake Mohonk. I am attracted by its breathtaking scenery.

All it started at a simple idea. At the beginning I just wanted to take every transportation of MTA system to visit around New York; after hearing from my teacher’s recommend, I decided to take Metro-North Hudson Line which driving along Hudson River and is rated highly on Yelp! On the other hand, it’s hard to travel out of Manhattan without a car; also one of my American dreams is driving a car in USA countryside! That’s why I wanted to do! I only considered about the car rental plan for three days and must let it come true! 

檢視較大的地圖 

The biggest problem is I rarely drove before! After I got my driving license, within 10 years I only drove two times and only for 20 minutes and always someone stayed with me! Actually I was so nervous. It would be a big challenge for me! Every family and close friends worried about me a lot! The day before my trip, I googled the traffic signs in USA! “God bless me, please! “, I yelped!

On the early morning, I waited for a bus to subway station, I wondered if I could see the sun tomorrow or not.

Yesterday I was extremely excited at playing in the snow; Today when I woke up, I know I am a little ill! Even though I didn’t sleep well and had a running nose, I still went out to explore New York City!

The Cloisters Museum and Gardens is located in the most Northern of Manhattan; it takes over half hour to get there. I took red line number 1 and got off the subway at 191 street station. Now I start to record the sign of every station. Every passenger has to take an elevator to go back to the ground. There is an operator inside operating it.

When I went out of the station, I felt so surprised! The view was so stunning! It still had snow covering. The instruction says taking a bus to get there, but I decided to walk through the park admiring the white world.

I walked along the Hudson river; the district crosses from Manhattan is New Jersey.

Seeing the snow always makes me excited. Children can play with boards when it snows.

I looked forward to snowing for a long time. After I arrived, I checked the weather broadcast every day to check if it snows or not. The first snowy day was in the end of October, but it finished very soon, not heavy snow. Today when I woke up in the morning, my roommate told me it was snowing outside!!! I was so excited and got ready quickly to go see snow! When I opened the door, everything was covered with snow!

Excited!!! I never experience snowy days! But for the New Yorkers, they have to clean snow in front of doors. For them, snowing is not so romantic.

No so many people took umbrellas, neither did I. While I walked to the subway station, the snow was on my whole body. My cell phone showed the weather! I think it won’t show again after I go back to Taiwan.

It was a lonely short trip, so I could decide to visit Central Park first. I yelped the high-rated café near the southern of Central Park, Zibetto Espresso won high reviews. I ordered a cappuccino and a vanilla croissant for breakfast. Finally I could eat breakfast in Café in the morning!!!

It’s a coffee bar! Everyone has to stand to drink coffee. The café is so small; it’s easy to miss it. After having a good coffee, I was in a good mood.

Last night my friends and I had discussed how to celebrate New Year’s Eve until 1 am, because we had different purposes. Finally I decided where and what time I wanted to go; It’s my First New Year’s Eve in New York, I must go to Times Square!

昨晚和同學們討論跨年的活動一直到凌晨一點，因為我們有不同意見。但是我決定我就是要去時代廣場，這是我的新年，當然要照我的意願，就看誰要跟或不跟，反正我就是要去！

We supposed to meet each other at 11, but due to group’s meeting, there was always somebody late. We had a full Korean food and walked to Times Square around 1 pm. At the time, there were already thousands of people waiting there! Even we tried to get closer the stage; the police said those people arrived at 4 am! Finally, we stayed on 48th street to could see the ball drop. Then we started a long, tiring and boring waiting….

團體聚會就是這樣，總是會有人遲到，一早就讓我心情不耐煩，本來約好11點到學校，吃完很有飽足感的韓國料理後，我們走路到時代廣場的時候都已經下午一點了。即使已經提早11小時到現場，還是擠不進舞台前方，只好停留在48街處，無法直接看到舞台但至少還可以看到球。就這樣開始漫長、累人的和無聊的11小時…..

From daytime to sunset… no performances, all we could do is to take some pictures for fun

When I woke up this morning, I realized finally I was back to a lonely life as the first month I just arrived San Francisco or New York. Last night, no, maybe from my Korean friend’s last week, I started to say good-bye to him and did lots of memorable things together. This morning I cried again.

到紐約玩了一個多月的韓國同學終於也要離開回韓國，前晚和他道別後，今天早上醒來突然發現要是沒有玩伴，整個心境都好不一樣!要是我一直待在家裡，我會得憂鬱症吧！我決定還是要獨自去探索曼哈頓，就像我剛到舊金山或紐約一樣，總是要面對一個人的孤寂吧!

I decided to find something to do or I would feel too sad to go on my tour. Just visit a near and free museum! On the way I saw a typical scene of New York- steam comes out from chimneries.

今天晚起只好就近逛逛，去中央車站看看免費的地下鐵博物館吧!路上看到很紐約的景象，從地下冒煙的蒸氣和背後的高樓大廈。

This MUSEUM is too small and I think it’s just a MTA shop.

離開溫暖的Florida和親愛的家人後，回到紐約再重回中央公園，發現又不一樣的風貌了，捉住秋天的尾巴，樹葉幾乎掉光了。人說秋天的紐約最美，現在的時期剛好卡在不秋不冬，再來覆蓋著白雪的中央公園應該又是不同氣氛。

I left from warm Florida and came back cold New York City; at the time it was the end of fall, so almost leaves had already fallen. I caught the beautiful view of Central Park in November; next time I will wait until white snow covers all trees. It must show amazing scenery!

有名的溜冰場之一

One of famous ice-skating rinks in Manhattan.

常出現在海報上的池塘，背後綠色屋頂的建築是出現”小鬼當家”和”西雅圖夜未眠”的廣場飯店，也是紐約著名地標之一。

這幾天的活動地帶就在這裡，Ocala National Forest.

檢視較大的地圖 

沒有網路，大家紛紛在八九點就準備睡覺了，現在沒有網路就好像原始人。身為十足夜貓子的我無事可做，也只能跟大家一起早點睡。不過躺在車子裡睡覺，樹上的球果樹葉掉在車上板金的聲音一清二楚，我整個晚上豎起耳朵聽看看有沒有熊出沒還是浣熊來找東西吃的聲響。在車上睡覺還是相當沒安全感，所以我大概很晚才睡著吧!今天早上是最後一個起床~

This public camping area doesn’t offer Internet; without Internet, we had nothing to do only sleeping! I lied in the RV and listened carefully. We heard there are lots of bears and wild animals showing at night. I tried to listen all my ears. If bears or raccoons come, I wouldn’t miss! Otherwise all night I just felt unsafe because I slept in a car! I also got up late.

在這台露營車上除了一張雙人床外，另外我跟媽媽就睡在駕駛座上的空間，加了塊板子就可以睡得下兩個人。睡起來也算舒服，只是在汽車裡睡覺還是不像在房子裡一樣有安全感。

In this RV there is a king-size bed for a couple and a baby; it’s also expended a room for two people-for my mother and me. The bed is comfortable, but I can’t feel as safe as sleeping in a real house.

We made coffee and Americas doughnuts for breakfast. That’s why I gain weigh!

早上就自己泡杯咖啡加美國甜死人不償命的甜甜圈當做早餐，所以我才有美國人的身材阿。

昨天停車的時候已經是夜晚，早上才有時間看看周遭環境。這是一處私人RV resort，可以看看每台主人的生活習慣和車型。

From today we start our tour on RV; I am so excited cause it’s my first time to stay on RV! Fei Fei and I are so happy! I have to thank a million to my sister, Paul and my mom!

今天要開始為期三天的露營車旅行，飛霏跟我都好高興啊!這要感謝我偉大的姐姐姊夫和媽媽！

一切就緒，出發！Cameras and food are confirmed! Let’s go!

The view of countryside in Florida. We go toward the north.

從Orlando往北走，沿路看到鄉村風景。