http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Jen and Chris/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Jen and Chris en-us Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:38:58 BST Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:38:58 BST Our last few days in California took us back to the coast with our starting point at Monterey home of the world renowned lsquoJazz Festivalrsquo which we missed by a mere two dayshellipbollocks and from there working our way down to Santa Barbara just north of Los Angeles along the amazing Highway 1. From our base at the Comfort Inn Montereyhellip we explored the historic and extremel http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Santa-Barbara/blog-93915.html California really has got it allhellip beautiful beaches rolling hills lush farmland and last but certainly not least some fantastic parks. In our Grand Tour de Cali we decided to visit as many of these as possible. After exploring the redwoods on the Northern coast we ventured further inland to one of the nationrsquos most famous national parks Yosemite. After that it was not far to K http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Sequoia-National-Park/blog-93914.html Now you may have heard as we had that San Francisco is possibly the most beautiful city in the worldhellip Now not willing to just take someone elsersquos word for it we thought we should devote a good few days to discovering for ourselves what all the fuss is about. Throughout our time in the Bay Area we discovered a thriving and cosmopolitan city with sweet surprises aplenty around eve http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-90950.html Never being one to pass up a glass of wine our arrival at the Sonoma and Napa Valley regions was akin to landing in paradise. Ahead of us lay 2 full days of sampling the best that the USA has to offer and if you believe the California hypehellippossibly the best in the whole world although I suspect the French may have something to say about thathellip Now I could go into great lengths des http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Napa-Valley/blog-90216.html After a glorious couple of days at Crater Lake we set off driving South and finally crossed into California. It was quite a momentous occasion to reach the West Coast at last. We joined winding Highway 101 the Coast Road and looked forward to seeing some sun sand and the Pacifichellipgood old sunny California right No no thatrsquos Southern California. We quickly learned that Northe http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Eureka/blog-90215.html Hello again the really interesting geologist is back with two more natural wonders to thrill you with The two epic craters in the title refer to lsquoThe Craters of the Moonrsquo National Monument and the lsquoCrater Lake National Parkrsquo. Both of these marvels have two things in commonhellip1. We went to both of them2. They were both created by volcanic activityAnother interesting http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Oregon/Crater-Lake/blog-90214.html Finally after the seemingly endless journey across Wyoming and South Dakota before that we reached our first major national park Yellowstone whose beauty and grandeur we had been greatly anticipating. We entered the park through the East entrance and as we drove across the park to our campground in West Yellowstone we soon realized that Yellowstone is a park with two faces. Over the next 4 http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Wyoming/Yellowstone-National-Park/blog-88270.html Our journey from the Black Hills to Yellowstone was quite a long one so it required a couple of stopoffs along the way. Our first night in Wyoming was in the small town of Buffalo. We stayed in a nice little cabin in the KOA campground there had dinner out at the one local restaurant that was open on a Monday and that was pretty much it.Our next night however in Cody Wyoming was much more http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Wyoming/Cody/blog-87271.html After spending the morning in the Badlands we continued our journey West through South Dakota to our next KOA campground in Hot Springs. With temperatures soaring to near 100F we were not looking forward to setting up camp in the heat. Fortunately this campground had a nice pool with no kids at the time so once the work was done a cool dip sorted us right outThe next day we intended to driv http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/South-Dakota/blog-87270.html First in this trio of wonders is lsquoThe Badlandsrsquo and take it from me this place is like nothing else on earth. Many a poet has tried to encapsulate the awe of this place into wordshellipall have failed miserably as words alone cannot describe or prepare you for the sheer weirdness of this unique natural spectacle. The experts consider The Badlands to be a pocket sized version of the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/South-Dakota/Badlands/blog-87269.html Holy Shit Chicago rocksHowever this could end up being the longest and probably most boring epic of all timehellipso I will try and keep it short and sweet. Unfortunately 3 nights was nowhere near enough time to experience all this fantastic city has to offer so a return visit is already in the pipeline In my humble opinion the single most impressive quality about Chicago is the architect http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Illinois/Chicago/blog-85275.html After finally getting back into the USA we continued our journey south to Rushsylvania Ohio. Irsquom sure most of you have never heard of the small town of Rushsylvania and you may be wondering why we would make such a strange detour itrsquos not exactly on the way to Chicago. This particular stop was one of the most important on our trip and was an absolute must do. The truth is that th http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Ohio/Rushsylvania/blog-85267.html As the title suggestshellipnow for something a bit different. As we have just passed the 5000 mile mark I thought that I would celebrate it with a few pictures taken whilst in transit from one place to the next. You may think that this blog is a bit oddhellipeven if you do I am certain that you will still find that the pictures themselves hold a certain beauty. Images of such extreme emptin http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/South-Dakota/Badlands/blog-83814.html After a glorious stay in Boston our next significant destination was Niagara Falls. However between Boston and Niagara lay nearly 600 miles two nights of camping and using our somewhat less direct and more scenic route 3 states. The journey itself doesnrsquot warrant an entire blog so I will just fill you in on the highlights enroute to the falls.Our first nightrsquos stay was in Portla http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/Niagara-Falls/blog-83545.html It was only a few hours from our campground in Cape Cod to Boston. After a lovely drive up we took advantage of the free afternoon and got caught up with some emails and blog writinghellipand we might have laid on the bed and watched a couple movies too.The next morning was gray and rainy so we took our time getting ready. Finally the rain cleared and we got the T metro into downtown Bos http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Massachusetts/Boston/blog-83536.html Firstly just a quick note to say thanks for all the lovely comments and messages that we have received so far we feel very loved and all warm and fuzzy inside We have really enjoyed reading these little lsquomessages from homersquo and hopefully most of you are enjoying reading our blogs. We will try to keep them coming throughout the rest of our trip so stay tuned for moreOk 4 nights o http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Massachusetts/Cape-Cod/blog-83521.html We left Philadelphia and headed north toward Rhode Island. You may think we are crazy but we decided to bypass New York City for this trip and save it for another time. Living on the East Coast will make NYC an easy long weekend trip for the future and we want to give the city the full attention that it deserves.So on we drove through southern Connecticut where we saw a little town on the map c http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Rhode-Island/blog-79579.html It's Day 5 and we are now in Philadelphia for the 2nd night.After a great night out at the ballpark last night today we took the Rough Guide's advice for Philly and decided to head straight for the Independence Hall National Park. This is an area of about 4 blocks that contains most of the cityrsquos historical landmarks. We started with the guided tour of Independence Hall which is where the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Pennsylvania/Philadelphia/blog-79539.html And finally we are off We set off this morning around 9am after some emotional goodbyes. I think the family are so used to the tearful goodbyes that we normally have when going back to London that they didnrsquot really believe that this time we will only be gone for a matter of weeks not months or years.We started our journey heading North through Virginia to Washington DC. The quicker more http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Virginia/blog-77618.html Hello Sports FansThose of you who know me well will be aware that I have a certain fondness for Baseball and despite having visited the USA on numerous occasions prior to my recent emigration my good wife who despite this mild rant will be obeyed and respected at all times never saw the need to take me to a live game. Suffice to sayhellipthat when we were offered tickets to go and see the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Pennsylvania/Philadelphia/blog-77358.html