So, after two years and seven months, we finally returned to Hobart, Tasmania. How I missed this place. The smell of eucalyptus, the wildlife, the mountains, but most of all the people. Its good to be back. I'd like to stay here a good long time. Now, to find a job...
I think I'll continue this blog as long as its enjoyable and I have interesting things to say.
Sunday, 10 January 2016
Monday, 14 December 2015
Anaheim, California
The final leg of our road trip was an uneventful drive from San Diego to Los Angeles, CA. The first thing we did upon our arrival was to find the La Brea Tar Pits. I wanted to visit these ever since I found out about them as a teenager. They are in downtown LA, which kind of surprised us. Apparently, its a a great spot to find fossils, but all we found were these giant ground sloth statues.
After a brief look at some nearby art, we headed to our hotel, which was very close to Disneyland. I returned the car that afternoon and we enjoyed dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.
The next day, we explored Downtown Disney, which is basically another way to give Disney more money. It was fun though.
The following day we attempted to take the bus to Medieval Times, but our bus never came, which was annoying. So Amy and Micah took a taxi, while Reuben and I went to find some sunglasses. That's what we intended to do, but we never made it to the sunglasses shop. As we were walking there, we came across a young woman sitting on the foot path crying. Apparently, she had been on holiday with her boyfriend, but he had taken off with all her stuff, including her phone. So, being very careful that we weren't being conned, we took her back to our hotel room to use the internet and phone and sort things out. I'm glad our bus never came! Meanwhile, Amy and Micah enjoyed the spectacle of Medieval times.
The next day, we finally made it to Disneyland! I don't need to tell you that this place is awesome. Fake, but awesome nonetheless. My biggest complaint is the lines. We stood in line for over 30 min just to see Micky! But I still had a lot of fun, and so did everyone else. I went on the Indiana Jones Adventure, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Disneyland Railroad, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, Space Mountain, Jungle Cruise, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, Splash Mountain, Star Tours and Tarzan's Treehouse. That's actually quite a lot. I didn't realise until I just typed it then! We took the boys back to the hotel briefly in the afternoon and then had dinner at Denny's before heading back to the Park for Fantasmic, a nighttime parade and light show, followed by some of the best fireworks I have ever seen. It. Was. Awesome! However, most people chose to enjoy it through the 5-10 inch screens of their phones and tablets. I've never understood people who take fireworks videos.
We didn't do much on our last day in LA. Our flight wasn't until late in the evening, so we just wandered Downtown Disney some more, took the boys to an indoor play place called Billy Beez (which they loved) and, after dinner, took the SuperShuttle to the airport. LAX has a small play area for young kids, where we met another Australian family heading home. And so, with our eyes held open by matchsticks, our heads full Disneyland magic and our carry-ons full of snacks for the kids, we left the USA.
After a brief look at some nearby art, we headed to our hotel, which was very close to Disneyland. I returned the car that afternoon and we enjoyed dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.
The next day, we explored Downtown Disney, which is basically another way to give Disney more money. It was fun though.
The following day we attempted to take the bus to Medieval Times, but our bus never came, which was annoying. So Amy and Micah took a taxi, while Reuben and I went to find some sunglasses. That's what we intended to do, but we never made it to the sunglasses shop. As we were walking there, we came across a young woman sitting on the foot path crying. Apparently, she had been on holiday with her boyfriend, but he had taken off with all her stuff, including her phone. So, being very careful that we weren't being conned, we took her back to our hotel room to use the internet and phone and sort things out. I'm glad our bus never came! Meanwhile, Amy and Micah enjoyed the spectacle of Medieval times.
The next day, we finally made it to Disneyland! I don't need to tell you that this place is awesome. Fake, but awesome nonetheless. My biggest complaint is the lines. We stood in line for over 30 min just to see Micky! But I still had a lot of fun, and so did everyone else. I went on the Indiana Jones Adventure, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Disneyland Railroad, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, Space Mountain, Jungle Cruise, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, Splash Mountain, Star Tours and Tarzan's Treehouse. That's actually quite a lot. I didn't realise until I just typed it then! We took the boys back to the hotel briefly in the afternoon and then had dinner at Denny's before heading back to the Park for Fantasmic, a nighttime parade and light show, followed by some of the best fireworks I have ever seen. It. Was. Awesome! However, most people chose to enjoy it through the 5-10 inch screens of their phones and tablets. I've never understood people who take fireworks videos.
We didn't do much on our last day in LA. Our flight wasn't until late in the evening, so we just wandered Downtown Disney some more, took the boys to an indoor play place called Billy Beez (which they loved) and, after dinner, took the SuperShuttle to the airport. LAX has a small play area for young kids, where we met another Australian family heading home. And so, with our eyes held open by matchsticks, our heads full Disneyland magic and our carry-ons full of snacks for the kids, we left the USA.
Monday, 7 December 2015
San Diego, California
The drive to San Diego, CA was hectic, as we were hit by another monsoon. Also, the freeways around LA and San Diego were very crowded and confusing. Seven lanes each way at some points! The first thing we noticed in California is that it has eucalypts, which makes driving through San Diego feel a lot like Melbourne.
We had one goal in San Diego: to go to the zoo.
It was a great zoo. Not much more I can say about that.
Friday, 27 November 2015
Arizona and Nevada
Following our second night in Monticello, we had a five-hour drive through desert to Williams, AZ. It was an uneventful drive until, near the end, we were hit by a monsoon and could barely see 10 m in front of us for quite a while. Fortunately, Amy was driving and we got out of the rain collision-free. Williams is a nice small town on historic Route 66. We had dinner at a very American diner. I bought some hot sauce.
After a good night's sleep (the boys were so worn out by this stage that they had begun to fall asleep easily in the hotels), we headed North for about an hour to the Grand Canyon. This was my second trip to the Canyon, and it was just as breathtaking as the first. There are no fences around the majority of the South Rim; you could just walk right up to the edge! We saw a jumper lying on a rock near the edge and no one around, which was a little concerning.
We drove back to the Interstate and continued on for about five hours to Laughlin, NV, where we were smacked in the face by what felt like 45 °C winds. This was by far the hottest and dryest place we visited. Consequently we spent most of our short stay indoors. Laughlin and Bullhead City sit on opposite sides of the Colorado River, which also serves as the boarder between NV and AZ. We stayed in a paddle steamer hotel. It was the cheapest night, but also one of the most comfortable nights, of the entire trip.
After a good night's sleep (the boys were so worn out by this stage that they had begun to fall asleep easily in the hotels), we headed North for about an hour to the Grand Canyon. This was my second trip to the Canyon, and it was just as breathtaking as the first. There are no fences around the majority of the South Rim; you could just walk right up to the edge! We saw a jumper lying on a rock near the edge and no one around, which was a little concerning.
We drove back to the Interstate and continued on for about five hours to Laughlin, NV, where we were smacked in the face by what felt like 45 °C winds. This was by far the hottest and dryest place we visited. Consequently we spent most of our short stay indoors. Laughlin and Bullhead City sit on opposite sides of the Colorado River, which also serves as the boarder between NV and AZ. We stayed in a paddle steamer hotel. It was the cheapest night, but also one of the most comfortable nights, of the entire trip.
The next day, after breakfast at IHOP we drove about three hours to San Diego. What a joy it was to see the ocean again!
Monday, 9 November 2015
Utah
From Blackfoot, ID, we continued South into Utah. We stopped at the Golden Spike National Monument, which was easily the high point of the trip so far for Micah. This is where the East and West tracks met, thus joing the East and West.
We then continued on to Layton, UT, a large and fairly unremarkable city, where we stayed for two nights. We didn't see any Mormons. But we did see a few billboards aimed at them (e.g. Want to know who Jesus is? Read the Bible!).
The following day we visited Ogden Eccles Dinosaur Park, which is a museum combined with a park containing many life-sized dinosaur models. They also had a sandpit with 'dinosaur bones' buried at the bottom. Following this visit and for the rest of our trip, Reuben never missed an opportunity to dig in the dirt to see if he could find any more.
After a swim in the hotel, and a nice barbecue dinner at Famous Dave's everyone went to bed happy.
The next day, we visited the Hill Aerospace Museum, which is built on the northwest corner of the Hill Air Force Base. It had a lot of aeroplanes from various time periods. I'm not sure what else to say. I'm not really an aircraft guy.
After that, we had a long drive to Monticello, where we stayed at the Canyonlands Motel, which was the second worst accomodation we had for the entire trip.
We had a whole day at Canyonlands National Park. I love this kind of terrain. So bleak and bare, but so interesting at the same time. We even saw an abandoned cowboy camp in a cave.
Sunday, 11 October 2015
Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Idaho
From Teddy Roosevelt National Park, we took a bit of dive into the backwater town of Glendive, MT. Not much to report here, except that we went to a great barbecue place for dinner called Dickey's Barbecue Pit. I had the chopped brisket sandwich, which was excellent.
The following day we visited the Makoshika state park. This park similar to Teddy Roosevelt, but with more dinosaurs. It had some really interesting geology.
We then headed for Billings, MT, where we spent the night after experiencing possibly the worst customer service ever at Hardee's. Incidentally, our hierarchy of big American fast food chains is as follows:
The next day we visited the Pictograph Cave and Chief Plenty Coup State Parks. These were fairly unimpressive, but it was kind of cool to see some real pictographs.
After that, we continued to West Yellowstone, ID, where we stayed the night. The hotel had cookies and hot chocolate every evening, which Micah thought was very special. The next day we made to one of our major attractions: Yellowstone National Park. But first we took a quick trip to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. This place is kind of like a zoo for problem grizzly bears and wolves and few other things. They take in bears that have made a habit of going through people's garbage; one of them even entered a doughnut shop to get some lunch. But it's more than just a zoo. Several times a day, the keepers will enrich the habitats by adding food, different smells, different toys and other stuff to keep the enclosure interesting. Then they release the animals back into the enriched habitat. This not only keeps it interesting for the animals, but the humans as well.
Yellowstone was great. Such a variety of mountains, hills, valleys, rivers, geysers and canyons. But I can't figure out American National Parks. There is some limit on commercialisation, but there are lodges and shops right in the middle of the park. You can bring your pets to the parks. You can fish in the parks. I guess it's all controlled in some way but it seems far more relaxed than the Aussie rules. We saw Old Faithful, which Micah referred to as 'old geezer', erupt. Micah did not appreciate the smell.
We took the South exit from Yellowstone and headed through the Grand Tetons and accidentally drove through the park without a pass. Oh well. We then headed West and took the pass over the Tetons. It was spectacular.
After a total of seven hours driving we reached Blackfoot, ID, where we collapsed.
The following day we visited the Makoshika state park. This park similar to Teddy Roosevelt, but with more dinosaurs. It had some really interesting geology.
We then headed for Billings, MT, where we spent the night after experiencing possibly the worst customer service ever at Hardee's. Incidentally, our hierarchy of big American fast food chains is as follows:
- Culver's
- Wendy's
- Popeye's
- KFC
- McDonald's
- Taco Bell
- Hardee's
- Burger King
The next day we visited the Pictograph Cave and Chief Plenty Coup State Parks. These were fairly unimpressive, but it was kind of cool to see some real pictographs.
After that, we continued to West Yellowstone, ID, where we stayed the night. The hotel had cookies and hot chocolate every evening, which Micah thought was very special. The next day we made to one of our major attractions: Yellowstone National Park. But first we took a quick trip to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. This place is kind of like a zoo for problem grizzly bears and wolves and few other things. They take in bears that have made a habit of going through people's garbage; one of them even entered a doughnut shop to get some lunch. But it's more than just a zoo. Several times a day, the keepers will enrich the habitats by adding food, different smells, different toys and other stuff to keep the enclosure interesting. Then they release the animals back into the enriched habitat. This not only keeps it interesting for the animals, but the humans as well.
Yellowstone was great. Such a variety of mountains, hills, valleys, rivers, geysers and canyons. But I can't figure out American National Parks. There is some limit on commercialisation, but there are lodges and shops right in the middle of the park. You can bring your pets to the parks. You can fish in the parks. I guess it's all controlled in some way but it seems far more relaxed than the Aussie rules. We saw Old Faithful, which Micah referred to as 'old geezer', erupt. Micah did not appreciate the smell.
We took the South exit from Yellowstone and headed through the Grand Tetons and accidentally drove through the park without a pass. Oh well. We then headed West and took the pass over the Tetons. It was spectacular.
After a total of seven hours driving we reached Blackfoot, ID, where we collapsed.
Friday, 4 September 2015
Farewell, Minnesota; hello North Dakota
We continued on to Fargo-Moorhead. Not much to see on the way. Just lots of agriculture: corn, soy beans, sunflowers and beef and dairy cattle. We stopped in Fargo for dinner at the Space Aliens Bar and Grill. It was OK.
The final leg of our journey for the first day took us Jamestown, ND. This was a nice rural town, which we spent the subsequent morning exploring. We found a replica frontier town, a bison museum and the world's largest bison statue.
We then continued on through ND to the capital, Bismark. Here we sampled the offerings of Kroll's Diner. Their slogan is 'Sit down and eat'. They have a very no-nonsense, no string attached, down-to-earth approach to cooking. I had the brisket melt and it was excellent. A popular side at Kroll's is their knoephla soup. It's a creamy soup with dumplings in it. It was not without it's charm.
The next day, we continued our treck through ND, stopping for a few hours at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It's a beutiful prarie land with many undulating hills, valleys and canyons. We also saw lots of prairie dogs. They look and squeak like guinea pigs and are possibly one of the cutest creatures ever created. We took several walks with the boys. Reuben insisted upon walking as much as I would allow him and Micah ran, tripped and fell onto a cactus. He ended up with a large number of spines in his hand. At each national park we have visited after then, he has asked 'Will there be cactuses?'
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