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USA Becs 21st 2015
  • Walkabout AUS
  • Walkabout AUS

USA Becs 21st 2015

This time there will be no itinerary, nothing planned as such, but we'll spend a few weeks with Bec before she goes back on campus, then Sue and I will continue through the American Civil War areas. Then back for Bec's 21st in early September. Read more
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  • Trip start
    August 1, 2015
  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Brisbane International Airport

    August 2, 2015 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    Well after a bit of a scare about the border control people going on strike we got through customs, albeit rather slowly, and into the main departure area.
    A breakfast to do a top up was a little disappointing but filled the vacant space in our tummies.
    All boarded now and waiting for departure. USA here we come.    Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    LA Airport

    August 2, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    So after a slightly late departure we made it to LA only 10 mins late. Flight was pretty good and food not too bad.
    Unfortunately I think we were accommodated in the baby crèche area of the aircraft, surrounded by screaming babies. Thank goodness for noise cancelling headphones.
    Customs and border control was pretty much a breeze as previous visitors and nothing to declare so all good. So now we have 3 hours till the next flight leaving LA for New York at 11:25am.    Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    New York at Last

    August 3, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Finally arrived in New York 45 mins early but 20 mins late at the gate, Bummer. Sat on the Tarmac for nearly an hour waiting for our gate to be ready to receive us.

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Pittsburgh Greyhound Terminal

    August 4, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Finally arrived in Pittsburgh after our 8 hour coach trip with Greyhound. Now waiting for Bec to arrive from Youngstown to collect us and get us back to our home away from home in New Waterford, about 15 miles south of Youngstown. Ae will be staying with The Oliver's on their property. They are the parents of Bec's boyfriend Tom.Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Canfield, Ohio

    August 5, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    The first decent coffee in the U.S. Peaberry's Cafe in Canfield. Unfortunately most coffees in the U.S. Are quite anaemic and lacking in umph.
    Peaberry's is very much like the espressos style coffees in Australia.
    Don't do a bad breakfast either.    Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Niagara Falls

    August 6, 2015 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Well this place is always amazing, been here a couple of times now. First hitch of our wing it holiday was the hotel booking that didn't exist. Got there and oops, no booking existed. Oh well found another one and got settled.

    Out to dinner at a fantastic restaurant called Kelsey's and what a great feed and tremendous service, highly recommend it.
    After dinner we strolled around Niagara amongst all the night life and neon lights. Definitely the Vegas of the north.

    Ok big day tomorrow and head off to Montreal    Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Kingston, Ontario

    August 7, 2015 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Leaving Niagara Falls today and our destination is Montreal. This is the longest driving stint but we took it easy and made a few touristy stops along the way to break the journey.
    I must say the Canadian roads leave a lot to be desired about. Pretty rough and in need of serious repair, even the motorways. Once you get off the main roads into the towns the roads are absolutely atrocious.
    Ignoring the crashing and banging of the suspension the sights wee amazing. The beautiful little river coastal townships with a lot of history.    Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Montreal, Quebec

    August 8, 2015 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Arrived in Montreal around 9:30pm to a nice reception from our hotel and the room fully ready to go. We then ducked out for a quick feed before heading off to bed. Tomorrow will be seeing the highlights of the city of Montreal.

    Wandering around the centre of the Old Montreal is almost like being in Paris, France.

    The architecture and streetscapes are much the same and being around 300 year old architecture is just amazing. The cobbled streets are amazing and they still have horse and cart trips around the city.    Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Quebec City Quebec

    August 10, 2015 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    This has to be one of the most amazing cities in the world, the history here and the architecture is like taking a piece of Europe in the 18th century and plonking it into North American continent.

    Has to be seen to be believed, will definitely return here to spend much more time.    Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Contoocook, New Hampshire

    August 10, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Today was mostly a travel day and we were looking forward to seeing the beautiful scenery and quaint townships of Vermont and New Hampshire.

    Unfortunately the weather was so bad we chose to just stay on the motorways and just get to Providence for our next 3 night stay.Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Boston, Massachusetts

    August 12, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Now this was a very interesting day in Boston. Checking this out to see and experience the birth of a nation is well worth the traffic jams. Such a beautiful city, and we took advantage of glorious weather and did the Boston Heritage Trail.

    This walk takes most of the day and takes you from the centre of Boston through all the historic landmarks, burial sites, 500 year old buildings and new adaptions of areas redesigned for the modern millennia.

    I have always had an interest in the revolutionary war and civil wars in the US and for me this was a fantastic moment to put real places into perspective with the stuff I had learned over the years.

    For Sue, Bec and Tom I think it represented different meanings but to all of us it was a tremendous experience.

    We closed out our day with a visit to the famous "Cheers" bar as seen in the Ted Dansen TV comedies of the 80's and 90's. This turned out to be a great time for all, especially mwah, as I even got to have a spell behind the bar with our great barman host Jake. Check out the photos in the Boston album and you'll see it all for real.    Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    to the Bar at "Cheers", Boston

    August 12, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Now we most probably all remember the great TV sitcom "Cheers".

    Well after a hard day walking around Boston doing the tourist thing, where better to hang your hat for a couple of beers and cheers. If you take a close look at the photos you might see someone you know working behind the bar.Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Providence Rhode Island

    August 12, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Finally updating our blog as we have been taking it easy. Today we travelled around the Providence area and saw some amazing sights. Visited the Rhode Island Country Club, Battleship Cove, a memorial to the US navy, and took in the sights of Newport Rhode Island which has to be seen to be believed.

    The properties around here are a symbol of the incredible decadence of the wealthy around the turn of the twentieth century. The wealth that was created in the US from the mid 1800's through to World War I was absolutely obscene.

    I don't think wealth of this nature will ever be created again by single individual families. Imagine a Billionaire in 1900 if that was to be converted into equivalent dollar value today.

    They build homes of massive size as a testament to their incredible wealth. Some of the photos in the Providence album show the summer house, YES, the summer house of the Vanderbilt's at Newport Rhode Island.

    It was just amazing to see such homes that to them were just their summer vacation homes, incredible.    Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Youngstown, Ohio

    August 14, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    After all our days in the car and travelling we all decided that rather than take another stop along the route to Youngstown, we would just make it a straight through run and get back late evening.

    Well our 9 1/2 drive turned into 14 hours with a couple of stops and some considerable traffic roadworks along the way, but we finally made it back into Youngstown around midnight and straight off to some well earned rest.

    A little note that you might find interesting. In the above photo you will notice a boring version of a snap showing a woman in the car along side us. You probably can't see it but what makes this snap more interesting is that she is smoking a Turkish Hookah pipe whilst driving along. It was hilarious when we first saw massive amount of smoke pouring out of her windows we thought the car was on fire. Not until we slid alongside did we notice the long pipe and hose that she was playfully consuming. Hopefully it was just some essence she was smoking and nothing else but it did make the highlight of our day, we all laughed our heads off.    Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Just Taking it Easy

    August 23, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Sorry for the delay in blogging but we decided this week was gonna be an easy relaxing one and we hung around the Youngstown area checking out all the local sites, Look into the Youngstown and Mobile uploads albums to see some of the sites we saw.

    Tomorrow we head off on our civil war journey and make our way to Gettysburg for the start of the trail, follow us and see how we tackle this most tumultuous period in US history.    Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Bedford, Pennsylvania

    August 24, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    On our journey to the civil war region we were fortunate to stop off at the Flight 93 Memorial from 9/11. A very solemn place and the courage shown by this dozen or so people may have saved literally hundreds of other lives.
    From documents discovered at the site and recordings from the black box it was pretty apparent that this planes target was the Capitol building where congress was in session.
    Had this plane not been stopped and had not been delayed on take-off for 35 minutes the outcome of 9/11 could have been very different.
    So lunch seemed like a good idea at this historic hotel in Bedford. Read all about it in the image attached.
    Sitting here all the way from Australia in the little crossroads of Bedford watching little league baseball with Australia v Mexico. Unfortunately as can be seen from the score in the pic, the Aussies aren't doing too good.
    Had a Bison burger and it was gorgeous, not as gamey as I expected, really nice, check out the Bedford Album    Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

    August 24, 2015 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 20 °C

    Today was an eye opener, I never realized just how massive and important the Battle of Gettysburg was.
    We planned for a one night stop here but that HAS TO change as there is just so much to see and do. The memorials and preservation of this entire area is astounding, it's like stepping back in time.
    Absolutely loving the intense history here, had a big day so now enjoying a gorgeous pizza at Tommys Pizza and then off to bed for a well earned sleep    Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Gettysburg, Day 2

    August 25, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We started out at the battle museum and picked up a fantastic guide with cd's audio guide that you play as you do an auto tour around the battlefields.
    What an amazing memorial this place is. The entire Gettysburg and surrounding battlefield area is a designated national park and memorial.
    Covered over the entire battlefield area are memorials to every regiment from both sides that participated in the battle.
    We will create a album for the battlefield and add the images later in the day.    Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Arlington, Washington DC

    August 26, 2015 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    The trip was really good from Gettysburg and we arrived in Washington around 10:30 or so. However we did waste a bit of time trying to make this ridiculous iPhone app that supposedly gives an audio driving tour of Washington DC, der, wrong. Didn't work at all, can't really drive at the same time as reading an iPhone screen.

    Oh well, we moved on back to the good old trial and error methods and got to see a couple of places we missed out on last time we were here, the Congressional Library, and Arlington National Cemetery.

    What a great day, the buildings were just amazing and out time at Arlington was quite moving, especially the eternal flame at JFK's burial site. buried with him id his wife Jaquie, their first child that only lived 2 days, and his Older brother Joseph.

    His brothers were buried a little further along with plain white crosses.    Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Chesapeake Bay Islands

    August 26, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    After leaving Washington we decide rather than staying the night and heading off in the morning, we'd rather head off now and get ourselves a few hours further south and get a better start in the morning.

    Well when we researched and realised we weren't that far away from the Bay Islands we decided it was an opportunity too good to miss, so we headed out East from Washington, across the famous Bay Bridge to the Chesapeake Bay Islands.

    Such a beautiful part of the countryside with massive amounts of coastal townships and glorious harbours. Crossing the Bay Bridge was awesome, such a huge multiple bridge over many miles was a great experience.

    Our journey ended for the day in a lovely motel at Pocomoke City, south of Salisbury and Ocean City. Looking forward to doing the infamous Chesapeake Bay Bridge tomorrow across to Norfolk and the Richmond Virginia.    Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Aerial Alarm Clock

    August 27, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Well we did have an alarm set to get an early start this morning but apparently didn't need it. We were quite suddenly woken by this biplane crop duster buzzing over us at about 6:30 in the morning.

    After a few buzzes I had to get out and take a look and grabbed this picture. Turned out to be ok as it got us away earlier than we probably would have done if we'd waited on the alarm we'd set.    Read more

  • Walkabout AUSUSA Becs 21st 2015Walkabout AUS

    Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel

    August 27, 2015, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    I was so looking forward to getting to this bridge, but I must admit it was so massively bigger than I could have imagined. How on earth someone even comes up with the idea of building a 17 mile bridge and tunnel combination across a complete bay, dumfounds me.

    This project was completed in 1964 and encompasses 5 bridges and 2 tunnels. The tunnels were placed in the main shipping channels, not for ease of construction but for the protection of the nation.

    Originally it was planned to have high bridges over the shipping lanes to allow shipping to get through, but, when the Navy got involved it was decided that for the protection of the whole Atlantic Fleet bridges could be blown up and block the channels, thus imprisoning the entire Atlantic Fleet within Chesapeake Bay.

    Norfolk Naval Base sits to the north of the Chesapeake bay Bridge and therefore it was decided to put the tunnels underneath the shipping channels so as not to have a blocking situation.

    When the largest warships or carriers leave or enter port the tunnels are closed for up to an hour whilst the warships pass over the tunnels due to clearance under the vessels. Under an aircraft carrier is just 14ft at high tide and 4ft at low tide.

    The tunnels are closed and then after the carrier has passed over, the naval divers go down to check the tunnels have no damage and then they are cleared for re-opening. Just incredible.    Read more

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