The Big Apple, Part I: In search of winter’s chill

It was a warm and humid Land of Cotton that the lovely Miss Wendy and I jetted away from late last week. Winter was paying little attention to our little corner of the world, so we decided if we wanted to be, ah, cool, we would have to turn the temperature down ourselves.

That’s how we ended up in New York over the weekend, in search of a little winter chill and cheer. We weren’t disappointed! The Big Apple has also been experiencing an unseasonably warm winter this year, so we had no idea really what sort of weather we’d find a 1,000 miles north of home.

Apparently Mother Nature decided it was time to make a showing. She blew into town, riding an arctic cold front that greeted us with falling temps and falling snow.

I had packed my bag with a couple of new and little-used sweaters that, along with a new hat, scarf, gloves and winter coat, kept me warm and toasty. Ditto Wendy! Over the long weekend, We stayed busy strolling around the upper west side of Manhattan, then down through Central Park to Columbus Circle and on to Times Square.

We eventually made our way all the way through Midtown to Union Square, on to Greenwich Village, Soho, Tribeca, the Financial District and the 9/11 Memorial; and, finally, Battery Park on the southern tip of the island – more about all that in postings later this week. Stay Tuned!

For three days, the sky was a wintry gray and the temperature hovered around freezing. On Saturday morning a light snow fell, partially blanketing the trees, walkways and green spaces with a dusting of the white stuff; a special little gift from Mother Nature and the Big Apple’s Bureau of Tourism.

The whole winter thing almost became a little much when on Sunday gale force gusts whipping off the Hudson and East Rivers dropped temps into the teens. As Wendy and I walked around the area it felt like we had momentarily stumbled onto the North Pole.

Back home now and it’s all a warm memory, the chilly trip up north a nice reminder of the joys of winter and the promise of spring. The oh-so drab and gray days of February linger about, but the temperate month of March is waiting in the wings.