The Rest of America - Boston, Castle Vally, Santa Barbara, San Diego

My next stop was Boston. The others were visiting Tana's family so I went and did the touristy thing in Boston. It was freezing there, literally. It didn't actually get above freezing the first couple of days. Again, there was a bit of a food theme. I did the touristy bus thing but ended up taking more food photos than scenery ones, oops.

Down by the harbour where I had my lobster meal

Same place different view

For starters: clam chowder, oyster ctackers and bread rolls

The main course: Lobster, clams, mussels and that weird meat thing on the side

I was made to wear one of those really classy paper lobster bibs too!

I would have asked my waitress to take a photo but I was trying to be classy.

The first of the two 'Cheers' bars I visited

This one is a replica of the studio one.

The original 'Cheers' bar

Only the outside was filmed for tv. The inside is a totally different bar.

My little snack

Castle Valley, Utah

We spent about three weeks in Castle Valley.

The Caboose, The Shack and The Barn

My room

Dancing in the snow

The view I had to look at every day

Christmas tree collecting

Someones got to do the hard work, like taking photos.

Great work Tana and Glenn. You did good.

This is the second decorated version of the same tree.

The first one came tumblin' down. This version is a tad shorted.

Tana is amazing with an electric saw.

Christmas eve sledding

Yay, it's Christmas morning!

The Margarita queen

Check out my first pavalova ever!

Thanks for the recipe Nana.

The famous Tur-Duc-Hen

A chicken inside a duck inside a turkey

Cooked and carved

Ready, set, go!

The Kincaids and the Guarrs

What was left once we'd finished lunch

It's the bird that keeps on giving.

Did I mention that it also had two types of stuffing (one was sausage, because there wasn't enough meat already).

Arches National Park

Glenwood Springs, Colorado

We drove up to Glenwood Springs and stayed a couple off nights.

Santa Barbara

We stayed in Santa Barbara for 10 nights. I didn't take many photos but it's a really pretty town. Most of the buildings are Spanish style. The weather was much warmer too.

The famous tritip sandwich at Cold Springs trvern

Check it out. That guy's playing a cardboard box.

I want one of these in my next house.

Mo and her friend are hanging in his bar under his house.

The view from the other end

San Diego


Clam chowder in a bun, beer and a view

Tha balancing rock man

The best thing in San Diego was definitly the afternoon I spent at a spa with Tana and her friends.
Pampering and as much wine as we wanted.

New York

As you will see from the photos, the theme for New York was eating lots of food and playing tourist. It was a good thing we'd stopped in London to start acclimatizing to winter. It was freezing in New York. What’s a girl to do but shop for winter clothes (it was for the good of my health).

New York highlights included: deli food, seeing the Lion King on Broadway (jetlag kicked in and I nearly fell asleep, but it was so well done with the costumes, singing and dancing, it kept me awake), Italian food, Little Italy, Japanese food, shopping, New York cheesecake, China Town, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, seeing all the famous sights, experiencing the vibe (New York just has a really energetic feel to it), and did I mention food?

Little Italy

Starbucks

Little Italy the next day

Oh, that's another one of Little Italy

Rocafella Centre

My Japanese lunch

Tasty breakfast

Doing the touristy thing

That's the Statue of Liberty benind me.

Doing the even more touristy thing

I reckon it was worth the $5 I had to pay him/her?!

It was just me and the boys in London as Tana continued on to New York for her Dad’s funeral. It was typical London weather, damp and cold. We were lucky enough to catch up with Sejal (from the volunteer project in Namibia) heaps and also caught up with Matt (Namibia too) for beer one day. We made the most of the great food, starting each day with an English breakfast and continuing on from there. The best food was definitely the Indian meals Sej’s mum made. We stayed there on our last night and dinner was that tasty that Glenn and I insisted on having the leftovers for breakfast. Other memorable moments were visiting Harrords again (it’s just had to be done). Their Christmas display theme was The Wizard of Oz and they even had giant red and white striped legs with sparkly red shoes attached coming out the building), and getting a haircut and colour. ”Why is that memorable?” you ask. When you have yellow stripes and your hair is lopsided, it’s always memorable.

Skating at the Science Museum
Tea and scones darling

Doing the touristy thing at Windsor

The Queen was in but didn't pop out to say hi.

Making Sej do the touristy thing too

Fried breakfast

Pints with the boys

A bit of Marks and Spencer shopping

Matt was more in to it than us though.

Riding the tube

Another quiet night shopping on Oxford Street

My meal after I'd finished at Wagamamas

I'm not soft, it was massive.

Zane's bangers and mash meal Sej's mum made especially for him

Dinner at Sej's place

The best Indian food ever

Northern Tanzania

For our last week in Africa we went on a safari in Northern Tanzania. We started in Arusha and and visited Lake Manyara National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation area. As I had been so spoilt with the quantity and close proximity of animals we’d seen I had stopped taking so many photos. That all changed on this trip. The safari was an amazing way to finish the African part of the tour and I got to see new animals up close. I thought it was amazing seeing some jackals and vultures eating a buffalo beside the road, then not long after we came upon my highlight of the trip, of which I took far too many photos and videos, a pack of hyenas and vultures devouring another buffalo right on the edge of the road. Because I’ve taken so long to do this and because I have so many photos I’ll just write captions for them and I’m sure there will be more than enough info.

Lake Manyara National Park

There were so many hippos. I took too many photos of them too.

Interesting hippo fact: they wag their tail while pooing and it flies everywhere.

The room they made me stay in on the first night of the safari. I really should be complaining more.


Ngorongoro Crater

Tana and I sightseeing (see the shadows).

The view from my room

See how close the animals are and most importantly check out how the roof pops up!

What lions do after they've killed a buffalo, eaten what they want and have left the rest for scavengers.

Mum feeding her babies

The quantity of animals in the crater was amazing.

Everywhere you looked there were heaps.

The buffalo that was hanging outside my window. The security had to walk us home from the restaurant. He had a gun!