Blogs from United States, North America - page 5515

Jono and I planned a while back to go to Portland to have (a white) Christmas and New years with my old uni pal, Jane, her husband Paul and their two kids - Attikus and Aislinn. We were planning to drive, but our car broke down at the start of December, so we bought ourselves bus and train tickets. We decided it would be nice to break the journey in Seattle, spending an afternoon and a night checking out the City a little more and then catching the train onwards the next day to Portland. It turned out to be fortuitous that we arranged it this way, even though it didn’t go to plan, ‘cause at least we did not miss our connecting train… We got to the Greyhound bus depot in Vancouver at about 7:45am, ... read more

I will be home tomorrow on Christmas eve which finally ends my road trip back to the east coast. I couldn't end the trip without driving past the Great Smoky Mountains, and of course, make a day visit to Dollywood. I heart Dolly Parton. When ever she speaks she warms my heart. Something about her voice and her laughing squeal makes me giddy. I only rode two of the rides because many of the roller coasters go into loops and I am terrified of upside down roller coasters. A fear that I just didn't fell like confronting today. The weather dropped to below 20 by nightfall, but we stuck around until close to enjoy the Christmas music and lights. Unfortunately Dolly was not in the park. Jason purchased a banjo though. I plan to learn along ... read more

Well it’s our last night in New Orleans and although another chapter in our travels opens tomorrow New Orleans has certainly made its mark on both of us and perhaps we can be audacious and use Rupert Brooke’s words and say “If I should die, think only this of me; that there’s a corner of New Orleans, that is forever England”, well the two stools at the end of the bar at the Kerry anyway! Today I bought a New Orleans Fire-fighters calendar… phwoarrr! - I only bought it because it contributes to the city homeless appeal and Mr July who sold it to me had nothing to do with it of course! Adam - you will love it…. Tonight we returned to the Alpine, where our new waiter thought we were from New Zealand!!!!! An ... read more

I've been back in Michigan a week now and everything has been FABULOUS!! The food's great, my family is wonderful, and my friends are the best! And I'm having so much fun DRIVING again! I missed my little car and that incredible freedom! Whoo-hooo! The other day I went to the mall with a friend. The strangest part was seeing all the people. We have such a beautiful and random mixture of people here in the States...although I had a hard time not staring at some "styles of fashion". But I'm sure that'd be the case even if I hadn't been out of the country for a year. I'm hoping for lots more snow while I'm home, so if you have some that you don't want just send it my way! I probably won't get to ... read more

I arrived at my hostel in the Back Bay area of Boston at 2am on Wednesday morning, after a 14 hour Greyhound trip which was no fun at all. I got up at 9am to cash in on the free breakfast, and then phoned a friend from Penn State who I knew was in Boston with another friend. Turned out they were both staying two doors down the corridor from me. I had a well earned shower and then headed to the middle of town, the Boston common, with Lois and Sam. The girls went shopping, and I went to the tourist booth at Boston common to start on the freedom trail historical tour of Boston. It was probably a couple of degrees below freezing, and there was snow everywhere. The whole common was covered in ... read more