Reflection and post-mortem

Good to be home. Not 'glad' to be home, as that might incorrectly suggest that we couldn't wait to get home because we had had a terrible time - nothing could be further from the truth. But it is nice to be back in familiar surroundings; in one's own bed, with one's own pillow, and one's own toilet (even if the seat is not soft-closing). Driving on the 'correct' side of the road. Money which you can identify with just a glance, and not having to fiddle with one cent pieces. Adelaide weather which gets 5 loads of washing dried in one day.

The trip itself - didn't miss any flights. Didn't lose any luggage. Didn't break any of the glassware we had packed away in the suitcases (2 bottles and 3 glasses - 2 from the N.Y. Hard Rock Cafe, and 1 from Bubba Gump). Didn't lose any personal items, although Julianne did come close a couple of times (mobile phone in Denver, glasses in Disneyland). Didn't get mugged (at least, not in the traditional hold-em-up, hand over all of our money manner). Didn't have any accidents in the cars. Didn't fall perilously ill, only the minor chest infection in Knoxville. Even the wooden hurley (stick used in hurling) which we had posted back from Ireland because it was too big to go in any luggage arrived in one piece. None of the usual sorts of things that I imagine most travelers concern themselves with. And there I go ending a sentence with a preposition again. Mind you, we'd been back on terra firma australis for less than 36 hours and the dish-washer decided to pack up - it was on its way out, but it wasn't the greatest timing in the world - perhaps in a way this very minor flooding was a salient reminder that we were incredibly fortunate to have missed the flooding in New York by a matter of only weeks. Are dish-washers blessed with such insight as to be able to highlight the often seemingly random interconnectedness of life events? All in all we probably wouldn't have changed much if we had the benefit of hindsight - perhaps a few days more in certain places (New York in particular), but given our time constraints this was always going to be our dilemma.

Many people to thank. Sonya for organising all the flights, accommodation, tours etc. etc., which is probably why it all went so swimmingly - helped tremendously in making the trip the success and the enjoyment for all of us that it was. Cheryl in London for having us stay, especially when life is so busy for her at the moment - as I have said earlier, it was lovely to catch up as if we had only seen each other the week before. Jean and Mick for showing us such wonderful (dare I say Northern) hospitality in Preston - sorry we couldn't help to bring PNE over the line Mick. Sean, Diane, Tarryn and Jenna in Ardee for going well and truly above the call of duty by actually moving out of their home for us!! Pam and Alex for showing us such wonderful (dare I say Southern) hospitality in Knoxville - I'm just sorry Pam that we didn't get the opportunity to catch up with John in L.A.. John, Valerie (when she eventually returned home), Hannah and Elliot for showing us the sights, the colour, the glamour and the excitement that is Iowa City - Go Hawks. But above all else, thank you to Julianne for making this trip the complete success that it was. At times it is possible that I may have been slightly less than supportive of Julianne's need to have everything pigeon-holed and triple-checked hours, days and even weeks beforehand, but it doesn't mean that I didn't appreciate all the hard work and effort that she put into making this the trip of a lifetime. I can only hope that she was able to relax enough to enjoy it as much as I am sure that the rest of us did. I know I did.

Oh yes, and thanks Allan for paying for all of it.

Statistics.

English counties -

1. London - sightseeing
2. Hertfordshire (just driving through)
3. Bedfordshire (just driving through)
4. Buckinghamshire (just driving through)
5. Northamptonshire (just driving through)
6. Warwickshire (just driving through)
7. West Midlands (just driving through)
8. Staffordshire (just driving through)
9. Cheshire (just driving through)
10. Merseyside  (just driving through)
11. Lancashire - B&B, Preston and Blackpool
12. Cumbria - the Lake District and B&B
13. Derbyshire - B&B, Alton Towers and the Peak District
14. Nottinghamshire - Nottingham
15. Oxfordshire - B&B and sightseeing

Ireland (North and Republic of) -

1. Dublin - hotel and sightseeing
2. Meath - Newgrange
3. Louth - Ardee
4. Down (just driving through)
5. Antrim - Giant's Causeway and Bushmills
6. Londonderry/Derry - Londonderry/Derry
7. Tyrone - B&B
8. Armagh (just driving through)

American states -

1. New York - hotel and sight-seeing
2. New Jersey (just driving through)
3. Tennessee - Knoxville
4. Kentucky (just driving through)
5. Indianapolis (just to sleep)
6. Illinois (just driving through)
7. Iowa - Iowa City
8. Missouri - St. Louis

Flights -

1. Adelaide to Sydney
2. Sydney to Singapore
3. Singapore to London
4. London to Dublin
5. Dublin to London
6. London to New York
7. New York to Knoxville
8. Cedar Rapids to Denver
9. Denver to L.A.
10. L.A. to Sydney
11. Sydney to Adelaide

Day 30 + 28 = we must be home

Back home and time for the post-mortem.

Later...when I wake up. Suffice to say that bowel function is AOK, and has pleasingly resumed normality at a surprisingly fast rate. Everything else pales into insignificance by comparison, so that's a win already.

whatever happened to Day 30 + 27 = 57?

What the hey? Where on earth did Saturday go. We must have blinked and missed it.

Day 30 + 26 = the end

No earthquakes yet. Fingers crossed.

First real drama - Qantas have managed to get one of the passport numbers incorrect, making it difficult to confirm our flight. And there was I singing the praises of how good Qantas have been compared to the other carriers we have used this trip - at least they are still good in the air - let's hope that continues.

Most of the day at Disneyland again - fairly safe to say that we are all Disneyed and theme parked out. Looking forward to seeing little ol' Adelaide. As an aside, theme parks must be an OCD's worst nightmare - the rapid turnover on the rides with all sorts of smelly, greasy, germ-ridden people passing through each seat with nary a sanitising wipe-over in between. Likewise, it would probably be an ideal place to undertake live exposure treatment - I wonder if there is any money in Southern Mental Health to fund a treatment programme over here - or in Queensland at the very least.

Not sure what was going on with Qantas, but Julianne sorted it out - now all we need is a good ride out to the airport, and this blog will almost be at its end.

Day 30 + 25 = the penultimate day.

Please, no more queues, no more queues, I'm begging!

All day (11 hours and 45 minutes) at Disneyland. Spent most of it in queues for rides. The remainder of the time was spent waiting outside shops. If it weren't for strollers, gophers and people in wheelchairs the park would have almost been deserted - felt like an outcast being able-bodied. Even both the kids made the comment independently of each other that they could break a leg and get pushed around in a wheelchair for the rest of the day [I think they meant breaking their own leg, rather than their sibling!].

Julianne boldly went on all the rides we went on - even enjoyed them it turned out.

Almost missed out on the grand parade at the end of the night as the waitress serving us at dinner assured us that there was no parade on week nights - luckily we caught it half-way through as we had decided to wander out to get back to the hotel rather than stay a bit longer.

Time to get packing.

Day 30 + 24 = 54 - Disneyland and NBA

Spent the day at Disneyland - need I say more? Weather glorious - may have even got a touch of sun. Felt a bit queasy on the Alice in Wonderland teacups ride - not a good sign. Disappointed that the Indiana Jones ride has been closed until winter - it was probably the one I was looking forward to doing again. Interesting see that recycling is alive and well in Disneyland - what was the Swiss Family Robinson tree-house 20 years ago is now, with a few minor tweaks, the Tarzan tree-house, the Captain Nemo ride is now the Finding Nemo ride (complete with good use of underwater animation), and the Pirates of the Caribbean ride has been updated to include some decidedly Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush look-alikes. Similarly yesterday, the Simpsons ride we went on was identical in form to the Back to the Future ride we went on last time. Interestingly it seems that Disney have missed out on a lucrative scheme by not having pictures for sale of every ride that one goes on - perhaps they have worked out that it is too costly to install, with very little return - it certainly is with the Higgins family.

Left early in order to catch a taxi to get to L.A., as we were assured that this would be the easiest and most reliable (if not necessarily the cheapest) way of doing it - and at $180 'they' might well have been right. Nevertheless, our driver got us there and back both safely and quickly - less than an hour each way, and all without the aid of a continous lecture about life, religion, politics, what the Dodgers did wrong this season, what the United Nations is doing wrong all the time, why Bob Geldof should be made a saint, why Bono shouldn't, and why world peace is inevitable but only if we all become Scientologists. In fact we barely got two words out of him for both trips - made for a very pleasant ride.

Pre-season 'warm-up' match between L.A. Clippers and L.A. Lakers - and even though it wasn't an actual league game, it was still played with what seemed like a fair intensity and passion - good crowd (nearly full) and incredible stadium (Staples Centre) and facilities. Clippers won, in what was a see-sawing score-line.

Day 30 + 23 = 53 - an amazing, awesome day

What I said about use of the word 'awesome' yesterday goes equally for 'amazing', especially when used by precocious poppets trying to prove what amazing and awesome talents they are. Enough said.

Back to plastic and polystyrene implements and plates etc. for breakfast - I am half tempted to go and buy some cheap crockery and cutlery and use them every day; however, ideals and principles come at a price - clearly $10.99 is too high a price for me - next time......maybe.

Bus drive out to Universal studios. Typical day at a theme park, with the added bonus of being on an actual movie-making set, lot, thingy. Lots of fun, even the kids enjoyed it. Nothing particularly stand-out or noteworthy. Somehow managed to not spend a small fortune, other than the initial entrance fee which we (Julianne) had sensibly organised in Adelaide.

Quick nod to the tour buses that Sonya has teed us up with, especially the ones here in L.A. - excellent service, and we would recommend them to anyone needing transfers and transport between hotels and sights.

Day 30 + 22 = 52 - hello la la land

Day bus tour - L.A. and Olvera Street markets - oldest remaining house in L.A.

Downtown L.A. very quiet.

Tour guide sounded just like Robin Williams' character in Happy Feet.

Hollywood - Hollywood sign (in the distance, but at least we saw it this time), stars on H. boulevard, Grauman's theatre, many spruikers, bus drive along major Hollywood roads and sights. Farmer's market for lunch.

Drive to Santa Monica - walk on the beach and out on to the pier. I can understand now why Americans often come across as being rather pedantic, specific and almost demanding when ordering, especially food - so often the order is wrong. Thus far we have been too polite to go back and demand it be rectified - but no more! We too can be obnoxious.

Dinner at Bubba Gump's - a brilliant marketing strategy based on the film - a combination of restaurant and film merchandise, with many references and tie-ins, again designed to extract as much money as possible - with great success, if our response is anything to go by. On the walk back to the hotel we saw an employee of the Ramada hotel vacuuming the carpet outside the hotel lobby where the cars pulled up - there seems to be something of an obsession with cleanliness - perhaps it is a way of brushing over [pun intended] the more sinister and darker underbelly of some of the other aspects of American culture - I'm not sure I've thought this particular theory through very well, it's more of a work in progress. I might give it some more thought - or not.

Long day - all tired.

Day 30 + 21 = 51

Short drive to airport - lucky to have John - tickets and all other information we had suggested that the airport was at Cedar Rapids, whereas signs at the airport only indicated the East Iowa airport. Chances are we would still be heading north in the car looking for the Cedar Rapids airport.

Tearful farewell.

Another 'convenience tax' to pay - because we are a family of four, their seating software had inconveniently placed us in four separate seats throughout the plane, and so in order for us to sit together, we incurred a charge of $78 for the convenience of doing so. Apparently in the old west there used to be a 'sport' whereby contestants would fight with the object of trying to gouge the opponents eye out - it would seem that not much has changed.

Short flight to Denver, anticipating possible difficulty making our connecting flight, as we had a turn-around time of 27 minutes. Got to the departure lounge with 10 minutes to spare - flight delayed for over an hour as the crew had been delayed themselves in Dallas. Breathed a sigh of relief.

Fascinating looking at 100's of miles of farm land from the air - patchwork quilt of farm land as far as the eye could see - must ask Ian why some crops are harvested in large circles taking up most of the field, but seemingly missing the corner bits - seems like a waste, unless the method of harvesting is cheaper even with missing out the corners.

Slightly longer flight to L.A. Baggage took what seemed to be an eternity to off-load. Excellent shuttle bus came within 5 minutes of us getting our bags. 50 minute drive to the happiest place on earth - no, not 3 Carnation Close... Disneyland. Collapsed into bed. The novelty of plane travel is wearing thin.

I am already sick to death of hearing the word 'awesome' - overused way too much, even by Australian standards - I am close to screaming.

Day 30 + 20 = 50

Small mid-western town of Kalona - Valerie driving - much safer option. Strong Amish presence - gas-powered lighting in the shops - not that it was needed, as the day was glorious - clear, blue sky again, and cool conditions.

College football - it turns out the reason we probably were able to get seats was that we were seated in the section set aside for the opposition, Penn State (Pennsylvania State University). Still had a smattering of Iowa supporters around us. Got clobbered - the football team, not us. Crowd very well behaved. 38 - 14. Long periods of boredom punctuated by brief (very brief, usually lasting about 10 seconds or so) periods of action. As Valerie noted, it is probably why so many fans drink - there is very little to actually do for those lengthy periods when the ball is not in play. Still, it was all part of the 'American experience', and an interesting display of the football sub-culture - the hoop-la, the razz-a-ma-tazz, the marching band, the cheer-leaders, the fireworks. Home by 11.

Unfortunately John has refused to 'ghost' today's blog, so this is it. Maybe this blog will embarrass him in to at least posting a comment, which would be a rather cunning way of getting him to add at least something - I live in hope.

Tomorrow L.A.

Day 30 + 19 = 49 - happy birthday Jenna- oops, tomorrow night - sorry.

Rainy start to the day for the drive back to Iowa. Made fairly good progress. Arrived back at about 2.30 and headed for the university sports centre [center] to see if they had any tickets left for the college football game tomorrow night - as luck would have it, a whole section had only just been opened up barely hours before we arrived - a fortunate happenstance mayhaps. Patrick is particularly impressed -  a 7.30 game (p.m.), so it should be over by midnight - hopefully.

Swapped the small Fiesta for a considerably larger Chevrolet Impala - enough boot space to fit the Fiesta it would seem. So hopefully we will be able to get to the airport with all our luggage and not have to jettison any pieces.

Back to John and Valerie's for dinner, oh and to catch up with Valerie whom we haven't see for well over a year. Then out to a celebration of sorts of the start of the college basketball season's year with the Black and Gold Blow-out - an intriguing ethnographic view of the sporting sub-culture at university level, in which the coming season's teams (men and women) are introduced to the fans with all the hype and showmanship one might expect of such a performance, complete with brass band, shooting flames and fireworks, oh yes, and a bit of a demonstration game from the two teams. Quite probably more interesting than seeing an actual college game, especially as we will be seeing an NBA game in L.A.

Day 30 + 18 = 48 - after the storm

Woke to a beautiful day - clear, blue, cloudless day, cool but not warm - no jumper required.

Hotel-provided breakfast - they provide cups which extol the virtues of turning off the water when brushing teeth in order to save water, yet every piece of cutlery and crockery is plastic and polystyrene - not quite sure where the logic is.

Drove in to St. Louis. Missed the turn-off and ended up over the Mississippi river into Illinois. U-turn and back into Missouri.

First stop, the Gateway arch, a magnificent structure eventually finished in 1968 after first being proposed back in 1939. An elegantly simple monument initially a memorial to President Jefferson, but coincidentally became a celebration of St. Louis as the gateway to the west for explorers Lewis and Clark, as well as a number of other symbolic meanings. Also had an excellent museum in the basement, particularly a brief chronological year-by-year history of America from 1801 onwards, and a National Geographic film in I-max which highlighted the remarkable endurance, persistence and indeed luck of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Then to the City museum - not so much a museum as a junkyard which has been refurbished just enough to satisfy the occupational health and safety lawyers from having conniptions. An amazingly complex and varied installation, with an almost psychotic mix of twists, turns and flights of fancy at nearly every turn. Great fun - and the kids enjoyed it too.

Day 30 + 17 = 47 - wet and windy in St. Lewis

Picked up hire car - a little Ford Festiva - for a drive further than Adelaide to Port Augusta. A bit cramped, especially in the back for the kids, but overall travelled well. Good driving conditions right up until the Missouri border - virtually the moment we crossed the State line the rain started - gradually got heavier, albeit with a few breaks, and by the time we got to our hotel the thunderstorms hit St. Louis - lightning and pouring rain, enough to delay a finals baseball game being played here. So it's still looking like a day at the museum tomorrow.

State count so far-

New York

Tennessee

Kentucky (just driving through)

Indianapolis (just to sleep)

Illinois (just driving through)

Iowa

Missouri

Driving in America (based on my extensive experience) - generally much better roads than Australia, and the Interstates (freeways, highways, motorways) usually consist of at least two lanes in either direction on a dual carriageway - perhaps a reflection of America's reliance on the automobile, or a reflection of trying to move over two hundred million people from one city to another. American drivers seem to have mastered the art of driving on the right and overtaking on the left - perhaps not quite as well as in England, but certainly better than Australians - although there does seem to be a general tendency to cut in a bit too quickly after overtaking - clearly a work in progress. Also excellent signage - for the most part. Perhaps because they have the space to give plenty of advance warning, whereas signage in England seems so complicated and with too much information presented in a short distance, often making it difficult to make an informed choice on the spur of the moment.

Hotels generally of good standard - nothing particularly stand-out as far as quirky touches, but consistently O.K.

Day 30 + 16 = 46

Woke late to find that John had taken the kids to school (his, not ours - not a bad idea though, come to think of it), made blueberry muffins, and was in the process of making a fresh batch of muesli - all before 10 o'clock - embarrassingly domestic.

Walked in to town - only about a fifteen minute walk. Strolled along the banks of the Iowa river a way. Back in to town for lunch and then to the Natural History Museum in the university. Excellent history of the Iowa area; it's pre-history, evolution of the soil which (up until this year's harvest) has been responsible for a very large proportion of the world's corn crop (mainly for industrial and agricultural uses rather than human consumption as it turns out), the indigenous population prior to white settlement/invasion, and the coming of the Europeans. Also saw lots of dead, stuffed animals (in the museum, not the university) - fortunately stuffed many decades ago. Beautifully displayed, albeit with some obvious inaccuracies - the koala is also apparently known as a 'monkey bear' (!!!), and whilst previously abundant can now be found '...only in protected areas in Victoria and Queensland' - made me wonder how many other examples of creative descriptions there might be for animals we know little or nothing of. Ice-cream and then walked back home. Driving to St. Louis (pron. Lewis) tomorrow for a few days at John's suggestion - keen to get rid of us clearly.

Two loads of washing - ah, domestic bliss.

Day 30 + 15 = 45 - still alive

Good weather for the whole drive up to Iowa City - clear blue sky, a bit of wind (but nothing that opening a few windows couldn't fix), and very mild temperature. Very flat countryside, and perhaps rather boring if one were to drive it regularly, but it is all part of the 'American' experience.

Starting to realise that this blog is becoming something of a millstone, and something of a chore to undertake each day. Consequently I will probably be offering fewer and/or less insights - this may well come as a relief; however, as this blog had always only ever been a way for us to keep track of our own movements, I am not going to apologise for its further descent into tedium.

Made it to John and Valerie's, although Valerie has conveniently found a way of avoiding us again by having to attend a work annual meeting in Baltimore - she will be returning this Friday......allegedly.

Good to see John, Hannah and Elliot again - rather like settling back into a favourite comfortable old sofa, but without having to wriggle so much. Although that is an added bonus.

Returned the car, and then back to John's for dinner and resumption of conversation from where we last left off. There are times when it is nice that certain things don't change - John's shorts in particular. Gorgeous house - very comfortable and well renovated - much like John's shorts in many respects.

Day 30 + 14 = 44 - it's road-trip time

Another sad farewell, this time to Pam and Alex. This highlights the down side of catching up with people we know - saying goodbye - at least for us anyway.

Drove to Hertz hire car at Knoxville airport - literally. Alex very bravely and very kindly encouraged me to take the BMW by the steering wheel and start to get used to this driving caper. Very little traffic coupled with excellent support and we made the fifteen minute drive in about twenty-five minutes. Didn't run in to anyone or anything, and didn't get tooted. So far so good. Wasn't sure if the Rav 4 we had booked would have enough boot space for our by now expanding luggage (three suitcases had become four), so I enquired of the sales staff if I could go and compare before committing, expecting one of them to perhaps accompany Patrick and me out. Nope - they seemed happy enough to allow me to take out not one set of car keys, but three in order to make a comparison, keeping a mildly worried looking Pam as collateral. I am now more than happy to be an ambassador for Hertz - especially if it gets us a discount. The Rav 4 turned out to have ample room thankfully, as it is not a cheap exercise to hire a car for a one-way journey, so we are trying to minimise the cost as best as possible.

Took our farewells of Pam, Alex, Flottie and the remaining turkeys (it would seem that the reason we were only counting 20 of them instead of 21 was not down to a certain reticence on the part of one of them to socialise, but rather an inability borne of having had an unfortunate and unpleasant encounter with a wild animal - coyote or local Republican candidate, it's hard to tell). Managed to turn into the correct lane at the bottom of the driveway, and it was plain sailing after that - pity we were in a car. Still, managed to negotiate Sunday morning traffic in Knoxville without too much trouble and easily found our way onto the Interstate highway. Stunning scenery driving through the Cumberland ranges (I think) - gorgeous autumnal colours - bright reds, vibrant greens, rich oranges (the colour, not the fruit) and strong yellows - gave us the feeling of driving in Stirling/Aldgate in autumn, only through mountains ten times higher and extending for hundreds of miles - literally. Roads pretty good, especially I imagine for the volume off traffic, but a bit in need of repair in places. Weather good too - a bit overcast, mild, sunny at times, and a few spots of rain towards the end of the day. Headed up through Kentucky, at which point the landscape changed fairly abruptly to a generally far flatter terrain. Took a slight wrong turn near Louisville and ended up in the outskirts of Louisville, but soon found our way back to the security and comfort of what is effectively a one-way carriage-way. And whilst this isn't preparing me for the important skills of negotiating dual carriage-way traffic, it is getting me used to the feel of at least sitting in the wrong seat to be in control of nearly one thousand kilograms of metal and plastic travelling at 70 miles an hour. And I still haven't been tooted. Found our hotel just off the highways - a large, impersonal, recently built affair, but functional to serve our needs. Took the advice of the lady at the front desk, and found our way to a diner where we dined superbly. Unfortunately, by the time it came to leave, the heavens had well and truly opened. Managed to find our way back through pouring rain, and only had to execute a (potentially illegal, yet carefully undertaken) U-turn once. Still haven't been tooted.

Tomorrow we plan our assault on Murray. I am inclined to tackle the more technically difficult north face directly, but Julianne wants to take the more circuitous route through the scenic wooded areas. Our Sherpas however are advising a more cautious approach and postponing the venture until weather conditions improve. We shall endeavour to reach a consensus tomorrow over a hearty breakfast of cholesterol and coffee.

Day 30 + 13 = 43 - opportunity Knoxville

Drove up to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Joined a queue of cars along about a twelve mile  loop inching our way forward in the hope of catching a glimpse of a black bear, of which there are estimated to be anywhere between 1300 to 1600 in the park. Stopped off at Cade's Cove, a recreation/reproduction/rejuvenation of an 1860's (or thereabouts) settlement. Would have thought we'd have seen at least a couple of bears, but only when we were about 100 metres from the loop exit (and on the way out of the park) were we able to join a secluded throng of about a hundred people viewing a bear which had climbed about 20 metres up into the fork of a tree where it seemed to be in the process of nesting. Either that, or as Alex sagely suggested, the park rangers had a mechanical bear in situ for just such occasions when real bears are thin on the ground (or indeed in the trees) and one is needed in a hurry for the eager tourists - it was remarkably life-like.

Had dinner on the way back at Sweet P's BBQ restaurant. As Pam and Alex had 'warned' us, a very rustic setting, and which may have been taking a rather liberal interpretation of the word 'restaurant', although with greater justification than McDonalds - but no matter, the food was excellent - BBQ smoked ribs and chicken. The ribs especially were so succulent and just fell off the bone - not chitlins, but a worthy contender for best local fare I suspect.

Getting late. Big drive tomorrow......on the wrong side of the road. Better get some sleep. Might add more later.


Or not.

Day 30 + 12 = 42 - the school of hard Knoxville [att. to John Murray]

Feeling considerably better this morning, and first of all I have to thank Patrick enormously for taking up the cudgel and beating me over the head stepping into the breach when I was feeling so rotten. Nitpicking about spelling and grammar aside (which Patrick himself has acknowledged) I think he has done a fabulous job and has quite the flair for it. Sadly, now that I have admitted to feeling improved I cannot persuade him to continue.

As with most of our time here with Pam and Alex it was a slow start to the day. This is deliberate and an added bonus of landing on the good and kindly Osmands' door. Obviously the main aim is to catch up with family, but it has come at an opportune time in the trip to afford us a bit of down-time, especially for the kids (??!!). We have appreciated this greatly, and it has been lovely to spend time with the O's, particularly Pam, as Alex has had the good sense to escape to work during the day.

Isabel still feeling under the weather, so Julianne stayed home with her and read her the classic tale 'The Little Prince' as we had booked tickets for a performance of a theatrical adaptation of the story this evening in the hope that Isabel wold be feeling better by then - fortunately she was, but I shall get to that in due course.

Pam took Patrick and me to a nearby wildlife sanctuary, the Ijams (pron. I-yams) Nature Center (sic.), where we took a leisurely stroll along the boardwalk along the banks of the Tennessee River, and tried to determine which way the river was flowing - I'm not sure we ended up working it out, but the walk itself was very pleasant. Apart from the mosquitoes - it sounds corny, but in places the air was thick with them - most bothersome, and had to resort to using a leafy branch to discourage them. Sadly, as is the case with the Murray [the river, not the John], there is an unfortunate preponderance of introduced carp. It may well be that John also has an unfortunate preponderance of introduced carp, but if it is so, then he is hiding it well and it does not seem to be interfering with his ability to lead a healthy and productive life, which is more than can be said for the river. I wish both of them well.

Then, as part of the center (sic.) but separate from the sanctuary, we drove to a disused quarry and walked up to the Ross marble quarry loop. More mosquitoes. Patrick caught a glimpse of what was probably (based on his excellent description of it being like a crocodile with a turtle shell) a snapping turtle chowing down on a dead fish, before our presence startled it and it disappeared into the deep - or it may have only been six inches down, as the water was horribly murky. Went back later, but this time more quietly, and Patrick may have captured this elusive creature on film, which, sadly I still can't upload - I suspect it is a software problem, and it is too late in the trip to bother trying to fix it, so you will have to wait for the slide show - currently looking at close to two thousand photos, but remember there is still L.A. to get through, so we will hopefully be giving three thousand a good nudge.

Quiet afternoon. Early dinner and out to see the Clarence Brown Theatre's amateur production of 'The Little Prince'. An excellent production, with some superb acting, good acting all round, wonderful sets, and overall a faithful adaptation of the original book. But more importantly, both Patrick and Isabel stated independently of each other "...much better than Spiderman" - a glowing testimonial for a story which highlights the dangers of becoming dehydrated in the desert and subsequently hallucinating - a salutary warning for all travellers.

Oops - happy birthday Cheryl. Hopefully you will either re-read this entry [not sure why you would! but still] and forgive our inattentiveness, or else you haven't got to it yet, which means you will realise that I forgot on the day and I will look unnecessarily forgetful. Or of course there is the third option - you've already read it, noted that I forgot your birthday, and have now vowed to never speak to us again. Or the fourth option, whereby......oh, what the heck, we just hope you had a lovely day.

Day 30 + 11 = 41 Insert relative title here...

Sorry again to all of you who are probably sitting next to your i phones,laptops or whatever you read this on waiting for a decent blog to come up and I'm sorry but you will have to wait another 24 hours. Your author seems to be well but spent the whole day in bed and the blog would go a little something like this.

I slept and i feel unwell.

So as you can see it wont make for much of an entry so again I'm sorry your stuck with me. So after another good nights sleep (although not for Dad and Isabel) Mum and I awoke to the grumbling of Isabel and Dad who seemed to be sick. So Mum and i went down to have some breakfast at 10 and had bacon and turkey egg on toast which was one of the best eggs i have ever had. It was a smooth taste and very very delicious. So Mum and I set off with Pam to look around town and we came to a mall to buy a sim card for Mum in the US.

As Pam and Mum were looking at the map as where to find a place to buy the sim card i went to have a little trundle in the Tommy Hilfiger store next to it. After shopping in New York for four days and not coming out with much i found some nice pants for $50 and a belt for $36 and was happily on my way. After waiting 10 minutes for Mum to get a sim card and the two lady's at the counter trying to sell dolly-wood to us but not to Mums liking we were on our way to apple-bees.

We arrived at apple-bees and walking in the front door we were not able to speak to each other as the speaker was blaring above the entrance door. After being showed our seat we ordered and i ordered a cheese burger which i thought would come with salad in it... silly me. I had taken a few bites when the waiter came up and asked is everything alright and we had to ask for some salad for me to be able to put in the burger. Then i ordered a dessert, a double chocolate sundae which looked like an innocent little cookie with some ice cream and a tiny bit of chocolate syrup around it. But what came out was a cookie bigger than my fist, two massive blobs of ice cream, a couple of Oreo cookies crushed on top, four dollops of whipped cream and hardly any plate visible due to the amount of chocolate syrup. But yes i did finish it which i regretted afterwards. (wow, a big paragraph on just a lunchtime meal.. kind of dragged on didn't it..)

Then on the way home we went and got some Turkey feed and some more food for when we got home and headed home. So Pam needed the Turkey feed out of the car and in a little bin, so i grabbed it and took it to the bin and attempted to open it for 5 minutes until Mum got there which was another 5 minutes until we gave up and grabbed a pair of secateurs to cut it. Then Mum went inside and Dad feeling better came out to help me pick up wall nuts off the ground. To collect them we started with bags and hands and then grabbed a wheelbarrow and rake and made it faster and easier to get more. Then we brought them over to the bin and filled it to the brim much to Pam's delight.

Pam then took us around the property to find a Turkey egg and and then another one which the two adults missed but eagle eyes here didn't. We continued and then walked down the drive to walk down over the stream and Floty (The dog [I don't know if dad has mentioned her or not so i'll verify she's a dog]) joined us. After sitting by the stream and talking we walked up the unmarked path back to the house which presented itself with a lot of spiders.

Alex came home and for dinner we had Ratatouille, sausage and Macaroni and cheese which was all very delicious. Isabel was also able to come down and join us and she had a chicken soup to hopefully make her feel better. After reading one of the first few entries about bowel movements Pam decided the best thing to heal that were prunes (Just to be clear our bowels are fine now and possibly from the prunes). Another choice was to also have pumpkin pie which was a not as pumpkiny as i thought it would have been.

Anyway its been another eventful day and i am dreading each day as there are very few days of this holiday left but at least we get to look forward to the basketball. I apologise (there it is again) for the last two days and the spelling and grammatical mistakes i may have made and the boredom i may have thrust upon you. Oh well you've got Dad back again tomorrow so all is well.

P.S To Patrick John Higgins Age:20 year 2017

i just wanna say hi cause i think this would be cool because its sort of like a time capsule and i'm saying hello to the future me without you even being there... but yeah, just wanted to say hi and i hope you have lots of money and a job that pays well

Love yourself xx

Day 30 + 10 = 40 Knoxville Tennessee? why would you want to go there?

Was the response we received from many fellow Americans as we described our itinerary for our remaining stay in the United States of America. I apologise to all you die hard fans of "The Higginses' European and USA Holiday" as i am afraid i have some good news and bad news. The bad news is your favorite author Michael J Higgins has fallen ill with a head cold and is not writing up this blog... the good news is, his other half is not doing it. I know your all wondering who's left and much to your disappointment its me Patrick (maybe joy for a few who cant understand my fathers big words like me). I Apologise in advance for the many spelling and grammatical mistakes you are about to see (and probably have seen and in that case i apologise for them).

Anyway enough of this off topic rubbish. It was our first day in Knoxville Tennessee and maybe it was the first late flight of the trip or maybe the excellent bed facility's but we all slept until past 9 o'clock and did not eat any form of food until 10:30. We then ventured out into the unknown of Knoxville not knowing what to expect of an American country town. It was much like what you see in many American movies based in small country towns but being able to be there and look closer at shops Mum and I noticed something. Drive-Thru's. There were countless numbers of Drive-Thru's not just for fast food, there were Drive-Thru's for Pharmacy's, ATM's, and many others including a fast food outlet that only sold Drive-Thru (i know Dad rants but i cant think of anything witty so I'm sure you can all think of something).

Anyway after getting a bit of a tour of Knoxville from Pam and finding a car park we walked down to the Tomato Head which Pam insisted we would say to/may/to instead of to/ma/to. Pam also claimed it made some of the best pizzas with a beautiful base and she was very correct in saying this. Pam and Dad shared a pizza with olives, capers, lamb sausage, sun dried tomato and Parmesan cheese with some extra cheddar cheese as Mum and i had the same minus the extra cheese and Isabel a tortellini with cheese. They were all very delicious and great pizzas with a perfect crust and a good amount of every topping and not a few dribs and drabs then a lot of cheese dumped on top.

A half hour wait for Dad and I as the three girls browsed in three shops no less and came out with an item each. We then had a brisk walk down to a little French shop where we bought a chocolate eclair each and ate them in the beautiful sunshine outside. After our delicious treats we then walked the calories off back towards the car where we made our way back to Pam and Alex's and toddled around before Alex's arrival and dinner time.

For dinner Pam had cooked up some goulash and some tortillas, unfortunately Isabel wasn't feeling well at this stage and went to bed instead of joining us. After dinner Pam asked if she was able to look at the 1700 or so photos we have taken throughout the holiday which resulted in a half hour of flicking through some good and some rubbish photos (hint to family and friends: don't ask to view the photos because there are probably another 1000 some good and some pointless). After this we went up to bed for another well rested night we hoped. (i hope this was at least halfway to dads standard of writing and again i apologise for any spelling or grammatical mistakes i have made or mum [who is about to edit this] has missed so we can all blame her).

P.S apologise is coming up with a red underline because we are in the USA and it seems i have written apologise quite a few times and i am sorry for the repetitiveness of this word as i can not find another word on thesaurs.com.

Day 30 + 9 = 39 - no need to worry about being mugged

As the title of this blog suggests, a more formal system of extracting money at every available opportunity exists, similar to the system in Australia, but probably to a much more exquisite degree of extraction. I refer of course to charges, fees, levies and taxes. Everywhere else in America seems to be able to provide free Wi-Fi internet access - but not our hotel - they have the Wi-Fi, but not the free. Likewise, travelling with United American airlines we discovered that they charge a $25 per bag 'convenience' fee - convenient for whom? Certainly not us! And what do they provide us, the customer with - well it's not fitting devices on the airport terminal courtesy cars for alerting other customers of their approach. Unlike the standard automobile, which has such devices as standard issue, and are used freely and with great alacrity, the poor driver of the aforementioned 'buggy' has to act as his own horn, verbally calling out 'Beep, Beep' - at least it provides a measure of entertainment in listening to the various combinations that different drivers have come up with, ranging from the more traditional double-barrelled 'Beep' and spoken in a fairly even manner, to the more energetic triple-barrelled 'Beep' spoken in a very quick fashion. Perhaps there is a degree of competition amongst the drivers to see who can come up with the most creative combination. A later version had the rapid, triple barrelled approach, but with a slight twist - the last 'Beep' had a significant guttural down-inflection - this was definitely my favourite.

After breakfast went for a horse and buggy ride around Central Park - our driver assured us that he was the only driver who offered a full hour rather than the standard twenty minute ride, so weren't we lucky!! And it only cost an extra $100. Regardless, he was very pleasant, and it was a lovely, relaxing way of spending part of out last day in New York. It also turns out it is the anniversary of John Lennon's birthday, so a plaque placed in the park by Yoko is particularly poignancy, and she still lives in the same apartment nearby and places a formal tribute there every year.

Got to the airport in very good time, thanks to yet another bus driver with aspirations to drive at Let Mans or something similar, although I did feel a bit safer with this one - perhaps it seemed less dangerous being daylight.

For some bizarre reason we had to pass through immigration before we were able to board our flight to little old Knoxville - perhaps the Mason-Dixon line mentality persists.

Airport security? I'm glad you asked. In spite of all the security checks and getting us to disrobe and de-shoe, and X-raying bags and X-raying bodies, and not having any liquid in containers greater than 100 mls., one gets on the plane and orders a cup of tea (innocuous enough) which comes with a swizzle stick with which to stir - still innocuous? This stick is made of reasonably sturdy plastic, is approximately six inches in length and already comes with a fairly sharply pointed end. I am sure that in the right hands, a group of terrorists or fanatical ne'er-do-wells armed with cups of tea might be able to wreak untold havoc in the skies above America. I am surprised that Homeland Security have not yet made this a top priority in stamping out the clearly ever-present danger on the airways. I eagerly await their response to their word-recognition software (which I am confident will pick up on the use of the word 'ne'er-do-wells') to start tracking this blog, and then utilise my wealth of knowledge in the hitherto under-utilised arena of 'tea for terrorism'.

Made Knoxville by about 10 o'clock to be met by both Pam and Alex who had both braved the lateness of the hour as we now have more luggage than could be comfortably accommodated in one car with five passengers. It was lovely to see them again, and their home is much as my memory remembers it from nearly twenty years ago - except for the herd of turkeys roaming the back-yard - they look delicious already. Looking forward to having a more relaxing few days.

Day 30 + 8 = 38 - Happy birthday Simon. There will be short delay in transmission, until we can find suitable internet capabilities. We will resume normal programming as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.

In which we get mugged on Broadway - but I'll get to that in due course.

Another New York cliche - frequent blaring of car horns - would seem to indicate one of two things - either ''Hey, howya doin'?'' or ''Hey, get the hell outa my way!'' - possibly sometimes both, it's hard to tell.

Raced down to Times Square after another Starbucks start to the day - and by raced, I mean stopping at nearly every gift store along about three street blocks until we actually got to our destination. Consequently didn't get on the bus until about 10.45. Another excellent guide commentator. Got off near the site of Ground Zero, but because we hadn't pre-booked tickets, we weren't able to go in to see a preview of the actual memorial site. Instead however, on the advice of someone who had only been here recently [thanks Janey, excellent suggestion] we went instead to St. Paul's chapel, the 200 year old chapel very near to the site which served as a source of respite, comfort, pastoral care and physical care (e.g. massage and even chiropody), and eventually became a memorial and tribute in its own right, almost unofficially. A very touching and poignant (? overused?) reminder of the horror of the day, but also of the bravery and strength of character that followed. To see the site where so much devastation occurred within such a relatively small area whilst sparing so many buildings close by was also astounding.

And so, by way of contrasting this particularly sobering experience, we went shopping......for about three hours. Felt like three weeks. It turns out that shopping in New York isn't a whole lot cheaper (yes, cheaper, but not so much as to justify the airline fare alone), but is certainly a whole lot louder - I'm not entirely sure how turning the music volume UP makes people want to go IN to the store. I am also fairly convinced that in most of the store we went into, the sales staff out-numbered customers.

Back on the bus to get back to TS (as we now refer to it - or at least as I am referring to it for the purpose of brevity (!!)) to see if we could get tickets for a Broadway show - and here's where we got mugged......we did get tickets. If anyone ever had the thought ''Hey, why don't we make a musical about the cartoon character Spiderman?'', then the resultant musical, 'Spiderman - Turn off the Dark' is an excellent reason why the answer should have been ''Because it's a stupid idea''. A more appropriate title would have been 'Spiderman - Turn off the Show''. The music and lyrics were by Bono and The Edge of U2 - excellent pedigree, but perhaps they should stick to Rock and Roll and saving the world. Perhaps one decent tune, which got repeated a number of times, either because it was so good, or because they realised the rest was rubbish and couldn't come up with anything better. There were even a couple of U2 references within the show, and a couple of the songs had very strong U2 influence, but not enough to keep its head above water. The show's saving grace was the theatrics, the props and the acrobatics - eye-popping and mesmerising, but unfortunately still not enough to recommend it. Thankfully it will not be moving from New York - ostensibly on logistical grounds, but also presumably on artistic grounds. Well at least we can say we have seen a Broadway production.

Prior to the show we did try to get into the spirit of the evening by having dinner at Hard Rock cafe - got excited as saw original dot-to-dot drawings that John Entwistle had made of each of The Who band members for the Who By Numbers album. Sadly, even this was not enough to buoy the latter part of the evening.

Also of interest, on the bus, the tour guide informed us that there are only six petrol stations in the whole of Manhattan (standing population of about 1.2 million, with an extra daily influx of about 5 million), whereas there are about 253 Starbucks outlets - I suppose it is kind of a fuel source.

Day 30 + 7 = 37 - show me the money, any money

Up early again, but a reasonably good night's sleep - mattresses very comfortable. Walked down to Times Square to catch the by now ubiquitous hop-on, hop-off bus. Again, as in Paris and (to a degree) Dublin, the recorded commentary was a bit liberal with the musical interludes. Nevertheless a fairly good introduction to the history of the downtown area of Manhattan, especially its more recent pop culture-type history (such as Greenwich village and the counter-culture of beat poets and the like, speak-easys, the growth of the design (think just about all the major names in the fashion industry who have plied their trade here) and retail (think Macy's and......well, Macy's) trades, acting schools (including such greats as Martin Scorcese, Robert de Niro, Woody Allen Neil Simon and Bridget Fonda......and also Adam Sandler and the Olsen twins), arts schools, music recording artists, and homes to the rich and famous). Incidentally, also discovered as we were walking from our hotel that we are diagonally opposite Carnegie Hall. It seems that one is not very far from some well known landmark or iconic feature, even if one does not immediately recognise it.

Eventually found an ATM which would allow me to extract money - not sure now why it wasn't working yesterday. Mind you, the charge of $1 for every $100 withdrawn sounded a bit step to me, but I suspect that most (if not all) are the same - we shall see tomorrow, as our thirst for liquid cash seems almost unquenchable - ah, the visual imagery is nauseatingly awful, isn't it just.

Got off about half way around as the weather was getting a little cooler and threatening to rain, and Isabel had decided to wear shorts this morning - a cunning plan designed to get us to buy her some leggings - and it worked. The next bus was considerably better as it had live commentary - not that the commentary was significantly better, but the young gentleman had the misfortune to sound almost exactly like Borat, and I am fairly sure that it was not Sacha Baron Cohen himself whose presence we had the pleasure of. It certainly made the journey far more entertaining after that point. Unfortunately the weather put a bit of a dampener on proceedings, literally and figuratively - about half way through the last half of the tour the drizzle became a bit heavier and (whether or not it was a coincidence I will never know) everyone on the bus but us got off, at which point Borat just gave up on giving any more commentary. I was rather looking forward to his continuing, both for information value and comedy value - a sort of two for the price of one deal.

Weather remained fairly miserable then for most of the afternoon, so like any good tourist we went shopping - basketball shoes and then Macy's. Macy's was wonderful, not because of the astonishingly wide range of merchandise on offer (which there was), but rather because of its almost other-worldly charm and the art deco atmosphere it has successfully managed to retain - especially little things, like the escalators with the lovely thick, plain wooden panelling, and even their positioning in the centre of the store with the up escalators mirroring the down escalators - reminded me very much of the old John Martins department store in Adelaide - a lovely nod to yesteryear, but also something of a sad reminder that in some quarters, such an attitude is considered old-fashioned and maybe even unnecessarily sentimental, like the old John Martins department store in Adelaide - ah, the heady and intoxicating effect of nostalgia - as they say, nostalgia is not what it used to be.

Have also noticed another New York cliche - the fire-escapes on the side (and in some cases the front) of many of the low-rise buildings is just about everywhere.

Patrick keen to dine at Michael Jordan's steak house, and, as the Lion King was a full house by the time we went to try and buy tickets, we decided to give it a try - again, a stroke of luck, as it is literally in Grand Central Station (think any number of films which have used its central ticket office as a setting - mainly because I can't think of any right this moment, but I am sure that some clever-clogs will let me know)), overlooking the sweeping concourse below a soaring roof of the night sky, complete with zodiac signs - a magnificent setting for a meal, and a lovely meal it was too - steak was just about perfect.

Thirty minute walk back to the hotel through the slightly more persistent rain, and hoping that tomorrow is a bit kinder to us in the weather department.