Cabrillo National Monument - San Diego
Surf Dudes (Matt on Right) - Ocean Beach, San Diego
Rangitoto Volcano Caves - Auckland, NZ
Hollywood Boulevard - L.A.
28 October 2006
Photos of Phun!
Rangitoto Island from Devonport Beach - Auckland, NZ
Cabrillo National Monument - San Diego
Surf Dudes (Matt on Right) - Ocean Beach, San Diego
Rangitoto Volcano Caves - Auckland, NZ
Hollywood Boulevard - L.A.
Cabrillo National Monument - San Diego
Surf Dudes (Matt on Right) - Ocean Beach, San Diego
Rangitoto Volcano Caves - Auckland, NZ
Hollywood Boulevard - L.A.
26 October 2006
joke de la jour
Why does a lump of moon rock taste better than a lump of earth rock?
Because it's a little meteor.
Because it's a little meteor.
18th-23rd october
We are currently cruising at an altitude of 39,000 feet. If you look out of the window to your left you can see nothing, and if you look out the window to your right I am assured that you can see new zealand. We have been flying for almost 12 hours now, and still have another hour or so to go. It is still pitch black outside as we chase the moon, though i'm sure the sun will catch up with us soon. Bizarrely we've lost a day. We took off on the 23rd, but it's now the 25th. Surreal. The flight's not been too bad, I have watched several films. X-men 3 was okay. Nacho libre (jack black, spandex, wrestling) was abysmal. I may even have got an hour or two of sleep but that would be debatable. We're in auckland for five days until we pick up the van staying in the surf and snow hostel. Odd considering auckland doesn't have facilities for either surfing or skiing... Looks nice enough though. Hmm, air new zealand need more toilets on the plane. I only want to clean my teefs...
Anyway, a brief sequence of events of what kasey and codey (our california names) have been up to in our last few days in LA.
18th - left san diego. Cruised up to the southern reaches of the LA sprawl. It is incomprehensible in its size. If you took the ten biggest uk cities and put them together they probably would be swallowed up by LA with room to spare. It's about 70-80 miles across and maybe 40-50 in length. Anyway, we started at the bottom of orange county - home of The OC's newport beach, and, laguna beach. Laguna beach is clearly home to some money. Look at me, i'm rich! Nice beaches too. Newport beach was not the same as on tv. Whilst the houses on the hills were nice, the beach itself was your average california ramshackle beach community. Sorry OC fans. All the beach communities up the coast are nice. Only long beach was a bit tatty and industrial. It's on the southern end of the "south central" LA area, famous for its gangs. Windows up kasey (or joey)! From there it was more nice beaches to venice beach - our LA home...
The captain has just announced that there will be a delay to the landing due to a technical fault. Crap.
19th - we explored venice beach and santa monica. There are surfers around the pier, but the water is pretty grim. There is an awful lot of rubbish, yet the rest of the california coast is very clean. It's cool to see all these places that you've heard of in songs and tv - santa monica blvd, sunset strip etc. Cool...
20th - today was joey's day. We went to beverly hills. Rodeo drive and the lifestyles of the rich and famous. First stop hollywood though... A completely underwhelming area just west of downtown. Mann's chinese theatre, the walk of the stars, and, erm, er... Nothing. Nothing but tat merchants. Really really strange. Needless to say we didn't stay long.
Rodeo drive (why do they pronounce it row-day-o?). Now this looked exactly like it does on tv... Pretty woman... We window-shopped and generally brought down the tone. No celebs though. Kasey/joey was muy disappointed... She had secret hopes of meeting paris and nicole, and being invited to a hollywood party where she would steal the show... It wasn't to be.
On the way back to venice beach we stopped at santa monica state beach to play a spot of beach footie, or soccer as I now insist on calling it... Anyway, turns out the wife is pretty good for a girl. A wasted career perhaps? I've called the big clubs out to send a scout: Real, Barca, Brighton, Athletico Deckchair, Sweet FA etc.
In the evening we went for a few shandies in santa monica at the library alehouse where we got talking to the couple sitting next to us. They were from boston and had sold their business to move to LA so that she could be an actor (apparently actresses are so last year). It is true what they say - almost everyone in LA wants to be in front of the camera. As our new friend frank described it, all the good looking people across america move to LA to make it. All the waiters and waitresses are just on the verge of their big break. Even the barmaid (who to be fair new how to pour guinness) kept ranting on about her theatrical training. That's great love, but get me another pint and make it snappy.
21st - Why oh why oh why. I'm a relatively smart man. I have a-levels. GCSEs. I'm even a chartered certified accountant. Common sense and fair judgement. Not known for risk-taking or poor decisions. So why oh why oh why did I let joey talk me into rollerblading? Honestly. Hire a bike? Yep. A skateboard? Defo. A tandem even? Why not. But, why did I agree to roller blades (with a slight hangover)? Objection 1. I've ice-skated twice before in my life. In two one-hour sessions I probably spent a combined time of 3-4 minutes not on my arse or my knees. Why would roller blading be any different? Objection 2. It just doesn't look that macho and I, after all, am a macho-man. Firstly rollerblading in itself is a bit girly. Secondly, a man with no balance in normal shoes is guaranteed to look a tool trying to stay upright in those blade things. But, when in rome (or this case venice)... And so $5 an hour each was laid down and off we went. Anyway, it turned out that i'm a natural at accelerating. I was not, however, so naturally gifted at decelerating. There are two recognised methods of braking. Firstly, with the stopper conveniently attached to the heel of the right boot. Secondly, by pointing your toes inward - like skiing. Well, I have created a third method. You point your skates at the nearest fixed dustbin and close your eyes. It's not glamorous, and it does hurt, but it prevents further injury. It also encourages you to learn method one a bit quicker. We managed to get from venice pier to santa monica pier in one piece when we foolishly took the boots off to rest our feet. Foolishly? Yes. Once off, joey's boots wouldn't go back on. A one hour walk back carrying the buggers. And it had got hot.
In the evening we went to watch basketball - the LA Clippers vs the Seattle SuperSonics. Clippers won by 4 points. Good fun alround, and joey bought a souvenir t-shirt. Afterwards we checked out downtown santa monica's late night scene. Even at 11pm there were loads of street dancers, singers and musicians all trying to loosen the money out of our pockets and in to theirs... The most interesting guy was a religious man who was presenting a powerpoint slideshow and taking Q&A from the crowd. The mic was only available to non-christians, and the point was to ask him questions for him to convince you that his religion was right and everyone else was wrong. Unfortunately he was a bit too much of a fanatic and was not good at criticism. If he got a question he didn't like he would mute the microphone or shout over them. It was interesting, but the guy was too ignorant/closed to discuss anyone elses opinion. Even joey had a crack at him, but he denied that subjectivity could possibly exist (when translating the bible over thousands of years). If he was any good as a debater (regardless of the topic), then he should have accepted things like this as a risk to his belief.
22nd - the Lyn dynasty! Today we met the LA branch of the Lyn/Lim clan. Joey's great uncle patrick and his family (4 daughters) and her great aunt betty. For lunch we went to one of the four daughters in malibu (also called betty). Not only was betty's house in malibu, but it was two doors from anthony hopkins and opposite martin sheen's! Joey's eyes lit up! After a very pleasant lunch with both betties and Steve, we went for a stroll on malibu beach. Nice. Betty's son jonathan and his wife (also joey) led us to thousand oaks, where great uncle patrick and his family live, for dinner. Dinner was basically a great big chinese buffet cooked up by the lady of the house (great auntie shaoman) for about 15 lyns and 2 hills! All in all, very nice food and nice to meet some more of joey's family, who were all nice and made me feel very welcome indeed.
23rd - packed our bags and took off for the southern hemisphere... Went for one last stroll on a LA beach and realised that despite it being a grubby old town with a severe homeless problem, we quite like it...
That's all for now. I think I owe you a couple of wingwatches, both in san diego, so I'll rack my brains...
Joey's musings:- Well here we are in the city of sails AKA Auckland.....not at all like the city of sin AKA Las Vegas! We are feeling a little jaded after the rather lengthy flight from L.A but hopefully another good nights sleep will do the trick. On first impressions Auckland appears to be a lovely city with water all around it, nice fresh food, temperate climate......great if you like being fit and outdoorsey! Unlike us whose 2 months of glutony are catching up! Where's the Cold Stone Cremery, that's what I say! Lots of love, jo xxxx
Anyway, a brief sequence of events of what kasey and codey (our california names) have been up to in our last few days in LA.
18th - left san diego. Cruised up to the southern reaches of the LA sprawl. It is incomprehensible in its size. If you took the ten biggest uk cities and put them together they probably would be swallowed up by LA with room to spare. It's about 70-80 miles across and maybe 40-50 in length. Anyway, we started at the bottom of orange county - home of The OC's newport beach, and, laguna beach. Laguna beach is clearly home to some money. Look at me, i'm rich! Nice beaches too. Newport beach was not the same as on tv. Whilst the houses on the hills were nice, the beach itself was your average california ramshackle beach community. Sorry OC fans. All the beach communities up the coast are nice. Only long beach was a bit tatty and industrial. It's on the southern end of the "south central" LA area, famous for its gangs. Windows up kasey (or joey)! From there it was more nice beaches to venice beach - our LA home...
The captain has just announced that there will be a delay to the landing due to a technical fault. Crap.
19th - we explored venice beach and santa monica. There are surfers around the pier, but the water is pretty grim. There is an awful lot of rubbish, yet the rest of the california coast is very clean. It's cool to see all these places that you've heard of in songs and tv - santa monica blvd, sunset strip etc. Cool...
20th - today was joey's day. We went to beverly hills. Rodeo drive and the lifestyles of the rich and famous. First stop hollywood though... A completely underwhelming area just west of downtown. Mann's chinese theatre, the walk of the stars, and, erm, er... Nothing. Nothing but tat merchants. Really really strange. Needless to say we didn't stay long.
Rodeo drive (why do they pronounce it row-day-o?). Now this looked exactly like it does on tv... Pretty woman... We window-shopped and generally brought down the tone. No celebs though. Kasey/joey was muy disappointed... She had secret hopes of meeting paris and nicole, and being invited to a hollywood party where she would steal the show... It wasn't to be.
On the way back to venice beach we stopped at santa monica state beach to play a spot of beach footie, or soccer as I now insist on calling it... Anyway, turns out the wife is pretty good for a girl. A wasted career perhaps? I've called the big clubs out to send a scout: Real, Barca, Brighton, Athletico Deckchair, Sweet FA etc.
In the evening we went for a few shandies in santa monica at the library alehouse where we got talking to the couple sitting next to us. They were from boston and had sold their business to move to LA so that she could be an actor (apparently actresses are so last year). It is true what they say - almost everyone in LA wants to be in front of the camera. As our new friend frank described it, all the good looking people across america move to LA to make it. All the waiters and waitresses are just on the verge of their big break. Even the barmaid (who to be fair new how to pour guinness) kept ranting on about her theatrical training. That's great love, but get me another pint and make it snappy.
21st - Why oh why oh why. I'm a relatively smart man. I have a-levels. GCSEs. I'm even a chartered certified accountant. Common sense and fair judgement. Not known for risk-taking or poor decisions. So why oh why oh why did I let joey talk me into rollerblading? Honestly. Hire a bike? Yep. A skateboard? Defo. A tandem even? Why not. But, why did I agree to roller blades (with a slight hangover)? Objection 1. I've ice-skated twice before in my life. In two one-hour sessions I probably spent a combined time of 3-4 minutes not on my arse or my knees. Why would roller blading be any different? Objection 2. It just doesn't look that macho and I, after all, am a macho-man. Firstly rollerblading in itself is a bit girly. Secondly, a man with no balance in normal shoes is guaranteed to look a tool trying to stay upright in those blade things. But, when in rome (or this case venice)... And so $5 an hour each was laid down and off we went. Anyway, it turned out that i'm a natural at accelerating. I was not, however, so naturally gifted at decelerating. There are two recognised methods of braking. Firstly, with the stopper conveniently attached to the heel of the right boot. Secondly, by pointing your toes inward - like skiing. Well, I have created a third method. You point your skates at the nearest fixed dustbin and close your eyes. It's not glamorous, and it does hurt, but it prevents further injury. It also encourages you to learn method one a bit quicker. We managed to get from venice pier to santa monica pier in one piece when we foolishly took the boots off to rest our feet. Foolishly? Yes. Once off, joey's boots wouldn't go back on. A one hour walk back carrying the buggers. And it had got hot.
In the evening we went to watch basketball - the LA Clippers vs the Seattle SuperSonics. Clippers won by 4 points. Good fun alround, and joey bought a souvenir t-shirt. Afterwards we checked out downtown santa monica's late night scene. Even at 11pm there were loads of street dancers, singers and musicians all trying to loosen the money out of our pockets and in to theirs... The most interesting guy was a religious man who was presenting a powerpoint slideshow and taking Q&A from the crowd. The mic was only available to non-christians, and the point was to ask him questions for him to convince you that his religion was right and everyone else was wrong. Unfortunately he was a bit too much of a fanatic and was not good at criticism. If he got a question he didn't like he would mute the microphone or shout over them. It was interesting, but the guy was too ignorant/closed to discuss anyone elses opinion. Even joey had a crack at him, but he denied that subjectivity could possibly exist (when translating the bible over thousands of years). If he was any good as a debater (regardless of the topic), then he should have accepted things like this as a risk to his belief.
22nd - the Lyn dynasty! Today we met the LA branch of the Lyn/Lim clan. Joey's great uncle patrick and his family (4 daughters) and her great aunt betty. For lunch we went to one of the four daughters in malibu (also called betty). Not only was betty's house in malibu, but it was two doors from anthony hopkins and opposite martin sheen's! Joey's eyes lit up! After a very pleasant lunch with both betties and Steve, we went for a stroll on malibu beach. Nice. Betty's son jonathan and his wife (also joey) led us to thousand oaks, where great uncle patrick and his family live, for dinner. Dinner was basically a great big chinese buffet cooked up by the lady of the house (great auntie shaoman) for about 15 lyns and 2 hills! All in all, very nice food and nice to meet some more of joey's family, who were all nice and made me feel very welcome indeed.
23rd - packed our bags and took off for the southern hemisphere... Went for one last stroll on a LA beach and realised that despite it being a grubby old town with a severe homeless problem, we quite like it...
That's all for now. I think I owe you a couple of wingwatches, both in san diego, so I'll rack my brains...
Joey's musings:- Well here we are in the city of sails AKA Auckland.....not at all like the city of sin AKA Las Vegas! We are feeling a little jaded after the rather lengthy flight from L.A but hopefully another good nights sleep will do the trick. On first impressions Auckland appears to be a lovely city with water all around it, nice fresh food, temperate climate......great if you like being fit and outdoorsey! Unlike us whose 2 months of glutony are catching up! Where's the Cold Stone Cremery, that's what I say! Lots of love, jo xxxx
21 October 2006
11th - 18th october 2006
18th october
I guess I should update this. I just need to keep reminding myself that if I don't update this then joey and I will have no diary of our trip to look back on when we're old and wrinkly. That, and of course any poor fool that stumbles on this won't get to keep up with us either... So, San Diego:
11th - was quite sad to leave las vegas. Any longer there and it could have become too intense, but I think we got it about right. We dropped the kids off at the airport (chris and a slightly tearful lu), they were off to san fran for a week. I hope the weather was kinder to them there than it was to us. From there we cruised down to san diego in the hope of finding some more sunshine and maybe even love, fame and fortune. Okay, just sunshine then...
We stopped off at a town called temecula on the way down. It has an old wooden frontier town area which you can't help but think is somewhat contrived... Anyway, after a quick lunch we spotted a hairdressers over the road and decided to take advantage - after all my barnet hadn't been cut since we left blighty. Now being as this was a mainly mexican area of california, and they don't get too many balding blonde englishmen in there, they pulled out all the stops. I assume that was the reason, as I can only describe it as the world's most erotic haircut. The young lady who cut my hair, let's call her madonna, spent rather a long time stroking my head and neck whilst shaving my hair. She also dropped in comments such as "oh, it's so blonde", "such a manly haircut" and "I bet it doesn't take you long in the shower". Fortunately, joey couldn't hear madonna's ramblings and was unaware that her husband was being seduced by a rogue hairdresser. But madge wasn't done there! She lead me out the back to wash my hair. I barely have any hair! I don't think my hair has ever been washed by anyone but me (well, maybe by rosie when I was younger). Anyway, the washing involved ear and forehead stroking, not to mention more lewd comments. And poor wifey was blissfully unaware. It only cost ten bucks, so I gave her a rather generous five dollar tip. In retrospect this was perhaps not the smartest move, I think she took it as a come-on. Oops. We fled (joey and I, rather than madonna and I) and got down to san diego...
The evening involved dinner in the gaslamp district. An area once frequented by wyatt earp and co, and one of the few old areas not torn down to make way for high rises...
12th - san diego zoo is considered one of the finest zoo's in the world. We considered it our responsibility to see if this really is the case:
Reptiles - most unpleasant. Probably not the zoo's fault, more my phobias.
Monkeys and Apes - excellent, could watch them for ages.
Pigs and goats - all amusing, but a bit smelly.
Elephants, rhinos and giraffes - all excellent, soon moving to bigger pens.
Giant Tortoises - mating season. Traumatising.
Overall, a good zoo and a good day out. And at $22 much cheaper than sea world at $55.
On the way back from the zoo, it was joey's turn for a haircut!!! Fortunately we didn't go to the same hairdressers as I did. That would have been wrong. No, joey found some slightly fancy place in a nice area of town (no toni & guy - we are roughing it after all). So she went in and asked for a trim while I went for a stroll. It turns out that it was one of those places that only does one style - not sure that's because they only know how to do one style or they only get asked to do one style. You could go in bald, afro or dreads. You'd still come out with the same cut. I was a little shocked on my return to see that they'd turned jo into the all american housewife. A cross between martha stewart and the mum from the brady bunch. It was very difficult to keep from laughing. So I didn't. They had given her hair a LOT of volume! Photo to follow...
13th - hey amigo! Yes, we went to mexico. Tijuana to be exact. We got the tram from san diego to the border and just walked over. The US side at the border is quite barron, save for a petrol station and a bus stop. The mexican side is quite surreal as it's a huge city squashed right up to the border. Most americans only cross over to buy cheaper drugs (pharmaceutical) have dental work done or drink if you're under 21. The only areas of town reachable by foot are a mixture of chemists, dentists, bars, restaurants and tat merchants. And if you stand out in a crowd as not being mexican (such as my good self) then the merchants try to drag you in every single one. Add to this children selling jewellery and donkeys painted with stripes to look like zebras for photo opportunities and you've got a very unusual and un-mexican way to spend a few hours... It does not give a good impression of mexico which is a shame because it's probably all that most americans will ever see of it.
There is also a well known police scam in tijuana whereby you are accused of trespassing and 'fined' forty or fifty dollars on the spot or threatened with prison. Joey and I haven't had the best of luck in areas like this so it was no surprise when we got stopped by the old bill. First he wanted to see my ID then asked where we had been (i feel trespassing coming on). Then he wanted jo's ID. We spoke to him in Spanish and he realised we were Brits as opposed to Americans. He asked our ages and a few other questions. I'd just noticed that he didn't have a badge and I was almost dipping into my wallet to pay the anticipated 'fine' when he gave us our passports back and sent us on our way. Maybe because we were english or maybe because we tried to speak spanish. Who knows.
The crossing back took two hours or so with the department of homeland security showing their usual levels of efficiency...
Anyway, probably not the most realistic taster of mexico. If you didn't know better, it would put you off...
14th - went to the beaches! Still not a great deal of sunshine, but warm enough to visit pacific beach, ocean beach and mission beach; gnarly little surf obsessed towns where people live to surf. On that day there was a carnival on too which made for a nice day out.
In the evening we found ourselves in another gay bar! Doesn't that make us the brighton equivalent of the british holiday makers who go to marbella and head for the nearest "nags head"? This was in the hillcrest suburb of san diego, a generally gay/studenty area of town which, as usual, had a good mix of shops, restaurants and bars. We did actually stumble into the place erroneously. It was called Mo's. The owners name? No, short for homos! Still, dinner was nice.
15th - sunday was spent cruising the coast. La Jolla (pronounced "hoya") is a very posh suburb. The beaches here were small bays with grassy headlands inbetween. It appeared to be a popular spot for weddings and diving. Above and below the sea level respectively.
Not quite as ostentatious was the northern town of cardiff-by-the-sea! No miners here though. Just big surfers beaches and big big houses on the hills. It was almost as pretty as it's namesake.
We've discovered an ice cream shop here called cold stone creamery where they take basic ice cream flavours and personalise them by adding various biscuits and chocolates and sauces at your request. I am of course addicted. Anyway, we stopped by one near our hotel on the way back when something strange happened. Joey got stuck between the front seats of the car! We'd parked up and she was leaning over to the backseat to get her jumper, when she slipped and fell onto the tat tray that sits between the two front seats (you know, the one where you keep the coins and stuff - in england you'd have a gear stick and handbrake too). Anyway joey fell here and started laughing hysterically. I tried to lift her up, but I accidentally put my finger in her belly button which caused her to wriggle further, and yes, the tat tray collapsed, gravity took over and she slid further. Joey was now well and truly stuck between the seats along with all the crap that was previously on the tray - money, maps, drinks, pens even a guidebook. Of course by this point we were both hysterical. Picture if you will: her legs were bent into the front passenger foot-well, her torso between the front seats, and her head and arms in the rear passenger foot area. At this point (9:15), we realised that the cold stone creamery closed shortly (9:30), and so a struggle ensued. Unfortunately I was pulling joey's legs from the front whilst she was trying to climb into the back. After much seat movement and laurel and hardy type comic movements, the joanne hill 1 was finally freed, whereby we celebrated with ice-cream and fizzy pop. Awesome!
16th - monday was one of my favourite days in the US so far. At 11am I had my first surf lesson in the pacific. Joey chose to sit it out this time (i think that she was protecting her new haircut). The surf at pacific beach is perfect for beginners: clean 3ft swell, mild currents, no rocks or reefs and lots of lifeguards. It all came back pretty quickly and I was falling off the board left, right and centre in no time, just like I was during my lessons last year. This time I learnt to turn which was helpful, though I rarely stayed on a wave long enough to require turning. Every now and then a 6-8ft wave turned up and I got hammered. Most amusing. So after two and a half hours of pacific-swallowing, nose-diving, head-banging, foot-scratching, leash-rubbing, muscle-aching fun, I was done. Next stop, australia!
We spent the afternoon sitting on the beach building sandcastles, watching sufers and watching the sun go down. Followed up by happy hour in a nearby bar and a spot of thai. Sweet.
17th - boring job day. Laundry and accommodation booking/research for L.A. mainly. Only an awesome jerk chicken pizza in the evening managed to save the day from being a write-off...
All in all, san diego was pretty cool. Plenty to see and do, especially if you're a beach bum.
Next instalment: The OC, L.A., and leaving america... Until then...
Ps - lu & chris, hope you enjoyed san fran and had a safe trip home.
No musings from mrs. H today. The sun goddess is preying to her god - working her tan!
I guess I should update this. I just need to keep reminding myself that if I don't update this then joey and I will have no diary of our trip to look back on when we're old and wrinkly. That, and of course any poor fool that stumbles on this won't get to keep up with us either... So, San Diego:
11th - was quite sad to leave las vegas. Any longer there and it could have become too intense, but I think we got it about right. We dropped the kids off at the airport (chris and a slightly tearful lu), they were off to san fran for a week. I hope the weather was kinder to them there than it was to us. From there we cruised down to san diego in the hope of finding some more sunshine and maybe even love, fame and fortune. Okay, just sunshine then...
We stopped off at a town called temecula on the way down. It has an old wooden frontier town area which you can't help but think is somewhat contrived... Anyway, after a quick lunch we spotted a hairdressers over the road and decided to take advantage - after all my barnet hadn't been cut since we left blighty. Now being as this was a mainly mexican area of california, and they don't get too many balding blonde englishmen in there, they pulled out all the stops. I assume that was the reason, as I can only describe it as the world's most erotic haircut. The young lady who cut my hair, let's call her madonna, spent rather a long time stroking my head and neck whilst shaving my hair. She also dropped in comments such as "oh, it's so blonde", "such a manly haircut" and "I bet it doesn't take you long in the shower". Fortunately, joey couldn't hear madonna's ramblings and was unaware that her husband was being seduced by a rogue hairdresser. But madge wasn't done there! She lead me out the back to wash my hair. I barely have any hair! I don't think my hair has ever been washed by anyone but me (well, maybe by rosie when I was younger). Anyway, the washing involved ear and forehead stroking, not to mention more lewd comments. And poor wifey was blissfully unaware. It only cost ten bucks, so I gave her a rather generous five dollar tip. In retrospect this was perhaps not the smartest move, I think she took it as a come-on. Oops. We fled (joey and I, rather than madonna and I) and got down to san diego...
The evening involved dinner in the gaslamp district. An area once frequented by wyatt earp and co, and one of the few old areas not torn down to make way for high rises...
12th - san diego zoo is considered one of the finest zoo's in the world. We considered it our responsibility to see if this really is the case:
Reptiles - most unpleasant. Probably not the zoo's fault, more my phobias.
Monkeys and Apes - excellent, could watch them for ages.
Pigs and goats - all amusing, but a bit smelly.
Elephants, rhinos and giraffes - all excellent, soon moving to bigger pens.
Giant Tortoises - mating season. Traumatising.
Overall, a good zoo and a good day out. And at $22 much cheaper than sea world at $55.
On the way back from the zoo, it was joey's turn for a haircut!!! Fortunately we didn't go to the same hairdressers as I did. That would have been wrong. No, joey found some slightly fancy place in a nice area of town (no toni & guy - we are roughing it after all). So she went in and asked for a trim while I went for a stroll. It turns out that it was one of those places that only does one style - not sure that's because they only know how to do one style or they only get asked to do one style. You could go in bald, afro or dreads. You'd still come out with the same cut. I was a little shocked on my return to see that they'd turned jo into the all american housewife. A cross between martha stewart and the mum from the brady bunch. It was very difficult to keep from laughing. So I didn't. They had given her hair a LOT of volume! Photo to follow...
13th - hey amigo! Yes, we went to mexico. Tijuana to be exact. We got the tram from san diego to the border and just walked over. The US side at the border is quite barron, save for a petrol station and a bus stop. The mexican side is quite surreal as it's a huge city squashed right up to the border. Most americans only cross over to buy cheaper drugs (pharmaceutical) have dental work done or drink if you're under 21. The only areas of town reachable by foot are a mixture of chemists, dentists, bars, restaurants and tat merchants. And if you stand out in a crowd as not being mexican (such as my good self) then the merchants try to drag you in every single one. Add to this children selling jewellery and donkeys painted with stripes to look like zebras for photo opportunities and you've got a very unusual and un-mexican way to spend a few hours... It does not give a good impression of mexico which is a shame because it's probably all that most americans will ever see of it.
There is also a well known police scam in tijuana whereby you are accused of trespassing and 'fined' forty or fifty dollars on the spot or threatened with prison. Joey and I haven't had the best of luck in areas like this so it was no surprise when we got stopped by the old bill. First he wanted to see my ID then asked where we had been (i feel trespassing coming on). Then he wanted jo's ID. We spoke to him in Spanish and he realised we were Brits as opposed to Americans. He asked our ages and a few other questions. I'd just noticed that he didn't have a badge and I was almost dipping into my wallet to pay the anticipated 'fine' when he gave us our passports back and sent us on our way. Maybe because we were english or maybe because we tried to speak spanish. Who knows.
The crossing back took two hours or so with the department of homeland security showing their usual levels of efficiency...
Anyway, probably not the most realistic taster of mexico. If you didn't know better, it would put you off...
14th - went to the beaches! Still not a great deal of sunshine, but warm enough to visit pacific beach, ocean beach and mission beach; gnarly little surf obsessed towns where people live to surf. On that day there was a carnival on too which made for a nice day out.
In the evening we found ourselves in another gay bar! Doesn't that make us the brighton equivalent of the british holiday makers who go to marbella and head for the nearest "nags head"? This was in the hillcrest suburb of san diego, a generally gay/studenty area of town which, as usual, had a good mix of shops, restaurants and bars. We did actually stumble into the place erroneously. It was called Mo's. The owners name? No, short for homos! Still, dinner was nice.
15th - sunday was spent cruising the coast. La Jolla (pronounced "hoya") is a very posh suburb. The beaches here were small bays with grassy headlands inbetween. It appeared to be a popular spot for weddings and diving. Above and below the sea level respectively.
Not quite as ostentatious was the northern town of cardiff-by-the-sea! No miners here though. Just big surfers beaches and big big houses on the hills. It was almost as pretty as it's namesake.
We've discovered an ice cream shop here called cold stone creamery where they take basic ice cream flavours and personalise them by adding various biscuits and chocolates and sauces at your request. I am of course addicted. Anyway, we stopped by one near our hotel on the way back when something strange happened. Joey got stuck between the front seats of the car! We'd parked up and she was leaning over to the backseat to get her jumper, when she slipped and fell onto the tat tray that sits between the two front seats (you know, the one where you keep the coins and stuff - in england you'd have a gear stick and handbrake too). Anyway joey fell here and started laughing hysterically. I tried to lift her up, but I accidentally put my finger in her belly button which caused her to wriggle further, and yes, the tat tray collapsed, gravity took over and she slid further. Joey was now well and truly stuck between the seats along with all the crap that was previously on the tray - money, maps, drinks, pens even a guidebook. Of course by this point we were both hysterical. Picture if you will: her legs were bent into the front passenger foot-well, her torso between the front seats, and her head and arms in the rear passenger foot area. At this point (9:15), we realised that the cold stone creamery closed shortly (9:30), and so a struggle ensued. Unfortunately I was pulling joey's legs from the front whilst she was trying to climb into the back. After much seat movement and laurel and hardy type comic movements, the joanne hill 1 was finally freed, whereby we celebrated with ice-cream and fizzy pop. Awesome!
16th - monday was one of my favourite days in the US so far. At 11am I had my first surf lesson in the pacific. Joey chose to sit it out this time (i think that she was protecting her new haircut). The surf at pacific beach is perfect for beginners: clean 3ft swell, mild currents, no rocks or reefs and lots of lifeguards. It all came back pretty quickly and I was falling off the board left, right and centre in no time, just like I was during my lessons last year. This time I learnt to turn which was helpful, though I rarely stayed on a wave long enough to require turning. Every now and then a 6-8ft wave turned up and I got hammered. Most amusing. So after two and a half hours of pacific-swallowing, nose-diving, head-banging, foot-scratching, leash-rubbing, muscle-aching fun, I was done. Next stop, australia!
We spent the afternoon sitting on the beach building sandcastles, watching sufers and watching the sun go down. Followed up by happy hour in a nearby bar and a spot of thai. Sweet.
17th - boring job day. Laundry and accommodation booking/research for L.A. mainly. Only an awesome jerk chicken pizza in the evening managed to save the day from being a write-off...
All in all, san diego was pretty cool. Plenty to see and do, especially if you're a beach bum.
Next instalment: The OC, L.A., and leaving america... Until then...
Ps - lu & chris, hope you enjoyed san fran and had a safe trip home.
No musings from mrs. H today. The sun goddess is preying to her god - working her tan!
17 October 2006
More Photos..................
San Diego Zoo - Who's neck is the longest?
Tijuana, Mexico - Queue to return to the land of opportunity!
Jo and Lu - Cocktails in Vegas Baby!
Death Valley - California (Lots of valley but little death...)
Sunset in Death Valley
Tijuana, Mexico - Queue to return to the land of opportunity!
Jo and Lu - Cocktails in Vegas Baby!
Death Valley - California (Lots of valley but little death...)
Sunset in Death Valley
14 October 2006
monterey to vegas...
Well, well, well....what a long time it's been! Hope you are all still reading and haven't got...
A. Bored of the content
B. Bored of waiting
C. Just bored!
If anyone's reading perhaps you could just give us a little tickle to let us know you're there! (AKA a comment on the blog!)
The last 2 weeks have been very busy indeed, I think last time we spoke we had just left Monterey, home to Steinbeck and Jack cheese! After leaving said town, we journeyed south (like 2 English pseudo wannabe cowboys!) to the town of Baywood Park. Before I launch into the delights of back bay, I must tell you that the journey down Californian route 1, through Carmel and Big Sur is beautiful....we're talking waterfalls on the white beaches, wild elephant seals and high cliffs that look out to the bluest ocean.
Baywood park is a tiny town about 10 miles west of San Luis Obispo (or SLO as the locals call it). We stayed in a place on an inland bay behind the beach which was very peaceful and a welcome change from the hustle and bustle of San Francisco. We walked right around the bay and through some sand dunes to a deserted beach....it was lovely but too cold to swim. In the evening we went to SLO for a delightful veggie dinner (California provides the U.S. With most of it's fruit and veg so consequentially has loads of fresh veggie options - a far cry from those 14oz steaks back in the Mid West!)
I won't hover for too long as have a lot of ground to make up but the next few days consisted of a day out in Santa Barbara (lovely) and 2 days in Camarillo (north L.A) - no celeb sightings as yet!
After leaving L.A, we drove inwards to Nevada towards the bright lights of Vegas. It was here that we spent 3 hours driving through the Valley of Death AKA Death Valley. Now we are on the subject, I will quickly get a little story in before Matt resurrects his (currently resting) literary might and puts a spin on the whole issue! Death Valley is one of the most inhospitable, inhuman, scary places in the world...temps regularly top 100F, it is desolate, remote and you wouldn't want to get stranded across the 80mile stretch of desert. As a result of this, all guidebooks suggest drinking plenty of water to avoid dehydration....given that the day we visited it was only 85F and our car has air con, the 6 litres of water I drank during the trip mearly served as somewhat inconvenient in an area free of habitation, nevermind toilets! I don't know why Matt thinks I should use my own discretion when reading guidebooks! Aside from the toilet situation, the valley was great, especially as we were there during sunset. There is a place called Dante's View, named by the Mormon's and used to describe Death Valley's hell like qualities...I can certainly see the potential resemblance..
I will leave you all now and let the captain (or Blogtain) take his helm and lead you all through a literary minefield of humour, puns, text, and delights.......I introduce Mr Mattie Hill! (No pressure there then!)
Love to you all - Jo xxxxx
Howdy all, long time no speak. To be honest I've had no motivation to write anything, as we've been having such a nice time and have been so busy. For example on the first night in baywood park, it was a choice between updating the blog or looking at the stars through a telescope on a cool crisp evening from our patio on the edge of a huge lake. Tough choice! But, due to wifely pressure, I'm updating again. I think Joey missed out a couple of key points. Firstly, it's not possible to explain in words just how stunning big sur is. Secondly, it's not possible to explain in words how much time we wasted in Malibu looking for Jennifer Anniston or any other 'celebs'...
Vegas was superb. Whoever named New York as the city that never sleeps had obviously never been to LV. It's just mad. The hotels and all their features are all larger than life. From new york new york's roller coaster to bellagio's fountain and Rio's dancing girls. It's madness, 24 hours a day... We stayed in the luxor for a few nights, and saw people playing slot machines whilst drinking shorts early in the morning. Who knows how long they sit there...
We met up with lu & chris for four days in LV. Not only was it really nice to see a couple of familiar faces, but somewhere like vegas is better in numbers! Whilst there, our guests took us out for a big curry and took us to see a show - Penn & Teller. For those that don't know, penn and teller are magicians who include comedy and also explain all their tricks. Most excellent.
Lu was also thoughtful enough to plan a little scientific experiment (she is a scientist after all). Her plan was to see how much ice cream I had to eat in order to be sick on the NY NY rollercoaster. Unfortunately, the experiment did not get past the ethics committee (joey). So, the revised experiment was whether I would be sick on the rollercoaster after consuming the following breakfast items: orange juice, granola, yoghurt, tea, croissant and a banana. I had to be careful not to be sick just eating those items together. Anyway, the rollercoaster swept to the left and to the right. It went up and down. It even went upside-down, but my stomach refused to budge. Experiment result: Failed. The hill stomach would not be so easily beaten...
I don't have time to mention the build your own burger bar, the bodies exhibition, the shopping, or even the horrific cover version of phil collins' "land of confusion", but I will update you on our gambling successes:
Jo = About $10 up over four nights, mainly playing blackjack.
Matt = About $150 up over the same time. Could've been about $70 more, but I got cocky...
Lu/Chris = An undisclosed loss. Let's put it down to experience...
Rosie = $5 loss on roulette. It did not land on 5.
Henry = likewise, it did not land on 14.
Andy = it did land on red, but we did not take your advice and "put it all on red".
We're down in san diego now, but these adventures will have to be saved for another time...
Until then... Hasta luego...
A. Bored of the content
B. Bored of waiting
C. Just bored!
If anyone's reading perhaps you could just give us a little tickle to let us know you're there! (AKA a comment on the blog!)
The last 2 weeks have been very busy indeed, I think last time we spoke we had just left Monterey, home to Steinbeck and Jack cheese! After leaving said town, we journeyed south (like 2 English pseudo wannabe cowboys!) to the town of Baywood Park. Before I launch into the delights of back bay, I must tell you that the journey down Californian route 1, through Carmel and Big Sur is beautiful....we're talking waterfalls on the white beaches, wild elephant seals and high cliffs that look out to the bluest ocean.
Baywood park is a tiny town about 10 miles west of San Luis Obispo (or SLO as the locals call it). We stayed in a place on an inland bay behind the beach which was very peaceful and a welcome change from the hustle and bustle of San Francisco. We walked right around the bay and through some sand dunes to a deserted beach....it was lovely but too cold to swim. In the evening we went to SLO for a delightful veggie dinner (California provides the U.S. With most of it's fruit and veg so consequentially has loads of fresh veggie options - a far cry from those 14oz steaks back in the Mid West!)
I won't hover for too long as have a lot of ground to make up but the next few days consisted of a day out in Santa Barbara (lovely) and 2 days in Camarillo (north L.A) - no celeb sightings as yet!
After leaving L.A, we drove inwards to Nevada towards the bright lights of Vegas. It was here that we spent 3 hours driving through the Valley of Death AKA Death Valley. Now we are on the subject, I will quickly get a little story in before Matt resurrects his (currently resting) literary might and puts a spin on the whole issue! Death Valley is one of the most inhospitable, inhuman, scary places in the world...temps regularly top 100F, it is desolate, remote and you wouldn't want to get stranded across the 80mile stretch of desert. As a result of this, all guidebooks suggest drinking plenty of water to avoid dehydration....given that the day we visited it was only 85F and our car has air con, the 6 litres of water I drank during the trip mearly served as somewhat inconvenient in an area free of habitation, nevermind toilets! I don't know why Matt thinks I should use my own discretion when reading guidebooks! Aside from the toilet situation, the valley was great, especially as we were there during sunset. There is a place called Dante's View, named by the Mormon's and used to describe Death Valley's hell like qualities...I can certainly see the potential resemblance..
I will leave you all now and let the captain (or Blogtain) take his helm and lead you all through a literary minefield of humour, puns, text, and delights.......I introduce Mr Mattie Hill! (No pressure there then!)
Love to you all - Jo xxxxx
Howdy all, long time no speak. To be honest I've had no motivation to write anything, as we've been having such a nice time and have been so busy. For example on the first night in baywood park, it was a choice between updating the blog or looking at the stars through a telescope on a cool crisp evening from our patio on the edge of a huge lake. Tough choice! But, due to wifely pressure, I'm updating again. I think Joey missed out a couple of key points. Firstly, it's not possible to explain in words just how stunning big sur is. Secondly, it's not possible to explain in words how much time we wasted in Malibu looking for Jennifer Anniston or any other 'celebs'...
Vegas was superb. Whoever named New York as the city that never sleeps had obviously never been to LV. It's just mad. The hotels and all their features are all larger than life. From new york new york's roller coaster to bellagio's fountain and Rio's dancing girls. It's madness, 24 hours a day... We stayed in the luxor for a few nights, and saw people playing slot machines whilst drinking shorts early in the morning. Who knows how long they sit there...
We met up with lu & chris for four days in LV. Not only was it really nice to see a couple of familiar faces, but somewhere like vegas is better in numbers! Whilst there, our guests took us out for a big curry and took us to see a show - Penn & Teller. For those that don't know, penn and teller are magicians who include comedy and also explain all their tricks. Most excellent.
Lu was also thoughtful enough to plan a little scientific experiment (she is a scientist after all). Her plan was to see how much ice cream I had to eat in order to be sick on the NY NY rollercoaster. Unfortunately, the experiment did not get past the ethics committee (joey). So, the revised experiment was whether I would be sick on the rollercoaster after consuming the following breakfast items: orange juice, granola, yoghurt, tea, croissant and a banana. I had to be careful not to be sick just eating those items together. Anyway, the rollercoaster swept to the left and to the right. It went up and down. It even went upside-down, but my stomach refused to budge. Experiment result: Failed. The hill stomach would not be so easily beaten...
I don't have time to mention the build your own burger bar, the bodies exhibition, the shopping, or even the horrific cover version of phil collins' "land of confusion", but I will update you on our gambling successes:
Jo = About $10 up over four nights, mainly playing blackjack.
Matt = About $150 up over the same time. Could've been about $70 more, but I got cocky...
Lu/Chris = An undisclosed loss. Let's put it down to experience...
Rosie = $5 loss on roulette. It did not land on 5.
Henry = likewise, it did not land on 14.
Andy = it did land on red, but we did not take your advice and "put it all on red".
We're down in san diego now, but these adventures will have to be saved for another time...
Until then... Hasta luego...
06 October 2006
03 October 2006
PLACE YOUR BETS LADIES AND GENTS. We're in vegas on saturday with lu and chris for a few days, so i'm taking bets by email between now and saturday. Let me know your game, bet and stake and i'll post the results on here... Good luck!
Back to the blog:
26th September - very very late...
"Do you know the way to San Jose?" sung Dionne Warwick in 1968 or Burt Bacharach in 1967. The answer is "yes, i do know the way to San Jose", since that's exactly where i'm writing from! To be fair, it's just south of san francisco, so you'd have to be a bit of a tool not to know the way...
You may have noticed that I have recovered my position at the top of the blog. Don't worry, it was a peaceful coup that overthrew the previous regime, and normal service will now resume. I'm not saying that jo was any kind of blog dictator (blogtator?), but the public uprising was overwhelming...
So, we left salt lake city yesterday and after 550 miles or so, we arrived in Reno. Despite it being a dull dull drive (no disrepect to duane-lee, she's a pleasure to be in the car with - I can't believe we've been together 24hrs a day for over a month and not had one argument) it went pretty quickly and we got to reno by 6ish...
Reno is best described as "Americana". It's incredibly tacky, full of casinos and tourist tat. In case you didn't know, gambling is only legal in Nevada, Atlantic City and various indian reservations. As such, Nevada only has sizeable towns near the borders - Reno on the road to San Fran and Vegas on the road to LA - other than that there is nothing in Nevada...
So, since we were only in Reno for one night there was only one thing to do... Check out the casinos... Let's just say they were dated! They were clean and tidy, not worn, but were a little 80's. Joey and I hit the blackjack tables in the El Dorado and were a little taken aback when we momentarily thought we'd arrived in silicon valley a little early. We soon realised that it was only one of the "cocktail waitresses" with their excessive silicon wares... Despite this setback we soon turned $40 in to $80. Much whooping and high fives all round... Bring on Vegas baby! I was sat next to a couple of hulking great russians who were blind drunk and losing a few bob. Very amusing.
Today we left Reno and went to lake tahoe. An extremely pleasant and tranquil place. Apparently it's one of the highest, coldest, deepest, largest lakes in the world. The wife & I opted for a little paddle and were quick to discover that it's also heavily populated with baby lobsters. They're nippy little things which fortunately don't bite!
After lunch at Lake Tahoe, we started the relatively short (200 miles) drive to San Jose. I say relatively short since we've now chalked up 4,500 miles, and had done over 500 miles on the previous day. Yet, this was the most boring drive we've done so far. I don't know why it is, or what was so wrong, maybe we've just done too much driving, but it was an unbearable journey.
It may have been that it was our induction to california traffic. The roads on this side of the country are solid... The only upside is that they have "car pool" lanes, for any cars with two or more pasengers. The frightening thing is that nobody uses them. At times, there were four or five lanes of solid stationery traffic, with only us using the car pool lane, so we flew along! That reminds me, there was an article in one of the local rags slating Germany for not meeting their kyoto agreement targets. Ironic since they themselves refused to sign up for it!
1st October
First of all HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY SIMMO & KINGS. Hope you both have good days!
Secondly, HAPPY 27TH BIRTHDAY RIK for Friday... You've only three years left to take the mickey out of me for being over 30, so you'd better make the most of it...
The fact that i'm bloggin' again can only mean that we're back on the road. A short drive from san jose to monterey, but enough time for me to update y'all on what's been goin' down on the grimy streets of north cali'.
27th - drove into san fran. I think that SF is the kind of place we could live in. It's incredibly busy, like all california appears to be, but it certainly has character. We walked through downtown, chinatown and fishermans wharf, then got one of the famed cablecar/trams back. Chinatown was absoloute madness, whilst fishermans wharf was a bit tacky. Pier 41 is however home to about 100 sea lions! They moved in after the '89 quake and just sit around basking in the sun barking all day. A lifestyle that I think I could cope with... We also saw a jimi hendrix tribute busker who got 10/10 for looking like him but 0/10 for sounding like him. 11/10 for sounding like the cookie monster though...
28th - we cruised down to santa cruz for the day. Apparently santa cruz is so cool that neil young decided to make it his home. We didn't see him. It was however so cool that we could neither sunbathe nor swim. We did however check out the resident sea lions and even spot a rare wild sea otter. The little critter was hilarious. They swim down to collect shell fish, then swim back up and float on their backs while they crack open the shells with their fangs. After a while the sun came out. So did the bronzed beach volleyballers. They were running round like a scene from baywatch in their bikinis and trunks hurling themselves round in the golden sand. If you can't beat them... We bought a volleyball and decided to have a go. After five minutes joey was complaining that her hands hurt, and I was too frightened of getting sand in my eyes so we moved on to sand gymnastics, quickly followed by sand injuries...
29th - back to san fran. The main purpose of this visit was threefold: 1) get out to alcatraz 2) get out to the golden gate bridge 3) see the windy road that's always on TV (lombard street). First up, alcatraz. We arrived at the terminal only to find that the ferries were fully booked up for the following 36 hours. Oh. Not a good start 0/1. Next up, the golden gate bridge. Almost as challenging as alcatraz. $28 for the tourist bus but you only get ten minutes there. No thanks. Public bus $1.50. Wham bam thankyou mam, job done. Quite impressive though absoloutely bloody freezing... 1/2. Finally, windey lombard street. Easier said than done as our bus had dropped us back to the town centre. So a brisk walk ensued, but we arrived there and weren't dissapointed. It's probably the windiest (as in windey turns not windy gusts) residential street in the world... Photo to follow as i'm neither discribing it well nor entertaining you. Anyway, job done and 2/3 goals met. Alright, yeah, woo...
30th - a bit of a doss day. We decided to go to cupertino for the day. It's a san jose suburb in the silicone valley. First of all, it has a "whole foods market" (like an all organic waitrose with awesome sandwiches). Then we went to the local moon festival. The bay area has an enormous chinese population and the moon fesrival is a big deal. It was like a cross between a fayre and a fete. Food, drink, stalls, entertainment etc. Good fun. Finally we went to visit the britannia arms pub. Sounds dodgy right? The reason that we went there is that our good friends Andy pipkin and gaby met there some ten years ago. Andy used to drink in there all the time when he lived here, and so we went in there and met a couple of his old mates! They told us stories that unfortunately we can't repeat here...
So that pretty much brings us up to date.
Later that day...
Well, we are now in monterey. This afternoon we browsed "cannery row" (named after the steinbeck book as opposed to vice versa) and spent a couple of hours at the awesome aquarium... They have a baby great white there. They had previously had an adult one but it had to be removed as it kept eating the other exhibits!!! Dinner was proper mexican (proper cheap too). Muy bien, muy bien...
Matt's Ramblings.
#1
TV - there are two types of tv here. Trash tv and non trash tv. Trash tv is phenomenonal. Jerry springer and a million other chat shows that make the british equivalents seem as rubbish as they actually are. There was one lady the other day who wanted to confront her childhood tormentors who had named her "poop-mouth"!!! Perhaps the funniest thing i've ever ever seen. Then, thanks to "Airport" docu-soap-drama-tat, joey and I have learnt some new language - C.O.S. Any guesses? It means "customer of size" and is used to describe a customer who requires two seats due to their girth. They had one guy who'd just had his car stolen and then his flight delayed, only to be told he had to buy a second ticket. They interviewed him after whilst he was getting a 'snack' - the equivalent of four mcdonalds meals and a gallon of coke. He couldn't understand why they were persecuting him. It was tough to refrain from leakages. Sadly joey wasn't so lucky...
As for non-trash tv, if it's not sport (which 50% is) it's some pro-bush 'news' crap. Back to jerry springer...
#2
Next up is another new word "boodydo". We were taught this by the guy we met from louisiana. It's suitable for males and females like C.O.S. In his drawl he described it as "when tha gut sticks out more than tha boody do"...
#3
We went to a krispy kreme donut factory attached to a shop. Wow! If you arrive when they're baking you get a free hot one right off the rack. I tried to keep leaving the shop and coming back in to get more, but mrs H put a stop to that saying i'd become a C.O.S. in no time...
#4
Whilst in san fran I challenged joey to see how long she could last without talking (i think she was moaning about the cold at the time). The result? 40 seconds... Very poor. Anyway it reminded me of the challenge that lou nichols and I discussed. A well known one where you take one imodium and one laxative tablet and see which one wins... Whilst i'm not yet willing to waste a day on that just yet, I am open to other challenges. Preferably ones with a financial incentive. Ideas to the usual address and i'll see what I can do...
That's all from me from now. I'll let the boss muse a while...
Joey's musings....
Well, we are now in Steinbeck country.....the home of John Steinbeck it certainly is a nice part of the world, if a bit touristy! Matt, the literary genious that he is, claims to have read several of the novels and as I have read none, I can't really argue when he tells me that Crispy Crème Donuts was where "Of Mice and Men" was set so he really needs to go in for atmospheric purposes! Love to you all - jo xx
P.S Gaby - Cupertino was a lovely town indeed, nice park too....
P.P.S off to back bay now, near San Louis Obispo
P.P.S photos to follow - bit tricky at the moment as we need to find a P.C with a memory card compatible part !
Back to the blog:
26th September - very very late...
"Do you know the way to San Jose?" sung Dionne Warwick in 1968 or Burt Bacharach in 1967. The answer is "yes, i do know the way to San Jose", since that's exactly where i'm writing from! To be fair, it's just south of san francisco, so you'd have to be a bit of a tool not to know the way...
You may have noticed that I have recovered my position at the top of the blog. Don't worry, it was a peaceful coup that overthrew the previous regime, and normal service will now resume. I'm not saying that jo was any kind of blog dictator (blogtator?), but the public uprising was overwhelming...
So, we left salt lake city yesterday and after 550 miles or so, we arrived in Reno. Despite it being a dull dull drive (no disrepect to duane-lee, she's a pleasure to be in the car with - I can't believe we've been together 24hrs a day for over a month and not had one argument) it went pretty quickly and we got to reno by 6ish...
Reno is best described as "Americana". It's incredibly tacky, full of casinos and tourist tat. In case you didn't know, gambling is only legal in Nevada, Atlantic City and various indian reservations. As such, Nevada only has sizeable towns near the borders - Reno on the road to San Fran and Vegas on the road to LA - other than that there is nothing in Nevada...
So, since we were only in Reno for one night there was only one thing to do... Check out the casinos... Let's just say they were dated! They were clean and tidy, not worn, but were a little 80's. Joey and I hit the blackjack tables in the El Dorado and were a little taken aback when we momentarily thought we'd arrived in silicon valley a little early. We soon realised that it was only one of the "cocktail waitresses" with their excessive silicon wares... Despite this setback we soon turned $40 in to $80. Much whooping and high fives all round... Bring on Vegas baby! I was sat next to a couple of hulking great russians who were blind drunk and losing a few bob. Very amusing.
Today we left Reno and went to lake tahoe. An extremely pleasant and tranquil place. Apparently it's one of the highest, coldest, deepest, largest lakes in the world. The wife & I opted for a little paddle and were quick to discover that it's also heavily populated with baby lobsters. They're nippy little things which fortunately don't bite!
After lunch at Lake Tahoe, we started the relatively short (200 miles) drive to San Jose. I say relatively short since we've now chalked up 4,500 miles, and had done over 500 miles on the previous day. Yet, this was the most boring drive we've done so far. I don't know why it is, or what was so wrong, maybe we've just done too much driving, but it was an unbearable journey.
It may have been that it was our induction to california traffic. The roads on this side of the country are solid... The only upside is that they have "car pool" lanes, for any cars with two or more pasengers. The frightening thing is that nobody uses them. At times, there were four or five lanes of solid stationery traffic, with only us using the car pool lane, so we flew along! That reminds me, there was an article in one of the local rags slating Germany for not meeting their kyoto agreement targets. Ironic since they themselves refused to sign up for it!
1st October
First of all HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY SIMMO & KINGS. Hope you both have good days!
Secondly, HAPPY 27TH BIRTHDAY RIK for Friday... You've only three years left to take the mickey out of me for being over 30, so you'd better make the most of it...
The fact that i'm bloggin' again can only mean that we're back on the road. A short drive from san jose to monterey, but enough time for me to update y'all on what's been goin' down on the grimy streets of north cali'.
27th - drove into san fran. I think that SF is the kind of place we could live in. It's incredibly busy, like all california appears to be, but it certainly has character. We walked through downtown, chinatown and fishermans wharf, then got one of the famed cablecar/trams back. Chinatown was absoloute madness, whilst fishermans wharf was a bit tacky. Pier 41 is however home to about 100 sea lions! They moved in after the '89 quake and just sit around basking in the sun barking all day. A lifestyle that I think I could cope with... We also saw a jimi hendrix tribute busker who got 10/10 for looking like him but 0/10 for sounding like him. 11/10 for sounding like the cookie monster though...
28th - we cruised down to santa cruz for the day. Apparently santa cruz is so cool that neil young decided to make it his home. We didn't see him. It was however so cool that we could neither sunbathe nor swim. We did however check out the resident sea lions and even spot a rare wild sea otter. The little critter was hilarious. They swim down to collect shell fish, then swim back up and float on their backs while they crack open the shells with their fangs. After a while the sun came out. So did the bronzed beach volleyballers. They were running round like a scene from baywatch in their bikinis and trunks hurling themselves round in the golden sand. If you can't beat them... We bought a volleyball and decided to have a go. After five minutes joey was complaining that her hands hurt, and I was too frightened of getting sand in my eyes so we moved on to sand gymnastics, quickly followed by sand injuries...
29th - back to san fran. The main purpose of this visit was threefold: 1) get out to alcatraz 2) get out to the golden gate bridge 3) see the windy road that's always on TV (lombard street). First up, alcatraz. We arrived at the terminal only to find that the ferries were fully booked up for the following 36 hours. Oh. Not a good start 0/1. Next up, the golden gate bridge. Almost as challenging as alcatraz. $28 for the tourist bus but you only get ten minutes there. No thanks. Public bus $1.50. Wham bam thankyou mam, job done. Quite impressive though absoloutely bloody freezing... 1/2. Finally, windey lombard street. Easier said than done as our bus had dropped us back to the town centre. So a brisk walk ensued, but we arrived there and weren't dissapointed. It's probably the windiest (as in windey turns not windy gusts) residential street in the world... Photo to follow as i'm neither discribing it well nor entertaining you. Anyway, job done and 2/3 goals met. Alright, yeah, woo...
30th - a bit of a doss day. We decided to go to cupertino for the day. It's a san jose suburb in the silicone valley. First of all, it has a "whole foods market" (like an all organic waitrose with awesome sandwiches). Then we went to the local moon festival. The bay area has an enormous chinese population and the moon fesrival is a big deal. It was like a cross between a fayre and a fete. Food, drink, stalls, entertainment etc. Good fun. Finally we went to visit the britannia arms pub. Sounds dodgy right? The reason that we went there is that our good friends Andy pipkin and gaby met there some ten years ago. Andy used to drink in there all the time when he lived here, and so we went in there and met a couple of his old mates! They told us stories that unfortunately we can't repeat here...
So that pretty much brings us up to date.
Later that day...
Well, we are now in monterey. This afternoon we browsed "cannery row" (named after the steinbeck book as opposed to vice versa) and spent a couple of hours at the awesome aquarium... They have a baby great white there. They had previously had an adult one but it had to be removed as it kept eating the other exhibits!!! Dinner was proper mexican (proper cheap too). Muy bien, muy bien...
Matt's Ramblings.
#1
TV - there are two types of tv here. Trash tv and non trash tv. Trash tv is phenomenonal. Jerry springer and a million other chat shows that make the british equivalents seem as rubbish as they actually are. There was one lady the other day who wanted to confront her childhood tormentors who had named her "poop-mouth"!!! Perhaps the funniest thing i've ever ever seen. Then, thanks to "Airport" docu-soap-drama-tat, joey and I have learnt some new language - C.O.S. Any guesses? It means "customer of size" and is used to describe a customer who requires two seats due to their girth. They had one guy who'd just had his car stolen and then his flight delayed, only to be told he had to buy a second ticket. They interviewed him after whilst he was getting a 'snack' - the equivalent of four mcdonalds meals and a gallon of coke. He couldn't understand why they were persecuting him. It was tough to refrain from leakages. Sadly joey wasn't so lucky...
As for non-trash tv, if it's not sport (which 50% is) it's some pro-bush 'news' crap. Back to jerry springer...
#2
Next up is another new word "boodydo". We were taught this by the guy we met from louisiana. It's suitable for males and females like C.O.S. In his drawl he described it as "when tha gut sticks out more than tha boody do"...
#3
We went to a krispy kreme donut factory attached to a shop. Wow! If you arrive when they're baking you get a free hot one right off the rack. I tried to keep leaving the shop and coming back in to get more, but mrs H put a stop to that saying i'd become a C.O.S. in no time...
#4
Whilst in san fran I challenged joey to see how long she could last without talking (i think she was moaning about the cold at the time). The result? 40 seconds... Very poor. Anyway it reminded me of the challenge that lou nichols and I discussed. A well known one where you take one imodium and one laxative tablet and see which one wins... Whilst i'm not yet willing to waste a day on that just yet, I am open to other challenges. Preferably ones with a financial incentive. Ideas to the usual address and i'll see what I can do...
That's all from me from now. I'll let the boss muse a while...
Joey's musings....
Well, we are now in Steinbeck country.....the home of John Steinbeck it certainly is a nice part of the world, if a bit touristy! Matt, the literary genious that he is, claims to have read several of the novels and as I have read none, I can't really argue when he tells me that Crispy Crème Donuts was where "Of Mice and Men" was set so he really needs to go in for atmospheric purposes! Love to you all - jo xx
P.S Gaby - Cupertino was a lovely town indeed, nice park too....
P.P.S off to back bay now, near San Louis Obispo
P.P.S photos to follow - bit tricky at the moment as we need to find a P.C with a memory card compatible part !
26 September 2006
24-25 september
Hello everyone....thought i'd start today as have had a brilliant weekend and couldn't wait to purge my tails on the blog. Luckily we will be able to print out the blog when we get back so our adventure (and Matt's new found literacy skills) will be imortalised in print forever.
We arrived in Salt Lake on Friday night and tried desperately to find a coffee house (we later found out that Mormons don't drink caffeine, although I am told by a local source that they are partial to a diet coke!)...whilst sitting in the 1 Starbucks we saw an advert in the local press for a Starsailor gig that night...to sum up, 4 hours and £6.50 later we were stood in a bar with about 50 others watching the band play their heart out. I spoke to them and we shook their hands after, it was brilliant! We met some really nice Americans in the bar (Brad and Mandy who Matt liked to call Brandy!, Emily from NYC, Alex from Baton Rouge, Russ from California and Tim who got fed up with the Cowboys in Wyoming!). It was a fun night that started with Starsailor and ended with a Gay caboret....these Morman's sure know how to party!
Yesterday we went to Temple square to see the Mormon temple, matt stayed outside (he said he was scared!) whilst I checked out how the LDS (Later Day Saints AKA Mormon's) like to hang out! I must say it was very interesting, although I did decline when sister Jenkins asked me for my address so she could send her peeps round (wasn't sure whether Will and Gail would appreciate some unexpected visitors!). Salt Lake is a beautiful city which is rich in religious history, the people are very friendly and we even managed to sniff out a few beers...I will be sad to leave but excited about reaching the sea again.
Today we went to Antelope Island, which is in the middle of the Salt Lake.....wildlife spot on the trip so far is:- Elk, antelope, coyote, bison, lizards, jack rabbits, eagles, squirrals, (and a funny tailed rat like looking thing that is native to the USA but I don't know what it's called).
Thanks to everyone for your emails, I have e mailed everyone back......I hope you get them as mum said she didn't get one I sent, let me know and I will send again.
Ali - I am using the same email address as at home xx
Lots of love to you all,
Joey xxx (AKA D.L)
Joey's musings.
I cannot believe that I have been relegated to the poxy musings section. Apparently I waffle too much and ramble on and on. Then to add insult to injury, she told me that I am no longer funny but boring! Will this misery ever end? Well don't you worry, i've got a plan...
Introducing => Matt's Ramblings!
Welcome to the inaugural "matt's ramblings", it's great to have you here with me whilst we drive across 500m of utah and nevada desert. The majority of the land round here is for military usage. Bombing ranges and test sites etc. This is perhaps the straightest road you'll ever see. This stretch of the I-80 is about 60 miles long and totally flat and straight just surrounded by salt flats and sand... By far the most desolate and erie place i've ever seen.
Anyway, we've left salt lake city and are about a fifth of the way to Reno. Reno is apparently a very very poor man's Vegas. Oh...
So, salt lake city. Home of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. Also known as LDS or The Church. Some 75% of the state population are members. Their emphasis is on family from what I gather. If you raise a good family (the bigger the better) then you can become a saint, thus the "latter day saint" bit. The benefits of being a saint? You go to a better heaven. It is therefore not uncommon for families to have 10+ children and dozens of grandchildren etc. I read an obituary in the local rag of someone who had 51 grandchildren and 27 great grandchildren. I cannot begin to imagine how expensive christmas is...
This desire to have big families is the cause of polygomy. After all, it's only the man who can become a saint, so if he has more wives then he increases his chances of sainthood. Unfortunately polygomy is illegal even in utah. They had to ban it in order to gain statehood. There is a case in the courts at the moment whereby a man and two women are trying to get the law changed so that the three of them can get hitched! Despite the law, we were informed that polygomy still happens in some of the backwaters...
So, that, in a nutshell is the mormon philosophy. The effect of this? Utah has the youngest average age in the country, the largest average household size and one of the longest life expectancies. They don't drink or smoke. They exercise and look after themselves well. The children are all polite. The people are also generally good looking with little obesity. Crime is very low. It's like a social experiment within the rest of the US. Except for the religion part, they've hit the nail on the head. It reminds me of Huxley's "A Brave New World".
Cool, we've just been through Shafter!
Well, other than my mormon ramblings, I don't have much to add. Starsailor was good. The gay disco was good, though far gayer than anywhere i've ever been in brighton. Food and beer was pretty fair too.
I was also relieved that I didn't burst into flames - always a fear of mine in religious areas, as is not being able to see my reflection in a mirror. Another fear of mine is not being able to get to a toilet in time, but i'm not sure that's at all relevant. Though in the middle of this desert maybe it could soon be relevant...
Anyway, that's all from me. I can't say that I like my relegated position, but at least I get to write without joey editing my work for once ha ha ha, she may one day regret that...
Well done to the mighty sussex. Two titles in four years. Mushy is a legend.
Looking forward to the Cali' sun. Seen enough scenery to last a lifetime, and enough mormons for a lifetime and a number of afterlifes (bad joke).
A bientot, matt (St. Matt)
We arrived in Salt Lake on Friday night and tried desperately to find a coffee house (we later found out that Mormons don't drink caffeine, although I am told by a local source that they are partial to a diet coke!)...whilst sitting in the 1 Starbucks we saw an advert in the local press for a Starsailor gig that night...to sum up, 4 hours and £6.50 later we were stood in a bar with about 50 others watching the band play their heart out. I spoke to them and we shook their hands after, it was brilliant! We met some really nice Americans in the bar (Brad and Mandy who Matt liked to call Brandy!, Emily from NYC, Alex from Baton Rouge, Russ from California and Tim who got fed up with the Cowboys in Wyoming!). It was a fun night that started with Starsailor and ended with a Gay caboret....these Morman's sure know how to party!
Yesterday we went to Temple square to see the Mormon temple, matt stayed outside (he said he was scared!) whilst I checked out how the LDS (Later Day Saints AKA Mormon's) like to hang out! I must say it was very interesting, although I did decline when sister Jenkins asked me for my address so she could send her peeps round (wasn't sure whether Will and Gail would appreciate some unexpected visitors!). Salt Lake is a beautiful city which is rich in religious history, the people are very friendly and we even managed to sniff out a few beers...I will be sad to leave but excited about reaching the sea again.
Today we went to Antelope Island, which is in the middle of the Salt Lake.....wildlife spot on the trip so far is:- Elk, antelope, coyote, bison, lizards, jack rabbits, eagles, squirrals, (and a funny tailed rat like looking thing that is native to the USA but I don't know what it's called).
Thanks to everyone for your emails, I have e mailed everyone back......I hope you get them as mum said she didn't get one I sent, let me know and I will send again.
Ali - I am using the same email address as at home xx
Lots of love to you all,
Joey xxx (AKA D.L)
Joey's musings.
I cannot believe that I have been relegated to the poxy musings section. Apparently I waffle too much and ramble on and on. Then to add insult to injury, she told me that I am no longer funny but boring! Will this misery ever end? Well don't you worry, i've got a plan...
Introducing => Matt's Ramblings!
Welcome to the inaugural "matt's ramblings", it's great to have you here with me whilst we drive across 500m of utah and nevada desert. The majority of the land round here is for military usage. Bombing ranges and test sites etc. This is perhaps the straightest road you'll ever see. This stretch of the I-80 is about 60 miles long and totally flat and straight just surrounded by salt flats and sand... By far the most desolate and erie place i've ever seen.
Anyway, we've left salt lake city and are about a fifth of the way to Reno. Reno is apparently a very very poor man's Vegas. Oh...
So, salt lake city. Home of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. Also known as LDS or The Church. Some 75% of the state population are members. Their emphasis is on family from what I gather. If you raise a good family (the bigger the better) then you can become a saint, thus the "latter day saint" bit. The benefits of being a saint? You go to a better heaven. It is therefore not uncommon for families to have 10+ children and dozens of grandchildren etc. I read an obituary in the local rag of someone who had 51 grandchildren and 27 great grandchildren. I cannot begin to imagine how expensive christmas is...
This desire to have big families is the cause of polygomy. After all, it's only the man who can become a saint, so if he has more wives then he increases his chances of sainthood. Unfortunately polygomy is illegal even in utah. They had to ban it in order to gain statehood. There is a case in the courts at the moment whereby a man and two women are trying to get the law changed so that the three of them can get hitched! Despite the law, we were informed that polygomy still happens in some of the backwaters...
So, that, in a nutshell is the mormon philosophy. The effect of this? Utah has the youngest average age in the country, the largest average household size and one of the longest life expectancies. They don't drink or smoke. They exercise and look after themselves well. The children are all polite. The people are also generally good looking with little obesity. Crime is very low. It's like a social experiment within the rest of the US. Except for the religion part, they've hit the nail on the head. It reminds me of Huxley's "A Brave New World".
Cool, we've just been through Shafter!
Well, other than my mormon ramblings, I don't have much to add. Starsailor was good. The gay disco was good, though far gayer than anywhere i've ever been in brighton. Food and beer was pretty fair too.
I was also relieved that I didn't burst into flames - always a fear of mine in religious areas, as is not being able to see my reflection in a mirror. Another fear of mine is not being able to get to a toilet in time, but i'm not sure that's at all relevant. Though in the middle of this desert maybe it could soon be relevant...
Anyway, that's all from me. I can't say that I like my relegated position, but at least I get to write without joey editing my work for once ha ha ha, she may one day regret that...
Well done to the mighty sussex. Two titles in four years. Mushy is a legend.
Looking forward to the Cali' sun. Seen enough scenery to last a lifetime, and enough mormons for a lifetime and a number of afterlifes (bad joke).
A bientot, matt (St. Matt)
22 September 2006
20-21 september
20th September
I realise that sometimes I waffle on a little, especially since we've been doing a lot of driving lately and i've had a lot of time to write. Anyway, for those of you that can't be arsed with reading all my ramblings, i'll provide a condensed version as well as my usual jibber-jabber (one for the Mr T fans):
Denver -> Grand Lake: Hiking, speed boating and mountain stuff -> Glenwood Springs: Thermal spa -> Grand Junction: Not a lot -> Driving to Moab. End.
Those of you who are too busy or just not that interested can now switch off, or go to another site (apparently kate moss is designing a range for Top Shop, so that's probably worth checking out at www.topshop.com or there's bound to be some news going on somewhere at news.bbc.co.uk or you could read about Brighton being robbed by the shrimpers at www.seagulls.co.uk).
So, now that the part-timers have left us, we can get down to the details...
Colorado is the most incredible state - Jenny the Geologist would be loving it. The eastern side was a continuation of the great plains. From there you get to Denver and the rocky mountains start. I think they're formed by the continental divide - pacific meets atlantic. At first this creates huge great mountain ranges with snowy peaks covered in deep forests (tundra?). After that starts canyon country. The I-70 winds through glenwood canyon which follows the colorado river and is incredible. The canyon walls are about 400-500 feet high either side. Then, when you leave the canyons the desert begins, but not before seeing streams of old lava flow peeking out from through the barron lands... There's gold in them thar hills! We've just crossed the border into Utah and it's more of the same. We're driving near arches and canyonlands national parks which we're visiting later and you can see into the canyons. Breathtaking...
Last time you tuned in I think we had just arrived in Grand Lake and we were mainly moaning about how cold it was. I should note here that "we" no longer means Joey and I. No, we've not divorced, it's just that Joey now wants to be known as Duane-Lee. She thinks it makes her sound more like a cowboy and won't accept that it's not a girls name...
So anyway, Duane-Lee and I arrived in grand lake on sunday. On monday we walked through a tiny section of the rocky mountain national park (the main routes into the park were closed due to heavy snowfall) to adams falls. After lunch we did the coolest thing so far; we hired a speedboat! Just for an hour, but good enough. Now, those of you that know Duane-Lee, know that she dislikes boats, high speeds and choppy water (she also dislikes strippers and rollercoasters, but that's irrelevant for now). So, since this is not Duane-Lee's cup of tea, despite it being her idea, I started cruising us leisurely around the lake like a scene from driving miss daisy, or in this case driving miss duane-lee... After five minutes or so, I managed to covince duane-lee to have a quick drive herself. Within a few minutes cap'n duane-lee (or jack sparrow as she then decided to be called) fell in love with the whole thing and then spent 45 minutes zooming around the lake contradicting every previous dislike she had ever expressed. In short, I had about ten minutes to drive the boat, whilst duane-lee had the time of her life. Fears conquered on this trip: boats, high speeds and choppy water. Fears still to be faced on this trip: strippers and rollercoasters.
On Tuesday we hopped back into the van. I don't think i've described the van yet. Imagine all of the best bits from the a-team van, the captain caveman van, the tardis, and a dustcart. It's white, actually nearer off-white now, has seating for eight (yes eight), and about twelve drinks holders! Add to that the la-z-boy style seating and outstanding 20 odd mpg, and that's quite a van you have on your hands... The chicks dig it, and even duane-lee loves cruising in it..
Anyway, we hopped in the van on tuesday morning and left grand lake, and whilst we found the scenery beautiful, we weren't sad to say goodbye. Other than the owner of the inn, the people seemed a bit rude. They made us feel a bit inconvenient. Odd, considering they need us more than we need them...
From grand lake we cruised to glenwood springs. Glenwood springs is the home to the world's largest thermal spa pool. It was like hopping into a hot bath, but big enough to swim in and dense enough to float in. By this point duane-lee more resembled paris hilton lounging by the pool, whilst I was arsing around in the water... No change there then...
After our little lunch break at glenwood springs, we cruised on to grand junction near the colorado/utah border. A small yet pleasant town, where we ended up in another brew-pub. They seem to be all the rage here. Beer brewed on site and generally a good spread of tucker. Nice.
Whilst on the subject of food, I owe you wingwatchers a couple of updates. The first was back in salina, cowboy country:
Wingwatch: good texture. Nice smokey sauce and good presentation. 7/10. Effect they had on my stomach was not so clever. Adjusted score -1/10. Oh dear.
The second wingwatch was a little irregular. There is a chain of supermarkets here called "whole food market" and they have the most fantastic deli counters. One of which had a range of different wings - named by duane-lee as "the wingery". Didn't try any, but they looked awesome. Photo to follow. 10/10.
Today, we are cruising to Moab in southern utah. From here we can access the arches and canyonlands national parks.
That's all for now folks, other than to tell you that duane-lee thinks that I too should have an amusing name, and so she has now started calling me "landon"... Will this madness never end?
Thanks to all messages left and emails received. Always good to hear from y'all...
21st september
Howdy y'all. You should all think yourself very lucky indeed. As, whilst I am sitting here waiting for two loads of washing to make their way through the rinse and spin cycles, i've decided to update you on today's activities and take you through the various stages of the washing process... Alright! Wooh! Yeah! Great job!
1) sorting the wash into lights and darks. Since updating this blog yesterday, we arrived in Moab, southern utah, strategically placed between the arches and canyonlands national parks. It's quite a gnarly town. Full of dudes who skate and climb and canoe and stuff. It makes for a much livelier atmosphere than the last couple of towns... (at this point I check for black socks which have crept into the light wash).
2) add soap and select wash type ("tide" and "normal" respectively). Shortly after arriving here, we drove into arches national park. We arrived there about 4:30, and the sun sets around 7pm so we got some incredible photos. The parks are set up incredibly well (and sensitively too for america), so that you can cruise up near to a particular sight, then a short hike allows you to get really close. The arches and views as the sun set were quite spectacular... (here remember to put the money in the machine - $1.25).
3) wash cycle - in fact i'm going to merge the wash, rinse and spin cycles. Last night we went to another brewpub. It was pretty good again, and opposite the hotel. They had an english style ale, that other than being too cold and a tiny bit sweet would have made a fair pint of bitter. The folks in there were really friendly. We were chatting to one local who said how important the tourists were (take note residents of grand lake, colorado) and was generally friendly (perhaps he had his eye on duane-lee?), and our waiter, sorry 'server', was born in brighton!!! He was raised in california, but is moving to devon. General murmours of "small world, small world"... (don't forget you have to leave the door for a minute or two before it will open!)
4) sort out the clothes into those that can be tumbledried and those that can't... This morning we hired a jeep wrangler 4x4 for the day. Yeah! Gnarly dude. The roads into the parks are quite restrictive and will only get you so far, whilst the 4x4 trails allow you to see so much more. The first trail was only 7 miles and took us from moab to canyonlands via the gemini bridges; a couple of arches some 200-300ft high that you can walk over. The ascent there was pretty rough and steep, but the jeep and its able captain (me) did a great job... (make sure you don't tumbledry delicates!!! And pop $1.00 in the machine)
5) empty the drier and fold the clothes neatly. After lunch, it was time to put the other captain hill behind the wheel on what was supposed to be an easier trail. From the entrance of canyonlands the path (which is being generous - it was more like streams of shingle and rocks) wound down the inside of the canyons at a scarily steep rate, descending some 1500ft in about two miles. This path was about 10-12 feet wide and had no crash barriers. It was quite frightening, but fortunately we had signed release waivers so that nobody could be liable if we did die... Anyway, captain joey got us safely down, and I live to tell the tale. We did see a couple of clowns going the opposite way in their normal cars... What were these people thinking??? (here just check for any socks stuck to the inside of the drier).
6) clear up the washing tat (powder and laundry basket etc) and go. Tonight I think we might pop back for a spot more of the local brew and tucker, ready to head on up to salt lake city tomorrow. It's been nice here, but after spending a week or so in national parks, we're ready for some city action... (If using a public laundrette/laundromatt, it is customary to give the attendant a cursory thanks, cheers or goodbye).
So, there you have it: You know what we've been up to, we all know how to wash clothes, and i'm off for a well deserved beer. Just call me laundro-matt...
Ps, well done sweet fa on finding some winning form at last, and three cheers for the mighty sussex who look like they're going to wrap up the county league tomorrow after demolishing notts today... Mushy, mushy, mushy, ahmed, ahmed, ahmed!
Duane-Lee's musings:
Ok....i'll keep today's musings brief (like the contents of Matt's dirty washing load!)....just to clarify, I have not yet given up my birth name on an American cowboy whim......I was merely titilated by the names of the family members of a particularly amusing American reality show called "Dog the Bounty Hunter"! Duane Lee and Landon are 2 of the said bounty hunters 12 sons!
You probably all wonder how come we are indoors writing this blog and not out raging.....well we are in Utah after all where the majority of the population is Mormon and alcohol is not freely purchasable.....not like West Street then!
Todays amazing trip to Canyonlands was "rocking" (ha ha)...Geology Jen (my sis) would have loved it...photo's to follow. A question for Jenny...Why are the rocks red?and a bit green in places? Very complicated for me to fully understand......seriously Jen, we wished you were there to see the rocks it with us xx
Love to you all and thanks loads for e mailing us, it is always nice to hear from home.
Lots of love,
Jo xxx (AKA D.L)
I realise that sometimes I waffle on a little, especially since we've been doing a lot of driving lately and i've had a lot of time to write. Anyway, for those of you that can't be arsed with reading all my ramblings, i'll provide a condensed version as well as my usual jibber-jabber (one for the Mr T fans):
Denver -> Grand Lake: Hiking, speed boating and mountain stuff -> Glenwood Springs: Thermal spa -> Grand Junction: Not a lot -> Driving to Moab. End.
Those of you who are too busy or just not that interested can now switch off, or go to another site (apparently kate moss is designing a range for Top Shop, so that's probably worth checking out at www.topshop.com or there's bound to be some news going on somewhere at news.bbc.co.uk or you could read about Brighton being robbed by the shrimpers at www.seagulls.co.uk).
So, now that the part-timers have left us, we can get down to the details...
Colorado is the most incredible state - Jenny the Geologist would be loving it. The eastern side was a continuation of the great plains. From there you get to Denver and the rocky mountains start. I think they're formed by the continental divide - pacific meets atlantic. At first this creates huge great mountain ranges with snowy peaks covered in deep forests (tundra?). After that starts canyon country. The I-70 winds through glenwood canyon which follows the colorado river and is incredible. The canyon walls are about 400-500 feet high either side. Then, when you leave the canyons the desert begins, but not before seeing streams of old lava flow peeking out from through the barron lands... There's gold in them thar hills! We've just crossed the border into Utah and it's more of the same. We're driving near arches and canyonlands national parks which we're visiting later and you can see into the canyons. Breathtaking...
Last time you tuned in I think we had just arrived in Grand Lake and we were mainly moaning about how cold it was. I should note here that "we" no longer means Joey and I. No, we've not divorced, it's just that Joey now wants to be known as Duane-Lee. She thinks it makes her sound more like a cowboy and won't accept that it's not a girls name...
So anyway, Duane-Lee and I arrived in grand lake on sunday. On monday we walked through a tiny section of the rocky mountain national park (the main routes into the park were closed due to heavy snowfall) to adams falls. After lunch we did the coolest thing so far; we hired a speedboat! Just for an hour, but good enough. Now, those of you that know Duane-Lee, know that she dislikes boats, high speeds and choppy water (she also dislikes strippers and rollercoasters, but that's irrelevant for now). So, since this is not Duane-Lee's cup of tea, despite it being her idea, I started cruising us leisurely around the lake like a scene from driving miss daisy, or in this case driving miss duane-lee... After five minutes or so, I managed to covince duane-lee to have a quick drive herself. Within a few minutes cap'n duane-lee (or jack sparrow as she then decided to be called) fell in love with the whole thing and then spent 45 minutes zooming around the lake contradicting every previous dislike she had ever expressed. In short, I had about ten minutes to drive the boat, whilst duane-lee had the time of her life. Fears conquered on this trip: boats, high speeds and choppy water. Fears still to be faced on this trip: strippers and rollercoasters.
On Tuesday we hopped back into the van. I don't think i've described the van yet. Imagine all of the best bits from the a-team van, the captain caveman van, the tardis, and a dustcart. It's white, actually nearer off-white now, has seating for eight (yes eight), and about twelve drinks holders! Add to that the la-z-boy style seating and outstanding 20 odd mpg, and that's quite a van you have on your hands... The chicks dig it, and even duane-lee loves cruising in it..
Anyway, we hopped in the van on tuesday morning and left grand lake, and whilst we found the scenery beautiful, we weren't sad to say goodbye. Other than the owner of the inn, the people seemed a bit rude. They made us feel a bit inconvenient. Odd, considering they need us more than we need them...
From grand lake we cruised to glenwood springs. Glenwood springs is the home to the world's largest thermal spa pool. It was like hopping into a hot bath, but big enough to swim in and dense enough to float in. By this point duane-lee more resembled paris hilton lounging by the pool, whilst I was arsing around in the water... No change there then...
After our little lunch break at glenwood springs, we cruised on to grand junction near the colorado/utah border. A small yet pleasant town, where we ended up in another brew-pub. They seem to be all the rage here. Beer brewed on site and generally a good spread of tucker. Nice.
Whilst on the subject of food, I owe you wingwatchers a couple of updates. The first was back in salina, cowboy country:
Wingwatch: good texture. Nice smokey sauce and good presentation. 7/10. Effect they had on my stomach was not so clever. Adjusted score -1/10. Oh dear.
The second wingwatch was a little irregular. There is a chain of supermarkets here called "whole food market" and they have the most fantastic deli counters. One of which had a range of different wings - named by duane-lee as "the wingery". Didn't try any, but they looked awesome. Photo to follow. 10/10.
Today, we are cruising to Moab in southern utah. From here we can access the arches and canyonlands national parks.
That's all for now folks, other than to tell you that duane-lee thinks that I too should have an amusing name, and so she has now started calling me "landon"... Will this madness never end?
Thanks to all messages left and emails received. Always good to hear from y'all...
21st september
Howdy y'all. You should all think yourself very lucky indeed. As, whilst I am sitting here waiting for two loads of washing to make their way through the rinse and spin cycles, i've decided to update you on today's activities and take you through the various stages of the washing process... Alright! Wooh! Yeah! Great job!
1) sorting the wash into lights and darks. Since updating this blog yesterday, we arrived in Moab, southern utah, strategically placed between the arches and canyonlands national parks. It's quite a gnarly town. Full of dudes who skate and climb and canoe and stuff. It makes for a much livelier atmosphere than the last couple of towns... (at this point I check for black socks which have crept into the light wash).
2) add soap and select wash type ("tide" and "normal" respectively). Shortly after arriving here, we drove into arches national park. We arrived there about 4:30, and the sun sets around 7pm so we got some incredible photos. The parks are set up incredibly well (and sensitively too for america), so that you can cruise up near to a particular sight, then a short hike allows you to get really close. The arches and views as the sun set were quite spectacular... (here remember to put the money in the machine - $1.25).
3) wash cycle - in fact i'm going to merge the wash, rinse and spin cycles. Last night we went to another brewpub. It was pretty good again, and opposite the hotel. They had an english style ale, that other than being too cold and a tiny bit sweet would have made a fair pint of bitter. The folks in there were really friendly. We were chatting to one local who said how important the tourists were (take note residents of grand lake, colorado) and was generally friendly (perhaps he had his eye on duane-lee?), and our waiter, sorry 'server', was born in brighton!!! He was raised in california, but is moving to devon. General murmours of "small world, small world"... (don't forget you have to leave the door for a minute or two before it will open!)
4) sort out the clothes into those that can be tumbledried and those that can't... This morning we hired a jeep wrangler 4x4 for the day. Yeah! Gnarly dude. The roads into the parks are quite restrictive and will only get you so far, whilst the 4x4 trails allow you to see so much more. The first trail was only 7 miles and took us from moab to canyonlands via the gemini bridges; a couple of arches some 200-300ft high that you can walk over. The ascent there was pretty rough and steep, but the jeep and its able captain (me) did a great job... (make sure you don't tumbledry delicates!!! And pop $1.00 in the machine)
5) empty the drier and fold the clothes neatly. After lunch, it was time to put the other captain hill behind the wheel on what was supposed to be an easier trail. From the entrance of canyonlands the path (which is being generous - it was more like streams of shingle and rocks) wound down the inside of the canyons at a scarily steep rate, descending some 1500ft in about two miles. This path was about 10-12 feet wide and had no crash barriers. It was quite frightening, but fortunately we had signed release waivers so that nobody could be liable if we did die... Anyway, captain joey got us safely down, and I live to tell the tale. We did see a couple of clowns going the opposite way in their normal cars... What were these people thinking??? (here just check for any socks stuck to the inside of the drier).
6) clear up the washing tat (powder and laundry basket etc) and go. Tonight I think we might pop back for a spot more of the local brew and tucker, ready to head on up to salt lake city tomorrow. It's been nice here, but after spending a week or so in national parks, we're ready for some city action... (If using a public laundrette/laundromatt, it is customary to give the attendant a cursory thanks, cheers or goodbye).
So, there you have it: You know what we've been up to, we all know how to wash clothes, and i'm off for a well deserved beer. Just call me laundro-matt...
Ps, well done sweet fa on finding some winning form at last, and three cheers for the mighty sussex who look like they're going to wrap up the county league tomorrow after demolishing notts today... Mushy, mushy, mushy, ahmed, ahmed, ahmed!
Duane-Lee's musings:
Ok....i'll keep today's musings brief (like the contents of Matt's dirty washing load!)....just to clarify, I have not yet given up my birth name on an American cowboy whim......I was merely titilated by the names of the family members of a particularly amusing American reality show called "Dog the Bounty Hunter"! Duane Lee and Landon are 2 of the said bounty hunters 12 sons!
You probably all wonder how come we are indoors writing this blog and not out raging.....well we are in Utah after all where the majority of the population is Mormon and alcohol is not freely purchasable.....not like West Street then!
Todays amazing trip to Canyonlands was "rocking" (ha ha)...Geology Jen (my sis) would have loved it...photo's to follow. A question for Jenny...Why are the rocks red?and a bit green in places? Very complicated for me to fully understand......seriously Jen, we wished you were there to see the rocks it with us xx
Love to you all and thanks loads for e mailing us, it is always nice to hear from home.
Lots of love,
Jo xxx (AKA D.L)
18 September 2006
16-18 September
16th september - The Great Plains.
Great - no. Plain - yes. We left indianapolis on thursday I think, and today is saturday. By the time we get into Denver this afternoon we will have done about 1200 miles in three days. We're actually cruising through the eastern reaches of Kansas state - don't worry i'm not driving whilst I write, my able assistant is behind the wheel. She's clocked up about 600 miles, and I reckon I could get used to being chauffeured around.
I'm not sure how people can live somewhere so desolate. Kansas state is about 450m across, and their is nothing once you leave the western suburbs of industrial kansas city. The plains here are just undulating rolls and great flats of farmland and cattle grazing punctuated by the odd mcdonalds, motel, petrol station or sign for "the worlds largest goose" (my favourite) or "the worlds largest prairie dog" (jo's favourite). And we've just been past a sign for Hill City...
We left Indy on thursday after dropping the kids off (em and hen) at the airport (i had previously dropped the kids off at the pool). From there it was 250m across Indiana farm land to St Louis (pronounced Lewis). If you have a roadmap of the US, then you can follow the I-70 from indianapolis to denver. A pretty uneventful drive, but we got to St Louis quite early. Which was nice. St Louis, as well as being the home to Chuck Berry, TS Elliott and Nelly is also the gateway to The West. It sits on the convergence of the mississippi and missouri rivers and has a bloody great arch on it's riverfront which you can see for miles on your way in. St Louis has a large German population and is responsible for Budweiser beer. Everyone's prone to the odd error I guess... After a quick stint at the arch, and a muse over the attached museum, we walked on the mississippi riverbank and then cruised downtown. I think that we're still struggling to come to terms with US city structures. In most cases, downtown is just a collection of office buildings. No shops and few restaurants. Not like an english town centre. We've learnt that the best areas for eating and drinking in the evening seem to be the university student areas. St Louis was no exception and the hotel was near by. Result.
Yesterday, the 15th, was a bit of a monster as we clocked up 450m. Oooh, we've just been through a town called Mingo. So anyway. The plan was to leave St Louis early doors, have lunch and dinner in cosmopolitan Kansas city (it's all relative) 270m away, then do another 180m to Salina. Try and look it up. It's a mere dot on a detailed map. It's a farmers outpost town, which is full of cowboys. We were both amazed as we'd never seen real cowboys before... One even had spurs on! We went to a local steak house, all you could see were the tops of cowboy hats peaking over the booths. I had two types of wings. These were overshadowed however by the most amazing bbq beans:
Bean-watch - Wow, these bad boys rock. Put your Heinz baked beans back in the cupboard. 10/10.
17th September
Yesterday, when we were cruising through kansas state it was 30°. As we started into colorado and we got higher and higher, the temperature dropped off by 15° in about half an hour. We clocked up another 450m which took the total to something like 1200m in three days. The car is feeling like home away from home. I forgot to mention that we passed a rather worrying "bible and gun superstore" in kansas. Do the two have to go together...?
Denver is cold but impressive. It's a nice city which has the rockies as a backdrop. Today we are cruising even further up into the mountains, as tonight we are staying in Grand Lake on the edge of the Rocky Mountain National Park.
18th September
Wow it's cold. Here in grand lake it's about 4 or 5 degrees. This hotel is about 8000ft high. The drive up here was amazing through the mountain passes. We were at 11000ft at one point where the temp dropped to -2°. That was clearly a time to regret a lack of winter clothing. Ohhh... Today we were planning to hike or cycle, but it's just too damn cold, so we're going to drive up into the park instead. The view from our room is out over grand lake and also some snowy peaks, one of which we believe to be mount baldy. Seems to be appropriate...
Last night joey and I played shuffleboard in the hotel bar whilst sinking a few local brews. Joey's legendary competitive temperament came out and it reminded me why I don't ever play games with her!!!
Also, there was a rockslide on the I-70 yesterday not far from here where someone died. Boulders as large as cars came down and one landed on a truck. Scarey...
Joey's musings 17.9.06
Well.....i'm sure you may all be wondering, "who is this joey bird?"...I know, I haven't written since "Chi town" baby, but matt has been doing such a good job...(what does "undulating" mean anyway!) that I have left the bloggin down to him! We had a nice trip to Columbus and enjoyed seeing "baby Lyn" and Henry, also granny and grandpa too. The trip through Kansas to Denver was strange but somewhat amazing...there is literally nothing for miles (except the tin man - heidi I thought of you!). The sky hangs so low over the plains and the sunset was amazing, it was 90 degrees and windy with tumbleweed flying all over the place...kansas was on twister warning which was scarey but slightly exciting. We stopped off in a town called Salina to break up the journey, it was there that I encountered the best steak ever...the bar was full of real cowboys and the steak was straight off a Kansas ranch..we loved it. I have never been anywhere quite like Kansas but when I was driving along the road, listening to the radio with the sunset low on the plains and not a car for miles I thought this is what a road trip is all about. I liked to compare the romance of a road trip to Thelma and Louise, Easy Rider etc. However Matt prefers to liken the experience to the famous "Lloyd and Harry" in the classic american road trip film "Dumb and Dumber"....I opted to be Lloyd in a choice that was not exactly favourable!
Last night we stayed in Denver "mile high city" at the foot of the Rocky mountains. A great city, but a bit nippy after the searing Kansas heat. We are now staying in Grand Lake in the Rocky Mountains National Park...we are now at 8000ft but drove through the most amazing 11000ft mountain scenery ever. Snow expected tomorrow and about 2°C at present. No bikini's for me!
To sum up, this country is so diverse, we have now travelled about 3000 miles and seen lakes, waterfalls, snow, mountains, praries, plains, skyscrappers.....only desert to go now! Team Collins - see you in Vegas baby!
Thanks to those of you who have e mailed/ blogged, even though we are having a great time it is nice to hear from home and keep up dated with all your news..
Lots of love
Joey xxx
Great - no. Plain - yes. We left indianapolis on thursday I think, and today is saturday. By the time we get into Denver this afternoon we will have done about 1200 miles in three days. We're actually cruising through the eastern reaches of Kansas state - don't worry i'm not driving whilst I write, my able assistant is behind the wheel. She's clocked up about 600 miles, and I reckon I could get used to being chauffeured around.
I'm not sure how people can live somewhere so desolate. Kansas state is about 450m across, and their is nothing once you leave the western suburbs of industrial kansas city. The plains here are just undulating rolls and great flats of farmland and cattle grazing punctuated by the odd mcdonalds, motel, petrol station or sign for "the worlds largest goose" (my favourite) or "the worlds largest prairie dog" (jo's favourite). And we've just been past a sign for Hill City...
We left Indy on thursday after dropping the kids off (em and hen) at the airport (i had previously dropped the kids off at the pool). From there it was 250m across Indiana farm land to St Louis (pronounced Lewis). If you have a roadmap of the US, then you can follow the I-70 from indianapolis to denver. A pretty uneventful drive, but we got to St Louis quite early. Which was nice. St Louis, as well as being the home to Chuck Berry, TS Elliott and Nelly is also the gateway to The West. It sits on the convergence of the mississippi and missouri rivers and has a bloody great arch on it's riverfront which you can see for miles on your way in. St Louis has a large German population and is responsible for Budweiser beer. Everyone's prone to the odd error I guess... After a quick stint at the arch, and a muse over the attached museum, we walked on the mississippi riverbank and then cruised downtown. I think that we're still struggling to come to terms with US city structures. In most cases, downtown is just a collection of office buildings. No shops and few restaurants. Not like an english town centre. We've learnt that the best areas for eating and drinking in the evening seem to be the university student areas. St Louis was no exception and the hotel was near by. Result.
Yesterday, the 15th, was a bit of a monster as we clocked up 450m. Oooh, we've just been through a town called Mingo. So anyway. The plan was to leave St Louis early doors, have lunch and dinner in cosmopolitan Kansas city (it's all relative) 270m away, then do another 180m to Salina. Try and look it up. It's a mere dot on a detailed map. It's a farmers outpost town, which is full of cowboys. We were both amazed as we'd never seen real cowboys before... One even had spurs on! We went to a local steak house, all you could see were the tops of cowboy hats peaking over the booths. I had two types of wings. These were overshadowed however by the most amazing bbq beans:
Bean-watch - Wow, these bad boys rock. Put your Heinz baked beans back in the cupboard. 10/10.
17th September
Yesterday, when we were cruising through kansas state it was 30°. As we started into colorado and we got higher and higher, the temperature dropped off by 15° in about half an hour. We clocked up another 450m which took the total to something like 1200m in three days. The car is feeling like home away from home. I forgot to mention that we passed a rather worrying "bible and gun superstore" in kansas. Do the two have to go together...?
Denver is cold but impressive. It's a nice city which has the rockies as a backdrop. Today we are cruising even further up into the mountains, as tonight we are staying in Grand Lake on the edge of the Rocky Mountain National Park.
18th September
Wow it's cold. Here in grand lake it's about 4 or 5 degrees. This hotel is about 8000ft high. The drive up here was amazing through the mountain passes. We were at 11000ft at one point where the temp dropped to -2°. That was clearly a time to regret a lack of winter clothing. Ohhh... Today we were planning to hike or cycle, but it's just too damn cold, so we're going to drive up into the park instead. The view from our room is out over grand lake and also some snowy peaks, one of which we believe to be mount baldy. Seems to be appropriate...
Last night joey and I played shuffleboard in the hotel bar whilst sinking a few local brews. Joey's legendary competitive temperament came out and it reminded me why I don't ever play games with her!!!
Also, there was a rockslide on the I-70 yesterday not far from here where someone died. Boulders as large as cars came down and one landed on a truck. Scarey...
Joey's musings 17.9.06
Well.....i'm sure you may all be wondering, "who is this joey bird?"...I know, I haven't written since "Chi town" baby, but matt has been doing such a good job...(what does "undulating" mean anyway!) that I have left the bloggin down to him! We had a nice trip to Columbus and enjoyed seeing "baby Lyn" and Henry, also granny and grandpa too. The trip through Kansas to Denver was strange but somewhat amazing...there is literally nothing for miles (except the tin man - heidi I thought of you!). The sky hangs so low over the plains and the sunset was amazing, it was 90 degrees and windy with tumbleweed flying all over the place...kansas was on twister warning which was scarey but slightly exciting. We stopped off in a town called Salina to break up the journey, it was there that I encountered the best steak ever...the bar was full of real cowboys and the steak was straight off a Kansas ranch..we loved it. I have never been anywhere quite like Kansas but when I was driving along the road, listening to the radio with the sunset low on the plains and not a car for miles I thought this is what a road trip is all about. I liked to compare the romance of a road trip to Thelma and Louise, Easy Rider etc. However Matt prefers to liken the experience to the famous "Lloyd and Harry" in the classic american road trip film "Dumb and Dumber"....I opted to be Lloyd in a choice that was not exactly favourable!
Last night we stayed in Denver "mile high city" at the foot of the Rocky mountains. A great city, but a bit nippy after the searing Kansas heat. We are now staying in Grand Lake in the Rocky Mountains National Park...we are now at 8000ft but drove through the most amazing 11000ft mountain scenery ever. Snow expected tomorrow and about 2°C at present. No bikini's for me!
To sum up, this country is so diverse, we have now travelled about 3000 miles and seen lakes, waterfalls, snow, mountains, praries, plains, skyscrappers.....only desert to go now! Team Collins - see you in Vegas baby!
Thanks to those of you who have e mailed/ blogged, even though we are having a great time it is nice to hear from home and keep up dated with all your news..
Lots of love
Joey xxx
16 September 2006
14 September 2006
14th september
14th September.
Columbus indiana. A smallish town about 40 odd miles south east of Indianapolis. Oh, haven't I (we) eaten well!
Columbus is the home to joey's grandparents, and, since saturday (the 9th) also home to us and Em and Hen (joey's sister and her boyfriend - Em's boyfriend, not joey's, since joey's already married. To me. Though i'm sure she often can't believe her luck. Anyway I digress..).
Now, where was I. Ah yes, we are in columbus in the midwest. Why do they call it the midwest? Technically, if you looked at a map of north america we would be in the middle-east, not the midwest. What have they got against the middle east? Any ideas? Answers on a postcard, or at least a comment on this blog... The best answer gets a special mention next blog. Talking of the middle east, "dubya" addressed the nation the other day and described afghanistan as a middle east country. At first, I thought "what a silly billy", then I realised that if columbus indiana is the midwest, then why can't afghanistan be in the middle east?
So anyway, we're here in indiana. We left chicago last saturday around noon and gave ourselves about seven hours to get from chicago to indianapolis airport. "The airport? But I thought you have a car?" you all cry... We were picking up the aforementioned sibling and her other half of course.
Chicago to indianapolis airport = 200 miles.
Time = 7 hours.
4 1/2 hours in one traffic jam = priceless.
(for those without a TV - that's a lame effort at the mastercard adverts).
We pulled into the airport car park as their plane landed and collected the weary travellers in the nick of time. Chicago had provided us with the worst traffic jam ever. 50 miles in four and a half hours. I could have walked quicker...
Not to jump around too much, but perhaps I should finish off chicago first. The friday was probably a bit like a rest day in cricket (they don't do that anymore do they?). In the morning we went to the laundrette, sorry laundromat. No exciting stories there. Dirty clothes went in. Clean ones came out. In the afternoon we acted upon a stroke of genius on joey's part. There is a restaurant over here called the cheesecake factory and they specialise in, yup, cheesecake. However, the food they serve there is so outrageously large that we english have no possible room for dessert - especially if we're stupid enough to oder a starter too. So, jo's idea was to pop to the cheesecake factory in the afternoon, pick up a couple of slithers, pop them in the fridge at our hotel and scoff them after a more manageable dinner. Pretty good huh? Unfortunately, my navigator's navigation skills were not at their peak, and a journey of about 1-2 miles took about an hour (good practise for what was to come on the following day, not good for our relationship). Anyway, we eventually got the marvellous cheesecake in the fridge and went rock climbing. Not much needs to be said, other than a) joey set the bar very high by getting to about 15 foot on her first attempt, b) I couldn't move my arms the next day, and c) we were promptly embarrassed by a six year old boy who scrambled to the top like spiderman or maybe spiderboy. After that, slap up chinese grub + cheesecake = potbellied. Job done.
Back to saturday. We got to indianapolis airport, picked up our guests, and took them to get some tucker. Johnny rockets hamburgers. High quality burgers and a fine opportunity for a spot of wingwatching:
Wingwatch - perhaps the strangest wingwatch to date. They were boneless wings which would have been better described as chicken nuggetts. The sauce wasn't so much hot, but extremely pungent. Like a bottle of ketchup with a bottle of tabasco. So, 3/10. Tasted okay, but the lack of actual wings, and the overpowering sauce were just weird.
Sunday was Emily's birthday. There was a lot of lounging around by, and swimming in, the pool. It was also the day that columbus-ball was born. Look out for it soon on eurosport. In the evening, we all went for a nice big chinese dinner. Joey's grandpa has been reading the blog and wanted a bit of wingwatch action (doesn't everyone), and so ordered some chicken wings for us. Good work:
Wingwatch - excellent tenderness on the inside and crispiness on the outside. Nice soy and chili sauce. Piping hot in the middle. 8/10. Delightful!
Sunday/emily's birthday was then rounded off nicely with some birthday cake. Great job!
Monday to wednesday were somewhat heavily rain-affected. A bit of shopping, and a bit of larking around. And, of course a spot of eating. Monday evening was highlighted by henry falling into the pool. He and I were playing footie on the patio, when I 'set one up' just over the edge. What at first looked like a tremendous balancing act became a futile waste of energy. The ball went in the pool, and shortly after henry followed it. The ball, being reasonably intelligent, had the foresight to remove it's wallet, watch and money from it's pocket, and change into it's speedos. Thus, when it inevitably ended up in the water it didn't suffer any losses or damages. Unfortunately henry did not have the same foresight... I just wished there was someone else to witness it with me. I laughed so much I might have leaked a little...
The highlight of tuesday was lunch at a restaurant at columbus airport. A most excellent chicken sandwich whilst watching the aeroplanes trundling around... Nice. We also spent some time downtown seeing old columbus and new columbus. I won't go into the details, but there was also a kid who referred to the country "canadia". Sounds exotic...
Thursday we drop em & hen at the airport, and then we're off to St. Louis Missouri. Hopefully we can set off early enough and get there by lunchtime. Hmm, lunch...
Anyway, thanks to joey's grandparents for their generous hospitality, it's been nice relaxing in their home, and catching up with them (i bet you didn't know that joey's great-grandfather played for derby county football and baseball teams - impressive).
IMPORTANT NOTICE - please sign your name at the end of your comments, as we don't always know who they're from... Kiwi relative? mark wilson?
Catch up with y'all later, i'm off for some rootin' tootin' buffalo rustlin' cow pokin' line dancin' stetson wearin' wild west adventures...
Henry's Guest Blog - hi to everyone back in the UK! Emily and I have had a good few days with the travellers and are hitchin' a ride in Matt's Passionwagon to Indianapolis Airport for the flight to the Big Apple. As a guest blogger I feel a duty to add my own Wingwatching thoughts.
Johnny Rockets Rocket Wings - I have to agree with Mr Hill's 3/10 - and that's being generous! Wings when you cannot taste the wing are never good!
Chinese Restaurant wings - excellent wings, nicely cooked with a crispy coating - 8.5/10.
I am glad to have provided Matt with much amusement by falling in the pool - even if I think the unfavorable comparison with an inflatable ball is a little harsh!
Emily Guest Blog
Hello everyone! Am very excited to have a guest spot in the blog...but not as excited as I am about being on my way to the sights, sounds and most importantly shops of New York City! We have had a good few days with Granny and Grandpa,and its been great to spend time with the travellers...although I'm reluctant to call them that after seeing the style they are travelling in-no internet cafes for these guys!! Anyway-nearly at the airport so better go! xx
Columbus indiana. A smallish town about 40 odd miles south east of Indianapolis. Oh, haven't I (we) eaten well!
Columbus is the home to joey's grandparents, and, since saturday (the 9th) also home to us and Em and Hen (joey's sister and her boyfriend - Em's boyfriend, not joey's, since joey's already married. To me. Though i'm sure she often can't believe her luck. Anyway I digress..).
Now, where was I. Ah yes, we are in columbus in the midwest. Why do they call it the midwest? Technically, if you looked at a map of north america we would be in the middle-east, not the midwest. What have they got against the middle east? Any ideas? Answers on a postcard, or at least a comment on this blog... The best answer gets a special mention next blog. Talking of the middle east, "dubya" addressed the nation the other day and described afghanistan as a middle east country. At first, I thought "what a silly billy", then I realised that if columbus indiana is the midwest, then why can't afghanistan be in the middle east?
So anyway, we're here in indiana. We left chicago last saturday around noon and gave ourselves about seven hours to get from chicago to indianapolis airport. "The airport? But I thought you have a car?" you all cry... We were picking up the aforementioned sibling and her other half of course.
Chicago to indianapolis airport = 200 miles.
Time = 7 hours.
4 1/2 hours in one traffic jam = priceless.
(for those without a TV - that's a lame effort at the mastercard adverts).
We pulled into the airport car park as their plane landed and collected the weary travellers in the nick of time. Chicago had provided us with the worst traffic jam ever. 50 miles in four and a half hours. I could have walked quicker...
Not to jump around too much, but perhaps I should finish off chicago first. The friday was probably a bit like a rest day in cricket (they don't do that anymore do they?). In the morning we went to the laundrette, sorry laundromat. No exciting stories there. Dirty clothes went in. Clean ones came out. In the afternoon we acted upon a stroke of genius on joey's part. There is a restaurant over here called the cheesecake factory and they specialise in, yup, cheesecake. However, the food they serve there is so outrageously large that we english have no possible room for dessert - especially if we're stupid enough to oder a starter too. So, jo's idea was to pop to the cheesecake factory in the afternoon, pick up a couple of slithers, pop them in the fridge at our hotel and scoff them after a more manageable dinner. Pretty good huh? Unfortunately, my navigator's navigation skills were not at their peak, and a journey of about 1-2 miles took about an hour (good practise for what was to come on the following day, not good for our relationship). Anyway, we eventually got the marvellous cheesecake in the fridge and went rock climbing. Not much needs to be said, other than a) joey set the bar very high by getting to about 15 foot on her first attempt, b) I couldn't move my arms the next day, and c) we were promptly embarrassed by a six year old boy who scrambled to the top like spiderman or maybe spiderboy. After that, slap up chinese grub + cheesecake = potbellied. Job done.
Back to saturday. We got to indianapolis airport, picked up our guests, and took them to get some tucker. Johnny rockets hamburgers. High quality burgers and a fine opportunity for a spot of wingwatching:
Wingwatch - perhaps the strangest wingwatch to date. They were boneless wings which would have been better described as chicken nuggetts. The sauce wasn't so much hot, but extremely pungent. Like a bottle of ketchup with a bottle of tabasco. So, 3/10. Tasted okay, but the lack of actual wings, and the overpowering sauce were just weird.
Sunday was Emily's birthday. There was a lot of lounging around by, and swimming in, the pool. It was also the day that columbus-ball was born. Look out for it soon on eurosport. In the evening, we all went for a nice big chinese dinner. Joey's grandpa has been reading the blog and wanted a bit of wingwatch action (doesn't everyone), and so ordered some chicken wings for us. Good work:
Wingwatch - excellent tenderness on the inside and crispiness on the outside. Nice soy and chili sauce. Piping hot in the middle. 8/10. Delightful!
Sunday/emily's birthday was then rounded off nicely with some birthday cake. Great job!
Monday to wednesday were somewhat heavily rain-affected. A bit of shopping, and a bit of larking around. And, of course a spot of eating. Monday evening was highlighted by henry falling into the pool. He and I were playing footie on the patio, when I 'set one up' just over the edge. What at first looked like a tremendous balancing act became a futile waste of energy. The ball went in the pool, and shortly after henry followed it. The ball, being reasonably intelligent, had the foresight to remove it's wallet, watch and money from it's pocket, and change into it's speedos. Thus, when it inevitably ended up in the water it didn't suffer any losses or damages. Unfortunately henry did not have the same foresight... I just wished there was someone else to witness it with me. I laughed so much I might have leaked a little...
The highlight of tuesday was lunch at a restaurant at columbus airport. A most excellent chicken sandwich whilst watching the aeroplanes trundling around... Nice. We also spent some time downtown seeing old columbus and new columbus. I won't go into the details, but there was also a kid who referred to the country "canadia". Sounds exotic...
Thursday we drop em & hen at the airport, and then we're off to St. Louis Missouri. Hopefully we can set off early enough and get there by lunchtime. Hmm, lunch...
Anyway, thanks to joey's grandparents for their generous hospitality, it's been nice relaxing in their home, and catching up with them (i bet you didn't know that joey's great-grandfather played for derby county football and baseball teams - impressive).
IMPORTANT NOTICE - please sign your name at the end of your comments, as we don't always know who they're from... Kiwi relative? mark wilson?
Catch up with y'all later, i'm off for some rootin' tootin' buffalo rustlin' cow pokin' line dancin' stetson wearin' wild west adventures...
Henry's Guest Blog - hi to everyone back in the UK! Emily and I have had a good few days with the travellers and are hitchin' a ride in Matt's Passionwagon to Indianapolis Airport for the flight to the Big Apple. As a guest blogger I feel a duty to add my own Wingwatching thoughts.
Johnny Rockets Rocket Wings - I have to agree with Mr Hill's 3/10 - and that's being generous! Wings when you cannot taste the wing are never good!
Chinese Restaurant wings - excellent wings, nicely cooked with a crispy coating - 8.5/10.
I am glad to have provided Matt with much amusement by falling in the pool - even if I think the unfavorable comparison with an inflatable ball is a little harsh!
Emily Guest Blog
Hello everyone! Am very excited to have a guest spot in the blog...but not as excited as I am about being on my way to the sights, sounds and most importantly shops of New York City! We have had a good few days with Granny and Grandpa,and its been great to spend time with the travellers...although I'm reluctant to call them that after seeing the style they are travelling in-no internet cafes for these guys!! Anyway-nearly at the airport so better go! xx
08 September 2006
8th september 2006
So, where were we? Ah yes, we left toronto (bit tame and rained too much) and arrived in ann arbor via the "department of homeland insecurity". I think we said last time that Ann Arbor is really nice. Lots of restaurants and old uni buildings. A good atmosphere with a couple of local breweries churning out some useful IPA (indiana pale ale). Not to mention the awesome potbelly sandwich works...
From there it was a good four hour drive to chicago. Now unfortunately this weekend sees the chicago wine festival, the jazz festival and about five other festivals, which means the closest we could get to downtown is about 25 miles without spending over $300 per night. So, we are staying in the suburb of Lombard, west of the city. We arrived here wednesday night and didn't want to venture too far afield so went to the "Weber Grill" opposite. This is the weber who make the kettle barbeques. So, guess what kind of food? Yes, barbequed! I of course went for barbequed chicken, pork and beef obviously. Joey (who often pulls the vegetarian card when she doesn't like what's on the menu) ordered a 16oz steak! So, whilst I was suffering from the meatsweats struggling on the last mouthfuls of barbequed pulled pork, 'little' joey was putting the finishing touches to a goliath of a steak... I was so proud!
Yesterday, we got a train into chicago. Firstly we did the tourist bus, which is always good. Then lunch and shop 'browsing' (not shopping shop-watchers) on the magnificent mile.
In the afternoon we went to the zoo. It's a really good one with big enclosures for the animals. The polar bear, tigers, and apes were particularly good. You could get quite close and watch them for a while, that is until someone stuck their bloody great camera in and flashed away scaring the animals into hiding. Firstly when two lions were sleeping. Flash flash flash, and the poor little things hid behind rocks. Then at the gorillas, this huge one was sitting relaxing eating by the glass until some woman scared the crap out of it with the biggest flash on a camera i've ever seen. Jo and I were quite frustrated by this, but fortunately our english reserve came into effect and so we just muttered obscenities under our breath...
But the day didn't end there. A trip to the 94th floor observatory of the john hancock tower, dinner at the aforementioned potbelly sandwich works and a beer by the river made for a top day. Chicago is a fine city indeed...
Today is a doss day, currently at the laundrette (or laundromatt as these people call it), then we're going swimming. This afternoon we're going rock climbing on one of those training walls. Tonight, I would expect that we will encounter the cheesecake-sweats... Cool.
No wingwatch updates today. To be honest i'm struggling to eat a starter and main course in one sitting. No, i've not become a girl, but the food here is massive.
Oh, and for those that care: Adios McGhee you big tool...
Anyway, over to her...
Joey's musings! Not much to add really, having a great time though...off to see granny and grandpa tomorrow with em and hen which will be nice...thanks loads to lou, lou, nick and andy for your recent blogwatching! Ed would be a great travel companion indeed, even a possible contender for the wingwatch! Matt needs to get some more training in! Andy - I can't believe matt has managed to get sent off from 3000 miles away! He's clearly the people's hero! Taking one for the team I believe they say over there!
Love to you all,
Jo xxx
From there it was a good four hour drive to chicago. Now unfortunately this weekend sees the chicago wine festival, the jazz festival and about five other festivals, which means the closest we could get to downtown is about 25 miles without spending over $300 per night. So, we are staying in the suburb of Lombard, west of the city. We arrived here wednesday night and didn't want to venture too far afield so went to the "Weber Grill" opposite. This is the weber who make the kettle barbeques. So, guess what kind of food? Yes, barbequed! I of course went for barbequed chicken, pork and beef obviously. Joey (who often pulls the vegetarian card when she doesn't like what's on the menu) ordered a 16oz steak! So, whilst I was suffering from the meatsweats struggling on the last mouthfuls of barbequed pulled pork, 'little' joey was putting the finishing touches to a goliath of a steak... I was so proud!
Yesterday, we got a train into chicago. Firstly we did the tourist bus, which is always good. Then lunch and shop 'browsing' (not shopping shop-watchers) on the magnificent mile.
In the afternoon we went to the zoo. It's a really good one with big enclosures for the animals. The polar bear, tigers, and apes were particularly good. You could get quite close and watch them for a while, that is until someone stuck their bloody great camera in and flashed away scaring the animals into hiding. Firstly when two lions were sleeping. Flash flash flash, and the poor little things hid behind rocks. Then at the gorillas, this huge one was sitting relaxing eating by the glass until some woman scared the crap out of it with the biggest flash on a camera i've ever seen. Jo and I were quite frustrated by this, but fortunately our english reserve came into effect and so we just muttered obscenities under our breath...
But the day didn't end there. A trip to the 94th floor observatory of the john hancock tower, dinner at the aforementioned potbelly sandwich works and a beer by the river made for a top day. Chicago is a fine city indeed...
Today is a doss day, currently at the laundrette (or laundromatt as these people call it), then we're going swimming. This afternoon we're going rock climbing on one of those training walls. Tonight, I would expect that we will encounter the cheesecake-sweats... Cool.
No wingwatch updates today. To be honest i'm struggling to eat a starter and main course in one sitting. No, i've not become a girl, but the food here is massive.
Oh, and for those that care: Adios McGhee you big tool...
Anyway, over to her...
Joey's musings! Not much to add really, having a great time though...off to see granny and grandpa tomorrow with em and hen which will be nice...thanks loads to lou, lou, nick and andy for your recent blogwatching! Ed would be a great travel companion indeed, even a possible contender for the wingwatch! Matt needs to get some more training in! Andy - I can't believe matt has managed to get sent off from 3000 miles away! He's clearly the people's hero! Taking one for the team I believe they say over there!
Love to you all,
Jo xxx
05 September 2006
4th september
Joey's musings...
For those of you who are new to the blog, the format goes like this......
1.matt starts with a brief overview of location and events..
2. Matt straight in with the funnies/ quips
3. Wingwatch - need I say more!
4. Joeys brief and slightly dull follow up! Including pun of the day...
Today we have taken a detour from the set format by beginning with my own musings on recent events...
We have arrived in ann arbor following a long trip down from toronto..we arrived at U.S border control and yet again got pulled by the men with guns asking us what we were doing, in a stationary line of 100s of cars we appeared to be the only ones of interest. They then proceeded to put a parcel of "fake" narcotics in my bag and sent us blindly towards customs to see if the rookie dog could find them..after about 15 minutes with the gear on me the rather lovable dog came bounding over with his not so lovable armed owner..bizarre! I had horrible visions of being pulled over and asked to explain why I was carrying half of columbia's national export! Hope you are all well, thank you so much for all the postings..love to you all and the mum's too (hi B, fi and rosie)....i'm moving over for the funnyman now! Xxxx
P.S No puns today but watch this space!
Mr MHT Hill's section:
Oh, she's funny...
First things first: RIP Mr Steve Irwin. I am absoloutely gutted about the untimely demise of the legend that is the crocodile hunter. We were of course looking forward to seeing him in action at the Australia zoo in Brisbane and are genuinely gutted that he's died... "Mate, what a beauty!"
Back to business: Toronto. After my excellent birthday on the Friday, we then had all day saturday and sunday to investigate the town. What a strange place!!! Firstly, it's immaculate. All clean and tidy, perhaps a little too steralised. No rubbish, no homeless, no atmosphere, no people!!! When it rains (as it does wherever we go) all of the toronto residents go underground. There are something like 25 miles of underground walkways, shopping malls and restaurants. Very surreal. Sunday was better; we went on the bus tour and saw chinatown and the student area which had some atmosphere... In the end, we were quite relieved to get moving on again... As Joey said, the journey down here to Ann Arbor was eventful, but we're safely here now... Whilst driving down here, there was a sign on the edge of the freeway that said "injure or kill a freeway construction worker - $15,000", but we couldn't find one anywhere, which was a shame because we could do with a few extra bucks... Also, as we entered michigan, there was a sign by the road that read "prison area - do not pick up hitch-hikers"!!!
Wingwatch part III - big juicy wings with soy sauce and sesame seed coating and a honey mustard dip. Beautiful 7.5/10
And finally, TV here is scary. I don't want to sound like michael moore, but all they report on is death, murder, kill, homocide, tragedy etc etc. It's just fear fear fear everywhere...
Adios amigos.
For those of you who are new to the blog, the format goes like this......
1.matt starts with a brief overview of location and events..
2. Matt straight in with the funnies/ quips
3. Wingwatch - need I say more!
4. Joeys brief and slightly dull follow up! Including pun of the day...
Today we have taken a detour from the set format by beginning with my own musings on recent events...
We have arrived in ann arbor following a long trip down from toronto..we arrived at U.S border control and yet again got pulled by the men with guns asking us what we were doing, in a stationary line of 100s of cars we appeared to be the only ones of interest. They then proceeded to put a parcel of "fake" narcotics in my bag and sent us blindly towards customs to see if the rookie dog could find them..after about 15 minutes with the gear on me the rather lovable dog came bounding over with his not so lovable armed owner..bizarre! I had horrible visions of being pulled over and asked to explain why I was carrying half of columbia's national export! Hope you are all well, thank you so much for all the postings..love to you all and the mum's too (hi B, fi and rosie)....i'm moving over for the funnyman now! Xxxx
P.S No puns today but watch this space!
Mr MHT Hill's section:
Oh, she's funny...
First things first: RIP Mr Steve Irwin. I am absoloutely gutted about the untimely demise of the legend that is the crocodile hunter. We were of course looking forward to seeing him in action at the Australia zoo in Brisbane and are genuinely gutted that he's died... "Mate, what a beauty!"
Back to business: Toronto. After my excellent birthday on the Friday, we then had all day saturday and sunday to investigate the town. What a strange place!!! Firstly, it's immaculate. All clean and tidy, perhaps a little too steralised. No rubbish, no homeless, no atmosphere, no people!!! When it rains (as it does wherever we go) all of the toronto residents go underground. There are something like 25 miles of underground walkways, shopping malls and restaurants. Very surreal. Sunday was better; we went on the bus tour and saw chinatown and the student area which had some atmosphere... In the end, we were quite relieved to get moving on again... As Joey said, the journey down here to Ann Arbor was eventful, but we're safely here now... Whilst driving down here, there was a sign on the edge of the freeway that said "injure or kill a freeway construction worker - $15,000", but we couldn't find one anywhere, which was a shame because we could do with a few extra bucks... Also, as we entered michigan, there was a sign by the road that read "prison area - do not pick up hitch-hikers"!!!
Wingwatch part III - big juicy wings with soy sauce and sesame seed coating and a honey mustard dip. Beautiful 7.5/10
And finally, TV here is scary. I don't want to sound like michael moore, but all they report on is death, murder, kill, homocide, tragedy etc etc. It's just fear fear fear everywhere...
Adios amigos.
02 September 2006
2nd september 2006
1st september 2006 - my 31st birthday!
Happy birthday to me etc etc. Tonight we are in the city of toronto celebrating the most important day of the year. Nice. It's been a good day so far, thankyou for all the cards and messages, always appreciated.
Let me step back a little. I think that the last update was from ithaca and the finger lakes... In short, the area is stunning! The lakes and the surrounding areas, vineyards and waterfalls were beautiful. Taughannock falls were amazing. About 200 feet high and awesome.
From there we cruised on up to St. Catherines in Canada - no crap from the immigration guys there! We booked into some B&B which was clean but chintzy - the décor gave me a headache, but it was very comfortable and the breakfast was good, so we won't complain! (www.balaplace.com).
Last night we went to the canadian side of the niagara falls. They are beautiful at night, all lit up in the dark. We also went to the casino for the all-you-can-eat buffet, and a taste of Vegas!!!
This morning we got up early and went on The Maid Of The Mist. Soaking good fun!
Now we're here in toronto and joey has a nice dinner planned for me so bring on the grub!
No wing-watch update today wingwatchers, but hopefully it won't be too long before I get back to you with another instalment...
Finally, we're still struggling to send emails, and to make things worse, we can't rext or phone here either!!!
Joey's section: the morning after! Had a gr8 night drinking cocktails...pommegranite affair! Lovely! Matt had a nice birthday and was pleased with his cards and their contents! Raining in toronto too, the macs are coming in very handy indeed. Toronto seems nice but proper exploring begins today after a quick egg re fuel...
Forgot to mention in earlier blog that there will be a new watch entitled "joey's pun of the day".... Starting with...
1.This church has prayer conditioning (church in upstate new york)
2. If your out in the cold, follow the son!
Location as above
We will be in toronto till monday when there will be a movement south....no, not matt's bowels (the result of too many wings has turned wing watch into windwatch!). We will be staying in ann arbor mi after a day trip through detrioit....we have booked in at the 8mile trailer park with our host mr eminem..sounds familier but I can't quite place it! Will try to sort the e mail soon.
Love jo xx
Happy birthday to me etc etc. Tonight we are in the city of toronto celebrating the most important day of the year. Nice. It's been a good day so far, thankyou for all the cards and messages, always appreciated.
Let me step back a little. I think that the last update was from ithaca and the finger lakes... In short, the area is stunning! The lakes and the surrounding areas, vineyards and waterfalls were beautiful. Taughannock falls were amazing. About 200 feet high and awesome.
From there we cruised on up to St. Catherines in Canada - no crap from the immigration guys there! We booked into some B&B which was clean but chintzy - the décor gave me a headache, but it was very comfortable and the breakfast was good, so we won't complain! (www.balaplace.com).
Last night we went to the canadian side of the niagara falls. They are beautiful at night, all lit up in the dark. We also went to the casino for the all-you-can-eat buffet, and a taste of Vegas!!!
This morning we got up early and went on The Maid Of The Mist. Soaking good fun!
Now we're here in toronto and joey has a nice dinner planned for me so bring on the grub!
No wing-watch update today wingwatchers, but hopefully it won't be too long before I get back to you with another instalment...
Finally, we're still struggling to send emails, and to make things worse, we can't rext or phone here either!!!
Joey's section: the morning after! Had a gr8 night drinking cocktails...pommegranite affair! Lovely! Matt had a nice birthday and was pleased with his cards and their contents! Raining in toronto too, the macs are coming in very handy indeed. Toronto seems nice but proper exploring begins today after a quick egg re fuel...
Forgot to mention in earlier blog that there will be a new watch entitled "joey's pun of the day".... Starting with...
1.This church has prayer conditioning (church in upstate new york)
2. If your out in the cold, follow the son!
Location as above
We will be in toronto till monday when there will be a movement south....no, not matt's bowels (the result of too many wings has turned wing watch into windwatch!). We will be staying in ann arbor mi after a day trip through detrioit....we have booked in at the 8mile trailer park with our host mr eminem..sounds familier but I can't quite place it! Will try to sort the e mail soon.
Love jo xx
31 August 2006
joeys musings!
Am feeling a little left out of the wing loop so feel the need to start my own rating scheme! Mac make up is 10/10 in nyc, ithica and everywhere else except the amish communities of pensilvania! Having a great time here, especially the delightful craft shops! Matt...they are not tat! Wish you were all here xxxx greetings to the birthday girl too xxx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
