We had a late night/early morning after Bernie watched the Richmond vs Fremantle game via the internet!! Unfortunately Richmond's winning streak was ended by the Dockers! After sleeping in a bit we ventured down to the lower lobby for our complimentary breakfast at the Hampton Inn. There was plenty of food to choose from, but we kept it simple opting for some fruit and a bit of cereal. After breakfast we took the car out of the Hampton's car park and headed off to Schiller's Camera Store. This time Bernie had called ahead to be certain that the lens was in stock before we drove right across town!! As we were driving to the store we found that we were actually travelling on one of the many roads designated as Historic Route 66. The Mother Road ... read more

Yesterday afternoon we kept seeing SAVE DWIGHT PRISON signs in front yards. Curious to learn what this was about we Googled 'Save Dwight Prison' and learnt that the prison employs 350 people locally, but its closure has been announced because the infrastructure upgrades that the prison needs make it unviable to keep it open. Apparently the prison guards received their notices on 23 May 2012 - a real blow to the local economy. After a self-catered breakfast of fruit and cereal in our room, we spent the morning in Pontiac. We started by photographing the Historic 1875 County Court House. We were hampered somewhat by the works that are being undertaken opposite the court house. The site building has been placed right in front of the court house which does spoil the street-scape somewhat!! Next we ... read more

Ha, we slept better last night because we discovered that we could open the windows in our room. On Sunday night it was too noisy with the air conditioner on and too warm with it off. We opted for too warm which meant that we tossed and turned a bit! It could also have something to do with our body clocks adjusting to local time?? After breakfast this morning we headed into the city again. Having walked straight past the Chicago Cultural Centre yesterday morning without realising it we decided that we should go back and actually visit it this morning to view the stained glass domes. When we arrived it was to discover that a Quality Risk Management seminar was being conducted in the Preston Bradley Hall. How can you conduct something so dry and ... read more

Another boring day in transit today! The alarm was set for 6.00am so that we could get to the airport in good time for our 10.40am flight to Chicago. It was cold, wet and miserable again today so not all that difficult to be leaving England behind - although we will certainly miss the Stalybridge hospitality. Kath and Albert saw us off at about 7.30am in their dressing gowns. With the weather no good for gardening I think they were going to go back to bed for a while. We had a smooth run to Manchester Airport arriving there in about 20 minutes. As American Airlines Flight 55 was departing from Terminal 3 we parked the Golf on the roof of the multi-story car park at Terminal 3. That seemed like the logical thing to do, ... read more

This morning dawned grey and overcast, but at least the rain had stopped! After settling our account at the Inglenook Guest House we went in search of Hardraw Force, a waterfall on the Hardraw Beck in Hardraw Scar, a wooded ravine just outside the hamlet of Hardraw which is not far from Hawes. The waterfall is a single drop of 100 feet from a rocky overhang, which makes it (allegedly) England's highest unbroken, aboveground waterfall. Its other claim to fame is that it was used as a location in the film 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' - in the scene where Maid Marian catches Robin Hood bathing under a waterfall. So, you would think that this waterfall would be easy to find wouldn't you???! Not so, for these two hapless Aussie tourists!! First, we had to ... read more