Category: Uncategorized

Rhode Island

18 May 2018

The home of the Americas Cup. I just wanted to get a quick pic and buy a magnet in Newport and get to my next stop. However, I spent six ( 6) hours here. I discovered the Volvo Ocean Race yachts were in town. I had no idea what that was but now I know this race, dare I say, is more prestigious than the Americas Cup. I went to Fort Adams where I learned about this crazy race. I took the shuttle $US12 return to Fort Adams and the flag kept enveloping me.

This race is definitely crazier than the Americas Cup. A global sailing race run every three years. All teams have a yacht made to exact specifications so the race depends wholly on the team’s ability. Is this the ultimate challenge? There isn’t even a money prize. Just the cup. Check out this video clip

Did you know that parts of the Southern Ocean are so remote the closest man-made thing is the international space station. This race also promotes awareness of the destruction plastic is causing in our oceans.

I went to the Brick Alley Pub for lunch. It has wonderful sports memorabilia.

My airbnb hosts took me out to Capone’s in Peabody Massachusetts for a dance.

The live band The Eric Grant Band played great covers.

Band video.

Two nights in a row I had live music!!

Mystic and Mohegan Sun Connecticut

17 May 2018

Mystic is a tranquil seaside village in the Long Island Sound.

This part of the USA, New England, made up of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, is getting very pricey and I am trying to work the logistics to visit 3 states without stopping to sleep anywhere. It is also cold and wet and making me want to stay indoors.

So this evening I went to the Mohegan Sun Casino which is operated by the Mohegan Tribe. It is very impressive. I almost didn’t go after the mediocre casinos of Atlantic City. It is one of the largest casinos in the USA and has FREE parking for 13,000 cars.

I had some delicious Italian Wedding soup for dinner. There was an excellent free concert by Ben Gallaher.

I then went to the late Comedy Club show for $US10. They were amateurs but quite good. I recommend a night here. They have top quality entertainment and I will miss out on FloRida, Josh Groban and Keith Urban . This was a great night.

New Haven Connecticut

16 May 208

What a cold, wet, miserable day! But can’t let that stop me doing some sightseeing. Louis Lunch is claimed by the Library of Congress to be the birthplace of the hamburger.

I said it was wet and cold!!

Yale has so many places to visit which are free to the public. I went to the Yale Art Gallery and the British Art Centre. My favourite piece of art was this ceramic. I didn’t take a note of the name unfortunately.

And this Steinway which was owned by Noel Coward

The place I was keen to look at was the Cushing Centre in the Yale Medical Library. Professor Harvey Cushing was known as the “godfather of neurosurgery”. The Cushing Centre is home for a collection of 600 brain specimens together with medical records, photos, equipment and tumor register. The Centre was opened in 2010 and the public have access. You need to provide identification to security to access the Centre.

A scavenger hunt sheet is provided.

It was very macabre but interesting. My question is, lots of brain tumors are thought to be caused by the use of mobile phones, but what caused all these tumors which date back to the early 1900s?

Here are my architecture pics around Yale.

If you love books the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library is a beautiful structure housing an array of works dating back to the 1400s.

With my new found wealth of knowledge I located a trivia group on MeetUp, in New Haven and thanks to Kelly, Laura, Adrienne,Vinnie, Bob and Joe I was again part of a winning team.

Connecticut

15 May 2018

I was warned about traffic driving from New Jersey, through New York, to Connecticut. I have driven in Brasil but the turnpikes, traffic, add a severe thunderstorm and accidents it was quite a challenge and am proud that I got through, although at one stage I was wondering where I could find someone to drive me out of this area. I was going around in circles as I kept missing the turnpike. I don’t remember how many times I went past the Metlife Stadium, the home of the New York Giants and New York Jets. Almost enough time for a game.

Frustrated I just drove away from that turnpike and Siri took me another route away from the Washington Bridge. I had left Atlantic City at 10:00am and planned on being in West Haven Connecticut by around 5:30pm. After 10 hours on the road, I arrived at 8:00pm.

However, I did get to see some lovely sights along the way, once again, because I turned off the toll roads on the GPS.

Sea Bright is now the place with the biggest homes I have seen. This exclusive area has a road which divides the ocean from the homes and the rear of the homes back onto the river. Some parts of the road there is an extra lane where you could park, but there are signs all the way along “no stopping and no parking” and I realise it is so that you cannot photograph the mansions. These are a couple of small ones I snuck.

Then down the road a little further there are parking areas across the road from the homes, but they are all private parking for the residents. I understand that there are 7 beach clubs and only members can attend and use the parking.

Above is the private beach access across the road from each house.

I like the cute bus stop on the shopping strip.

Atlantic City New Jersey

14 May 2018

I found Atlantic City a bit dreary in the day time, as many of these casino towns are. They are best at night with all the lights hiding what you don’t want to see. Although there was enough fog to hide everything.

Although the highlight of my last night was seeing these famous girls on stage, Regina and Jessica. They had me waving like a crazy fan. Safe travels back to New York lovely ladies.

In daylight, it showed a beach with grey sand.

The boardwalk reminded me of Venice Beach and Kings Cross full of cheap souvenir shops.

There is a beautiful Korean War Memorial on the Boardwalk.

The next morning I drove to Lucy the Elephant, a New Jersey historical landmark.

This is a side of Atlantic City which is the opposite of the casino area. Beautiful beach and lovely houses (mansions).

One of the things I admire about the USA is how patriotic they are, but this memorial shows that their returned servicemen may need some more support. “Flags for Forgotten Soldiers”. 660 flags representing the number of veterans who die by their own hand each month. Veterans Crisis Line

Mothers’ Day

13 May 2018

Happy Mothers Day everyone!! Hope you enjoyed your day.

I was driving from Maryland to Atlantic City and can you believe I was looking for a fridge magnet for Delaware. I did finally find one without a run in with the Military or NSA.

Driving from Maryland to New Jersey I turned off the toll and motorways routes and once again found a gem of a town, Port Deposit. Even though the weather went from 32C (90F) yesterday to 11C (51F) and it was overcast I still enjoyed this charming town with a population of 650.

There are so many river and railroad towns that are part of the Civil War history and Port Deposit was one which was bypassed and had no damage.

Some of the homes.

The Paw Paw House

The Cactus Rose has a warning to unruly children.

The Water Witch Fire Station

I arrived at Atlantic City New Jersey and as this is a casino town, it is open 24 hours. I stayed in the Claridge Raddison, a hotel steeped in 1920s history.

I went to the rooftop bar and met this lovely family Marie, Juan and Wilber celebrating Mothers’ Day. Juan is from the Dominican Republic (DR) and I couldn’t resist asking his wife if she would permit me to dance bachata with her husband, as DR is the home of bachata. The barman put on latino music for us and we had some fun. This was the highlight of my Mothers’ Day.with Marie filming us.

Maryland

12 May 2018

My second time to embarrass myself with authority occurred as I crossed the border to Maryland. I had entered a stop in my GPS for a visitors centre so I could buy a fridge magnet.

When it directed me to the NSA Visitors Centre I knew Siri got it wrong. I drove up to the security and said, “oops. I am in the wrong place”. The cute guard said, “perhaps it might be the right place”. I said “I don’t think so unless you sell fridge magnets”. Yes. I know what you are all thinking. I am lucky I wasn’t arrested for stupidity. He asked me for my identification and if I knew anyone at NSA. I said I did but he was based in Hawaii now (sorry Paul but I didn’t give him your name). I was quite nervous but trying not to laugh at the same time at how stupid I must have looked. The guard just said politely “Mam. Please make a Uturn to the left to exit”. I have heard of people being questioned for hours when taking a wrong turn. I must have looked genuinely stupid. I did get my magnet just before I crossed the border to Delaware at a petrol station.

After my NSA excitement I found my airbnb, I was exhausted from driving from Pennsylvania and was going to have a rest. I was going through Meet up app and found a ballooning festival (Howard County Ballooning Festival) 50 minutes away. I contacted the host Dakota, confirmed the address, got changed and arrived at the festival 1 hour after I checked into my airbnb.

I met Dakota, Chas, James and their lovely friends.

I missed the hotdog eating competition and an hour after I got there, an announcement was made that the balloon glow was cancelled as a storm was coming through. This was the best photo I got of any of the balloons.

I was disappointed but I felt for all the children who were looking forward to the hot air balloons. It was a 3 day festival, free, but parking was $US20 each day and by looking at many of the people the parking would have been a lot of money for them, as it was for my limited budget. I didn’t return the next day as it rained all day.

Straight after the festival I found a salsa Meetup 45 minutes away. I arrived at Mr Mambo Salsa but was told by someone in the carpark that there was no dancing there ( I later found out I was on the wrong side of the building). I checked the Meetup and went to an alternate address 45 minutes the other way. I love when I cross borders my phone GPS announces “Welcome to …” in this case it was Virginia. I just drove 4 hours in the morning from Pennsylvania to Maryland and then all of a sudden I am in Washington DC crossing over to Virginia. I love this country!!

Arriving at the salsa venue I find out it is the wrong place and salsa was on where I was at previously. I know most of you would give up and go back to your accommodation ( mine was 40 minutes away) but it was Saturday night and I hadn’t danced since the cruise 3 weeks ago!! I went back to the previous venue and found salsa and bachatta!!

I got my fix of dancing and a pic with Mr Mambo

I got my fix for dancing but I do miss my Sydney dance venues and partners.

Pennsylvania

11 May 2018

Ohiopyle Falls!! Why didn’t I know about this place? Thank you to the Park officer at Fort Necessity who mentioned this gem of a place. This is a place I want to return to for a few days and do some whitewater rafting and hiking.

Just down the road is Cucumber Falls.

Ohiopyle Falls were previously known as Falls City and located 25 minutes from the little town of Hopwood (this is my current airbnb) Hopwood has a population of 1,900 and, as many parts of the USA, abounds with history.

Fort Necessity is the location of George Washington”s first battle and defeat. He was 22 years old.

The George Washington Tavern was a stagecoach stop, just down the road from Fort Necessity.

I had the privilege of being given a private tour of the Bruderhof New Meadow Run Community in Farmington. The Bruderhof is a self sustaining Christian community with about 230 members. There are settlements in Germany, England and Australia. The Australian one is set in Inverell, NSW.

They are a passive community where their children are schooled within the community and they have a high school in Upstate New York.

They have a wood furniture factory in their community and also publish books which are free. Thank you to Ben for showing me around and Frances for giving me a female perspective on the community.

The impressive Great Cross of Christ sits on the mountain at Jumonville. It stands 18.2 metres (60 feet) high, 756 metres (2480 feet) above sea level and was built after WWII.

Charleston West Virginia

10 May 2018

Today I really wasn’t into doing much but had to find a fridge magnet for West Virginia (WV). My stop at the capital of WV, Charleston, had a gift shop in the West Virginia State Museum where I succeeded in finding my magnet.

This museum has one of the best displays of history. I was very moved in many parts, especially at the end of the tour with the song“Take me home country road, to the place, I belong. West Virginia.Mountain Mamma. Take me home“. This museum covered railroads and coal mining, marching bands and immigration, a pumpkin festival and Italian festival and of course the Civil War and much more.

The quirky post today is this display in the museum. The Dressed Fleas Emmiline and Alexander.

The Capitol Building in Charleston WV.

Charleston University

Some of the houses on the Ohio River who have a direct view of the Capitol Building.

My highlight for today was cooking for my airbnb hosts in Pennsylvania, Keith and Shanda. I have been missing my home cooking and cooked potato and carrot soup, pasta sauce “a la Edi” and tomorrow I will cook my brocolli soup and tortellini carbonara.

Augusta Ohio/Huntington West Virginia

The road from Cincinatti Ohio to West Virginia runs through beautiful green lush country side. The treescape makes for a pleasant drive as was the scenery through Kentucky, Virginia, North and South Carolina. The roadkill through those states has been significant compared to what I see on my roadtrips driving from New South Wales to Queensland.

The roadkill I have seen is around 50 animals per hour, often small, which I expect would be squirrels and birds, and larger raccoons, possums, small pigs or hogs and a few larger furry animals I could not discern. I prefer not to drive at night as I expect I would encounter more live animals on the road at that time than I do through the day. I am thankful the animals I have almost hit were on roads where I was travelling slow enough to miss them without putting myself in danger. A few orange birds which I think are the Northern Cardinal (the state bird of Kentucky) have played chicken with my car several times, I had to stop several times for squirrels, twice for beaver and once for a turkey. I have no intention or wish to hit any animal, for theirs and my safety. This country has lots of wild animals. I have yet to see a bear and would enjoy that so long as he or she isn’t hungry and is not coming in my direction.

I didn’t do much sightseeing today but I stopped off at Augusta Kentucky (there are several States where you continually cross their borders as the road winds in and out of the State).

I saw a documentary with George Clooney about this town of 1,100. He went to Augusta University and his aunt, the actress, singer, Rosemary Clooney lived in Augusta.

Augusta’s history dates back to 1787

and has a ferry which takes cars across the Ohio River for $5US.

Some of their historical buildings

On arriving in Huntington WV fatigue has set in and I will have a rest for the remainder of today.

I will take this opportunity to provide some information which might be of use for others who are planning a roadtrip.

Travelmath.com is a trip calculator for distances in kilometres and miles, travel time between 2 cities and naming cities or towns to stop in between.

Something very frustrating in the USA is mobile phone reception for data and/or calls. For a country which sends people to the moon and into space it has not mastered phone and data service in all parts of their country. I have been without reception in Mississippi and now in Huntington West Virginia (WV), the second largest city in WV, I have no reception. Whistleout is an excellent site which shows you the coverage for providers and not one covers all the USA.