De Mansers in the U.S.A & Beyond

Mastania 2013

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:16:00 +0000

Having caught a bad case of the travel bug on our US trip, staying at home for the holidays has become unthinkable and so we made a last minute decision to travel over the seas to Tasmania for a few days.

I last traveled on the Bass Strait ferry back in the 80s but Geoff and Taine had never taken the voyage so we decided it would be fun but reasonably affordable adventure to tick off our travel bucket list. The beauty of the ferry of course, is that you can take your own car so you don't have the hassles of deciding what can and cannot fit in your baggage allowance! It also allowed us to throw our bikes on the back of the car in the hope that we might get some exercise as well.

The queue for the ferry is quite similar to a Disney attraction queue. When you arrive at Station Pier it looks like you are about to drive straight on the boat ( like the ads on TV) but in fact the first check point is just the beginning of a a winding route to the three lines of waiting cars at the garage bay. Although check in begins 2 hours before sailing, they don't actually start loading till about 45 minutes before, so there's a fair bit of sitting in your car waiting.

Deckside on the Spirit

The cabins on board are functional but tiny. Thankfully we only took a little bag with our toothbrushes and clean undies from the car because there is no room for storage in the cabins. Food choices on board are pretty limited and expensive. You can dine very expensively at the a la carte restaurant or fill a plate for $30 at the buffet. Cheapskates that we are, we made do with a couple of bags of chips and a bottle of wine from the bar!

We were blessed with beautiful, calm weather for our crossing. The sunset over the Westgate was pretty and the hum of the engines made for a fairly good sleep. Our trip coincided with the end of Daylight Saving but we forgot to change Taine's watch so he woke us in a panic at 5am, worried that we'd missed the 6am wake up call! Needless to say we were well and truly awake and ready to leave when our 6.30 disembarkation call came.

Luke warm coffee at Maccas put us in the mood for real food so we stopped at the supermarket in Devenport to stock up on food for our 5 day road trip (another bonus of having the car with you!). Having toured down the Tamar Valley and Hobart & surrounds a few years ago, we decided to devote this trip to the West Coast and set off in that direction. Our first stop was in Sheffield, a quaint little artsy crafty town about 30 minutes away. At 9am it was virtually deserted so we had a wander down the street, checking out the many murals for which the town is noted and the shops, most notably the marble shop and the lolly shop. Having made a few purchases (honey infused with Jim Beam - a dream come true), we meandered a few more kms to Tasmazia, a tourist attraction in Lower Crackpot. Tasmazia is someone's labour of love. Acres of hedged maze are dotted with quirky fairytale features and jokes handwritten on wooden boards and a whole miniature town has been painstakingly created within the maze. Taine enjoyed it but I'm afraid the grown ups found it a bit twee. A sign out the front says a South African tourist firm has listed Tasmazia in it's top 10 attractions. If this is true then I think their travel bucket has been quite limited!

Next stop was Cradle Mountain where we checked in for the night at the Discovery Holiday Park. Accommodation at Cradle Mountain is ridiculously expensive so we were happy to have a 2 room tourist cabin for $150. As a bonus, the park is just across the road from the Info centre and shuttle bus so we were easily able to get across and grab a shuttle down to Dove Lake. The views to Cradle Mountain were pretty spectacular and we did a couple of little walks around the lake before heading back to the cabin where we cooked up a yummy dinner from our supermarket supplies.

Dove Lake, Cradle Mountain

Next morning we were up bright & early to visit Devil's @ Cradle, a tasmanian devil sanctuary. The first guided tour was at 10.30 and I was glad we had timed our visit right because the ranger talk was very interesting but without it I would have felt pretty ripped off. Devils and quolls prefer the dusk and aren't very active during the day time so there's not a great deal to see. I was happy enough that our entrance fee was going toward the conservation effort though.

From Cradle Mountain we traveled down the island to Strahan, stopping off at the Rosebery Bakery for the most delicious bacon and tomato sausage roll and chocolate eclair I have ever tasted.

Strahan is like the land that time forgot, a beautiful coastal village at the mouth of the Gordon River. Again we stayed at the caravan park , choosing economy over the pricey harbourside accommodation. We were really pleased with our choice because Strahan has a great shared pathway that runs all the way from the park, around the waterfront to the other side of the harbor. Just perfect for us to ride our bikes in the unusually calm and cloudless weather. After our ride we rewarded ourselves with some ice cream from the lolly shop and watched the cray boats unload their catch on the wharf. Unfortunately, despite the hundreds of kilos of beautiful fresh crayfish caught in the harbor, it's impossible to buy fresh cray fish in Strahan. This seems quite bizarre to me!

Strahan harbour

We had set aside a whole day for the Gordon River cruise and we weren't disappointed. We bought discounted tickets on the Spirit and based on TA reviews just took the cheapest option of downstairs seats. I'm so glad we did because once on board you are allowed to roam free on the boat so I couldn't see any benefit in paying for the gold class, top deck seats. The cruise took us out through 'Hell's Gates', the narrow entrance to the harbour and because it was such a calm day we were able to travel quite some distance out into the sea. We did the whole 'King of the World' thing at the front of the boat and even though it was so calm the sea breeze was enough to blow all the cob webs away. From there it was off to Sarah Island, the site of Tassie's first penal colony. This is a fascinating place, full of history and great stories about the inhabitants. Very little remains of the penal colony itself and on such a beautiful day it seemed more like an island paradise than a gaol so it was lucky there were tour guides available to tell us what really went on.

Sarah Island

Back on the boat a sumptuous buffet lunch was served as we glided down the pristine Gordon River. There was an abundance of food, including locally produced salmon and camembert. Yum! A short walk through the rain forest and a very informative talk about Huon Pine helped to put us in a very relaxed mood for the return voyage.

We were back on dry land at 3 o'clock in time for another ride/walk to a Hogarth Falls near the People's Park before going to 'The Ship that Never Was', an hilarious, interactive performance near the info centre.

Taine getting into the act at 'The Ship that Never was.

We were on the road fairly early the next morning to negotiate the long and winding road to Stanley. Foolishly, we took Google Maps first suggestion for our route back up the island. It took us on a much windier, slower road than we'd come down and worse still, it by passed Rosebery so I missed a repeat purchase of their yummy food! In fact, we drove over 130kms without spotting another living soul, finally arriving in beautiful Stanley mid afternoon. Thankfully there was still enough daylight for us to take the chairlift up the Nut and do the 2km walk around the summit. This provides magnificent views of the ocean and the town. My terror of going down the chair lift won out over walking down the path but my calves were screaming by the time we reached the bottom! For dinner we chose the local hotel bistro. The food was ok but not startling and a little over priced for pub fare. We stayed at the holiday park, perfectly situated at the base of the town in walking distance to everything.

View from the Nut

On our last morning in the Apple Isle we rode our bikes down to the Stanley Wharf. It was like a picture postcard. We visited the Seaquarium, which was vaguely interesting and then hooked the bikes back on the car to head back to Devonport for our 7pm sailing. On our way out we drove up the hill to a honey farm honesty box where I picked up a huge tub of Manuka honey for $20. We drove back along the coast that is dotted with beautiful little bays and tiny fishing villages. Unfortunately, one of them was so beautiful we felt compelled to stop and wander over the rock pools. I say unfortunately because I lost my footing and landed heavily in the rocks, smashing my elbow and submerging my beloved Canon dslr in the process. It was a painful end to an otherwise relaxing and stress free holiday.

Stanley Wharf

I should have kept my distance from these rocks!

With any further physical activity ruled out we stopped at The Makers in Burnie to check out the crafty stuff and eat lunch. I was pretty underwhelmed by the crafts on offer although the paper making was fascinating. We bought a huge bag full of Tasmanian cheeses to take home and then wandered around the shops in Devonport until it was time to re board the Spirit.

Once again we had mill pond conditions for our voyage and arrived back well rested, just in time for a spectacular 6am sunrise in Melbourne.

From sea to shining sea

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 08:32:00 +0000

From sea to shining sea went we....

In 54, days, hardly stopping for breath, we traveled 30,000 miles (see, I'm measuring like an American now!)

Texas- Arkansas- Mississippi- Tennessee- Louisiana- Florida- Maryland- Virginia- Massachusetts- Connecticut- New York- Arizona- Nevada- California.

Dallas

From the subway to the sky, we traveled by plane, car, bus, train, trolley, ferry, airboat, bicycle and foot.
From Venice Beach in Florida, across the country to Venice Beach in California
From the Southernmost point of the USA at 0 ft above sea level to the Grand Canyon at 7000ft
From the density of Manhattan to the emptiness of the Mojave Desert
From the mania of the Interstate to the tranquility of the Natchez Trace Parkway

Along Beale St, Bourbon St , Duval St, Times Square, Hollywood Boulevard and Rodeo Drive.

We're fatter but fitter than we've ever been. Geoff ran through the streets of Austin, down the Riverwalk of New Orleans, along the Southerly border of Key West, through Disneyworld in Orlando, around the National Mall in Washington and Central Park in New York (and he hiked the Grand Canyon with Sophie!).
We walked the length of the Brooklyn Bridge and the breadth of Disneyworld, Disneyland and Manhattan.

Washington war memorial

We ate alligator and pulled pork, po'boys, sloppy joes, grits, collard greens, plantain, fried green beans, queso, key lime pie, lots and lots of chicken fried chicken and bagels.

We drank a fair bit of iced tea, root beer, Budweiser and very cheap bourbon.

It was hot enough for me to swim (88 F in Key West) and cold enough to get Geoff out of his shorts and into his thermals (24 F at the Canyon).

We were hustled ($10 for a shoe shine in NOLA) and conned ($60 for tea leaves), road raged and abused by a taxi driver (he so didn't deserve a tip) but mostly we were welcomed and were happily surprised by the warmth and friendliness of the American people.

We paid $450 for a hotel room one night in NYC and $45 including breakfast (and taxes) in Melbourne FL. It was cheaper to eat out there than it is to cook at home here. So we did.
The shopping was crazy, Nike shoes for less than $50.

By the time we left we'd sorted the difference between nickels and dimes and almost collected an entire set of quarters from each of the states.

We ice skated in DC, shot guns in Key Largo, rode bikes in the National Mall.
Twice we were enveloped in human traffic jams.
We drove at 80mph (130k) on the i35 and were passed by trucks as if we were standing still.

Subway blur

We 'went early, stayed late & wore orange' with $90 000 passionate Longhorns fans in Austin and watched a game of NBA in NOLA.
We saw more Starbucks in the USA than there are houses in Mortlake.
We encountered countless homeless people and we stood outside the gates of the White House. We ogled the grand antebellum homes in Louisiana and wondered at the endless brownstone apartment buildings in NYC.

Visiting the Obamas

We had a $100 lunch at the Oriental in NY (thanks kids) and $2.50 lunch boxes from Walmart in lots of places.
We shopped at the Quincy Market in Boston, the Farmer's Market in LA, Macys, Bloomingdales, Saks, Walgreens and Whole Foods.
We held wild alligators and were bitten by fish!
We fell in love with squirrels.
We stopped noticing the sirens.

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving and our coldest Christmas. We learned to say 'Y'all', and 'Baahston'. I loved the different American accents but I also came to appreciate our own. The Aussie accent sounds so sweet when you're away from home.

We took 2000 photos - on our iPhones!

Every day was a new adventure and every day we had to pinch ourselves to remind us that we were still in the real world.

Living out of suitcases in such close confines for so long, we all got along remarkably well. It was family memory making at its best.

New Year's Eve at the Grand Canyon

My top 10 trip highlights, in no particular order;

The Washington Mall- history in a nutshell
Kennedy Space Centre
Visiting the graves of the Kennedys, Elvis, Paul Revere
The World Trade Centre site
Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge
Fireworks at Disneyworld
The red rocks of Sedona- I'm still not sure I believe they were real.
Key Largo- Islamadora
The New York subway- constant entertainment and transportation at a reasonable price
The Everglades- wild alligators!
The Longhorns football game ( I know that's 11 but all that passionate patriotism can't be ignored)
The Natchez Trace Parkway ( yeah, yeah, that's 12)
Phoenix and the desert (I could go on and on)
.........and the sunset over Santa Monica on our last night reduced me to tears

America is a beautiful place and it's people are friendly and inviting. The flip side is that the country is self combusting (and as a consequence ripping up our ozone layer at an alarming rate) with gross consumerism and use of fossil fuels. The things that people can use to kill themselves and other people (cigarettes, alcohol, fast food, guns, cars, tanning salons!) are ridiculously cheap and accessible. Those things are so much more expensive in Australia that we tend to think twice about using them. On the other hand, life saving medical care and decent housing in the US is expensive and the economy is in trouble. I was a tourist in the US, not a judge but it did seem obvious to us that taxing the bad stuff might help people access the good stuff. Just an observation.

It's true that being overseas increases your appreciation of what we have here. I loved the USA and I can't wait to go back for another visit but I was very glad to get back to human sized portions, fresh salad, coloured money, $1 coins, speed limits, bike helmets and vegemite!

Thanks to everyone who followed our trip and commented here or on Facebook or Fodors. It was great to have your company and your feedback :-)

We're leaving on a jet plane

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 06:44:00 +0000

So...one minute we were landing in Dallas, next minute (and nearly 2 months later), here we are at LAX, waiting for the big A380 that will take us home and the second last post on this blog.

We made one last dash to Hollywood Boulevard this morning to find some luggage straps to hold my cheap duffle bag together and then we took off to the rich and famous area of Beverly Hills. We had a map of stars' homes but I couldn't make head or tail of it so we just drove aimlessly up and down streets ogling the lovely homes. Some of them are quite retro 50s and 60s bungalows but beautifully maintained. We didn't see any movie stars but we saw a lot of gardeners!

For lunch we went to Rodeo Drive. We were really just intending to window shop but starvation set in so we decided to throw caution to the wind and seat ourselves in a lovely restaurant at the top of a little avenue near Rodeo & Wilshire. To our great delight, not only was it amongst the best food we've eaten but the service was fantastic and the price no dearer than some of the less swanky places we've eaten.

With a whole day to fill we decided to meander towards LAX and stopped at Santa Monica Beach to watch the watch the sunset. What a serendipitous decision. It was a beautifully calm evening, a busker was playing some of my favourite Cat Stevens songs and the sky was clear and cloudless. It was the perfect place to watch the sun set on this wonderful adventure of ours.

Tonight we'll fly off into the future of home that has no Jan 9th but there's absolutely no doubt we'll be back here one day. Thanks for an awesome time America :-)

Walking in the hood

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 07:32:00 +0000

You've got to love those graphic tourist maps that aren't really based on any particular scale to speak of. This morning we decided to have a look at the Farmer's Market in West Hollywood. On the map in our 'local attractions' booklet, it looked like it was just around the corner. 5 kms later and sweating like crazy in the mad, Californian, winter sun we arrived at the corner of 3rd and Fairfax. The market is a bit like a small version of the Queen Vic, lots of fresh food stalls and speciality shops. We had really bad Cajun food for lunch and then took a ride on a cute little trolley to the Grove, a lovely shopping/ dining area at the other end of the block. The thought of walking all the way back to the hotel was too much for us so we text Sophie for some bus info and grabbed the 217 back to Hollywood Boulevard.

One of the amazing discoveries we've made here is that you can take your washing to a 'wash & fold' laundromat and for 89c a pound they'll wash it and fold it and pack it into a neat plastic package, all ready to pop into the suitcase. We picked up our washing and spent an hour recovering by the pool at the hotel.

Tonight we went back to the Boulevard to Madame Tussaud's. This is a little bit of fun and we spent a happy hour photographing ourselves with the waxen stars.

Just chewing the fat with Jack!

We almost saw a real movie star because the sidewalk was blocked off for the premiere of The Gangster Squad at the Chinese Theatre. We actually had no idea why all the people were standing there photographing absolutely nothing across the street but we worked it out when they all started squealing and chanting , 'Ryan, Ryan'. We got a fleeting glance of people in suits and evening dresses and lots of limos and security people.

That's Ryan Gosling in the suit!

We grabbed a few last souvenirs at the shop which, remarkably, had another, 30 minute, $5 sale today! We also bought a 'homes of the stars' map so we can do our own tour tomorrow before we go to the airport and then we went back to our room to start the laborious process of packing and weighing all our luggage. It's so hard to believe we have to go home tomorrow. I have no idea where that time has gone!

A toast to the end of the trip with $1 merlots from CVS.

Hollywood

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 16:30:00 +0000

The freeway was a nightmare this morning. Even on Sunday there were cars everywhere and when we hit a traffic jam we took an exit and 'winged' our way through the back streets towards Hollywood. As in all the big cities we've visited, the contrast between poor and rich neighbourhoods was stark. We drove through ghettos where the thought of the car breaking down was terrifying but as we got closer to the beach the tone changed completely.

We stopped at Venice Beach for lunch. We toyed with the idea of hiring some bikes to ride along the board walk but it was so windy we could hardly stand up let alone ride so we just walked out to the end of the pier and imagined how spectacular the beach must be in Summer.

From Venice we drove up through Santa Monica to the Hollywood Hills for a glimpse of the famous sign. It was pretty exciting to see this icon and we also had fun guessing who might live in some of the expensive homes set into the hills.

We'd really hoped to finish our holiday at a La Quinta because the chain has been an economical home to us for much of the trip. Unfortunately there isn't one in Hollywood so we settled for a Days Inn just off the strip.

There's a lot of Beale / Bourbon/ Duval St about Hollywood Boulevard! Similar homeless people with cardboard signs and costumed, would be movie stars offering photos with themselves for $1. It's not nearly as glamorous as I expected. We walked over several stars before we realised we were walking on THE walk of stars. It was fun seeking out our favourites and Taine was very excited to find Michael Jackson's star. We had dinner at a diner where Taine had his first root beer float (like a spider at home) and then wandered back to our hotel for an early night.

Speed Racers

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 07:13:00 +0000

One of the number one 'to dos' on our trip planning list was the Radiator Spring's Racers ride at Cars Land. 'Cars' was the first movie Taine ever watched and he has been pretty besotted with all things Lightning McQueen ever since.

Of course Cars Land is at Disney's California Adventure Land as opposed to the original Disneyland and since we couldn't come all this way and not see the place our own dreams were made of as kids, we got up early to make an assault on both parks with a one day Park Hopper pass ($125 each, thanks very much!).

We walked to Disney because it's only 1km away from the hotel. When we got there at 8am there were already queues. Soarin' California was the first ride inside the gate so we did that while we could. At 8.20am we arrived at the queue for the Fast Pass to Cars. The Fast Pass is a system where you swipe your entrance ticket and are given a time to return to the ride later in the day, thereby bypassing the poor suckers who are in the stand by queue. The queue to get to the Fast pass for Cars was longer than the queue for some of the rides! We were told the line was 30 minutes long and all the passes may have run out before we got to the head of the line. At 8.20 in the morning! Not to be deterred we waited patiently in the line which actually moved quite quickly and scored ourselves a Fast pass for 8.20 - 9 pm, just 12 hours later! It was like scoring a gold wrapper because there were lots of people behind us who missed out.

Luckily the weather was glorious so we weren't too hot or too cold while we trudged around California Adventure trying to sneak into as many rides as possible. On a day as busy as yesterday that meant mostly tame kiddy rides but that suited Taine and I anyway. After lunch at Downtown Disney we went to Disneyland and fought our way through the increasing crowds there to visit all the Lands we'd seen on Sunday night TV in our youth.

We watched the Christmas Parade, not quite as exciting as the one at Disneyworld, partly because Christmas is over and partly because by then I was exhausted and cold and then ducked out to Downtown Disney again for some dinnertime pizza. There we met yet another Aussie family doing a similar trip to ours.

Finally it was time to go back and claim our Fast Pass to Cars Racer. I admit to feeling a little guilty as we passed the people in the stand by queue (now at 150 minutes wait time!) The ride was excellent, just like being in the movie as we passed through Radiator Springs and met all the characters. I think it was made all the more special because of our recent journey through the red rocks of Sedona and down Route 66. The racing part was just fast and furious enough to satisfy Geoff the adrenaline junkie and not bad enough to make me throw up, although as the photo attests, I had my eyes closed most of the time! We stopped on the way out to watch the 'Colours' fire and water display and in time to see Disney's fireworks as we went past their gate. By the time we started the long walk home we'd done 14 hours straight at Disney!

You can imagine our joy when we were mistakenly woken at 5.30am this morning by a wake up call intended for another room! Just one of the issues we've had with this hotel. Once we were properly awake we hopped in the car for a day trip to San Diego. Thankfully we'd had some training on the Racers ride because the traffic in Southern California is insane. It even puts Texas to shame. We drove through San Diego to the Las Americas outlets right on the Mexican border. We thought about crossing, just to say we'd been in another country but thought better of it because of the re entrance queues. It was an odd feeling to think of an artificial line being a barrier between people. Borders have made sense previously to us because we are girt by sea but watching the birds fly backward and forward over the border control buildings made our human differentiation seem pretty stupid.

We bought a few more pairs of ridiculously cheap Nikes at the outlets, visited an outdoor Mexican bazaar and then drove back to Mission Beach in San Diego for a beautiful sunset. San Diego will definitely be on the list of 'places to stay longer' next time we come.

Then we rejoined the speedway for another white knuckle journey back to LA, counting our blessings when we arrived back in one piece.

Viva Las Vegas

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 05:21:00 +0000

Las Vegas is a world of it's own. The casino complexes are so big that you can easily get lost in them. There are no clocks and the lighting is set to twilight all the time. In the shopping strip within Caesar's Palace, the roof is painted to look like the sky and the floor is imitation roadway. After a while you start to believe you are in a real street, until you decide to leave and then you can't figure out how on earth to get out of make believe world into the real world.

Looking up in the shops at Caesar's

Each of the complexes is a replication of somewhere else, like Caesar's interpretation of Ancient Rome and New York, New York's faux Manhattan skyline. We made the mistake of buying day tickets on the monorail thinking that would be an easy way to see 'The Strip'. Unfortunately the monorail stations are set right at the back of the different complexes and to get to and fro the stations to the street you have to walk all the way through the casinos. This means maneuvering through the myriad of slot machines and gaming tables, then the hotel shops, up the stairs to the station and back down again at the next stop.

Remarkably,while children aren't actually allowed to play the slots, they can walk right up to and around them. The casinos have pushers and prams in the walkways right alongside the high rollers. Smoking at the tables is permitted and all the rooms are filled with the smell of whatever it is they use to try and disguise the smoke smell.

My big payout

Anyway, we had fro yo for breakfast (as you do in Vegas ;) and then set off to walk/monorail 'the strip'. We wandered through endless shopping malls and checked out all the fake stuff. The highlight of the day was the water show at the Bellagio. I put a few bucks through a slot machine just because I could, we bought some naff souvenirs because it seemed like we should and we ate something greasy on the way back to our lovely suite at the MGM where I tried to make peace with my aching feet in a lengthy spa bath.

I found the whole 'fake facade' of Vegas a bit offensive. Nothing is real there and the gross consumerism just made me feel a bit icky. I'm glad we saw the city but I'm pleased we were only there for 48 hours.

Today we drove to Anaheim. It's a long, boring drive through the Mojave Desert. Breakfast was at a stray casino not far out of Vegas at an all you could eat buffet for $6.99. It looked like one of those places where scary movies start. Crazy. No lunch required. There were people eating breakfast in their pyjamas and then moving straight to the tables.

The traffic coming into LA was the worst we've seen and after one car literally shaved our front bumper and then nearly tipped themselves over cutting lanes, we were white knuckled by the time we arrived at the Anabella, a hotel across from Disneyworld. The room was cheap enough but by the time we were slugged $14 a night for parking and $10 for wifi I was starting to wish I'd forked out for the friendliness of a Disney resort. This was exacerbated at dinner when I was told it was not possible for the chef to prepare a meal without garlic in it. Excuse me? I'm thinking we'll eat off premises for the rest of our stay!

We met a family from South Australia in the laundry. They're doing pretty much the same trip as us but in reverse order and this is their first stop. Jealousy overwhelmed me. It's 41C at home and windy. I'm not ready to go back to that yet :-(

To satisfy Taine's obsession with 'Cars', Geoff's desire to see the 'real' Disneyworld and my insistence that there's lots of other things to see in L.A, tomorrow we're going to try and do both Disney parks in one day. Wish us luck!

Getting our kicks on Route 66

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 18:10:00 +0000

Yesterday was yet another example of the wonderful paradox that is America. We started the day in the vast tranquility of the Grand Canyon and finished it in the 24/7 bright lights and turmoil of Las Vegas.

The Canyon was magnificent yesterday, even tempting me to the edge to drink in a few more views before we packed up for our trip West. The isolation of the GC village means there is little choice in eateries so once again we had breakfast at the Bright Angel. The food there is adequate but the table service is soooo slow. Despite the restaurant being half empty we waited 20 minutes for anyone to take our order and another 20 before our coffee and breakfast arrived. By then it was really close to check out time so we had to bolt our food down and run. Not quite the leisurely pack up time we'd hoped for!

View from the path outside our room

From the GC we drove to Williams and then we got off the Interstate and picked up the historic Route 66 to Kingman.

Route 66 is a long, straight, mindless road of nothingness. The speed limit is 65 but you can understand how Lightning McQueen got caught speeding because there's no corners and virtually no other cars. The side of the road is littered with remnants of the Mother Road's heyday; abandoned gas stations and motels that gave us great insight into the inspiration for Radiator Springs. You also get another sense of the magnitude of the Grand Canyon. We'd been driving for 3 hours but we were still skirting the western rim.

From Kingman to Las Vegas the scenery changes again. With mountains in the near distance on either side, the desert prairie of the roadside is highlighted. Desert scrub and cacti cover the paddocks (I know they aren't called paddocks here but I don't know how else to describe them!). There are lots of signs advertising land for sale and clearly these offers are being taken up. There aren't many houses but lots of trailers and huts dotted among scrub.

We reached the Hoover Dam just on sunset and luckily with enough light left to appreciate this engineering wonder. The immensity of the structure is impossible to describe. It's a couple of miles just to drive down to the dam level. We were too late to take advantage of the information areas or guided tours but just in time to take a couple of photos and confuse ourselves with yet another time change as the dam sits on the state border. On the Hoover bridge pylons there are two clocks, one with Arizona time and one with Nevada time. We weren't quite sure which time zone we were in as we sat in the middle!

Driving into Vegas in the dark is just as you imagine it, a sea of twinkling lights in the desert. We booked a suite at the MGM Signature for $59 plus tax. The bathroom is bigger than most of the rooms we've stayed in till now and it includes valet parking and all the other perks of an expensive hotel but without the bill. If you want a cheap holiday (and don't intend to spend the change in the casino) then Vegas is clearly the place to be.

After dinner we put Sophie in a cab so she could go back to slumming it in the hostels while she spends her last couple of weeks touring California with a friend. We won't see her again till she gets back to Aus. Tonight we saw the 7 day weather forecast and realised we'll be home before the last day of it. Where has that time gone?

Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 06:23:00 +0000

Geoff and Sophie had a beautiful day for their hike along the South Kaibab trail today. Some early snow cleared to a brilliantly sunny day with no wind. The photos they took on their iPhones are awesome but reiterate all the reasons I was so anxious about them going! Their base fitness stood them in good stead and they did the estimated 6 hour round trip in 4 and were back before I'd had time to start looking for them.

Taine got to make his snowman and then we took the shuttle to the village and had lunch at the Yavapai cafeteria. I thought we'd be adventurous and walk the next leg to the Info Centre but white, snowy trees all look remarkably similar and I managed to get us lost for awhile. The air is pretty thin up here and I was puffing by the time we found our way back to the market bus stop. The views from Mathers Point were lovely and they have a very sturdy fence along the rim there :-)

We watched the last sunset of 2012 from the lodge area. The Grand Canyon is so immense it really is hard to believe it's real. The photos we took tonight look like we are standing against a fake background. I still can't get over how close the sheer drop into the canyon is from the lodge path. A couple of tourists asked me to take their photo on the path today and to my horror they backed all the way up until their heels were resting on the lip. I wanted to reach out and grab them back, just like I did with people who got too close to the edge of the subway platforms.

Tonight we ate dinner at the Bright Angel. It was delicious but as usual, far too much food. Unfortunately there were no deer lurking around the road like there were last night. We would have liked to stay outside and gaze at the bright stars in the canyon's unpolluted sky but at -15C it was just too cold so we retired to our room to try to stay awake till midnight.

Happy New Year everyone :-)

The seventh wonder of the world

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 18:44:00 +0000

Yesterday our day started in the beautiful village of Oak Creek, eating breakfast as the sun rose over the red rocks.

After checking out all the formations the day before, we decided Bell Rock was a manageable hike before we set off for the Grand Canyon. It’s hard to describe the colour of the rocks, except to say they really are red! None of us felt the positive energy of the vortex but Taine fell over not far from the beginning of our climb and I wrenched my shoulder a but further along the track so we decided maybe we’d had a negative vortex effect! Geoff and Sophie climbed up to the top of the rounded part of the bell and we took some pretty spectacular photos.

Bell Rock

We also visited the Cathedral in the Rock, a church built into the side of one of the cliffs. I lit some candles for my religious friends and took in a few more magnificent vistas, then we jumped back in the car and headed of to Flagstaff. When we left Sedona Geoff was wearing his shorts and t shirt. Half way through Oak Canyon we started to notice patches of snow alongside the road and by the time we reached the top it was full on snowing and the countryside was white! Snow is such an exciting event for us Antipodeans so we stopped at a market on top of the ridge to play in it for awhile. Needless to say we all got very cold and wet and ripped off by the over priced souvenirs on sale there but it was fun.

Flagstaff was our lunch stop and provided some Christmas card views because the whole town was covered in thick snow. Realising that we had come very under prepared for snowy weather we stopped at Walmart but strangely we found no snow gear there so we stocked up on snacks and New Year's drinks and kept moving towards the Grand Canyon National Park. I had expected lots of winding roads like we have at home but we had already done our climbing through Oak Canyon and the road from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon was actually very straight and very flat, a bit like parts of the Desert Road in NZ.

Flagstaff to GC

We thought we'd left the snow behind us but as we reached the park entrance it started to fall again and when we reached the village it was quite heavy. After stowing our gear in our room at the Kachina Lodge we stepped outside for our first view of the world's most famous hole in the ground. And we didn't have to walk far. The GC lodges are literally on the rim, at some points just metres away. In fact on the path to Bright Angel Lodge I measured 3 metres to the edge. And on that bit of the path there is NO FENCE, just a straight drop hundreds of metres from the snow covered, icy path. One wrong step on the way home from the restaurant......Arrggghhhh. Last night there was lots of cloud in the canyon but this morning you can see all the way down. It is too real to be real.

Just outside our front door!

Still wearing shorts

As an acrophobic I knew I would struggle with living 'on the rim' but quite frankly I am terrified and for the first time on our whole trip, not really enjoying myself at all. Today Geoff and Sophie have gone to hike into the canyon itself and the mere thought of that has given me nightmares. I'm sure they will have a spectacular (albeit freezing) time and I wish I could take some part in the glory of the view but instead I will spend the day encouraging Taine to hold my hand while we take a less strenuous walk along the rim and maybe build a snowman.

Red Rock Country

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 04:12:00 +0000

We're back up to four passengers today since Sophie decided to ditch her NYC, New Year's Eve plans and flew in to Phoenix last night to spend a few more days with us in Arizona :-) This made packing our rental car an interesting but not insolvable problem. It's a good thing I'm married to a Maths teacher and the children are flexible!

Taine's early morning blood nose meant we got a good , early start to the day and we were on the road a little after 9am. It takes a while to get out of Phoenix but soon enough we were on the highway with desert scenery on either side. We made a pit stop to look at Montezuma's castle, an amazing series of houses built into the rock wall dating right back to 600AD. While Montezuma's is the best preserved of the multi storey dwellings , there is evidence of a whole vertical village in the cliff face along the creek. Amazing to think of people living in such a well organised society so long ago.

At the crossroads back to the highway we stopped at a roadside stall where a Navajo indian gentleman and his mum where making fry bread and selling jewelry. We bought one piece of fry bread out of interest, then 3 more out of appetite . It was delicious!

We reached our destination of Sedona not long after. I had read on Trip Advisor and Fodors about the beauty of the red rocks in this area but once again, seeing is believing and for about the millionth time during this journey, we were gob smacked. This cluster of huge, red monoliths rise up from the desert floor in a variety of shapes and sizes, lending themselves to names like Bell Rock, Pyramid Rock and Snoopy Rock. The place is also full of psychics and spiritual healers and new age book stores because of the number of vortexes (and I have checked that this is the correct plural spelling!) that supposedly exist within the rocks. The vortexes are places where the energy is right for meditation, prayer and healing. My family are skeptical but I intend to open my mind to finding a vortex tomorrow!

The rocks themselves are certainly magical to look at. As with so many of our experiences on this trip, they are simply breath taking. Each day we talk about our favourite scenes, places, adventures and each day we have to add something else to the list. The red rocks of Sedona are certainly right up there.

Discovering the desert

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 05:09:00 +0000

We finally arrived in Phoenix just before midnight last night and headed off optimistically to the rental car base. Geoff had rung the company yesterday to arrange a size upgrade to get us through the last leg of our trip from Phoenix to LA. They had told him the upgrade would be no problem and we should just organise it at the depot in Phoenix. No such luck. They had very few cars in the lot at all and nothing in the 'van' range that we were looking for. Eventually they found us a mid size SUV and a new charge for more than DOUBLE our original quote. Given that we'd already pre paid for our original car and it was midnight and we had no other option, we forked over the extra $850 , jammed our bags (which are looking a little worse for wear after yet another TSA check!) into the boot and checked in to the nearest La Quinta. It was a very expensive day!

A few hours sleep and our favourite 'brightside' breakfast helped us to be more philosophical about the financial frustrations of the previous day. The weather in Phoenix was a glorious. The sky is the same clear blue of the Waikato in NZ and today it was cloudless and windless. I think I expected to see desert in Phoenix but I'm not sure I understood that the whole city is desert and that desert is actually very beautiful. Taine has been hanging out to see a giant cactus and he wasn't disappointed. They are, literally, everywhere. As are the big red rocks that rise out of the desert plain like painted concrete sculptures. The colour palette is brown on brown and there is a noticeable lack of water sources. There are really no gardens to speak of except for succulents and the occasional splash of red bougainvillea. It is a unique environment and one that I have never seen the like of before.

We drove to the South Mountain park and were treated to spectacular views over the city. I was disappointed with my photos because they don't show the different depths and levels of colour and so the landscape looks bland. I wish I had a 3D camera! The drive up and down the mountain was straight out of Radiator Springs and 'Cars'.

Then we went to Papago Park and climbed the Hole in the Rock. This is one of the red sandstone rock formations that dot the city. An open cavern at the front of the rock is connected to the back via a large hole and so you can climb up the back and through the hole to sit in the cave chamber and look out over the city. Apparently the Hohokam who were early inhabitants of the area, used the sunlight patterns through the hole to judge time and seasons. Pretty cool. We stayed up there and watched the sun set over the city.

By the time we get to Phoenix.....

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 17:10:00 +0000

By the time we get to Phoenix, everyone will be sleeping. Our flight out of JFK tonight was delayed and our expected arrival in Phoenix is now midnight local time, 2am by our body clocks. A bit of a bummer since we have a car booked for yesterday! Also a bummer that Delta wouldn't honour our Webjet tickets which included two checked bags. In fact they wouldn't take any bags without us paying for them. One of the reasons we booked with Delta was that the quote included the bags so we're pretty unhappy about that! Given the age of the plane, the lack of in flight service and the chaos of their check in, we certainly wouldn't have chosen them otherwise....and you can be very sure we won't choose them ever again! One thing they do have is in air wifi (expensive of course), hence this blog post is being written in the air.

It took us ages to pack up our hotel room this morning. 8 days in NYC has allowed us to unpack and spread our stuff everywhere.With a late flight today we had the rest of the morning free to visit the Guggenheim and check out the Picasso exhibition. The queues to get in the door stretched as far around the corner as the ones for the toy store the other day but the wait was worth it. We took the free audio guides and I learnt more about Picasso in two hours than I have in a life time. What an interesting man! The exhibition winds it way up through the central rotunda area of the gallery and the circular nature of the display area lends itself beautifully to the ever changing and evolving work of Picasso throughout his long lifetime, during which he created more than 100 000 pieces of art!

After a final subway ride it was time to say goodbye to the city that never sleeps. We've had an amazing week here and there's no doubt we'll be back at some stage. I'd love to see Central Park in the Spring and there's a whole wealth of museums and boroughs that we didn't get to this time.

The stand outs (good and bad) for us in NYC;

The subway is an awesome way to get around the city. A weekly pass got us everywhere we wanted to go, all week for just $29. MYKI is a disgrace by comparison (although I guess it's just a disgrace full stop!)

Bagels. NY has real bagels, great big rounds of bready goodness, including ones full of grain.

Rude, disinterested service people. This was not always the case as we found lots of lovely, helpful people as well but in comparison to the South, New Yorkers (from our observation and short experience) are more abrupt and less friendly and counter service in retail outlets is incredibly slow.

Central Park. What a beautiful oasis in the middle of the city.

Dogs. In hotels, in restaurants, on planes!

Taxis. Those yellow cabs really are everywhere & they're cheap and easy to hail. Unfortunately, once they have a passenger in them they don't stop for pedestrians or emergency vehicles.

Pickles. Whole pickles are served with everything. This was of great pleasure to Geoff because he got mine & Sophie's as well.

High density housing. Brownstone apartment blocks that just go on and on as far as the eye can see.

Human traffic jams. Queues to get in and out of shops and museums.

The views. The Manhattan skyline is magnificent and for me, walking towards it over the Brooklyn Bridge was something I'll never forget.

A view from the top

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 04:06:00 +0000

Today was our last full day in NYC so we got up early to make the most of it. Geoff and Taine went to the Empire State Building at 8am and by doing so went straight to the top. I'm saving my vertigo risk days for the Grand Canyon so Sophie & I checked out the post Christmas sales opportunities on 34th street. Geoff reported back that the view from the top was every bit as spectacular as he had imagined it to be and the stories and photos of how the building was erected were pretty amazing.

Our big kids gave us a 'child free' lunch date at the Mandarine Oriental ,which also has great views of the city, as a christmas gift. While we were eating , Sophie took Taine to 'Build a Bear', a store where you create and outfit your own stuffed bear. It's a very clever, dolls for boys enterprise that he's been wanting to do since we first saw a shop in Texas.

We chose the 3 course pre fixe menu for lunch and it was delicious, especially the well brewed pot of tea at the end. I was so excited to have a proper cup of tea that I had three cups full. While we were eating it started to snow. Snow is always exciting for us but unfortunately it meant we couldn't take our after lunch carriage ride around Central Park. And, as is often the case with snow, it wasn't white and fluffy, just cold and wet and it turned the sidewalk into a slushy skating pond!

We wandered around in Grand Central Station for a bit. This is truly beautiful building and a destination in itself and next time we're here I'll be sure to do the audio tour to learn more about its history. The terminal was really busy with people heading home after the holidays. We were hoping for a flash mob but no such luck.

The snow continued for a while and was much prettier from inside our hotel room as it settled on the buildings below. Then it became torrential rain so we scurried next door to the Barking Dog for dinner. It was a little bit of a melancholy occasion as we realised it would be our last dinner together for awhile until Soph gets back to Australia. We've really enjoyed our two weeks together in the North East but tomorrow we leave Soph to couch surf here in NYC through New Year while we head westward on the last leg of our journey.

It's Christmas time in the city

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 04:20:00 +0000

Luckily Santa was able to find us this morning, even though we're a long way from home. We've had fun over the last few weeks finding 'small' presents to fit in our travel and we had lots of fun unwrapping them this morning. My Pandora bracelet is now a testament to our trip with charms reflecting each of the cities we've visited :-) We also stuck with our tradition of bacon and eggs for breakfast, even though cooking them created havoc with the smoke detector and meant someone had to continually wave a towel in front of it while Geoff kept cooking!

Around lunchtime we wandered down to the subway with no real plans in mind but to spend the day wandering the city. With most of the shops shut the streets were much quieter, a very strange phenomenon indeed. The quiet ended at the Rockefeller Centre. We thought we might do the Top of the Rock but so did every other tourist in the city! The queues were much longer than normal. Likewise in Central Park where I think Christmas Day might be the busiest day of the year. As for Times Square and the M & M shop...complete chaos.

The homeless are hard to ignore in New York. It's so sad to see so many people doing it tough, especially in the cold weather. Taine has been particularly affected by the cardboard pleas for help and so today he decided to cash a few days of his spending money into dollar bills and we let him give away as many as he wanted. I know it's not possible to donate to every beggar in the city but it felt so much better than our usual head down, walk fast approach and it was gratifying to see so many people being genuinely appreciative of his little presents.

We had delicious salad and pasta at Fresh & Co for lunch and pretty ordinary turkey burgers at the Tick Tock diner tonight. I'm pining for some pork crackling and plum pudding. Maybe we'll have a post Christmas feast when we get home.We met some other Aussies on the train going uptown and coincidentally we ran into them again on the train home. Then we found out they are staying at the same hotel as us. It really is a small world.

Tonight we had pre booked tickets to the movie of 'Les Miserables'. After doing the production with our school kids a few years ago, this musical has been one of our favourites so we were really looking forward to the movie. We certainly weren't disappointed. It was stupendously wonderful.

"To love another person is to see the face of God"

It was the perfect way to end Christmas Day.

Strawberry fields forever.

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 03:11:00 +0000

The Central Park we see on the movies is inevitably the scene of a grisly murder or a kidnapping. I didn't see any dead bodies this morning, just acres of beautiful parkland set against the towering background of Manhattan. While Geoff ran 10 miles around the perimeter and Sophie ran a few of the internal tracks, I admired the scenery and Taine played mountain climber on the rocky outcrops near the skating rink. It would take days to explore the park properly, I just felt privileged to have experienced the tip of it.

Whilst doing some last minute Christmas shopping on the way back to the Dumont, we experienced some Julia Robert's style 'Pretty Woman' shop attendance. Sophie has had her heart set on a Michael Kors watch and we've been looking at different styles over the last few days. We went to Bloomingdales because it was close to the subway but the attendants weren't at all interested in us. Despite standing expectantly at their counter for several minutes, they continued with their personal conversation and completely ignored us. Clearly our sporting attire and un-made up faces flagged us as unlikely buyers! We've actually experienced this phenomenon a few times in New York. Luckily we've also experienced the opposite and so to buy the watch we traveled all the way to Union Square to a shop where the assistant had been very helpful earlier in the week.

We made a lunch time pit stop to Skype to Kasey and Erica in NZ and Jaime & Xavier at home in Aus on their Christmas Day morning. It's the first time I've been away from any of my kids at Christmas so that feels a bit strange & I'm certainly missing our own special seasonal rituals, however this is a Christmas that none of us will forget! The time difference is such an odd thing but at least I understand now how Santa manages to get all around the world. It's a very long time between midnight in NZ & Aus and the time he finally gets to New York!

This afternoon we went downtown and across town on the subway to get to Brooklyn. It was too early for pizza so we just walked our way back to Manhattan. The views from the bridge are to die for. There was lots of cloud today so everything was shrouded in grey but nevertheless the harbour and the skyline were amazing. Tourists on the bridge do have to be careful to remember that one lane is for bicycles. I nearly got collected a couple of times when I wandered over to take a photo.

We called back through Union Square to get the aforementioned watch and to pick up some supplies from Wholefoods. What a crush! Just like in Australia it seems everyone is buying enough to survive a holocaust when in fact most of the shops are only closed for a day and in NYC a lot of them will still be open tomorrow. In the end we grabbed some salad and then topped up with Christmas beer and pretzels at the Duane Reade drug store across from the hotel.

As I type, we're watching snowflakes drift past our window on the 36th floor. I don't think it will be a white Christmas but it's enough snowy stuff to get us excited! I was hoping to get to a midnight church service tonight but I don't think Taine's going to make it. The stress of wondering whether Santa does hotel visits has completely worn him out.

New York, New York..

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 05:38:00 +0000

This morning we got up while the kids were still in bed and hit the street early to look for extra luggage. As opposed to every hour of the day from noon till midnight, the shops were quite empty at 9am. It was great! We found some terribly cheap roller duffle bags (thanks Fodorites for this suggestion) and a KMart with a tiny little tree for our hotel room.

With the tree, (complete with $2 LED lights), installed and decorated with the baubles we have been collecting on our travels, everyone was feeling much more festive as we jumped on the subway and made our way down to Chelsea. Away from Downtown, New York is quite lovely. The architecture is varied and fascinating and there's room to walk on the pavement. I could live in here.

We walked the Highline, a disused railway become parkland. This is a magnificent recycling of land with great views of the city and a lovely, Sunday walk feel to it. It's definitely on my NY 'must do' list. We had a yummy lunch at the Crumbcake cafe and then walked to the Flatiron building. Although it was cold, the sun was shining and there was no wind today; New York at its finest.

Despite my pedometer saying we'd already walked 20,000 steps, after a short shower break we headed back downtown to the Radio City Music Hall for the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. And spectacular it was. Lots of high kicking and a tapped version of the 12 days of Christmas. Singing with feet! Santa took us on a 3D trip around the world and a little girl learnt about Christmas through a video game. WT?

On the way home we stopped at Bryant Park for hot chocolate, wandered the market stalls and watched the ice skating. Have I mentioned before that this whole trip feels like a dream? Never more than this evening.

By the time I write my next post, it will already be Christmas Day in Aus/ NZ.

We miss you guys, Happy Christmas everyone!

Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 03:54:00 +0000

Today we went on a mecca of another type- the uptown NY shopping hub of Park Ave and 5th Ave.
Taine and I had a sleep in while Geoff went for a run in Central Park this morning so we were late starting our day. Old hands at the subway now, we caught a train to 59th St and started our window shopping at Bloomingdales. We had a brief look at some ridiculously over priced stuff (the scarf in the pic below was $250!) and stood on the sidewalk in a brief snow flurry. Hardly the stuff Christmas cards are made of but we can definitely say it snowed while we were here.

Next stop was the Yankee's supporter's shop and then into the queue to get into FAO Schwartz, largest toyshop in the world (apparently) and home to the giant floor piano. Yes, I did say queue, our first ever experience of lining up to get into a shop. I'm glad we don't have a toddler with us because the stuffed toys in FAO are just amazing. We followed the line of people through the store, briefly stopping to grab something for Taine's little Christmas stocking and then lined up to get OUT of the store as well.

We bypassed the Apple store ( who also had a queue), figuring we are already maxed out on iProducts. Following the trail of the fur coats, we popped in to Tiffany's, only to discover we didn't really like the look of their jewelry so we left without making a purchase ;-) Then it was on to the Trump Tower for a meeting with Don. He was a no show so we stopped for a Starbuck's and an ogle at the golden furnishings of the foyer.

On the way to the Rockefeller Centre we popped into Swatch (another present for Taine) and Lindt (presents for me). When we got to Rockefeller the queues reached a whole new dimension. The line for the Lego store went all the way round the block and when we eventually got in and out of the shop we found ourselves in a crush of human beings coming from four different directions. I reckon the entire population of Mortlake would have been swamped by this mass of people on just one city intersection. Luckily, festive spirit is alive and well in NY, even in the crowds and queues and there was very little pushing or shoving. Everyone just shuffles along trying to keep hold of their own group until , just like car traffic jams, the side walk magically opens up and you can move forward.

After another journey on the subway and a brief respite back at the Dumont, we went next door for Chinese food. The food was ok but the restaurant was SO hot. This is something we've found really odd in the North. You have to be very rugged up to be outside but the insides of shops and restaurants are ridiculously warm. I find myself de robing at the entrance of every building and carting my gloves, beanie and coat around over my arm till it's time to leave.

To walk off dinner we went down 5th Ave to Macys who are open continuously for 48 hrs before Christmas. There were thousands of people in the store, many of them carrying dozens of red bags. It's commercialism gone crazy. Despite traipsing up and down all 8 floors we found nothing we wanted to buy. I think we are shopped out!

The Big Apple

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 14:22:00 +0000

My feet hurt!
We've been in Manhattan for just over 24 hours and in that time I think we've walked about 20 km.
When we think of downtown New York we think of it like the middle of any city but in fact this is a place of cities within cities. Manhattan is spread over 185 streets east to west and every one of those streets is a main street with some major, must see attraction! And that's just one of the boroughs of New York.

We left Boston yesterday at 11am for what was supposed to be a 4 hr bus trip. This actually turned out to be a very uncomfortable 6 hour torture but for $25 we weren't complaining. I was surprised how much open space there was between the two cities. In my mind the Eastern Seaboard has always been one long metropolis but in fact there are lots of woods and trees, right up to the edge of the city.
Our first real glimpse of New York city was the Yankee Stadium and then we crossed the bridge into Harlem. Whoah, just like the movies. And again, just like the movies, the neighborhood changed at the edge of Central Park to expensive apartments and coiffured dogs and their leash holders.

Our hotel ( the Affinia Dumont) is on 34th and Lexington, just a few streets away from The Empire State Building. We have a great view of the skyline of uptown Manhattan. Sophie met us at the bus station and thanks to her previous experience, we were able to master the subway fairly quickly. What an excellent method of moving people around the city. We bought a $29 weekly pass and we've already taken 10 subway rides! Our first stop last night was Times Square, the mecca of tourists and entrepreneurs looking to make money from the tourists. It's not so much a square as a street, full of lights and shops and buskers and more lights.We watched ourselves on the big screen for a bit and then went on search of food.

This morning we ventured to the bottom of the island. Earlier this year our Drama class used the events of September 11 as the stimulus for their ensemble performance and as a result we had done a lot of research into the tragedy.Visiting the memorial was an important mecca for us. It is a truly somber and overwhelming experience to stand where those mighty towers once stood and fell. It was freezing and the water spray from the reflecting pools was cold but I felt obliged to read each and every one of the names on the edges of the pools.

I had booked tickets to climb the crown of the Statue of Liberty but both Liberty & Ellis Islands are closed due to storm damage from Sandy. Determined not to miss seeing Lady Liberty altogether and despite the biting wind and heavy swell we boarded the ferry from Battery Park. Risking hypothermia we managed to get some wind blown 'selfies' and a few decent photos of the statue and the Manhattan skyline before tottering off the gang plank and hurrying back to the warmth (and the weirdos) of the subway.

Tonight we ventured down to the Rockefeller Centre to look at the Christmas decorations and then to the biggest department store ever, Macys.

Walking the streets of New York it's hard to believe there are so many people in the world, let alone in one city. Remarkably, a lot of them are Australians, particularly in our hotel. Amongst the accents of New York the Aussie drawl is instantly recognizable.

Freedom Trail

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 01:12:00 +0000

The rain abated today so we had a beautifully clear (albeit cold) view of the city today. The whole place reminds me so much of Dunedin, right down to its own, distinct accent. Our trolley driver this morning spent some time encouraging us to speak 'Baahhstonian' but I'm afraid I just can't get my tongue around those drawn out vaahhls. I could listen to it all day though. I asked a man for directions and was so entranced by his accent that I had no idea what he'd said!

We got off at Boston Common this morning to play with the squirrels again and check out some of the historic monuments in the park.

On the spur of the moment (and to get out of the cold) we decided to visit the State House, home of the Massachusetts' parliament. I'm so glad we did. What a beautiful building with very friendly and approachable staff. The murals and stained glass windows throughout the great halls reflect the history of Boston, Massachusetts and indeed the United States through the American Revolution, the birth of Independence and the Civil War. We climbed the stairs right up to the golden dome and checked out both the Senate & the House of Reps.

A walk around the corner took us to the Granary Cemetery where the likes of Paul Revere, Mother Goose and Sam Adams are buried. So many old souls, right there in the middle of the city and residential buildings.

Taine was keen to visit the Tea Party Museum so that was our other stop for the day. We took part in a quaint re enactment and role play of the Tea Party, complete with a pretend tipping of tea into the harbour. The young man playing Sam Adams whipped us into a frenzy of rebellion complete with lots of 'hazars' and 'fies' and some foot stamping. We pretended to disguise ourselves with indian feathers and then boarded the ship to tip the tea. It was all informative and good fun and ended with a free sample of tea!

For dinner tonight we visited Whole Foods on our way home and bought ourselves a picnic of hot veggies & salad. This store is nowhere near as extensive as the one we visited in Austin but it's still big enough to provide lots of variety. Taine even scored some gingerbread corn chips for the bus tomorrow. I love the way even savoury foods become sweet treats in the U.S!

Boston is lovely but I'm not sure how people manage the Winter here. It was so cold today that even Geoff wore long sleeves and it was fully dark by 4.30pm. I can only imagine what it might be like in January and February.

Baaaahston

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 03:28:00 +0000

Boston is the oldest place of civilisation that I have every visited and I love how you can 'feel' the history here. Because of the persistent rain we shelved the walking tour idea and bought tickets on the trolley. They have a winter special that gives us access to the trolley for all 3 days of our visit for the price of one so it turned out to be a good choice. Unlike the conch train in Key West, this one really does have lots of stops at different locations where you can hop off and explore for awhile and then jump back on. The driver's narration was excellent and we learnt a great deal about the city as we drove around.

Our first stop was the Quincy Market where we got a chance to sample the famous clam chowder. Eaten in a bread bowl it most definitely lived up to expectations. In fact all the food at the market looked so delicious it was hard to choose what to have. The market area is beautifully decorated for the holidays and it includes a shop with the biggest range of Christmas ornaments you can imagine. I've been buying a distinctive ornament in each city to take home for our tree next year but like the food court the choices here were so vast that I couldn't decide what to have. In the end I bought a fairly boring red sox baseball bauble because it was light!

Because we spent so long at the market we didn't have a lot of time to explore Boston Common but we'll try to fit this in again tomorrow. Geoff's fascination with squirrels was rekindled in Washington where we saw squirrels of many colours including a black one and a snowy white one and continued today with the colony in Boston Common who are clearly hand fed because they were very playful.

Having grown up with the TV show where 'everybody knows your name', a visit to 'Cheers' was a must do. We sat at the bar and had a handle of John Adams before jumping back on the trolley right outside the door.

We had our first real travel hiccup today. I had booked tickets on the Amtrak to NYC for Sophie tomorrow and us on Thursday. Luckily it occurred to me today to check the baggage policy because we discovered that there is NO checked baggage on this train and no way of getting our cases to NY. Yikes! Thankfully Amtrak were happy to fully refund me and we've rebooked tickets (including a spare one for the extra luggage) on a bus instead.

Tonight we met up with a Bostonian friend for dinner. We went to the Cheesecake shop at Copley Square and had delicious salady, vegetably things.... and a wee bit of cheesecake.

One last museum

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 04:17:00 +0000

A late flight to Boston tonight left us with a morning to spend hunting down another museum in DC. We left the hotel late because it took us awhile to squish our Washington purchases into our already over flowing suitcases and had a late breakfast across the road at Billy Goat's diner. Two eggs sunnyside up, hash browns, bacon and toast , all for $5.

Taine wanted to check out the Air & Space museum so I hoisted my aching backside back on to the bike one more time. Who knew that Taine's multiple viewing of 'Night in the Museum' would lead to such an interest in history! Washington on a week day is a very different place than it is on the weekend. Mobile food trucks line some of the streets enabling the busy, government employees the option to eat on the run. Crossing pedestrian walkways becomes quite difficult because the drivers in important looking vehicles don't like to heed the 'give way to pedestrian' signs. We got quite a few toots as we wheeled our bikes across.

To be honest I was a bit museumed out and not really in the mood for roaming the exhibits but Taine & Geoff enjoyed it and learnt lots of interesting stuff about flight. I was a disappointed we didn't get to the American Indian museum but we've left a few things to do next time we visit.

Transportation to Dulles was a bit of an issue considering our luggage load. After weighing up the cost of the shuttle, the inconvenience of train then bus and the unknown price of a taxi, we went with a van organised by the hotel for $80. Added to the costly bike oversight from yesterday, this leg is becoming an expensive one but I'm glad we didn't have a car here. Parking at our hotel would have been $48 a day and I wouldn't have had nearly as much exercise!

Despite the distance to Dulles (almost 50k from the city), it didn't take long to get there and so we were left with a few hours to chill at the airport. The Jet Blue flight was bumpy and Boston is foggy, wet and cold. We caught a taxi to our hotel in the Back Bay area. It's called the Mid Town and I think it's seen better days but the room is big enough to lay all our suitcases on the floor for a re pack. I think we were a bit spoilt at the Affinia Liaison with its deliciously soft mattresses but I'm sure we can cope with a couple of less luxurious days before we get to another Affinia in NYC.

Sci fi transit area at Dulles

Given that we had a late lunch at the airport and no dinner, we ventured out into the rain looking for supper. Our first revelation was that you can't buy liquor in the drug store/ supermarket/pharmacy 7/11 places like you can in the South. I hadn't realised how convenient this was until it was so unexpectedly taken away from me! We found a Whole Foods just as it was closing and ended up eating apples and potato chips.

More monuments and memorials

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 03:50:00 +0000

After our success with the rent a bikes yesterday we picked up another lot this morning to ride out to Arlington cemetery. Those who know both Washington and me will understand that this was a fairly big challenge but you will be pleased to know I passed it with flying colors.

We rode back down through the Mall and stopped to take a few more photos and then cycled over the Arlington bridge to the cemetery itself. There are 624 acres of grave sites at Arlington, row upon row, upon row of white headstones, adorned at this time of the year by simple Christmas wreaths.

Amongst the rows lie memorials to many famous servicemen and women, including the Challenger and Columbia crews and the Kennedy family. Visiting Jack Kennedy's grave site was even more poignant after being in Dallas last month. He is buried in a beautiful site, alongside Jackie, their stillborn daughter and infant son Patrick. The site overlooks the Lincoln and Washington monuments and is truly a peaceful and lovely place.

We also visited the tomb of the unknown soldier and watched the changing of the guard. The respect and discipline of the young men on this watch is amazing. They perform a routine of measured steps based on the 21 gun salute , walk 21 steps, wait 21 seconds , turn, repeat. On every hour a change over ceremony takes place.

After we'd ridden back over the bridge we took a look at the White House from the front door, the Pennsylvania Ave side. I liked this view much better. They are in the middle of preparations here for the inauguration in January, with the spectator platforms almost complete. While we were there President Obama's helicopter took off for his visit to Connecticut.

It was only when we went to return the bikes that we realised we should have read the instructions more carefully when we rented them. Free for the first 30mins, $2 for up to an hour and then $8 for EACH 30 minutes after that. Times 4 bikes. We'd been on them all day. Ooops!

We wandered through Macy's while we caught up on our Drama student's final VCE scores via email and messenger. We've been sweating on their results for a few weeks and it was great to hear that our class had all done really well.

After two beautifully clear and still days it started to rain as we walked home. Too tired for anything else we resorted to the Irish pub around the corner again for dinner.

The Capital

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 03:33:00 +0000

What an amazing day we had in the city of monuments and museums! There's something special about just being in the seat of power in a country, I have the same feeling when I visit Canberra. All the buildings are so proper, practical yet ornate and there's a sense of importance in the air.

We had breakfast at Starbucks and then set off to explore the National Mall. On the way to the White House we stumbled upon a skating rink in the Sculpture Garden and spent a fun hour there staggering around on the ice. Well, Sophie and Geoff staggered around on the ice, Taine & I clutched the rail and dragged ourselves around the rim.

Our next stop was the museum of Natural History. Taine was in his element checking out the dinosaurs and introducing us to all the settings from 'Night in the Museum'.

The White House is less impressive in person than it is on the TV because it's set so far back in the gardens that it's hard to get more than a glimpse through the fence. Still, it is the White House! The information centre is even less impressive because it's under going extension and housed in a temporary building. There was a lovely school choir singing by the White House Christmas tree and we stopped to hear them sing The Star Spangled Banner. I love the patriotism associated with the anthem here, I wish is would rub off on Australians.

We joined a free walking tour (payment by voluntary tips at the end) of the west end of the National Mall. It was very informative and a real lesson in American history but by the time we got to the Lincoln monument we were exhausted. Despite my reservations about there being no helmets, we collected some bikes from the 'Collect a Bike' stand near Abe's statue and rode all the way back through the mall. It was so much fun and a great way to see everything. I loved the reflecting pond (summoning up images of Forest Gump's 'Jennnnyyy') and the view of the capital as we approached it.

When we got to the Capital we discovered what we thought was a wedding party having their photos taken but it turned out to be a 15th birthday party! I'm not sure what nationality the family were but they told us that this was a tradition for them. Everyone was formally dressed in suits and lots of tulle and there was a huge limo waiting for them. Taine & Geoff joined them for a bit of Gangman dancing and then we rode off on our bikes to explore the grounds of the Capital and its Christmas tree, a giant 74 yr old , 73 ft high spruce bought from Colorado as a gift to the people.

For dinner we walked down to Chinatown to meet up with a friend of Soph's who had been an exchange student in Melbourne a couple of years ago. The delicious food helped restore some energy but didn't help my poor feet at all. Hopefully a good night's sleep will have them back in shape for further exploration tomorrow.

Moving North

noreply@blogger.com (kwaussie) — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 03:38:00 +0000

Magic Kingdom in the daylight was a much happier proposition for me than it had been in the dark for MVSCP. With the benefit of having already seen some of the attractions we had some kind of plan for visiting the rest. Part of this plan was to use the Fastpass system, a sneaky way of beating the queues. You pop your ticket in a machine at some of the busier rides and it gives you another ticket with an hour 'window' to return. When you come back you simply report to the Fastpass lane and skip to the front. This is particularly appealing on attractions where queue waiting times are up to 50minutes.

There's nothing very scary at the Magic Kingdom. It's more about the Disney brand and atmosphere and the stand out to me is that everyone who works there appears so incredibly happy and positive. I know this is essential as part of the role play but I'm guessing that the Walt corporation pays its employees a decent wage because there's no way I could open and shut the same doors or say, 'Please watch your step and stay to the right', thousands of times a day with that sort of smile on my face without an incentive!

Anyway we went on all the rides we could manage, including risking death by boredom on Winnie the Pooh (imagine if we hadn't fast passed that!) and when it got cold we went home. We let Taine choose for dinner and that led us to the T Rex restaurant at Downtown Disney. Dodging the meteor showers that run every 20 minutes, we dined on BBQ ribs and queso and prehistoric themed cocktails (a mocktail in Taine's case!) We also managed to track down Taine's other choice of R2D2 Disney ears.

This morning we had to pack up and leave the haven of the Port Orleans Resort. We really enjoyed our 4 nights there and would recommend it to anyone. We were even able to check in to our Washington flight at the resort, leaving the every increasing pile of bags to them so we could fit the four of us in the rental car to get to the airport.

Luckily we arrived early at the Orlando airport because getting through security there is a lengthy business as four lines of people merge into one to get through the scanners. It was our first experience on Jet Blue and a very positive one. They have lots of leg room and free snacks to keep the kid happy. They also let him into the cockpit to sit in the pilot's seat. Pretty special.

We arrived in the nation's capital at 6.30 and were amused to find so many Obama souvenirs in the airport. The thought that anyone would buy a Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott cap beggars belief.

We knew we were back in the real world when we spotted the line of homeless people lining up at a soup kitchen for dinner across the road from our hotel where expensive car doors were being opened for bejeweled guests heading out to the theatre. In our jeans, trackies and runners we felt pretty under dressed but luckily we ran into a fellow Aussie in the elevator and she was wearing junners too.

Even downtown the capital was very quiet for a Friday night. We found an Irish pub for dinner where we had delicious hamburgers and salad. It is of course a very sad day in the US with the school shooting in Connecticut. The flags are at half mast all over the city out of respect to this unimaginable horror :-(