Around The World Adventure

Welcome back everybody and once again it has been a very busy month. Sorry we are a bit slow on the updates but we've been busy scouting the United States in search of great sights to fill the pages of this blog for our many dedicated subscribers.
Now for the awards, Congratulations to Bezza who guessed that Brett Favre led the Green Bay Packers to the Superbowl in the 1996 season. As Bezza pointed out it was the last time it was wet in Donald and co-incidentally the last time the Donald 2's won the flag was in 1996 as well.

This brings me to another point that I have spent much time contemplating. Since we have left Australia there have been many exciting things happening back at home that have not happened in years, lets reflect. We have a new prime minister ( the first women prime minister ) We have had many inches of rain, the 2's have won the flag and we've had a drawn grand final in the AFL. So if all this stuff happens while we are out of the country we would be glad to go away for another 6 months next year. If people are willing to donate to the " Get loz n dougy out of the country fund" then more exciting times are in store for 2011. So all of the subscribers out there dig deep and help the cause. And for those of you who are yet to subscribe do so now and donate as well.

So now lets get into what everyone is here for, the travel news. Last time we went to print we were in Minnesota and had arrived back from a week at Lake Barber. We spent another week in Minnesota staying with Brian before we left for New York. Managed to sneak in another game of baseball, this time at the brand new "Target Field" ball park in Minneapolis where the Minnesota Twins defeated the Kansas City Royals 4-3. The full baseball experience was completed with 10c chicken wings and $8 all you can drink beers at a downtown bar after the game. Thanks to Brian and Puck Tracy for there hospitality in the 3 weeks we spent with them. Special thanks especially to puck who has helped to build my throwing arm strength after I tallied a record 5764 throws of a tennis ball in the space of 3 weeks. One of the highlights of our trip to the U.S. catching up with these guys and we are looking forward to seeing them down under when we return home ;-)

From Minneapolis we fly to New York where we are surprised to find one of the biggest cities in the world is very clean and tidy and the majority of people we met are friendly and its a safe place to be. In a week in New York we scaled the lofty heights of the Empire State Building, rode through Central Park, strolled through Wall St. and the financial district, explored Times Square ( which is actually a triangle ). Took in our first broadway show, and my first musical ( Mary Poppins ) which was spectacular. Sailed across the river to get up close with the Statue of Liberty, crossed the Manhattan bridge to Brooklyn to get some great Manhattan skyline views and toured through some of the many unique areas that make up Manhattan including Greenwich Village, SOHO, NOHO, Harlem and visiting all the sights in between including Rockerfeller Center, National History Museum, Madison Square Park, Madison Square Garden, Grand Central Station, Guggenheim Museum
and the Public Library.

Empire State Building

View from the top of the Empire State Building

Us at the top

Ground Zero

Wall St.

Manhattan behind the Statue of Liberty

Another unique experience came from being in New York City on Saturday September 11, we attended a memorial service at Ground Zero and walked through the city taking in the atmosphere as every single American flag in the city was at half mast and after dark 2 beams of light projected miles into the sky from ground zero as a memorial to where the twin towers stood until this date 9 years previous.

Swapping air travel for rail we took the 9 hour journey from New York City to Niagara Falls where we spent 3 days taking in another one of the great natural wonders America has to offer. Also crossed the border and entered Canada for another view of the falls which proved to be quite spectacular and well worth the walk over the bridge.

Anyone guess the lookalike we spotted on the way to the statue of liberty

Top of Niagara Falls, Canadian side

Bottom of the falls

My own island at Niagara

9 more hours by rail back to New York for an overnight stay where we hit the town for a few drinks to celebrate the Donald 2's and womens hockey premierships before boarding the train again, this time for a marathon 23 hour trip to Orlando. Riding in a roomette proved to be a genius idea as our seats folded down into beds allowing us to see the sun go down midway down the east coast of the U.S. and wake up in the morning to a sunrise behind the Jacksonville skyline. At this point of the trip we have become very excited in anticipation of our "guest travellers" joining us from Australia.

Now readers we have a special treat for you, an interview with our guest travellers who we have been touring Florida with us for the past 2 weeks. Please welcome Krysten and Brigdo.

For the purpose of the interview I will be DH and our guests will be KA ( Krysten ) and MRB ( Marc ).

DH: First things first guys, how was your first international flight ?

KA: Well thanks for having us on your blog, its very exciting to be here. Well after arriving at Tullamarine with plenty of time to spare we were told 5 minutes before leaving that our flight was cancelled and we would need to spend another night in Melbourne before flying out the following day. So after losing one day of our holiday we were further delayed from San Francisco to Orlando and we finally arrived in Orlando Tuesday night around 11pm. 3 days after we left home in Australia

DH: You looked exhausted when you arrived, how were you feeling ?

KA: Wowzaz, I was pooped!
MRB: I was ready for a cold vortex bottle dougy.

DH: So was I bigdo, luckily we had a few awaiting your arrival at the hotel, How was it to see us? Were you as excited as we were to see you ?

KA: I nearly pee'd my pants ( nearly as good as pirates of penzance ).

DH: I noticed both you and Lauren shed a tear, very touching. Its great to see you though, good to hear news from back home and not have to talk about American politics or the economy for a change. Now that you've been here a while tell the readers what we have been busy at !

KA: First few days were a bit slow, took in a bit of Orlando and got ourselves used of being on the other side of the world, had our first mexican dining experience ........ MRB: All you can drink softy refills are gnarly !!

DH: I agree bigdo, need to introduce that back home.

MRB: We've sampled a few vortex bottles too doug.

Lauren and Bigdo at Petal Bar, Pop Century Resort Disney World

Grand Final Party Part 1

Grand Final Party Part 2

DH: Also need to introduce those at home!

KA: Yes but that's not the reason we came here. This wasn't why we came either but we have seen a few homeless people, that's an eye opener for the pig farmers daughter from Laen East.

DH: As it is for the bricklayers son from 6 Cave St.

MRB: I'd have to say doug I didn't sign on for all this walking you've been making me do since I arrived. I didn't realise that Fairy land was so frigen big.

DH: Too right bigdo, walking around for 10 hours a day checking out all the disney characters is a tough gig ;-)

KA: I think you mean DisneyWorld Marc and that's the main reason we came. To visit Lauren for her birthday and spend some time with the guys at Walt's place. And what a place it is, we've seen Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and even ventured further out of Disney to Universal Studios to Harry Potter World, a special treat for Lol's b'day.

Mickey and the Gang.

Magic Kingdom Parade

Magic Kingdom, the fun begins

The boys and the most popular hats at Disneyworld.

DH: And what a day it was, the oldest pig farmers daughter was as happy as a pig in shit ( pardon the pun ). Memorable moments from Disney ?

Birthday cards and presents ( Big 26 year old girl )

Celebrating with a butterbeer

A round of butterbeers and pumpkin juice!

Blowing out the candles!

MRB: Rollercoasters are gnarly, G - Forces are awesome.

DH: How many do you reckon we've ridden?

MRB: Space Mountain, The Hulk, Harry Potter, Mt Everest, Aerosmith, Tower of Terror....... Too many to remember, definitely got our moneys worth though.

DH: Speaking of getting our moneys worth, how about $14 for a souvenir mug at Pop Century Resort which includes free refills on softies and coffee for the whole week?

MRB: Haha gnarly doug!!

KA: Mickey's halloween party at Magic Kingdom was a groovy time, everyone was dressed up and into the spirit and it really is the happiest place on earth, even at a halloween party.

Wheres Wally ( or Waldo as he's known over here ) and Xena Warrior Princess.

Gumby and Esmerelda.

DH: Especially as we were the 4 best dressed ones there !!

MRB: Found you Waldo !!!

DH: Haha, wheres Pokey ?? Didnt we get sick of hearing that by the end of the night. Lauren even gave a signature to some women who thought she was Esmerelda !! No wonder you call it fairy land ! Favourite park we visited ?

KA: Magic Kingdom, definitely. Rides all day, parade full of disney characters, halloween party at night and spectacular fireworks as well. The queer-eye-for the-straight-guy dancer who loved Marc's hat and wanted us to say hi to Kath 'n' Kim was nuts!

DH: Yeah we Australians are definitely "random magnets" although most of the time for the better, how bout you Bigdo, favourite park?

MRB: No park in particular. Loved the rollercoasters though, every park has a couple of gnarly ones that really get you going!

DH: We are now in Daytona Beach and have spent the last couple of days here, how have you found it here ?

KA: HOT, HOT, HOT !

DH: Lucky we're only a sand wedge from our back door to the waters edge.

KA: Whats a sand wedge ?

MRB: You don't need to know !

DH: Its a golf stick, but the expression means its only about 20 metres in distance !

KA: oh so its close then !!

MRB: haha, yes !!

DH: Good beach though !

KA: Lol and I have been enjoying the morning walks, slightly different from the scenery at Disney world, leather skin and soft sand take the place of cartoon characters and bitumen.

MRB: And I can watch the morning movie and have a coffee while your off walking, plenty of talent along the beach too !

DH: Indeed, not that it is of interest to us Bigdo !

MRB: doesn't hurt to look !

DH: You said it !

KA: How bout we actually let the readers know what we've done since we've been here boys ? Frisbee on the beach and relaxing on the sand was a great day. Water is so warm here dad and you wouldn't spend the next week with a frozen hip like you do in Warrnambool.

DH: Friday Night Football at a local high school was a good night out !

MRB: Its just like Varsity Blues

Trinity College vs. Crescent City

DH: And some late night football when we got home, Grand Final replay made it a late night.

MRB: A few more vortex bottles made it though !

DH: They're a good drop.

KA: I told you to actually wake me up when the game started not just gently rock me, luckily the replay wasn't a close one as I slept through the whole thing. We were up and about early today though while you two stragglers were late out of bed, farting the morning away !

MRB: Whoever smelt it dealt it !!

DH: Conserving my energy, wanted to make sure I was bright eyed for our big excursion to Daytona Speedway.

Victory Lane podium, Daytona Speedway. Home of the famous Daytona 500.

• *** Lauren enters

DH: We've just been keeping the readers up to date with what we've been doing the last couple of weeks.

LA: I didn't know you've been writing the blog, look at my tan though !

DH, KA, MRB: Unreal.

DH: Anything you'd like to add ?

LA: Did you mention we went to Harry Potter World for my birthday and I had a butterbeer and got an "Its my Birthday" set of Mickey ears and spent the day wandering through Hogsmead and Hogwarts !

DH: Yep got it, were just about to wrap it up.

LA: Ok, well mum we've been making sure we sunscreen every 2 hours. Thanks to Terrie Leigh and Chels for celebrating my birthday too. Thanks to all those who sent texties and facey msg. Made my day super fun!

DH: Great, well that's about all for now. K and Bigdo thanks for joining us on the blog today, hopefully the readers will get an insight into the life of a U.S. traveller

MRB: No worries, great to be here.

KA: Thanks for having us its been great !

Ok its time to conclude our U.S. leg of the journey, we are heading back to Orlando tomorrow and fly out to London on Monday, thanks to everyone who's helped us on our trip through the U.S. We've had an absolute ball, met some great people, seen some great sights and most of all made plenty of memories for the future ! Keep up with the blog to see how the European leg of the trip goes.

Until next time..............

See ya Dougy, Loz and the guest travellers, Krysten and Brigdo.

Todays Quiz

What number car did Cole Trickle drive to Victory Lane in the Daytona 500 in the movie Days of Thunder ?

.Welcome Back.

First things first, Aunty Maree takes the points again with the main character of "Escape from Alcatraz" being played by Clint Eastwood. Congratulations to Maree, she even gave everyone a headstart and waited to post an answer but still got the win!

Anyway back to the travels. Its been a month since our last blog entry and plenty has happened since then. Weve stepped foot in 7 states of the USA. California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Washington, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Visited Yosemite National Park, Grand Canyon, Zion Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Monument Valley, Lake Powell, Las Vegas, Mt Rainier, Minnesota State Fair, Lake Superior and spent a week wakeboarding and fishing in north west Wisconsin. The season has changed from Summer to Autumn, Football season is about to start here and about to finish at home and Mathew Knights has been sacked as the Bombers coach. Plenty of action to fit into one month !

Saturday 31st July we set off on a 16 day camping / hiking trip which began in San Francisco. The first week of the trip took us through the Sierra Nevada mountain range on the eastern side of California. Taking in the sights of Muir Woods and the giant redwood trees. Yosemite National Park which included a hike to the top of Nevada falls and a swim in the Colorado river just before it drops over the edge of the waterfall. A road trip along the pacific coast highway which is very similar to the Great Ocean Rd. takes us all the way back through L.A. and then we go East for some rock scrambling and a beautiful sunset and sunrise in the Mojave Desert. The highlight of the first week of the tour comes on Friday 6th August when we complete a day hike from the top of the Grand Canyon to the Colorado river that rushes through the bottom of the canyon and back to the top. A 25km round trip from top to bottom this hike is a brilliant experience. The day is bookended by a sunrise viewing from the rim of the canyon to survey the trip ahead and a sunset viewing from the same position on the rim to bask in our own glory and a beer to celebrate an achievement and a fantastic view !! To cap off a great day we are treated to a thunderstorm over the Grand Canyon through the night although this was far less exciting the next morning while trying to pack up to leave.

Travelling from Arizona into Nevada we get our first view of the Hoover Dam, a hydropower station which provides power to the 4 surrounding states. We also get our first taste of Las Vegas with a one night stay before beginning the second week of our tour. It is hard to describe everything you see in Las Vegas so the best description I can give it is a theme park for Adults on steroids. When the city was originally being planned in the early 1900's people thought the designers of the city were insane to drop a city in the middle of the Nevada desert. However it is the ideal place for a city which uses so much electricity as it is within an hour of the Hoover dam, which provides the city with all its power.

The second week of our trip sees us swap over tour leaders and drop off some tourists and pick up some new ones before heading to Zion Canyon. This week we cram in some serious sightseeing with a day spent canyoneering through Zion N.P. a hike to Angels Landing in Zion N.P. Hiking to delicate Arch and through Bryce Canyon in Utah and Mountain biking on slickrock in Moab. The week winds down with a Navajo Indian tour through Monument Valley and a night camping at Lake Powell, Utah before another visit to the Grand Canyon, this time camping a night on the north rim. Added to the many places and customs we have experienced along the way are the constant native wildlife sightings and amazing sunsets and sunrises viewed which only add to the excitement of the tour.

The tour finishes with us being dropped off at Caesers Palace, Las Vegas. After spending 16 days travelling through national parks and secluded areas it is a shock to the system to arrive in Vegas. We spend 3 days in Las Vegas. Vegas is one of the most ridiculous places I have ever seen. Smoke inside, drink out on the street, do both in the pool, play blackjack in the pool, Paris, Egypt, Italy, Ancient England, New York, Irish and Pirates all inspire casinos.


We cram as much as we can into the time we are there including "tournament of the kings" show at Excalibur and "the bodies" exhibit at Luxor. Visiting the Grand Canyon and Hoover dam in the last 2 weeks, a flight over these two landmarks gives us even more spectacular views including an oncoming storm which added to the experience. Thanks to Roberts family for organising this.

3 days in Seattle, Washington flew by but we still managed to spend a day exploring the city, getting to the top of the space needle and visiting the very first Starbucks cafe and the Seattle Art Museum which was holding a Kurt Cobain exhibit. Day 2 in Seattle was a highlight leaving the hostel early and taking a day tour to Mt Rainier which is about 2 hours South East of the city. More spectacular views including the Mount itself and surrounding mountains including Mt. Adams which bought some excitement. The flora and fauna on the mountain are absolutely beautiful and a short hike up the mount gave us our first "snow experience" which made the day even more exciting, even if it was only for a little while, still managed to throw a couple of snowballs, didnt have enough time to carve a masterpiece snowman. Managed to fit in a visit to Kurt Cobains house before the sun went down when we arrived back in the city.

Since leaving Seattle we have travelled to Minneapolis, Minnesota where we have been staying with Brian Tracy, a mate since Uni in Bendigo. Visiting the Minnesota State Fair was a highlight, experiencing some American carnival atmosphere. Saturday night football took on a whole new meaning when we took in our first game of NFL football between the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks. The "grandfather" and one of the greatest NFL players of all time Brett Favre lined up for the Vikings as well as the cheerleaders, fireworks, vikings on harleys, giant viking ship 64,000 fans made our first trip to the NFL a memorable one.

The last 8 days have been spent camping at the Tracy family cabin on Lake Barber, Wisconsin. Wakeboarding, fishing, eating, drinking and relaxation have been staples throughout this time. A day trip to Lake Superior for a hike through the wilderness again providing many gorgeous vistas. We have arrived back in Minneapolis and as I type taking in some Sunday night football with a couple of cold millers for extra "cultural effect".

Hopefully this gives everyone an update on where we've been in the last month, our next destination is New York, followed by Niagra Falls, and Disneyworld Orlando where we are being joined by Krysten and Bridgo. After a couple of months away from home it will be great to see some family and have someone share the experience with us and who knows we may even be able to have one of these two as a guest scribe on this blog.

Todays blog entry quiz, taking on a sporting influence. What superbowl did Brett Favre lead the Green Bay Packers to a victory ??

Until next time..............

seeing as the Bombers are out for this year, GO DONALD !!

Dougy and Loz.

Congratulations to Aunty Maree, very quick off the mark guessing that when you go to San Francisco be sure to wear a flower in your hair. I think that takes the cullens tally to 2 on the quiz scoreboard, Hayley 1, Maree 1. Old man hawkesey may have corrected me also with the correct artist who sang the song being Scott McKenzie !

Tuesday 27th, another typical San Francisco summers day, fog on top of the city and its cold ! Long gear called for again however this does not last long as we head north / west and up some extremely steep inclines, which increases the heartbeat very quickly, to our first stop of the day, Grace Cathedral. This didnt raise much excitement from myself when it was mentioned as a "place of interest" by Lauren. Once inside the enormity of the building and the intricacy of the artwork and architecture of the building is an amazing sight. The age old method of judging how big things are or how long they might be was called on again, Can I kick a footy to touch the roof? How many kicks of the footy would it be from one end to the other ? My conclusion, the roof is very very high and the building extremely long and I would need to take several bounces and a considerably well executed torpedo to get from the door of the cathedral to the front of the cathedral where the services are delivered from.

Where the first bounce would be measured from

Cable Cars.

Continuing on our way to the Cable Car museum, the cable car which is an old tram is still operational in San Francisco and the line to take a ride on a cable car is almost as long as the route the cable car takes. The afternoon had cleared and was now a bright blue sky, a trip on the bus to Presidio included a stop at Pacific Heights which is the Toorak of San Fran and then onto Lincoln Park and the De Young Legion of Honour Art Museum. A collection of french artworks has been loaned to the museum and it is the one and only time it will leave France so $10 each is not a bad price to pay for some cultural enlightenment for the afternoon. Also the views over the golden gate bridge from here are spectacular !

The view from the front garden of the museum

Wednesday 28th, we are on the move again, this time only a few blocks away to another hostel. The 20 minute walk from hostel to hostel is interesting though with some more "interesting characters" taking up residence on the footpaths along the way. Our new hostel is our first shared dorm experience so far on the trip. This afternoon we head to AT&T park, San Francisco Giants ballpark for another fix of sporting culture. This time we see a full game and a very exciting game, with it going to an extra inning and final score being 10-9 which is reasonably high scoring in baseball terms. The ballpark sits right on the edge of the bay and is a picturesque stadium which once again gives us some more great views. In true Giants style we headed out afterwards to celebrate the win with a few drinks and a pizza at midnight !!

Take me out to the ball game!

Thursday 29th, The day we'd been waiting for since we arrived. The trip to Alcatraz. Alcatraz is the prison which sits on top of the "rock" which is a tiny island in the middle of the bay. The prison was in operation from 1934 - 1963 and was home to some of Americas most famed criminals including Al Capone. An audio headset tour which guides you through the prison, narrated by former prison guards and even prisoners. The tour even explains in detail some of the attempts to escape from alcatraz and how they were played out within the prison walls. A definite highlight of the week and well worth the price at only $26 each!

The most famous prison in the USA.

Friday 30th, Today we are taking it easy in preparation for our 16 day hike which will take us through Southern California, into Nevada, Arizona and Utah covering the many national parks and some American icons the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. We will be "offline" for this time so be sure to tune in again when we resume the blog.

Our last night in San Francisco
Until next time..............

GO BOMBERS !!!

Todays Quiz: Which famous actor starred in the movie "Escape from Alcatraz" ?

After finishing up in LA we jumped onto the Super Shuttle that took us straight to San Francisco. Hopping on the bus at 11:30am, we didn't arrive in San Francisco until approximately 8:15pm. It was a long drive, but extremely cheap compared to the other options of travel we had checked out. $40 each was all it cost. Amazing!!! Although we did have to sit for such a long time, the scenery was beautiful. We drove through hills and valleys for a good part of the trip and then suddenly we were in open spaces, filled with fruit trees and a variety of crops. On arriving in San Francisco we saw the fog rolling over the hills like a wave. It was a freaky sight, as it was moving so fast. Very cool though!!

Arriving, our friend Adrienne picked us up in downtown San Francisco at Union Square. Already it was obvious to see that it was a much different city to LA, especially temperature wise. You would have thought we had caught a bus back to wintery Donald it was that cold. No shorts and singlets here, that's for sure!!!

So far we have enjoyed 5 lovely days in San Francisco. Adrienne has been our wonderful guide during this time, driving us to beautiful sites of SF. Having someone who knew the way to go was very helpful, as we were able to quickly get from place to place. Thanks Adrienne!!!

Tuesday 20th of July was our first full day in SF. Catching the Muni (bus/train) into downtown SF, we saw the beautiful city during the day. We wandered the city streets, making our way down to Ferry Building along the famous wharf. It was a lovely buidling filled with little food shops; cheese shops, bakeries, mushroom shops, etc. There was also a farmer's market and general market that surrounded the Ferry Building.
Noticing the Bay Bridge, we took a few photos. At one point the bridge was looking a little weak, so Dion decided it needed his muscle power so he gave it a little lift!

I'm not sure what would have happened to the bridge if he wasn't there! Realising how close we were to the the 'Waterbar', Adrienne decided it would be a wonderful place for lunch. Cheap but delicious!! She was right, we all enjoyed a wonderful meal and we even tried some oysters. Mmmm!

After lunch we started a big hike up to Pier 39, a famous Pier with wonderful things to see and do. There were many things to see, although it was a little confusing trying to count the Piers. They didn't seem to really go in order and we even found the Pier that Harry Potter boards through!

During the stroll, we also came across the bush man! Yep that's what people know him as. We were walking and talking when suddenly someone scared us. I screamed, which isn't surprising and he laughed. I got a photo with him, and then we filmed him scaring more people coming along the busy footpath. We got a good laugh out of it too! We heard that he is the third generation of the 'Bush Man', who scares people. It was amazing how much money he had in his little tin.

On arriving at Pier 39 we saw hundreds of people enjoying the not so sunny summer. Still people were out and looking at all the shops and eateries on the pier. We saw some more funny sites, including: a giant macaroni noodle with a sign saying 'do not climb on the noodle' and yet there were kids all over it!! Then we saw a lady have a giant seagull land on her head/shoulder and snatch the tasty ice-cream she was eating, right out of her hands. Funny to watch the gutsy seagull go for the ice-cream, but not an enjoyable experience for the lady that's for sure.

Wednesday took us to the end of the Train line and a stop at the zoo. Only a small zoo in comparison to the Melbourne or Australia zoo's from home but still managed to to take 4 hours to see the whole lot. Today we experienced our first real San Francisco weather ! The morning began very cold and only got colder as the day went on. By the end of the day I was wearing 4 layers of clothes and a beanie, which is usually only called for in July at home, not July in the northern hemisphere.

And they call Dion 'the Goat'!
In the afternoon we take a trip to Haight & Ashbury streets. A funky little area filled with, shops, cafes and restaurants. There is a very hippy feeling to this area but a cool place for young people to hangout!

A delicous treat we had on our little shop at Haight and Ashbury!

Another mexican dining experience tonight, this time at El Balaza and this is a classic mexican experience, no flat screens or Australian music playing here. Just delicious mexican food and in generous servings for an affordable price too! The evening sees us head to the 'Lone Palm' a cosy little bar which goes against the usual american bar format of having several tv's with sport playing. A single 40cm tv sits high in the corner playing old western and gangster movies, which adds to the charm of the place.

Thursday, after waiting a few days to see the piece de resistance of San Francisco's sights today the fog has cleared enough for us to see the Golden Gate Bridge! Once again, thanks Adge for your tour guiding skills, taking us to the other side of the bridge so we get the best views looking back across the bay at the city and we also take a walk across the bridge to get some fantastic photos. Looking at the bridge from the city it looks like a calm, still area. Standing in the middle of the bridge these thoughts are turned upside down as 6 lanes of trafffic constantly fly by and bike riders, walkers runners and skaters navigate their way around each other to cross the famous landmark! A hustling bustling sight that makes the bridge come to life!

Todays treat is Mitchells Ice Cream after dinner. And what a treat it is, being a fine ice cream conniseur that I am and having tasted some of the greatest ice creams from around the world, johno's, halls gap ice cremery, wendy's and of course cold rock. But Mitchells now raises the bar in the quest for the ultimate dessert!!
Today I also put akko's "London KitKat theory" to the test. I managed to pick up a 4 finger kit kat and a 473ml can of coke for $1.87 Excellent value. It seems that all things junk food here are bigger but cheaper !!

Friday and we are on the move again. Packing our bags and sending some stuff home and some stuff to Minneapolis for when we arrive there to give us some more room in our bags! Today we relocate to the Dakota Hotel in the heart of downtown San Francisco, only one block from Union Square. Our room is on the corner of the building and has huge windows on both walls giving us great views of the action in the street below. The hotel we are staying in is the 2nd building of the hostel that we actually booked in to. So we have no kitchen or common room facilities in the building, we have to go down the street to use these. We have a microwave and small fridge in our room to make do with for our time here. Some very interesting meals to come over the next few days with these limited resources. All part of the fun of living out of a backpack!

Saturday was a very energetic day for us both! Deciding we should go do a bit of exercise we put on our exercise gear and matching Donald jackets and made our way to Golden Gate Park. We started wondering around the place, exploring all the different parts of the park. The Botanical Gardens were spectacular! There were beautiful plants, flowers and trees everywhere!

The more you wandered, the more you found. Out of the Botanical Gardens were more areas for us to explore. At one point we were walking around and suddenly heard this DJ going nuts. We had come across what looked like a rave in the middle of the Golden Gate Park, which moments before hand was unable to be heard. It was completely hidden and wonderful to come across. It was just like a scene you could find in Alice in Wonderland! Amazing!

In the end we spent the whole day exploring the Golden Gate Park, which we think is probably about the size of Donald! It would be very interesting to have worn a pedometre to see how far we walked and ran. Our legs were definitely worn out by the end of the day.
Rewarding ourselves for the day we had a few drinks and played a bit of skip-bo. A great card game, although with only 2 people it did take a while to get through a 30 card stack!

Deciding it was the day of rest, D & I made the most of it and had a good sleep in. We wandered to the Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom shopping centre and had a look around. In search of something good to do, we found the cinema within the shopping centre. 'The kids are alright' was the best movie choice for the day, so we headed in. In the end it was a well spent Sunday just chillin' out!

Today we put the walking shoes back on and hit the streets. Walking is definitely the easiest way to get around and the best way to find hidden treasures! The hills can be a struggle at times though, as they are everywhere. We were lucky enough to come across a good rest stop along the walk. Check it out!

On our walk to Pier 39 we accidently came across the famous 'Lombard St'. Well know for being the 'Crookedest St.' and crooked it was! Being on foot we walked up towards the crooked part, breaking a sweat along the walk! It was extremely steep. Cars coming down the steepest part actually have to zig-zag, probably with their foot on the brake the whole way.

The rest of the day took us to Crissy Field, Pier 39, Ferry Building and back home. I'm sure an easy 15kms would have been covered by foot today! Again we are resting at home, giving our feet the chance to recouperate.

Cheers,

Today's Quiz: According to the Mamas and the Papas, what should you wear when you go to San Francisco?

After realising it was our last weekend in LA, we decided to go and do a bit more site seeing on Saturday. After talking to Carl, the dude who runs this hostel, we were given the directions and bus routes to get us to the Hollywood Bowl. It didn't start out good though. Actually I was doubting that we would get there at all. I do believe in fate however, and things happening for a reason, so I suppose the end result wasn't too bad after all.

It all started when we were supposed to catch the #733 bus. We missed the first one as we were standing at the wrong bus stop, we then jumped on the #733 bus ,but it was heading the wrong way. Luckily there was a lovely lady who helped us out and we finally got on the right bus and headed to Fairfax Ave.
Having jumped off the bus we walked to the next bus stop only to realise that we only had a $20 note. The bad thing is, these buses don't give change and for a $1.50 bus ride each, it wasn't worth losing $17. So we decided to walk along the bus route to try and find a shop to get change. About 20 minutes later and a lot of walking we found a shop and got the correct change and hopped onto our next bus.

After our little adventure we finally arrived on Hollywood Blvd. Now I did say that we were heading to the Hollywood Bowl, but in a split second decision we decided to jump off the bus and go check out Hard Rock Cafe.
Now this is where the fun really begins, because as we walked into the Hard Rock store a guy who obviously worked there said hello to us both and asked where we were from. Us, being two country Aussie kids, were polite and had a chat (Mum it really does pay to talk to people). He then disappeared for a bit and came back and asked us "Hey would you guys be interested in a free feed for lunch?" We jumped at the chance and were guided to our seats, being given information about the cafe along the way.

So Dion and I were invited in to the "Family and Friends test run day" where the staff were having a test run for the newly renovated Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood! We were given an entree to share and a main each, on the house. We couldn't believe our luck. We were even sitting under MC Hammer's sneakers!! Talk about crazy!
To make things even better, while enjoying our 'California Club Sandwich' and 'South of the Border Burger' none other than Guns 'n' Roses' song 'Sweet Child 'O Mine' came on! Sitting eating our lunch, we were both still in awe of the wonderful place and how we came to be there. I think luck was definitely on our side yesterday!!

After enjoying our delicious lunch, which was much more food than we have been eating at lunch, the meals were huge!!! We headed towards the Hollywood Bowl. Again we had a lovely lady help us make our way there. It's interesting how friendly people are towards each other here. I know we have mentioned it already but the kindness is so nice. I'm interested to see what other places are like and if they are as friendly.
Back to Hollywood Bowl, thinking we wouldn't get a look in, we wandered through the surroundings of the bowl. Trying our luck we headed up the steps towards the bowl. No one stopped us, so we kept going. When we walked in the bowl was huge and amazing to see that such a well known place was outdoors. For those of you who may not know what the Hollywood Bowl is, it is a natural basin that is used for musical performances such as the orchestras and even music groups have played there. It was a wonderfully quiet place in such a busy, bustling city.

Having had such an adventure for the day we headed home and went to a local restaurant for a light tea and a few drinks.

Sunday started out with some delicious pancakes, maple syrup and strawberries. We are pretty fortunate that our hostel provides free pancakes for breakfast and pasta and rice alternatively each night for tea. It makes planning our meals easy as we have tried to worked them with the pasta and rice. I'm not sure if all hostels are like this, lets hope so!

D went for a run again and I finished off my book after breaky. The weather was much cooler than yesterday, which reached 33 degrees celsius and was still quite warm later in the night. Having finished my book I felt it was a good idea to get another one before our 7-8 hour drive to San Francisco tomorrow.

With all the time in the world we walked into Santa Monica. The open shopping area is a lovely place and was again busy with buskers and shoppers everywhere. Dion even got a bit thirsty, so we stopped at the water fountain for a quick drink!

As our visit in LA ends its hard to believe we have been here for 11 days already! The next part of our adventure begins tomorrow, making our way up the west coast to San Fran.

Cheers,
Loz and Sleepy

xoxo

P.S. Well done to Shaun who answered yesterdays question correctly: In the television series The O.C. where did Ryan originally come from ? Shaun you totally got it, Ryan came from Chino!! I will have to borrow the first season from you when I get home too if that's ok, cos I really want to watch it again now!!

Today's Quiz: What old school cartoon program uses classical music regularly in their shows?