Blogs from United States, North America - page 6947

North America » United States » Rhode Island April 21st 2005

9 more days and April and I will be heading out on the great open road for 3 months of exploration, learning and pure relaxation. To say I am excited is an understatement.....I am looking forward to working from the road, writing, meeting new people, experiencing new places, eating new foods, smelling new smells -- I think you get the idea! ;) From Florida's beautiful beaches to the excitement and intrigue of New Orleans to the Texas Panhandle and Santa Fe sky -- every little thing is making me excited. I can't wait to see Las Vegas. It has been a couple of years since my last visit and from what I heard -- it has gotten bigger & better (if you can imagine that)! Hey, there is a Margaritaville....soooooo I am THERE baby! :) I ... read more

Photos from a short ride

North America » United States » Oregon » Portland April 20th 2005

First Congregational Church

kommissioner

Between the rainy weather and my bike's being in the shop for a tune up, I haven't done as much riding as I 'd like to lately. Here are some pictures from a ride I took last week during a break in the clouds. I didn't go far, just downtown, over to the inner east side, then back home.... read more

Bean town and Cape Cod adventures

North America » United States » Massachusetts » Boston April 20th 2005

Nantucket Lighthouse

EDAF 2005

Discovered the meaning of "catching the red eye" after our overnight flight from LA to Boston - we were knackered. Lack of sleep and a heavy rucksack meant Sara had an afternoon snooze whilst I perused the local area around the university, music school and Fenway Park (home of the currently topnotch Boston Redsocks Baseball team). Hostel left alot to be desired despite the rates for sharing a 6 bedded dorm and skanky showers!! The next day took a tour around Harvard University and went out for Turkish food (recommended by the Zagat and the Lonely Planet). Despite the nice meal I suffered from food poisoning - the effects of which lasted for several days. Memories of other travels to Egypt and being attached to a drip were never far from my mind!! Sara amused herself ... read more

The Shamisen & Japan Bound

North America » United States » Pennsylvania » Indiana April 19th 2005

Me, Masahiro, Ryoji

ZachInJapan

The Shamisen Nitta Oyako - A father and son Tsugaru Shamisen duo from Hokkaido, Japan, made their first trip to American soil just a few days ago. To our luck they decided to make their American debut at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. For those wondering what a Shamisen is I’ll include a little bit of history to educate! Shamisen is an old Japanese musical instrument. It looks like a banjo with a long neck. You might have heard of shamisen music in connection with geishas, the kabuki theater or the Japanese bunraku puppet theater. As often to be found in Japanese arts, also the shamisen has its origins in China. From China the instrument came to the Southern Islands of Ryukyu (Okinawa). Around the late 16th century it arrived on the Japanese main island and soon ... read more

Disneyland and universal studios

North America » United States » California » Los Angeles April 18th 2005

Us and Mickey

Stacey and Paul

After undergoing a secondary search (body search and check for explosives) we left San Francisco Airport and headed to LA. What a difference it is here - we were told that there are 23 million people in LA - more than in all of Australia. We have been to both disneyland and universal studios and both were fantastic. The rides were incredible with each being individually themed and having little shows at the beginning and during the rides. We saw Mickey (which made Staceys day) and even went on the 'Small world after all' ride - which nearly drove us nuts.......... read more

Luckenbach, Texas

North America » United States » Texas » Luckenbach April 17th 2005

Van Go

Luckenbach Texas, where everybody is somebody.... Took an early morning bus tour of the LBJ Ranch, on the Perdanales River, just west of Johnson City. We are liking the Texas hill country more and more: rolling grasy meadows with big live oaks and colorful wildflowers everywhere. We spent the afternoon under a tree catching up on paperwork and doing a few minor repairs.Toward evening we drove to Luckenbach, TX. A "town" that was once for sale,"lock, stock and dancehall," it has become a country legend and a "Texas state of mind."While it has become a tour bus stop, and not a place where Willie or Waylon might just show up to play, the beer is just $1.50 during happy hour, and talented pickers and singers come every night to sit under the 500-year-old live oaks to ... read more

Chicago, Toronto, NY

North America » United States » Illinois » Chicago April 17th 2005

Discocookie

Hmmm, tiddley in Spain at the mo, so excuse this entry if a bit scatty........ Headed to Chicago and being a complete architecture strumpet, spent two days running about with eyes averted heavenward, taking numerous piccies of buildings. It is a spectacular city, wide boulevards... very Al Capone..... fabulous buildings and shopping, that I couldn´t quite afford. The people seemed fairly nice and I pattered in numerous blues bars, sampling the local culture but truly spent most of the time hungint buildings. The studio and home of Frank lloyd Wright were a particular highlight and the neighbourhoods out towards the area he resided in were full of extremely twee tudor style homes, with tyre swings, baseball parks and beautiful spring trees. Incredibly inspiring and Lake Michigan is massive!!!! They have planetariums and the enormous Navy Pier, ... read more

Mayhem in Manhattan

North America » United States » New York April 17th 2005

Central Park

dt99

So after 3 wonderful days in Mexico, we finally decided it was time to move on to New York. Wistfully said goodbye to our georgeous hotel, as we knew that we were heading back into Hostel Hell after this :) We were looking forward to going back to a country where everyone spoke English, and the usual amenities would be avaialble again, and people did things 'just like us'. It's funny how you start to crave things like that after a while. Even was looking forward to the flight, which was a first. By now, I was well and truly sick of planes, early flights, airports, would you like the chicken or the fish, please fasten your seatbelt, blah blah blah blah blah!! But this was the first time we'd be flying American Airlines, having flown ... read more

An obligatory shot of the Statue of Liberty

the day in Burlington

North America » United States » Vermont April 16th 2005

dahmans

We left for Burlintgon at 8h00am.When we arrived we went to ECHO leahy center I found it a little bit boring but it was not bad. It was so cold so we stay in the center to eat . to began the after noon we went to the teddy bear factory and we saw how we do to make a teddy bear I found it not very difficult it was very funny to continous we went to the principal street of burlington Church street after this the exiting moment:shopping in the university malland I buy a lot of thing like clothes . 6h45pm it 'time to come back in Newport ... read more

So much to say - Part 2...

North America » United States » Massachusetts » Boston April 15th 2005

Vegas at night

EDAF 2005

We didn´t have any accommodation booked for the following night, so we played (drove ?) it by ear and ended up in Oatman. Another ´ghost´town, although this one was still inhabited, by a number of locals making a living out of the fact that Clarke Gable stayed there on his honeymoon night, the noon ´gun fight´and the wild donkeys (burro´s) who come and go as they please. Went to Lake Hasavu City, notably only for its fake lake and London Bridge. Gill once again used her persuasion skills and got us into our Las Vegas (Nevada) hotel a night early.... What is there to say about Vegas - any of you who have been there, will understand how bizarre it really is. Everything is fake, from the Eiffel Tower to the Venetian Canals, to the over ... read more

Brief history of United States

Britain's American colonies broke with the mother country in 1776 and were recognized as the new nation of the United States of America following the Treaty of Paris in 1783. During the 19th and 20th centuries, 37 new states were added to the origina...more history

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