by Miss Wendy O Californ-I-A baby. Arguably the most diverse state of the nation, home to the most immigrants and influences. It has the most national parks and the biggest trees known to man, as well as 1,200 miles of rugged wild Pacific coastline. You can feast on exquisite worldly cuisine while sipping fine vino from Napa Valley. And where would we be without the vacuum tube, PCs, the internet, fortune cookies, the seedless watermelon and of course McDonalds. The craggy North Coast is marked by fog-shrouded woods, rocky cliffs, deserted beaches, wild ocean, redwood forests [View Full Entry]

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by Miss Wendy O It was a frosty, crisp evening in Montana. After a full day’s driving, we were snuggled up in our tent with our thermals plus several layers to prevent our body temperature from plummeting. Although tired, there was something distracting our minds and preventing us reaching a deep comfortable sleep. Then suddenly, as if from the other side of the campsite, screams echoed off the mountains. It could be only one thing… the thing that had been on our minds since arriving in the park … a big hairy Grizzly Bear!!! To put this into perspective, I [View Full Entry]

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written by Miss Wendy O Washington We said goodbye to the mountains, the altitude, the hot days and freezing nights and the scary hairy beasts, and headed West into Washington (the most North Westerly State). There was a sudden drop in temperature as we crossed the state line where the weather was wet and the skies stormy. Like the mountains, Washington escapes the whole convenience and mall epidemic infesting the mid West and East coast. It was refreshing to see bare highways and where downtown is where most shop, eat and drink. Seattle, home to Jimi Hendrix, Starbucks [View Full Entry]

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Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park. Wyoming As we left South Dakota and entered Wyoming we came across a new type of landscape, gone were the flat never ending corn fields and prairies and we began to climb into high country. We were both very excited about this part of our trip, looking forward to seeing national parks and being amongst mountains again. We also noticed that we left behind the ubiquitous clusters of strip malls and gargantuan stores that we saw throughout the mid west. The Walmarts, Targets, chain supermarkets [View Full Entry]

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As the sun set over the mountain lake and the waves lapped gently against the jetty, she proposed.............. WOO HOO!!!! Montana. July 11th 2007 [View Full Entry]

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West from New York through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota We left New York and headed West determined to put some serious miles behind us. We spent days travelling through the heartland of America where people live in small farming communities, islands of civilization in a vast ocean of corn fields and prairies. On the way through we stopped in Chicago to celebrate American Independence on 4th of July with our friends. Wendy had a great day secretly buying gifts for my impending birthday (a good excuse for some retail therapy). Mean [View Full Entry]

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written by Miss Wendy O Washington, DC We left Virginia behind and headed to the capital of the USA. But, does Washington Dull City (DC) live true to its reputation? It’s hard not to feel a sense of awe and disbelief when finally standing on the doorstep of the gleaming monuments and iconic buildings so often seen in movies and on the news. Although not quite making it onto the doorstep of the White House, peering through the gates at the presidential palace and black sedans with tinted glass parked in the driveway, was a surreal experience. The Mall, also known [View Full Entry]

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Written by Miss Wendy O After shaking the dust off, having a much needed shower (especially Stuart pooeeee) and finally sorting Argie's aircon we were off. We drove to Ashville to reach the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It traverses the southern Appalachian ridge and extends from North Carolina's Great Smoky Mountains to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. It was great to leave the dull interstates to quieter scenic roads where we could fully appriate the stunning views of the mountains. We camped the first night at a site at the beginning of the parkway. It was called Doug [View Full Entry]

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After a fond farewell to South America, we arrived in the USA to begin the next chapter of our travels. We flew via Miami (where we had to question whether we had really left Latin America) to Chicago. Our initial impressions of the country are (1) stores are huge and getting bigger. We visited a couple of Walmart and Target stores that were the size of towns in Scotland or Australia. (2) the people are huge and getting bigger.... monstrous portions of junk food are taking their toll. After getting over the moral dilemma we faced from having just left poverty [View Full Entry]

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written by Miss Wendy O After an overnight bus from Huaraz to Lima then a flight to Ecuador, we have finally arrived in Ecuador, our last stop in South America. Our first impression of the country was an unexpected one. With the busy streets of Quito lined with 'fancy pants' shops, funky restaurants and bars and modern cars it was the most developed country we had been to since Argentina! The wealth of the country mostly comes from their production of oil. But of course we soon noticed the huge inequality too. We befriended a young shoe shine boy in one [View Full Entry]

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