17 down, 33 to go

Happy new year everyone!

Straight off the bat, one of our targets in life is to hit all of the 50 states.  We are officially at 17 so far...

In 2007 we came for our honeymoon and covered California, Utah, Arizona and Nevada.  I went to the District of Columbia (DC) on a trip to Washington for business and have been to Florida a number of times too.

Since getting our car we've covered New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, Vermont (all of these within one day and by midday mind you),  Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

I'm on annual leave (I can't call it that here as noone knows what I'm talking about, so it's 'vacation') for the next two weeks and we plan on driving down the I-95 South to Georgia, which will give us another 8 states, taking us to the 50% mark.  The biggest challenge will be Alaska which is a 4 day drive away, and Hawaii, which is a 10 hour flight from New York.

You all know that I am not so good at hitting my challenges, one was a celebrity sighting every month. I'm crap at it.  It's not from trying, I always have my eyes peeled, I have a iPhone app that tells me what's being filmed where, I frequent areas that celebs live, but still no luck.  My friend Liz from work on the other hand just stumbles across them - she just happened to be at Bryant Park when they were filming Glee, and was walking through Times Square when Lady Ga Ga was on a walk.  Liz isn't the only lucky one, anytime I raise the subject someone will say "oh yeah, I saw Clint Eastwood the other day", or "I saw Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom near Grand Central", or "I saw Cyndi Lauper at the Ice Hockey"... for crying out loud - do I have an unknown scent that sends them away from me or what?  Never fear, I don't give up, I will keep on trying though the chances of hitting my target is near on impossible now.

So, on our travels, we've seen some really beautiful places.  We saw snow on the beach in Maine (where they also sell Lobster rolls, Lobster Mac & Cheese, Lobster everything),

the Olympic Ski Jumping jumps and dog sled rides at Lake Placid, home of the 1980 Winter Olympics (luckily no giant alligator like in the movie - in saying that I don't think the climate is so conducive to alligators and I don't actually think there is a lake there),

..towns where skidoos are the main form of transportation in Vermont (for some reason writing Vermont got me thinking on what  people from Vermont are called - is it Vermontians, Vermontinese, Vermans, Vermese or what? - according to wiki answers it's actually Vermonters... boring if you ask me) - this place does have a lake, though I don't recommend swimming at this time of year,

saw cute little barns in New Hampshire and learnt that if you live there you "live free or die" (I guess they don't beat around the bush there!),

went to Tony Soprano's old stomping ground "Bada Bing" (now known as Satin Dolls - when I say 'went to' I mean the outside),

and saw the F1 track island in Montreal (well, where the track should be underneath the 2 metres.. not exaggeration - of snow).

I also managed to do my first snow angel and built a very poor excuse for a snow man, but to be honest it was minus 13 degrees and I was seriously in danger of getting frost bite even through my gloves and my boots (mental note, buy some more appropriate cold weather gear if heading to places below minus 5 degrees).

... and all of this with little Jack man in tow...

Christmas day was lovely, well to start with at least.  I cooked up a feast of turkey listening to a marathon of Christmas carols.  We then went to walk off said feast with a trip to Coney Island.

Unfortunately, at this point the day turned a little sour.  The beautiful feast did not agree so well with me, so our Coney Island walk was cut short and we had to rush home where I then spent the next 24 hours on the couch with a very bad belly.  I think the culprit was consuming some leftover Cranberry Sauce from Thanksgiving - it looked alright, it smelt alright and tasted ok, but it was the only thing I had that Brett didn't.  In the US there is no Boxing Day so the 26th is a work day, but I couldn't end up getting there as it was not safe to venture more than 5 metres from the house!

For New Years it was celebrated at friend Lindsay's house at a small party.  It was a great night filled with Champers and good company.

... and I discovered that I may actually be able to have a career in taking photos for Christmas cards.  I am not a cat person, but I even find this one cute.

Last Sunday was an absolutely gorgeous day so Brett and I ventured over the river and checked out some more Manhattan sites...
The Empire State (currently tallest building in NYC):

The Chrysler Building (the tallest building in 1930, before the Empire State bet it in 1931)

... and busking in Washington Square

... not so easy to transport I can imagine...and more buskers in Union Square...

Since then I spent this week defrosting in Argentina, enjoying 30+ degrees everyday.  Now I am looking forward to a 2 week break!

Happy new year everyone and here's to a fabulous 2013!

Michele

A-salt-ed!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!
Luckily the world didn't end this week, so we are all still here to enjoy 2012 Christmas!  I hope Santa has spoilt you all.  He hasn't arrived here yet, so I'm sitting here full of excitement ready for tomorrow.

Since last writing it's been quite a bit busy.  After Thanksgiving I travelled to Costa Rica for a meeting, landed home on Friday night and then flew off on Sunday morning to Mexico for the week!  I then picked up a shocking cold and cough, which now over two weeks later I'm still feeling the aftermath.

Here's some pics from Costa Rica (we had a traditional dinner one night)...

One of my 'firsts' that I've been able to share with Brett was a trip on the Staten Island Ferry - this is free from Manhattan and offers some of the best views of the Statue of Liberty.  Although freezing cold, we sat outside to get the best views (and to avoid the Friday night rush hour traffic!).

I like this shot and you can see the brightly lit up building in the middle is the Freedom Tower which is currently under construction on the World Trade Center.

Anyways, so firstly, the good news is that we now have a car.  Actually we've had a car now for about 4 weeks, but we've only been able to drive it for the past week.  Those of you that know Brett, know that a car sitting there not being able to be driven is the worst form of torture.  All I can say it is another case of US bureaucracy and me mixing as well as oil and water.  5 trips to the DMV and an accumulated time of around 7 hours and only on the last visit did I actually walk away with my registration papers, registration plates and a title with my name on it.  What a bloody drama!  But that's all in the past now and we have managed to clock up over 2,000 miles (3,200 kms) in 9 days.

After getting our rego on Saturday morning we headed south down the Jersey Shore where we saw the truly devastating effects of Sandy, but also the beautiful Atlantic coast line.   Here's some shots of the houses down there...

... yes, the house is on a very bad angle.

Whilst down there Brett's eagle eye spotted this perfect sign for this blog...

On Sunday we headed over to Long Island and drove the length of it down to Montauk (where Jodie and I visited), and I enjoyed what will now be a customary chocolate thickshake from John's Drive in Diner.

During this week, we made good use of the car and got ourselves a Christmas Tree, yes a real one!

This weekend we set of on our first real road trip.  In 2 1/2 days we covered 6 states and 2 countries - New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Ontario, Canada.  We set off early on Saturday morning (on the road by 5am!), and about 1 hour into the trip, through the Poconos we were so excited because it started to snow.  The beautiful flutter of snow soon turned into a full blown blizzard that we drove through for over four hours (well, Brett is the one that drove, I just sat there with my finger nails embedded in the dashboard).  We passed 18 incidents on the road in that time that ranged from jack knifed trucks, spun out cars in ditches, to cars on their sides.  Even as we were pulling up slowly to an upcoming incident, the car behind us nearly ran into us as he was going side to side all over the highway.  This shot is on a six lane hwy (3 lanes each direction)!

So, I guess you're wondering how we got a-salt-ed... well, it wasn't us per se, it was our poor car.  To keep the roads open, there are large snow plough vehicles that not only scrape away the snow, but they also drop salt all over the roads which melts the snow.  So, our poor vehicle that had been immaculately maintained in the 3 weeks we'd owned it, was now white instead of gun metal grey - not so good for keeping the vehicle rust free...

So after surviving our first snow blizzard we found ourselves in Niagara Falls with the beautiful aftermath of snow, but now with sunshine... it was spectacular.  The falls are right on the border of the US and Canada so we managed to get shots from both sides.  On the Canada side, (distastefully) the town is like a mini-Las Vegas and definitely set up for the tourists.  We stayed here that night in a very dog friendly motel (Jack even got himself a little doggy pack upon arrival).

The spray from the falls causes a lot of ice on the surrounding park.  This tree looked beautiful (though you wouldn't want to stand underneath it!)

Here is me being a typical fool with some Canadian natives...

Sunday morning we set off early again and this time travelled along the Canada side of Lack Eerie - to say this lake is massive is an absolute understatement!

  

There was not so much to see except a very large lake, a lot of farmland, the tomato capital of Canada, and a little oil field where Brett enjoyed skidding all over the ice...

We then made our way around to the next point of the border in Detroit, Michigan - motor capital of the US and home to Ford.  Brett toured the Ford museum (I waited and planned the next leg of the trip in the car with little Jack).  With not much else to see in Detroit we then set off to Cuyahoga Falls in Ohio - a lovely little town also with their own falls and another very dog friendly hotel.

... definitely not a rival to Niagara Falls, but lovely nonetheless.

Ohio is what you expect, lots of farmland with one large water tower in every town and lots of red barns.  They had also had a bit of snow, but the day was just lovely and the snow had stopped falling the day before.

Finally, this morning, we set off early again traveling through Pennsylvania, which from west to east was mainly forest.  We wanted to head home in time to get ready for Christmas day - thaw the turkey, write my blog, skype the family (still waiting for them to respond), and watch Christmas movies all night!  There's a 70% chance of snow tonight, so I am really, really, really hoping that I wake up to a white Christmas - I mean could I possibly have a more cliche experience whilst I'm here!

I hope you all were able to spend special time with your loved ones, and at lots of food (particularly pudding!).  I must say missing the annual Deschepper Christmas party and the Zieren Christmas lunch are hard for me - they are two of my favorite things on the annual calendar.

Take care everyone and I wish you all a magical, prosperous and healthy 2013.

Michele

The Boys are Back in Town

They're here!

Exactly 355 days after I arrived, at 10:50pm on 1 November in walked Brett and Jack to their new home after an unbelievably smooth flight just 2 1/2 days after Sandy...into the chaos which is now in NY And NJ.

BLOG INTERUPPTION....Just this minute, little Jack nearly got sprayed by a skunk!  We just stepped out for a toilet break - Jack that is, not me - and over he ran at full pelt to a black and white bushy tailed creature in the back corner of the backyard, which somehow quickly stopped Jack in his tracks.  Now this is unusual for Jack, who may be little in stature, but definitely not courage.  Luckily I think the said skunk let of a warning shot prior to going for a full stink attack on him - I am not sure how their warning works, but thank god.  I hear tomato juice is how you get skunk smell out, and strangely, I don't have any on hand.  Put that on the next shopping list!

So, back to the story again - in arrived Jack and Brett. What a time to arrive - it's sure been a crazy few weeks here.  Following Sandy, you'd think we were in a third world country.  Tens of thousands without power for over two weeks, gasoline shortages (you should've seen the lines at the stations that were open - order had to be maintained by police), and transport chaos (in Brett's words, the longest queue he'd ever seen ...).  With all of this, only one week after Sandy, in came a massive snow storm (massive by my standards anyway).  This was my first commute home in snow.  I had luckily bought a few weeks prior a pair of gumboots (with special socks that keep your feet warm in the boots) and that morning invested in another (about #5 within 1 year) umbrella - life time warranty this one.  The trip was quite fun actually, bar the snow flakes hitting my eye lashes, and the gusts of winds.  Seems the umbrella I bought is not too bad after all - this was the scene, not only on the outside of the bus terminal (where this shot was taken), but all along the streets.  To be honest, it's a familiar sight whenever there is rain and wind.  Mine, however survived!

Here's some shots from home - it was really beautiful!

Poor little Jack is now the object of my shopping fascination - no it's not an obsession - check out his new winter wardrobe.



The three of us have had a lovely couple of weeks together.  On the first weekend, we (Brett, Jack and I) ventured over to Manhattan.  Let's just say it was a little overwhelming for jack who we have discovered is not a fan of the subway grates on the paths - picture it, legs and butt planted and sliding when we tugged on his lead- poor little poppet, we had to pick him up so he'd survive the adventure.   Brett and I the following weekend (on a beautiful Sunday morning) did some of the standard tourist walks - Brooklyn Bridge, the Highline, and Wall Street. 

We've also been hunting for a car, which has seen us venture to all sorts of places.  After battling and being limited by public transport, we decided to hire a car this weekend.  After a year of no car, it was such a feeling of freedom to be able to hit the road.  We ventured down to central Jersey yesterday and checked out a few cars (there's one possible option that we're waiting to hear back from the owners, fingers crossed).  There's another option Brett is checking out in Pennsylvania tomorrow.

Given we are buying a car, we also thought we should get a NJ licence.  Down to the DMV we arrive to another massive line, about 20 long outside of the building, make our way in after around 45 minute wait only to find Brett can't get one because he doesn't have a social security number yet, and I needed a document that I had stupidly forgotten.  I rush home (about 2 miles), get the right paperwork and go back and wait another 45 minutes, and after satisfying all of the ID requirements, take a set for another 30 minutes only to be told, I can't apply at this time because my immigration status hasn't been updated since I travelled last - it's supposed to only take 10 days, and it was now 15 days later.   So, the next Saturday, first thing I make my way down again, this time the line twice as long.  So, after 1 hour wait, I meet the first ID requirements, 30 minutes later, my immigration status is approved, and then after 1 1/2 hours I make it up to the window for another ID check before sitting my knowledge test.  At this point, they do one final check to make sure I have an Australian Licence.  I hand it over and I get the comment "but this is in a different name", I calmly respond, "I know, all of the ID checks I gave you were validated, this is just to show I had a licence in Australia.  I know it's my married name, but it's clearly me".  "But I can't prove it's you mam".  "What do you mean, you can't prove it's me, it's got my photo on it".   (completely ignoring me) "Do you have your marriage certificate?".  "No, my marriage certificate is in transit to the US, but it won't be here for a few weeks".  "Well, then you'll need to do a full driving test with your own car, but you will need to wait over a month".  "But, I can't register a vehicle without a licence and I've waited for over 3 hours" (tears welling up at this stage). "I'm sorry mam".  "No, but seriously how do I register for a vehicle without a licence".  "Well, you don't actually need a licence to register a vehicle".  "Then why did someone tell me I did - I wouldn't have lined up for a licence if I knew that!".  "I don't know mam, but you don't need one"....
Whatever!  What a waste of 5 hours of my life...  What is it with me and public authorities?  I'm just sticking with my Australian licence for now...

... and just to prove I wasn't over exaggerating...

Today, given most car yards are shut on Sunday (weird if you ask me), we had an adventure going to Walmart.  Holy Crap!  It was GIGANTIC.   I don't think this shot gives perspective, but it is like twice the size of Bunnings at least...

 After online shopping for so long, it was such a novelty to go to the supermarket and all the choices - I mean, without going to Walmart, how would I ever know that this ever existed...

After loading up with a huge trolley full of groceries (maybe being a little too excited I went overboard), we then went on a lovely drive upstate to Bear Mountain State Park, only about 1 hour north from home.  Just gorgeous - the exact image I had of the typical lakeside camps (wish I was 12 years old again). 

Here is one of the many deer that we saw.

It's thanksgiving this weekend, so only a three day week.  I have my turkey, yams and cranberry sauce at the ready!

See you later everyone :)

Michele