And now… the end is near…it’s time to face… the final curtain… August 22, 2008

New Jersey

Originally uploaded by chris.warn

Well, it seems appropriate to use the words of Ol’ Blue Eyes to describe what’s going on now, at least we feel like we’ve done it our way. New York, New York has been a great way to finish as well, with sunny skies, a cooling breeze and a couple of days without driving to really enjoy it. Yesterday was spent in one of the gems of any major city, Central Park. We picniced under the leafy shade of a spreading oak (ignoring the coughing tramp sat behind us) and then sunbathed on the well manicured grass, the sound of children playing drifting in and out – difficult to imagine you’re in one of the most packed cities of the world, when you’re in the middle of this green expanse. Had a beautiful relaxed day (Soph maintains it’s one of the few where I didn’t rush her around and need to get somewhere under a strict time constraint) not doing much, but seeing a lot. As you gaze above the tree line you see the towering, gothic blocks of apartments that line the park, safe in the knowledge that normal man can’t look out of their windows – unless your Donald Trump or old money. We saw a fantastic street tumbling act on the terrace, by a boating lake turned green with algae; the shouts of the performers mingling with the gush of water, that sparkled from the victorian fountain. We saw tunnels and bridges, statues and ampitheatres. NY seems to have shed it’s hard criminal image now and places like this are clean, safe and welcoming.
And here I am typing the last blog of this trip (oh no there’s a sequel I hear you shout) in our motel room in Jersey City, the smell of cat’s wee having deteriorated or we’ve got used to it! Bit sad, but also happy to be coming home after just over 10 months and 11 countries.
We stayed in Australia the longest and Canada the shortest (but wish it could have been longer).
Our worst night was in Johannesburg Airport looking for a place to sleep.
The most bug bites happened in Madagascar, it’s not just cute cartoon animals, 117 bed bug bites in one night.
Our favourite eat out meal was in the Old Port area of Hermanus in South Africa.
Our scariest moment was either driving in South Africa in the middle of the wild coast, in the middle of no-where, in the middle of the night – lost! or approaching the rhino or (for me) the bungy jump!
We’ve had loads of sociable times with lots of people and thanks goes to Fintan and Clare, Joan, Jamie and Rich, Mick and Jo, Silke and Thorsten, Debs and Steve, Tim and Robyn, Stew and Ang, Mustafa, Bart and Michelle, Sam, Murray and Harvey, Neil and Vicky (sorry about the carpet!), Sue and Arch……and, of course, my brother Phil.
Favourite natural sights list – Drakensburg Mountains, Ganges, Mount Cook over Lake Pukaki, Abel Tasman Peninsula, Whitehaven Beach and Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, 12 Apostles, Wave Rock, Yosemite Valley, Niagra Falls (ignoring the tourism).
Favourite Man made sights list – Khajuraho Temples, Kuala Lumpar Twin Towers, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House, Chicago Art, Iwo Jima Monument and Statue of Liberty.
The coldest day 1 degree C, hottest 51 degree C.
Funniest moment – aah that would be Adam the waiter in South Africa.
Favourite animal seen – Soph, Koala, Chris, African Elephant.
Longest drive 515 miles in 10 hours in camper van.
Times across the Equator – 6, all longtitudes covered, 5 continents and 89794 miles (so far with about 5000 to go, so we didn’t break the 100K mark Stewart)
We flew 56163′, we drove 29678′, we sat on trains for 2699′, we boated 797′, we walked 239′ (pitiful we know), we got tuk-tuk’d 95′, we bused 68′, we trammed 42′, we kayaked 13′ and we sat on an elephant for about 300 metres. So of the miles covered we did about 0.35% of them under our own steam – get in!
This is the 76th post in 16 categories, which have attracted 7456 views. The best viewing day ever was 102 views on 21 Jun 08 (boring day at home, or was it Debs Hill going on line 40 times to improve our stats?) the worst day was 1 view (thanks Gill or Liz) – you the audience have posted 128 comments.
We have changed a bit since we started travelling. We are perfectly happy to stand our ground in a queue situation now, we argue with waiters over poor quality food or service, we are happy to bend the rules to get our way (when called for), we try new things more readily, we are no longer daunted by long distances (Plymouth to Glasgow, pah that’s nothing!) and we realise that the world ain’t so different there are good, honest, fun people who you want to spend time with and there are rude, greedy, self-absorbed jokers you don’t want to be involved with.
Some things haven’t changed – we still like a beer, unbelievably we still laugh at each others jokes and we still love each other like crazy.

That’s it until the next world trip in 2027!

The Big Apple..New York, New York! August 21, 2008

Maryland

Originally uploaded by chris.warn

Hello All,
And so the end of our world travels is nigh! We are on our final days. Mixed emotions about finishing our travelling. We are both really loving America and it is the perfect ending for our trip. I am so excited about going home. I plan on bringing all our material possessions out of the loft and rolling around in them a.s.a.p. It will be like Christmas as I can’t remember some of the things we have. Having 10 months without most of our possessions has been a positive thing. It has made me realise how little I need objects and the things I missed most were people and not “things.”  Living out of a knapsack means no choice in clothes, no luxury toiletries, no accessories, no nice shoes, no handbags, no hair products, hardly any make up and no glamour.  However if you have no choice then I have found that I will put on any old thing. It has made me less vain, but I do look at our photos and think “Oh dear!”
So homeward bound soon to get back into the world of hard graft, family, friends, house, garden and all the material things. Brilliant!!!!
Anyway, since the last blog we have visited Washington. Very cool big city. Chris has been a demon covering all the miles in the U.S.A. I have been too much of a wimp to drive and he has basically driven us across the country. So we arrived in Washington on my birthday, after a brief night stay in Delaware. We saw a huge thunder and lightening storm from our hotel room. It lasted about 20 minutes with sheet lightening and lit the whole room as we stood at the window, with all the lights off for full effect. Even the storms here are impressive.
So on to Washington. Chris greeted me with birthday breakfast in bed and a beautiful necklace from The Grand Canyon. Very lovely! I also have been going on about wanting a foam fingers for ages. My dream came true as you can see from the photo. Very handy bit of kit, as you can see I immediately used it to its’ full potential by pointing at my new necklace. I don’t know how I ever pointed without it. Debsi Hill gave me a new top too so I had gifts and some lovely messages and e-cards to make me feel loved.
We had a look around the town that we were spending the next few days in. Gorgeous place with people of all colours, shapes and sizes making the place look vibrant and fantastic. We headed to a real diner for pancakes. Yum,the diner even had a juke box on each table to play tunes while we ate. As it was a special occasion we allowed ourselves an afternoon snooze before our night out. Chris and I had our own little party in the local town centre. It is really pretty in Silver Springs and we found a pub that made great food. After so much time together it is amazing we have anything left to talk about, however we managed to talk (mostly rubbish) most of the evening. It was a busy, balmy night and we had an outdoor table, I am going to miss these nights a lot. The evening ended about 5 beers later than it should have and at one point we enjoyed a game of “chicken” across a water fountain display, runing between the spouts of water that were on a random timer. Great fun.
Inevitably the next day was less active and no sights were seen. We had a late night cinema trip to see The new Mummy film (not great) then back to bed.
Our last day in Washington and everything left to see. We went for it!  Starting (via the subway) at the Washington Momument. This tall, smooth stone needle has open space around it and the dry grass pans out to The Reflective Pool (made famous in Forest Gump) and The Lincoln Memorial. It was a stunning day, as usual we were out in the midday sun, but onwards, we plodded to have a closer look at Lincoln. The reflective Pool is pretty disappointing, not as clean as the normal standard. Lots of geese and ducks and their droppings make it more of a stew than a place to see or feel reflected in. The Lincoln Memorial was pristine marble with the huge greek pillars and white steps leading up to a sculpture, again in white marble, of President Lincoln. A welcome cool shade before another walk to the Iwo Jima US Marine Corps Memorial. We didn’t linger amongst the massed white graves, set in lines of servicemen who have lost their lives in Service to their country. A very dignified setting, beautiful trees breaking up the white lines of hundreds of men and women’s graves.
When we arrived at Iwo Jima, we agreed it was well worth the hot walk. It is set in a quiet area of the park and and it is stunning. Much bigger that we expected, this famous sculpture shows the scene of 6 marines supporting each other in lifting the American flag marking the land in Mount Suribachi. It is really beautiful. The sculpture is based on a photograph taken of the above event in 1945 and the men (who lived) who actually lifted the flag later posed for the sculpture. I personally think this is what makes it really special. A surprisingly moving sculpture.
I was ready to call it a day and retreat to the shade, but Chris had different ideas. I feel that there are only so many memorials I want to see in a day (I am thinking 4 is a fair amount.) However my memorial crazy husband kept the pace up. We had a minor disagreement on the heat, walking pace etc then off we went again. This time we took a tube and headed back across the open spaces to The Jefferson Memorial. To cut a long story short it was very similar to the Lincoln Memorial, but with Jefferson in the middle in a dark stone sculpture. It overlooked a pretty lake which, much to our amusement, had pedalos in it. This was particularly funny as it was quite a small lake and everyone in the pedlos looked really bored and unsure why they were there.
Finally a walk across to The White House which was a bit far away to have a good look at. We took the required photo then headed for some late lunch. Chris has looked up a great French restaurant online, so we had some cool water under the umberellas with white tableclothes and genuine French waiters. Tres bien! We were amazed at how spacious the grounds were around all these monuments and buildings. Washington is a very attractive and calm city. It was a Sunday, but the landscape and buildings have a peace to them.
Just when I thought the Christopher Warn Tour of Washington was over, we stumbled across another gem. Capitol Building, where the senate sits when in session. A truely beautiful piece of architecture with an ornate central dome and white carved steps, ponds, fountains, balconies and doorways. I had no idea Washington was so lovely. It made me feel ashamed that our previous afternoon snoozes and hangovers stopping us seeing more of it. Despite my regular moaning about the heat and my aching feet, I loved every minute of our sight seeing. If you come here I would recommend taking the CW Tour and some comfortable shoes! It is cheap, but very fast walking is involved!
Our goodbyes to Washington made our trip’s imminent ending even more real. We drove to New York knowing this was the last port of call. No more travelling, no more car. We returned our hired car in the madness that is New York driving the next day. We were a little disappointed to find our motel room smelt of cats wee. We were kind of expecting the motel to be a bit dodgy as it was cheap. This is one of the things that makes me happy to be coming home, no more strange beds, grubby rooms, cat wee smells etc.
So the car has now left us and we have a huge mound of things piled in all spare spaces in our motel room. We have definitely not been travelling as lightly as before. We have bought new bags to put everything in. New York is everything we hoped it would be and we have been sightseeing like a couple of maniacs. Yesterday we drove through the Lincoln Tunnel to 5th Avenue and then headed to The New York Library. This is where Carrie was supposed to get married in Sex In The City. I was a little over excited about this and everywhere reminds us of films we can’t quite put our fingers on. The library was a working place ,so very low key and had a great entrance with marble steps dividing into two stairwells once inside the high open entrance halls. We were focussing on the uptown end of NY and soaked up the atmosphere as we walked the steamy streets. We found a little oasis of green amongst the sky scrapers and tucked into a sandwich. The little green patch, Bryants Park was a relaxing square of grass and everyone seemed surprisingly low key. People sunbathed and ate lunch with skyscrapers, The Chrysler Building and The Empire State building casting shadows over them.
Feeling very happy to be here, we headed onward on foot to Grand Central Station. Huge place with stalls and boutique type shops mixed with fast food cafes. We headed to where I think the Bourne Identity might have been filmed, not too sure. The station’s huge famous windows let the NY sun shine in as people headed for trains or underground tubes. Some just stood around taking photos, we were in that gang. With more still to see we walked to Times Square. As busy as expected, with loads of neon adverts and fliers for theatre productions being thrust into our hands. A bit smelly and hectic ,we kept going until we reached our bus stop. The bus stops here are very dark and grubby with queues that make little sense. We found the right bus due to Chris’s naval navagation training and headed to the place that dreams are made, THE MALL.
This place has over 200 shops under one roof, restaurants, cafes and cinemas. Only for serious shoppers!My heart was racing with glee, Chris was up for it and we had 4 hours until our last bus. I won’t go into the details, but we were incredible. Like Torville and Dean we manoeuvred ourselves around prams, toddlers, teenagers, couples, shops and cafes. We left exhausted with sore feet and bags of stuff. My dreams have come true. There is a shopping centre big enough for me.
Like true travellers we got 2 buses back to our motel and rubbed our feet. Great day, miles and miles of New York covered and still time to watch the olympics highlights, yippee!
And now my final blog! We have spent the day visiting Mid and Downtown NY. We were up and ready for the day nice and early. A bus ride into town (about 30 mins )and we walked to The Empire State Building. We were in the queue to go to the top and gave up on the idea half way through. Mostly because there was a 1 hour 15 minute wait and also because it was a bit like a cattle market. The staff there were really rude ,so we left before anyone else could try to sell us something. I am glad we did, for principles if nothing else. I am sure the Empire State Building will fall into rack and ruin now we have not contributed our 20 quid!
Back on the streets of NY we walked passed Madison Square Park and saw the gorgeous “Flat Iron.” This is the building that is like a section of cheese. Thin at one end and opens out to form a triangle.
We followed the road down 5th Avenue ,on the sunny side of the street of course. Quite a trek to Greenwich Village where we saw the house used in “I am Legend.” This is the more bohemian area of NY. Lots of model looking people wearingly achingly cool clothes and talking loudly about their latest audition into their iphones. Pretty little italian restaurants, galleries (with paintings with no price tag), professional dog-walkers and general wealth. Some people were trying a little too hard and we passed a man that was dressed like one of The Krankies(the weird wife who used to dress as a school boy, remember her?)
We strolled along in our flip flops caring not a jot for fashion, as our minds were focussed on the scenery. We briefly passed the Ground Zero site on our walk to the docks. It has high fencing around it and work going on inside, I don’t know what the future plans are for it, but there was a large area of flatness amongst the skyscrapers .
Eventually, weary, we arrived at the docks and headed along the water to the Statton Ferry. Great trip over and back, no fuss, no queuing, no cost. We enjoyed the glorious weather and saw The statue of Liberty in the distance. Very nice too!
We are now snuggled up in our motel room (wee smell has gone.) and are aching all over after 2 days and lots of flip flopped miles. NY is wonderful and we are making sure we are making the most of it.
This is my final blog and so I will say a brief goodbye. Thank you to all who have stuck with us and Chris will be putting in one last blog before we finish this very long travel blog. I am so excited about coming home and getting back into our house. When you see me, give me lots of wine, don’t look at my podgy belly (from too much food,not baby) and I will try not to say “When we were in ……….”
Bye
Sophiexxxx

A great time in Cabbagetown and a grand tahm in Bahstan! August 15, 2008

Ontario

Originally uploaded by chris.warn

Long time no blog, but we have covered a few more miles, another country and even lost and regained our camera (hence no recent entry). We left Chicago and headed briefly South and then West, passing through the towns of Paw Paw, Climax and Kalamazoo. We had a look at Indiana (very quickly) dan, dan, dan, dan, dan, da, da (raiders of lost arc theme) and then Michigan. Didn’t see much of the state really, mostly on the motorway which got increasingly poor the further North we travelled. In Lansing we went through a huge deluge of rain and lightning a bit scary on the motorway (talking of weather, nearby Flint suffered the deadliest tornado in US history in 1953, killing 115 people) and then stopped off in Flint, founded in 1819 by a fur trader called Jacob Smith. The next day was 2 weeks to home time, so we felt the need to drive to Canada – Before that I let Soph loose in a Mall for a couple of hours, you could almost see her heart beating in her chest when I went to drag her away from the TV section. Passed through Port Huron and then into a big queue for the border to Canada. When we got to the gate, got another stamp and a series of harsh questions by the stern customs guy, all he needed was a tache, a pair of polaroid shades and some form of whip. Eventually let through and into Canada, straight into another traffic jam. Then on road, with great Canadian views, lakes filled with lillies, grasses and dead trees – but no Mooses or Beavers! We were staying with two guys Murray and Harvey (who we met in NZ way back when), thanks to their directions we steamed through Toronto to their house in the Cabbagetown district. So called because it used to be poor and a bit of an Irishtown, where all the residents grew their own cabbages to ward off starvation. Now filled with lovely Victorian housing with a distinctive style and metropolitan air (the area even has its’ own flag). The city itself sits on the banks of Lake Ontario and has a beautiful string of islands just off the coast and its’ central point is the tallest building in the world (for the moment) the CN tower at 553.33m, this central pinnacle gives the city the air of a large sailing ship from a distance. We were welcomed with open arms and huge sized cocktails – marvellous. Great to catch up eating and drinking and laughing.

Next day we were very excited as we were off to Niagra Falls, but first a visit to a vineyard in the Niagra on the Lake district, which is a quaint and manicured area, reminds me a bit of Henley. These two fellas were great company (and extremely silly) and even though we saw more traffic jams, the trip flew past. We passed the huge lock system that parallels the Niagra river, bringing merchant vessels through from the Atlantic, down the River Lawrence, into Lake Ontario and through to Lake Eerie and Chicago/Detriot. Didn’t realise that the Welland Canal was so important to US and Canada. We stopped off at the Peller Estates, one of a series of vaunted winerys which have unique weather conditions which allow the vines to grow, the escarpments in the area creating the required relief. It was a young vineyard only started in 1994 and they specialise in cabernet sauvignons and rieslings and Ice Wine. Never seen the latter before, but it’s made with grapes grown in the winter/autumn months. They let these ones go and as soon as the temperature hits -10′C and that’s pretty cold, the pickers come out grab the grapes and produce the wine. The extreme cold, concentrates the sugars in the grape and allows for this sweet, delicious wine – it was really, really good and we had to drag ourselves away from the tasting to stop any embarrassment! We ate in the restaurant, a bloke called Jason Parsons (Canadian TV chef) doing the menu. The food was phenomenal, and I’ve included a picture of my pudding, the richest choc cake ever tasted. We drank Pinot Gris and laughed a lot, once tipsy, Harvey drove us back through the town of Niagra by the Lake where they were having a peach festival?? On to Niagra, passing a statue of General Brock one of only a few successful Brit soldiers in War of Independence. On his plinth he looks down on the river and an area called the whirlpool, which was our first stop and a place where we got to see the thundering power of the river. Further down is the Falls themselves, not much to say really. The area is very touristy as you’d expect. If you look to the river it’s beautiful, but behind you loom lots of restaurants, hotels and a Casino! We walked up close to the water at Suicide Point , staring up river to the rapids and down to where the green, sheen of water curves over the precipice and plummets down, throwing up a huge plume of mist. It’s good. As we walked downwind to see American Falls further down river, we found that the mist is thrown back onto the walkway and we got soaked! Come to sunny Canada they said. Storm really broke on the way home and more heavy rain forced us in doors to eat pizza and watch a taped version of Beijing Olympics opening ceremony – good wasn’t it?
Sad farewell the next day and after a look around the district of cabbagetown and the waterfront, we were off to Ottowa – but not so fast, on way there we realised we had forgotten our camera (major piece of kit on our trip) in Toronto – bummer! This means we have no photos to show you of Ottowa, which is a shame because it is a truly beautiful city, right up there in parts with Paris! We arrived in Gatineau, on the Quebec side of the River Ottowa, late and after a Thai meal got an early night, it felt strange not taking phots of things! The next day we visited the Canadian Museum of Civilisation. A very cool look at how Canada has got where it is today. Fascinating, from a physical look at First Nation boats, weapons, totem poles and huts, through to a look at the people themselves. We certainly didn’t know that so many of the locals here fought in the First World War. The normal shameful picture of the Europeans abusing the hospitality offered by these people in the 1700s, was painted and we walked around some of the exhibits in silence, pretty bad. BUT the First Nation has now grabbed the situation and is a growing community, which has embraced its’ culture and stands by it, a strong part of Canada. Captain James Cook was up in these parts in 1774, naming Friendly Bay – he sure got around!

After this we didn’t stay, which was my fault really, Soph wanted to because Ottowa looked even more picturesque in the sunshine. But no, we were back on road, heading south over the border and into New York State to a place called Lake Placid (no crocs). Pleasant wooded area with the US’s winter olympics training set up here, but weather still a bit iffy (the US is going through its’ 10th wettest summer on record, so far). We didn’t hang around and the next day we drove to the Boston outskirts to settle up in Bedford and collect our camera from Eileen, a friend of Murray and Harvey (they kindly UPS’d it over).
Our trip into Boston was amazing, again an American big city has maintained and encouraged a great tourism industry. We used tube, bus and trolley to get around from Harvard University to the ship the USS Constitution. A day where we felt we learnt huge amounts, not least from the old guys driving the trolleys around, who kept up a running commentary. Here are 7 of our favourite facts:
1. Washington ran the British troops out of Boston in 1776.
2. The statue of Harvard in Harvard Yard is called the statue of 3 lies, first lie it’s not Harvard, someone else sat for him, second he is not the founder, he was the benefactor, third the Uni wasn’t founded in 1638 it was 1636 – all in all a poor effort.
3. The USS Constitution (oldest commissioned ship afloat in the world launched 1797) was called ‘Old Ironsides’ by British sailors who couldn’t understand why their cannonballs bounced off the sides, ship is just made of strong white oak.
4. General Joseph Hooker, a hero of the Civil War, used to enjoy the company of nefarious women. These girls were nicknamed Hooker’s Ladies, this was shortened to Hookers. IT’S TRUE!
5. Oldest pub still standing in Boston is called The Warren Tavern built in 1770.
6. The Pilgrims left Plymouth to arrive in 1630 at the behest of a man called William Blackstone, a preacher who first settled the Boston area. When they arrived he got quickly bored with them apparently and sold his land to them and headed inland. This land is now known as Boston Common.
7. Ho Chi Minh worked as a pastry chef in Boston before becoming a demi-god.
At the end of the day we dined in a place called the Red Hat Cafe in the Old Scollay’s Square region and then had a beer or two in a pub built in 1775, not bad. A fun, tiring day.
The next, not so much fun at all as we just drove from Boston to Philadelphia on the way to Washington to celebrate Soph’s birthday tomorrow in the USA’s capitol city. The only thing of note happening today was the storm that has just passed through here (Wilmington), gales, fat, warm rain and lots and lots of lightning – fantastic looking at it through our motel window. We have also just heard a loud siren alarm go off and thinking it might be a serious storm warning or tornados or something, we have just rung the reception to be told it’s the fire station alarm next door to our motel. These motels are cheap but they’re always next door to something noisy airports/train tracks/nightclubs.
Looking forward to tomorrow, a few treats for Sophs and a look at Washington – how cool is that.

From Black Hills, to Blue Earth and ending up in the Windy City. August 7, 2008

Illinois

Originally uploaded by chris.warn

 

A really busy and exciting time continues for us in the US. We spent a night in Hot Springs just on the edge of the Black Hills of Dakota, which Soph found very exciting because of the links to Calamity Jane. This is real cowboy country and this was proven at breakfast as 3 rodeo riders came in for their waffles and syrup. The old lady running the place said ‘does yo momma let you wear spurs in the house?’ and basically shamed the guys into taking off said spurs and their huge hats, which lay on the floor like small miner’s cottages.
We visited our first paleontology dig at the Mammoth site, the premier such site in the world, apparently. The first mammoth jaw bone was discovered in 1974 on a housing development, unbelievably, as opposed to just covering it up, the owner sold the land at cost value to the Mammoth Society – what a guy, probably wouldn’t happen today. It was fascinating and we saw both Colombian Mammoth and Short-Faced Bear bones (only 13 now-extinct short-faced bears ever discovered anywhere). The site is still being excavated, they have only dug up about 25% of the 80ft hole that is available. It’s like a mammoth grave yard, because originally 26000 years ago this pit was a sink-hole, filled with artesian water that tempted the beasties in and was so steep sided that they couldn’t get back out – hence the calcification of their bones and voila, a tourist attraction! It was a bit of a shame as some of the shapes of the skeletons were obviously of Mammoths in distress trying to get out of a muddy hole! After this we drove right through the Black Hills, passing through Custer (which isn’t the site of Custer’s Last Stand in 1876, this is actually next door in Montana) and all the while, still surrounded by hundreds of Harley Davidsons on their way to the Sturgis Bike Rally. Next up was the Crazy Horse monument, which was started as a guilt ridden tribute to the Native American tribes of the Sioux in 1948. This massive project was the inspiration of Korczak Ziolowski, a Polish immigrant, who won the contract at the World Fair in New York in 1939. Unfortunatley he has since died and the project doesn’t seem to moving very fast. We saw a photo of it in 1999 and there’s been little progress. I think his family are cashing in, charging 20 bucks just to see the half finished version. This thing (Crazy Horse on his horse) is going to be 200 ft long, so it’s not easy, but they really need to crack on with it.
Feeling a bit jaded and like seen off tourists, we headed for Mount Rushmore, which is the site of another huge rock carving of 4 US presidents (Washington, Roosevelt, Jefferson and Lincoln). We were well impressed, completed between 1927 and 1941 by Gutzon Burglun, this was fast work. Washington’s nose is 20ft long, which gives you a clue as to the size of it. Visible for miles as you drive up through the beautiful wooded Black Hills, it’s a fantastic piece of work close up as well. Sophs got up close and personal with 2 Rangers, but on cuddling one of them he sheepishly admitted that he was wearing a bullet proof vest – either the animals here are violent and fight back OR they were undercover coppers!!  We took loads of photos and only left when the black clouds gathered over the Black Hills, threatening a storm (poor Harley Davidson riders). We drove East again after this to make Kimble for a night in another of these great Super 8 motels, although the tap water tastes a bit ‘creamy’ for want of a better word. Dining in a real live American Diner ‘Doowah Ditty’s Diner’ was pure Americana.
On the road again the next day to drive through Sioux Falls, which didn’t feel like a Native American village as we had hoped. We passed into Minnesota in its’ 150th anniversary year and during the day we saw a lot of wind turbines, huge corn fields (stay out of the corn!) and large corn towers with rounded aluminium roofs (looked more like missile silos than grain silos) next to picture book farmsteads. We also saw a small CAT earth-digger doing a wheelie and Sophs swore she saw a monkey road-kill on the side of the road (it was destined to be a strange day). Ended up bedding down in a town called Blue Earth, so named for the blue clay earth on the river bank that winds through the town. We walked into the town in the hot, soupy air via the Park marked on the map, which turned out to be an industrial park, so we had to turn back and find another way – very sweaty. We passed a huge 60ft high Jolly Green Giant wearing a charity run T-shirt, very surreal. Almost exhausted, we relieved our thirst by popping into a bar called the Double Play, with a barman who worked in the local school as a Biology teacher. The evening was just one of those evenings, Doc was very friendly and with his encouragement we downed a few local beverages and yapped to the locals, including one man who looked like Hurley from the programme LOST and a family who were out for a meal, but ended up giving us a lift home, giggling in the back of their pick up truck – great fun howling at the moon and being silly.
Up a bit slow for obvious reasons and on our way to the state capitol of Wisconsin, Madison. Not many people know this but Wisconsin is considered the circus centre of the world, perfect for a pair of clowns like us! First we passed through Iowa by heading South, through beautiful farmland, with some of the best maintained farms (with painted grain silos and signature tapered-arched barns), straightest corn fields and cleanest farm equipment this side of the black stump. We also noticed here that the KFC signs included a suprisingly youthful looking ‘Colonel’ (looks about 30 here, as opposed to a pensioner everywhere else). We were delighted to discover that we had to cross over the Mississippi, for some reason I hadn’t spotted this on the map! The landscape got greener and lusher and then we saw the huge expanse of this famous river. It’s a biggy as well, running approx 2300 miles from Lake Itasca in the North right to the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans. If you played pooh sticks at Itasca, it would take about 90 days for your twig to make it to the ocean. It’s about 4 miles at it’s widest point and where we crossed at La Crosse, we leapfrogged between islands such as French Island to get to the other side. To complete the picture, we saw a red and white paddle steamer come up river as we crossed the bridge – very Mark Twainesque. On crossing the Muddy, we passed into our 10th State so far, Wisconsin and then into the town of Madison. The bridges aren’t here by the way, they’re in a smaller town called Winterset, so no phots I’m afraid. Had a quiet night, which was made interesting by the inclusion of glazed carrots with our steak, glazed in Maple Syrup (uurrgghh).
On the road to Chicageee! Not much to report of journey, on the motorway all the way with the driving speed getting higher and higher as we approached the City. No sign of Illinois’ Law Enforcement Community, thankfully. Huge town, but managed to find our accommodation and went out immediately to take the noisiest train in the world into the centre. Chicago sits on Lake Michigan and we didn’t really have particularly high hopes from the centre, thinking it would be very industrial. As we got off the train, our ears still ringing, we were very suprised to see a mix of stunning Victorian architecture and innovatively designed modern high rises and art. We passed the old water tower and pump house, spotless and looking like they’d been put up last year and the fire station built in the 1902, the same year as our house. We soon realised that our planned bus tour around the city was too expensive, so we walked to a restaurant to get our energy levels up by eating a ridiculously sized portion of pasta. The place, Gino’s East, was very cool and the walls were covered in baseball and entertainment memorabilia and lots and lots of graffitti, done by the public (and the band Aerosmith). We didn’t have any silver pens or Tipex, so nothing from us.

After this came a deluge of culture, more culture than Louis Pasteur’s fingernails. First up was the Museum of Contemporary Art and we just had time to see the exhibition of Jeff Koons, free entry but we only had 20 minutes to get round and out. His work is an eclectic mix of sex, basketballs and blow up lobsters – but pretty interesting for all that. We then walked down Michigan Avenue, the Magnificent Mile, with its’ varied skyline of old gothic buildings, such as the Chicago Tribune Building, and huge looming, shiny skyscrapers, like Gotham City but with designer shops and boutiques. We crossed the bridge over the Chicago River, looking East towards the lake, and then came into the Millenium Park with two fantastic pieces of art. The first by an Englishman Anish Kapoor, called the Cloud Gate (nicknamed ‘The Bean’ by locals). It’s a 110 ton shining, reflective circular shape. It’s very interactive and everyone who walks up to it has a smile on their face. You can walk through an arch under it or just see the buildings of the city in its’ reflection – it’s a visual feast. The second was two tall towers of glass blocks, that are also screens showing faces of Chicago residents, they face each other across a shallow pool of water, which creates further reflections in turn! There are waterfalls and spouts and the kids were running through it all going crazy, our nieces and nephews and friend’s kiddies would have loved it and so would Chris Taylor! We also saw a 925 ft bridge, its’ sides clad in squares of brushed steel panels, like a snake it wound its way over a normal freeway to another park, crazy but brilliant. To round all this off, we were lucky enough to be there in the park when a free concert was going on in the Jay Pritzker Pavillion. The Grant Park Orchestra, playing a freebie rendition of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto 64 in E minor (what else?). We sat enjoying this as it got darker and the sun set over the city, very tranquil. All in all, what started as a low expectation day – ended up with us thinking Chicago deserves more than just one day. Unfortunately, we are running out of time and with Canada, Boston, Washington and the Big Apple to get in before the flight home, we can’t stay. I’ll leave Soph to tell you about our fleeting visit to Canada on next blog, see y’all.

Cowboys,Mountains and Harleys August 3, 2008

Colorado

Originally uploaded by chris.warn

Hello chaps,
We are still here,working our way to New York. We slept well in Farmington, New Mexico and headed out to the town for a nose around the next morning. Great antique shops, full of tat and we spent a few hours looking at all things old from the states. Their tat is pretty similar to our tat really, except we don’t have the cowboy boots and gun holsters. We were on a mission to find an old cowboy style coffee pot. I was in heaven and happily strolled around looking at pots, plates and bits of lace, Chris was keen to get on the road so looked particularly relieved when we found one. We also stumbled on a bargain blanket as well.
Back on the road we headed into the mountains passing some stunning whoppers, Engineer’s Peak, Sunlight Peak(14059ft) and Red Mountain(11075ft.)

We had been advised to go to Ouray as it was supposed to be like a Little Switzerland and indeed that was it’s nick name. We were stunned by the mountain’s beauty and some of the scarey hairpin bends. We also got to see a deer as we approached Ouray and managed to get it on camera. Ouray is in a valley surrounded by mountains from all sides. It is a really pretty town with ginger bread type houses in pastel colours like a bag of sugared almonds. I bet it looks amazing whitened in the winter snow, bustling with skiers in their bright skiing jackets.
We headed for a late lunch in a place named The Outback, a spit and sawdust looking place (with the prices of The Ritz.) The Outback has been in the same family for years, first started by an Italian who fell in love with a local girl. It was refurbished after a street train came off the rails and smashed into it in the 1930’s. Great place with cow brands burnt into the walls and lots of photos of roughish looking cowboys.
As we passed the loos we saw some photos of people dressed in the old fashioned American outfits. I think you can probably guess what happened next! As soon as we found out where they had been taken we literally ran down the street to get ours done. The photographer helps you out with your outfit, however Chris knew exactly what he wanted to wear, unbelievable. While i was in the changing room I could hear him enquiring about certain hats,  cowboy boots and insisting on having a gun (shocker). When I came out, he was fully dressed in pretty much everything he could get on him, with of course cowboy boots and the sherrif badge. And I thought I was excited about it! Chris also had decided on the pose we would do and directed me to which facial expressions to use. We had to look sternly, no smiling. I never knew that Chris had such a strong idea of what he wanted from a Cowboy Style photo shoot. I think he may have been wanting to be a cowboy for quite some time!!!
It was late and we were way behind schedule, so back to the car and onwards. We passed beautiful mountains, glowing red in the last vestiges of the day’s sunshine.
Chris had been driving all day and we were glad to see the signs for our motel at Grand Junction. The altitude has been making me a little strange and I am nodding off like an old dear all the time. Thank goodness Chris is ok, as we would never get anywhere. To bed in our great motel, ensuite, breakfast included, clean sheets, soft towels, cable t.v and wireless internet, BLISS!
Up early to head for Aspen, we got briefly side tracked by the swimming pool. The weather is glorious and sometimes we just need to lay down and soak it all up. The swimming pools in the standard US motel is normally right by the road, in the car park effectively and lacking in the palm trees and pretty seating, we don’t care a jot though. We did laugh when we talked about our roof top swimming pool back in Bangkok with Roman Statues, underwater lighting and a view of the city, now that was a hellava place.
Finally a little browner (We will return home brown,we will) we set off to Aspen where only the wealthy ski. Busy old road, all worth it when we arrived though. Aspen has lots of cafes and eating out areas, fountains and wealth is everywhere. There are the women with diamonds as big as your eyeballs and just a hint of botox. The restaurant was full of ladies doing lunch, small dogs being carried (clearly no dogs have legs here) and people generally being seen. Labels were shown on everything, Prada Bags, Chanel sunglasses e.t.c. The food was surprisingly reasonable and we enjoyed people-watching and also tried to listen to people’s conversations, great fun. The shops are mostly galleries,jewellers and even fur shops. Quite a pretty place ,but I think we will leave them to it.
It was interesting to see how close the ski slopes were to the town. There was no snow so you could see paths cut out between the pines and zigzagging across the pendulous mountains.
The next part of the day turned out to be very scenic, beautiful silver trunked Quaking Aspen trees, old gold mines, tree covered mountains and narrow cliff roads. We passed over the stunning Independence Pass resting at a massive 12093 feet, literally taking our breath away. It was all too much for me and I nodded off (again, altitude sickness is weird.)
Just when we thought the day was over we reached The Royal Gorge Bridge. This was just for Richie Ryan, but when we pulled up we knew we were going to have to cross it. It was irresistible. Hanging in the cloud with the slickest curves of wire and the biggest bolts, it was a work of art. This was indeed the biggest suspention bridge……………wait for it…………….wait for it……….
IN THE WORLD!
After seeing so much natural beauty it was fitting to see something beautiful that was man made. We crossed over the swaying wooden slats, looking to the gorge below. The river below was no bigger than a curved silver line running through the rocks, we were hanging a massive 1052 feet above it.
It was 7 in the evening and 33 degrees,most people had been and gone, so we absorbed the peace and enjoyed the rocking of the bridge. This is what travelling is all about! These perfect days just keep rolling along.
We drove North again passing through Denver without stopping and seeing the gold dome of the civic centre to our right and the even more stupendous sight of the Rocky Mountains in the distance on our left. We looked around Cheyenne, where we stayed for the night. We had the pleasure of seeing our first drive through bank, why get out of the car at all? There are also real live cowboys in this here town! The town centre was a little bit lacking with no real character, but worth a stroll. The best thing about Cheyenne was that we accidently stumbled upon a theme Restaurant. Now this is what I am talking about! I have been dying to come into one of these places, it has to be done if you go to America. The menu was massive and everything came with cheese on and 6 different dressings and side orders and coke refills. Very American. All the waitresses had those shirts with name badges embroidered on and the whole restaurant was decorated like a car wash with memorabilia. Good fun, good food, box ticked for American Theme experiences. A final trip to the cinemas to watch Indiana Jones (It was ok ), then back to a different motel for bed.  Today we spent mainly on the road, passing briefly into Nebraska to see long, flat rolling plains and prairies, interspersed with some striking Buttes near Chadron, the nicest Buttes we have seen in the States!
We are now in South Dakota. We have seen the Black Hills in the distance and sung “Take me back to the Black Hills,The Black Hills of Dakota” twice. I told Chris the story of Calamity Jane going to the ball and wearing that beautiful dress under her old coat. It was a while ago, but I didn’t think he would want to hear it again. Anyway we have arrived at a small town called Hot Springs. There is a big Harley Davidson Convention tomorrow just up the road in Sturgis so there are loads of bikers and the throbbing of finely tuned machines knocking about. All the riders are of a certain age it seems, drive very sensibly, are very friendly and wear shades with extremely well tanned arms.  We are off to look at some Mammouth Bones tomorrow (Now there is something you don’t say very often.) Time seems to be slipping away from us and we only have 3 weeks left before we come home. America is a great place to end our trip and every day is a good one, I think my altitude sickness has gone, I have managed to stay awake all day. Chris is watching “Blazing Saddles” while I write this, even the films on T.V. here are about cowboys. Let’s hope we can make it home without buying chaps and a gun or getting into a drunken saloon fight with bottles being smashed on people’s heads and men being slid along the bar (althoough the last bit sounds a bit like a night out in Plymouth)! Keep reading the blogg chaps,three more weeks and our blogg will be finitto!