The McKenzie's Official world tour site
# Sunday, 25 January 2009
TEXAS - CAUGHT ON CAMERA.....................

        

         "Look how sunny it is here!"                 "I like to inspect what I eat!"

 

        

          "I can see you!"                               Beautiful bright colours.

 

                           

  Where all your dreams come true!                A dazzling sunset.                             "I am very rarely seen"    

                       

"Thankyou to the Cross Eyed Moose Store!"               "A Proud Nation."                                   "HOLD TIGHT!"


Sunday, 25 January 2009 07:12:38 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  USA

TEXAS DREAMING..........

We drove into Texas and dipped off Route 66 for a while, as we stayed quite near to Dallas. The Sandy Lake RV Park had many friendly local residents who were great to talk to! We met Thom and his son William and enjoyed listening to both local and general US history and knowledge too. It has always been great to talk with the locals wherever we have been as the local knowledge has been priceless!

On New Years’ Eve we visited Fort Worth Zoo. The animals all had well thought out and spacious enclosures and we had a great day!

We toasted the New Year in – in Nessie. Here’s to 2009! Thank-you to 2008 for being kind to us!

We enjoyed another special meal in Nessie with a New Year’s Day Roast. She is looking after us really well! We enjoyed the evening chatting to our new found Texan friend Thom and the children would like to thank William for letting them loose with his X Box and Guitar Hero Rock Band!

We went to spend some time in and around the Stockyard area of Fort Worth. This area has famous history as thousands of animals were taken by cattle drives from across Texas and gathered together at these stock yards and then shipped off to different places on the trains from the Fort Worth station. This western city still maintains the traditional approach with the local’s ‘cowboy dress code’ and plenty of steak eating houses! There was a lovely laid back and relaxed feeling about the place! We took a look around some traditional stores. The first stocked western furniture and home decor “Bum Steer”– with lots of animal heads looking at us from every direction! We had a good chat to the lady with English connections and reminisced about H.P sauce and marmite!! This lady was kind enough to phone through and find out the details of the Rodeo that was happening later that evening, for us!  

Next we took a look around the company’s next shop-“The Cross Eyed Moose” with an enormous selection of Western Antiques (they also have a third store along the Main Street at the Historical Fort Worth Stockyards called Adobe Arts & Frame Gallery). Once again the people were very friendly and interested in what we were doing! We told our story-including about Phil’s cowboy hat (which was actually his brother’s!)  having been stolen. The lady very kindly decided to give Phil a real mocoy Texan hat to replace his, especially as we were going to the Rodeo that night!

Here we found out about the Texas Jackalope-a Jackrabbit that actually has horns too. This is a single fauna specimen and was first seen by a trapper named George McLean in 1829.

The children also fell for the resident dogs in the shop and we all enjoyed our time at the Cross Eyed Moose!

The rest of us were not to be outdone and so after a traditional steak meal - we stocked up on a cowboy hat each too!

The Rodeo was great fun – we saw the finals of the Stockyard Championships in the Historic Cow-town Coliseum. It was very entertaining with bull riding, bronc riding, barrel racing, and calf lassoing!

The children were let loose into the arena with maybe 50 more children to do the calf and mutton scrambles! A calf or sheep was let loose and the children had to race to remove the tag and be the winner!

The Texas Longhorn Cattle herd can still be seen being driven up the cobbled streets twice a day, by cowboys on horse- back. Traditional is still alive and strong! The children were able to dress in traditional clothes and sit on the Indian’s horse which was also great to do.

We went to see Downtown Dallas which was a world away from Fort Worth. It is not very far in miles and it is a business centre rather than a tourist area. It is adorned with many enormous glass sky scrapers and offices.

We decided to take advice from the locals and get air conditioning fitted and we would like to thank May’s RV Inc in Lewisville, Texas for juggling their jobs and fitting us in at short notice. We were told that we would simply not survive when we return to the US in summer –without full air con throughout the whole of Nessie! Point taken!!

We packed up once more and headed out of Texas for a while and into Oklahoma. Phil had read that there was a great wildlife refuge where we may see wild buffalo/bison and so we decided to go and take a look!

 

FACTOIDS-

·         Texas covers 268,581 square miles – both land and water.

·         Texas extends 801 straight-line miles from north to south and 773 miles from east to west.

·         Texas has 91 mountains a mile or more high, all of them in west Texas.

·         The longest river in Texas is the Rio Grande, which forms the international boundary between Texas and Mexico and extends 1,254 miles along Texas.

·         Texas ranks first internationally in cotton production.

·         The Cowboy Boot’s history dates back to the Spanish Conquistadors who invaded Mexico in the 16th century.

·         Spaniards taught the natives the art of the fine boot construction.

·         In the latter part of the 19th century, approximately 600 boot-makers practised their craft in Texas.

·         Now, no more than 60 artisans produce boots the old fashioned way-totally by hand.

·         The classic boot was a work shoe with the cowboy’s daily routine in mind. They had pointed toes so they could be easily slipped in and out of the syrups and an elevated arch that helped to hold the foot firm in place. The upper part of the boot served as protection against barbed wire and snakes.

·         The Cow-town Coliseum is home to the world’s first indoor rodeo!

·         Jackalopes have the ability to imitate the human voice and they only sing on dark nights before a thunderstorm.

WILDLIFE HITS-

·         Armadillo

·         Redwing Black-birds

·         Texas Long –Horn cattle

·         American Kestrel

·         Northern Cardinal

·         Great Blue Heron

·         Egret  

 


Sunday, 25 January 2009 06:53:47 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  USA

# Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Oklahoma City Pics - Christmas 2008

Here are a few more pictures to keep you all going -while we retrieve the photos that

were in the rest of the back blogs - sorry for any inconvenience - we hope to have this

 corrected as soon as possible!

         

     Apollo 14 - Lunar Rock - out of             Christmas Day 2008-in Nessie!

      this world!!

 

        

       "The End of the Trail"                       We said hello to John Wayne.

 

                   

           Those are some Horns!                           Jemma and a cougar.                      Oklahoma Capitol Building.

 

                  

              Our civilised journey!                                     "Yum Yum!!"                                  This is some horse box!


Tuesday, 13 January 2009 03:36:19 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  USA

# Monday, 12 January 2009
WOOPS!

We are sorry that all of our photos are not available to be viewed on this site at the moment - slight technical hitch that will hopefully be sorted out soon! Meanwhile - thanks for your patience! Please check back again soon!


Monday, 12 January 2009 08:04:57 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  USA

# Sunday, 11 January 2009
Oklahoma City - Christmas 2008

The children were very happy to discover that the Rockwell RV Park at Oklahoma City had an indoor heated swimming pool! There were straight in there on our first evening, to help ease the withdrawal symptoms that they had been experiencing!

Nessie had been all decorated for Christmas-even with her own little fibre optic tree-she was feeling happy with the Christmas spirit!

A couple of days before Christmas we visited the Oklahoma Science Museum. This was a fun packed day and we even ran out of time – as there was so much to see. Ben was in his element at the Live Science experiment show. He went and asked the scientist if he could help explode something and for his nerve (and cheek!) he became the first volunteer! There were lots of demonstrations involving different types of explosions and the factors that are necessary to cause an explosion. They all led up to an enormous ‘big bang!’

There were many ‘hands on’ activities and even an outer space rocket simulator. The children flew over England and checked on our house for us!

We watched a 3D show in a domed theatre and this featured the spectacular Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. The film was explaining how the river is under threat because of the increased population who are taking water from the river that feeds the dam. Also the farmers are still using flood irrigation on their fields which is using much more water than is necessary.

We can’t wait to see the Canyon for real very soon!

At the museum there was also a Planetarium, life-sized dinosaurs and an extensive shipwreck feature, with many rescued artefacts.

On Christmas Eve, we went to visit the Harley Davidson Store – and Ben did some more dreaming about when he is a grown up!

The children went swimming again, before watching ‘Santa Claus-The Movie’, to prepare themselves for the big day! On a last look outside before going to bed we all saw a perfect sleigh line shooting across the skies above Nessie.......and Father Christmas did find us- just like he promised last year! Phil cooked a fantastic Roast meal in Nessie and we all went swimming in the afternoon-although some of us spent more time in the hot tub, than the pool!

On Boxing Day we went to the National Cowboy and Heritage Museum. This centre helps to keep the Western Heritage alive and preserved for future generations. There were many artefacts and exhibits that were very informative. In the entrance hall stood ‘The End of The Trail’ – a very powerful sculpture that is 18 feet tall and weighs approximately 4 tons. This is James Earle Fraser’s interpretation of the last cowboy in history.........Prosperity Junction was a 1900 Western Cattle town that we could walk through at dusk. We re-visited the life of a bygone era and experienced a saloon, school, church and even got to throw the children into jail for a while!

We had a great time in Downtown Oklahoma. This was a lovely time to visit with all of the lights and Christmas cheer! We took a horse and carriage ride around the ‘new city’ -as they just celebrated their centenary last year!

We took the ‘Melting Pot’ experience for my birthday meal in Oklahoma City and it was by far more unique than dipping marshmallows into melted chocolate at home! This was a Fondue Restaurant and a whole new experience. Our Server, Karl, had a wealth of knowledge to help guide us through the meal! We took the ’big night out’ option and enjoyed a cheese fondue, salad, entree and chocolate fondue for desert. All the raw meats and fish were cooked in the fondue pot right there in front of us, in the middle of our table. There were then many choices of dips and sauces to accompany the meat, with many different flavours. The meal was then completed with the Cookies ’n’ Cream Marshmallow Dream! Many thanks to Karl for his expert advice and Christmas cheer! We shall keep an eye open for the ‘Melting Pot’ in the future as Karl told us that the company is hoping to extend into Europe in the near future.

We then finished off the evening with a boat ride down the one mile long stretch of canal and were very well entertained along the way!

We could not leave Oklahoma City without taking the time to visit the National Memorial which remembers the 168 life’s that were lost (including 19 children) on April 19th 1995. The Memorial honours the victims, survivors and rescuers who were changed forever after the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building was bombed on that morning. There are monumental twin gates of time which frame the moment of destruction at 9.02am. These mark the formal entrance to the Memorial. To the east the gates represent 9.01 on 19th April and the innocence of the city before the attack. To the west, the time is set at 9.03am –the time everything was changed forever. There is a reflecting pool through the centre. On the site of the former Murrah Building stands nine rows of empty bronze and stone chairs. These represent the nine floors of the building. Each person’s chair is set according to the floor that they were either working on or visiting on that morning. Each chair has a glass base with the victim’s name etched into it and at night those glass bases light up as a beacon of hope.

There is an American Elm Tree (90+ years old) which survived the bomb blasts and it is now encircled and known as ‘The Survivor Tree’. It has an inscription to visitors which reads “The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated: our deeply rooted faith sustains us”.

More than 200 feet of the protecting fence has become a place to leave tokens of remembrance, love and hope. We found this Memorial site to be an extremely moving place to be. Across the road stands a statue of Jesus, covering his face with his hands, with these words – ‘and Jesus wept’.

We packed up Nessie and said our farewells to Oklahoma City and Christmas 2008.

 

FACTIODS:

·         Oklahoma’s written history dates backs to 1541 when Spanish explorer Coronado ventured through the area.

·         The area was the home of the Plains Indian Tribes such as Osage, Kiowa, Apache and Comanche. In 1803 Oklahoma was sold to the US, as a part of the Louisiana Purchase.

·         In the 1830’s the Federal Government forced the five civilised tribes to leave their homelands.  

·         Oklahoma City (original) was born in a single day on April 22nd 1889, when about 50,000 homesteaders gathered at the boundaries. At noon the cannon roared and hordes of people streamed over the line on wagons, buckboards, horse-back, on foot and even bicycles into the 2 million acres of land. They made their claims and overnight the city grew out of the plains.

·         The Settlers who entered to claim land before the official start of the run were called’ Sooners’. Still today this is Oklahoma’s State nickname.

·         On November 16th 1907 the Oklahoma Territory and the Indian Territory joined, and Oklahoma became the 46th State.

·         Oklahoma does not have any Indian Reservations. There are, however, 39 Federally-recognised Tribal Nations Headquarters in the State.

·         Just East of Downtown Oklahoma City there is Brick Town which is the renovated ware house district.

·         Oklahoma now has the second largest American Indian population of any State.

·         Many of the American Indians living in Oklahoma today are descendents from the original 67 tribes inhabiting Indian Territory (and we met Nick who explained that his Great -Great Grandfather was the recognised chief in the Comanche Tribe! Nick is now an Environmental Education Specialist at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma – which we visited later – more to follow!)


Sunday, 11 January 2009 04:03:34 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  USA

# Saturday, 10 January 2009
Michigan, Illinois, Missouri through to Oklahoma.............

     

  A Normal Night at the Station!                   Drinking buddies at The Station,

                                                                Stevensville, Michigan.

 

         

Uncle Steve, Aunt Penny & Ben!                          Our Cousin Alex & Rennee.

 

         

   Our Cousin Anita, Jemma & Jack !                    Tracking Nessie!                          Steve & Penny's Winter Wonderland!

 

             

           Spot the temperature gage - the                    Cool as Ice!                                        This is great fun!!

          inside dial is in degrees C!! COLD!

 

              

          They sure do have BIG ones over here!         Downtown St.Louis                          The Mississippi River.

          Can you spot Jemma & Ben?!

 

              

      The Gateway Arch - St.Louis -can         The Historic Route-we are travelling....     The Route 66 Memoribilia Store.

      you see the windows?


Saturday, 10 January 2009 00:01:19 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  USA

# Tuesday, 06 January 2009
FROZEN IN THE NORTH..............

Following our dock-side re-union, we stayed in Nessie and drove through day and night.....it amused us when our GPS System told us to continue on the Interstate 80 Westbound for 628 miles!!

We think we surprised Phil’s brother, Steve, as he saw us drive right past his house the next lunch time! We had arrived in Stevensville, Michigan, just as Steve was home for his lunch break and he had really thought that he was seeing things- when we drove by -a whole day earlier than he had expected!

We received a huge welcome from Steve and Penny –Phil & Steve being the brothers who had not seen each other for 4 years! Once again it was great to have a base and be able to unpack Nessie’s boxes and sort her out! Not sure if we really re-charged our batteries here, as the nights seemed too short and the partying endless- but we did have a fantastic time!! It was great to be able to catch up and to witness Steve and Phil ‘doing’ an ACDC Angus – was something else!! Just don’t ask me too many questions about drinking “Jager bombs” – it is a dodgy subject!

It was also lovely for the children to be able to catch up with their long lost cousins – Alex (& Renee) and their newly -wed cousin- Anita (& Jack). The children loved having a few sleepovers at Anita and Jack’s house (very brave of them!)They had four dogs and a cat to help entertain and –THE SNOW- FOR SLEDGING AND BUILDING SNOWMEN!!

“Oh yes” – the SNOW – Since Nessie has left the heat of Portugal she has been in for the shock of her little life! Her tanks were frozen up even before we arrived at Steve’s, with temperatures falling to minus 5 at that point. As we were kindly offered to sleep in the house, we had to defrost Nessie and then leave her a heater on- all of the time! At worst we left her sat in 8 inches of snow!

From our experience, Stevensville has a very close knit community and we enjoyed time at Steve and Penny’s local – “The Stevensville Station”. The folks at the Station were generous enough to throw a party for us all. In their very own words – a Hill Billy Party, with scrumptious food included. As we arrived we even saw them grilling meat outside in the snow – how dedicated is that?! We even had Mull of Kintyre playing on the juke box! Our special thanks extend to Dee, Art, Kelly, Terry, Al, Steve, Penny, and all at the Station.

“The Brits were in town” and we will be back next year too – for an important date! During the party in the pub, Steve proposed to Penny in front of everyone and (after the shock!) –thankfully she accepted, so we shall be back for a wedding somewhere around next fall-time!!

While we were in Stevensville, Penny took us along to a printer’s and we were able to get lots of business sized cards printed up with our website details and Devon Air Ambulance details too. These have already proved to be invaluable and we have handed out many to interested people along our travels. We would like to thank Independent Copier Supplies, in Stevensville, for being able to deal with our request so promptly and efficiently.

We said our very emotional farewells to Steve, Penny, Anita, Jack, Alex & Renee a couple of weeks before Christmas (remember – we will be back!) We had a plan to head south –We thank- you all for the fantastic visit we have had.......... nothing personal -but we will see you all again next year -when the weather has warmed up a tad!!

We travelled out of Michigan and into Illinois and we found a Jelly Stone Camp Resort (Yogi Bear Camp) at Millbrook, near Chicago. We received a warm welcome here (MUCH warmer than the weather and staff seemed concerned for our welfare being ‘out’ in these conditions.) The conditions were – even more snow and temperatures that shot down to as low as minus 18 degrees C!! With a wind chill factor of minus 30 degrees C!! A bit of a shock if you come from Devon! Yogi Bear is in hibernation for the winter and we were not surprised by this!

We did get stranded for a few days and then took a very nerve racking journey to the nearest shopping mall to get some supplies in, when driving conditions were very challenging (on our wedding anniversary too!) It was even difficult for the children to play outside, as nostril hair was freezing, and we had to wait a few more days before it was bearable for us all to have a winter walk in the snow! This was fine for us- as we did not have to be anywhere, but ‘full-timers’ next door  still had to be up and out for work at 6.30am.

Nessie’s heaters were working overtime to keep us cosy and Phil had to go and buy a 110 volt battery charger and heaters because everything inside Nessie is 240 volts. He also had to keep an eye on the tanks, after shovelling a path through the snow! (Many thanks to our neighbour, Jim, for being a great help in setting us up on site and for many words of wisdom!)

We have never experienced such extreme weather conditions, and there is a point when watching the ice forming on the inside of Nessie’s double glazed windows becomes a little concerning. We had two electric fan heaters and the gas heater running full blast, as we huddled together, four in our bed! And the little one said........

At three in the morning - (for some strange reason) we were being rudely awakened (and probably the neighbours too!) by our carbon monoxide alarm which is VERY loud! Now we had the great choice of carbon monoxide poisoning inside or hypothermia outside! We were very nervous of going back to sleep (obviously) and resorted in waving the door violently to try and let some ice cold air in. We even logged onto the internet during those early hours to find information about carbon monoxide. We clarified our beliefs that carbon monoxide is not created from electric heaters and so turned off the gas heater, just in case. However, the alarm still kept going for hours afterwards.......

We kept the door waving and took the batteries out......we live to tell the tale and when at last we did fall asleep – we dreamt of being stuck in Sesimbra, in the sun.......!

There were warnings of more Ice Storms that were due to hit many parts of the USA (an Ice Storm can leave a thick covering of ice on every surface) and an inch and a half’s ice was forecast for that night– so we decided to try and run from the storm, instead of storm chasing. The danger with Ice Storms is, among others, the weight of the ice on the power lines, and many parts had been without power for days. We did not want to risk this happening to us and so we took the advice of the locals and made a calculated gamble. We left Illinois while the roads were still good and headed south as quickly as possible!

We began our trek on the famous Route 66 and made it to St. Louis in Missouri. We stopped at the St. Louis RV Park and took a couple of nights here as the park was quite central to Downtown St. Louis.

We were advised that it was best to get the Metro ‘Downtown’ but we were keen for a walk and all enjoyed a refreshing 20 minute stroll! In our experience walking as a means of transport is not a preferred method and we have been amused by the drive through fast-foods, ATM’s, banks, pharmacies, Christmas lights, and have even heard about drive through weddings that are now available! Wonder if Steve will opt for that choice next year?!

We walked across to the Gateway Arch which is the Gateway to the West in St. Louis. We visited the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (opened in 1965) to hear the history of how Jefferson’s dream became real when he was able to purchase more Louisiana Land from France and to open out the States into the West......

Until this purchase in 1803, the borders had been at the Mississippi River. The Gateway Arch is 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide and stands as a monument to the American Indians, pioneers, explorers, trappers, gold seekers, missionaries and soldiers who opened the vast wilderness to the west of the Mississippi River. Inside the Expansion Memorial there was (among other attractions) an extensive museum designed as a time line and showing the different stages and influences that have been in the western parts of the USA.

We even got to take a tram ride (which was more like a time capsule) that climbed a track up and down the inside of the legs of the arch. There were eight of these (five passenger) capsules that completely closed in and would possibly be tricky if you suffered from claustrophobia! The trip to the top took four minutes and the return trip only three minutes! From the top there were observation windows to see the stunning views across the city and along the Mississippi River.

The Old Court House (a couple of blocks away) is also an important part of the Memorial site, as it was here that the first two hearing of the Dred Scott Slavery Case were heard. This case was continued and concluded with the infamous decision at the Supreme Court (in Washington DC) in 1857. The final decision in this case was involved in causing the beginning of the Civil War between the North and the South States.

We left St Louis and motored toward Springfield. We rested along an original part of the Route 66 (after finding a great memorabilia store called the ‘Mule Trading Post’ which has been there since 1957!)We found Paradise in the Woods RV Park. This was the first time in a while that the children had been able to get out on their bikes and so they made the most of that! We had a novelty here, to be able to use the community room. This had a table, chairs, a TV, settees, a microwave and a heater! For a change of seats (and because Phil misses his arm chair!) we took our beef stew in and warmed it in the microwave, before having Phil thrash the rest of us in a game of monopoly!

Out of Missouri and the next stop was Oklahoma! We set up base at the Rockwell RV Park (21st Dec) and stayed for the Christmas week.......We even received chocolates for us and candy for the children! More about this park next time!

We are all very happy to be in The States for Christmas 2008. Throughout our travels so far, we have been made to feel extremely appreciated as we take the time to visit some of the sights that help to make up the US heritage. Nothing seems too much trouble and phrases such as ‘You are very welcome’ and ‘Have a great day/evening’ are plentiful. It has been pleasant driving on these roads as there are always interesting sights to see and bill boards to read! Long distances have been easily covered on these enormous straight roads!!

More about our Christmas in Oklahoma -next time!

FACTOIDS-

·         The Gateway Arch stands at 630 ft and is 75 ft higher than the Washington Monument in DC, and is over twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty in New York.

·         The Gateway Arch is the tallest monument within the National Park System of the USA.

·         The Garrison-type flag in the Old Courthouse is the largest of the regulation US flags. Historically flown from the 100 ft wooden flag staffs at Military posts, it measures 36 ft long and 20 ft wide!

·         The Gateway Arch is the centrepiece of the 90 acre Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.

 

WILDLIFE HITS-

·         Male and Female Cardinals

·         Jays

·         Egrets

·         Lesser Spotted Wood Peckers


Tuesday, 06 January 2009 15:19:57 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [1]  USA

# Wednesday, 24 December 2008
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!!

WE WOULD JUST LIKE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO EVERYONE WHO IS TAKING THE TIME TO FOLLOW OUR TRAVELS THROUGH OUR WEBSITES AND BLOGS.................

WE APPRECIATE ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT AND HAVE THOROUGHLY ENJOYED OUR TRAVELS AND EXPERIENCES OF 2008..............WE ARE NOW ENJOYING CHRISTMAS ON ROUTE 66-AT OKLAHOMA CITY.

WE HOPE THAT YOU CONTINUE TO KEEP A TRACK OF US INTO THE NEW YEAR AND PLEASE REMEMBER TO SUPPORT THE DEVON AIR AMBULANCE ALONG YOUR OWN TRAVELS TOO. LET'S SEE HOW MUCH MONEY WE CAN RAISE BETWEEN US-EVERY PENNY COUNTS FOR THEM!

WE WISH YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY AND HEALTHY 2009.

WITH THANKS AND BEST WISHES FROM, PHIL, SHARON, JEMMA & BEN ON MACSWAYROUND. (More blogs and pics will follow shortly- to get us back up to date again!!)

THANKYOU FOR YOUR TIME AND INTEREST................


Wednesday, 24 December 2008 23:40:43 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  USA

# Monday, 22 December 2008
Philadelphia and Washington DC pics....................................

         

Up up and away in                      Phil and his famous statue

Philadelphia...........                    outside the Museum of Art.

         

St.Francis Xavier Church.       We were all there - in Philadelphia on

                                                  Thanksgiving Day 2008.

 

                    

Reflecting Times........                 A city of Glass............             A most unusual design on the

                                                                                              Philadelphia Skyline.

 

               

A tad more than a three point turn             We were all here -at the US Capitol      The view from the Reflection Pool at the

is required here to park!!                          Buildings - Washington DC.                US Capitol -to the Washington Monument.

 

              

A side view - through the trees......          A main entrance to the US Capitol       The Washington Monument......

                                                         Buildings - Washington DC.

                 

We were at the Supreme Court of            Can you spot Jemma & Ben?!                     "I have grown  -LOOK!!"

Justice in Washington DC.                       

 

                

The view from the Washington                   The World War 2 Memorial.                  The Reflection Pool..........

Monument right across to the

Lincoln Memorial.

 

           

Abraham Lincoln himself inside the              "See - I must have grown too!!"

Memorial at Washington DC.


Monday, 22 December 2008 06:37:26 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [1]  USA

# Friday, 19 December 2008
Time in Philadelphia and Washington DC....................

Hello!

As Nessie was taking about 9 days to cross the pond and reach us here in the USA – we had a bit of extra time to go and explore some more – so we rented another car and we were off! We even had a few extra days as Nessie was due to land just the day after Thanksgiving and everybody would be away from their work on their holidays for the next few days after that  - so Nessie would be stranded in the docks, until we could get her released from customs!!

We drove over to New Jersey.....following Phil’s first driving experience in the US for a number of years. Somehow we found ourselves driving right through Downtown Manhattan in the middle of the Friday rush hour, for a first drive! Not quite sure how this happened but it seems to be our luck! After a very nerve-racking journey Phil now believes he can tackle whatever is thrown at him in any city!  So next he decided to see what it was like to drive through Manhattan on a Saturday! Equally as nail biting for his passengers! Again everyone else seems to know where they are going and many seem to use their horns for communication (we were even told that the horn played an important part in stress therapy!!) Phil’s motto was ‘if you can’t beat ‘em – join ‘em!!’

When we arrived in New Jersey we had many forms to complete for the US Customs. We had a great company helping us and that was a God send! (thank -you to Brandi at Transglobal Auto Logistics. Inc).We also bought a US GPS System (as our US maps did not wish to work here!) and that has already been worth its weight in GOLD!!

We continued to stay in hotels along our way which was all very good but a world away from the independence that we are accustomed to living in our Nessie – and we all know which one we prefer!!

We took a trip to Philadelphia and visited the city on Thanksgiving Day. This is a celebration of the harvest and is a general display of gratitude which is celebrated Primarily in Canada and the USA. The celebration occurs on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the USA. From our point of view this was great timing to visit this city as it was very quiet from lunch time onwards. Many people were enjoying a thanksgiving dinner, as a gathering of family and friends at this time – very similar to that of a Christmas Day meal.

We enjoyed the walk along the Mall (once again a mass of flags for Ben to enjoy!). Phil was delighted to find the infamous Museum of Arts at the end of this Mall – and the memories of all the Rocky films he still continues to enjoy! It was even better to discover that the statue that was used in the films was actually there! The children ran a few miles up and down these famous steps – many times- and were kindly given some pom poms for a Happy Thanksgiving Day.

We had a fascinating look around some of the other city buildings – with many glass -sided skyscrapers in very unusual designs. We were put well into the Christmas Spirit (no not by whisky!) but through a visit to the Comcast centre. Thanksgiving Day saw the unveiling of their holiday spectacular which runs through to News Years Day. It is made up of a light show that is displayed on enormous screens and the dream- like magic of Christmas comes alive all around you!

In the evening it was very difficult to find any place that was open for food -however we found an Authentic Vietnamese Restaurant and tried some of their soup for the first time (which was served with a variety of meat, noodles and bean shoots). It was actually very tasty – we all tucked in and it added to our list of tried and tasted foods! The children enjoyed using the chopsticks too!

A happy ending to our Philadelphia experience!

Next we moved to the Capital City of the USA – Washington DC. We were amazed by the number of old and important buildings that this city has!  We walked along the Pennsylvania Avenue to see the US Capitol Building - which was just being prepared for Christmas and the inauguration ceremony for the President Elect, which will take place early in the New Year.

We saw the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court and the Senate Office Buildings – all very famous buildings.

It was a very long but extremely worthwhile walk along the National Mall and through the Constitution Gardens to see – firstly - The Washington Monument. This was built in honour of George Washington, who led the country to independence and then became its first President. It is shaped like an Egyptian obelisk and stands 555 ‘, 5 and 1/8” tall. It offers a view in excess of 30 miles. Work was begun in 1848 and took place in two major building phases – being 1848-56 and 1876-84. The pause in works can be seen by the difference in the colour of the stone at the 152’ mark.

Next we visited the World War Two Memorial which honours the 16 million who served in the US Armed Forces, the 400,000 who died and also all who supported the efforts from home. This memorial is relatively new as it was only opened to the public in 2004.

Next there is a Reflecting Pool that is rectangular in shape and 618 metres long by 51 metres wide. It is spectacular as it reflects both the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

At the end of the National Mall stands the powerful memorial to the 16th President of the United States- Abraham Lincoln. He was successful in leading the country through the American Civil War, saving the union and putting an end to slavery. The building is constructed in the form of a Greek Doric Temple and has, in the centre a large seated sculpture of Lincoln, made of Georgian Marble. Inside there are inscriptions of two well known speeches made by Lincoln and above his sculpture are the words “In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever.” This president remains a symbol of freedom and the memorial promotes inspiration and hope for the USA and its people.

In this area there were also memorials for the Vietnam Veterans and the Korean War Veterans.

We joined the many hundreds of others in visiting these memorials on that day and as the sun was setting - the stunning views were revealed across the reflecting pool. We took a cab and the metro back to the hotel and then found ourselves reflecting back on the historic moments that have become ever more significant to us since our visit to Washington DC.

 

Next we made our way back to New Jersey and on Wednesday 3rd December we collected Nessie as she was released from the US Customs! We had a lovely re-union and only wish we could hear the tales she has to tell about her trip over the ocean!! We stocked back up with gas cylinders, water and diesel and we felt ‘at home again!!’ We were very pleasantly surprised by the cost of fuel here! Our best price to date is £1.53 per gallon (or 2.38 US Dollars!) Nessie’s journey continues!!

 

FACT-OIDS-

·         Upon completion in 1884, The Washington Monument became the world’s tallest structure (taking the title from the Cologne Cathedral in Germany). The monument held its title until 1889 when the Eiffel Tower was completed in France.

·         The Washington Monument is made of marble, granite and sandstone and remains the world’s tallest stone structure.

·         In 1963 the ‘March on Washington for jobs and freedom’ used the Constitution Gardens (Lincoln Memorial area) for its Civil Rights Rally and it was here that Martin Luther King made his famous “I have a dream” speech. The speech was delivered to a quarter of a million people standing all around (and also in) the Reflecting Pool.

·         The Statue of Lincoln (inside the Memorial) is 19 feet high and weighs 175 tons.

·         Abraham Lincoln was assassinated just as the Civil War was virtually over (in 1865) and his was the first presidential assassination in US history.


Friday, 19 December 2008 05:25:46 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [1]  USA