Washington DC

I had to get up early to catch the train from New York to Washington DC.  It was a fairly short trip about 3-4 hours.  It would probably be quicker to go by train than fly between the 2 cities.  When I got there I found that the Union Station was probably the best train station I had seen in the United States.  It had a large food court downstairs with probably 20 different places to eat and upstairs there was a selection of shops.  The ceiling had over 70 pounds of Gold on it.  The place I had booked to stay in Washington DC was a bit of a gamble, as the site had no reviews on it at all when I had booked it.  I later found out this was because they had just opened a few days before on the 1st of April.  They said it was easy to get to, but I thought after walking there with my 2 backpacks, it was a bit further than I had liked.

When I finally arrived at the place, I was wondering if I had made the right decision about the place to stay as it had a for lease sign on the front of the building.  I knocked on the door and a guy with Tattoos on his arms came down and let me in.  Over the course of the week I got to know Tom and AJ, who were the staff at the time.  It turned out that this place was probably the best place I stayed at for the social interaction. 

At the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum I got to see the Apollo 11 Command module, along with a whole heap of other interesting planes and space vehicles.  It was probably one of my favorite parts of Washington DC.

I did a lot of walking up and down the national mall, seeing all the different sites.

While I was in Washington DC, the Cherry Blossom festival was on.   Each year, the National Cherry Blossom Festival commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington, DC. The gift and annual celebration honor the lasting friendship between the United States and Japan and the continued close relationship between the two countries. 

As you were not meant to take photos of the Pentagon,  I had to settle for a photo from Arlington cemetery.  I found it funny in a sad kind of way that the important people got unique headstones at the top of the hill whereas the soldiers and their wives got the same headstones in fields almost indistinguishable from one another.  In the end they were all dead.

New York

I arrived at New Yorks Penn Station and spent a bit of time trying to work out how to get to Hotel Alexander where I was staying.  I eventually found where I had to go and found how to buy a ticket.  I had picked a hotel because the reviews for the hostels in New York didn't look encouraging and many of them seemed to be in poor locations.  Hotel Alexander was a few blocks walk from the 96th St train station and the line went straight down to downtown.

The first day I spent time finding where everything I wanted to see was and had a quick look at Wall St.  I found it a bit of a disappointment, I think partly because you couldn't go in anywhere because of security concerns.  I say an obstructed view of the Brooklyn bridge, saw the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building at a distance.  After I had found where I had to get the ticket to go across to the Statue of Liberty, I walked back across the park to the "Charging Bull".  The bulls is not actually on wall st but is  a short walk away.  There was constantly crowds around the bull, getting photos of themselves with the bull.  The bull had several places where the bronze was much more polished than the rest of the bull from where people had touched the bull when they were getting their photo taken.

During the following days I went and was an audience member of the "Late Show with David Letterman", Went to the 86th and 106th floors of the Empire State building, visited the Museum of Modern art and the Top of the Rockefella building, Climbed to the top of the Statue of Liberty and looked out through the crown, Saw the site of the World Trade Center had a play on the big piano in FAO Schwarz, walked from one end of Central Park to the other end, went to Time Square, became familiar with the New York subway system.

On the 30th I went to the Ed Sulivan theater and signed up to be an audience member.  It is a lottery who will get seats and I put down for the 30th and the 1st of April.  I got a call back at 11:30, saying that I had been drawn to be an audience member.  So first I had to go back to theater at 2:00PM to pick up the ticket.  I was on "Jacks Gold List".  Then I had to come back at 3:45 when they would let me in.  Before they started recording the show, they told us what we had to do and what we couldn't do.  They also had a comedian to warm the crowd up.  The show started recording at 4:30 and took a little over an hour.  President Obama was on the upper level of the crowd, where I was... and waved multiple times throughout the show.  The guests were Regis and Snope Dog.

While I was in the area I went into the Hello Deli and ordered a Shaffer sandwich.  All the sandwiches are named after the cast of the Late show.  Rupert G was just like he is on the show.

I walked through Central Park with a friend of a friend I had meet in Chicago.  Central park goes from 106th St down to 56th street.  On the first day, we made it down to 72nd st.  The next day I went from 72nd st down to 56th street, past the stone arch bridge and lots of Baseball fields.

It got to Monday on the last day I was going to be at New York and I hadn't seen the Brooklyn Bridge.  So I went on the train and took a few photos.  It was dark and getting late, so I didn't investigate any further than taking a few photos like the one shown below.

Niagara Falls

On the Thursday I caught the Train from Chicago to Niagara Falls at 9:30PM.  The train got to Buffulo, where I had to wait for 4-5 hours till the connecting train that was going to Niagara Falls came.  When it got into Niagara Falls it started to snow and I realized my plan of walking to the hostel I was staying at was a bit ill conceived.  So I ended up getting the station attendant to call a taxi for me.  It was the first time I had used a taxi in my life.  The place I stayed at was called Wonderfalls Hostel.  It was basically a converted 3 story house.  I was paying to stay in a dorm room, but it ended up I was the only one in there for my stay.

The next day I was told that I should go over to the Canadian side of the falls because they look better from there.  I was wondering whether there would be any problems, but it was quite easy - all I had to do was walk across a bridge to the other side, where a Canadian officer asked me a few questions, stamped my passport and then let me on through.  On the bridge they have a plate that shows where the actual US and Canadian border is.  Walking across would actually be faster than taking a car across - at least at this time of the year.

Compared to the United States side of Niagara Falls, the Canadian side is much more alive.  It has all the usual touristy things as well as theme park sorts of attractions - a little tacky.   I started walking along the path along the side of the falls - along with hundreds of other people. 

While I was walking along a met a couple, and we continued to talk as we went along the side of the river.  After we had finished exploring the falls, we went and had lunch at a place that was done up like a rainforest - it had animatronic animals all around that moved occasionally and there was even "lightning" and "thunder".  Once we finished lunch we went for a short drive to see what else we could find in Canada.

Near the water falls there is a mist that causes the snow on the trees to turn into ice.  These then gradually melt in the sun and fall off.  One piece falling off high up can cause a chain reaction and make multiple bits of ice lower down fall.

The next day I got a ride to the train station and got on another Amtrak train to New York.

Chicago

I arranged to travel by Amtrak from Houston to Chicago.  I started off on a bus and changed over to the Texas Eagle train at Longview, Texas.  This train arrived about an hour late after 2 or 3 long freight trains passed through.  The train ride was about 18 hours, with the bus being about 5.  Although a flight would have been quicker, I was saving some money, the flight would have been probably $100 more plus another nights accommodation.  Overall, I found the train ride much better than the flight from Australia.  I guess this may have been in part because I didn't have to pass through numerous timezones.

When I got to Chicago, I got out at Chicago Union Station.  It's kind of a strange feeling when you get out and basically have no idea of where you are.  Luckily on the train it had power points at each seat and I was able to make sure my phone was fully charged for when I got off.  I was then able to use this with google maps and the gps in it to locate where I was, which direction I had to go, to get to the buses I had to take to get to the Hostel I was staying at.

Luckily I'm the sort of person that generally keeps a lot of loose change in my pocket so that I could pay the $2.25 for both buses I had to get to go to the hostel.  The next day I eventually found where I could get a week pass for $23, which I have since used extensively during my stay.

The first place I went and had a look at was the Navy Pier.  This is probably a place that kids would find more interesting, although they did have a stain-glass window museum there, that had many of the windows from around Chicago, that had been removed from churches when they fell out of fashion last century.

The next day I went to see the Willis Tower (formally Sears tower).  I bought a Chicago pass, which allowed me to go to multiple other Chicago tourist attractions.  This also enabled me to pass the long line and go to a much shorter line.  They then crammed as many people as they could into a elevator and then a few more and went up to the 103rd floor which is 412 metres above the streets.  On the way down, the line was longer than the one to go up.  After I got out, I went and had a look at the Federal Reserve building that I saw on the way to the Willis Tower.  After going in and clearing security I was able to have a look at a small museum of what the Federal Reserve does.

$1,000,000

Some of the more interesting things they had there was 3 lots of $1,000,000.  They had $1,000,000 in $1 bills, $20 bills and $100 bills.

On Saturday I went to the Shedd Aquarium. Here I saw some Pahranas, Electric Eels and Sea Horses among the more interesting things.  There was a focus on North American and South American aquatic animals as you can expect from a north American aquarium. I saw a very shortened version of Happy Feet in 4D - with air and bubbles and vibrations in my seat.  Finally at the end I saw a presentation of Dolphin training and them doing tricks.  I felt like I wasted a lot of time here but my ticket to see then presentation was at 2:30 PM.  Not that in the end they even checked my ticket when I went in to see it. 

After that I went to the Field Museum, which was next to the aquarium.  I had to quickly make my way through this because I had spent so much time at the aquarium.  In hindsight I would have preferred to spend more time at the Field Museum and less at the aquarium.  I had a look at ancient American cultures and artifacts, as well as Ancient Egypt.  I was meant to be able to get into a special exhibit "Under the Ground" but by that time the museum was closing so I missed it.

On Sunday I met a few locals. John, Peter and Rhiannon.  I went to the Art Institute of Chicago on Tuesday. I was very cultured and saw lots of paintings.  On Wednesday I went to the Industry Museum of Science and Industry.The parts that I found most interesting were the machines that I had read about when I was little.

On the Thursday I on an Architecture tour of the Chicago Board of Trade.  In my research, when I was in Australia I thought there was no way I could get in to see the trading pits.  I discovered however when I was in Chicago, that if I took a Architecture tour of the building I could get to see the closing bell of the days trading which is at 1:15 PM.  So that's what I did.  I ended up getting to see the Commodities pits as well as the Financial products pits.  Unfortunately they wouldn't allow any photos of the pits.

Houston

When I arrived at Houston, Texas I got picked up by Ben, who was on his way home from work as I arrived at about 5PM.  The next day I went to the Tourist Information place, to get an idea on what I could do in Houston.  One of the first things I did was to explore the Tunnels that run under downtown Houston.  These tunnels link many of the large skyscrappers together along with parking Garages.  They also contain many shops.  Infact above ground there is very few shops at all.  

These tunnels remain on the same level for the most part, avoid all the vehicle traffic and allow everyone to keep out of the heat.  I explored them quite extensively.  There was also several "Sky Lobbys" that the general public can go up to and have a look out of.

 

The next day I went to the muesum district.  I had a look at the Natural Science muesum for a couple of hours.  They had an interesting exhibit on the oil production process (as you would expect a Texas science muesum would have.  The next day I went and had a look at the Fine Arts muesum.  I could have gone and seen the impressionist painters' paintings, but I have already seen them in Canberra a a year or soo back.

Next I went to the Houston Rodeo and Show. While I was there I got my boots shined up, like an American.  Before the Rodeo actually started I watched some Mutton Busting.  I wish I was 35 to 50 pounds so that I could have done it as well.  I missed out on seeing the Pig racing though.

The actual Rodeo started just before 7pm. When I went to go to my seat I found that the seat.

On the final day that I did anything, I went and had a look at NASA.  Much of the area is targeted for Children, which I had just happened to put off this trip until spring break and so it was pretty busy.  There were a few interesting things there, but the highlight was rocket park.  At Rocket Park a full sized Saturn V is housed in a large shed which you can go in and have a look at.  There is also the Mercury Rocket outside, which looks tiny compared to the Saturn V.

I would especially like to thank Ben and Wendy for all they did for me while I was staying in Houston.  It wouldn't have been the same without them.

Las Vegas last few days [The untold story].

While I was out on my tour I had to book where I was going to stay when I got back.  NASCAR was in Vegas and so had pushed up the prices to more than double the price, and I didn't want to spend a heap more after just spending 10% of my budget in less than 1 week.  So I booked a back packers place, for $12 a day.  In hindsight it may have been better to go more upmarket.  The accommodation was very basic... and I felt okay, as long as I didn't go out in the dark.

On my last full day in Vegas I went to the Atomic testing museum.  This had all the story about the creation and testing of the atomic bomb.  I went there on the Sunday by bus, having learned how the public bus system worked in Vegas.  I managed to get there just as it was opening and midday on the Sunday.  I spent a bit over an hour looking around the museum and then decided to make my way back, after having some lunch across the road at a "Jack in the Box".

Just as I was finishing eating there, across the road a man was shot several times.  I was less than 100 metres away when it happened.  Sirens sounding, quite a few paramedic vehicles came as well as police cars... with suitable weaponry.  I decided it was better to get on the bus and get out of there.  So when it came, I got on and got out of there.

The next day I got picked up by a Airport Shuttle bus just before 7:30 and taken to the the airport.  I was glad to be getting out of there.  Many of the things in Vegas are blatant and "in your face" out in the open, finely tuned to try and make as much money out of everyone as possible.

They don't call it sin city for no reason.  I took a flight with US Airways to Houston, which was 10 times more expensive to get out of Vegas as it was to fly there from Los Angeles.

Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Antelope Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Zion

Over the past 3 days I went on a tour of the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Antelope Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Zion.  On the first day I had to get up at 6AM.  I set my alarm for 5:30 and managed to get up and have everything ready for when I was supposed to be picked up.  It took me a while to find the place where I was to be picked up but eventually I worked it out and found the vehicle that I had to get into.  After everyone had been picked up from various locations around vegas we headed out to the Hoover Dam.  We had a quick look by going up on the bypass bridge.

We then followed on to the Grand Canyon.  This was a couple of hour drive, and eventually got driven to various lookout points along the edge of the canyon.  One of the places we had a look at was a tower on the edge of the Grand Canyon.  This had some Indian art on the walls.

Along the way at many of the stops Indians had tables out with a large selection of jewellary and other objects that they had made for sale.  I was amazed by the amount of the product that they had there, as it must have taken a very long time to make it all.   Some of those places get 50 buses coming through every day, and so they must make a good turnover.

After we had finished looking at the Grand Canyon we continued onto a small town called Page.  At Page we booked into a Motel, and a little while later went to a nearby Grill house.  I ordered a Prime Rib Steak.  When this came out it was at least 10x15cm.  After a good effort I managed to finish at least 3 quarters of it.  I could have eaten more of it but I didn't want to feel sick after the meal. 

The next day we started of and Antelope Canyon.  I nearly missed this part of the tour because I was using my mobile phone as an alarm clock and while I had changed my watch when we passed into Arizona (1 hour ahead), I didn't change my mobile phone. The main tour guide Jason, ended up coming back for me and speeding for me to get to the location, which we managed to get to the rest of the tour, just before the gates on the Indian reservation. This very narrow canyon that changes colour as the the sun moves across the sky.  It was a bit disapointing though because a lot of the canyon was quite dark, as it was early in the morning and because the days are still quite short.

Next the tour went onto Hourseshoe Bend.  This is a bend in a river that is in the shape of a horseshoe. The river has cut 350+ metre cliff face - the river is a long way below.  You could go right up to the edge and look right over.

Next we went onto Monument Valley.  The tour was meant to start at 1PM but they didn't have a driver so we had to wait until 2PM.  While we waited we had a look around the area, which had a muesum and had John Waynes cabin that he lived in when he was making movies.  There are many movies that have been filmed in Monument valley like "Stage Coach", "Forest Gump", Back To The Future - Part 3" and many others, especially old westerns.  I had a look for the Delorean time machine from Back to the Future, but failed to find it!  This was obvously a huge disappointment to me.  At the last photo stop on the tour, my camera battery went flat.  It also was one of the more recognisable places in the valley.  So I had to use my mobile phone to take a couple of pictures instead of my other camera.

On the third day we went to Bryce Canyon.  This was the highest part of the trip being slightly more than 2500 metres above sea level.

 

 Finally we visited Zion. To get right into Zion we had to pass through a approximately 2km tunnel that was made in the late 1920's.

On the way back to Las Vegas my ears were messed up from the altitude.  So far my ears are still not right, with things sounding a bit quiet.

Tomorrow I fly to Houston.