USA

We were staying at a hostel called Jazz on the Park in New York and when we got there we we delighted as it was right beside central park and very close to the subway station. We had a week to explore New York and it was Ger's first time so got back into the tourist backpacking regime and up early in the mornings to start walking!!

We wanted to see if we could cover most things on foot seeing we could sort of take our time, so one of the first things we did was go walking all around down by ground zero, wall Street and the famous bull and then on round the coast by the ferries.

The World Trade center site was very sad it is just a building site now but you can see the remnants of the building blocks and foundations where they are building a memorial in its place, the weather was fab all day and needed to get out of it for a it so we decided to go to the famous Bodies Exhibition - real bodies that are preserved so well and you can see muscles, veins, everything! i however had to leave it early as one of the parts was showing mums to be that had died and the wee babies still inside them. It was remarkable though for those who like that sort of thing.... To clear our heads we decided to walk across the brooklyn bridge and it was fab the views were amazing although you have to make sure you stay out of the bike lane as those boys are bonkers and arent afraid to verbally assault you!

We got up on the following sunday morning and decided to go to mass at St Patricks cathedral followed by some store browsing for a while and then chill out in central park and read papers for the day, it was brilliant and that wasnt just because we had visited Tiffany´s and i bought a new charm for my bracelet back home and a new pair of shoes! The whole park was full of people and teams playing baseball, the strawberry fields were as relaxing as ever and we just picked a spot and spent a few hours there, seeing how many people we could count reading Harry Potter!!

The following day it was raining so it was a definite museum day and off we went to the Guggenheim, neither of us are terribly arty people but it was cool to go even if we didnt get why 12 flourescent light bulbs tied together was a peice of art!!

That night we meet up with a friend of ours from the hostel Callum from Reading and we headed into greenich village for a few pints! This off course turned into a bit of a pub crawl and a few hours later after having gone to comedy show by a guy called Paulie.. we ended up in the Red Lion pub with a great jazz band and Callum getting the waitresses number!

The following morning as you can guess we didnt do much at all but meet up with Callum and another friend Lynne from Edinburgh and we headed to Madison Square Gardens for the White Stripes concert. This was fab, the place was amazing just to be there and you can drink away bopping about in your seat! It was a great night and off course pints after where a must as well as hot dogs and pizza slices!

Our last full day in New York and we headed out as early as we could.. to get the ferry for Liberty and Ellis island.

It was another fab day and we got some great views and even found some of our ancestors in the lists of immigrants to Ellis island!

We finished off our day up the Empire State building for sunset before heading back to meet the lads for a leaving drink, we were all leaving the next day - thursday but it had been a great week all round and Ger got to have his infamous hot dog in New York and yes everyone leave we left without buying anything in the diamond district!!

We went from one luxury pad to another... it was great! We had left Chicago and gotten cheap internal flights to richmond in Virginia to stay with my relatives - Eimear and Khalil and their 2 wee boys. It was great we were getting used to being spoilt, picked up at the airport was even a big thing!

We arrived late at night as our flight had stopped over at Pittsburgh so when Eimear had picked us up and brought us home the boys were in bed but Khalil had prepared a gorgeous afghan meal and we all sat chatting and drinking wine to the wee small hours. It was great to see Eimear, i felt like i was at home with my own family and again their house was massive so we were enjoying every minute.

The boys were up the next morning and i didnt recognise them as they had gotten so big - Ronan 3 and Lorcan 1 and a half.
Charlottesville were they lived was a quaint university town and the nighbour was so peaceful and quiet we feklt as if we were in the countryside. We went to the pool the first morning and chilled out the kids were a laugh and kept us all going.

Khalil came home exhausted as his hangover was still lingering from the night before but we got our the beers and wine again and sat chatting and catching up. We were staying with the guys for only four days, so teh next day we got a picnic packed and drove up to the Thomas Jefferson house. It was really lovely and totally different to what we expected as it was a massive estate and the gardens and vegetable patches were fab and still going strong.

Ger felt right at home with the gardens and could have stayed there all day!

With the kids exhausted we all headed home but stopped off to do some fruit picking at the local market place, the place really was gorgeous and it felt as if we were in Italy somewhere..

The following day we all headed out to the university Rotunda and the great Lawn to meet Khalil for a picnic lunch with the kids, and they were great even though Ronan the eldest could win hands down in a " how many why questions can you ask in 1 minute!" but he was very helpful with the housework later!

On our last night we all went out for a great Thai meal in their local restaurant.. i had forgotten how much craic it is taking young kids out for dinner and seeing just how much they can get on themsleves and the floor!

One of the gifts we left for the kids was a New Zealand game we picked up called the crazy kiwis, however myself and Ger had spent many a night in the campervan trying to work it out we were eager to see if eimear and the lads could do it... they tried but as yet we still havent managed to crack it!
We left the following day heading for New York for a week - back to hostels, fast food and packing rucksacks! Ger even let me shave his hair before we left .... We had been thoroughly spoiled again and it was sad to say goodbye to everyone.

Before i even start to write the Chicago blog we would like to welcome Helen and family to the site!!!!

Ok so we arrived in Chicago on a wet monday evening thankfully only delayed by 3 hours in Pittsburgh we made it home to Ann's for beers and pizza, and immediately it felt like home, it was great. We planned to stay with Ger's cousins for a week and it was like luxury after backpacking for so long..

Our first morning we got up very relaxed and chilled out for the day and Tom and Mary took us out to Pot Belly's for lunch and then in to see Ann at work - oh and meet all of her colleagues and see the new fish tank!!!
We all headed out for dinner that night then to a place called Flattops - kind of like mongolian bar -b -q where you chose what you want to eat and then they cook it for you and you can return as many times as you like! However myself, Ann, Mary and Helen decided to start our meal with Horny monkey cocktails so we were already set for a good night!

After dinner Mary arranged for us to go to a club with her and her friends called Joes where the Randy
Rodgers Band were playing and who we had seen on tele that morning... the $2 pitchers were another reason but after 3 of these Randy and the boys sounded great!

We managed to get up the next morning with bad hangovers but decided to go into the city to walk it off. The city was fab, and it was all very chilled, and we took our time and Ger got to be my tour guide for the day as he has been here so many times. The city is class not too crowded and everyone is very friendly, especially when we went shopping... the magnigficent mile - avenue for shopping, had to be visited but i did well only getting a chicago cubs hoody whereas Ger left town with a new phone/ internet gadget by Nokia!!

My favourite was the bean which was shaped as such and was like a huge round mirror!

When we got home that night we just chilled out with Ann and the family, her back garden is great just to sit out on the deck and with a couple of beers in hand this is pretty much how we spent most of the week..!

It was great just to be able to chill out in a home from home and Ann and all the family made us feel so welcome, we got tyo catch up with mails and more importantly washing!
The weather was great and bar b q's were a must from Ann back garden to her neighbours everyone was so friendly and we were introduced to everyone including Bob and Tina - bod who works for Charcrust a steak seasoning company was kind enough to give us some samples and some " rub my meat" t-shirts!!..... i even managed to squeeze in a visit to the beauty salon with Ann and Mary to get pedicures! and Ger got to listen to the Dublin match that morning!

One of Ann's neighbours Sue invited us up to her house at Lake Geneva then that weekend so off we went on the sat morning - it was only a 2 hour drive and the weather was great so we all had picnics with sues kids and even managed a dip in the water off the end of the pier into the lake!
The houses up there were gorgeous all with yachts moored outside their private piers and some with slides etc

When we got back from Lake Geneva - you guessed it more bar b q's and beers in Dan's brother Robert's house and we also got introduced to their new arrival Sophie only a few months old!

Sunday morning and our last day in Chicago so Helen and Dan treated us all to a sunday lunch in her back garden..myself and Mary had been lying out on the deck that morning but when a skunk decided to join us under the deck we were ready to go!
It was a great spread and myself and Ger were definitely leaving a little heavier... we spent the whole afternoon drinking cocktails and beers and all staggered home.
For us this had been 5 star and more in our ratings and we didnt want to leave but as we told the folks they will see a lot more of us in future!

We arrived into San Francisco after transferring at Los Angeles late on wednesday the 17th June... it was like ground hog day as we had left Auckland at 6pm on wednesday the 27th and got into San Francisco at 9pm the same day - very weird and it took us a few days to get the body clocks adjusted.

We stayed at the Heritage Marina hotel which is very near the Fishermans Wharf but their record keeping leaves a lot to be desired - we waited for an hour for our room but when we opened the door someone was already in there, but hotel staff ensured us they had checked out so they took all their clothes etc out of the room and in we went... only to get a knock/bang at the door by that resident at 12am that night! She wasnt happy and had to go and get another room... only in America!

San Francisco is really gorgoeous - so chilled out and relaxed we immediately loved it not to mention the warmer weather! It was a 20 minute walk into town and the wharf/pier area. On our first day we just walked about and booked some tours out to Alcatraz and Angel Islands, which was just as well as there was a 2 day wait for tickets! The restaurants and fish especially are gorgeous, their speciality being Dunge crab...

The city is very accessible and we walked all around the trendy north beach, seen the famous sentinel building owned by film maker Francis Ford Coppola and the Vesuvio bar, not to mention the street entertainment!

Our hotel was also minutes from the famous crookedest street - Lombard street, but instead of walking down it we walked up! pretty cool though as you can get great views from the top but its always busy with tourists doing the same as us or traffic jams as others want to experience the novelty of driving down it.. once we got to the top though we got the cable car down again!

On the saturday after chilling out for our first few days we went on the tour for angel island. It was lovely - the whole island is a national park now but was once the immigration centre and then a military base, the views from the island of the golden gate bridge and the san francisco coast line are fab..

After Angel island we decided to hire some bicycles and ride across the golden gate bridge and the surrounding area. Very cheap to do but it was brilliant, the area around the bridge is really scenic, once you got to the bridge the wind picks up and you had to hold on!.. it was great though one of the best things we did..

After congratulating ourselves that night we were up bright and early the following day for our boat trip over to Alcatraz island - Alcatraz spanish for Pelican, which we soon found out as there are birds everywhere...

The tour price includes your boat and fee into the jail and we thought it was brilliant. The audio on it was super and it gave you a great insight into life on Alcatraz and the islands history, not to mention the views from the island and the bird wildlife and gardens surrounding it, or the fact that it was claimed by the indians for 16months after the jail closed..

It was quite eery walking through the history of the place knowing what went on with the noises to let you be part of it and well worth the fee. Ger even got to check out some of the gardens and felt slightly at home but they had the fire engines and escape routes all on show as well..

We left San francisco heading for the rockies then on the 2nd June but of course not before we visited the Ghirardelli chocolate factory!!