It has been snowing all week. I love snow. I hate being cold, but it�s worth it if I can have a bit of snow. There�s something almost holy about it, all that whiteness covering up the world, muffling sound and disguising shapes and forcing you to pay closer attention to the world around you. I have a friend in northern Australia who has never seen snow. I wonder what that must be like sometimes, what it would feel like to see a town buried under a foot-deep blanket for the first time as an adult, or experiencing driving through a heavy snow at night when the headlights make the flakes light up like a star field in Star Trek when you�ve never seen it before. It�s exciting enough for me, having grown up with Rocky Mountain winters. Someday I�d like to bring him here just for a snowstorm, just to see his reaction.

So, back to my trip.

Day 1 continued:

Let�s see, so I�ve complained about lack of sleep and airport lines and wing seats, yes? Very well. Now we can move on to the city.

Let me begin by saying that I think Denver, Colorado is HUGE. I get lost there, and nervous. But at least in Denver you can see the mountains. There are no mountains in New York City, just skyscrapers where ever you look. And I still have no concept of the size of it, I�m not sure I ever will. When you live in a state with fewer than 500,000 people, you don�t really develop a frame of reference for a place like New York.

My introduction to the city was terrifying. We were tossed into a van with a homicidal madman. He claimed he was taking us to our hotel, but I know that he was really trying to come up with some creative way to kill us. I have never seen such driving! He refused to stop moving. If the cars in front of him stopped, he�d drive between lanes. If there wasn�t enough space to drive between lanes, he�s force his way back into whichever lane seemed to be moving fastest, and whoever was already in that lane had just better get the heck out of his way. He�d swerve around corners and take detours to avoid stoplights or slow traffic, and he honked about once every 12 seconds. Honked at the cars in front of him, honked at the pedestrians in the crosswalk, honked at the cars he was trying to run over in order to change lanes, you name it. At first, it was fascinating. Especially when I realized he wasn�t the only one driving this way. I found myself wishing I was a sociologist; I�ve always been fascinated by the idea of observing human behavior as an outsider. But after awhile, the adrenaline rush when I was certain we were going to hit another car, or when he took a corner so fast that I grabbed onto San to keep from hitting the wall of the van just wasn�t that fun anymore. Besides, I was tired. Add that to the fact that he drove in circles all over Manhattan, passing our hotel at least twice on his way to drop off the other passengers before finally releasing us, and you could say that my first impression of New York was not particularly flattering. I was fascinated by the architecture, I caught a glimpse of Chinatown as we sped through, and I was thoroughly enjoying all of the people I saw everywhere, but I arrived at the hotel with a healthy fear of streets and a definite dread of the trip back to the airport.

The hotel lobby was completely filled with men in tuxedos. I thought I was in heaven. I know they�re hot and uncomfortable and expensive blah blah blah, but I think men look damn fine in tuxedos. I was still trying to figure out who all these people were when we headed for the elevators. Suddenly the elevator guard � I�d never seen an elevator guard before, you actually had to show him your key to get on the elevators � leapt out at us and told us we couldn�t go into the elevator area yet. This totally confused us, right up until the mayor of New York City walked past and got on the elevators in front of us. Ok, so it�s not like we recognized him or anything, we had to ask the elevator guard why this particular tuxedoed guy was so important after he released us, but still. Now I have seen the mayor or New York, I think that�s snazzy.

After dumping our stuff in the room, we immediately hit the streets in search of something edible. The flight was too short for a lunch, so now it was suppertime and we hadn�t eaten anything since 5:30 in the morning. We were hungry campers. Carol had been in the hotel across the street about three months earlier, so she led us to the Stage Deli, home of Really-Big-Food. I ordered a meatloaf sandwich, but it was twice as thick as my mouth will open, so I sort of took it apart and ate it with a fork. Carol got chopped liver, she was so excited. I don�t get that, liver is not exactly the healthiest thing to eat, you know? That�s where you freaking make cholesterol, for crying out loud. But anyway, she was happy. San got blintzes, which made me amazingly happy because I�ve always wanted to try real, well-made blintzes, and you just can�t get them around here. The best part, though, was the giant cheesecake. San and I split a piece, and still couldn�t finish it, which is saying something because San is a bottomless pit when it comes to food. It was the best damn cheesecake I�ve ever had though, seriously. And I�ve eaten a lot of cheesecake in my lifetime.

After that we went back to our rooms and I fell asleep about thirty seconds later. So my first day in the Big Big Big City wasn�t so very exciting, but at least I got to see the mayor, right?