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jason here this time, sorry for the delay in writing the next stage of our american trip, but here goes, and dont laugh at my typing or bad spelling!!
At denver we pick up hire car No.4, a Dodge Stratus, automatic, blue in colour! This time the driver/ navigator positions shall remain a secret....to protect myself mainly.
So its north up through Colorado towards Wyoming. Our plan is to drive to Yellowstone national park. A long drive which will require finding a motel for the night. Next morning at breakfast whilst reading tourist leaflets we find that only a days drive away is Mount Rushmore, which is where the presidents heads are carved in the mountain side. So we deside to take a visit, change direction and head towards South Dakota.
some fantastic scenary along the way, ranging from very flat plains to beautiful mountains. Not the busiest of routes to take, only passing through a few small towns along the way. Some towns out here have signs on the approach telling you, the place name...elevation above sea level...the nearest ID checking point!!...and the population of the town. The best one we passed that day was, population 1!!! ..........was it a man?..... a woman?? ....a lady boy???.....was it the only gay in the village???? the speculation is endless!!
Anyway, after a good days driving, we´re nearing Mount Rushmore, but find its not the only mountain carving in the area. The other one is Crazy horse (this is where i now remember looking at my parents holiday photos before leaving England and them telling me not to miss out on visiting Crazy horse, as its pretty spectacular) It was started in 1948. Some big Indian chief back then asked this polish/american sculpture if he´d carve into the mountain a tribute to Crazy horse, who was a young indian warrior that took on the americans as they went about claiming the native land. He did ok at that, but got killed at the signing of a treaty, when this chap stabbed him in the back!!! So this sculpture made a design of crazy horse going into battle on his horse, and began to make it his lifes work carving it into the mountain. Work began in 1948, and its almost a third done.But this sculpture is massive!! seeing is definitely believing. In comparison to the presidents heads at mt Rushmore, theyd fit just behind the ear of crazy horse.
After Crazy horse and just 20 minutes down the road, we arrived at Mt Rushmore, and after what we´d just visited, both said ´´is that it´´!!! ....a bit harsh really as it is another great work of art. we arrived with an hour till sunset and find out its lit up in the evening (how nice), so deside to go for a bite to eat and kill a bit of time. but not before the now compulsary Uttoxeter world tour tea towel photo!! And get this..... as we´d asked an American couple to take the photo of us both with the tea towel, they then wanted a photo of me and jules together from their camara!!!! how mental is that??.....would they say to people we were their children?? we´ve now got visions of us both in a picture frame on their mantlepiece or by the bedside!!! ....to be totally honest, i wouldnt normally be worried by people taking my photo, but that day i´d gone dressed for the occasion and was kitted out in my brand new star spangled banner hot pants, statue of liberty sun visor and immitation bear skin moon boots!!!
Because of our divertion to Mt Rushmorewe arrive at Yellowstone ...2 days...800 miles...several photos and one bad haircut later!! Its going to be two days of driving through amazing scenary. the altitude ranges from 6500 to 8000mtrs. The first day is clear and sunny, so the views are awesome. We get to see plenty of roaming buffalo amd elk at the road side, even deer.......but where are the bears??? no bears in sight!! Theres signs everywhere warning you of bears, and not to feed or approach them, but not one to be seen anywhere!!...we think its the Americans getting revenge for us wasting their time at lockness!!
After lunch we deside to not let the missing bears get us down too much and take a drive to Mammoth Hot Springs. No, not the sort of hot springs you relax in to take away the aches and pains, these are sulphuric boiling hot things thatd rip the skin off your arse the minute you tried to dip it in!!! These springs are dotted all over the park, and range from tiny ones to mammoth ones...hence the name!! ...and for the preservation and conservation of these natural beauties, the american one cent piece, and small rocks arent meant to be tossed inside them.....julie!!!!
Day two at Yellowstone was totally different, itd snowed over night and it was raining. so with what warm clothes we hadnt sent home, we wrapped up and set off. The main attraction today will be going to see ´Old Faithful´, the daddy of all hot springs in the park. It blows steaming hot water 10s of feet into the air every 20 minutes in spectacular fashion. And as youd expect the place is crawling with tourists waiting for the perfect shot, at the moment it explodes. we´re no different and do the same, then leg it before it rains again.
A few days south of Yellowstone were now in Salt Lake City, Utah. This place is so spread out and vast, its suburbs are like small cities on there own. I suppose the touristy thing to do when in salt lake would be to go and visit the lake. And why not, its not every day you drive into a city with a salt lake in it, is it?.....unless your us that is.....no lake visit for us, we´re off to Kennecott Open Cast Mine!! the biggest open cast mine in the world. I said Crazy horse was massive and mammoth hot springs mammoth...but this was just massiverer than anything!! The empire state building would only reach half way up from the centre of the base, and it was something like 2 miles across. The biggest of the biggest earth moving trucks were just tiny little dots in the distance as we viewed them from the visitors gallery. We were even treated to an open cast blast!!!! .....something julie is now quite use to after travelling with me for two months!!
Leaving salt lake city, we head south through Utah towards more national parks by the Arizona border. The further south we go the hotter its getting, and Moab is where Arches national park is situated. Its all in a desert landscape and its boiling hot. As soon as you drive into the park the rock formations and the mountains are just unbelievable. The erosion of the sandstone has left the rock in some amazing positions.Lots of arches being formed ( hence the name of the park) and in other areas, large rocks balancing on smaller ones some hundred feet high, as if theyd been placed by giants!!!! With all this around us, on such a beautifuly hot day, its a shame julie forgot to charge her digital camara up that night, as she soon relised it was flat as! .....good job my 16 year old, 24 exposure, wind on, no frills camera was at hand to capture it all!
From here we continue south to a place called Mexican Hat, which gets its name from simular rock formation as Arches, this one being a massive flat shaped rock balanced on the point of a hill, and looks like....... a mexican hat!!! We deside to stay here the night so get ourselves a self contained log cabin. But turns out to be not that self contained at all really, as it doesnt have, utensils,plates,saucepans or any kind of tupperware, so we settle for take away pizza and a few beers. From mexican hat we can go and visit Monument Valley. This is probably more famous for the road leading to it. ....the very straight road going through the desert, with the mountains in the background. Its been in plenty of films, espesially Forrest Gump, when he kept running from coast yo coast.( trust me to remember that one) And yet again, another Uttoxeter tea towel photo moment!
Flagstaff, Arizona was our next destination, and its here we get our first taste of Route 66, which goes through the town. Alot of Route 66 has now gone and a newish highway takes you across the country bypassing major places. But now and again you keep coming across it in very old towns, that used to florish from the passing trade and tourism. We get checked into a Flagstaff hostel and plan to stay for a couple of nights and use it as a base so we can go and visit the grand canyon. As we check in, the hostel owner asks us if we want earplugs for the night? .....´´no mate, i sleep pretty well thanks´´ came my reply, and no more was said. But by the time we´d unpacked the car, showered and changed, we could see why the earplugs we needed. Straight through the centre of Flagstaff runs the main rail line, and whistling trains come through every half hour and all night long, and the hostel backed onto the line!!!!!!......this is when we desided to invest in earplugs!! Now i know jules covered the ID thing in her addition, but on our first night in Flagstaff we go for a drink. This is where we´re asked by a 22 year old blonde looking tart for our ID!! i´m not going to rant too much but... do we really look like we´re not old enough to have a drink? do these people not have any common sense in their tiny brains to help them work out if somebody is 36 or 20??? .....to make it worse, this tart couldnt even pour a pint of guinness!!! Next day its up and out and on the road to the grand canyon south rim.... south rim, suits you sir!! so we get to the canyon and its just what youd expect and more. im going to say amazing again, and it was.
After south rimming, we head for the west canyon. This is my birthday present off jules from way back in June.We´re going to be staying at a ranch not far from the canyon, and sleeping in a Tipi for two nights!! Its a good drive from Flafstaff which see´s us driving on route66 for about 80 miles. We stop off at this 60s throw back town....old american cars...even older hotels, the place hadnt changed in the last 40 odd years when it used to be a busy tourist stopoff. Here we re-fuel the car...unfortunatly not at 60s prices, and also got thirty cans of Ace lager for $8.99 to take to the ranch. its going to be hot, so a bloke needs his beer. oh, i got jules a couple of mixer drinks to take aswell!! Eventually we arrive at the ranch after driving the last 7 miles down a bumpy dust road, and are shown to our Tipi. Its furnished with a double bed, trunk to store your gear, and anight lamp, for when you need to go inthe middle of the night!! .....which was in a wooden shed about two Tipis down on our side! pretty basic, with it being a wooden seat with a hole cut out of it!! And the wash basin was attached to the outside of the shed, so all the day visitors could see you washing in the morning! But thanks to Nicola and olly, who were there with us, we didnt have to wash out side, they let us use their bathroom....BIG thanks for that guys. The first evening at the ranch me and jules were supposed to go horse riding ( or as they say in america, horse back riding), but having double booked,we were now going tomorrow. This gave us time to chill out and sink a few of the Ace lagers before dinner. With it being my birthday present and therefore my birthday all over again!! jules orders us a bottle of champagne to go with our evening dinner. (thanks jules) and we have a nice meal. The restaurant is full of jolly ranchers, and after dinner we all go outside to sit around the camp fire, to be entertained by a singing cowboy and his guitar. The next day we get to do our horse riding, which takes us over the nearby hills, and half way around we´e all greeted by the singing cowboy sitting on a bale of hay, and given champagne to drink whilst we watch the sunset. ....pretty romantic stuff i can tell you!!! you wouldnt believe the amount of sunsets ive watched on this trip!! Next morning we´re due to leave, but have our helicopter ride over the canyon to do before first. ive never been in a helicopter before, and till now, only just been able to spell it!! The flight over the canyon was just awesome, but not so much for jules......her nails digging into me for most of the time, as she thought the rota blades were going to hit the canyon sides!! ....that was the end of the ranch weekend, thanks jules for a great birthday present.xx
With two nights in a Tipi, we´re in need or comfort.......so vegas here we come!!!! Weve both never been before, and are looking forward to all the bright lights and late nights! We drive in from the north side and spend the next half hour saying to each other ´´look at that´´......´´and look at that´´......we´re in shock at it all! On a recomendation from our good friends Keith and Sarah, we head for the Luxor Hotel. Not being as wealthy as our good friends, we´re a bit shocked at the prices, especially as we´re budget travellers, but both say ´´what the heck´´ and check in for 3 nights. Two king size beds, cable tv ....and an iron!!!! So out come the posh clothes from the bottom of the backpacks, and we get ourselves togged up! We have a quick look around the luxor casino, before heading down to the Bellagio hotel. Probably most of you have already been and heard of it, but for those of you who havent, at the front of the Bellagio is more or less a man made lake, that has water displays to music and lights! I was always told not to mix water and electricity, but i think here theyve done a pretty good job. Ive promised jules, when we get back i´ll make something simular out of an old hose pipe and a light off me bike!!!
As far as the betting went, well we spent most of the first night scanning all the tables to find the cheapest ones. Blackjack, minimum bet $5 was our favorite. but unfortunatly didnt return home winners the first night. Next morning we´re up late and i do the usual thing of flicking through the 85 channels on our super huge tv, and find man united vs benfica, so order in room service and enjoy the game! Tonight its back out to the casinos, feeling lucky once more. We head for the MGM, and do the usual watching before actually joining in. Tonight bjules desides we should have a stab at roullette, so both join a table.(weve never played before in our lives) I go on the theory that after 5 blacks, a red will turn up, and after several evens, an odd number will turn up. Jules goes for birthdays....9,16,24,25,20,21...etc Now at the start of the evening, julie turned $5 into $50 on a fluke go playing on the gaming machines. This was now her stake for the roullette table. As the night went on julies luck kept going on and on, winning time after time. (not the song by cindy lauper) It was a treat to see and jules ended up with $220 in her pocket!! a fantastic night for both of us that evening.....even i managed to stay quids in and kept hold of my money.
Day 3 in vegas and after a good nights sleep we deside to walk the whole strip down to the stratosphere hotel. we set off at 1.30 and finally get there for 10pm!! a lazy stroll taking in all the places along the way....Bellagio, venitian, cesars palace, wynn. and the frontier. A bus ride home was only 15 minutes, so we got one!! A quick shower and change and we were good to go again. Tonight we were going to cleen up at the excalibur.....or win a few bucks at least. Jules mheads for the roullette and i go for the blackjack table. After a good hour at the tables we managed to stay on top once more. Our last night in Vegas was over and we´d had a ball. It was a great place and one we shall return to in the future.
Back to reality and its west we go to Yosemite national park. Another spectacular place with huge mountains and fantastic scenary. Tonights accommodation will be a tent/cabin. this area is really bear cautious. no food allowed in the tents and nothing to be left in cars too. Bears are known to rip open car doors to get at left food and belongings....and they will, as we saw the warning video whilst checking in. All food, even deodrants, soap and toothpaste (something we´ve not bothered with since leaving home) have to be stored in bear lockers, which are located away from the camping area. They really do stress that if your not careful,bears will attack. ......yeh right!!....lets face it, everyone knows bear lockers are a sinch to open!! ....any knowledgable bear with a good blade could open one up!! ....its gotta be less hassle than cars....with cars, youve got the alarm to deal with for starters, then all that glass from breaking the window getting stuck in your paws!!!! with bear lockers, you dont really have to open them up.....just get ya best mate bear, and carry them back to the woods!! ....think i´ll stop there, im getting carried away.
Next stop San Francisco. ......Book into the backpackers, but have to share a dorm with 18 other folk!! Go into town and and have lunch at a bar down by all the pier fronts. On good advise from fellow backpackers, we book our Alcatraz tour up asap as they sell out very quickly. Take a good walk up and down all the very steep streets and pay a fortune for a 2 minute tram journey. The Alcatraz tour was fantastic. we did the full on audio tour and were left to jump in and out of as many cells as we wanted too!! Al Capone and this other bloke who kept birds stayed there, and escape from Alcatraz was actually filmed there.....other wise it wouldnt have been called escape from Alcatraz!!!!! From San Fran we drive down highway one, which is the scenic coastal road, staying at Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara (where the bloke who owned the motel came from Bury... jules made me put that in). Then onto Santa Monica (have you spotted the theme yet?) where we spent the weekend before leaving America. We walked from muscle beach up to venice beach in the glorious sunshine and enjoyed a couple of beers in a bar once there. Deciding itd be nice to stroll back and enjoy the sunset (here we go again) with a beer in our hands, we go to the beer shop and grab a couple of cans. The shop keeper then asks us if we´re going to drink them outside, because if so they must be covered up with a paper bag, as drinking alcohol in public is illegal!! As we´re walking towards the beach, some locals whove guessed we´ve got beer, warn us not to let the cops see us, as we´d be arrested!!!! So me and jules are sat on the beach drinking our beer, still in paper bags, feeling like big time criminals for breaking such an important law!! God knows what theyd have done to us if we´d been caught.....we might have been interrogated for weeks....named and shamed in the papers......and even deported!!! its not worth thinking about is it???? It must be the only country in the world that two people with a combined age of 72, can´t sit and watch the sun go down and enjoy a beer at the same time, without feeling like naughty school kids. Have all the drug problems and the gun culture this country has, been sorted out so they can spend time arresting big time beach boozers......no! god help america.
Julie here with the next...very late...update.
We have been waiting to find cheap / free internet access, as with our crappy typing, it can take a few hours to type up our adventures!
Well I´m now essconsed in a seedy little South American internet cafe with various wild fowl running around...but to hell with bird flue! here´s the update!
Jase left us in Niagra, where with the asistance of our new friends Dave & Tracey, we crossed the border (God the border control have a knack of making you feel guilty, as if you have half a pound of high octain explosive concealed in your rectum, actually I think Jason may have, but that´s another story).
We picked up our latest hire car in Buffalo, a town which I don´t think will be nominated for America in Bloom or any other Civic awards in the near future . Our hire car however was fantastic...my favourite to date. Although we booked the budget model they had none available when we arrived, so we were upgraded to a big shiny black car. We dont have the make in the UK, I think it was called a Dodge Sagitarious or something equally glam and American sounding. It drew several admiring glances from criminal types as we glided through Buffalo and out onto the open road.....
Our original plan had been to leave Niagra and head direct to New York, We´d heard so many good reports about Boston however from other travellers and Canadians we met, that we diecided to head East and check it out. Father Randy, a priest we´d had dinner with (read Jason´s update below if you think that sounds Bizzar) was particularly enthusiastic..and if its good enough for a man of the cloth...it´s good enough for us!
We arrived in Boston after a couple of days on the road to find it was all it was promised to be. A beautiful old city...well old by American standards...with a laid back attitude and to our delight, absolutely full of the Irish. And where you find Irish people, you find....yes you´ve guessed it....Irish bars. And these were proper Irish bars, not like some we would encounter later in the trip who´s only concession seemed to be serving canned Guinness and playing a U2 track every 4th record! It was lovely to see all that old Irish Baseball memorabilia and some authentic Irish American Football helmets adorning the walls, but back to Boston, with real Irish bars run by real Irish men! It was a rainy afternoon when we arrived so we decided the best bet was to spend it amongst our Irish bretheren sampling the black gold. It was at this point we had our first encounter with I.D.
Being served by a 23ish year old guy at the bar, Jason was asked for his proof of age in the form of photo I.D. (the drinking age is 21 in America) Now I know that Jase is in pretty good nick for his age, but it was obvious he was at least a decade older than the Acne ridden, gangley youth who was waiting on him. Never-the-less, jase returned from the bar convinced he looked younger than 21 and spent the next round catching glances at his - in his eyes- youthfull reflection in the Guinness Mirrors decorating the bar............The novelty would soon wear off. Several weeks later he thinks all American Bar staff are Fashists who are incapable of using there own judgement or common sence, I´ve had to hold him back on more than one occasion, as he´s spat "DO you really think I´m younger than you, you stupid tart" at the innocent waitress. Ironically I think the stress of the whole I.D. process has aged him a good ten years.
But with the novelty still fresh and feeling youthfull, we both had a fab night.
The next day we awoke to sunshine and decided to explore the great American passtime of Baseball! Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox was only accross a park away from our Hostel, we´d heard about stadium tours and set out to investigate.... The park proved to be a bit dodgy, with some shady looking types loitering accross the paths so we decided to take the long walk round.
Fenway park is the oldest and smallest Baseball park in the American Baseball leauge. It still had all the original wooden seating that looked really attractive but would never have been approved under the UK safety in Sportsgrounds act ( Sorry I had a flash back to work then!) Anyway the Rolling Stones were playing Fenway park a few days after our visit and they were in the middle of setting up an enormous stage, we watched all the roadies at work for ages and I found this miles more interesting than all the baseball stuff. The tour was good fun however and after a bowl of Boston Clam Chowder we felt brave walking back to the hostel and decided to cross the park.
In the centre of the park the pathways were surrounded by long dense Bamboo groves, it was a little like being in a maze. I was astonished to find that far from being scary dodgy types, the chaps frequenting the paths were more afraid of us.....Everytime we rounded a corner, groups of young men who had been loitering on the paths scattered into the bamboo....usually at the site of me!! When we saw a middle aged chap scuttle out of the bamboo hurriedly doing up his flies and followed by a skinny looking chap in his twenties the penny dropped. We were in a gay 'cottaging' area!!!! When Jase rounded a maze like corner, nothing happened, but when I followed everyone scattered. I found this hillarious and started walking further and further away from jase who was now practically sprinting out of the park towards the hostal looking pale and clammy!
By the time he´d calmed down, it was time to go out for the evening, eating and drinking out can get (unbeleavably) waring after a while so giving the park a wide berth we head for a good old night out at the pictures. As far as the hire car was concerned, the dukes of Hazard was probably the wrong choice, we did however manage to cover the scrapes around the window where we both entered the car for the remainder of the trip. Luckily they didn´t look under the car or at the exhaust when we returned it, as Jason insisting ...Nah we can jump that!!...at every obsticle we encountered had undoubtably taken it´s toll on the undercarraige.
Leaving Boston, we head South in the direction of New York via New England and Cape Cod. This really is a beautiful part of the world and I whole heartedly reccomend anyone going for a weekend in New york to make it a week and explore Cape Cod.
We spent three nights on a little Island Called Martha´s Vineyard, A play ground of the American wealthy and the location for the film Jaws. Whilst it was a pretty well to do place it did however have a hostel and that´s where we stayed.
The beaches where beautiful and far from any Great White Sharks the only marine life we witnessed was the strange phenominen of millions of tiny baby shrimps (Crill) being washed up on shore on the east side of the island. You had to wade through them to get out and go for a swim.....very funny when jase kept finding them in his chest hair for a few hours after...well very funny untill I felt them wriggling in my bikini pants!!
We explored the farther flung beaches and discovered a ´clothes optional´ beach.
It was here i discovered a key difference between men and women.....No not the obvious one.
To have the body confidence to go nude men need little more than a pot bellie, a winkle like a walnut whip and scrotum like an old ladies shopping bag. To feel confident enough to go nude´women however need to have pretty good bods. Also Women tend to sunbathe whilst the chaps are happy to indulge in a little light sport, Yoga, Calinetics, or simply stand looking out to sea with thier tummy´s pendulously scraping thier upper thighes.
Our walk then, proved to be quite a pleasant experience for Jase, whilst I was left visually traumatised and will probably never eat a walnut whip again.
I mentioned before the beaches where fantastic, one thing we discovered here and then later at other American beaches is the lack of catering or consessions. No we didn´t want Blackpool with endless Burgers and Pop, but the chance to buy a bottle of water and maybe even a bit of fruit would have been welcome.
Our usual well prepared selves we turn up at the beach...a few miles from town...with suntan lotion and a towel each. We first became concerned when American families trooped on to the beach like a military operation with Umberellas, wind breaks, several large Cool Boxes, 12 packs of beer and their own water fountains!!
As the sun blazed down, our mouthes became dry and we wondered up and down the beach for refreshment...there was none to be had. We began to gaze at the American hampers salivating like Pavloffs dogs. Eventually, Jase relented and got a bus back into town to get us food and water. He was gone for ages...I think he went back to the clothes optional beach! Whilst he was gone I´m sure I lapsed into unconsiousness and began to halucinate about one of Carol´s (Jason´s ma´s) packed lunches. A mid morning snack of a Scotch Egg or Sausage Roll. Some Juice, Several types of sandwich, Cherry Tomatoes, crisps and maybe even a Cappucino with a drop of Tia Maria in to round things off. It was then Jason came back and revived me with a bottle of coke and a chicken buttie. We spent the rest of the afternoon coming up with a business plan for a beach bar!!
Following A lovely restful few day´s on Martha´s Vineyard we head for the sprawling metropolis of New York. Any one knowing Jase will know this was the bit of the trip he was nervous about. And even when we met he said he would probably never go..expecting a large dirty city full of crime and violence. We could´t do America without checking out the Big Apple however so he agreed and we set off. As a special suprise I had booked us a hostel in the middle of Harlem (well accomodations expensive downtown and it´s a long trip).
From the minute we arrived J loved the place. We spent three nights in the city and had a ball visiting all the major sites you´d expect. For fact fans the hostel we stayed in is the biggest in the world covering an entire block, it was like a little town! Also for fact fans it was in NYC I purchased my third pair of sunglasses of the trip so far having lost two pairs on route (and a cap).
Our planned onward route was to take us south from New York hugging the east coast of America to Savannah Gorgia and then heading west to New Orleans and on to Texas where we had tickets to the Austin Festival. As all this leg of the trip was pretty straight forward with no planned side trips and all destinations on major routes we decided a hire car was surplus to requirements and decided to look at more economical travel options. We were supposed to be backpackers and the cosseted comfort of our three hire cars felt a little like cheating. We´d probably only walked a few miles wearing our packs...it was time to be a real backpacker!!
J had travelled around Australia in his youth and had used the bus network....full of travellers it was a great way to meet people, the buses had loo´s and sometimes T.V´s and you could jump off and on at interesting destinations on route and maybe spend a few days with your new buddies. Longer trips he used night buses with reclining seats....sleeping en route and saving a nights accomodation!
I was sold.....The bus was the way ahead for a pair of adventour hungry backpackers like us.
And what other bus would you use but ´The Greyhound´ An american Icon!! we had both seen it in countless films and Imagined it serving the people, linking remote deserts and towns and filled with intrepid explorers and student types.
The Greyhound sales office sealed the deal with glossy lierature an astonishing array of routes and times of travel and amazing flexibility.. They also had great product deals....we plumped for an Ameripass giving you unlimited travel accross America for 21 days for the price of $377 dollars each. Sounds steep but we don´t have to buy petrol, and a few night buses will save us $$$ in accomodation. It was a bargain! We were so excited about our new adventure we left the sales office with tickets in hand and actually gave each other a high five.....in public too.....how embarrasing!
Our first trip was to be an overnight trip from NYC to Virginia beach, a resort town in Virginia we had read great things about. It was to be a 10 hour journey starting at 10pm with one change of bus about midnight. We could then sleep the rest of the way. Hurrah.
We approached the bus terminal (Ajoined to penn subway station) in full backpacks and looking every inch travellers (I thought mine was a bit heavy and wasn´t sure how I´d handle the whole walking miles with it thing, but hid my doubts from Jase and marched on)
We decended the escalator from the subway to the greyhound station, and as the sliding doors opened at the bottom it was like entering another world........You know when the sliding doors go back in stars for your eyes, Well picture the scene , perhaps with a bit of dry ice....we walk through , two well scrubbed, designer adventure gear clad westeners.......and tonight Mathew....I´m going to be a drug addicted, homeless person of various ethnic origin and I´ll be performing various techniques of staggering menacingley towards you, sleeping on the floor in your direct path and openly staring greedily at your backpack.
I hope all mates reading this know we aint snobs, but I´ve never felt so out of place in my life. The slums of Caracus, The farmlands of Zimbabwe all where a palace compared to NYC Greyhound station. We huddle together hoping things can only get better and trying to physically surround our luggage and stare down people who look like they may make a grab for it. I knew the Immitation Channell sunnies were a mistake!
It´s time to board thank god and we gratfully head for our bus glad to be out of this godforsaked place. It is then we find most of the threatening individuals are our fellow travellers.
Far from the AMerican Dream the Greyhound turns out to be the transport of choice for the very poorest people in AMerica, along with all of society´s drop outs. We were witness to a level of poverty and lack of education you don´t expect to witness in a super power like America. It was like being in a third world country. In Jason´s words he was expecting, even looking forward to this type of bus journey in south America or Africa, perhaps with your neighbour carrying a checken on thier lap...It´s just not what you expect in America!
Every Seat was sold and more. People where holding their obviously pre pubescent children and persuading them to tell the driver they where only 4 and hence wouldn´t need to pay for a seat. Other people seemed to have their entire lifes posesions in a black bin liner and in some cases a clear bin liner and were determined to bring that on the bus too.
The seats didn´t recline....Jason´s seat base actually kept sliding off. The overhead lights didn´t work, no TV. We were next to the fetid stinking loo, what follows is 10 hours of shear hell.
It could have been worse, a guy opposite listed to hard core rap for the entire 10 hours whilst engaging in a sort of violent seated headbanging. The poor woman next to him wasn´t with him and sported a look of shear terror for the entire trip.
We arrived in Virginia Beach exhausted, Afraid, Dissapointed and feeling ripped off, both mentally composing letters of complaint to the Greyhound Management!
Too early to check into our hostel we weny directly to the beach were we leaned on our backpacks, our nerves being soothed by the hundreds of dolphins playing just off shore as the sun came up. After a few hours snooze we checkin into our hostel, right on the beach and a lovely place.
We heard that a surfing competition was being held at the weekend so we decided to stick around for 3 nights to check it out and recover from the greyhound.
Virginia beach was a fab place. Fantastic weather, great wide sandy clean beaches, music playing while you walk down the street and fantastic sea food.
The surfing competition was a bit of a wash out as the waves obviously got the wrong weekend and didn´t turn up but as the town was geared up for it it was a great party weekend anyway. Full of surfers, live music and loads of beach entertainment.
In the evening there was live bands and bars on the beach. We went down and encountered our most rigorous ID requests to date.
We went to the bar to get a couple of beers, after queing for a while as you expect at festival events we were told we had to get ID´d and wristbanded before they would serve us. We joined the ID q along with people clearly in their 60´s and eventually got our wrist band...we then had to q with our wrist band to buy beer vouchers before we could go to the bar as it was cashless. It was only 9pm so we bought 5 each. We then eventually had to q again at the bar to get our now long awaited beer.......It was shortly after we retired to the shoreline, beer in one hand remaining vouchers in the other that the bar shut!!!!! There was nearly a riot, calmed by the police who explained we could use them again tomorrow.
The next night we cashed out vouchers in in one go, and retired to a life guard station where we spent a very pleasant evening, listening to the music and watching the waves in the dark.
Virginia beach being flat was also an excellent place to hire bikes and was the scene of my first major holiday fall!! Being my mothers daughter I always have to get in one fall per holiday, My mum recently managed down the stairs whilst on a cruise. ( Mum notice i said you fall, not that you 'had a fall'.... I think you need to be of retirement age before people start saying you had a fall, rather than you just fell)
On this occasion a young mexican boy decided to walk directly into the path of my oncoming bicycle, I swerved to miss him and ended up having a nasty skid on elbows and knees across the grass. At this point his dad came out and started getting arsey with us with a 2inch thick piece of chain slung casually and threateningly round his neck!!!!! I should have ploughed straight into the little bugger.
Following our break at the beach we felt mentally strong enough to approach another overnight greyhound journey. This time to Savannah Gorgia. Home of origional civil war architecture and gone with the wind style houses.
We q´d for the overnight bus, again sticking out like sore thumbs, looking like the king and queen of sheeba amongst the group of social outcasts qíng along side us. Everyone showed their tickets and got on, untill we get to the front, show our ticket and are abrubtly stopped by the big black bus driver who in a deep south accent simply shouts. I.D. ......I clearly look dumbfounded so he shouts again. I.D...I wanna see yo I.D. I politely ask why and he says. 'How do I know u is the name on this here ticket...you could have stolen this here ticket and be using someone elses ride´. Now out of all the people in the q how he figured me and J where the potential thieves is beyond me, but, i now a little less politely get out our driving licenses. The guy obviously hasn´t seen a uk licence before and is having trouble making head or tales of it. Still trying to be helpful I point out which ticket goes with which licence. He goes appoplectic...." Is you sayin I can´t read...I can read Reeeeaeaal gooooood...Is you saying I can´t read!" WE get on the bus with the viens in jasons neck sticking out a mile. He grips his arm rest with white knuckles for the first few hours of the journey while I try and calm him down with chocolate.
After another bus journey from hell we land in Savannah, a beautiful, crumbling, pre civil war town. It really is beautiful, which is more than i can say for our dirty scummy hostel...our worst yet. We sre still looking for a rubbish dump we can photograph and send to them with a note saying, saw this and thought of you!!!
IT was in the savannah greyhound station, from where we should have been heading west to New Orleans that a chap askes us 'how´s Kartrina doing?´ Having seen no TV for weeks we are blisfully unaware of the impending disaster and rush off to buy a paper. Wow! close call.....we need a change of plan. Our heart goes out to the people of New Orleans...but....we can do nothing to help... and so.... we dicide to head for ...DISNEY LAND!!!
The greyhound journeys get better as we head into florida as we decide to travel by day in small chunks at a time. We pass through ST Augustine, The oldest town in America with gorgeous Spanish architecture and Orlando before we land at Kisimmee.
It was about 12 years earlier I had done disney with Sarah....So this bit of the trip brought back loads of memories for me and made me a bit homesick.
Disney with Sarah and DIsney with Jason where very similar as they are both big kids... I think Sarah got cought up in the Disney majic a bit more, but Jason was tall enough to get on all the rides so there you go!
At Universal studios we went on the 'Twister' ride to try and experience what we missed in new orleans...Jase said this in the q very loudly...none of our fellow riders saw the funny side! They just don´t get the english sence of humour. Funnily enough they didn´t get it when in ST Augustine he put ' Baby please don´t go down to New Orleans' by the Animals on the juke box!!
Following our disney adventure we continued down to the florida keys, enjoying the coastal drives on the bus and the town of Fort Lauderdale.
We spent a great few days in Key West, a lovely relaxed place and the USA´s most southerly point. Jason got his own back on me as we arrived in the middle of a lesbian festival which was entertaining to say the least.
On our second night the pub we where in looked to have a lovely roof top terrace. We could see exotic planting hanging over the building and a sign saying the 'garden of eden'..... the clue was in the name but we never guesed.........it was a clothes optional bar!!!
Everything I said about the beach earlier also goes for the bar...most people had their clothes on but those brave enough to go bare in the warm florida night where mosly tubby middle aged blokes...sat on towels on leather bar stools.....nice! One skinny little guy in his fifties danced for the entire night, shaking his bits with whoever would join him. In one corner of the bar a body artist would paint designs on whoever wanted them. A few women got bikini tops painted over their bare boobs, seemed to defeat the object to me....I only noticed this going on when I mentioned to Jase that a women dancing in her jeans and Bikini top needed to tighten her straps a bit as her boobs were drooping down....woops!
We left Key west in a hurry, not because of the bar, but because i´d got the date of the flight wrong and we woke up one day thinking we had another night in the keys when in fact we had to be in Miami that night!
After a mad dash we got to Miami Airport Intime for our flight to Denver where we would start of our Western Adventure. Jase will fill you in on that soon while we are still in the land of cheap internet!!!!
Love Jules
Jason here with the next installment as promised,
No room at the Inn for our second night in Kingston, so it's back to the tourist information centre to scan the accomodation pamphlets!
Hostels are full again and the first attempts at finding a B & B are unsuccessfull.....but wait........what's this???
A flyer which is advertising accomodation on a ship...sounds different...and the picture looks nice! so why not give them a call??......BINGO!! we're booked in! BUT we can't check in till 5.30pm as the ship is also a museum in the daytime. That gives us the day to check out Kingston...!!!! INFO ALERT !!! "Kingston is a military area with bases all over and it still has it's forts & Martello towers intact around the lakeside which were used in the 1812 Canadian / American war . Kingston was also the capital of Canada...but don't ask me what year that was!
So we do the usual touristy stuff like going to the military base and taking photo's of the historic town hall building...and whilst having lunch in one of Kingston's Irish bars! spot a thief stealing the payment from another table and stuffing it down his shirt!!.....SOOOOO we grassed him up to the waitress then legged it.!!
We spend most of the day excited about the ship and how cool it will be sleeping on it ,and before we know it 5.30pm arrives and we can now board the `Alexander Henry `museum ship, built in 1959, a light ice breaker operating in the great lakes, crew of 34, and a helicopter landing pad!
On boarding we notice how low the back of the boat is in the water, but with backpacks on we pay little attention, and go straight to the office. To our surprise the 35 Canadian Dollars was for both of us and not each....our cheapest nights accomodation yet....but slowly things start to become clearer! Especially when we are told there wasn't any working toilets...but a plummer was on the way....The showers should be OK to use...but don't drink any water from the cabin taps! And by the way we only have a master key for the cabin door so come and find us if you want letting back in!
A faster than normal entrance to the cabin followed, as we had forgotten about the abnormal slope of the ship and tripped over the foot high metal door step, to found ourselves racing across the floor with packs on, ending up in what can only be described as the dying fly position.
Now after a hard day's walking around forts and drinking in Irish bars, the best thing for a couple of World travellers is a nice shower and a change of clothes, so with gel and towel in hand, I go in search..........GOD i wish I hadn't.
I did say earlier it was built in 1959 and thats when I think the showers had last been cleaned! WIth the amount of hair around the plug hole I think Richard Keys had stayed the Night before and decided to shave his back in them! Also looking around, I think the lady on reception had forgotten to tell fellow shipmates the toilets weren't working.
You sure don't know what your getting from Hostel to Hostel when your booking up, but that night people in prison were using better facilities than us..........OK on the other hand they don't go out and have a fish supper followed by 8 pints of Guinness for their dinner but that's not the point!
The next day, and funny enough we are up and out very early, on the road to Montreal, Quebec. MP3 player blasting away, Me at the wheel and Jules polishing up on her French...and boy are we going to need it!
Both of us having done one years french 25 years ago doesn't bode well, and it just goes to show as on out arrival in Montreal we get a parking ticket in the first 10 minutes..Ironically, whilst we have gone off to ask someone where the best place to park is, as we weren't sure, all the bloody street signs being in french!! MERDE!!
Our directions take us a block or two away and we find parking spaces in Montreal are at a premium. Paying 18 dollars to park for 24 hour $$18!! $$ 18!! AND a $$45 parking ticket.....I'm spitting feathers at this point and Julie is doing her best to Calm me down. All we want to do is find a nice place to catch up on lost sleep from last night. And yet again hostels were full. But nearbye, Julie notices a YWCA.....Surely not! That's a womans refuge that is...they won't take me....10 minutes later we're booked in!
I thought those places were for women only, I guess they must get a lot of women checking in with 4 days growth, weighing 185 pounds, with size 12 runners!....but any way that's enough about Julie, I got in OK and that's all that matters.
MONTREAL! not much of a place really...big office buildings...busy streets and french people selling expensive Guinness. We were lucky to eat at all on the first night, after a couple of drinks, Julie found the confidence to order our evening meal in french.... for a puzzled waiter to return 5 minutes later with another chair...6 eggs...and a side order of Durex featherlight.......I think Jules went to the Del Trotter school of french!
We did take a trip to the 1976 Olympic stadium though which Julie said looked like it had fallen out of a plaster cast mold. A very old looking stadium which was finally finished some 9 years after the games with the retractable roof and sloping tower added later... I think the Wembly construction group are closing in on that one...so look out Montreal!
We gladly leave Montreal and head North for a few days R & R in Val David. It's an hours drive away and set in a ski resort area. We book into a log cabin Hostel which has a bar, plus pool table, excellent kitchen and friendly staff (although French).
The area nearbye is very popular for Kayaking / canoing and mountain biking so we book up for a day's adventure...a 2.5 hour unsynchronised kayak ride along a windey picturesque river, then a mountain ride back along the linear park trail, a disused railway line.
With our batteries well and truely charged we now continue Eastwards towards Quebec City. This time Jules at the wheel and now I've got the confidence with Julie driving on the right hand side, I join her upfront and take charge of the navigating.
With our child friendly cartoon map, I'll have no problems, and we'll be in Quebec city before you know it. Well that's what we thought anyway.! With Quebec city in the distance and the hostel address at the ready, I only had to do the finishing touches and navigate the final mile in.....BUT after going for another 15 minutes an unshure Julie found it neccessary to question my co-piloting skills by asking " JASON why is Quebec city now getting smaller?" (You know it's a serious question when your name is used) but, I felt sure I'd taken us the right way even with all the street signs in french I had every confidence the road would bring us back to the city...So my reply to Julie was " Just Drive". Followed by the don't question me death stare!... 10 Minutes, 15 Kilometers and one Toll bridge later really seemed to be the straw that broke the camels back! Julie hit the breaks, forcing us into an emergency stop, grabbed the map, and took full control of the situation.....which by now for the first time I must admit was starting to worry me too! Especially as I'd just seen, on the other side of the road, a sign for Quebec city and didn't let on. So as you've probably guessed allready the so called child friendly map, wasn't that child friendly at all. But now in the hands of an adult, Julie soon realised we were a good 25 KM's away from Quebec and on the wrong side of the river too!..... The death staring eyes had now well and truely turned into puppy dog eyes..and the silence...well if I used the words pin and drop you'll understand.
Finding accomodation in Quebec City wasn't easy at all, and after several phone calls we got a guest house for the night. The owner was a lovely french lady and she made us feel very welcome in her house. Julie had another chance to speak french but with limited vocab, it was hard to make a conversation with the words window, pen and dog! After what happened earlier I was still banned from speaking so I just carried the bags and behaved myself!
After using my PR skills on Julie (That's what he calls it.!!..Note from Julie) and appologising for my earlier misdemenour, we set off hand in hand for the bright lights in the walled city of old Quebec. A very beautiful city steeped in medieval history with spectacular buildings and a very large citadel which stands on the rivers edge and is now a busy hotel. At night, street entertainers bring every corner of the place to life, but we leave all that for every one else to enjoy, and settle ourselves in the first Irish Bar we find and order steak and chips. We spend a total of 2 days in the city and had a fantastic time. The temperature was red hot and one of our highlights being the all you can eat Mussells and chips...or as Julies French goes..".La Mussell En Fritters Por Favour"!
Back on the road again and still going East.....I'm not allowed to navigate so I get the job of driving. This means Julie is now in charge of the MP3 player and I have to endure the wrath of Joyce Division and some bloke called Frank Ferdinand.
We head east to a place called Tadoussac, this area is famous for whale spotting so we go in search, cameras at the ready, and it's not long before we see our first ones. But getting a photo is harder than we thought...."There"....."There"....."Where?"...."Over There"..."I can't see it"...."That's because you're looking over there"....Do you get the picture??? Because we didn't!! Thank god for post cards Ay?
The weather in Tadoussac, just as every where we've been so far was georgous, so we spent the next day on the beach sun bathing and playing Boules with rocks we'd found (don't laugh, this game requires top level eye-hand co-ordination and we're pretty good at it actually!)
It was about this point I asked Julie what day it was, as losing track of the days whilst travelling around is quite easy. " Thursday" she replied "and we've got to hand the hire car back Friday afternoon yeah?"I asked....." Yes thats right"...."and do you realise Toronto is 1200KM's away? and it's Thursday afternoon now?"...."Oh do you think we better leave now then????"
After speed loading the car up and re-fuelling we head south with blue lights flashing and keep going for the next 6.5 hours only stopping for our compulsory "Tim Hortons" coffee breaks with Iced Do-nuts to go!
To cut a long journey short, we make the deadline for the car return by three quarters of an hour the next afternoon. Well driven Jules!!
Now we could relax and think of the beer festival we had planned to go to in Toronto all day Saturday. We would be meeting up with a friend of mine and her husband who I met in Australia 15 years ago, and have not seen since. When Saturday arrives it's boiling hot, not a cloud in the sky...just the setting for an all day session...and we set off for the festival.
When we arrive we notice 100's of people who had been queueing for ages and the sold out signs had allready gone up, a quick phone call later to our friends and we decided to meet up tomorrow. They will be taking us to their home in Niagra were we plan to stay for a couple of days.
.......Ladies and Gentlemen....May I introduce....David 'Tourettes' Rossetani and his wife Tracey. I'd met Tracey years back but not David and my instructions to Julie were "I don't know them that well, so mind your language!" " I don't think they will appreciate us swearing!" half an hour into our jouney with Dave and Tracey our self-imposed swearing ban was scrapped when Dave tried to park the car in Niagra and road rage came over him. He swore continuously for the next 10 minutes without repeating himself once, a truely amazing feat, I think Bernard Manning would have blushed at the sound of all that.
So we arrive at Dave and Tracey's to find a swimming pool waiting for us! Just what we need as the temperature is well in to the thirty's. We are made to feel very welcome and are told we can stay for as long as we want. With a basement bar, Internet access and one of the biggest TV's we've ever seen. We think it would be foolish to disappear after a couple of days, and decide to stay longer.
To fill you in, Dave and Tracey a few months before had a very bad car accident and Tracey was still in a bad way, with minimal use of her left arm, and receiving physio 3 times a week. This had turned Dave into a domestic Goddess, doing all sorts of house hold chores, helping Tracey out no end. One being Hair dressing!! Dave had become an expert at doing french platts, ponytails, back combing, and having even spotted a bag of rollers in the basement I think he was working up to doing a full perm! (So if you're reading this Rob...Dave's Boss....Dave may be leaving your company soon and going solo in the hairdressing business! But I'm not sure he'll like doing the early Saturday morning shifts!)
With Niagra falls only 15 minutes up the road we borrow Tracey's car and go to see this spectacular landmark. As you can imagine it's not short of tourists all grabbing a great photo opportunity, this is where we bring out for the first time, our 'Uttoxeter Racecourse World Tour Tea Towl' and have our own photo moment. Which I'm told Julie will be posting to the racecourse in the next year or so!! but don't hold your breath!
Niagra / Fort Erie, where we are staying, is right on the US border which gave us a chance to go and get our US Visa's before we actually needed them. With borrowed car, we head to border control, both very nervous, and expecting for some unknown reason a thorough going over! And we are prepared for questions like...place of birth? ...Age?...Shoe size?....What hair gel do you use?.....and do you have any unknown children, you don't know about, travelling with you????? But after an hours wait, a finger print and a photo we were free to leave. With our American Visa's stapelled into our passports we could now go back and forth as we pleased. So that evening Dave and Tracey took us over the border to Buffallo for our first taste of Buffallo wings and American Pizza. To this day the wings we have tasted don't have anything on the one's from Buffallo....they were beautiful. We were also joined that evening by Dave's father who is a journalist and well known figure of the area, and his friends.....a catholic priest 'Father Randy' and a Doctor.
It sounds like the start of a bad joke I know..... An Italian Journalist, a Doctor and a Catholic priest eating Buffalo wings in a bar.......insert your own punchline here!!!
A great night was had, and afterwards Dave's father took us to the local Television studios's where he works and gave us a tour. Another photo opportunity for me and Jules was not missed, as we were snapped sitting at the channel four weather desk. (Now Julie thinks she's be perfect at presenting the national weather! Any headhunters out there you'd better move quick, she's serious you know!)
With almost a week relaxing in Fort Erie, we are invited to a Friday night party at Dave and Tracey's golf club, which includes playing a few holes and a steak dinner afterwards. I know what you're thinking.....surely the Canadians aren't going to let chicken legs Ballinger, the king of the quarter swing, and permanent 36 handicapper, loose on their greens???....Well yes they did folks, and I didn't let the side down either, Julie say's she was very proud of me...how nice. She wasn't saying that 5 hours later when she rescued me from the 18th bunker covered in puke (only joking mum!), but you win some you loose some.
While we are talking golf Dave and Rob, If you're reading this a couple of tips next time your playing.......Take your time.....Head down......and don't hit the ball so damn hard....just do what I do and you'll be OK!!!
We had a fantastic night at the golf club and met some great people, thanks to Dave and Tracey (and Taz the dog) for letting us stay so long, you made us feel very welcome.
This is where our tour of Canada finished and the USA one begins.......
Julie here with the next installment of our Canadian adventure....
Jason Left us at the Dead Dog Bar in Jasper, the scene of a very pleasant evening with me thrashing Jase at cards over a few pitchers of Beer...which the Canadians are very good at by the way...every pub is like being at a beer festival and they have loads of micro breweries.
Anyway after a top nights kip (probably the beer) we awoke the next day ready for some activity! So we head for Miete, about half an hour north of Jasper and commence our 10K hike to Sulphur Ridge 700meters above us.
This sounded like a fab idea at the start but soon turned into a battle of wills to see who would give up first.......
Prepared as always (Rebekah and Chris you would be proud!) we took one small bottle of water (250ml)between us, and a bag of Doritos.
Wearing Vest tops and me carrying my handbag, we slogged onwards both saying "look if you want to go back just say". Neither of us would bottle out, and we arrived at the top to find everyone else wearing all weather gear and using walking sticks and Camel water backpacks.
We would have stayed to enjoy the feeling of superiority longer if it hadn't been for the sub zero temperatures and acute dehydration....so after an amusing 5 minutes feeding the Doritos to a little creature that looked like a Chippendale (the chipmunk cartoon characters, not the male strippers) we headed for the bottom and the very welcome natural hot springs at the base of the mountain. Nice!
After a relaxing soak , we head for
The hostel in
We get chatting even further to our new medical genius buddy, and as he also seems to be a bit of a nature expert , we ask him to identify the little critter we fed Doritos to earlier..... At this point the Eco Warrior / Bar Man / Surgeon goes ballistic at us for feeding the native wild life of his beautiful home country with unlimited E numbers. Our friendship ended with him telling us to keep wild animals wild,....Bloody Do gooder!
The next day we visit lake Louise which is beautiful and we can't understand why some of the American Tourists are taking pictures of the enormous hotel rather than the amazing turquoise lake....God knows how they got planning permission to build the thing ...for anyone who has never seen photo's of lake Louise it's the equivalent of building the Arndale Centre at the foot of Scafell in the lakes. We manage to take a few photo's missing out the 10,000 other Japanese and Americans also visiting and move on....
We head for Banff via an engineering phenomenon called the spiral tunnels....this is a rail route that has tunneled into the mountains in a spiral motion to slow down the trains as the gradient is so steep. It's a real WOW aren’t people clever moment and also a moment for me to reflect on my new discovery ....Jason's love of Trains........ The fact he can give me most of the Latin names of the plants we pass I was prepared for ...his new fascination with all things locomotive has completely taken me by surprise.... It's not surprising as over here they have the biggest trains I have ever seen and as the roads follow the train lines through the mountains you can see the miles of carriages snaking through the landscape. This was all acceptable till his new game of counting the carriages....fine when I’m driving.....not as good when he's craning his neck to count the 130th carriage when we're descending a mountain via a network of hairpin bends with him at the wheel....don't worry mum!
Another scary discovery on many of our long drives is even more disturbing to me.....those of you who know me well, know I’m something of a music buff and enjoy being abreast of the latest bands. You'll know I look down on Jason's best of the 60's and 70's taste in music and have looked upon this trip as a chance to educate him via my MP3 player.
well............Thanks to a great gift from John Heeler we've been able to play our own music via a transmitter over the car stereo of our hire cars....in the home of country music this has been a god send and has probably stopped us removing our own eardrums without anesthetic!
However In some moments of weakness, with me driving and Jason DJ'ing (probably hypnotized by the landscape) I've found myself saying "I love this one" to Jason's selection of Neil Diamonds, sweet Caroline and even worse asking have we got any Carpenters....... Sorry Rod!
Anyway we arrive in I never dreamed I would be a member of the youth hostel association at 36 .....I also thought we'd be the oldest guests in the hostels, but they are amazingly diverse with families, older single folk and pensioners as well as the expected gap year kids.
Banff is a great town and is surprisingly busy in the summer as we thought it would just be a ski resort... The hostel is one of the best yet with a bar and restaurant that features inclusive breakfast. It is here that we discovered the most amazing porridge....In need of a bit of fiber Jase cleverly ordered porridge, to be greeted by a six inch solid square of the hardest substance known to man.....unless you work for Bison that is....we later discover bags of sand and cement at the rear of the kitchen.....we will be recommending the chef at the banff hostel to manufacture the new grandstand steppings at Uttoxeter....no doubt the safety committee would be more than pleased with the stability testing.
The hostel also has a great social scene and organises events to encourage the guests to mix and swap traveling stories, break down cultural boundaries, and explore other diverse communities. We decided to support this philosophy by joining in with the Thursday night pool tournament.......
I was drawn against a German lady of about my age . Although very close I won the match, ably supported by Jason, humming the theme to the great escape and damb busters, in close proximity to the field of play...this I was grateful for........ But did feel, when he got up on a bar stool and started chanting two world wars and one world cup and goose-stepping to the bar, he was taking it a bit too far.
I went to bed following my victory leaving Jason to, in his words, loose on the black, after several more games.
Needless to say I'm woken at 3.30am by Jason stumbling onto the top bunk fully clothed, giggling and singing a song of his own devising!!
The next day I feel great following my pool victory, Jason however is convinced he has a migraine or even worse a brain tumor. We are due to leave and head for a place called Salmon Arm to meet a guy Jason Knows from Years back (Miles) and decide to take the journey steady in order to keep the hire car free of vomit.... we stop off at a place called Canyon Hot Springs for a medicinal soak in the natural springs. We discover they have Log Cabins to hire so book one for the night. This becomes.....Cue Evangelical Choirs and organ music.........our first alcohol free day of the trip!
We do feel a little bit like we've checked into the priory, with lots of fresh air, Needless to say this was all too much, we woke the next day and immediately ordered our first full English breakfast of the trip and a bloody Mary.
We then felt fit enough to drive on to Salmon Arm to find Jason's old chum..... Following great directions e Mailed by Miles we find the Holiday Cottages on
We arrive and after several failed identifications...Jason hasn't seen Miles for 15 years .....J is sure he has spotted him on a Jet Ski heading into shore....After the initial excitement (we may be able to borrow the Jet Ski) J sets about plucking up courage to say hello.
It is then I feel the need to point out that if the jet skier is Miles, he has a very respectable pair of breasts and a long blond pony tail.......J is forced to admit he could be wrong, and the Swedish 18 year old he had his hopes pinned on probably isn't going to be our host for the next few days.....
Jase then spots a guy asleep on the beach who possibly matches Miles profile, after walking past in a very suspicious fashion a few times we finally pick up the courage to ask the lady we think is his wife ...Is that bloke called miles??
It is, and the lady turns out to be Lisa and with their 4 children,
After a great break from the rush of traveling, with Miles Lisa and family, we realise we have to get our flight back to A mad day's driving, followed by a long flight, getting us into All this was forgotten when we walked into my Auntie and Uncles house at 2 in the morning, to discover two T-cups had been left by the kettle, with T Bags in, and biscuits by the side ready to go...What a Welcome.... We really enjoyed it. I still don't know if they where meant for my uncle in the morning, but we enjoyed it none the less.
We then spent a chilled few days regrouping in With regards to the pool game, I feel this was Jason's (After working alone for many years) first real lesson in team work..... My Uncle Seans approach with Lynda, included pointing out suitable shots, where and at what speed to strike the cue ball and words of condolence / congratulation.
J's approach of saying "you just get them as close to the pocket as you can sweetheart, and leave the rest to me," proved less effective...and although it came down to the black...when your playing against someone called Sean Patrick Harrington...the luck of the Irish has got to come into it somewhere. Needless to say it was a white wash.
After a few days rest we picked up our next Hire Car. Now we are seasoned backpackers we feel ready to complete the route of a BUDGET traveler and instead of our Cherry Red Pontiac Grand AM Automatic, 0 - 60 in 10 seconds we now have a 1.1 Hyundai with grey Formica dash.
With sparks flying from our plastic wheel trims we speed off in the direction of It transpires we where in the wrong Anyhow I will leave it to Jason to describe our stay on the ex army ice breaker....as the more frugal of our pairing he was very impressed at the 7 pounds a night price tag, but as also the more Hygienic he is still traumatized by the showers..........
Tune in soon for our adventures in Love
J & J
It all began on BA flight 99, seats 34 aisle and window.
An uncomfortable flight in which Julie almost came to blows with a Canadian woman sitting behind her , who constantly kicked and pulled her chair (air rage quickly nipped in the bud by an air hostess ruling in Julie's favour).
And as for me, I only threw up my chicken curry and rice, I'd just gracefully washed down with two bottles of the captains finest shat-donnay en-crut.
Landed in Toronto to be welcomed by Julie's Auntie Linda and Uncle Sean, who we intended to stay with for a few days to become aclimatised......Those few days could have very easily turned into months as we discovered Sean and Linda have a fully stocked replica bar in the basement along with pool table, darts board, wide screen satelite TV, Air Con, Running Machine the list goes on........Julie's just said "dont forget the adjoining washroom and shower" .......as if she'd use the shower!! or the running machine for that matter!!
So let's get on with the touristy bits....We get to downtown Toronto by the Metro (underground to us) and catch the ferry to Toronto Island. This is a large park , just off the busy city centre, were everyone escapes the hustle and bustle of city life. Basically it's the only place your going to see a blade of grass for miles, and for the perverts reading this, it has a nudie beach!!.
Soooooo the first thing we do is hire a quadracycle to take a tour around......not to see the beautifully cared for Summer Gardens, or the boating lake with it's lovely swans and Canadian Geese....NO....we tear-arse across the park to the 'clothes optional beach' for a bit of sight seeing!! With a bit of Dutch courage we may have joined in but having left the Ambre Solaire factor 20 back home, it wasn't worth getting the delicate bits sunburned!
Got the ferry back to mainland Toronto after a pub lunch and head straight for the CN tower. We Zoom Straight to the primary viewing Gallery were you can walk on the glass floor and look down at the streets miles below (Scary) before walking around the outside deck. But! we have DELUX tickets for the upper Gallery another lift ride away..... we have to Q for 30 mins in the stuffy , no air con, passageway.......never mind it will be worth it...eventually jump in the lift , cameras at the ready to take even more stunning shots of the view..when doors open and S**%#&!!! ...We got the lift back to the ground floor!! Sooooo it's stay in the lift, go back up and Q again. This time we joined the correct Q, another half hour before we finally get up there.....take a quick look at the view and a few shots and yet again join another half hour Q to descend.
At this point alcohol was required so the nearest bar gets it!!
We left Toronto for Vancouver on the 8th July. On the way we studied a backpackers guide on accomodation in Vancouver and decide to stay just off the edge of China Town.....what it should have said was 'on the edge of the Bronx..and we mean the rough edge' promotions included free intravenous drugs paraphanelia with every room!
The streets were quite scary....well for me at least...Julie kept saying "nah we'll be fine...it's just like walking through moss side at night" (I have just been punched in the ribs by lovely Julie)
So, as not to get anything robbed at knife point whilst looking for a restaurant, we decided to swallow our valuables before leaving...it's always best to be on the safe side, though Jules did tell me to draw the line when I tried to hide my hair gel!...well a boys got to look his best.
Next morning and it's up early to find a better hostel in a better part of vancouver...and we did.
This hostel had proper travellers from all over the world...just like us!! and we even bought fresh food and cooked in the communal kitchen.
After setting the smoke alarms off, and the fire brigade leaving we took a look around the local area. Only to find we were staying in the 'Davie Village' area of downtown vancouver. To give you a clue, the streets weren't short of rainbow motif bunting, leather caps and waistcoats, handle bar moustaches, women who looked like blokes and blokes who looked and sounded like women!! Looking back I did see a gang of blokes heading into a bar as if they were going to watch a game... I nearly asked to join them...thank god I didn't . I can say after finding all this out I made Julie stay by my side 24/7. And I definately wasn't going to wear my new red waxed thong with maple leaf logo on the front to the local beach......no way!
Slightly to the north of Davie village is Stanley Park, so it's time to hire more bikes and go off exploring. Luckily we don't see signs for a puffs and lezzer beach so go off for a relaxed cycle whilst enjoying the sun. The 1000 acre Stanley park was once owned by the Guinness family, and early in the last century they paid for the construction of the Lions Gate Bridge which joins Vancouver city up with the northern section.....and that's all the touristy info your getting (Note from Julie ...Funny how he remembers the Guinness Info!!)
Monday 11th and it's time to start exploring British Columbia. Thanks to AVIS, who recon we're mentally and physically ok to drive, we head north in our cherry red Pontiac Grand AM....(automatic) with Walsall FC scarf in the back window.
Having Jules at the wheel.......AND on the right hand side of the road in the pouring rain, my navigational skills are tested to the max!! WIth me fastened tightly in the back, and crash helmet on, Julie has no problems hearing me over the six and a half thousand revs!! So Whistler here we come.........
We check out Whistlers first hostel which is on a cross roads with off licence opposite and bar underneath and decide it's not for us!!!so drive 10K into the wilderness and settle for a hostel run by a cross between Denzel Dexter and Dave Angel Eco Warrior (Fast Show Reference) but it's right on the water's edge of a beautiful lake overlooking the mountains and has plastic covered matresses so you can't complain really!!
Next day we go into whistler for breakfast and enjoy a day at the village. We go for a 2k walk around the lost lake and sunbathe on a floating pontoon.
In the afternoon we brave the Gondola lift to the very top of Whistler mountain leaving in glorious sunshine and arriving above the cloud line in the pouring rain, so it's a quick dash to the view point to take a 'been there done that' photo.
Back down on the Gondola followed by a game of crazy golf which Julie Nearly won 51 - 75 (Par 45) loser gets the beers in ! Thanks Jules!
Head back to 'Space Bats Lodge' for a relaxing night of beer, cards and pool.
Whistler to Kamloops next, me driving today and the weather is hot!! Now we're heading high into the Rocky Mountains , and on stopping in the middle of nowhere for a break, we meet a bloke from Preston who's cycling from Alaska to the southern tip of Argentina! Personally I wouldn't mind doing it in Holland or Norfolk but not in these mountains.... We carry on our journey and see our first bear at the side of the road (Alive) We stop for me to do a quick shot whilst Julie keeps the engine running and the door open!!!
We arrive in Kamloops and book into the 'old court house' still furnished with magistrates bench , dock and jury seats. After showering and going out to dinner one of the local pubs has a Rodeo Bull contest which sounds fun after a long day at the wheel. Julie and I don't hesitate to sign up! The first womens round goes well for julie and she holds on for the full 8 seconds (Strong thighs and a lot of practice says Julie), I make it through in the blokes round , only to be thrown off in the next and suffer damaged ribs for the next week!! Julie on the other hand, see's off two more rounds and remained unbeaten all evening. But for some reason doesn't win any prizes like a hat or vouchers!!
Hangover from hell the next day as both of us got very, very drunk. Two nurofen and a day of doing nothing in the sun is the best cure!!
Kamloops to Jasper Next....Julies behind the wheel and it's pouring down ...a theme is developing here. Not much to see along the way because it's so bad and arrive in Jasper mid afternoon. No accomodation in the hostels, but from a list in the tourist information we get lodging for the night with a family nearby. Not before we sample the Guinness at the 'Dead Dog Pub' which actually has photo's on the wall of people's dogs and the day they died!! (Note to Steve P.....Julie wanted to leave a photo of J the Dog, bit I insisted we preserve his dignity!!)
Anyway it's getting late and the bar is calling. Next update from Julie and we won't leave it as long next time.
Having a top time J & J
Well, I never did get chance to post the itinerary before leaving the country. The last few weeks were a whirlwind to say the least.
We're now in Toronto, which it won't take a genious to work out was our first destination...... So from here, where do we go you ask.
Well, next stop is Vancouver and a tour of the west of Canada for a few weeks including Calgary, Bamph and other exciting destinations. We'll be going on 'The Rocky Mountaineer' a spectacular train ride through the mountains.
We'll then come back over to eastern Canada, to tour around Quibec and Montreal before making our way down to Niagra and then on down to New York where we should arrive around August 10th ish.
From there we have till October 10th to get across America to LA.
We're planning to see all the usual highlights, Vegas, The Grand Canyon etc and are really looking forward to the National Parks at Jellystone and Yosemite.
From LA we fly to Peru for the Inca Trail and then carry on trecking through Bolivia and on into Brazil followed by Argentina and Chile. In all we'll have two months in South America and leave Santiago for New Zealand on 11th Dec.
From here the dates are pretty sketchy and we book things as we go along but we're aiming for the following.
New Zealand 11th Dec to 30th Jan
Oz 30th Jan to 10th April
Singapore travelling through Thialand to Bangkok 10th April to 8th May
China 8th May 29th May
South Africa 29th May to 3rd July and then home.
Well SO far so good and the trip has started really well.
Appologies in advance to everyone trying to stay in touch about dodgy gramer and spelling, am yet to find the spell check on this site and have grown dependent on it over the last decade!!
Also we think a few people are having trouble registering with Motime to leave messages so either write who it's from in the message text or continue to send anonymous abuse.
Keep the faith!!!
Jase & Jules
Only 4 weeks to go and things are getting exciting. Both our houses are let which was the major thing to get sorted...the 'to do' list now is full of things that are less daunting...insurance, innoculations, visas...actually all sounds pretty important so will be cracking on with all that in the next few weeks.
Our itinerary is all sorted and I'll post it before we go!
Still in Lichfield at the planning stage.
Our tickets and rucksacks are purchased, and our departure date is set for July 4th.
Thought it was a good idea to practice using this blog now before we get under way.....
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