Tina and Ruthy's Excellent Adventure in NYC!

We have so much to share and interestingly (or not) enough we have different perspectives as we share about our trip.

Ruth is a New York City veteran (0f sorts), and Tina? Her first trip ever to the Big Apple.


First, Ruthy's tales from the road with photos:


So there we were, cruising across Interstate 86, straight through the heart of Allegany County AND WE HAD TO STOP! This is the real, bona fide, amazing true-to-life Angelica, the town Ruthy based "Jamison, NY" on! Note that Tina is standing in the RAIN... proving that we were, in fact, in Angelica.





Further proof!










And here is The Teeeeenster buying a copy of Reunited Hearts from Karen Ash, owner/proprietor of the Angelica Sweet Shop, a shop that looks a lot like Megan Russo's sweet candy store in "Small-Town Hearts"





Okay, here is our buddy "Elnora's" book in the display case at BEA! We love seeing Seekers and friends of Seekerville be successful!













Janet Dean's book!







Oh, and here... Oh my stars, THE HERSHEY STORE! Can you believe it, how wonderful is this? Surrounded by chocolate.

Ah... bliss. ;)





And the M& M store. Can you just imagine working at an M&M store??? They had to drag me out kicking and screaming, but it was soooo worth it!
And know what?

NO ONE NOTICED. Not one person.

Because it's New York.

Duh.









Oh, and here is a pic of the nice security guard that ALMOST arrested Tina. No, I'm not lying, I had to chase the paddy wagon down, plead for her release, pledge her innocence and promise the cop a free copy of Small-Town Hearts for his wife!

NO LIE!!!!!



And of course, the highlight of the trip was having time to play with Melissa and Rachel, our delightful Harlequin editors! After showing us around the Harlequin offices on Broadway, we relaxed over dinner, talked and ate delicious food including bread pudding... Who'd a thunk they'd have bread pudding at a French restaurant in NYC?




Wonderful! And what a treat for Tina and me!

Seeing Tina experience New York City made the whole thing worth it. As for her list below:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!


I always make eye contact. It drives my son crazy. He says they'll know I'm a tourist.
I say: "Who cares? They'll know I'm nice."

I gave directions to people. Got them lost. It was actually fun. Next time I'm going to do it DELIBERATELY because people trust my face.

Silly people. ;)

I think Tina is becoming a NYC lover. Really. Truly.

And the feeling is mutual: NYC loved the "Radcliffe."

Now, Tina's tale from the road with photos:

In all honesty I've avoided New York the city most of my life. I'm from NY State but a city girl I am not. I was pretty amazed by how clean, friendly and maneuverable the city is. Of course ignorance is bliss so what actually happened in my 60 some hours in the city may merely be a figment of my imagination. However I do not recall being fingerprinted or booked at any point.

I would now like to publicly apologize to all the folks on the sidewalk I may have cut off and to the subway riders whom I stepped on. I would also like to apologize on behalf of Thelma & Louise to those two sets of tourists whom SOMEONE gave wrong directions to. I pray they are not still wandering lost in the city.


I had help on this journey courtesy of advice given to me by seasoned travelers and NYC professionals. They came in very handy, so I added a few random items that I learned all by myself to the list in case any of you are headed to RWA NYC.

1. No cabs are available from 3:30 until 4pm. Ask Ruthy about that one.

2. Either wear sneakers the whole time or bring sneakers to change into. You will be on your feet all day and the city is cement. You will be tired. Your feet will be tired. Factor that in.

3. Have your money for the Metro ready to put in the machine. Do not take your wallet out in public. Plan ahead.

4. Walk with confidence, even if you are lost. Especially if you are lost. (Ruthy has this down-tourists asked her for directions)

5. If lost, stop in a fast food place, and go into the restroom before opening up your map of New York. We simply hid our map and glanced at it surreptitiously. Works well also. Map of NY here.

6. Starbucks are everywhere. Thank you, God.

7. If the cab driver says the credit card machine in his cab is broken. Get out. Immediately.

8. Learn the city walk. Purse in front of you, no eye contact.

9. Do not stop in the middle of the sidewalk.

10. Pedestrian WALK and DO NOT WALK traffic lights are only suggestions. USE CAUTION WHEN CROSSING STREETS. If in doubt stay close to babies in strollers. Cabs and other vehicles apparently do not run over strollers.

11. In restaurants they ask if you want tap, mineral or Perrier. This confused me.

12. Plan to sweat. I'm from Denver. 120% humidity was a novelty of epic proportions. RWA is going to be hot folks.

13. That said: New Yorkers wear black in the heat. This was an interesting phenomena I will further investigate.

14. In Denver I ground myself by looking west. The mountains. There is no way to ground yourself in NYC unless you have a GPS device surgically implanted in your gluteus maximus.

15. You may get lost, you may be hot but you will eat the best food in the entire world for much less. This is pretty much the YUMOLA capital of the world.

I was very excited to meet my favorite book character Olivia at BEA! We're going to do lunch
the next time I'm in the city. (Caroline Tolley taught me all about doing lunch, BTW).

Ruth & I met Beyond Her Book's Barbara Vey!

At BEA we chatted with lovely RITA winner,
Kristan Higgins (My One and Only).

Another shot of the lovely Melissa Endlich, Senior Editor and Rachel Burkot, Editorial Assistant. I don't know who the woman in the middle is. But she IS perspiring.

And finally, while I missed Sarah Dessen at BEA I am totally sure I stepped on the same carpet tile she did. (OMG!) I did see Elin Hilderbrand, but her line was soooo long! She was GORGEOUS. I still like her books (looks not withstanding) :)

Thank you to all the publishers who were so sweet even as we accosted them for freebees, especially the nice guys from Abingdon Press, and Arcadia Publishing and of course everyone at the Harlequin quadrant who took time to chat, and RWA Prez, Dorien Kelly, and Linda Winstead Jones at the RWA booth.

A special thank you to those nice guys with the Turkish Delight who prevented us from starving to death as we walked BEA.

Ruthy and Tina collected some great books from the generous publisher's represented at BEA. So two of today's commenters will be winners of a surprise book package!

Winners announced in the Weekend Edition.