June - September 1998
Summer camp ended on Aug 25, 1998, and the next day Michelle & I left for our 5 week tour of the east coast - trying to get to all the spots we missed last year and also to experience the joy of spending English pounds, a currency with a slightly better value than our South African Rand!
Driving down through New Hampshire, then Boston, we first found ourselves in the town of Plymouth, where the Pilgrims first landed in the USA. Here we saw Plymouth Rock, and saw a replica of the boat the Pilgrims came across in, the Mayflower. This area is also world famous for its cranberries so we went to Cranberry World, and learnt all about the history of the cranberry. Riveting stuff as you can probably imagine. We then went down to their cellar to sample cranberry juices, cakes, sweets, etc. which made the visit worthwhile. Also found a winery which blended together grape and cranberry juices in their wines, very nice, and we bought a few bottles of course!!
We then headed down to Cape Cod and spent day 2 on the southern cape which is a very picturesque fishing village. While here we visited a lovely interactive aquarium. Next day we took the ferry out to Martha's Vineyard, an island approx. 5 miles off the US coast where, amongst others, Bill & Hilary Clinton frequently holiday. The Clintons were there at the same time as us, and I "kind of" have a picture with them!! The island is very beautiful, and definitely the playground of the very wealthy, with numerous large yachts cruising, or moored about the place!! Here we saw the world famous Red Clay Cliffs - a national monument - owned by the Indian tribe which once lived here.
The next day we headed up to Provincetown for 2 days, on the northernmost tip of Cape Cod. This is an awesome little town designed for holidaymakers with plenty of interesting shops, restaurants and sights. Went up to the top of the lighthouse which dates back a few hundred years. The highlight here was going out on a whale-watching boat though where we saw loads of whales, including a baby and a blue shark.
From Cape Cod, we headed down to Baltimore, and what is reputed to be the best aquarium in the world. It really is fantastic, and sadly, puts our new aquarium in the Cape Town waterfront to shame!! We also went to a famous Baltimore restaurant Harvey Fudpuckers, which makes excellent & huge burgers of every variety you can imagine and then some...
The Capitol in Washington D.C.
Next was Washington DC, where we visited & toured the White House, the Washington Monument, the Capitol, the J Edgar Hoover FBI Building, and the Smithsonian Institute including the National Air & Space Museum where they have the original plane that the Wright Bros. flew, replicas of space stations, a US and Russian nuclear missile, the real Apollo capsules that Neil Armstrong flew in, and Apollo 13 - the one the movie with Tom Hanks was made about. We also went to see the Pentagon which was pretty boring.
From Washington, we had a 2-day drive down to Savannah, Georgia - a very pretty old time Southern city. Stepping into the city was like stepping back in time!! This city was the setting for 2 famous movies; Forest Gump & Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and we visited various spots from those 2 movies. We also went on an evening Ghost Tour which was very interesting and funny, but it is all apparently true!! The architecture in Savannah is beautiful, tall columns and majestic buildings!! Next up: FLORIDA!!!
We headed down to Orlando, Florida. Here we spent Michelle's birthday at Universal studios which was excellent. There were loads of great rides, e.g. Jaws which was incredible, Terminator, Back to the future, Twister, King Kong and excellent demonstrations too. These included how computer images are put into movies, e.g. creating monsters, and a special effects demo, with incredible make-up and loads of fake blood!!! We also saw a live Western stunt show, an animal show with Lassie, Babe, Benji and many others. The day was rounded off with a huge live stunts and special effects show involving motorboats, machine guns and an exploding oilrig. It was all very impressive. That night we went for an excellent meal at the Disney Planet Hollywood - the original PH. The entire building is in the shape of the earth and is excellent inside - we had a delicious meal too by the way!!
Next day we visited Disney World - the Magic Kingdom, MGM Studios, and Epcott. More excellent rides including the Tower of Terror, Brer Rabbit's Logboat ride, Runaway train, Starwars, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Bates Motel, and the Ghost House - all fantastic and well worth going to. We also met various Disney characters including Goofy, Aladdin's Genie, Brer rabbit, wolf and bear.
That night we went to Pleasure Island which is the Disney adult park with bars and clubs with live music, people giving you shots of various cocktails in the streets and every night is New Years Eve, with a huge show starting at 11:30 PM continuing to the climax at midnight, when the new year is welcomed!!
Next day, nursing hangovers, we went to the Orlando Magic stadium & gym. Here we met Dr J, apparently the Michael Jordan of the 1970's; and the current star of the Orlando Magic, Horace someone-or-another. Apparently if we were American, we would have been over the moon. We then worked out in the gym with these stars, and went for a swim too. Awesome stadium.
The following day we headed out to Daytona Beach. This really is an awesome beach - 21 miles long, white sand, and tropical blue sea, loads of awesome surf shops - and we spent a fortune. We also went to Daytona International Speedway, where I went for a ride in a real NASCAR, doing 3 laps of the raceway at over 175 miles per hour about 2 inches from the sidewall. Very exhilarating!!
Next it was down to Palm Beach & Fort Lauderdale and its very pretty and impressive beaches. White sand, tropical blue ocean, and Pplm trees swaying in the breeze - yes, we had hit paradise!!!!
On to Miami Beach. Awesome!! The Art Deco area is very pretty, excellent beach - see above - and GREAT restaurants and bars with loads of happy hours; 2 for 1, beers for $1, 12 oysters/clams for $2, etc - so naturally we took great advantage of these!!! We drank ourselves silly on Pina coladas, RumRunners and other great cocktails.
We also visited the Monkey Jungle and nearby Coconut Grove! While in Miami, we took a day trip out to the Everglades, and did a tour, which was fantastic. We saw loads of wild alligators and turtles from the airboat. Also skunk, bald eagle, snakes and Pumba-type pig from Lion king movie. Michelle & I both held a baby alligator, and I ate an alligator pie - it was OK. Great day out though, and we got back to Miami Beach in time for happy hour!!!!!!
Now for the eventual highlight of a fantastic trip:
Key Largo: went to a brilliant interactive aquarium called the Theatre of the Sea - excellent shows with dolphins, sealions, and excellent open water display with shark, snoek, turtles, etc.
Michelle also went on a program where you get to swim with the dolphins for 1 hour and learn to perform various stunts and tricks with them. She had a great time. This was her proper birthday present from me.
Then on to Islamorada for a few cocktails and a refreshing swim.
Snorkelling off Key West
Key West: TROPICAL PARADISE - the ultimate party oriented island with everything. It has beaches, bars + happy hours, palm trees and iguanas. We spent 3 days here and it was one of the highlights of the trip. We went to the southernmost point of the USA, only 90 miles from Cuba. We also spent a day snorkelling on a tropical reef off the coast where we saw lobster, sharks, barracuda, countless brightly coloured tropical fish, and 2 turtles - this was an excellent experience!
We drove overnight to get clear of the hurricane, and spent the night in Daytona Beach.
Next day we went to St Augustine Beach; an old Portuguese settlement. It's a very pretty town, very quaint, with people dressed up like pirates and sailors from the 15th century. There's a great winery in the town, and naturally we did a tour and tasting which was very nice!! That night went for a fantastic meal of alligator, Maui-Maui and scallops at a restaurant with a balcony overlooking the ocean. It was my birthday!
Now our time had run out - we were flying out in 4 days, and drove 20hrs at a time to get back up to camp on time. Next day we flew back into London and found a place to stay, and work - back to the grind for a few months to pay for the next trip. The weather here sucks as usual, a far cry from the 30 deg C + that we had in the USA just days previously!!
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