Category: North America

Planning has begun for 2012 Trip

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Oh what a year, wedding (Sarah and Dan) in May, a new home in Parramatta, and trip to Las Vegas for Charlie’s 21st then to Niagara Falls (promised mum I take her if she had knees done – new knees installed and ready to travel).

The rough plan is;
1st August Fly Los Angeles via Hawaii
2nd August August arrive Las Vegas (for Charlie’s 21st)
6th August Orlando -Walt Disney World
10th  August Drive Orlando to Washington
12th Arrive Washington DC
14th August Train to New York
19th August driving through NY State, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine – Includes Niagara Falls
3rd Sept August Return Car JFK
4th Sept Fly Home

Looking for suggested things to see and do in the above mentioned places.  Also love to hear any recommendations for the places to see and places to eat.

Our Last Week

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We have arrived back in Abilene from our wonderful Aspen trip. We are spending this week enjoying the family and getting our gear sorted for the trip home. A few more gifts to secure then its back to Dallas to catch our flight home Saturday.

We feel very fortunate to have had such a wonderful holiday with so many highlights and great experiences.

We are now looking forward to heading home to see family and and catch up with friends. Oh I almost forgot… and get back to work.

House hunting is on the agenda as we have to find a new home in the first few weeks,  the owner of our unit wants to move back in at the end of our lease (got this news the day before we left home). We will stay in North Parramatta so unit hunting will begin day one.

Ian is keen to get back to work after his enforced three month layoff.  The rest has done him the world of good and he is really motivated about the future and looking forward to getting back in the game.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have read and provided such great feedback on this blog. The main purpose of the blog is to record our holiday notes but it is fun to be able to share this with family, friends and anyone who is interested in my ramblings.

Until we hit the road again…..au revoir

Events from home we have to catch up on are included in this post……

Aspen Colorado

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We set of for Aspen from Dallas on Saturday the afternoon. We stayed overnight in Amarillo Texas home of the US Quarter Horse Head Quarters and Museum.

Leonie and Scott booked us a very nice a condominium  in Aspen Colorado.

The Prospector is located on very close to the mall area and is so well situated. No need to use the car as everything is well within walking distance.

We crossed Independence Pass which has an elevation of 12000+ feet and was spectacular to say the least.

We really love Aspen and it has swept aside the great things we have seen and done over the past few weeks and become the highlight of our trip. I really hope we get a chance to return here again some time. This is one place you could come in any season and it would be different each time.

 While we were staying in Aspen Stage 2 of the USA Pro Cycle Challenge finished in Aspen. We walked down to the finish and watched the riders come in. Cadel Evans came in with the leaders and is well placed going into the 3rd stage. It was a fantastic to see world class cyclists in action.

A once in a lifetime chance for us. Who would have thought Cadel Evans and David Beckham in the same trip.

As pictures speak louder than words I am going to fill this post with some of the beautiful scenery in and around Aspen.

Tomorrow our peaceful holiday in the mountains ends and we head home via Santa Fe New Mexico.

The Aspen Gondola gave Lee and I a great opportunity to look down on Aspen from a great height.  It was so peaceful riding to the summit and down again

The last leg….driving

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We turned our heads for home…well for Dallas anyway. We had decided to have long days and get back in a couple of days. We set out from Lexington and headed for Springfield Missouri.


We drove through St Louis and saw the arch from the road but decided against stopping as the storm clouds were building. We didn’t get caught in the storm but it sure came down after we settled into the hotel for the night.

After and early breakfast we headed for Tulsa via a small town in Kansas just so we could tick another state off the list. We were only in the state for about 30 miles but we have been there. Our Hyatt hotel was really nice and we had very nice meal in the grill in the hotel.

Up again early for the final run into Dallas we had a good deal at the Westin Hotel in the Galleria district, in fact the hotel was attached to and part of the Galleria shops.

After checking in i set about finding someone to cut my hair and do my nails. Both chores checked off we headed to Kelly (Ian’s niece) and Chris’ to catch up with the family.

We headed to Babes for a fried chicken dinner (one of Ian’s favourite places to eat in Dallas) it was all he remembered and regretted his over indulgence all night …AGAIN

We returned our trusty little ford focus to the hire company and waited for Scott and Leonie to collect us. Breakfast at Old West in old Grapevine

Stats:

29 days
5075 miles 8167 kms
10 tanks of gas averaging $30 per tank
23 nights in La Quinta includes 5 free nights we earned) ave $80 per night
1 night Econo Lodge Portland Maine $45 (hotwire.com)
3 nights 4 Star Hyatt Columbus Ohio $68 per night (hotwire.com)
1 night 4 Star Hyatt Tulsa $48 (hotwire.com)
1 night 4 Star Westin  Dallas $58 (hotwire.com)

Most states visited in one day
Portland, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York State

Favourite Cities
New York
Boston
Niagara
Nashville

Favourite States
Kentucky
Texas
Massachusetts

Other highlights
Niagara Falls
Three Chimneys Stud Farm tour Kentucky
Paddleboat ride in Mississippi
Ohio State Fair
Carriage ride in Central Park New York

Three Chimneys Farm Tour Kentucky

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We arrived back in Lexington on the 3rd August (happy birthday Charlie). The main reason for returning to Kentucky was that we were fortunate to be able to book a tour of Three Chimneys Stud Farm at Midway KY.

 

  Three Chimneys Farm is one of the premier breeding farms in Kentucky. They provide shuttle stallions to Australia, in fact, two of their stallions had left for Australia a few days before we arrived. Big Brown is standing at Vinery Stud in the Hunter Valley NSW and War Chant is standing at Yarradale Stud in Western Australia for the 2011 breeding season.

 

We found a covered bridge about 30 miles from the farm so decided to drive over and take a look. The bridge had been damaged during flooding in 1997 so it is not in use but maintained for visitors to the area.

Our tour time was 1pm and as we arrived in the area 45 minutes early decided to find a bite to eat before heading to the farm.

What better than sharing one Darlin’ Jeans Granny’s grilled sandwich. It was yum and we both really enjoyed it. This place was really old world but very popular with visitors and locals.


The tour was fantastic, we only toured the stallion area but were really impressed with the barns and the whole set up. The stallions we saw were; Flower Alley, Sky Mesa, Dynaformer, Lewis Michael by Rahy who is retired and is living out his days in luxury at Three Chimneys Farm.  The stallions each have their own box on the farm, four to a barn.

Previous occupants brass nameplates remain on the box along the name of the current occupant. Each stallion has their own day paddock and is turned out everyday weather permitting. Also found it interesting that all stallions with the exception of one or two are exercised on the track or hot walker every day to maintain their fitness


Seattle Slew won the Triple Crown (1977) and stood at the farm for all but the last month of his life. The farm has a statue of Seattle Slew which is popular with visitors.

So that’s it all the things we wanted to do have been checked off for the road trip now we just have the drive back to Dallas to begin the next phase of our trip. Visiting family in Abilene and a trip to Aspen with Scott and Leonie.

We are heading home (Dallas) via Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and will cover as many miles as we can each day.

Ohio State Fair – Columbus

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We arrived back in Columbus while the State Fair was on. So we checked into the Hyatt in the middle of Columbus and planned our two days at the Fair. First things first, we found Darby’s bar in the lobby of our hotel and settled in for a couple of beers and a pizza for dinner.

We decided to head to the fairgrounds around 9am and it was already hot and only going to get hotter. The fairgrounds were only about 15 minutes drive away with ample parking for $5 per car it was hassle free. The entry was $8 per head and after a quick bag check we were in.

We decided to find somewhere for breakfast or at least coffee. After having our coffee (which was good even at the fair you get good coffee) we set off to explore with things hotting up weather-wise. We headed down the food alley where you can get anything deep fried you can imagine and some things you cant.

We found the oasis of the fairground it was a domelike building called the taste of Ohio inside it was so cool and would have to been the best ac in the district to keep it so cool. There were cooking demos held in this building but also a stand for each for Ohio lamb, beef, chicken, pork and diary.

We decided this would be where we’d be for lunch, lamb sandwich (the first we’ve had since arriving in the US (so both suffering serious withdrawal), before lunch we headed to the hog barn to check out the judging and also to see the biggest pig I have ever seen.  We headed to the cattle barn and they were judging Santa’s but they don’t have many exhibitors, nothing like the royal but the stock that were there were good.



The lamb was calling and we were dripping with perspiration it was so humid and we needed to cool off while enjoying our lamb sandwich. They lady working the stand had visited Australia the year before and had visited a number of merino studs in NSW and the Bendigo Show. She was pleased to share her story so much so that I was embarrassed by the long line forming behind me while she chatted. Back to the lamb it was so tasty and we both enjoyed it so much that we considered having a second but though better of it and would save it for the next day.

After the lamb it was time for the chainsaw carver to start his show. We headed down to take up a good position in the pavilion. Burt was very entertaining and clever with his saws, he produced some fun animals. My favourites were the owl and the bulldog but they were all good.

Time to head to the Brown barn to check out the sheep judging and the wool. The corridales were on show they are more hobby style sheep as opposed to commercial operation. Some studs in attendance and we did find a pen of merino which required their sign to be sure. They were small and had very little wool to speak of.

The wool pavilion was interesting to say the least. Not many fleeces about 50 odd,   fleeces shown in plastic bags and not skirted.  If was fun to take a look but they nowhere near compare to anything that could be at any country show in NSW.  Although Ohio is not a major sheep area in the states it was evident that we were bang in the middle of hog and chicken country.

Day two was similar to day one including the lamb sandwiches followed by some locally made ice-cream, mine was butter pecan and Sharpie had strawberry. We did visit some of the markets stalls and purchased two pillow pets (by request Sarah) and a nifty (if it works) little rubber mat that sticks to the dash and holds all manner of things such as mobile, gps and other things needed in easy reach in the car. They are reusable look like they will be really good.

We watched the chainsaw guy carve another animal and watched an hour of the percheron horses being judged in the colosseum usually used for basketball but transformed to a show ring for the fair. We DIDN’T try the Muddy Pig aka chocolate dipped bacon.

All in all the fair was an experience that I am glad we have had but it something that once you’ve done it there is no need to do it again.

We enjoyed three nights in Hyatt Columbus and visited the bar every night for drinks and buffalo wings (all we could manage for dinner, and shared 6 at that). It was good to be able to chat to locals and our barmen Mike was good value and kept us entertained with all the stuff he didn’t know about Australia.


Off to Kentucky again next, able to get booked in on a Three Chimneys Stud Farm tour. Looking forward to taking all the back roads through the amish country to get there. We get off the Interstates at every opportunity

Buffalo and Niagara Falls

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Well we made it. It was a longish day driving but not too back. Our hotel was nice (even nicer as it was free night Thanks La Quinta returns program).  There was a Cracker Barrel near by so we walked over for a steak and salad before turning in.

After another hearty bright-side breakfast of waffles and cereal we set out to Niagara Falls. It was warm but not as warm as it had been lately. With lots of inexpensive parking at the falls we were soon out of the car and heading to the American Falls. One word ‘Spectacular’.  This is certainly the highlight of the trip for both of us. Although not a Natural Wonder of the World it should be in my book.

We walked for a couple of hours and around the American Falls before having lunch at the Hard Rock cafe.

After lunch we decided to walk around to the horseshoe falls via goat island. It was a long walk but there were a lot of great viewing places along the way.

The whole area is so well set up and organised to cater for the large numbers of visitors. Even though it is summer break there was no overcrowding and everyone had a good view at all the vantage points.

Day two we headed back to the falls and boarded the first Maid of the Mist tour of the day to view the falls from the river, this was really worth every cent of the $13 per head. I would have paid 3 or 4 times this for the 30 minute ride to right beneath the Horseshoe Falls.

Falls Facts:
The Niagara Falls are the most powerful waterfalls in North America. These voluminous waterfalls are situated on the Niagara River, which drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario and forms the international border between the Canadian province of Ontario and theU.S. state of New York. The falls are 17 miles (27 km) north-northwest of Buffalo, New York and 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Toronto, between the twin cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Niagara Falls, New York.

Over the Falls:
In October 1829, Sam Patch, who called himself “the Yankee Leapster”, jumped from a high tower into the gorge below the falls and survived; this began a long tradition of daredevils trying to go over the falls. On October 24, 1901, 63-year-old Michigan school teacher Annie Edson Taylor was the first person to go over the falls in a barrel as a publicity stunt; she survived, bleeding, but virtually unharmed. Soon after exiting the barrel, she said, “No one ought ever do that again.”
Wikipedia has detailed information of all the attempts plus and more interesting falls facts.

In the “Miracle at Niagara”, Roger Woodward, a seven-year-old American boy, was swept over the Horseshoe Falls protected only by a life vest on July 9, 1960, as two tourists pulled his 17-year-old sister Deanne from the river only 20 feet (6 m) from the lip of the Horseshoe Falls at Goat Island. Minutes later, Woodward was plucked from the roiling plunge pool beneath the Horseshoe Falls after grabbing a life ring thrown to him by the crew of the Maid of the Mist boat.

I recommend this amazing place be added to everyone’s bucket list.

After the Maid in the Mist ride we set off for Columbus Ohio where we will stay for three nights (Four star $60 night thanks Hotwire.com). We plan to attend the Ohio State Fair the next couple of days before heading back to Kentucky.

Boston Maine and on to Niagara Falls

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On Tuesday 28th July we set off towards Boston after negotiating our way out of NYC. We decided to stay south of Boston and head in to see the sights of Boston.

We stayed at a place called Milford which will always be remembered for ‘The Duck’. We found a little Thai place (Thai Pepper) not far from the hotel, didn’t look much from the outside but it was very nice inside. Ian had the ‘Boston Duck’ which Ian has not stopped talking about since. My pad thai was excellent too but the duck was sensational, apparently. I will never know I couldn’t even get a little taste. Seriously I did get the smallest taste and agree it was very good.

Up early for a short run into Boston after parking we booked on a trolly tour (which included a cruise on the harbour). The tour was really good and we stayed on for the entire nineteen stops so that we could catch the lunchtime cruise on the harbour.

Hard to believe that so much of Boston is built on reclaimed land, the area around the harbour has been really well developed and caters to visitors. We went past Fenway Park where the Red Sox baseball team’s home ground. The trolly driver was really informative. Boston is a very organised and clean city with lots of historical significance for this country.

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial “Capital of New England” for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. This link show all the trolly stops and what we saw at each stop.

The harbour cruise was very informative and gave us and opportunity to learn about the many historical locations along the foreshore. We were able to see the USS Constitution which is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America, she is the world’s oldest floating commissioned naval vessel. Launched in 1797. The battle with Guerriere earned her the nickname of “Old Ironsides” and public adoration that has repeatedly saved her from scrapping.

After a not so good lunch (all fried seafood, though the oysters were good) in the oldest restaurant in USA.

The Union Oyster House was established in 1826 and has been retained in its original state. Although the food was to our liking the trip back in time was worth the time. Union Street was laid out in 1636, but there are no municipal records documenting the Oyster House’s date of construction. All that is known is that the building has stood on Union Street as a major local landmark for more than 250 years.

After lunch we headed for Portland Maine, we decided that we would only have the one night here so that we could spend two days at Niagara.

After checking in to our hotel we headed up to Two Lights which is reported to be a must see spot as well as check out the Lobster Shack. We decided to head back to town for   dinner at the Old Port Sea Grill and thoroughly enjoyed our seafood platter.

Tomorrow we are setting off on our longest drive in a day this trip. We plan to be in Buffalo New York by tomorrow night. States visited along the way Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York 556 miles in 8 hours including three short stops.