Travel to United States, Tennessee, Gatlinburg.

I had been anticipating our trip to Gatlinburg since our arrival in Pigeon Forge. The reason - Tennessee’s only legal Moonshine still. The only challenge - since it was Sunday, there were no samples, or sales, until noon. So, we had time for a leisurely breakfast at, where else???.... a pancake house. Yummy, and fast.

We headed out on the short drive to Gatlinburg by 10:15. The trip was a short five miles, but is was a beautiful, if short drive. We elected to drive into town and park rather than park at the visitor center as was recommended. From the visitor center, you could take a free shuttle, but after our Dollywood shuttle challenge, we thought it safer to keep the FJ within walking distance. As we entered town, it was reminiscent of a small mountain village in the foothills of the Alps. It was more reserved than Pigeon Forge, but definitely laid out with catering to the tourists being the driving force of urban design. It was fascinating. If Pigeon Forge is known as the pancake house of Tennessee, then Gatlinburg should be known as the candy shop capital of the state.

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Travel to United States, Illinois, Chicago.

Over the summer my best friend Shan took to me to china town. This was the first time that i have gone to china town. I am a very picky eater. So of course Shan took me to the market and bought me a lot of asian snacks. She tackled me until I tasted the snacks. Some of the snacks were delicious and other snacks weren't so good. We also went to go buy some milk tea. Which was very disgusting, and even though Shan claims that it is delicious when it is not. I had tons of fun. We went to the store where they sell only gifts. Everything was so different. However, we had to walk a lot. We didn't take any buses because we ha to pay 2.25 since we didn't have the student bus card. It was very tiring going to china town, however it was worth it. I got to try new food and see places that i usually don't see.

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Travel to United States, Nevada, Las Vegas.

The first day with no driving as we have 2 nights in Vegas so we didn’t get up until 9am. We decided that the best time to visit the pool, which we could see from our window was rapidly filling with eager sun-worshippers, was now so went straight down there. Very few loungers left but we managed to find a couple and spent a surprisingly pleasant hour or so reading by the pool and messing about in the water. I say surprisingly as it seemed a different place from yesterday. Music was good and enough space in the pool to swim a little. We concluded it was because it was Sunday that it was so busy yesterday and there were certainly a few less people about today.

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Travel to United States, Oregon, North Bend.

After spending the morning in the library, we set off in the sunshine towards Mitchell on route 26. It has become obvious to us that Oregon was designed purely to ride motorcycles, they are the best roads yet and we did the best days riding you could possibly ever hope to do.

We took a detour of around 30 odd miles and found a lovely campsite by the John Day River, again right by the river, it really doesn't get much better. Out for a meal a walk away. Its generally excepted not to travel after dusk, a lot of the land is 'open range' and the animals tend to wander more in the early morning and at dusk, and obviously they are difficult to see. There are also young ones around now, we had to drive around cattle earlier today, another thing to watch out for.

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Travel to United States, Alaska, Ketchikan.

After nearly a week of fantastic weather, we arrived in Ketchikan and could see that the weather was foul. We made our way to the Lido for breakfast, and again, French Toast seemed to be the preferred choice. Sharon’s blight of chocolate croissants finally came to an end; although there was just one when she first checked the pastry section, I came back with another two after I had finished eating. Sharon’s mom had said she didn’t want one, but after eyeing that one left on the plate, she finally couldn’t resist. She did complain that there was only a paltry amount of chocolate in hers; while, Sharon shrewdly chose the one with the double dose.

We were a bit early getting off the Oosterdam for our tour. Before the gangway, they were making sure everyone had their jackets on and umbrellas ready. It was raining and the gangway had a steep descent which caused my mom to hold on with both hands because of the potential slipperiness. So one of the attendants came by and escorted her the rest of the way down. We couldn’t spot our bus, or anyone holding a “Totem Bight and Lumberjack Show” placard for us to spot. When we got to the assembly area, we were in a light drizzle, enough that my umbrella came in handy and those without umbrellas sought some sort of overhanging shelter. Sharon and her mom decided to explore the Christmas Store just across the street, but they came back rather quickly. We were really wondering about those on the “Flightseeing Tours” because this weather didn’t seem to be ideal for that; but, they weren’t being cancelled. One of the guys selling independent flight tours said he had live cameras showing the weather was great in Misty Fjords. After some busses pulled away, a burly young guy in red and black plaid lumberjack garb appeared holding the placard we were looking for; and, the reason we didn’t see our bus is that the lumberjack show was down one small block and over one block from where we were waiting.

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Travel to United States, Arizona, Grand Canyon.

We spent the day in Las Vegas yesterday. It really is a crazy place - nothing is real, and I can't imagine what it must be like to live there full time! It's pretty hot in Vegas - a welcome change after the snow!

Feeling a bit delicate from the previous night, but we were keen to see some sights, so we took the monorail(!) to the end station and then walked back along the strip looking into various casinos and hotels. Still no real gambling - my total loss is $2 on slot machines which I don't know how to work!

Highlights of the Vegas strip include Venice complete with gondala rides (my favourite), a recreation of downtown New York with Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge and Empire State Building, a fairy tale castle, a recreation of the Trevi Fountain in Rome, a Dutch scene with windmills, clogs and giant swans, and a sunken pirate ship at Treasure Island...just completely bizarre!

We had giant fajitas for lunch - getting a bit sick of large American portions and fried food, so Victoria and I are on a vegetable-seeking mission...

Had a power nap in the afternoon, then headed out for dinner and a show.

Las Vegas is famous for its all you can eat buffets, so we went to MGM casino/hotel and tried out theirs - it was good - not only were there vegetables and fruit, there was also non-fried food, and some excellent crab legs and shrimp!

We then went to see a show - Cirque de Soleil - Ka, also at the MGM. It was very 'Vegas' - over the too, with fireworks at the end! The set was incredible, and there were lots of acrobatics that you wouldn't think were possible to do.. So all in all a great experience!

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Travel to United States, Alaska, Anchorage.

On my mission to eventually go to every State in the USA and every province in Canada (except Nunavut), I eventually decided itwas time to go to Alaska, The Last Frontier.

Coincidentally, and conveniently, Shannan’s family lives in a little town a couple of hours from Anchorage, so we all decided to go visit!

I have mentioned Shannan’s family briefly, off and on, over my blog-times, because they moved to our little town of Eureka, once upon a time, while we were in high school, and stayed about…a year, I think. But they were like a comet coming through – only there for a short time but made a lasting impression!)

I practically lived at their house and Shannan’s parents were my parents and her sisters were my sisters, and when we weren’t living at her house, we lived at mine… I’m not sure if Shannan considers my parents her parents, but I know that we both got grounded and banished to the laundry room to fold clothes for an entire day, so I’m assuming that she did. (She, at least, did the chores they told us to do…well, actually… from what I can remember, we spent the
Glacierentire day in that room and didn’t fold a single thing – but that’s just because we got distracted with visiting.)

I hadn’t seen Dale & Ruby (Shannan’s parents) or her sister, Stacey, since they moved away from Columbia Falls, so this would be a long over-due reunion!

We decided SUMMER was the smart time to go to Alaska. The coldest day on record, in Alaska, was -80° Fahrenheit (-62° Celsius), January 23, 1971. This was, of course, the record coldest day for any place in the United States. Of course, this is a long, long, long way (20 miles North of the Arctic Circle) from where we would be, but still – we didn’t want to risk it!!

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