Trikilis Travel Trivia

States Visited: 24
California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado
New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire
Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia
Virginia, District of Columbia, Maryland, Utah, Arizona, Nevada

Shortest time spent in a state: West Virginia - about 15mins (including a toilet stop). The highway we were travelling on just happened to cut across the bottom corner of the state!

Longest time spent in a state: California - 12 days (8 days at the beginning, 4 days at the end)

Cost of Fuel
Overall very inexpensive, you can see now why the Americans all drive such huge "gas guzzlers"
Cheapest: $2.64 per gallon (69.5c per litre) in Utah
Most Expensive: $3.28 per gallon (86.3c per litre) in California
Interestingly, the fuel prices are very stable here. They fluctuate from state to state (depending on how each state taxes fuel) but they don't go up and down on a daily basis like in Australia.
Also, even remote places seem to enjoy the same fuel prices as the bigger cities in the same state.

Strange Fashion:
The American's seem to have an unhealthy love of UGG boots! We all love our uggies to keep our feet warm -  AT HOME! but they are all the rage here, especially for girls. They wear them everywhere from the beach to the movies to restaurants. And if you haven't got a pair you're daggy. Go figure.

Favourite Places:
Michael - I find it impossible to select one place that shone above the rest in our trip.  So many places were amazing in different ways.  The population is spread across the country far more evenly than in Australia, and what seems like an abundant supply of water makes this possible.  The west coast of America is going to have serious water problems, however a shift in use/wastage might just help as it did in Australia.  The largest surprises for me were that Vegas was actually better than I expected, and that Yosemmiti was still (almost) as pristine as I imagined it when I was a child.  I will spend the next 10 - 15 years dreaming of doing the RV thing with Leah in our retirement years.


Leah - the whole trip was amazing, but these are the standouts: Yosemite for the sheer spectacular-ness of the place. Seattle - a nice city located on the water, close to the mountains, with great markets, not too busy and a with really nice vibe. Seeing  the fall colours in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.


Natasha - Yosemite because there were lots of squirrels, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountains, (and all the other National parks), Vermont because I got my teddy bear there at the Teddy Bear Factory, Niagara Falls because the Horseshoe Falls was big and it circled all around you and we went to Canada, Washington DC because I liked the White House, Mt Washington (New Hampshire) because we saw snow! Las Vegas because we got to see a circus and the strip was all covered with lights,  the Grand Canyon because we went on a helicopter ride, Monterey because its near the beach and there is a big aquarium.

Abbey - Vermont because there were lots of beautiful things and I got a Teddy Bear at the Teddy Bear Factory, and we went to Ben and Jerry's and a Maple syrup farm and Cabot's cheese factory, Halloween Trick-or-Treating, Yellowstone because there were lots of chatty people, the helicopter ride in the Grand Canyon, Circus Circus in Las Vegas because we won toys and there was a circus, Mt Washington because there was snow, Niagara Falls because we went to Canada and there was a big ferris wheel.

Back to the West Coast

We left Vegas and the desert behind and headed back to the California coast. After an overnight stop in Santa Barbara, a nice little seaside city (and I'm happy to report doesn't look anything like the daytime soapie) we headed up along El Camino Real (the Royal Road) and followed the coast all the way up to Monterey. The road is part of a 600 mile trail that was originally used to connect the missions along the coast. The coastline was spectacular, although mainly rocky with only small beaches.

We came across a colony of Elephant seals that live along one of the beaches and stayed a while to watch them.

The aquarium at Monterey had come highly recommended to us, and we really enjoyed our visit there. As well as the usual aquarium displays we also saw sea otters and pink flamingoes. The girls loved the touch tanks too.

We had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the bay and then spent the afternoon at the beach.

Sadly now, our adventure is coming to an end. Today (Friday here) we are slowly making our way back to San Francisco for the flight home tonight.

We have all had an awesome time and hope everyone at home has enjoyed the taste of what we have been doing. There are many more stories to tell when we get home!

Viva Las Vegas

8th - 9th November, 2010

Leaving the Grand Canyon we travelled through more of Arizona towards Las Vegas. We stopped to see Hoover Dam, which is one of America's largest security risks because it is the main water supply for most of California, Nevada and Utah as well as some of the other states . Cars were stopped by security before entering the area and there were police hovering around everywhere. The dam wall is huge, and although the water levels in the lake were quite low, there was still a lot of water in there.

Hoover Dam

Our trip to Vegas was short, but we had promised the girls that we would go to Circus Circus where they could see the circus and spend some time on the rides in the Adventuredome. We arrived late afternoon and went straight to see the circus acts. The acts only ran for about 10mins each, with shows every 45mins, with different performers each time. Of course to fill in your time in between there was an amusement area, much like sideshow alley at the show. We played a few times and the girls both won some stuffed toys so they were thrilled!

After dinner we drove up and down "The Strip" a couple of times to see the lights, the crowds and all the different casinos. Wow, the casinos certainly are the winners here. Lavish is an understatement for some of these places. Everything from the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triumph at 'Paris' to the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State and Chrysler buildings at 'New York', a massive castle called 'Excalibur' as well as the well known ones like MGM Grand, The Venetian complete with canals and bridges to the very plush Bellagio and the enormous Caesar's Palace, with its own Colosseum of course. There was even a pirate ship at Treasure Island.

The girls were up early ready for the Adventuredome. There was all sorts of rides including a rollercoaster and a 4D Sponge Bob movie that the girls loved. After a couple of hours we eventually dragged them away!

The Grand Canyon

We flew out of DC (actually Baltimore airport in Maryland) back into Denver. The weather was much clearer than last time we were here so we had a beautiful view of the snow-capped Rockies. We were headed for the Grand Canyon and the drive took us through the Colorado snow fields and we passed some well known places such as Aspen and Vail. Ski season had started so we watched some skiers and snowboarders going down the slopes. Next we entered into Utah and headed south towards Monument Valley, at the border of Arizona. Some very interesting landscape formations along the way and we were looking out for Roadrunner and Coyote as we drove.

Heading into Monument Valley

We arrived at the Grand Canyon and our first views didn't disappoint us. The canyon is massive and no photos could possibly capture the size of it. The layers of the canyon walls have many colours and patterns that seem to be ever changing in different light. We took some snacks to the rim and watched the sunset.

The IMAX movie gave us a greater appreciation of the life inside the canyon. From the top it looks rather dead and dry, but down below in the shadows there are little mossy waterfalls and animals that you just wouldn't think would be there.
Next morning was the much awaited helicopter flight over the canyon. Because of the high winds, we had to take a shorter flight, but what we saw was spectacular. We flew from the south rim across to the north rim (about 18miles at the widest part) and got to see the canyon walls close up, as well as getting a birds eye view right down to the bottom where the river wound its way through.

Washington DC

3rd - 5th November, 2010
After arriving at our hotel we took the hire car back to the airport. We caught the metro train back to DuPont Circle, right near our hotel. The train was full of Washinton Capitals (ice hockey) fans. The Americans sure do love their sports.
We only had two days in DC and as the first morning it was pouring rain we decided to go and see some of the Smithsonian Museums. We went to the Air and Space Museum and saw the Wright brothers plane, Amelia Aerhart's flying gear, replicas of the Hubble telescope and moon space landing module as well as loads of aircraft and rockets and memorabilia such as uniforms the airline attendants wore through the ages.

From there we went next door (it was still raining) to the Museum of the American Indian. There were some interesting artefacts and traditional costumes as well as a large display of how Native American culture tries to survive in the modern day.
The next day the weather had improved and we set off  intending to catch one of the hop on - hop off tour buses. We passed by the White House and then while we were waiting at the bus stop a private guide pulled up in his car and although we we a bit sceptical at first, he convinced us to go with him and it turned out to be great.
He took us around all the major sites, including some we weren't planning on seeing. We visited Arlington cemetery, Capitol Hill, the Washington Monument, Lincoln and Roosevelt memorials.

 
We ended the day with a visit to the top of the Old Post Office clock tower for views over the city and then went to the Museum of American History. Here we saw pop-culture things like Dorothy's shoes from the Wizard of Oz, Fonzie's Leather Jacket and Kermit the Frog, as well as the original Stars and Stripes flag, made in 1836, Edison's light bulb and the Model T Ford.

Virginia

1st - 3rd November, 2010

Great views along the Bear Fence trail.

We continued north through Shenandoah National Park along the Skyline Drive, stopping to walk a couple of the trails along the way. They were only short trails, about 3km, but we were surprised that Dizzy Legs never commented about how far it was. We figured it was because there was a bit of climbing up and down rocks that made it fun, but later when asked she said "well my legs were dizzy, but I was just being grown up and only saying it in my head", followed by "it was really fun". Go figure.
After leaving Shenandoah we visited Manassus, really only as an overnight stop, but found out it was the site of one of the battles during the Civil War. Ironic that there are acres and acres of preserved land to commemorate the site of such a bloody battle that is now such a peaceful place in the middle of a city.
We had some time to fill in before we were due to arrive in Washington DC so we also visited  Fredericksburg, the place where George Washington grew up and Great Falls National Park. In summer these falls attract lots of thrill seeking kayakers that hurtle themselves down the rapids.

Great falls, Virginia

Halloween

31st October, 2010
We left Charlottesville and travelled along the very scenic Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park. The trees still had their coloured leaves and the views from the overlooks along the way were spectacular.
We left the national park to stay in Harrisburg, a nearby town so that we could go Trick or Treating. We had costumes and Natasha and Abbey had been looking forward to it for a while. The hotel receptionist gave us directions of a good place to go so off we went.

Halloween is a huge tradition here. Almost every house has some kind of decoration ranging from a pumpkin on the front step to all-out displays complete with inflatable black cats and ghosts on strings, sound effects and of course kids that jump out of behind things to scare you. Its kind of like the displays you see when you go to see the Christmas lights at home. Christmas here must be huge!
The girls had a ball and managed to collect a bucket full of candy. It doesn't get much better than that!!

The Football

25th - 30th October, 2010

We managed to get some tickets to a college football game in Charlottesville, Virginia. So after leaving Niagara Falls we had a bout a week to fill in before the game.

We followed Lake Erie down to the town of Erie in Pennsylvania, a small port town that badly needed a facelift, before heading south to Youngstown, Ohio to visit the Daffin's Chocolate Kingdom. We had seen this on TV and thought it looked really cool. It claimed to have life size solid chocolate animals such as turtles and deer and to be the largest candy store in the world. It wasn't all it claimed with the Chocolate Kingdom fitting into about  the space of most people's bathroom, and the candy store was mainly filled with Hallmark cards and gifts. Free samples of the chocolate distracted us from our disappointment though!

At the Chocolate Kingdom tasting the samples.

We continued on into Columbus, Ohio which is a large university town where we were hoping to see a replica of Christopher Columbus' ship the Santa Maria. Sadly for us, the season had ended as the ship needed to be taken out of the river before it froze, crushing the ship. From there it was off through Kentucky horse country to Charlottesville for a three night break from travelling and the football.

Charlottesville was a very nice place, once again centred around a university, the University of Virginia. We arrived in town to find out that President Obama was due in the next evening for a political rally (mid-term elections were being held on the 2nd Nov). We went into the centre of town to the mall and looked at where the rally was going to be, but decided not to hang around. At 2pm there were already about 500 people queued up at the gates (that were due to open at 5pm) for his 7pm arrival. Because it was such a big deal to have the President in town, the road from the airport into downtown was completely closed from 6-9pm.

30th October, 2010 - The Football.

University of Va Cavaliers vs Miami Hurricanes. Where do we start?? Walking from the carpark to the stadium we saw all the tail gate parties (basically a bit of a picnic and some drinks to get you ready for the game). They were everywhere and they came prepared with tables, chairs, eskies, right down to serviettes and plastic plates in team colours! Of course EVERYONE was wearing team jerseys. We arrived into the stadium about 30 mins before the game was due to start to see a 200 piece marching band (all dressed as Cavaliers, complete with feathered caps) performing. They were fantastic and very well drilled. No one missed a beat or a step the whole time. They continued on with Star Wars music, while marching around, forming themselves into letters spelling out STAR WARS.

The band was followed by the Cheerleaders, who were also awesome. Cheerleaders tend to be either loved or hated (mostly depending on whether you made it onto the squad or not), but you've gotta give them some credit, there is definitely a great amount of acrobatic skill required for the job, not just self importance and good looks!

 Virginia Cavaliers Team

Then it was time for the game. Our jaws dropped as the players ran out onto the field, about 100 players run out for each team!

We didn't know much about the rules of the game, enough though to know what a touch down was. Not sure how but the game that consisted of four 15min quarters managed to take 3 and a half hours to complete. They stop for everything and swap players every few minutes. No excuses for getting tired! Virginia won the game and at the end there was the "run on", where everyone in the crowd runs onto the field and mobs the winning team. All in all an awesome event!

Niagara Falls

24th October, 2010

Driving towards Niagara Falls along the edge of Lake Ontario was amazing. The size of the Great Lakes is hard to appreciate on the map, but from the edge it looks like an ocean. There is no land to be seen on the horizon.
The town of Niagara Falls itself is disappointing. We drove in looking for dinner and wondered if we were somehow missing the main part of town! In the light of day, we realised that we hadn't actually missed the town, that was it. A few large and very tacky souvenir shops, a very large casino, lots of hotels and nothing much else, including restaurants. Amazing really for one of America's biggest tourist destinations.

The Maid of the Mist

The Falls, however, definitely did not disappoint. What an awesome experience. Niagara Falls is made up of three separate falls, the American and Bridal Veil Falls in the USA and Horseshoe Falls in Canada (the border cuts through the middle of them). We did the Maid of the Mist boat ride and got absolutely drenched by the pounding spray, despite wearing the lovely blue ponchos they provide and also the Cave of the Winds (yellow ponchos and plastic sandals this time), where you get to walk along a path at the bottom of the falls. The hurricane deck is where you stand to be completely pounded by the water coming down from 50m above, while almost getting blown away from the force. Great fun and definitely one of the highlights of the trip. We found out that the day we were there (Sunday) was the last day of the season for the Maid and the Cave of the Winds, so very good fortune for us not to have arrived a day or two later and have missed this!

The Cave of the Winds

We crossed the bridge over the river into Canada and the difference was immediately noticeable. So much nicer! Very touristy, but lots of nice restaurants, a skywheel, and observation tower, and a lovely park that stretched for about 2km along the viewing area. They Canadians have definitely done it much better. The view of Horseshoe Falls is also better from this side.

Horseshoe Falls viewed from Canada

We had dinner in Canada before heading back into the USA, with a very smooth border crossing, just all the usual questions.

Lake Placid

We headed off from Vermont, crossing Lake Champlain by ferry into upstate New York. We stayed overnight in Lake Placid in the Adirondack Mountains. It was getting very cold here and overnight it snowed. We even woke the girls up to see it!

It's snowing!!!!

 Lake Placid has hosted the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games, and is still the main training site for the US Olympic teams. There are large skating and ice hockey rinks, bobsled and luge courses and ski jumps that you can visit. The ski jump is 120m high and standing at the top you can certainly appreciate the skill and nerve of the athletes as they launch themselves down the ramp, hoping to fly through the air and land some 70m off the end of the ramp onto a very steep slope. Amazing!

New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont

15th - 23rd October, 2010

We spent just over a week exploring the beautiful New England area. Up until now, we had been noticing the colours of the leaves starting to slowly change, but it seemed that as soon as we headed north out of Boston the trees really started putting on the main show. The colours are just amazing ranging from green and yellow right through to orange, red and deep rusty brown. Very hard to capture in photos, but just spectacular to actually see.                                                                                                                                                              

We visited Acadia National Park, near Bar Harbor in Maine. The weather was great and the scenery lovely, although we only had a very short time there. We stayed nearby in a little cottage by the seaside. There we met a few really nice families that come the the cabins every year, so we enjoyed our stay there greatly! One of the families offered to let us stay in their log cabin in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. What a stroke of luck for us, the cabin was fantastic.

We had planned lots of exciting things to do while we we in the area, including gondola rides up mountains and then flying down again on the zipline. Unfortunately for us most things were now "closed for the season". This basically meant that the summer season was over and they were now getting prepared for ski season. We drove about halfway up Mt Washington (the road was closed to the top because of snow). So Natasha and Abbey got to see their first snow, although it was a very thin smattering and bit icy as far as we were allowed to go. They both commented how they thought it would be soft! Anyway, we had a great snowball fight before heading back down.

We also tried the cog railway to get to the top of Mt Washington. It was only going up about two thirds of the way to the top, so we saw a lot more snow, but were unable to get off the train to enjoy it!

We popped into the Mt Washington Hotel afterwards, just for a look at this amazing old place. It was built in 1903, has had past Presidents stay there and is the epitomy of old New Hampshire luxury. Amazing to walk through and imagine yourself there 100 years ago (fabulously rich of course!)

The Mount Washington Hotel, New Hampshire

Earlier as we passed through the coastal part of New Hampshire, Michael bought some fireworks (its legal in NH) so much to everyone's excitement we had our own private (and very short) fireworks show!

Next we headed towards Vermont where many things awaited. First we visited the Cabot Cheese Factory and did a tour to learn how cheese is made, and then of course got to taste some. They also make butter and yoghurt. The company is a Co-op, started in 1919 by 94 dairy farmers who paid $5 each to create what is now a huge company, still owned by farmers.
Next stop was a maple syrup farm, but as the syrup is harvested in spring when the sap begins to flow there wasn't much action going on. We also visited Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory (also including taste testing), before the much awaited Vermont Teddy Bear Factory where we got to see how the Bears are made. We now have two new additions to the family.

Boston

12th - 15th October, 2010

We took the Amtrak train from New York to Boston. It was a relaxing ride along the coastlines of Connecticut and Rhode Island before entering into Massachusetts. We stayed in a hotel that was literally right next door to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Redsox baseball team.

Fenway Park

We decided to do another Duck tour, since the one in Seattle was so much fun, and Boston didn't disappoint either. The tour took us past sights such as Paul Revere's house and the site of the Boston Tea Party, MIT and also other local icons such as the State House with its gold-leaf dome and nearly all of the 115 Dunkin' Donut stores in the city!

Harvard University

We visited Harvard Univeristy, the oldest and probably most famous of all the American universities (across the river and technically in Cambridge). What an huge campus and we didn't envy the new students arriving for their first day and trying to find their way around. Saw some of the original old buildings as well as some amusing sights, including at least two Professors wearing bowties riding along through campus on their bicycles, coat-tails flying.

Here we said goodbye to Jo and Mike as they headed back to Kansas and their RV after an enjoyable time with them. We picked up our car (a Jeep this time and nowhere near as big as our previous Chevy) and headed north looking for those famed fall colours.

New York, New York

7th -12th October, 2010

From the minute we got into the cab at La Guardia airport, we knew New York was going to be an adventure! The cab driver drove like a maniac, narrowly missing a number of cars on the 30 min drive to our hotel in Times Square. We soon realised that he was just driving like everyone else in this city!
Leah's sister Jo and her partner Mike, who have been travelling in the USA since March met us in New York and together we explored the city.
Our hotel was great, with a view of Times Square from the window. Times Square is an amazing place, so many people crammed into a few blocks (mostly tourists), so many lights and full of action day or night. Quite overwhelming to be in the middle of such a huge city. There were long queues for everything from restaurants to buying something in the stores.

We toured the city on the hop on - hop off buses that stopped at all the major sights and then some! We saw all the places you think of when you think of New York - the Statue of Liberty, went to the top of the Empire State Building and visited Central Park, which was a nice escape from the crowds, saw a show on Broadway, saw Carnegie Hall and Wall Street, and of course went into Tiffany's...just for a look. We did a night lights tour also, which was quite spectacular from Brooklyn looking back to Manhattan.

South to Denver

5th - 6th October, 2010

After leaving Yellowstone we headed through Buffalo Bill country in the Wild West of Wyoming. Some spectacular volcanic rock formations (from the Yellowstone volcano) and an amazing gorge that followed the river. As we headed further south, the land flattened out into the open grassy plains of Wyoming and the roads were much quieter.
Leaving Wyoming, we stopped in for a very short visit to the Rocky Mountains National Park in Colorado before making our way into Denver for our flight the next morning to New York. Even under cloud, we could appreciate the size of the mountains here. We visited Bear Lake, which was awesome. A beautiful still day and the reflections were lovely as we walked the short trail around the lake.

Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain NP

Yellowstone National Park

2nd - 5th October, 2010                                                                                                                              


We spent two days driving around the "Grand Loop" road through Yellowstone NP. As soon as we entered the park we started to see elk and bison. It wasn't hard, you just had to stop where all the other cars had pulled over to take a look! Lots of steaming hot springs and geyser basins that you could drive right up to and then get out and walk around the boardwalks.

The Grand Prismatic Spring

Despite our best efforts, the only bears we saw were in the Bear and Wolf Discovery centre in West Yellowstone. Natasha and Abbey became honorary bear keepers and got to go into the enclosure and hide the food for the two very large Grizzlies, then got to watch the bears find the food.

Old Faithful

We also saw "Old Faithful" go off, a must see in Yellowstone. The geyser goes 21 times every day, on average about 75 minutes apart. It shoots hot water nearly 20m  into the air and the average eruption time lasts for between 2 -5 minutes.
 The Old Faithful Lodge is amazing to see! It is the largest log cabin in America and possibly the world. Inside there are at least three levels in the main building that then lead off into the accommodation areas.

Old Faithful Lodge

While on our way driving to a really nice dinner in the lodge, we were held up for quite a few minutes by a bison that insisted on walking straight in front of us on the road. The bison happen to be VERY BIG and we didn't want to take it on head to head so we had to wait it out.

Heading East

30th September - 1st October

From Seattle we drove via the town of Snohomish (Michael was in heaven there, the entire town consisted of antique stores) to Spokane (Washington). Dinner was at a local Diner, with the guarantee on the menu that, you guessed it, no one ever leaves hungry.  They were right.   The waitress was very friendly, as was the Texan across in the next booth.  He had just flown in to visit his son at Uni and, spur of the moment, had bought a Red Corvette from a nice little old couple (75 years old) for $10,000.. He seemed quite moved when he was chatting to us, and explained that watching us muck around in the dinner reminded him of his family when the kids were much younger...  I suspect he was also a bit teary knowing that he would have to explain his recent purchase to his wife when he got back, as well as the cancelled return plane ticket...

This morning we had breakfast at a classic "Train Diner" which consists of a very old Train carriage that has been modified.  I've heard of these things and it was a really great meal.  We stuffed ourselves and headed off.

Today we went through three states, Washington, Idaho and Montana. We drove along through some beautiful pine forests and the "fall colours" are certainly beginning to show. Lots of yellow leaves starting to happen.

We stayed at Butte (pronounced Beaut, and not Butt) Montana, at Copper King Casino and Convention Centre which can lay claim to having not only an indoor pool, but also an indoor water slide to heighten that winter experience.  I knew it was a cold place when I noticed  the snow shovel next to the door of  the Safeway store.  Currently it's a pleasant 6 degrees C in the evening... so I'm still wearing shorts and T-Shirt.  My Yeti-style-hairy-legs are working well to ward off the cold.  The 'frailer ladies of the trip' are wearing more conventional gear and look a lot less out of place to the locals.

While we have noticed a number of casino's over the last two weeks, it's only here that there has been a larger number of the gaudy signs ...  our dinner tonight consisted of Two "Family" sized pizzas...  each of which was larger than the combined circumference of both Natasha and Abbey's heads.  This particular meal was available from the Pizza/Casino restaurant at a cost of just over $18, which, naturally, included an indoor games area for the kids... the usual stuff really.. oh, and a circus Merry-Go-Round..  Lunch will consist of the remainder of the pizza.

Supersize  Pizzas

Tomorrow our journey continues, and we hit Yellowstone National Park.  My bet with Natasha and Abbey that we will be greeted by Yogi Bear and Boo Boo is looking shaky...

Comments on the trip so far...:

MT:  The American people are really quite nice here at home...    not that I didn't expect that, but I didn't expect them to be that nice.   The tourist/hospitality trade really survives on tips, and perhaps that helps explain why that group is so over the top with being nice to you (and the other locals), however people in the street are equally nice. While we are not silly enough to assume all Americans are as nice as the folk we have met to date, there is no denying that they are a very hospitable people.  We've been offered a free place to stay in Seattle, met random folk who were more than happy to help us out, and even been waved to by some nice folk when driving on the wrong side of the road (well I think they were waving). Last night, at Spokane (Washington) we met a Texan who had just flown in.  He was almost tearful as he watched our family muck around in the diner as it reminded him of his own family.  You could not meet a more gentile and pleasant man... although he did hesitate at swapping his Red Corvette that he had just spontaneously purchased that day for our Sherman tank of a rental...  oh well...    did you know that $10,000 buys you a nice 1988 Red Corvette here ?  amazing...

Food is cheap, I mean real cheap...   and it's not only "Home Brand" that is cheap.  The $1 shop, where $1 buys you anything in the shop was an eye opener.  A wide variety and range of brands were available.  We are not really 5 Star lifestyle people, but we are amazed at how well you can live here on what seems to be a lower income.  Housing, food, petrol, electricity... all much cheaper than Australia.

Internet hot spots here are everywhere.  I bought a SIM card for my Ipad, and it has worked for 95% of our trip...  Yosemite even had patches where the Ipad could find signal...   Every motel we stay at has free WiFi...  it's a place saturated with connectivity.

The little townships have so much character, the locals are very chatty, and the history is well celebrated, including the truths of how the original Indian peoples were treated...

The roads are pretty good.. we would love to avoid the major Interstate highways as much as time allows, but  there is a limit to how far you can travel in a day off them.

The recession here is hurting business.  The retail shops are hardly empty, but, with the exception of Walmart, $1 Stores, and Factory Outlets, the number of customers does not seem very high.  The number of sales assistants seems very high, but that could revolve around low minimum pay levels and a higher level of staffing here regardless... it's hard to know.   Talk on NPR (National Public Radio) is all about the recession, and how many home owners are under water with their home loans.  While the stock market seems to keep rising, the economy is barely floating...   The flip side of how weak the US dollar sits, however, is that many Americans are travelling in their own country rather than O/S.   Accommodation places have done really well this year, and Yellowstone has had it's largest number of visitors ever on record. There are RV's everywhere here...

Seattle

27th-30th September

Visited the Pike Place Market - wow! The place is amazing, fish, meat, fruit, flowers, souvenirs and much more. The market started 103 years ago because the locals were fed up with the huge profits the middle men were making, so the farmers started selling their produce direct to the people and it continues on today as the oldest public market in America.

The Seattlites must always have fresh flowers at home - $5 for a small bouquet,
$10 for a large one.

1% of any new construction in Seattle CBD must be also spent on Art..  as a result there is some funky art all around the city...  being the home of many famous bands, it also lays claim to the Rock and Sci-Fi museum, otherwise known as experience music and science fiction museum http://www.empsfm.org/ ("where Rock meets Spock")

Despite our vowing to never take one of those silly Duck tour rides... on day two that's exactly what we did..  and it was fantastic...  the entire duck was ours, and all proceeds on that particular day went to Starlight Foundation for kids, so it was all good Karma.  "Chuck Wagon" our guide was full of knowledge, and despite the fact that our duck could have carried another 40 people, he still put on an amazing show as we drove, around and floated past the sights of Seattle... including all of the "Sleepless in Seattle" movie hotspots.

Naturally, we 'did' the Seattle Needle, and it was far bigger than I had expected...  the thing was built in the 1960's for a world science fair, and has been updated to include some really cool additions... including multiple video cameras that you can control from multiple screen in the viewing level, and a revolving restaurant that allowed you to appreciate the full vista.

Our visit to the Boeing Factory was interesting for Leah and Myself, although the girls were not that excited by the enormity of it all.  The Factory itself is the largest building (by volume) in the world. It is 500m wide, 1000m long and 11 stories high. It is full of planes under construction, including the massive 747's and the newest in the fleet, the 787's. At one stage, Boeing employed one in every 5 people that lived in Seattle. There is currently something like 70,000 staff at the Everett plant that we visited, working a 24hr shift, 365 days per year.

We stayed at a more upmarket motel in Seattle, Ramada, which taught us a valuable lesson...  the previous places might have lacked the lobby, but they made up for it in honest keenness to please.  There was a real heart warm honesty that showed us these owner operators were genuinely keen to ensure our stay was the very best their humble abode could provide.  That was sadly lacking at Ramada, where the automatic response to anything being broken was 'sorry, that's broken, have a nice day'...  Abbey, naturally, latched onto that saying, and along with the USA twang, it rang out for a number of hours all the way East as we left Seattle.