A Dream Come True.

Apart from the teaching, the best part of my time in America came a few weeks ago when Ron and I spent the weekend in Woodstock. Woodstock is in New York State, it is only a couple of hours away from us but we wanted to wait until the weather was warmer before we visited. We picked the best weekend ever for the weather. The converted barn we stayed in was fabulous and we loved the small town of Woodstock. Full of eclectic shops and boutiques, restaurants and bars. We even managed to have our first Indian meal since last July! We enjoyed strolling round taking in the sights until Saturday night and the reason for our visit... a Levon Helm concert. Levon was the singer / drummer in The Band, without doubt mine and Ron's favourite band EVER! He plays a 'Midnight Ramble' most Saturdays in the studio of his home in Woodstock. This was such an amazing experience. We sat one row back from the great man. Literally close enough to tough. Ron actually shook his hand. For 3 hours we heard some fantastic music and loved every second of it. Everyone there was so friendly and the staff were fantastic, mostly volunteers who travel there every Saturday for the love of Levon and the music. As if things couldn't get any better than that, the next day we rented bikes and went off into the Catskill mountains in search of Big Pink. This is the house The Band lived when they wrote the albums 'Music From Big Pink' and Bob Dylan's 'Basement Tapes'. The ride itself was unbelievable. We had the winding mountain roads to ourselves as we passed deer, snakes and chipmunks. There are bears in the Catskills and at one point I was fairly scared a bear would jump out of the woods and eat me! The scenery was some of the most beautiful I have ever encountered and we had such an adventure (18 miles, only got totally lost twice, Ron stopping at one point to tell me he was dieing and we weren't going another inch!) When we arrived outside Big Pink (which is still a private residence) we took our photos and then one of the neighbours pulled up, but rather than telling us to push off and stop trespassing, he couldn't have been friendlier, asking us where we were from and telling us to 'hang and chill' for as long as we wanted! To know that we were standing at the epicentre of all that great music, on the same spot as Robertson, Danko, Dylan. Helm, Hudson and Manuel was awe inspiring. Without doubt the best experience of our lives. Like the whole year, more proof that with effort, Faith and luck - dreams do come true!