First glimpse of the Californian Coast line

After a quick breakfast at Starbucks, where I had my first encounter with burnt over brewed coffee, we jumped on the California Cable Car which is located right outside the hotel.

We caught it to the financial district where Olivia wanted to show me the pointy building, otherwise known as the Transamerica Pyramid.

We then walked through Chinatown (apparently the biggest Chinese population in one area outside of China) on our way to Coit Tower, which is a observation tower at the top of Telegraph Hill which had fantastic views of San Francisco.

We then made our way to Lombard Street, otherwise known as the crookedest street in the world.

From here it was just a short walk down to the San Francisco tourist area on the water. We had hummed and harred about taking the trip to Alcatraz how after seeing the seas of the bay, we both decided that neither of us wanted to spend the day seasick so gave the trip to the island a miss.

It was then only Pier 39 and the famous sea lions.

It was now lunchtime so it was time for burgers at In-n-Out Burgers (similar time flip side).

After lunch, we decided to hire some bikes and ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. Luckily we were riding into the wind on the way there, so had the wind behind us on the way back. Definitely an amazing experience to do!

I was even impressed when I found Olivia learning about suspension bridges!

After riding for 2.5hours (including stops) we returned the bicycles and went for our final site for the day, the Painted Ladies, a row of Victorian and Edwardian houses painted in a variety of colours. This involves a trip back on a different cable car and then a bus trip. We were allowed to ride on the side of the cable car which was also a great experience.

The painted ladies

With very sore legs it was then back to the hotel via a couple of buses and off to dinner at Tommy’s Joynt, a traditional American diner/sports bar.

Olivia’s Highlight of the Day: Riding the cable cars

Ben’s Highlight of the Day: Riding across the Golden Gate Bridge

Steps walked: 20,165

Olivia and I are in this photo for scale

Once had had hiked out of the Grove we continued our journey to the Valley. The Valley was created by glacial action and is surrounded by massive granite summits. We visited a number of different lookouts each showing a different view of the summits.

It is difficult to show the size of them in photos, however one of them, El Capitan, is famous for rock-climbing. It is 3000ft from base to summit, and can take up to 7 days to climb.

El Capitan on the left

Bridalveil Falls (190m)

El Capitan

Half dome

It was now the end of the day, and so we ended for the hotel and this is went things started getting interesting. There are currently big bushfires in Cali which are mainly caused by the dry conditions and high winds bringing down power lines. Because of this, the power companies have begun turning the power off minising the risk of fires.

When we got to the hotel, we found out the power had been turned off the previous day, which meant no power in the room, no restaurant as they couldn’t operate the kitchen and no hot water, as it was all heated by electricity.

Luckily the reception had power (from a generator) which meant we could buy some beers. We ended up ‘pitching’ on our balcony, playing cards, drinking beers and had a dinner of half a roast beef wrap, a packet of chips and a pack of Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups. Bliss!

Olivia’s and Ben’s Highlight of the Day: Giant Sequoia Trees.

Steps walked: 15,426

Luckily the Lodge in the Yosemite Valley was running on generators so we were able to have a hot meal of a sausage omelet and a stack of pancakes before beginning our day.

Mitch, our guide, thought that the Glacier Pass would be closed due to the extreme fire rating however we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was still open and therefore headed up there for some hiking.

First stop was Sentinel Dome, a granite dome which had 360 degree views of the valley. The dome had a highest point of 2,477m above sea level, however we probably climbed the last 150m, but due to the high altitude, felt every metre. The views from the top were amazing.

Our next stop was Glacier Point, one of the best lookouts over the Valley. Although it is the low season for tourists to Yosemite, it was still quite busy here. We had an hour at the point and so spent some time tourist watching and learning how to not be an annoying tourist!

Our final hike of the day was to Sentinel Rock. The hire was approximately 1.5km each way to a shear rock face. The hire was through the forest and we saw squirrels and deer along the hike.

Olivia circled in red

It was finally time to head back on the 4.5 hour drive to San Francisco. We stopped at a town call Oakdale for snacks and learned that the supermarket had only just had it’s power turned back on after 3 days. I can’t imagine the people of Perth would be so accepting of these measures to stop bushfires.

After a bite of dinner it was time for a long hot shower to finish an amazing couple of days in Yosemite Natural Park.

Olivia’s highlight of the day: Hiking up Sentinel Dome

Ben’s highlight of the day: Standing on the edge of the cliffs at Sentinel Rock (~1300m fall)

Steps Walked: 19,376

San Francisco

Colorado River forming the border between California and Arizona

Phoenix, Arizona

Interchange on approach into Austin

When we arrived in Austin, we were not met with the weather that Rene and Erica has been telling us Texas had been having, instead it was cold. Like 10 degrees cold! Definitely not what we were expecting in Texas.

Rene picked us up from the airport and we went to our AirBnB which is a lovely 2 bedroom converted basement below someone’s home.

We then went to the local supermarket to get food, where I was massively pursued by marketing to buy Day of the Dead beers.

We had dinner and then watched the Major League Baseball World Series Game 7 in which Houston was playing Washington. This was the deciding game to determine who would win the championship, however unfortunately Houston lost.

Olivia’s Highlight of the day: Seeing Dad

Ben’s highlight of the day: Day of the Dead Beers

Steps walked: 4,455

We visited both the Senate and the House of Representatives halls as well as a number of different areas within the building.

Following on from the Capitol, we went to the University of Texas at Austin campus to look around a uni campus. There we saw the university football stadium (the Longhorns) which was a capacity of over 100,000 people.

We also saw the UT Tower.

Following this we went to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, which is the presidential library of LBJ, who was president between 1963 and 1969 (he took over when Kennedy was assassinated). This was very interesting as LBJ was known for his involvement in the Viet Nam war, increasing troop numbers there, however little is known on his domestic policy including civil rights, fighting hard for anti-poverty, urban renewal and healthcare and education reform.

View of the archives

The Oval Office

It was then lunchtime so we were to Black’s BBQ for BBQ brisket and ribs, which were delicious.

Finally we went for a walk along the banks of the Colorado River which runs through the centre of the city.

It was then time to get supplies for dinner and headed back to the AirBnB for a lazy night in.

Olivia’s highlight of the day: Black’s BBQ

Ben’s highlight of the day: visiting the Capitol building

Steps walked: 11,096

After breakfast, we went for proper coffee at a place Olivia had found, The Buzz Mill, a 24 hour coffee/bar. The coffee was the first proper non burnt coffee we have had on the trip.

Following this amazingness, we headed out to the track for the first day of the Formula 1. I have to admit, our grandstand seats were better than I expected, although this may be because I have only been to races on road circuits. We had views from the main straight to turn 4, then glimpses of turns 9 and the back straight, then could see the track from turn 16 to turn 20 and back onto the main straight.

After 1st practice, we went for a walk around the track and tried to buy merchandise. I was very disappointed to find out there was zero Danny Ric merchandise but the other Renault driver had merch. So I will be buying a Danny Ric hat from the Internet.

After wandering around the track, we had lunch and settled in for Practice 2.

After practice 2, we left the circuit and headed back to the Buzz Mill for a beer or two (Citra Smash IPAs) before returning back to the AirBnB for dinner.

Olivia’s highlight of the day: Watching Ricciardo!

Ben’s highlight of the day: Formula 1!!!!!

Steps walked: 7,018

We then went back to the University of Texas and walked through the other side of the campus, including the UT Tower which was built in 1937.

We then went back to the Longhorns team store and all bought Longhorns hats for the track as we all got a little burnt yesterday.

After having lunch at Jimmy Johns we headed to the track to watch qualifying.

After qualifying we left the track and went back to the Buzz Mill for a beer before heading back to the accommodation for dinner and drinks.

And just to show the size of the trucks here, this is Rene’s Mercedes against the truck that was parked next to us.

Olivia’s highlight of the day: the “Mexican invasion” into the annoying American’s seats behind us.

Ben’s highlight of the day: Pranking Rene by getting him to think I was the AirBnB host

Steps walked: 11,151

Following this race, the opening ceremony and driver parade was on. The opening ceremony consisted of the University of Texas Longhorns Marching band and the Dallas Cowboys. This was a little disappointing as they didn’t play the marching band over the PA system so we couldn’t hear anything.

It was then time for the National Anthem and Air Force flyover before the start of the race.

The race overall was a good one, with Lewis Hamilton on a one stop strategy and Vatteri Bottas doing a two stop strategy. This meant Bottas had to chase down Hamilton using his fresher tyres and was able to overtake with a few laps to go. Hamilton did win the world championship though at the race.

The final results was:

1. Bottas

2. Hamilton

3. Verstappen

6. Daniel Riccardo

After the race finished, we went for a walk on the track and then fought with the crowds to leave the car park.

The journey how took about 1 hour 15mins (compared to about 30 mins on Friday) which I thought was pretty good.

We stopped by Buzz Mill again for a beer (we stopped there a lot for coffee and beers!) before going home to cook pasta.

Olivia’s Highlight of the Day: Formula 1!

Ben’s Highlight of the Day: Formula 1!

Steps walked: 5,545

The journey was approximately 2.5 hours via Giddings and Brenham and we travelled east on TX-290 and then on the 99 and finally the Interstate 45 to Erica and Rene’s house in The Woodlands, north of Houston. The I-45 consisted of 5 lanes of traffic in each direction.

The Woodlands was an area of forest which was developed in the mid 1970s but they have kept much of the trees, using them to hide shops and buildings from the roadway.

The Woodlands

After arriving at Rene and Erica’s house, we had lunch and then went to the Houston Karting Complex which was in the near by surburb of Conroe. We had planned to go karting at the formula 1, however the queues were massive and a google search showed there was a track near the Woodlands.

We did two races of 10 minutes each and all had a lot of fun.

After the excitement of go karting, we went for a drive around Conroe, Montgomery and Egypt as well as Lake Conroe which is a man made lake that supplies Houston with an alternative drinking water source. The lake is 85km2.

After our drive we returned home for dinner and an early night.

Olivia’s Highlight of the Day: Seeing her mum

Ben’s highlight of the Day: Karting

Steps walked: 4,040

As we had arrived when the Center had opened, we were able to get on an early tour of the original Apollo Mission Control building, where they managed all the Apollo missions to the moon. They re-inacted some of the key moments of the Apollo 11 mission using the actual audio, which was extremely interesting.

After the tour, we wandered around the museum which included the Mercury 9 module, Gemini 5 spacecraft and Apollo 17 command module.

We then took a tour of the 747 transporter and shuttle. The transporter was previously an American Airlines passenger jet before it was bought by NASA and then converted to transport the shuttle.

We then continued looking around the displays including the Orion mission to Mars, the different types of flight suits than NASA had used though the years and some displays on the type of damage space debris can make. For instance, the photo below is a piece of 100mm piece of aluminium being hit by a 25mm cylinder of plastic travelling at 15,200mph.

After leaving the Space Center we continued to the coast to the Keane Broadwalk. Even though it’s low season, the rides on the boardwalk were still running, however we didn’t go on any.

It was then time for home but on the drive back, we went past some of the oil refineries of Houston. The photos don’t show the extent of the heavy industry which is in this area.

Dad, you will be interested to know it’s Election Day today, so there were county and state elections today. It looks very much like elections in Australia.

Side note: this is a Texas Longhorn.

Olivia’s highlight of the day: seeing a longhorn

Ben’s highlight: watching the reinactment of the Apollo landing in the Houston Mission Control.

Steps walked: 5,670

After lunch I had a 2 hour nap, and then we went to the club, played some pool and then carpet bowls (where Liv had a rather unique bowling style)

We then went out for Tex-Mex for dinner however all agreed that it was a bit to American with lots of salt and cheese.

Olivia’s Highlight of the Day: Bike ride around The Woodlands

Ben’s Lowlight of the Day: the pedal falling off the bike with 2kms to go.

Steps walked: 7,369

After arriving into Washington a couple of hours later than expected, we dropped the bags off and then went to explore the National Mall, which is approximately 2 blocks north of the hotel.

We saw the Capitol Building, Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. It was getting towards dusk and the drizzle had begun so we then decided to go and get BBQ for dinner.

After dinner, we returned to the hotel and settled in for the night. The end of an eventful 24 hours!

Olivia’s Highlight of the Day: being in DC

Ben’s Highlight of the Day: the National Mall

Steps Walked: 14,623

As it was near by, our first stop was the Ford Theatre, where Abraham Lincoln was shot and also the house across the road where he died. We didn’t do a tour but just saw the buildings from the outside.

From there we walked to the White House. This was a bit disappointing as there were major works going on around the building so we couldn’t get to the fence to take a photo. It appears that Trump has confused the Mexico border with the White House perimeter as they are building a new fence there!

We did however get to see Marine One take off, transporting the President to Andrews AFB to fly down to Atlanta for a campaign rally. (video below)

After the White House, we went back to the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial to see them in the daylight.

After visiting the memorial, we decided to hire some electric scooters to ride around the Potomac River to the Jefferson Memorial. These can be hired using the Uber app which is very handy.

We then used the scooters to get back to the Smithsonian National Museum of Nature History. Here we saw a model of a megaladon (giant shark),dinosaur skeletons, stuffed animals and animal skeletons.

Following the museum, we met up with Kuoky, one of the consultants that Olivia works with, who is over here on a conference. We went to a NBA basketall game at Capital One Arena and saw the Celeveland Cavaliers and the Washington Wizards. The Cavaliers easily won the game.

Olivia’s highlight of the day: Scootering along the Potomac.

Ben’s highlight of the day: the basketball

Steps walked: 21,631

We started at the visitors centre and noticed a number of statues of some famous people. It turns out that each state is allowed to send 2 statues to the Capitol to display, so there are 100 statues on display around the building as well as some amazing art. There is also a plaster cast of the Statue of Freedom, the original is sitting on top of the dome.

From the visitors centre, we moved into the Crypt below the rotunda. Originally the crypt was made for George Washington, however in his will he wanted to be buried in his home state. However the room also houses the compass star from which all the original roads of Washington were set out from.

We then headed up one floor to the rotunda (which is located under the main dome). This was an amazing space with more statues as well as some impressive artwork. For me the dome was the most amazing feature.

The Declaration of Independence

We then moved into the National Statuatory Hall which houses the majority of the statues. The states can also swap statues out, the newest arrived about 6 weeks ago from Nebraska and is of an Indian Chief, Standing Bear.

The tour ended after the hall so we moved to the Library of Congress. We didn’t stay too long there, but did see Jefferson’s Library and a Gutenberg bible.

We then went off to visit some of the Smithsonian museums, Olivia went to the Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art and the National Museum of American History while I went to the National Air and Space Museum. This was a little disappointing as half of the museum is closed for a renovation. I still saw the Wright Flyer (the first heavier than air craft to fly), Neil Armstrong’s space suit, an X-1 and a V2 ballistic missile.

Olivia and I then met up and went for a drink at Penn Social (a sports bar) before going for ramen. After this we went back to Capital One Arena to go to the Washington Capitals v Vegas Golden Knights NHL ice hockey game. For me it was very interesting to see the conversion of the stadium from basketball to hockey in 24 hours. The Caps won the game 5-2.

Another interesting but exhausting day!

Olivia’s highlight of the day: Capitol tour (closely followed by the ice hockey)

Ben’s highlight of the day: tour of the US Capitol

Steps walked: 17,361

Our first stop of the day was Fort McHenry, which was pivotal in the War of 1812 between the US and the British. The US successfully stopped the British taking Baltimore (after they had already taken Washington) and is the birthplace of the poem which became the US national anthem.

After the Fort, we caught the free bus back into the Inner Harbor region of the city and walked around before getting lunch.

We also saw the 9/11 memorial outside the Baltimore World Trade Center.

After having lunch, we then went to the National Aquarium, where we saw dolphins, sharks, an Australian section as well as many other fish and sea creatures.

We then walked to Fells Point, which is the bar and restaurant area of Baltimore. We walked around for a bit before finding a bar and having a couple of drinks. We caught the 5:55pm train back to DC and heading back to the hotel after another massive day.

Olivia’s highlight of the day: Fort McHenry

Ben’a highlight of the day: Fort McHenry and learning about the War of 1812 (I didn’t even know this happened)

Steps walked: 17,494

As we took off we flew over the National Mall so I got some final photos from the air, which saved going up the Washngton Monument.

We flew up Chesapeake Bay and east over New York before landing in Boston. On landing we saw Fort Independence (which looks very simplistic to Fort McHenry we saw yesterday).

We flew JetBlue and I have to say they were much better than flying United which is the other airline we have flown domestically in the US. We had free entertainment and they snacks they provided were much better. We also had free WiFi which wasn’t provided by United. We are flying with them later in the week back down to Philadelphia.

Both Olivia and I have really felt the busy few days, especially since we haven’t stopped for over 2 weeks now. We decided to have a lazy day today so we went to the hotel to drop off our bags, go out for lunch and then relax until we could check-in. When we went to drop the bags off, the guy at the front desk allowed us to check in then and there which was awesome.

We therefore went and had lunch and then chilled in the room for the afternoon, watching tv and napping. I think we both really needed it.

We ducked out for dinner and then back to the room to relax for the evening.

Olivia’s highlight of the day: Nap time

Ben’s highlight of the day: seeing the National Mall from the sky

Steps walked: 6,878

We started at Boston Common, which is the oldest city park in the US, dating back to 1634. You could really see the autumn colours coming through.

Our first stop was the Massachusetts State House, the state parliament.

We then went past the Park Street Church which was established in 1809 and the original city hall. It was there were we learnt about where the Democrat and Republican logos (donkey and elephant) came from.

We continued past the old State House, which is where the Declaration of Independence was first proclaimed to the people of Massachusetts in 1776 and also the site of the Boston Massacre in 1770 before ending up at the Quincy Markets. They were very busy and full of tourists so we continued along to the Public Markets which were much quieter and full of artisan food stalls.

After a pit stop there, we continued along the trail (in the rain) but had a quick stop at the New England Holocaust Memorial. I really liked the thought behind the memorial, it was positioned adjacent to the Freedom Trail, to allow people to reflect on the consequences of a world without freedom.

The memorial consists of 6 glass towers which are inscribed with stories from Holocaust survivors, and have steam rising from the base. Quite moving.

With the rain getting heavier and the temperature dropping, we raced through the second half of the trail.

We made it to the USS Constitution, which is the oldest active US Naval Vessel, launches in 1797, however it is closed on Tuesdays so couldn’t go for a tour.

As we were both wet and cold, we didn’t make the last couple of stops on the tour but caught an Uber back the the hotel to get changed and walked up. We decided to then go ten pin bowling across the road. As we were leaving the bowling alley, it started to snow (just!) so we went for a bit of a walk before returning back to the hotel (videos below).

Olivia’s highlight of the day: the Public Markets

Ben’s highlight of day: learning about the American revolution

Steps walked: 15,662

We left the airport and headed back through the Boston morning traffic to start our trip to Cape Cod. Our first stop of the morning was Quincy, just south of Boston, to pick up some supplies from Walmart.

Our next stop was Plymouth, which was the site of one of the first colonies of pilgrims, founded in 1620. The Plymouth Rock is said to be the traditional site of the disembarkment of the pilgrims from the ship Mayflower to start the colony. It has, however been moved numerous times though history and actually broke in half during one of the moves in 1774.

We continued south to Wood Hole (the south west corner of Cape Cod), which is one of the towns where you can catch the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. We were originally going to catch the ferry there or to Nantucket tomorrow however with the cold weather, we have decided to stay with the car rather than spend the day walking around. Woods Hole is a research town with a number of institutes based there.

We then drove around the souther edge of Cape Cod, stopping off at beachs at Falmouth and Hyannis along the way.

We continued our journey to South Chatham to our accommodation, a bed and breakfast run by Jerry and Carol. Below are some pictures of the accommodation, as well as a paw print from their dog Bailey left in the snow/ice. Adorable!

We arrived about 3:30 and after settling in, we decided to go for a drive into Chatham. The sun sets early here, today it was 4:21, so we decided to race to the lighthouse to watch the sunset over the ocean. We had got halfway there when we realised the sun was setting behind us. It then dawned on us that we were on the east coast and the sun sets over land, not like in Perth!!!

We still went to the lighthouse and went for a walk on the beach. Bear in mind that the sun had set and the temperature had been about 0deg all day!

The sunset behind us....

The last picture is of a piece of frozen sand. We assume it the sand got wet last night in the rain and froze and it didn’t get hot enough today to thaw out.

We then went to the Black Dog Tavern shop, which Olivia has wanted to go to since we started planning this trip, and bought some clothing there. The actual Tavern is in Martha’s Vineyard, but they have expanded into a clothing line. We then went to the local pub for a drink and then to the local Chinese takeaway for dinner before returning to the BnB to retire for the night.

Ben’s Highlight of the Day: Plymouth Rock..... nah joking, the Mustang!

Olivia’s Lowlight of the Day: Becoming the third wheel of Ben and Sally’s trip of Cape Cod

Miles Driven: 140 miles

We then headed north to a town called Orleans and both had a delicious mocha from the chocolate shop (this was the #1 activity on trip advisor of the town) before going to the Cape Cod National Seashore Salt Pond Visitor Center. We learnt about how the Cape was formed and the local indigious people before going on a 2km walk around the salt ponds. One aspect that I really liked is they had a 500m trail specifically designed for vision impaired people with a rope and Braille markers explaining the trail.

We then continued up the coast to the Coast Guard beach and Nauset Lighthouse. There have actually been a number of lighthouses on the site, each new one having to be built west of the previous one due to erosion. They have also rebuilt the “Three Sisters” lighthouses further inland.

We then continued to the northern end of Cape Cod, Provincetown. This is a holiday town, with a winter population of 3000 but a summer population of between 40,000 and 60,000. As such, a lot of the shops and restaurants were closed for the winter, however we did find an Irish pub which was open and ordered some of the local seafood for a late lunch. After lunch we had planned to visit the Race Point lighthouse however this was a 30 min walk along the beach from the car park and the weather had begun to roll in, with the wind picking up and rain start so we gave it a miss. We instead drove up to the Pilgrims Monument and Herring Cove Beach.

We decided to turn for home, and drove back towards the BnB. It gets dark here about 4:20, so by time we time we got back to Harwick, the next town over from our accommodation, it was dark. We stopped for a drink at the Hot Stove Saloon, before a quick trip to the local supermarket for dinner and then back to the BnB for the evening.

Olivia’s highlight of the day: the walk around the salt ponds

Ben’s highlight of the day: seeing the quant Provincetown.

Miles Driven: 100 miles

Our first leg was approximately 125 miles to Gloucester and was mainly on highways. We found out that the speed limits are more of a guideline rather than a rule. Where the speed limit was 55mph, I was going 65mph and was still getting overtaken like I was standing still.

After arriving in Gloucester, we stopped at Can Ann Brewing for some lunch before exploring the town. Gloucester is a fishing town and therefore there are a number of memorials to lost fishermen and women, including the Fisherman’s Memorial and the Fisherman’s Wives Memorial.

We also saw the World War II Memorial (which also only says it started in 1941...) however I did really like the look of the memorial.

We continued down the coast, stopping at Hammond Castle, a 1930s ‘English’ castle and then along the Essex Coastal Scenic Byway to Salem.

Once we got to Salem, we went on Ben’s self guided tour of the historic part of town. Our first stop was the Bewitched statue.

We then continued to the only remaining buildings which is still standing in Salem from the Witch’s Trials on 1692. The house was the family home if Judge Jonathan Corwin.

We then continued past the old City Hall, which was featured in the movie Hocus Pocus. We also saw the First Church of Salem, which was the parish of many of the accused during the trials.

We finally finished at the Old Burying Pointing Cemetery which is the second oldest English graveyard in Massachusetts. Adjacent to the graveyard is the Salem Witch Trials Memorial, which was dedicated in 1992 to the 20 innocent people executed in 1692. I do note that Olivia didn’t pay a tip at the end of my tour...

Our final stop was Proctor’s Ledge, which is believed to be the site where 19 inncocent people were hanged for being supposed witches (the 20th man was crushed to death for refusing to plead). We both assume the sign stating no entry after dark is to prevent people trying to resurrect the innocent people.

We then continued to Peabody to our hotel, which was in the middle of a highway intersection due to the closeness to Boston Logan Airport, where we had dinner and went to bed.

Olivia’s highlight of the day: Driving through the cutesy towns between Gloucester and Salem

Ben’s highlight of the day: Visiting Gloucester

Miles driven: 170 miles

Our train from the airport dropped us outside City Hall. From there, we went to Bluestone Lane cafe. Olivia has researched and found this was a Melbourne inspired cafe and therefore we thought they would be able to brew a good flat white. This turned out to be true and we had the best bought coffee we have had the whole trip, plus a lamington as an extra!

We then went to Pat’s King of Steaks for a Philly Cheesesteak. This was a fantastic introduction to Philly. It was very interesting to know that there were two competing cheesesteak restaurants on opposite corners of an intersection. Let’s call it the Great Philly Cheesesteak War of 2019.

From here we went for a walk through the Italian Markets and then stumbled across a dog park. As we had time to kill (and both missing Poh and Zorro), we spent 30 mins in there patting the doggos.

We then walked around the area of South Street, which is the alternative part of the town (we both felt it was similar to Fitzroy or similar inner parts of Melbourne) until we could check into the AirBnB apartment.

We then spent the rest of the arvo/evening in the apartment relaxing and doing our final loads of washing for the trip.

Also, dad, we found a much better candidate to support for 2020...,

Olivia’s highlight of the day: the Flat White!

Ben’s highlight of the day: The Great Philly Cheesesteak Wars of 2019

Steps walked: 14,255

It was then time to head to the start of the walking tour, but before then, coffee! I have to admit the coffee in Philly has been the best coffee we have had in the US.

We met our tour guide, Rich, at the Betsy Ross House, who, according to her grandson, sewed the first United States flag. The house also may or may not have been Betsy Ross’s house. Historians say that her house was actually adjacent to this house, but this house was the only pre-declaration of independence house remaining when her grandson made the claim.

Our next stop was Elfreth’s Alley, which is the oldest street in the United States with continual people living in the houses, dating back to 1702. The oldest house in the street now was constructed in 1728.

We then wander to the house which was built by Benjamin Franklin, including a ghost structure of his ghost.

Our next stop was Independence Hall, which is the building where America’s founding forefathers debated and adopted the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Following on from the Independence Hall, we went and visited Benjamin Franklin’s grave. We learnt a lot about what an amazing man Dr Franklin was. This was quite inspirational.

After saying goodbye to our amazing tour guide, Rich, we went into the centre of the city for lunch, where we had Mexican, before heading to Lincoln Financial Field for the NFL game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots. After catching the metro down to the stadium 3 hours early, we wandered around the acres of car parks around the stadium to attend the tailgate parties which occur before the football game.

The car parks open at 9am (the game started at 4:30pm) and people park up, cook barbecue and drink for the day. On our way to the ground, we also say the Eagles Drumline. As it was Memorial Day last weekend, this game was dedicated to the Armed Forces.

After spending a bit at the Team Store, we went into the stadium to find our seats. The wind was strong so the wind chill was dropping. The temperature and Olivia was very happy we had visited Target on the way to the stadium to buy a blanket.

Following the team introductions, the national anthem was played and we had our second military flyover for the trip.

It was then time for the game. Unfortunately the Eagles lost 10-17 but I’m glad I got to see the 2017 Super Bowl rematch.

The beer on the photo is 740ml and 6% alcohol, at Optus we get 425ml and 3.5% alcohol.

It was time for home and the end of a big day.

Olivia’s Highlight of the day: The walking tour of Philly

Ben’s highlight of the day: getting to see the Philly Eagles game

Steps walked: 19,334

Our first stop was the Supreme Court room.

Our next stop was the Assembly Hall, which is where the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States were debated.

Finally we visited the West Wing, which had original versions of each of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Consitutition of the United States. Apologies for the quality, however no flash photography was allowed.

After we left the Independence Hall, we went to the Barnes Foundation, which is a private art collection which is open to the general public. The collection was founded by Albert Barnes and now owns over 4000 objects including 900 paintings.

The works in the gallery are primarily Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Modernist and overall the value of the works is $25 Billion US Dollars (yes, with a B). The collection includes 181 Renoir’s, 69 Cezanne’s, 59 Matisse’s, 46 Picasso’s and 7 Van Gogh’s.

After leaving the gallery we walked to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, mostly to visit the eastern staircase due to the role it played in the Rocky movie franchise.

It was then back to the AirBnB for dinner and the end of a great day.

Olivia’s highlight of the day: Barnes Foundation

Ben’s highlight of the day: Barnes Foundation (who would have thought at art gallery would be my highlight)

Steps walked: 15,018

Upon arriving at Penn Station, we bought a weekly subway ticket and jumped on the E line to Lexington Ave/53rd St. We then walked down to 44th Street to where our hotel is in Midtown. Our hotel is an Even hotel, which is a wellness hotel and therefore has exercise and yoga equipment in the room.

After dumping our luggage, we headed off rode a quick bit of eat before heading down to the UN Building.

Our next stop was Grand Central Terminal, which has 44 platforms.

After Grand Central, we went to the Chrysler Building and walked past it.

We then went back to the hotel room to get changed and head out for the evening. Our first stop was Times Square, which reminded me a lot of the Mong Kok neighbourhood in HK, not only due to the lights, but also the busyness.

We went to a bar for a drink before going to the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in Broadway to see The Book of Mormon. Both Olivia and I really enjoyed the show.

After the show, we decided to walk back to the hotel, rather that catch the subway. We walked past the Radio City Music Hall and the Rockefeller Ice Skating Ring, which we are skating on in a couple of days.

Our final stop was the Saks Fifth Avenue department store, which had an amazing Christmas lights display on the side of their building.

It was then back to the hotel to finished the end of a great day.

Olivia’s highlight of the day: The Book of Mormon

Ben’s highlight of the day: Seeing the New York skyline for the first time from the train (unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the carriage, so no photos)

Steps Walked: 16,494

We then caught the subway down to Greenwich village and wandered around the artsy, university (NYU) neighbourhood.

We then caught the subway over to Chelsea which is a residential area on the west side of Manhattan. We visited the Chelsea Markets and the Highline, a 1.5 mile elevated park lane which was built on a disused railway line viaduct.

We continued along to Hudson Yards, which is a new redevelopment project over the existing West Side Rail Yard. We visited this neighbourhood to see The Vessel, a 16 storey artistic structure. After visiting The Vessel, we had lunch at the nearby food court.

We then caught the subway to go to Macy’s (to buy Olivia some new jeans and a new suitcase because we have bought a bit of stuff while we have been away. After that we then walked down to the Empire State Building.

We then headed briefly back to the hotel before heading to Brooklyn for the late afternoon and evening. Our first stop was Dumbo (short for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), which is the intersection of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. We walked around the East River foreshore and watched the sun set prior to going to have dinner at Urban Space, at a ramen restaurant from a Michelin Star chef.

It was then off to the Barclays Center to watch the Brooklyn Nets play the Charlotte Hornets. The Nets won 101 to 91. After this we caught the subway back to the hotel.

Olivia’s Highlight of the Day: Brooklyn Bridge

Ben’s Highlight of the Day: The Vessel

Steps Walked: 25,972

We then continued north into Central Park to get back to some nature in this concrete jungle. The fall colours were amazing. Our first stop was the Gapstow Bridge.

We then continued north to the Balto Statue, which is a statue to the sled dogs which delivered anitdote 600 miles from Nenana to Nome in Alaska in the winter of 1925.

We then continued to the Alice in Wonderland and Hans Christian Anderson statues.

We continued to the Loeb Lake and the Bow Bridge before catching the subway back down to the southern end of Central Park were we had lunch at The Plaza.

After lunch we caught the subway back up to the middle of the park, and walked around the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir.

We then walked over to the Guggenheim gallery. Whilst we didn’t go in (we had seen a bit of modern art in Philly) we did look at the building.

It was then down to the Met to sit on the steps of the building (apparently like Gossip Girl) and watch the world go by.

It was now time for Ice skating at the Rink at the Rockefeller Centre. Although the Christmas tree wasn’t unveiled yet, it was still a lovely experience. We have both agreed that we are going to go ice skating when we are back in Perth.

We lasted about 50 minutes of our 1.5 hour session but we were a bit sore from the skating.

It was now dark and time for our second trip up the Rock, to see the skyline at night. It wasn’t as cold or busy as expected, but an amazing view. You can see why this city never sleeps.

It was now time for dinner, a New York pizza, and a couple of drinks before bed.

Olivia’s highlight of the day: Ice skating at the Rockefeller Centre

Ben’s highlight of the day: Seeing the New York skyline from the Top of the Rock in both the day and night time

Steps walked: 24,785

Once we got back to Lower Manhattan we got coffee before walking past the New York City Hall. It was here we found a very photogenic squirrel.

We then went and visited Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange.

It was then onto the Charging Bull statue. Unfortunately a couple of your buses had arrived just before we had and therefore there were hundreds of people around and we couldn’t get a good photo of the statue. Olivia did have grope of the testes which is supposed to bring good luck.

From here we went and down to Battery Park in the southern end of Manhattan to have a look at the Statue of Liberty before going for lunch in a shopping centre back towards Fulton Street Subway Station.

After lunch, Olivia decided she was starting to feel a bit tired and getting sick so decided to go back to the hotel to rest up, however on the way she decided to visit the Manhattan Saddlery to have a look at things she could get for Sasha.

Meanwhile I decided to catch the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. Even though the rain had started, this was a bit of a blessing as it meant the queries for tickets disappeared into indoor tourist attractions. I was able to get straight onto a ferry and head over to Island. Once there I walked around the Statue before going to the museum on the island which opened in May this year.

The ferry also stopped at Ellis Island, which was a former immigration inspection station which processed approximately 12 million people between 1892 and 1954. However as I wanted to go to other places in the afternoon I didn’t get off the ferry here.

After arriving back to Manhattan my next stop was the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. I am aware that the Jongen’s were in the US when the events of September 11 happened, so completely understand if you want to skip over this section.

The 9/11 memorial was very moving, with the original footprints of the two World Trade Centre buildings now forming two reflection pools, with the names of the victims inscribed on bronze panels around the pools.

I also saw the new Freedom Tower, although didn’t go up to the observation deck as we had already been the observation deck at the Rockefeller Centre.

I then went into the museum, which is located below ground under the reflection pools. I was originally unsure about the museum, I saw little booths selling merchandise around the reflection pool, which made me unsure as to whether the museum was a tourist money grab.

However, I’m very glad I did went through the museum, if was extremely moving and interesting to learn about the construction of the World Trade Center, the 1993 bombing, the 2001 terrorist attacks and the aftermath. Within the museum are the bases of the original steel columns of the building as well as twisted steel from the collapse of the buildings.

They also had a number of memorial items, including a chopper motorcycle built by the TV show American Chopper and the original fire station doors from Engine 238 and Ladder 118 companies, which lost 8 firefighters in the aftermath of the attacks.

There were also pieces of the building such as part of the antenna and a fire truck which were recovered from the wreckage.

After spending a couple of hours in the museum, I left to go back to the hotel and catch up with Olivia at the hotel. However on the way back, I went through the Oculus, which is the top of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub.

After returning to the hotel, we went out for dinner at a local Italian restaurant and then went to bed.

Olivia’s highlight of the day: walking across the Brooklyn Bridge

Ben’s highlight of the day: the 9/11 memorial

Steps walked: 21,410

We then continued to the rear of the flight deck which houses the Space Shuttle Enterprise which was the original test prototype.

We then continued into the aircraft carrier and learnt about life aboard the carrier during World War II and the Vietnam War. They also had a 1:40 scale replica of the aircraft carrier made out of 250,000 pieces of Lego.

We then went and saw the Concorde which the museum has.

It was then time to have some lunch and head back to the hotel to pick up our bags and head to JFK airport to start the journey home. We headed back to Grand Central station and caught two subway trains and the AirTrain to get to the airport.

NYC Skyline from the AirTrain to the airport

We boarded the first of three flights to get home and after approximately 6 hours, arrived at LAX. We had a 1.5 hour stopover before boarding our flight to Melbourne.

Olivia’s Highlight of the Day: the tacos are Urban Space

Ben’s Highlight of the Day: seeing the A-12

Steps Walked: 9,384

Olivia’s Highlight of the Day: seeing the doggos

Ben’s Highlight of the Day: Home!