Sounds like a good start to your adventure, keep it up!! Thanks.

I'm enjoying the story and joining the road trip!

Amen to enjoying your story - and LOL. Gotta love the squirrel counting competition, and also your great attitude at not letting a little thing like a several hour rental car snafu deter your Aussie spirit.

Most of all - please keep up with your adventure reports.

Not sure if I relayed this - but I/we (my law school roomies) traveled with a couple of Aussies when we were in Morocco and later at the Octoberfest, and we had a blast camping out with several thousand Aussies at a five star campground next to a river in Munich, with some New Zealanders sprinkled about - and us three yanks.

Stumbling back to our tent late one night - it was great to hear Aussies calling out - More Tea? - which was the buzzword for beer.

And my dad absolutely loved Australia when he spent some time there in the Army during WWII. He had been in Med School - and was a little older than the average Army lad - so when they all headed to the pubs on leave - he would walk through the beautiful suburbs of say Brisbane, and the locals would invite him in for dinner and some good cheer.

And yes, meat - and other things at Whole Foods can be expensive. Many times - you can get the same quality at the brand supermarkets (Ralph's, Albertson's, Costco even) - but Whole Foods is very popular.

As for the Alamo - the greatest military significance is that the brave Texans who died there gave more time for the others being called up/drilled in the militia to better organize and ultimately defeat a very professional Mexican Army - lead by the dynamic General Santana.

It then became a rallying cry for all Yanks - as in: Remember the Alamo!!!!!!

Hey - when I was driving in Ireland - and other places where they drive on the "other" side of the road - such as Antigua in the Caribbean - I always made sure my window side shoulder (for the driver) was next to the yellow/center line - and it started you off on the right track.

Additionally - I then made sure to look in BOTH directions when starting out - as what you experienced is very common. One doesn't think the traffic is coming from the direction that they are used to seeing/looking


P.S. Baby sitting my cousin's two dogs (the "boys" - a very cute Pug and equally cute French Bulldog) - while they tend to their 3 year old twins (a boy and a girl and very energetic for sure) - and get ready to host Thanksgiving dinner. BTW - my sister is making pies for the gathering (two pumpkin and a Pecan) - and my wife is bringing her "famous" smoked salmon roll, while I will be going to Ralph's - for some fresh baguettes and bubbly.

Anyhow - the Bulldog (named Ike) - being a good boy - decided he had to take a trip outdoors (we spoil them and they sleep on the bed with us) - so I got up to let him out and couldn't get back to sleep.

The pug - "Sir" Henry - crawls under the covers like a cat and snuggles up to my wife - and Henry sleeps soundly well into the morning.

What a couple of characters they are, and when I take them for a walk, being the friendly little troopers they are - all the neighbors love to pet them.

Thanks for the encouragement and Happy Thanksgiving to y'all. We have a big day lined up, lunch at my daughter's iHouse with some other international families and then the Longhorns vs TCU game tonight.

Tomorrow we're attempting an enormous road trip to Memphis. I have been out voted on taking the shorter Houston route to NOLA. I think my family have watched too many Chevy Chase movies & have an idealised notion of the great American road trip. So it may be a couple of days before I summon up the energy and wifi for an update.

Thanks for the driving tips Tom. After our first couple of close shaves (when turning into oncoming traffic!), my son in law has coined the reminders 'Righty Tighty' and 'Lefty Loosey' which is sung with great gusto every time my poor husband arrives at an intersection!

En route or while you're in Memphis, do try to squeeze some time to head south (about 90 min.) on Highway 61 (revisited) to Clarksdale at the Crossroads of the Blues. Visit the Delta Blues Museum, eat ribs at Abe's (at the Crossroads - don't sell your soul) and revel in some of the best Americana you can find.

http://www.deltabluesmuseum.org/
http://www.abesbbq.com/

Oh, and lodgings: http://www.theshackupinn.com/

LOL. Just can hear the chorus now as you pull up to a turn situation: Righty Tighty - Lefty Loosey. ..............Dad - what are you doing?????????????

When I was young - on road trips (back then it was two lane roads mainly - not so many Freeways) - we used to play a game and try to be the first to spot/yell out the state of the incoming cars.

Also - fyi - when you need to gas up (add petro) - look at the gas guage on the concole - and there should be a little arrow at the bottom that tells you which side of the car the gas tank is on. Might save some time at a busy gas station.

I am really enjoying reading about your adventures.
Enjoy the rest of your trip and keep us posted!

Welcome to the U.S.! First of all, let me congratulate you for not only driving on the other side of the road, but doing it in Texas! I’m reminded of me in 1969 driving a VW from Heathrow to downtown London with 3 screaming passengers. Truly, you are heros. I haven't figured out what one needs to do to get pulled over for speeding.

Maybe the full day of traveling canceled out your jet lag. You left and arrived at the same time!

"Like most of my American history, I learnt that from a movie."--Oh Dear! I’m sorry it wasn’t as exciting in person. Davy Crockett got pretty romanticized through Walt Disney.

I’m laughing out loud about the cheese! You must go to France next. Yes, the portions in many restaurants are ridiculous though.

If only you could take a few thousand squirrels back with you—they can eat a hole in a house!

Things are large in the U.S. but larger in Texas. I hope you get to experience a smaller scale. Small towns do exist! And not everyone eats like what you've described.

Can't wait to hear about your next stop. Wonderful report!

Glad you are enjoying your trip so far!

Hope you didn't get caught in that big 100 car pileup in Texas?

Tomsd, that's the first thing I thought about when seeing that info on the news this a.m.

Hope you are OK, Kwaussie.

In...

And it looks like the Purple Frogs - TCU's Horned Toads - beat the Orange clas Texas "Shorthorns" yesterday. First time in 20 years. Adios UT coach Mack Brown?

http://lindyssports.com/college-football/big-12/article/headline/tcu-beats-texas-for-first-time-in-20-years/57272

I would love to travel with you!!! Love your spirit. Im a Texan and what fun to see it through your Aussie eyes. Welcome to Texas! BTW did you know that when horn toads get mad they squirt blood from their eyes? Must have worked at Daryl K Royal stadium yesterday!!

Thanks everyone for your concern for us. We also had people from home worrying that we'd been caught up in the crash but we knew nothing about it (being on vacation is a great way to miss the news). I still haven't read about what happened but my experience on the road so far has certainly made me afraid of an accident like that.

Yesterday we experienced our first ever American Thanksgiving. Given my belief in positive psychology and the power of gratitude, how wonderful it was to have a day specially set aside for being thankful! Sophie had arranged for some of her fellow international student friends to have lunch at her house so we packed up our car with lots of 'fixings' and headed off to create a Thanksgiving dinner for 14. Easier said than done in a student house with very few pots & pans and even less cutlery but with the addition of some awesome Italian and Dutch and Austrian dishes we ended up with a feast. Not only did we get to be grateful for the food but also for the opportunity to meet Sophie's friends and to experience something of the 'family' she has created here in Texas.

After dinner we donned our Longhorn's gear and headed off to the stadium to watch the Longhorns play the TCU Horned Frogs. It's hard to explain the atmosphere at a college football game. I've been to Geelong vs Collingwood games at the MCG, I've sat amongst the cowbells in the Waikato and I've watched Blackout rugby games at Eden Park on TV. I guess those experiences are the closest I can use as an analogy for folks at home. Except this isn't AFL or Tri Nations or Super Rugby. It's college football! The stadium hold 100,000 people. Yes, that many zeros! And apart from a handful of brave Horned Frogs dressed in purple, every last one of them were wearing orange!

Before the game the 420 members of the UT band play 'The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You' and everybody sings along. Then you curl your thumb, index finger and ring finger into your palm, extend the forefinger and pinky and chant 'Hook 'em Horns'. If a player goes down injured, everyone gives the hook 'em sign again until they recover. Every now and again, one side of the stadium yells 'Texas' and the other side responds 'Fight!'

At half time the band returns along with the cheerleaders. They create amazing formations of stars and cows and the map of Texas, all the while playing hits from 'Who'. Amazing.

As for the football game itself, I think maybe you have to be raised in the US to appreciate it. I found it way too stop/start. I just wanted a Jonah Lomu type to pick up the ball and keep running to the touch line but there was very little of that sort of excitement. There were a couple of intercepts that I would have chastised my netballers for because the wide receiver stepped backwards instead of forwards to take the pass and once I jumped up from my seat to celebrate a sure touch down only to discover he'd let the ball go straight through his hands. I imagine it's actually quite hard to judge the incoming behind that helmet.

Anyway, it was a great experience and the legion of burnt orange didn't seem too upset by the loss. I thought TCU were a much better team on the day.

As Taine said in his Thanksgiving prayer at lunchtime, we were just grateful to be with family, to meet new friends and eat turkey!

Sounds like a fantastic way to spend T-day and we're so glad you weren't in the horrid crash.

Keep it coming!

What a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving. Have to think about how to say: Please pass the dressing and gravy - in say Dutch, or Italian - or German or maybe Spanish or French?

And LOL. Yes, American Football and Rugby are a wee bit different.

Have long been a Rugby fan - and played just a bit while at ye old law school - UC Hastings in San Francisco - but played a lot more football, both as a passer (Quarterback) and Receiver. Let me tell you - it's a lot harder to catch a pass in football - than a lateral in Rugby - but hey -in football - you have some pads while you don't in Rugby.

What's the old phrase: It takes Leather Balls to play Rugby.

In football - the incoming pass can be at different angles and speeds - and you also are waiting to get creamed by the defense - so sometimes what can look like an easy miss is bit more challenging.

Hope you saw some good catches at least?

Actually - the best part for some of us was after the Rugby match when the two sides drank beer together - and the "real" winner was the one who knew the most songs, which the "HOBS" - Hastings Old Boys - were pretty good at.

The team/club actually went over to tour Wales and played at Hastings there, as well as a couple places in England, and I believe they also played in Ireland.

Hope you enjoy the next leg - driving to NOLA is it?

Great report - loving your perspective about American customs

(Tom - do you have some great urge to make every thread about you?? Not nice)

janis - are you retiring back to England soon?

Friday : Our 5 days in Texas flew by and yesterday we packed up the car for a family road trip to Memphis.
It was with some sadness we left the Lone Star State. Texas is big and bold and brash but very likeable and I can see why Sophie has fallen in love with her temporary home. Our top 10 impressions of Texas, in no particular order.

1.The Big Things. Everything really is bigger in Texas.... hats, cars, water towers, pizza slices! Even the birds are big . We loved watching eagles soaring above us on the highway.
2.Queso. The addictive yellow cheese mixture that covers everything.
3.Spaghetti roads. Bizarre 'George Jetson' layers of highway , one above the other with very small barriers on the side.
4.Cheap stuff; food, clothes, fuel (We're driving a Kia 7 seater. It cost $45 to fill it.)
5.Friendly faces. I felt safe everywhere we went in Texas (except maybe the road).
Texas drawl. Actually, it's not a drawl because it's us who drawl (especially those of us who've spent time in Woorndoo!). The accent is amazing but honestly there were times I had no idea what people were saying to me. Geoff chose vinaigrette dressing for his salad one night because I'm pretty sure it was the only word he recognized.
6."Y'all". Great saying. I'm keeping it.
7.Poverty. Unfortunately this is one of the negative impressions. There are homeless people and beggars at lots of intersections.
8. Fast food billboards. The interstate is literally wall to wall billboards. I counted 19 golden arches alone from Dallas to Austin. There are so many fast food chains you could not visit them all in a year. So far we've tried Wendys, Taco Bell and Sonic. Sonic is the only one that might get a return visit!
9. Our first look at squirrels
10.Orange. There's no getting away from burnt orange in Austin.

With memories of all of the above indelibly etched in our hearts, we set off on the 1000 km journey to Memphis. The day after Thanksgiving turned out to be an inspired choice of day to travel because most people were at home today and the roads were much quieter.

We traveled north, back toward Dallas, stopping at a roadside diner for breakfast where we met our first Elvis impersonator.

After Dallas, the ever present billboards on the roadside gave way for masses of trees adorned in autumn foliage and we started to see the gateways of some pretty impressive cattle ranches. The GPS said 'bear right in 482km'. There are still plenty of long, open spaces in Texas.

We were excited to cross the border into Arkansas (which we will always affectionately pronounce with an 's' at he end even though we know better We drove through Hope (home of President Clinton) and turned off to look for food in a little town called Emmet. Here was the country America I had been looking for. Only one way in and one way back out to the interstate. To cross from one side of town to the other you had to cross the railroad line. Unfortunately for the locals, a train had pulled up across the road and no one could get from one side to the other. The girl in the gas station told me the train had been there for 30 minutes and everyone just had to wait! This town looked just like something we would see on TV, possibly during an episode of 'Pickers' or 'Gator Boys'. I would have loved to look around further but Jaime was in the car with the doors locked!

By the time we got to Little Rock ( home of the Clintons as a couple and Lieutenant Nellie Forbush in South Pacific) it was time to get off the road. Taine had traveled well but 800km was enough for everyone. We found ourselves a la Quinta to stay at and stumbled upon an amazing tepenyaki restaurant for dinner. It was delicious and only cost 80$ for all 6 of us for dinner. Unbelievable.

Saturday: Walking in Memphis

La Quinta includes complimentary breakfast which is a great bonus. Taine got to make his first batch of breakfast waffles and Xavier volunteered for our first taste of grits. The look on his face decided the rest of us to stick to the bagels, which were delicious.

The drive out of Little Rock passed nearly as many churches as the drive in. Almost every block contains a church of a different religion, some that I have never heard of before! Oxymoronically, the other side of the road was littered with billboards for an Adult XXX Superstore. Go figure!

It only took us two hours to get to Memphis. When we stopped at the info centre I discovered my dslr camera had decided it's contact points were dirty and stopped working. This is a bummer because taking photos is one of my favourite holiday pursuits. We went downtown looking for somewhere to stay. The hotel we had chosen refused to let us book a room before 3pm which turned out to be a blessing because after an hour's walk downtown we realised we did not want to stay in the city. As safe as Texas had felt, Memphis felt the opposite. The streets were eerily deserted and apart from Beale St, the whole place felt like a ghost town. The Peabody Plaza was a huge mall of vacant shops and at one stage, a man actually stood in the middle of the road and we had to drive around him. It was bizarre.

Abandoning our plans to stay one night downtown and one nearer to Graceland, we drove directly to the home of Elvis Presley. I'm so glad we did. Graceland is beautiful. It's not the palatial, over the top mansion I was expecting. It's just a lovely, wonderfully preserved home , straight from the 70s. despite the fact that thousands of people have walked through it since Elvis' death, it still feels very much like someone's home and it was quite surreal to think we were in the same rooms that the Presley family had lived their lives. Of course the gift shops and food outlets associated with the Graceland complex are over priced and touristy but I really didn't find anything tacky about the house itself. The memorial garden at the end of the self paced tour is just that, a grave site where people come to pay their respects to a talent that left us too soon.

Having been very satisfied with the service at la Quinta the night before, we sought out another one for tonight. We went for a drive to look for dinner and something to fill in the couple of hours before bed and found ourselves at the Southland Mall. Nothing like a bit more shopping to finish off the day. Pretty sure one of our next stops will have to be a Post Office to find out how to send some of this stuff home!

BTW Tom, I'm enjoying the way you can connect my story with yours, please feel free to continue.

Are you going to have time to head down into the Delta?

Kwaussie, I’m so relieved that you missed the car pile-up. Thick fog was the culprit according to TV.

Your Thanksgiving sounded excellent! And yes, Tomsd, I’ve seen the leather balls sticker on the cars of Maryland players. A scrum in American football would probably cause legal suits! LOL.

My husband and I had the same experience of not understanding a word when we were in England. Amazing differences not only in accents, but with slang.

It makes caring Americans embarassed that there are even any homeless—a real sadness. There are plenty of shelters and help for them but it doesn’t make it any less a horrid problem. And, crass commercialism makes thinking American crazy. I cringe to think what others must think of this side of the U.S.

Again, I'm enjoying your TR. It is truly cool to read the impressions of others from a different country/culture. More, please!

Glad you enjoyed your time in Texas! It's always interesting to hear someone's perspective from another country, particularly that you encountered so many friendly faces and felt safe.

Squirrels are abundant where I live, but I never tire of watching them. There are cute little animals aren't they? You should see their antics as they try to navigate their way into my squirrel-proof bird feeder, quite a funny sight to behold!

Those spaghetti roads (aka mix-masters) can be intimidating. Traffic can certainly be bad, and I-35 from Dallas to San Antonio is one of the worst areas. It always has so many 18-wheelers on it. Maybe if you return you can see some more of Texas off the freeways.

Oh, unfortunately, those weren't eagles you were seeing soaring above you in the area of Texas you were in. They were vultures most likely. While they are peaceful and graceful to watch soar through the sky, they aren't nearly as majestic as an eagle up close.

Thanks for sharing your reports with us.

Another great report/impressions. Feel like I am in the "shotgun" seat with ye.

And bummer. The chap who is Mr. Graceland - and lived across the hall from me - hosted a Regis College Reunion a few weeks ago and then took off for some well deserved vacation time - so he wasn't around right now - when you are there.

They stayed at the Peabody Hotel - and saw the infamous ducks walk - http://www.peabodymemphis.com/peabody-ducks/ but as for Beale St - and downtown Memphis - my friends said the same thing. OK during the day - but a bit seedy and you might not want to be there at night - unless you were a big group. They did enjoy dining at BB King's - was it?

As for the "Eagle" - it probably was a turkey vulture. Hey - for the squirrels - you need more of the Falcons that I saw on a tall streetlight post this am. Just sitting up there - looking majestic - without being afraid of anything.

We also have some Red Tailed Hawks here - and occasional Golden Eagles - but the famous Bald Headed Eagles are up further north - and a lot of them winter in my old town of Klamath Falls, Oregon. http://www.fws.gov/klamathbasinrefuges/eagle.html

As for Rugby: Well - loved the sport - even if didn't play it much. Every year at the annual banquet - (I may have told you this story?) - they showed the famous field long try by the All Blacks at Wembley stadium in London - and one back goes almost the length of the field by himself. Blond chap and very very fast.

And from a source no less than Cigar Aficionado - a bit about Rugby: http://www.cigaraficionado.com/webfeatures/show/id/Rugby-Bloodsport_7365/p/2

BTW - I have stayed at a La Quinta - one time years ago when everything else seemed booked in Salt Lake during a three day ski weekend. Nice enough - and clean. And the kids really do like turning over the waffle maker - if you had that kind. (Big kids too.)

Also glad you seem to be navigating the roads fairly well. Keep on trucking!!!! (And reporting - pleez).

Hmm, I'm a bit disappointed to learn that our 'eagles' are actually vultures! Let's hope they just stay in the sky where they look majestic! As for the navigating, we bought a GPS for $90 on eBay before we came and it has been spectacularly useful. Combined with a car full of iPhones and Google maps we've been able to avoid too many missed turns.

After another helping of waffles at the Memphis La Quinta (I have a frequent stayers card now!) we headed further south today. I can't say I was sorry to leave Memphis but I'm glad we went out of our way to visit.

Jaime & Xavier had been watching a documentary about 'Ole Mis', the University of Mississippi and James Meredith, the first black man to attend the university and the riot that followed his admission in 1962 so we decided to take a visit to Oxford and check out his statue. The university is absolutely beautiful, like a picture postcard of southern architecture, its beauty emphasised today by the clear blue skies and magnificent autumn foliage. It took us some time to find the statue of Meredith but in the process we learnt a lot about the history of the buildings and the riot. As with so many sites of tragedy, it was hard to imagine such violence in this tranquil environment. Racial conflict and segregation is, of course, interesting to us, especially coming from a virtual mono culture in country Victoria. We don't understand it at all but can't help be intrigued and a little bewildered. This trip to the south has certainly piqued my interest in exploring more about the history of the area and the civil rights movement. Given that most of my prior learning has come from repeated readings of 'Gone With the Wind', I think I have plenty to learn!

From Oxford, we headed on down to Jackson. The drive was very reminiscent of the highway between Tauranga and Taupo in NZ, minus of course the flax and punga. I keep trying to connect the names of the counties to stories and songs and whilst driving over a bridge in Madison made that one easy, I was stuck for ages on Carroll County till I remembered the words to 'Harper Valley PTA'. No one else in the car is old enough to have heard it so I had to hum along quietly to myself!

Geoff came down with a nasty virus on Thanksgiving Day but has soldiered on to drive us over 1400 miles in the last few days. It's a lesson learnt that if you only sign up for one driver you may be in trouble if they become incapacitated. I'm sure he would be recovering faster if he was able to curl up in the back of the car and sleep.

Tomorrow we hope to join the Natchez Trace Parkway and drive it to Natchez to check out some antebellum houses and then on Tuesday, hopefully we'll get to NOLA where we'll spend the last few days of our big family road trip before we all split up to go separate ways. If anyone has any 'must dos' in the Delta please let me know.

Don't miss Port Gibson, "the town too beautiful to burn," but then I'd cut over to the Mississippi and look for the small roads that run along the levees adjacent and parallel to the river. (NOT Hwy 61, which is very unattractive in places.) You can't really get lost, and it's a real glimpse of a vanishing world. Shame you'll miss the Vicksburg battlefield - amazing.

Lovely!

Ahhh yes, for Civil War Buffs: The Battle (really siege) of Vicksburg - giving the Union (North) forces control of the mighty Mississippi - and about the same time as Gettysburg - the turning point in the Civil War with the South/Confederacy.

Gardyloo, how right you are. This is indeed part of a vanishing world. Who knew such beauty lay right beside the highway!

I had to think very hard to remember where we'd come from this morning. We've covered so much territory in the last few days that I can hardly remember my own name!

We left Jackson (home of Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon) in teeming rain but once we'd found our way onto the Natchez Trace Parkway the sun came out and allowed us a chance to enjoy the beautiful woods on either side of the road. It was awesome to get off the highway, especially after a near miss just out of the city when a car in front of us lost control and slammed into the barrier. The speed limit on the parkway is a sedate 50 miles an hour. It was like a glorious Sunday drive and I finally felt myself relaxing for the first time since we got in the car. We made a point of stopping at every historical marker and learnt a remarkable amount about the civil war as we went. It was along this track that General Lee marched his troops before winning the siege of Vicksburg, giving the Union control of the Mississippi.

We also stopped at the Locust House, an original inn turned plantation house. How remarkable to imagine that in it's heyday this house was a thriving farm, complete with slaves, as witnessed by the slave cemetery down the path behind the house.

At the end of the Parkway we found ourselves in Natchez itself and got another view of the mighty Mississippi river. Natchez is an interesting town, full of magnificent antebellum homes. Seriously, these houses are jaw droopingly beautiful. I had to shake my head a couple of times because I was so sure I saw Scarlett O'Hara settling her crinoline under the shade of a magnolia tree outside one of them! When we stopped tonight I realised I had been in so much awe of them I hadn't even taken a photo.

We wandered down the main street, that like a lot of the towns we have visited in the South , was pretty much deserted. Taine thought all his Christmases had come at once when we visited a curio shop full of christmassy things and yummy fudge. I just enjoyed listening to the lilting accent of the girl behind the counter who referred to her boss as Miz Lisbeth.

After a lunch of ribs, pulled pork and sloppy joes, we decided to push on to Baton Rouge so we don't have as far to go tomorrow. We arrived just on peak hour so we had dinner at a Thai restaurant while we waited out the traffic. Again, the food was excellent and ridiculously cheap. Even with a 20% tip, the six of us ate for less than $100.

Thanks to all the Fodorites who are following my trip. It's great to have company on our journey I'm pretty much just cross posting the blog I'm writing for my friends and school classes at home (I've left the poor kids an assignment to do on my travel itinerary!) so if you'd like to see the pics that go with it you can check it out at http://demansersintheusa.blogspot.com

Ahhh - have always wanted to enjoy this very beaucolic part of the South - ever since 1970 when U of Mississippi QB - Archie Manning - was competing for the Heisman Trophy against Jim Plunkett of Stanford, and Jim narrowly won.

To add to your recent appreciation of College football - Archie - as you may know - is the father of two great NFL Quarterbacks - the older son being Peyton Manning - who had starred for years with the Indianapolis Colts and then after 4 neck surgeries - signed this year with the Denver Broncos - and is on track to earn a record 5th MVP award.

"Little" - droopy eyed brother - Eli - just lead the NY Giants to their 2nd Super Bowl trophy since he became their starting QB - and btw - both boys played football in New Orleans. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/football/news/story?id=5179792

But my real curiosity for "Ole Miss" - was their legendary tailgate parties - in the "Grove" - http://tinyurl.com/d5v5qpk with formal dress and concomitant catering.

Only perhaps LSU - fine Bourbon anyone? (and who some accuse of being professionals http://seattletimes.com/html/stevekelley/2019087230_kelley07.html ) and the Eucalyptus grove down on the farm at Stanford - where you can't find better wine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ngQFYVOyS4 -- may attempt to challenge the exalted status of Ole Miss' social events before the games.

Anyhow - love reading your reports and hope the adventure continues apace.

The Natchez Trace Parkway has long been on my list of "to do's"--your description is as I imagined it.

More, please!

t

Just a slight friendly amendment proposal. It was General Ulysses Grant who marched his troops along parts of the Trace; General (Robert E.) Lee was engaged elsewhere during the Vicksburg siege - in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Your trip has brought back a lot of memories from a similar (but reverse-order) trip we took over the Thanksgiving weekend almost a decade ago. Here's that trip report: http://tinyurl.com/cnlbzbt

Didn't know there was a mixup - but Yup - after Lincoln fired some of the wuss Union generals - Grant started making things happen in the Mississippi area - while elsewhere - Lee was at the most pivotal battle of the Civil War - Gettysburg - where the brave Rebels - especially under Pickett - on the 3rd day - got mowed down when they charged up Cemetery Ridge ("Pickett's Charge") - time after time.

Johnny Reb was a game soldier - but the industrial might and population of the North ultimately spelled the difference.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gettysburg

Funnily enough, although eating out is ridiculously cheap here, the meat was very expensive.

Two different quality of meats. You would have to shop in a regular supermarket (Wholefoods is high end) to purchase meat at a price which probably represents what most people buy.

Thanks Gardyloo, an American friend has also alerted me to my wrong choice of General so I've fixed that up on my blog!
TDudette, the Parkway was truly lovely. At times, drifts of autumn leaves flew down over our car like snow. I imagine it's also lovely in Summer but the colour at this time of year is pretty special.

Today was the last stretch of our road trip from Dallas to NOLA via Austin & Memphis, around 2000 km in all. The Kia Sedona (I think it's a Carnival at home) has been magnificent. There is so much leg room for everyone and it fits all of our luggage and bits and pieces no worries. I'll be sorry to hand it over on Friday and we might seriously have to think about changing our vehicles to one of these for the rest of our trip.

Because it was still raining in Baton Rouge we decided to spend a couple of hours at the Mall of Louisiana before we traveled down to New Orleans. Besides, we hadn't really bought anything but food for at least 24 hours! The mall was BIG. Taine rode the full size carousel inside the shopping centre while his big sister shopped for warm clothes to take to Washington. I had no intention of buying anything today but somehow I wandered in to a tea shop and before I knew it the salesman had schmoozed me out of $52 - for tea! I think I must have 'gullible tourist' tattooed on my forehead. Most of the hotels we stay in don't even have a way to heat water to make tea!

The drive to NOLA was a short one compared to previous days. The swampland starts many miles before the city and we saw some amazing houses built on stumps fully submersed in water. What possessed anyone to build a huge city on below sea level ground is a mystery.

We're staying at the Country Inns & Suites for the next couple of days, a step up from the La Quinta but still within a budget that will allow us the splurge necessary for accommodation in NYC and Orlando. We were all excited to find a gym so we can work off some of the food we've been eating and Taine was eager to have a swim in the heated pool. While we were at the pool we got chatting to some folks from Wisconsin and another family who were there recognised our Aussie accents and it turned out they were from Stawell, just an hour or so up the road from us at home. Small world.

We only had enough daylight for a quick stroll around the city. NOLA (Bourbon St in particular) is an assault on all the senses. I just can't wait to explore it properly tomorrow.

I just happened upon your trip report today. I'm really enjoying it and looking forward to more! Thank you for sharing your experiences. I think it's great you're seeing parts of the country that many visitors don't make it to.

(I do have to say I take exception to your appreciation of squirrels however. One just assaulted my backyard lemon tree last week and ate EVERY bloom off it. Had to make an emergency run to the hardware store to get chicken-wire and the poor tree is now surrounded by a chicken-wire cage. I think maybe I should have purchased a shotgun instead. I'm with tdudette above - you have my permission to take as many squirrels as possible back home with you.)

>>What possessed anyone to build a huge city on below sea level ground is a mystery.>>

Well, urban sprawl for one - I'm pretty sure the original footprint of the city wasn't below sea level (it certainly wasn't high ground either, of course). Also, sea levels do change, and land erodes, over time.

I hope you have enough time to get off Bourbon Street, and even out of the French Quarter - New Orleans is so much more than that. (I used to live there - it's a magical place.)

Enjoying your exploration of our country! Thanks for sharing.

>>What possessed anyone to build a huge city on below sea level ground is a mystery.>>



"Disappearing Bayous

The bayous are disappearing. Since the 1930s, the coast of Louisiana has lost 1,900 square miles of marshes and coastal wetlands. This is an area the size of Delaware that has been swallowed up by the Gulf of Mexico. Despite recent efforts to reduce the erosion of the bayou, Louisiana still loses about an acre of land every 33 minutes. That results in a loss of 25 square miles per year. Levees have funneled marsh-building sediment into the ocean; engineers have cut 8,000 miles of canals through the bayous to help the petroleum industry, all of which contribute to the faster erosion of the bayous.

Bayou As Protector

Many people do not understand the importance of the bayou, not only as a natural habitat for many species of animals, but also as a protector of inland areas. Cities like New Orleans are under an increasing threat from hurricanes as a result of coastal erosion. When the bayous shrink, it means the storm surge from tropical storms and hurricanes can reach further inland. These storm surges can result in greater flooding. An example of this effect was apparent when the levees were overrun by Hurricane Katrina's storm surge in 2005."

Two of your statements "hit" me:

"What possessed anyone to build a huge city on below sea level ground is a mystery."--I said the same thing about Pompeii--"They rebuilt it???

and

"NOLA (Bourbon St in particular) is an assault on all the senses."--So true. When hub and I visited there, I was enthralled when a portion of a street was cordoned off, a piano was pushed out and a guy started to play jazz. He had "primed" his hat with coins and the edge of a $100 bill. Be alert in NOLA. I hope you love the food there.

More, please.

Hey - when General Andrew Jackson beat the British at the battle of New Orleans - when we had to whup them again - during the War of 1812 - and Jackson said: Ok - now we have to do something with it!!!!!

They made a great movie - The Bucaneer - starying Yul Brunner as the Pirate Jean Lafitte - who is sympathetic to the Colonies - and New Orleans, with other stars such as Charlton Heston playing General Andrew Jackson, Claire Bloome and Inger Stevens as the fair damsels, Lorne Green (of Bonanza fame), and others.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051436/

Also - have you ever heard this classic song? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsRK3DNoa_Q and for the lyrics: http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/classic-country/battle-of-new-orleans---johnny-horton-14929.html

I always loved this part of the song, especially the reference to alligators:


Yeah, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go.
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.**

We fired our cannon 'til the barrel melted down.
So we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round.
We filled his head with cannon balls, and powdered his behind
And when we touched the powder off, the gator lost his mind.

The gator is not the only one that lost its mind.

Ha ha Tom, Geoff & I sang that song all the way down the Natchez Trace, much to the disgust of our children! I'm starting to get my generals in the right armies and order now and I visited a statue of Jackson today near the Confederate museum.

Tdudette, we learnt our lesson on the scammers when someone tried to demand money from my husband for guessing the state his shoes were in! We've got th ehang of just ignoring them now.I just love all the characters in Bourbon street. It's amazing.

Sunny, blue skies greeted our second day in NOLA. Jaime and the men folk took themselves off to the WW11 museum while Sophie and I took in a few historic Confederate statues and went in search of someone to fix my camera. We had no luck with the camera. I'm trying to find a happy side to lugging my expensive gear half way round the world only to have it fail on me in a city full of photo opps. I'll let you know if I find one!

The historians thoroughly enjoyed their museum visit and were intrigued by the difference in dates for WW11. For us the war started in 1939 but of course here the start date is late 1941 and from a US perspective there is little acknowledgement of ANZAC involvement. Even though we didn't go in the museum itself, Soph and I browsed the shop and I wished I'd been here last year before Holiday Actor's production of South Pacific to stock up on costumes and props!

We caught a bus to the Garden District to check out a few of the 'little' houses we might buy if we ever move to New Orleans. This area is home to some seriously wealthy people like Sandra Bullock and Nicholas Cage. The preservation of these old southern homes is magnificent. We also visited the Lafayette Cemetery where everyone is buried above the ground. I have seen this before in Maori cemeteries in NZ where geothermal activity makes underground burial unwise. Here it is because of the high water table, a bayou cemetery. We had coffee and browsed at a 'real' book store and Taine was excited to buy a copy of the latest Wimpy Kid book.

The sun sets early in the South at this time of year so we just managed to see some boats come down the river before we had an early dinner on the esplanade. It was the most disappointing of our meals so far. I had been eagerly anticipating a New Orleans Poboy but I think we chose the wrong restaurant. My shrimp were deep fried, not grilled as requested and the bread was stale and dry. I realised too late that my alligator sausage had garlic in it and they charged me a dollar for a glass of water that I hadn't requested. Never mind, two bad food experiences (the other was Taco Bell, blaaah) in 10 days is a pretty good strike rate.

Tonight we went to an NBA basketball game. We certainly understood this game better than the footy and our cheap seats at the very top of the stadium provided us with a great view. Unfortunately the home team went down to the Utah Jazz. It was easy to identify with the NOLA Hornets because they wear the same blue and yellow as the Deakin Sharks, the team we play with at home! The Hornet's centre, Lopez, was awesome but he didn't have enough back up. As with the Longhorns last week, some sloppy ball handling would have earned my wrath at netball. One guy called and caught the ball out of court and a lot of easy shots went begging. Nevertheless, another great American experience. Hopefully we'll catch a game of something else in a town where we're on the winning team! One of the highlights of the half time entertainment was a troupe of 'senior' dancers. They were heaps better than the hair swinging Honeybees. There's hope for me as a cheer leader yet!

Today my happy motherly hiatus of having all my kids under the one roof (or hotel or car as the case maybe) comes to an end. In the morning Jaime & Xavier are catching the overnight Amtrak to Washington DC to continue their honeymoon alone and on Friday Sophie flies back to Austin to finish uni.It's nearly time for us to continue on to Florida alone.
What an absolute privilege and joy it has been to have them all with us on this part of our adventure. I'm planning a family European road trip already

Really appreciate your thorough/entertaining reports - and you are doing it right - Mates.

And LOL: Growing up - that was a very popular song back int he late 50's - early 60's.

Also just loved the chorus:

We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin' on
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

For a good, small - point and shoot camera - with 14 Mega Pixels (you really only need 6 MP)- and a 20X optical zoom (think 24 MM to 480 MM in one little camera) - I just bought my wife an Xmas present (she has a big Nikon SLR - with huge lenses) - at Costco - which they may or may not have down in NOLA, but sure they have other camera stores/retailers. It's a Panasonic - model ZS 19 - with the fabled Leica Lens - and it takes pretty good pics.

http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/DMC-ZS19K

It was on sale for $179 - regularly $279.

I had first bought a Nikon Coolpix S6300 - (on sale $129) - with a good Nikkor lens (both brands having glass lenses - while some small point and shoots have plastic lens - which also seems to work ok - but prefer glass) - and it had 16 MP and 10X Optical - or out to 240mm, but took that back after saw the Panasonic/Leica lens model. Think they have it at Staples, and other places: http://www.staples.com/Nikon-Coolpix-S6300-Digital-Camera-Red/product_464312?cid=PS:GooglePLAs:464312&KPID=464312

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=842354&Q=&is=REG&A=details

There is also a Nikon S9300 model - which costs a bit more and has 18 MP - and 18X Optical zoom - or some such.

Thanks for the camera advice Tom. I think I'll bear with the iPhone for Florida and maybe pick up a point and shoot in NYC. Just so frustrating to be carrying 5kgs of non functioning equipment. I could use that luggage space for new clothes!

I've fallen in love with the antebellum architecture so today we ventured further afield to check out some more. Oaks Alley is one of several restored plantation houses along the banks of the Mississippi north west of NOLA. Oaks Alley was, and still is, a sugar plantation. The ground here is too wet for cotton. In its prime the plantation had 93 slaves working the plantation and another 20 working in the house. This included a 60 yr old, one armed slave who was only worth $60. I'm guessing he may have been the man in charge of pulling the rope that kept the fan moving above the dinner table while the guests ate.

The house is absolutely magnificent and has been beautifully restored to reflect life in the late 1800s. It is very reminiscent of the regal homesteads in our own part of the world except ours don't have an avenue of 300 yr old oaks leading up to them. It was certainly worth the hour's drive out to see it. The opulence of the plantation house was in stark contrast to the town of Valcherie that we drove through on the way there, highlighting for us once again the divide between rich and poor in the US. We have a similar, growing divide in Australia but it is not so often seen side by side as it is here.

When we got back to town Taine and I went for a walk to the French Market while Geoff & Sophie had a run along the banks of the Mighty Miss. We ate beignets from the famous Cafe de Monde (3 for $2.56) and watched some of the street performers across from Jackson Square. The beignets were delicious although I'm not sure that much icing sugar is good for anyone.

Too tired to venture out for dinner, we tried the hotel's own cocktail, 'Swamp Juice' along with some hot HOT HOT wings. Despite the blistered lips, they were delicious and the swamp juice certainly helped lessen the pain.

The Country Inn and Suites has been a great base for our stay in NOLA. It's only 5 minutes walk to Bourbon St and the River Walk and the service has been friendly and efficient. They have a guest laundry and a constant supply of free cookies at reception!

One of the nicest things about traveling is the people you meet along the way. We've had some great conversations with folk from all over the world while we've been in NOLA. Today we met a lovely couple, Joyce & Darrell from California, who told us about a website called global freeloaders, a way of finding new friends and free accommodation all over the world. I'm looking forward to checking out the redwoods near Joyce's house sometime in the near future but for now, we're off to Florida!

http://demansersintheusa.blogspot.com/2012/11/there-is-house-in-new-orleans.html

I'm taking your trip with you. Sounds like lots of fun. I'm looking forward to the AZ, CA part of the trip too.

Thanks for posting so regularly.

Again, love the continuing trip report.

And yes, carrying around an extra 10 plus unproductive pounds is a bummer for sure.

In NYC - there are a ton of camera shops - and I always look at the J & R daily adds in the NY times. http://www.jr.com/

And here is a page by CBS about the best Camera Stores in NYC:
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/top-lists/best-camera-stores-nyc/

Uno mas: Here is the Lumix - Panasonic ZS 20 - with a Leica lens - which has a GPS (unlike the earlier model - the ZS 19 - that I bought for my wife) - but some feel the GPS is a battery drainer. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/841441-REG/Panasonic_DMC_ZS20W_LUMIX_DMC_ZS20_Digital_Camera.html

Some of the shops may try to upsell you to a more powerful/expensive camera - but a good point and shoot should be all you really need for 90% plus of the shots.

Yesterday was moving day. Time to leave the Delta and fly to sunny Florida for some relaxation. We returned our trusty Kia Sedona (not without some issues because the return address on the agreement was an old one!) , put Soph on a plane back to Austin and then flew to Tampa via Miami.

Tampa was warm and humid when we arrived, very similar to Gold Coast winter weather in Australia. The airport is beautiful with a space age shuttle that runs across from the landing area to the terminal itself.

The first thing I noticed today was the Latin American influence in Central Florida. We grabbed empanadas (sort of fried pies) on our way through Miami and our new rental keeps giving us instructions in Spanish! When we visited an Hispanic supermarket I was thankful we hadn't traveled to South America because I don't think I'd cope with the jalapeño flavouring in so many of the foods! Nevertheless, introducing ourselves to this culture was an unexpected bonus of our trip.

This morning we set off down the Gulf Coast with no real destination in mind except that I was keen to check out the shells at Sanibel Island. Florida is Queensland on steroids. Same temperate winter climate, pretty beaches, palm trees and varying degrees of assisted care communities. We were wondering where all the older people in the States were and we found them in Venice! Venice Beach is also famous for turtles and fossilized shark teeth. You can even hire a shark tooth strainer to try your luck on the beach. We passed on the straining but Geoff and Taine took a dip in the ocean and we collected some sand to add to our collection at home.

We followed the Tamiami Trail road rather than the interstate and this gave us our first experience of over water roads, including a couple of what Taine calls 'roller coaster' bridges. In the middle of the over water roads these bridges appear to go straight up and then down again with only normal barrier rails on the sides (no suicide rails like we have at home). Not great for my vertigo but he enjoys them very much.

Arriving at Fort Myers in the late afternoon we found another trusty La Quinta (the best one yet, great pool, big bathroom) and also discovered that we could get a discount with our RACV membership. Score! Then we drove out to the very beautiful Sanibel Island in search of a beach. We passed lots of impressive houses on the long, narrow road out to the beach and then paid, yes paid! to park in the Bowman Beach car park. To get to the beach itself you walk down a path and over a river where fish were literally jumping in the air.

I think we've probably been spoilt as far as shell seeking is concerned given that most of our previous beach combing has been done at Papamoa and Mount Maunganui so I was a bit disappointed with the size and variety washed up on this beach. Still, it was a lovely spot to watch the sun setting on our first full day in Florida.

It must have been a little bittersweet - seeing off the rest of your family - but wow - you guys continued on strong - and are some real road warriors. Driving over those "roller coaster" bridges should have worked up a thirst for a few frosty Fosters, eh?

Any idea how many miles you covered yesterday?

Went to a number of PGA golf equipment conventions in Orlando - and finally drove down the west coast - as far as Venice - and loved it.

If you head back up toward Orlando - and have a chance to get to the Astronaut Hall of Fame - an hour or so east of Orlando - toward Cape Kennedy/Canaveral - you might enjoy it and they have a great flight simulator there - just like flying in a jet fighter. http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/astronaut-hall-of-fame.aspx

BTW - hope your balky camera is able to function at least some (or are those all shots from your I-Phone? and not bad if they are) - and as for point and shoot cameras - saw an add in the morning paper yesterday - and went to Fry's - a big electronics type warehouse, http://www.frys.com/

They had a great deal on a Samsung WB 150 - with 14 Mega Pixels and an 18X power Optical Zoom, but most of all - a Wi Fi option - so you could send pics directly to your computer (much like a cell phone can). http://ak1.ostkcdn.com/images/products/L14173685.jpg

It was on sale for only $89 - less than half - and it also has a good lens - a 24mm Schneider wide-angle lens - and with 18X zoom - so it can reach out to about the equivalent of a 430 mm lens.

For some reviews - see: http://www.testfreaks.com/digitalcameras/samsung-wb150f/user-reviews/

It may not max out in low light situations - but it does have a built in flash.

Anywho - Keep On Trucking!!!

Sorry about your camera! Could you mail it home? Get it insured.

Yes Tom, it was a bit bitter sweet but that's the way it goes with kids. They grow up and start living their own lives! So unfair of them
Not sure how many miles we did yesterday. The instructions on the rental are all in Spanish so we can't read anything on the dash! The camera is working with the long lens on, it's just the 17-85mm that's not working. Yesterday's shots, were in fact all from the iPhone using the camera+ app. Not bad for a phone..

Tdudette, ridiculously, I have my old dslr (that I left at home) insured but not this one. I thought we'd fixed it yesterday with some alcohol swabs but 3 photos later the error message was up again.

The Everglades are the big, soggy bit at the bottom of Florida. We went there today and I got to handle an alligator!

Coming out of Fort Myers we passed an amazing display of wealthiness. There are so many mega shopping complexes, I'm not sure how they can possibly all survive. My guess is that the residents of the ornate, gated subdivisions like Pelican's Nest & Cedar Creek have little else to do but shop when they aren't at one of the dozens of country clubs along the route. It was all very manicured and pretty, like a movie set.

We took Highway 41 rather than the interstate and I was pleased with the choice despite the amount of roadwork and construction going on at the Miami end of the Timiami trail. It's a great way to get an overview of the glades and there are any number of places you can pull over for information, airboat rides or 'gator viewing. We got our first alligator sighting on the side of the road. There are little channels of water that run along each side of the highway and the alligators literally lie on the banks or wander across the road if they feel like it. As we discovered at several info stops, the alligator differs from the croc in more ways than its sensitive tongue. Alligators by nature are simple, indolent creatures who have no desire to attack you unless you put part of yourself near their jaws!

Attempting to combine some culture and history along with the day's environmental lessons, we stopped at the Miccosukee Indian Village in time for their alligator show. The show itself was pretty tame. As mentioned before the alligator is actually a pretty timid creature and it took quite a bit of prodding to get these animals to move. I felt a bit uncomfortable about having paid to stir them up for our entertainment but I was more than happy to take my turn at holding one of the babies afterwards.

The story of the Miccosukees is an interesting one.They historically inhabited the upper Tennessee Valley but under continuing encroachment pressure from European-American settlers, many migrated to northern Florida during the 18th and 19th centuries.
They formed a major part of the Seminole tribe, which formed in the eighteenth century in Florida. The United States (US) government forced most of the Seminole/Creek from Florida. Those who remained in Florida fought against US forces and afterward, they moved into the Everglades to try to evade European-American settlement pressure and became the Miccosukees.

By the time we reached Florida City we were so hungry I was afraid Taine would start eating his own arm so we made our first visit to a US Maccas. It was all the same rubbish we get at home, minus the lettuce (although there was definitely lettuce on the picture!) and much cheaper. Today's special was a cheeseburger for 59c!
For dinner we visited the crab restaurant across the road. Disappointingly they had run out of crab but Geoff & I had a yummy seafood plate of shrimp and grouper. Our side tonight was fried, green beans. These are, quite literally, greens beans fried in batter.
Soooo delicious!

Wow! I am so pleased to have found this trip report. You are a fun writer and I look forward to the rest of your trip.

Really loved your description of this portion of the trip as I have never been to any of those places. You really give us all a seat in the Kia with you. Btw, Whole Foods is a national chain, and as Michael said, their meat (and produce) is top of the line organic stuff, but the price has caused them to be called "Whole Paycheck."

I don't know if you have much computer time, but our family also took a big trip to New York and DC this summer...click on my name and look for Epic East Coast Vacation under trip reports. Maybe it will add a few ideas of what you may enjoy doing.

Five Alive

Oh, and Lookinglass, this was milk-snorting-through-nose funny:

Lookin_Glass on Nov 28, 12 at 3:29pm
The gator is not the only one that lost its mind.

TTT

Thanks 5alive. I had, in fact already read your trip report before we left Aus and made reservations at the Affinia Dumont based on your experience Ha ha, 'whole paycheck', love it. I have since discovered Publix which is more in my price range but I did enjoy the whole foods experience!

Loved reading your report!

Thanks michael, I'm enjoying having the encouraging comments on this forum. It's like having extra passengers in the car to share the journey with

Staying in the same place two nights in a row is a bit of a luxury for road trippers. It was nice to wake up and not have to jump out of bed to repack the bags and the car and we even got a load of washing done before heading off for further exploration of the Everglades.

Our first stop was the Robert is Here fruit stand. The fruit shop has been built on the same spot that a much younger Robert had a fruit stand as a little boy and now it's a thriving family industry complete with some animals to feed and the best milkshakes you will ever taste. I was drawn here by previous trip reports extolling the magnificence of Robert's milkshakes and I wasn't disappointed. Taine had dragon fruit, I had strawberry & key lime and Geoff had papaya. They were all delicious.

Then it was on to the Everglades Alligator Farm for an airboat ride and another look at the local gators. The airboat ride was fun and after years of watching Miami Vice & CSI it was one of those 'must dos' for Australians. We do try not to do any damage to the local environment while we're traveling so was a bit of a conscience struggle. The Everglades is a beautiful and delicate eco system and I'm pretty sure the noisy airboats aren't doing anything to help the balance of nature.

The farm also had the ritual gator feeding session. The pond (about 50 metres across) housed 250 adult alligators, most of whom looked like concrete statues lying on the banks when we got there. In fact, I was ready to bet money that some of them were fake. However, when the bell went for feeding time they were like my Year 9 english class when the lunch bell goes, suddenly becoming very animated (in an alligatorish kind of way!). I wasn't overly impressed with the feeding session or the snake display even though Taine got to be the star of the show pulling snakes out of the bag. Nevertheless, the farm was reasonably priced and I was satisfied that we'd 'done' the Everglades.

From there we entered the Everglades Park itself ($10 per car) and made our way to the Royal Palm Info Centre to walk the Anhinga Trail. Anhinga are birds that live in the glades. The spend a lot of time spread eagled in the trees to dry their wings. The track was a nice way to see the everglade environment in its wild state. We saw lots of bird life and fish and quite a few gators. It's about 1km long which is plenty. There's only so much waving grass we can manage in one day.

Craving a home style salad we called back in at Robert is Here and bought some salad greens, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and an enormous avocado. Combined with a bag of frozen vegies and some fried chicken I think we have staved off the scurvy for another day.

This is great, KiwiAussie! I've just skimmed and now, of course have "The Battle of New Orleans" earwig! We had an open air theatre in our nearest town & the owner often used to play it at the end of the night. It was a great tune to go off singing. Hearing it again instantly had me back there.

Saving for a proper read later. Thanks again!

Fabulous report, thanks for posting this on the lounge (can't remember who it was!)

Great Stuff, sounds like you are having a blast.

schnauzer

No problems Bokhara, we're in the Keys now so I have 'Kokomo' buzzing in my ears.
Thanks for reading my report schnauzer & thanks to whoever posted it in the lounge (whatever that is!)

Day 16 The Keys to relaxation

My heartfelt thanks to a colleague who suggested we include the Florida Keys on our itinerary. We're only half way down this slender group of almost connected pieces of paradise and I'm totally in love.

From the moment you arrive in Key Largo, the first of the keys, everything is palm trees and pastel coloured shop fronts with barely a fast food outlet to be seen. Shop keepers are laid back and happy to shoot the breeze and even the drivers have slowed down enough for me to feel safe on the single lane, only road that runs from Florida City to Key West.

We called in at the Islamorada info centre and the lovely lady there pointed us in the direction of Robbie's where you can hand feed giant fish called tarpons. Once Geoff had actually been bitten feeding the first one, Taine refused to have a go but I did. My second attempt caused more hysterics than the first because I knew what was coming. You dangle the fish centimetres above the water (while a man fends of marauding pelicans with a foam pool noodle!) and from nowhere this giant fish comes and snaps it out of your hand. So much fun!

Trying to stick to our budget we booked a cheap resort on Wotif. The reviews of La Siesta weren't great but we were trying to squirrel away a few dollars to stay at Key West tomorrow. Imagine our surprise then to find a lovely big apartment style room, a water side location and a beautiful, heated, totally empty pool. Another excellent stumbleupon! Maybe we're just easily pleased because we're simple country folk but lying in a hammock looking out to sea is my kind of holiday

We had a swim and drank in the sunset from our marina then went to the fish market and bought some stone crabs for dinner. It's a good thing I bought my own McGyver along on this trip because there was nothing in the room to crack the crabs with. Where there's a will there's a way and he sorted them out with a sharp knife and some muscle. I enjoyed the taste but wouldn't pay $15 lb for them again. I'd as soon have yabbies from Tea Tree Lake.

Time now for a glass of wine on our balcony and my day will be complete .

So glad you saved your money and gambled on this hotel!

Am only half way through your trip report and enjoying it very much. DH and I have just got back from a month in the US, (we are from Nelson NZ). We travelled to San Francisco, New Orleans, Hyannis, Boston, Columbus Ohio and New York. We weren't brave enough to drive on the wrong side of the road. We left that up to our DD and SIL who have been living in the US for about four years.

We think we have perfected the art of making tea in a coffee maker. We just add the water in the coffee maker, let it heat up and filter through and then add the tea bags, it is not really boiling hot but is drinkable. Make sure you do a dry run first though to get the coffee taste out!!!. Actually you are probably on your way home by now.

Must go now and read the rest of your great report.

We loved the beignets at Cafe Du Monde, but didn't like the Muffaletta sandwichs, too many olives for me.

I am so loving your trip report! Have read it from start to finish this morning, and its just terrific. It is fun to experience our country through eyes from across "the pond"! I've lived in many of the cities you have visited: Baton Rouge (only 8 months then had to get out of there), New Orleans, Dallas, San Antonio, Tampa, (currently live in St Pete half the year), and we had our honeymoon in Islamorada! We were aiming for Key West but got tired before we got there so Islamorada was our final destination. .

Because living in a location some of these tourist attractions are always available when you "want to do it", often you just never get around to it. We haven't done any of the things in the Everglades you have. Despite living not far from Venice, we just this Thanksgiving actually got down there and experienced the shark tooth hunt. I hope you got to Caspersen Beach in Venice. It is the rare Florida beach in its almost totally natural state with native cabbage palms, sea oats, dunes and no concession stands motels etc. Interestingly, it's the only FL beach I've ever seen with black sand, and its that color because the sand is composed of pulverized bits of the fossilized shark teeth. That's how many of them are out there!

I wanted to tell you that you bravely drove one of the scariest highways--I-35 between Dallas and Austin. I make my husband drive it when we have to do it! Those 18 wheelers make it a total nightmare and it scares me to death. The speed limit isn't 80 on it, the only bit you might have been on that's 80 is the new toll road (130) that starts near Georgetown and skirts west of Austin. It 70 or 75 on I-35, but that doesn't stop people from driving 80!!! . The highway didn't used to be that awful. It is the result of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) as it is the main north/south route for trucks carrying goods to and from points in the US and Mexico. It's a total nightmare and you did it your first day and survived! A hearty congratulations!!

Anyway...am loving reading your report, and hope you continue to enjoy your trip as much as you have. It's fun for all of us to go along!

Correction! The toll road skirts east of Austin, not west, sorry.

t

We free-loaded with husband's parents when they stayed in Clearwater Beach FL. There was a pier where frozen fish was sold to feed the pelicans. I was leaning against a rail when there was an intense fluttering against my arm--it was a pelican who landed right next to me with his eyes on the fish. When you described them as marauding, it brought back that happy memory.

Am looking forward to your reaction to Key West!

Pelicans, like Coromorands and Sea Lions/Seals - can be thieves to fishermen. They were lined up all along the railings at Islamorada when we came back from fishing for Sailfish, and we tossed them a few Mackerel, etc.

Nelsonian, we aren't home yet, still have 4 weeks to go (this may be the longest trip report ever). I'd love to hear your thoughts on Boston & NYC because we're visiting there when we're done with Florida.

OO, I wish I'd known about Caspersen Beach. I would have loved to visit there and compare it to the black sand beaches in NZ. You are right about the 1-35, it was terrifying. I'm loving pretty much everything about the US except the driving.

I'm reserving my opinion on Key West until tomorrow night when we've had a chance to check out more of the non commercial sites. It was quite a long drive down the Lower Keys, it drizzled rain all day and I wasn't really in the mood to enjoy anything because I was too tired. Despite smothering myself in super strength insect repellant ( and aerogard bought from home) I still managed to get savaged by the bitey things in the Everglades and spent all night itching and none of it sleeping. Obviously I have super sweet blood because the same thing happens with sand flies every time I go to NZ and yet Taine and Geoff haven't got s single spot between them!

The highlight of the drive to Key West is the 7 mile bridge. 7 whole miles without any land to be seen is a pretty remarkable engineering effort. The remains of the original bridge run alongside the new one and I have to say I'm glad I wasn't traveling down here in the days before the new one was built. A lot of the trip is over water on the overseas highway and of the parts that are on land there is often just room for the road with the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the Atlantic Ocean lapping at the other. I'm sure it's just a trick of the light but the Atlantic side looks green and the Gulf side blue (or maybe it's the other way around). Anyway, you can just about reach out and touch both seas at the same time. Needless to say, I bet it's scary down here in a hurricane.

The keys are fascinating in that each one seems to have quite a separate identity. Some are quite opulent, like Duck Key. Others, like Knights Key look really run down and then there was Ohio Key which was really just a big RV park. There are so many keys that there's even one called No Name Key because they must have run out of names or just couldn't be bothered anymore.

We are staying at the Parrot Key Resort in the new part of town (staying in old town doubles the bill). It rates pretty well on Trip Advisor but it hasn't done much to thrill me yet. It has nice pools and pretty coloured furniture but to be honest I've come to appreciate the 'homegrown' nature of the La Quintas and Travelodges who don't pretend to be anything more than they are, charge accordingly AND give you breakfast. The hidden traps in booking hotels in America are the added tax and the resort charges. Every city and state has a different tax rate and this changes daily so you can never be exactly sure how much extra to add to the advertised price. On top of that, anything that calls itself a resort adds a resort tax. In this case for instance, the advertised rate for AAA (RACV members) was $135 per night, plus tax $32, plus $25 resort fee. When Geoff asked what the resort fee covered the receptionist said it was a way of re investing in the resort. Hmmm.

Anyway, the beds seem comfy and there's a fridge for the Budweiser so all's well. We took a drive into Duval St to check out the action this afternoon. Duval St in the day time is a little bit like Beale St and Bourbon St but with chickens. Seriously, there are chooks (and amorous roosters) running free all over the place. It's also very reminiscent of Cavill Ave in Surfers Paradise. Lots of T Shirts shops and cheap souvenirs. We did the obligatory visit to the southern most point of the US mainland and headed down to Mallory Square for the nightly sunset ritual. Unfortunately sunset was a non event today because of the rain so we headed back to Duval St for dinner at Caroline's. This improved my mood immensely because my shrimp & bacon sandwich on multi grain was excellent and we were treated to our first taste of the famous key lime pie, a delicious cheesecake concoction served with real cream.

Kwaussie we stayed in hotels that had free internet and free breakfast most of the time. We were at the Quality Inn & Suites in New Orleans, just off Canal St. Rated very highly on Trip Advisor. Our daughter booked our hotel in Boston, although it was an okay hotel, it was not in a good area, (Chelsea), but there was a shuttle to the airport T line, which worked out well. We found hotels in Boston very expensive, have you booked one yet?
We only had a day and a half in Boston we went on a Free Tours by Foot walking tour the one on the Freedom Trail. It is only about a mile long but takes about two hours. We had a young enthusiastic tour guide who really was great at explaining the events that lead up to the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's ride etc. We loved the area around Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall. We also did a harbour cruise, around to the navy base, and the old warship called Ironsides. You can get there on the T though.

God save the Colonies. ".....and the old warship called Ironsides". Blimey!!!!!

That is one of the most sacred "old warships" we have ever had in the U S of A. And surely - you must have heard of the poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Ironsides_(poem)

As for Key West - have heard mixed reviews - and we only made it to 7 mile bridge (yes - quite amazing) but had to return for an early flight back to SD.

We were in Florida primarily were on a cruise out of Miami and had a bonus day/night in the Keys at Islamorada (a "bonus" stay at the Cheeca Lodge - where the next night - the rate tripled for the Xmas vacation period http://www.cheeca.com/ ) - where I was going fishing for Sailfish while my wife enjoyed some quiet pool time. (We also enjoyed snorkeling at John PennyKamp park if you can catch that on your way back? - just terrific - and there was a big Barracuda who hung out on his own reef. http://www.pennekamppark.com/ )

Well, since I was only going out fishing for half a day/the morning - we (I shared the boat with a nice couple from NY) - wound up with an Asst Captain - who had the wrong bait - while around us - the other 4 boats were hooked up with sails - while we could only watch their good fortune. Oh well - that's why they call is fishing.

We did manage to catch a couple mackerel which the Cheeca Lodge cooked up beautifully (and reasonably - only about $10 as I recall - with all the "fixings") - so it wasn't a total waste.

Also - if you get a chance while visiting Boston - you might try to get out to Concord - where "the shot heard round the world" was fired. We Yanks also fancy that a bit - as did Ralph Waldo Emerson.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concord_Hymn

And lest we forget - another famous American writer (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) forever memorialized "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" - of which - the first few verses we had to learn in the 2nd grade was it?

Ahhh -------------- to paraphrase - One if Land - Two if by Sea - and I on the opposite shore shall be - ready to ride and spread the alarm - through every village, countryside and farm...................

And for all the teachers out there - here is the verbatim beginning:

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

http://www.nationalcenter.org/PaulRevere'sRide.html

OK - now back to watching sports on ESPN.

Juat talked to a college buddy whose girl friend lives in Key West - and they travel all over together. She hosts a radio travel show? - and writes a weekly column - and he thinks the best thing to do there is to camp out at the Dry Tortugas for a few days.

You probably don't have the time, but there are also cruises out to the islands. See: http://www.yankeefreedom.com/

"Duval St in the day time is a little bit like Beale St and Bourbon St but with chickens." You could probably change the word 'chickens' to some other noun and aptly describe many touristy places. LOL.

Wish I’d thought to tell you to get witch hazel—it takes the sting out of mosquito bites. CVS sells it. Others swear by Skin So Soft by Avon but it didn’t work for me.

Hope you get to see the sunset circus in Key West. Oh and the 6-toed cats who are descendents of Hemmingway's cat.

I'm crying from laughter reading this. I live in Texas & seeing it thru your eyes is priceless!!!

Thanks again for all your feedback Nelsonian, I haven't booked anything in Boston yet. It was a last minute idea to go there because I got crazy cheap airfares on Jet Blue. I'm thinking we'll stay in the Back Bay area to get a train to NYC. Does that seem right? Thanks for the walking tour idea, that sounds perfect for us.

Tom, when I was little my favourite story was about Revere's ride so I'm very interested to follow up that piece of history.

Topeater, I hope I haven't made too many gaffes about Texas. We loved the place and my daughter feels like a Texan now so I'm sure she'll be back some day.

It's still raining in Key West so alas, no sunset for us. Given that I've seen some pretty spectacular sunsets in my time; no 1 on the beach at Fremantle WA, no 2 just last week at Sanibel and 3, from our lounge room window at home in Mortlake, I guess we'll just imagine how gorgeous this one might be.

Key West is a paradox. Wander the back streets on foot and be overwhelmed by the beauty of the architecture and fascinated by the eccentricity of the locals, the chickens and the cats. Walk on Duval St and surrounds and be overwhelmed and annoyed by the hawkers, the drunks and the scammers.

It's impossible (for me anyway) to capture the magnificence of the houses here in words or pictures. There's such a huge range of architecture and each style is intriguing and makes you want to live there. You can almost feel yourself swinging on the porch seats of the more modest dwellings, swanning down the stair cases of the extravagant four story mansions.

It's hot and humid in Key West. Even in early Winter the air is languid and the feeling is laid back. I can see that Hemingway would have found inspiration here but I'm surprised perspiration didn't smudge all his writing. The sea is calm because the coral reef prevents wave build up. On a grey day like this the horizon is seamless. The chickens cross the road at will. We found out today that they are the descendants of Cuban cock fighting birds, let loose on the island when cock fighting was banned and protected under the wildlife laws. Likewise the cats, some of whom can prove Hemingway's cat Snowball as an ancestor with their extra toes. The cats are everywhere, well kept but not at all tame, arrogantly peering out at you from behind fences or trees. Traffic rules appear to be non existent but there's very little of the road rage arrogance that we've seen in other places. Lots of people ride bicycles or scooters, none with helmets and many of them in various states of intoxication. At night time the place shines like a Christmas tree, the gabled roof lines lending themselves perfectly to the seasonal light displays.

And then you step onto Duval St. Every doorway has a spruiker. If you step into a shop you're pounced on. Want a picture with the parrot or the man dressed as a pirate? $10. It's more overt than Bourbon St and in our opinion, more annoying and confronting.

Taine talked us into the conch (that's pronounce 'conk' ) train rather than the trolley tour. We were told we could get on and off as many times as we liked. What we weren't told was that the stops were all back at the terminal! The commentary was informative and kind of interesting but we wanted to be able to get off and take photos and that wasn't possible. Our day was brightened considerably by excellent Mexican food at a street side bar, complemented by the chance to people watch while we ate. You see all kinds of people in Key West. The local women's group were meeting outside a very auspicious looking house across the road, straight out of 'The Help' or 'The Stepford Wives'. There are buck's parties and senior's groups and hippies and foreigners like us. People in all states of dress and undress! We've even seen two brides in their wedding dresses in Duval St.

For dinner we had ribs and wings at Daddy Bones BBQ across the road. It was delicious. Like everything else here, food prices are also a conundrum. I paid $10 for Taine to have a reheated pretzel and a lemonade from a fast food vendor down the street this morning but tonight we feasted on 3 types of BBQ, collared greens (this is a delicious discovery), sweet potato chips, corn bread, root beer, budweiser and key lime pie for $35. Go figure!

We drove one way to Boston, with our daughter, they drove back the day before and we flew back to NYC as there were cheap fares. I was considering taking either the Megabus of the Bolt bus back originally. You can real cheap fares, if you book early but they may be a popular choice at this time of year. I didn't look at Amtrak from Boston, but have taken it from Baltimore to New York, last time we visited and we enjoyed it.

Haven't taken a bus in the NE but much prefer Amtrak anyway, at least perhaps from NYC to Boston.

You can stretch your legs, have a mini-picnic on board, etc.

I've booked the Amtrak for Boston to NYC. Because of my dithering it cost me a lot (price went from $49 a seat to $71) but at least I know we have transport for that leg. Not at all sure how we'll manage our growing stack of luggage once we ditch the car but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!

Usually today would be TGIF but with Friday came the realisation that we've already been in the US for 3 weeks and eventually it will be time to go home. Each day so far has been packed with new adventures and we have to keep pinching each other to remind ourselves that we're really here.

Today we raced into town to grab a couple of rainbow t shirts & postcards before we left Key West. Once again I my senses were assaulted by the sheer madness of sounds and sights and smells. The noise in town is crazy, even at 10am and in hindsight I wish I'd voice recorded it on my phone. Jamaican music combined with hawkers shouting , people laughing and arguing in English and Spanish, cigar smoke and Mexican food and cats and chooks and crazy people on bicycles and scooters dodging trolleys and the stupid conch train. I'm so glad we came here and in a different way to Memphis, I was glad to leave.

I thought the trip back up the Keys might be boring because we'd aready traveled it but honestly, I don't think you could ever get sick of sea views on either side. The pelicans are particularly fascinating. They glide effortlessly alongside the highway at window height and then suddenly plummet down to grab a fish. Their landing is as ungainly as their flight is elegant.

We made land fall at Key Largo and in a totally uncharacteristic move for two vehement anti gun people, we went to a shooting range and learnt to shoot a hand gun. Turns out both of us are crack shots, hitting around the bulls eye with every round. Just holding a loaded gun made my knees tremble and every time the man next to us let of a shot I jumped. What worried me most was that by the time we'd got to the end of our box of ammo I wasn't nearly as afraid. Anyway, like many of our experiences here it was a one off. I certainly won't be looking to bear arms when I get home.

I booked a 2 star hotel on Priceline tonight because it was the only rental I could find under $150. It's called, ( ironically since we're 90 miles away) ,the Key West Inn and it suits our purposes beautifully. A full kitchen and a bedroom upstairs so Taine can have the TV all to himself for a night. We went for a walk around the neighborhood before dinner and it was beautiful. There's nothing at all pretentious about this side of Key Largo but it looks like a great place to kick back and enjoy the weather.

This ends our time in South Florida and we'll be sad to say goodbye. It's a unique and beautiful part of the world and I would recommend it to anyone traveling this way. Tomorrow we'll start wending our way up toward Orlando and Disneyworld. I'm hoping we'll get close to Cape Canaveral so we can check out the space centre.

Very impressive if you had never shot a pistol before - to be able to hit the center of the target. Really!!

When my sister was living in Nicaragua - they were having some break ins in her neighborhood (even though it was a very nice neighborhood) - so I showed her and my niece how to shoot - a .38 special/revolver - and they both did fine - especially my niece who was about 16 - but if you both just did it "cold" - nailing the target without any instruction, again, very impressive.

One "joke" among self defense "experts" is just make a tape recording of the sound of a shotgun being chambered with a round - and knowledgeable thieves will be heading for the exits when they hear it!

Same thing if you just touched off a round from a pistol - and also - if you had one equipped with a laser - and they see the red dot on their chest - it tends to discourage further anti-social behavior.

Anywho - hope you have a nice drive "up Florida" this time - and when you do get up to Orlando - Cape Canaveral (now called Kennedy) - really isn't that far - an hour or so - and again, the Kennedy Space Center Museum/Astronaut Hall of Fame is amazing -
http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/astronaut-hall-of-fame.aspx

It also has a great IMAX theater with a number of programs - http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/imax-films.aspx and your son may also like the Future Astronaut school/training center there - and do the half day "experience"? http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/astronaut-training-experience.aspx

And there is also a "Rocket Garden" http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/rocket-garden.aspx

There is also another interesting center close by - the Air Force Space Museum, which is of particular interest to us former "Zoomies". http://www.afspacemuseum.org/

And while I didn't get to this science museum in Brevard - it also looks interesting: http://www.nbbd.com/godo/BrevardMuseum/index.html

We thought about snorkeling today but decided to trade the opportunity for an extra day in Orlando. Most of the day was therefore spent traveling north on the Florida Turnpike. This is kind of like the mother of all roads, a giant concrete snake that curls around the big metropolis of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and neighbouring coastal cities. Lucky we had signed up for a Sun Pass because I counted 14 toll gates just in the Miami- Fort Lauderdale section. Lunch was a picnic of left over chicken on the grass beside one of the turnpike's central 'service' areas. We put gas in the car there too, the first time since before we drove down the Keys. The price of petrol is so cheap! We've driven 800 km on $50 worth this week. We've decided we're actually saving money on being here because at home we would have used much more than that

It's 400km from Key Largo to Melbourne (yes, Melbourne! It was a corny coincidence that had to be used so that's where we're staying tonight) but the interstates move traffic so quickly that we did it in less than 4 hours with a stop for lunch. Geoff is really getting the hang of driving at 75 mph. I'm worried about his transition when we get home. To take my mind off the terror of the traffic, we discussed our 10 favourite memories of the Keys as we drove. Again, in no particular order;

Holding an alligator - contrived but special. They are a cold, squirmy ball of muscle.
Warmth- the climate is so temperate ALL the time.
The chaos of Key West- every sense was engaged to the extent that we were a bit overwhelmed there.
Key Lime Pie- Ohhhh yes.
No waves- because of the coral reef the sea is flat. My fear of a tsunami was allayed when I learnt this. However, you can hire surf boards ?
Fake sand- there is no sand in Key West, only coral so they ship the sand in.
Dragonfruit milkshake- the milkshakes at Robert Was Here are amazing.
Wild gators- they really are everywhere in the Everglades.
The colours - the Keys are sort of a flouro, pastel color.
The chickens- 'Why did the chicken cross the road' will always sound different to us now.
Because we'd made good time on the road we had time to drive over to Cocoa Beach near the Patrick Airforce Base for a bit of fresh air. It was lovely.

Off to play astronauts tomorrow Tom!

I've just stumbled upon your report and am enjoying it very much. It's a lot of fun seeing the US through your eyes. I am looking forward to more.

“The pelicans are particularly fascinating. They glide effortlessly alongside the highway at window height and then suddenly plummet down to grab a fish. Their landing is as ungainly as their flight is elegant.” ------So true!

Tomsd, your statement “One "joke" among self defense "experts" is just make a tape recording of the sound of a shotgun being chambered with a round - and knowledgeable thieves will be heading for the exits when they hear it!” made me laugh as I’ve always said I’d do that but have the “grrrr” of a very large dog at the beginning with my voice saying "Don't worry Bruno, I've got the gun."!!

Kwaussie, I didn’t know they imported the sand in Key West. Good grief. Very enjoyable TR.

Enjoying your report very much. I've been to several of the places you've been writing about but haven't made it to Key West - yet. Your very fun description of the drive down there and the time spent in Key West has moved it up on my list of places to visit. Sounds like fun! Hope the rest of your trip is great!

LOL Road Warriors. Love the ongoing chapter and verse of you US adventure.

Hey - you are close (just north of) to "Dodgertown USA" - aka Vero Beach - which the then Brooklyn Dodgers made famous when they started spring training down there. It's was a manicured facility - as good as they come - with a many fields and a main park that seated 6,500 (but many more could sit on the outfield grass/hills) - but now - alas - the Dodgers have joined many other teams training in the Phoenix/Tucson area in Arizona.

see: http://www.walteromalley.com/hist_dtown_index.php

http://www.walteromalley.com/hist_dtown_page13.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holman_Stadium_(Vero_Beach)

Hope you have a blast at the Astronaut Hall of Fame, and if they still have the jet simulator ride - it's as close as you get to going up in a jet fighter. My wife came out - listing sideways.

And amen - TDu. Anything one can do to send the bad guys fleeing is fair game, eh?

A friend of my brother in law had a Coffee Finca/farm in Costa Rica - and to discourage people stealing the coffee beans/cherries - he had a motion detector by the garage/fence - with a reocrding of two loud Doubermans barking. The filching stopped for quite a while.

Thanks again trip followers My report is brief tonight because we have lousy internet service in our La Quint tonight. (There's no elevator either so lugging our ever expanding suitcases up to our room has exhausted me!)

As a little girl in 1969, I sat awestruck in front of a tiny, black & white TV in the library of my primary school watching Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. Today I walked up the same set of steps used by Armstrong and his crew before they were strapped in to the command module of the Apollo 11. Once again, I was awestruck.

The Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral is fantastic. We roamed through the 'rocket garden', aptly named because it houses the Redstone, Atlas and Titan rockets that first put astronauts into space and the capsules of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions. We watched an Imax movie about the Hubble telescope maintenance, we took part in a shuttle simulation and we toured the launch pad area where so many famous missions have started.

Alas Tom, the jet fighter stimulator is no longer there but the shuttle trip was pretty good.

It's hard to describe how impressive all this space stuff is. I thought that perhaps Geoff and my memories of space glory and space tragedy probably made the experience more profound but Taine was also captivated by the whole place, in fact on the way out he decided that today was right up there in his lifetime 'best days'!

When you see some of the equipment and technology they were working with back in the 60s it's almost impossible to believe that people willingly climbed into those little modules, to be set on top of giant rockets and catapulted into space with the power of a nuclear missile. Harder still to believe that most of them made it back to Earth again. Maybe the whole thing is, indeed , a conspiracy!

When you see the pictures transmitted back from Hubble, of galaxies within galaxies, our little world becomes very small and insignificant but at the same time so beautiful and unique that it's all just a bit overwhelming.

Congrads on a great day. Too bad the flight simulater isn't still running - as it was the real deal.

The early Astronauts especially had "the Right Stuff" - and to sit in that capsule with a huge load of expensive fuel underneath you, then hope all goes well during the first few launches - and then everything going well during your mission - and then on re-rentry - not burning up http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112384/ - well - the first guys were really putting it on the line.

A little later - one of my classmates from the Class of '68/AF Academy was selected to be an Astronaut and commanded a few flights.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_O._Covey

I knew Dick by sight at the "Blue Zoo" (during the two and a half years I was there)- and any number of other guys could have also wound up in that great slot - determined in part by the vagaries of career, etc.

t

What a wonderful experience for you, Kwaussie! I was on a plane from London on that fateful moon walk. Pilot announced drink on the house for all

Really, no place for someone with claustrophobia!

We went to Ripley's this morning. Believe it or not it cost $56 for us to look at some unusual and weird old artifacts. It was vaguely interesting but played havoc with my vertigo. However, Taine thought it was great and it filled in the morning before we could check into the Port Orleans Disney Resort.

I wasn't sure what to expect of the resort. It was a toss up whether to go for the Disney experience or to save money by staying on International Drive and my desire to do the whole, kitsch, Mickey Mouse thing won. There are three levels of Disney resort (value, moderate and deluxe) and I got a great deal on this 'moderate' level one back in July. In fact our two day Disney pass cost more than the four nights in the hotel.

From the time you drive through the 'Welcome to Disneyworld' arch over the highway, you are in another world. Even the road signs are in Disney colors. And the police cars have Mickey ears on them! It feels as if you've walked into a story book.

All the staff are dressed in theme and the lady who checked us in was awesome. When we mentioned that Sophie was coming on Wednesday she organised to have her picked up from the airport and for all of us to be checked in to our flight to DC on Friday. We had a choice of rooms and chose the mansion rather than the bayou because it looked like we might get lost down there. The hotel is huge and it's just one of many within the resort. We deposited our bags in our room, oohed and ahhed over the disney shaped shampoo et al and by then it was time to add a few more carbs. We haven't signed up for the Disney dining plan because we believe it may lead to (further) over eating. Taine's endlessly refillable sipper cup is bad enough!

Then it was time to check out the pools. We have been blessed with an above average temperature in Florida and today was especially warm. Then we jumped on the Port Orleans riverboat and went down to check out Downtown Disney. Talk about Disney overload! I'll be lucky to escape this little interlude without another case. We had delicious fried chicken for dinner with plantain, a totally new and very delicious taste sensation for me, sort of a cross between yam and banana.

It started raining on the way home and I got drenched but it didn't matter. It's warm and I'm in the happiest kingdom of them all

I am LOVING your report! Just found it today. I can't wait til you get to Boston--Hubby and I hope to go there soon.

Holy Crapola: $56 to see Ripley's? Thanks for the warning.

Not only love reading your report - but in addition a couple others by your mates - including one woman from Colorado Springs who just returned to Perth - on a very long retrun jaunt. Never flow that far, much less with connection challenges.

Hope you get up to the Northeast without too much weather, and then maybe you can get some sun when you get out here to California.

Thanks propita. Not sure how we'll cope with the snow flurries in Boston after the humidity of Florida but it's all part of the adventure!

We started yesterday with another trip to Downtown Disney, this time in the daylight to do a bit of Christmas shopping. Of course, our Christmas present to ourselves and the kids has been this trip but Christmas morning would be a bit odd without a few presents so the challenge is to find some lightweight reminders of our holiday to put into our tiny Christmas stockings.

In anticipation of an expensive dinner at the Magic Kingdom, we bought lunch at Walmart. Taine had a 'lunch pack', a ham & cheese sandwich, pack of crackers, apple, cheese stick and fruit box, all for $2.50! We had our regular chicken fried chicken and we made a picnic of it on the grass in the Walmart car park. Classy!



We had tickets to Mickey's Very Special Christmas Party, a night time ticketed event at the Magic Kingdom and our first look at the Disney Parks. We decided to drive our rental to give ourselves a bit more freedom over coming and going. Rookie fail. The hotel bus pulls up at the doorstep whereas the carpark costs $14 and is 2 1/2 miles from the entrance!. You park the car, then you take a tram to the wharf and then you take the ferry or the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. The evening didn't start well. We were supposed to be given special wristbands on entry but we weren't. It was dark in the park and we didn't have a map. I think we passed the blessed spinning cups 4 or 5 times before we stopped walking in circles. Just as we reached the furthest point from the entrance we were stopped for a wristband check. Of course we didn't have one so we were told we'd have to go all the way back to get them. Not happy Jan!

The bonus of after hours entrance ( and persistent rain) was shorter queues so we were able to go on quite a few of the rides that were open. My favourite was 'It's a small world'. Iconic Disney. Because we did 'Beauty & the Beast' as our school production this year, it was great fun exploring Belle's village and Gaston's tavern. We'll go back to them on Thursday when we do the park in the daylight.

The night ended in spectacular fashion with the fire works and Mickey's Christmas parade. We even saw fake snow falling on main street and to top it all off a young man next to us got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend in front of the castle. Magic indeed

Hi Kwaussie, Husband and I went to Disney World once and I was appalled at the price of tickets. Can’t believe how people can afford it as a family vacation destination. I hummed it’s a small world for days. And loved the army of baby strollers lined up outside. Haven’t been to Ripley’s but that sounds like a “rip” also.

Can’t wait to read about your continued experiences.

After a sleep in to recover from Mickey's party last night we went to Epcot today. Learning from yesterday's mistake with the car we caught the resort bus, a very efficient and effective way to get to all the Worlds.

I think Epcot was designed to allow Americans the opportunity to visit the rest of the world without leaving home. The World Showcase is sort of a Royal Show + Expo kind of thing with displays from different countries that include info movies or rides, shops and restaurants. Interestingly, according to Epcot, the world ends at Japan because there was nothing of the Pacific on display. It was all vaguely interesting but the only part that I really enjoyed was Liberty Square with the fifes playing and the crowd pledging allegiance to the flag. I guess that's because I'm so focused on American history while I'm in America. The other countries were a bit of a distraction.

We enjoyed Spaceship Earth, the first attraction in the park. It gives you the chance to travel right up into the Epcot sphere with a great history lesson on communication. I also enjoyed the Gospel choir singing carols in the square and the 'Turtle Talk' comedy routine in the aquarium area. We also got to see manatees for the first time.

The Imagination Pavilion was lame and the 1980s 3D movie of Michael Jackson was just plain bizarre.
The park covers 300 acres and we walked everyone of them so it was great to get back to the resort and jump in the spa tonight. Epcot was interesting great experience but I wouldn't do it again.

One of the really odd things here is the number of people using electric scooters or 'gophers' as we call them at home. There they are used by the elderly and disabled. Here they seem to be used by anyone who is grossly overweight (fries with EVERY meal) or who just can't be bothered walking. I have no issue with the people who need them to enjoy the parks but for some they seem to be a way of barging through the crowds and beating the queues.

The highlight of the day was that Sophie arrived in Orlando after finishing Uni so our tour group becomes four for the next couple of weeks.

Yeah, DisneyWorld is expensive. I finally went last year. They're trying to come up with a policy on those motorized vehicles that won't violate federal law, but won't be so cheat-able, affecting other guests.

The Lion King show at Animal Kingdom is a good show, as is the Beauty and the Beast show at Hollywood Studios.

Since this is a family reunion of sorts AND your first trip, go to any information booth or CIty Hall and ask for buttons for each person for both events, and any other event you can think of. They're nice souvenirs--and they're free!

You saw the fireworks!!!! I still haven't seen them, we went to Disneyland on our previous trip in 2007 We went in April, and had a three day pass to Disneyland, you would have thought we would have seen the fireworks on one of the days. I was so disappointed, it was one of the main reasons we went there. The one night they had them the wind was too strong (there was nothing on the ground), but apparently it was windy up in the atmosphere.

Kwaussie, I've been vicariously traveling with you since the beginning of your holiday; it's been fun to read your perspective, and I'm looking forward to your DC report.

Our daughter and I spent a long weekend at Disney a year or so ago, including EPCoT, and we too were surprised by the number of electric scooters in use. We were also surprised by the number of parents pushing their toddlers in strollers while drinking their way around the world, so to speak.

TTT

I am another one enjoying your trip!

If you are into photography, one of your NYC stops must be B&H Photo even if you aren't planning to buy something. That place is unbelievable. I don't know how long you will be in NYC but they are closed Saturdays and open Sun - Fri. Their website has their address and directions bhphotovideo.com

Thanks for sharing with us!

Ahh, yes Nelsonian, we did see the fireworks. They were great! We also saw Epcot's from the ferry on our way back from Downtown Disney. I'm sorry you missed them, they were definitely a Disney highlight for me.

Yes, fourfortravel, the strollers were also interesting, especially the ones with quite big kids in them. I'm afraid if they don't get them out of the strollers they will grow up to be on the scooters!

sundowner, thanks for the B&H photo tip. We'll be in NYC for a week so I'll be sure to pop in there.

propita, Disney is VERY expensive. $94 for a single day pass for Sophie. Worthwhile for a once in a lifetime trip like ours but I am surprised by the number of people who go back year after year.
Magic Kingdom in the daylight was a much happier proposition for me than it had been in the dark for MVSCP. With the benefit of having already seen some of the attractions we had some kind of plan for visiting the rest. Part of this plan was to use the Fastpass system, a sneaky way of beating the queues. You pop your ticket in a machine at some of the busier rides and it gives you another ticket with an hour 'window' to return. When you come back you simply report to the Fastpass lane and skip to the front. This is particularly appealing on attractions where queue waiting times are up to 50minutes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

t

I'm enjoying the report in real time. I went to Disney an eon or two ago but know people who go every year. From your report:
In our jeans, trackies and runners we felt pretty under dressed but luckily we ran into a fellow Aussie in the elevator and she was wearing junners too.

Jeans are pants/trousers
runners are sneaker/tennis shoes
but what are trackies?

Glad you enjoyed Disney and hope to read great things about D.C. as well. It's possible that most of those Friday night folks were in my grocery store in Maryland! People must be having pre-Christmas parties.

More TR please!

Thanks for joining my tour Sally Trackies are track suit pants, normally worn to warm up in before sports matches but also very comfortable for traveling and acceptable companions to sneakers on your feet. Junners are jeans accompanied by sneakers, a complete fashion faux pas according to my daughters!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wonderful, Kwaussie. I'm so glad you are enjoying D.C. Yes, White House is much smaller in real life. And you really covered some ground. How did the Chinese food in D.C. compare to what you are used to??

The 'oh it's not a wedding' was likely a quinceanera, which is a mexican or latin cultural coming of age celebration from girlhood to womanhood.

I am still stunned that Boston spent so much money implementing those bikes without helmets readily available. But the bike ride sounds like a lovely adventure..

Thanks for the fashion lesson. I'm often a junner myself but don't consider myself on the cutting edge of fashion. A Quinceañera is a big birthday celebration in the latino communities. If you have a sweet 16th party for girls back home, it would be the closest type of celebration. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quincea%C3%B1era

kwaussie, I am continuing to enjoy your report. Very interesting to see the US through your eyes! I am roadtripping through Texas myself right now, and told our hosts over the last couple of days about your report, and ended up reading the Texas portion aloud to them this morning.

They also enjoyed it very much, and kept complimenting your writing style. And, the minute I read the bit about driving in Texas, and of course on that route between Dallas, Austin and San Antonio, everyone nodded their head. That was a pretty tough route for your first driving experience in the US. It's personally one of my least favorite sections of road to drive.

Carry on!

Thanks for the explanations re the birthday party. It certainly was a very lavish affair! We don't have anything like it except the debutante ball ( a very old fashioned but equally expensive idea).
Thanks for the feedback Toucan. I'm glad your hosts enjoyed my Texas description. I wish we had had more time to spend there (just not on the road!)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Off to Boston tomorrow!

Kwaussie, I just heard on the radio that the wreaths in Arlington Cemetery are donated. Isn’t that lovely?

Can't wait to read about Boston next. Congrats on the student's good scores!

While in Boston, perhaps you will consider seeing the Holiday Pops at Symphony Hall. The finest of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood Choir put on a remarkable show and some of the balcony seats are more affordable then those bikes yesterday!

http://www.bso.org/Performance/Detail/23365/

A couple of years ago, I bought a dozen tickets to enjoy with friends and family and everyone was in aw, a few rather surprised at just how much they loved to see an orchestra up close.

I really need an edit function. That was last years schedule. This is current. If you are not familiar with the BSO they are recognized worldwide as one of the great orchestra's with some of the finest musicians.

http://www.bso.org/Performance?pageNo=0&perPage=10&brands=1182,6425

Yes dudette, the donated wreaths just look beautiful too. Every now and again there is a different one so I imagine families are able to customise them if they want to.

Lookin_glass, I will check out the orchestra tickets although we really only have 2 days in Boston & will be struggling for time.

I see from Nelsonian's thread that my report is getting too long to load for a lot of people so when I add today's instalment I'll start a new thread.

As long as I can find your report, I'll be happy.

Hubby and I were in DC this past Spring, our first real time there (my trip in high school doesn't count). Renting bikes on the Mall would've been great! God, we walked the thing a couple of times! We took amtrak to NYC for a few days.

Can't wait for the Boston leg. Our next trip will likely be NYC for a few days (we found out we LOVE New York!) and then Boston. Or vice-versa. Probably Spring time, again.