We're home!

Pictured - Our new house!

Up at 5am - off to airport in Washington DC. Five hour flight to LA then a 9 hour stop over. Board next plane at 8.30pm. Fifteen LONG hours back to Australia! Kids slept as they were small enough to curl up on the seats.

Picked up by a welcoming Nan, Pa and Aunty Jo from the airport.

Great to see family and friends again.

Pictured here is Kenny enjoying his first of many meat pies for the weekend.

We also feasted on Fish, Chips and Dim Sims. All the foods we missed whilst away.

Then off up to my family for the remainder of the weekend to do more of the same - eating and catching up.

Started the gigantic task of moving all our furniture into our new house - rental at this stage.

Straight back to work for me on the Monday and school for the kids. David doing the big job of getting us settled in to the house.

End of an epic journey for us, but I can truely say - "have lived the dream!"

Life's not about the destination - it's all about the journey to get you there.

Goodbye and farewell - for now. Stayed tuned for the novel or coffee table book or the motion picture, not sure which way we will go!!!!!

Team (back to reality) Connor!

XOXOXOX

If you have followed us on the blog, over our journey and we haven't shared an e mail, as such and if you would still like to keep in touch, drop us a line at scoop.julia@gmail.com

Redskins game and Goodbye USA.

Well, what was suppose to be a happy ending, didn't quiet go to plan. I headed off to see my beloved Redskins play, (first real NFL regular season game). Was overwhelmed by the tail gate parties happening in the car park, most had been there all morning, with the game starting at 1pm. For those back home, roughly 70,000 people having a big party before the game, what a sight. Managed to get plenty of good photos before the game started but after that it went down hill. Had a bad seat behind a concrete pole, skins played terrible the whole game and beer cost $9 a bottle but loved the atmosphere immensely and would go back tomorrow, just not at $130 a ticket!!!!!!!!! For those not in the know, pictured above is Sav Rocca, ex AFL player. (Australian Football).



Now to the bad part. Saying good bye to the USA and all our new and life long friends we have made along the way. Where do we start, those who gave us advise on what to see and do, those who took us in and gave us a home cooked meal and a bed and those who locked us in their basement and wouldn't let us go!!!!!!!!!!!!(lol).

Mike and Becky - Thank you for the good times at Yellowstone and letting us experience Thanks Giving.
Che and Laura - For cooking the best brisket ever and welcoming us into your circle of friends Larry,Rhonda and family.
Roman - For being the most inspirational and strong person we have met. A credit to yourself, your family and country.
Driftwood, Florida week 35 - What can we say..........Awesome times and we hope to be back one day!!!!!!!
Randy,Pat,Justin,Deborah and family- Generous hospitality, great bed and great pancakes.
Tom and Carol - For the wine and sending the pins home for the kids.
Charlie and family - Good times and great steaks. Helped make extending our time in Florida, so much easier.
Bill and Millie - Thanks for another home cooked meal, we so desperately needed.
Chris,Anne,Karine and Benny - Thanks for finally letting us out of the basement. Great 2 day visit that turned into 10 and could have been more, if we had time. Thanks for the use of the GPS, saved major headaches driving in New York.  Also for the lovely Brazilian family meal.
And of course to all those at home who kept in contact.

We could honestly go on forever about the love and support you have all given us on our epic journey, with the only way of really saying thanks, is if you are ever in Australia, let us repay the kindness by offering you an air bed, in our tent, were we will be living for the next couple of years, to finish paying off this trip!!!!!!!!!! In our minds we have made life long friends, who will always pop up in our conversations at home and when relaying our stories to family and friends  or anybody who will listen.

Some more of Julia's useless information (lol)
* 5 1/2 months       * 48 states     * 50 hotels/resorts     * 6 camp grounds        * 19,000 miles -  30,600 kms.
* 2 hire cars      * Countless hours of school work       * roughly 35 cases of beer (give or take 10)       *Tampa has a Bay (family joke)        * We have managed to see and photograph all buildings in our blog header  picture          * 6,000 photos

We leave the USA tomorrow, Tuesday and arrive in Australia on Thursday (local time) with one very tired Koala. We will post once we arrive home safely for those interested.

All our love, Team Connor USA / Australia XOXOXOXOX

WASHINGTON,DC.

Washington DC - its very name invokes power and politics! 

Pictured above is the address of the Obama's - The White House, not Kenny's new pad.

The capital of the nation with all its history,  has surprisingly low slung buildings = apparently an architectural law that does not allow sky scrapers to inhabit.

We toured the great city, with all its National Monuments, spectacular Memorials and incredible sights - in both sunshine and drenching rain!

With all the political decisions made within the marble walls, the notable police and security presence was felt ten fold across the city. Military training bases on the outskirts of towns, FBI - K-9 patrols, police presence and even down to the road blocks built into the ordinary roads that can shut down the city's traffic access in an instant. All Museums and Memorials are free for admission as the Country encourages those who wish to learn about it's history. Since 9/11 obviously there is no access or tours of the White House.

We also went to the Arlington National Cemetery to witness the 'Changing of the Guard.'

The cemetery has 624 acres, which shelters the remains of over 320,000 servicemen and women, veterans from every war and major conflict in US history. It is the nations most sacred shrine.

Pictured below is the 'Tomb of the Unknown Soldier'. This grave has been guarded 24 hours a day for the last 70 years. Through sunshine or snow these guards meticulously pace 21 steps along the mat, pause for 21 seconds, turn and pace 21 steps back past the tomb. A symbol of 'if you went to war to protect us and fight for freedom - we will forever protect you.'

Inscritpted on the marbled tombstone - "Here rests in honour and glory an American Soldier known but to God."

The cemetery also has the grave sites of JFK and his wife Jackie Kennedy Onassis.

The Capitol Building pictured below is where the legislative branch of American Government (ie - Congress) meets to write the country's laws. It is also where each US president also gets sworn into office.
The layout of DC is extremely impressive. The brilliant white marbled buildings of the Lincoln memorial (which I remember purely from the Simpson's episode where Lisa goes to talk with Abe!!), the Jefferson memorial, Smithsonian Museums, the Reflection pool (famous in the movie Forrest Gump) and the Washington Monument all lie in the Nations Mall. On the outskirts lies the Pentagon! What a site. There are 184 illuminated benches there in memory of those killed in the 9/11 attack when a plane was hijacked from Philly and flown into the back of the building.

We are staying in a log cabin about an hour out of Washington DC - complete with rocking chairs on the front porch!! Very cute. Have been getting out and going for a run most days again and we've all been playing tennis on the nearby courts, ready for when we get back for the tennis season!

Only 2 days left now 'till we board the plane to fly back to the west coast for Los Angeles, then onto Melbourne, Australia! Tomorrow David is heading to the Washington Redskins V's Philadelphia Eagles game.

Will blog one more time before we head off.

Love,
Team Connor USA. XOXOXOX

Philadelphia PA to MARYLAND

Relaxing day at back at our Bushkill villa (Pennsylvania) to recover from New York City! Think we ventured outside at about 1pm! Lots of kids activities that the resort run, so we went to Kids Bingo in the afternoon. Met a nice family from Tennessee and we all went to dinner together.

Up early again the next day and made the 1 and a 1/2 hour drive into Philadelphia. A population of 1.45 million people and home to NFL's Philadelphia Eagles, 76's Basketball, Phillies Baseball team and the Flyers Ice Hockey. All their stadiums were conveniently located together which we came across on the edge of town. Philadelphia also borders on nearby state Delaware. We had to just pop over the border for our 47th state sign photograph!

First stop was the Philadelphia Museum of Arts. Famous for it's Rembrandt's and Picasso pieces inside. Team Connor was there however .......for the "Rocky Steps" that lead to it's entrance! The same staircase that Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) ran up in the 1976 Oscar Winning movie Rocky.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIVVL5SDWH8

The view from the top looking back towards Philadelphia central was beautiful.

All in all, we found it to be a really nice city. Lots of Parks, Memorial Squares, Statues, fountains, clean streets and park benches to sit in the sun & relax. Although only 90 miles from the heart of NYC the pace of Philly life was a lot more laid back and livable!

Next day we left Pennsylvania and off down to Amish Country in nearby Lancaster. Very amusing to see all the town's folk out in their beautiful horse drawn black polished buggies off to church for Sunday morning. The surrounding farms had tractors and ploughs sitting out in the paddocks which are all powered by man or animal. No electricity and modern conveniences to be seen. All foods made from scratch and a very different and simple life for these communities. Jackson could not believe that they did not have X boxes or Wii's!

Across the border into our very last continental state .....yes we've done it, the 48th state - Maryland (Washington DC)!

Mission accomplished! But still plenty to do.

For those who may not know, America has 50 states (but 48 are continental). The remaining two - Alaska and Hawaii - one too cold and the other too far away! (techniquely we covered them all, as we meet a family from Alaska and we have watched Hawaii 5 0.)

One week left touring Washington DC before flying out to Los Angeles, then back home to Oz!

Love to all.

Team Connor USA.

Bushkill and New York

We had a relaxing first couple of days here at Bushkill, as we knew what was to come. Kids participated in the many activities organised by the resort - make a bat, lolly bingo,mini golf and loads more. Took a drive to the Bushkill Falls and went on a gorgeous hike, taking in about 6 different waterfalls and lots of nature, the walk covered about 3 miles (5ks). Plenty of relaxing.

Bushkill 1 day, New York the next. The drive in was to take 1 1/2 hrs, add an extra 1 for traffic. We arrived in NYC at 8.30am via New Jersey, state #46 and the Lincoln tunnel. Parked trusty Neville at a car park (no parking at the motel we were staying at) and lodged our bags and away we went. We had a 7 block walk to pick up our tickets for the tours of NYC we had booked. After turning the corner, we waited for a break in traffic, people that is and away we went, with the crowd, heading our way at a million miles an hour. No time to pause at shop windows for a look or you got knocked over in the stamped that was NYC. It was like the end of a football game and everybody was in a rush to get to their cars.

New York City (8.3 million residence) is made up of 5 Boroughs. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Staten Island.

Manhattan itself has 1.5 million residence, which swells to 3 million during the work day. Add another 1 million tourists per week to that and you are dealing with 4 million people trying to navigate their way around just Manhattan!

New York City is not just what you can see at street level. There's the underground - Subway. The bridges don't just have 6 or 8 lanes going across, they have 6 to 8 lanes going each way and then times that by 3 LAYERS of traffic and a railway track! When we parked the car in the parking garage. It was 8 stories BELOW an office high rise and the attendants parked them for you, stacked 2 cars on top of each other per level - up on car hoists!

We stayed on West 35th Street - just a few blocks from Times Square and 42nd street were it all happens, apart from Broadway. We had booked in to do bus tours and a river cruise of NYC. The bus was a hop on- hop off, when ever you liked, so day 1 we covered downtown NY, which took in - Times Square, Empire State bldg, Madison Sq. garden,Macy's,first glimpse of the Statue,Carnegie Hall and Rockefeller Centre. We also took a tour of Brooklyn and went back at night and did the whole thing again, to take in all the lights. 

Day 2 saw us go Uptown, visiting the Lincoln centre,Harlem,Cathedral of St. John,Guggenheim Museum,Central Park Zoo and Central Park. We took time out of the hectic schedule to take an hour bike ride around Central Park. Yes, good, on we go, as we had a tour of the 9/11 memorial site booked in for 2pm.  

Only a few hundred people are allowed through the recently opened memorial site each day. We had to reserve a time slot on the internet the day before to be able to go through. It was an extremely beautiful area. Where the north and south towers once stood, are now reflection ponds, edged with 3000 names of the victims who lost their life that day. Construction continues to go on around the site of the new replacement towers. With our tour clock still ticking away, we felt like we were on 'The Amazing Race'! We needed to get from one end of Manhattan up to the other to make the last river cruise of the day. Hailed a Taxi Cab and off we went.

Out on the Hudson River, on a Ferry, to get an up close view of the Statue of Liberty, and more photo ops of the New York skyline.
Couldn't possibly fit any more into our time in New York City. Needed a week here (or more) to do everything at a normal pace.
Not at Team Connor Super Speed Sightseeing Tours! The Family is now totally exhausted from this fast paced pulsating city!
If you stopped for a breath it will eat you alive! Back to Bushkill, Pennsylvania for a day of well earned rest.......Phew!

To be continued......
Team Connor USA.

XOXO

Newport, RHODE ISLAND

Made our way down the rest of Massachusetts to the very tip at Cape cod and headed straight for Provincetown. August 7, 1961, President JFK signed a bill to preserve the Capes National Seashore. Because of this preservation, the Cape is still home to miles of untamed coastlines, beautiful beaches, national parks, historic sites, cycling trails, whale watching, 4wd, fishing spots, and undulating sand dunes.

The weather was not too kind for us out on the cape, very foggy, which hindered spectacular pictures of lighthouses and other majestic scenery. What we saw of P/town was like a small San Fransisco to us. A very funky little main street paved with cobblestones and one way traffic. Streets lined with art galleries, restaurants, coffee shops and ice cream palours. Would be an absolute tourist hub in the summer months!

Next stop - Rhode Island (state # 44). America's smallest state - Area 1045 sq miles. Population - just over 1 million. Newport is closely linked to the America's Cup. With marina's lined with expensive boats and yachts, fresh seafood shops and restaurants, makes a perfect shoreline for some of the opulent mansions found in the area.

This one is called The Breakers mansion and was just the 'summer home' to railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt II, used for just 2 months of the year!

Now below is our mansion - camping at Newport!

We camped for 2 nights with Chris, Anne, Karine and their other friends from Mass'. Had a good time, relaxing, playing games, getting rained on and enjoying the treats from the good old 'ice cream' truck that comes to the campgrounds! This was to be the last time we used our camping equipment for our trip. We have donated it all to a group that Anne and Karine help out with. They take kids out camping etc who are less fortunate and haven't been able to experience anything like this too many times before in their lives. We were happy to see all our airbeds, blankets, pillows, gas stove, fry pans, tent, esky's etc go to such a good cause. We were that isolated camping, we had to make a phone call, to home, to find out who had won the grand final of AFL (Australian Football).

Sunday we drove for 5 hours, passing through Connecticut (state # 45) on our way to Bushkill, Pennsylvania. We are staying here in Bushkill in a beautiful bush setting an hour and a half outside of New York City (too expensive to stay right in the heart of NYC!) and we'll just drive in for a couple of days, can also visit Philly from here. Weather turning very cold, very fast. Can't believe how sharp the air has got for the season having just turned to Autumn (Fall)......miss you Florida beaches. Tans are also Quickly fading.

Stay tuned for our adventures in New York City and Philly!

Love Team Connor USA XOXOX

Niagara Falls to Boston Massachusetts

We left Niagara and headed towards our next destination, for an over night stay, at Maine. The drive took us through some beautiful country side in the states of Vermont and New Hampshire, after finally making it out of up state New York. Fall is definitely in the air in this part of the country, as we are already seeing the changing of seasonal colors. Driving through Vermont we came across some of the devastation of the recent floods, from cyclone Irene, that feels like was months ago. We saw houses, cars and whole bridges that had been swept away still laying idle in the bottom of river beds. Was so surreal to witness this on a nice sunny day.

Portland was a nice little town in Maine, on the ocean's edge, that we stopped at to explore. It is home to most of the countries seafood
productivity, so we had to partake is some of this action, with David enjoying lobster and myself having probably the best fish and chips I've ever eaten. We were also able to view Americas first light house and most photographed, all be it for the fog on this day.

Yes, good, on we go. With states #40,#41 and #42 behind us, it was time to head towards #43 and our next stop over Boston Massachusetts.

We arrived on Friday night to Chris and Anne's place (more fellow residents from our stay in Driftwood Resort in Florida) to a lovely home cooked meal of Lasagna and apple pie. (Mak said it was nearly as good as Grandmas!) Anne's sister Karine, was also here to greet us, another Driftwood buddy. And not to forget Chris and Anne's canine pal - Benny the Boston Terrier!

Saturday the girls took us out to the County Fair - called the 'Big E' - which stands for The New England Exposition! Very similar to the Melbourne Show in Australia - had a lot of fun and food for the day! New England is the North Eastern region of the US that we are in at the moment. It encompasses 6 states - Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island and of course Massachusetts. New England is also home to the New England Patriots NFL team!

We went to Gillette Stadium at Patriot Place to see their "Hall of Fame" and Stadium. The 'Pats' are 3 times Superbowl winners in the last 10 years! Led of course by Quarterback - Tom Brady!!

Anne's family invited us around for dinner. A beautiful Brazilian family with amazing Brazilian food! We were graced with the presence of such welcoming parents, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins and family friends. All who had come along to meet the Australians in their town!! We had a very enjoyable nights laughing, eating and drinking finding out about each others culture. Makalea picked up some very fluent Portuguese and Jackson got some soccer tips from Uncle Paulo who played very high level soccer back home in Brazil!!

Next day we had Anne and Karine gave us a tour of Boston! Unfortunately Chris could not join us, as he not only gets up at 5am and goes to work he also goes to school of a night time! We went to Harvard University and walked around the campus. Very impressive! The intellect level certainly rises when you step through those campus ground gates! Kenny has enroled in law for next year. Between Harvard and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology - which is close by), they are home to approx 30,000 students. Surrounding each University is a conglomeration of book stores, coffee shops, bars, and restaurants. Went to the Quincy Market for lunch and the Boston Common to walk around and stroll all the food off! Also found the actual 'Cheers' bar right in the middle of Boston.

Stayed the week at Anne and Chris's house. Had a blast! We took turns in cooking each night and had a load of fun. When it comes time to leave and say goodbye...... it could be difficult. Love 'em heaps! Now that we have escaped !(lol), we were only going to be here for the weekend, didn't want to impose to much,
heading to Cape Cod and Provincetown tomorrow then camping at Newport - Rhode Island on the weekend with Anne, Chris and Karine. Should be good!

Love to all at home!
Team Connor USA..   XOXOXOXOXO

Niagara Falls - ONTARIO, CANADA

Left St.Augustine and dropped into the township of Savannah GEORGIA. Took in a river walk of cobblestoned streets, gorgeous homes & shop frontages and paddle boats moored on the banks of the river. A very strong French/Spanish influence prevalent still to the current day.

Moving on from Savannah, we stopped a little further along for the evening before David's mammoth driving day of 10 hours in the car. This saw us rocket thru states #34 - #38. South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania! Kids did loads of homework, car bingo, card games, DS's and reading books. We saw the landscapes change dramatically from the Florida sunshine to the gorgeous colours of the leaves changing on the trees; from greens, reds, yellows and browns. America prepares itself for the change of seasons from Summer into Fall (Autumn). We are now searching our suitcases for jackets and long pants! Temperatures have plummeted from the 90's down to the 60's. Good bye beautiful Florida tan!

Next state #39 New York - Niagara Falls. We were told that you can't see as much of the falls on the American side so we headed across the bridge again into Ontario, Canada.
These water falls are incredible! We literally walked across the street from the middle of Niagara Falls township and BAM - there they are!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze2vfl3Ig_8

The smaller of the two falls is called American Falls and the largest is the more photographed one called Horseshoe Falls. A spectacular rainbow emerged from the mist as we arrived. Made for impressive photographs. We also took a tour in behind the waterfalls - bit scary, and got very wet. The flimsy poncho that the guides gave us were not that effective. The second day we visited the falls, we went on the "Maid of the Mist". This is the boat that goes right up to the face of the falls. You are in awe of the power of the water that comes across the falls. 19 people in history have tried to survive the 53m drop mostly in barrels. Some survive, some don't. One guy went over on a jet ski in 1995, but his parachute did not open and his body never recovered. Another went over in just a bathing suit in 2003. He miraculously survived, and swam to shore denying a ride from the Maid of the Mist along the way. He received a fine of $2300 and banned from entering Canada for life! He and his friend were said to have been partaking in alcohol before the jump, his friend could not work out how to start the video camera and the entire jump went by unrecorded! 154 million litres per minute of water makes the journey across Niagara Falls.

Went back at dusk to view the falls at night. They provide an impressive illumination show for the people lining the view points to see the falls at night.

Heading of in the morning towards Boston.

Love Team Connor USA  xoxoxoxoxo

Do we have to leave the sunshine.....FLORIDA!

Finished our theme park adventures by going to Universal Studio's and Islands of Adventure - loads of rides! Loads of fun and great weather but about 'theme parked' out.

Universal Studios is home to "Harry Potter" world, the 'Hulk' roller coasters, Spiderman, Jurassic Park and Cat in the Hat and many more attrations.

Finally left Orlando after having lunch with Charlie and went up to Daytona Beach. Home of NASCAR racing. We also DROVE along the beach. Yes ....took Neville the Nissan right down onto the sand. Bizzare - pay $3 to take your car right down onto the sand, park and pop up your umbrella/seats and sit right near your car!!

See our video clip!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yt1dUIXd5Q

Left Daytona and headed north along the coast up to the most beautiful little town of St. Augustine. Claimed by Spain back in 1513, it is the first and oldest continually occupied settlement in America. The American's took ownership from the Spanied's in 1812.

It is home to 'The Oldest House' in the United States, 'The Oldest School House', a very cool Lighthouse and Fort, 'the Fountain of Youth' and most importantly (and our biggest drawcard to the area) our newly found friends (from the Driftwood Beach Club) - Millie and Bill!

Millie and Bill have an incredible home set on the edge of the forrest. We sat on their back deck in the evening, played in the tire swings on the tree and watched all the wild dear come out to graze. It was so beautiful. They were also later joined by 5 wild turkeys.

During the day we explored the township of St.Augustine. St.George street was a 'closed to traffic' area. It was a main street set back in time. We headed straight to the Spanish Bakery on advise that they had 'Empanado's' - which is said to be a meat pie. And we all know how much the Australian's are missing their meat pies after 4 months on the road!

Pictured above - is the Spanish Meat Pie. Does a good impression of a pastie though......

Not too bad on taste - not quite the real thing though. If anyone wants to meet us at the airport in Melbourne with a real meat pie on the 20th of October then we'd love to see you!!!

Back to Millie and Bill's for an exceptional tasty dinner of 'terriaki marinated beef', potatoes and sour cream, garlic infused asparagus (yes mum - I ate asparagus and it was really nice), creamed corn and spicey corn muffins! Yummo. Have to reiterate how grateful we are for home cooking when you have been on the road for 4 months! Topped with enjoyable conversation, wine and coffee it finished off our days in Florida with memories and freinds for life. Thank you to all who invited us into your homes and lives.

After 25 days down here in the Florida sunshine, the time has come when we must push on for more adventures up north.

Au-revoir.

More love from Team Connor very soon......



Disney World - Orlando FLORIDA

The beautiful Disney Castle lit up at night time.

I had always thought that Disney World was just one big theme park like Disneyland in California. I was wrong.

Disney World in Florida,is made up of FOUR theme parks.

Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studio's, Epcot and Magic Kingdom (which is where the castle is).

To give you an idea of size comparison it took us 5 days to cover all of Disneyland over on the west coast. Here in Florida you can cover 1 theme park in a day.

Day 1 - Animal Kingdom. Safari's (like an open range zoo), petting zoo, Lion King shows, Dinosaur discoveries, train rides, conservation and discovery shows, Finding Nemo performance - similar scale to Disney on Ice.

Day 2 - Hollywood Studio's. Home to Disney Pixar! Toy story characters, Pizza Planet, Phineas & Ferb, Aerosmith Rockin' Roller Coasters, Indiana Jones Stunt shows, Lights Motors Action Stunt show (where they bought out the real "Lightning McQueen" - Ka - chow!!) , Backlot tours, Beauty and the Beast Shows. As well they have the "American Idol Experience" here, where you get to watch people sing that have been picked out of the crowd and had auditions to be a part of it and numerous other rides and simulators. Also the "Fantasmic" light show in the evening.

Day 3 - Magic Kingdom - (and David's Birthday).  What a way to spend your birthday - at Magic Kingdom. We bought David his very own set of "Mickey Ears" that said "It's my birthday". We also went and got him a standard issue "Birthday badge" from Guest Services as you walk in the gate with your very own name on it! All day David was greeted with "Happy Birthday David" from every Disney staff member and ride operator in the ENTIRE park. Pretty cool - he thought for the first hour. By the 14th hour of the day........hhhmmmmm not so much! We were at the park from 9am and got home at midnight. A 15 hour day!!

Magic Kingdom was like a land all of it's own. To get there - first you drive your car to the car park then you get on a open air bus to the front gates. From there it is your choice if you want to take the 'monorail' or the 'ferry' to the main entrance to the Magic Kingdom. We took the ferry across the lake. It really creates the story that you are being transported to another world!

Loads of rides, loads of shows, loads of performances  and a big beautiful main street that comes alive in the evening with an electric light show of floats filled with Disney characters (pictured below). Followed by the most incredible and magical fireworks display, set off over the castle.

Day 4 - Epcot - (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow). This theme park had two sections. The front of the park has rides and shows etc. A Test Track ride where you become the crash test dummy and the race car driver all in one. A Rocket Launch Simulator - Experience the pressure of a real rocket launch. At the rear of the park was an entire world of different countries. From China, Mexico, Italy, Japan, Norway through to England (unfortunately no Australia though - was very much looking forward to a meat pie)!! However in England we did find some real "Fish & Chips"!

Had some very full and fun days of theme parks here, but have had some really nice 'down days' here in Orlando too. We have caught up with another friend we met in Fort Lauderdale - Charlie.

He and his daughter Victoria have come to our apartment for dinner and we have shared the most incredibly cooked sirloin steaks on the grill followed up with Keylime pie. Now Charlie manages a nearby Golf & Country Club called "Lake Nona".

Me being the 'non - golfer' that I am was not familiar with the names of Annika Sorenstam & Yani Tseng. Only the women's world #1 and former women's world #1golfers! Charlie is such a generous, caring and hospitable person and he invited us to join him for dinner at the Country Club for family night. There we joined him for an incredible buffet of food and dined with the number #3 men's golfer in the world Ian Poulter, whilst Jackson and Makalea played with all the kids on jumping castles and craft rooms etc. I really wish I new something about golf to appreciate the company I was surrounded by! Charlie said that along with the golfers who play the course and have homes on the estate, it has or is also home to famous tennis players such as Jim Courier and Pete Sampras at some time or another.

Let me tell you about my dining experience. It is a 'gated community' and our names were left at the Country Club gates. Well, we all dressed appropriately in "Country Club" attire. I had on a full length grey dress with silver belt and shoes to match. Makalea dressed in lovely top & skirt and David & Jackson in collared shirt and shorts. We opted to leave Kenny at home for the evening!

Surrounded in the room of 20 to 30 people, of worlds best golfers and families. Charlie was quite the host and ordered champagne, Shirley temples for the kids and sushi to start with. Then followed by an amazing buffet of meats, salads, vegetables and desserts.

Yes that's right - remember the scene in Pretty Women when Julia Roberts is was way out of her comfort zone ........that was me!

Charlie also invited us back on the Sunday to the Pool Party, where we were surrounded by golfers, their families and we also met Miley Cyrus' stunt double! The Golf & Country Club had a fairly big pool, a DJ, a huge blow up water slide, pizza's, salads, drinks, a cup cake truck and a big blow up ball that you hop inside and roll down the hill in. Gee...do these people do it right!

We will be forever grateful to Charlie and his family for letting us experience and be a part of his life here in Orlando.

An epic blog to do this time, so here is part 1 and part 2 will be up towards the end of the week, with some of Kenny's antics, when we finally start heading away from Florida towards those other 15 states we still need to see.

Till next time, Team Connor USA

West Palm Beach

Our time at Fort Lauderdale/Miami came to an end and we were invited by one of our new friends 'Randy' to visit him in West Palm Beach, approx 2 hours north up the coast. Upon our arrival to his beautiful Bed & Breakfast establishment - the Palm Beach Hibiscus, the manager Pat took us on a 'trolley tour' of the City Beach area before showing us to our room. An exquisitely decorated premises with a king size, four poster bed, and a much welcomed soak in a claw foot bubble bath !! Highly recommend dropping in if you are in the area. www.palmbeachhibiscus.com

We were then given the tour around Palm Beach (in Randy's BMW convertible) viewing the mansions of the rich and famous. Donald Trump's and Rod Stewart's homes were just some of the ones we got to see. In some of our photo's you will notice that some homes have the shutters and security blinds down as they have moved to their 'northern homes' for the summer and return to Florida for the winter time.

Oh to have that much $$$. The world famous 'Breaker's hotel' was also on our tour. Pictured above is the main entrance. Hotel picture featured in the gallery. First opened in 1896 by Henry Flagler - oil, real estate and railroad tycoon - rooms started from $4, which included 3 meals per day. They now range up to the vicinity of $3500 a night!

We also got to drive down Worth Ave (similar to Rodeo Dve in Beverly Hills). Top designer stores and boutiques line this very, very wealthy street. Being in the BMW convertible, we got many glances from the pedestrians window shopping on the sidewalk. It was a huge laugh to us, to be in the 'role reversal' position. We are normally the poor backpacker on the street thinking ' wow - look at them!'

We finished off the day, with dinner, with his family, who had also spent time at the Driftwood (Fort Lauderdale) with us. Randy had asked Makalea and Jackson what food they had missed the most from home and he cooked it for them. A beautiful chicken stir fry!

The next morning saw us served with amazing 'blueberry pancakes, fresh fruit and coffee' at the

B& B  from Pat. Superb start to the day for our drive up to Orlando. Home to Walt Disney World!!

Signing off - Team Connor USA.

XOXOX

More... FLORIDA!!

 Miami Beach!

We left Crystal River and headed further south into Florida, through Tampa and into Naples, on the East Coast. Here we went to the Corkscrew Sanctuary. This is a 3 mile boardwalk style stroll through the swamp lands and prairie's of Southern Florida. Home to Alligators, frogs, bird life, plant life, snakes, insects, butterflies, puma and bear.

Our walk was quite pleasant for the first 2 miles until we heard a deep rhythmic growling off in the distance....OK sounds like a bear, but surely not this far down south, just because the brochure said we may see them in the area. Must be wrong and pushed on. As we got closer on the board walk, viewing beautiful birds and plant life, the noise got louder, deeper and we became more cautious. Has to be a bear we said eating it's prey. It was frightening! I felt so sick and scared. We contemplated walking back along the boardwalk so as the noise did not get closer. We hadn't laid eyes on another soul all morning from that point on. Great.....the bear is eating every person that walks up the last mile. It was the loudest deepest growl sound my ears had ever heard. So much so that I pulled out my mobile phone and was ready to dial 911 for when the bear took David first. The kids and I walked in tow behind him.

We rounded the corner to where the sound was at it's peak and there in the swamp was the biggest alligator and out of it's mouth came that deathly growling sound we had all been so scared of! No one told ME that Alligators make a noise - especially like a bear!

 I flopped to the park bench, (on the safety of our boardwalk) in relief and watched his deathly eye's dip beneath the lilly pads of the swamp.

As my heart rate returned to normal and I put my phone away, a small black snake slithered across my feet! I jumped up on the bench as quick as lightening and was ready to get the hell out of there! The swamps were no place for 'the princess'....the kids and David thought it was now hilarious!

Next day David and the kids wanted to go to the Everglades on our way across to Miami, and ride on an air boat through the swamp in search of Alligators. Yeah right....think I'm gonna' set foot on an Alligator swamp after yesterday......? Well guess what.....I did!

We ended up sighting 3 or 4 more Alligators and met some fairly funny 'swamp people'. At the conclusion of the ride we went to their quaint little Diner and ate 'Gator tail' and 'Frogs legs' - Not too bad actually!

Drove the rest of the way to our next place for the week - Fort Lauderdale (just north of Miami beach).

The beach is the first picture above - the white sand, the clear warm water and the beautiful people. This place is incredible!

Our accommodation had an oven!! Our accommodation had a real full size refrigerator!! Our accommodation had real metal cutlery!! Our accommodation had a couch!! Oh how you miss the simple things in life, when you are travelling.

We went straight to the grocery store to buy food to be able to have home cooked meals every night for the entire week!

At our hotel the 'Driftwood Beach Club' we met the most beautiful people. All guests checked in on around the same day and we were all staying for the week. The resort pool was central to all rooms and the beach was just across the street. Guests from Chicago, Florida itself, England, Italy, and all up the East Coast of America gather here for the same week each year as part of their time share. They welcomed us very quickly as part of their extended family and were very interested to hear of our travels. We were made to feel so welcome and like part of their big family, of which we truly appreciated.

Pictured above is a 'mock wedding' that we held one afternoon at the resort and the lovely couple asked if Jackson and Makalea could be included as their 'ring bearer' and 'flower girl'. Bathing suits and board shorts were acceptable attire of course!

It was a very funny day/night of which we will treasure; along with the entire week of enjoyable and interesting conversations, meals and drinks, with such amazing people in our memories and hearts forever. Looking forward to catching up and/or keeping in touch with you all.

On one of the days, Team Connor took the trip down through Key Largo to Key West (the furthest point of the USA - only 90 miles from Cuba) - take a look at the map and see where it lies off the coast of Florida. We hired a white Mustang convertible for the day, top down and drove for 4 hours to get there across bridges that go for miles across the ocean to link the islands together. Makalea loved that convertible so much, cruising along the Miami and Florida Beaches with the top down, I don't think the smile came off her face the entire day. 

A very cool day out!!

Happy Father's Day Dad's (in Australia)!

Good night all!

Love - Team Connor USA.  XOXOXOX

GEORGIA, ALABAMA and a little of FLORIDA

You can't leave the state of Tennessee without a trip to the Lynchburg - Jack Daniel's Distillery! A free tour that leads you through the history of the small township of 5,740 residence and the worldly distributed whiskey that is produced solely from Lynchburg. They hold an inventory of 3 years supply of Jack Daniels here in their cellars. Australia being their 3rd largest importer! Ironically the town lies in what is called a "Dry County." This means that the governing body of this jurisdiction prohibits the sale of alcohol from the premises.

Crossing over the border into Sweet home Alabama (State # 31). Very pretty country side from the minimal amount we saw before we headed to our motel for the night. VERY strong southern accents!

Over the border, crossing our last time zone for the trip (Eastern Time Zone), into Georgia (state # 32).
Headed straight for the big city of Atlanta. Home to the 1996 Olympics and 5 MILLION people! This city is so big the highways are 14 lanes wide (7 lanes going each direction)! Headed to the Coca - Cola Museum! Very cool! Atlanta is the home of coke.

3 floors of Coke history and memorabilia. Top floor - taste testing!! Coke products from around the world - the old 'Tab', 'Mello Yello' & 'Root Beer'.  Awesome - Thailand, Asia, North America, China etc. In April of 1985, Coca Cola announced that they were going to change the original recipe altering the world famous taste. It was met with a firestorm of complaints & objections from callers to the head office, letters and protesters in the street, that the 'new coke', which they did launch, was only on Grocery store shelves for 79 days before it was never to be produced again.

The Atlanta skyline was nothing short of impressive, however we did wonder where all these 5 million people were. Atlanta has an underground! Yes...not enough room on top of the earth, so lets go underground. Shops, restaurants, cafes, tunnels and subways - all below the street surface.

A 6 hour drive the next day saw us finally cross the long awaited state #33 of FLORIDA! We love it already. Compare it to Cairns back home in Australia so far. Weather is a little humid but pleasant. Have travelled down the west coast of the state so far. Scenery is very flat (all at sea level). Everything is very tropical, palm tree's, great looking beaches and rivers etc. Stayed the night at Crystal river, before we head on down to Naples. Atmosphere is VERY relaxed and the people are very welcoming so far. Looking forward to our stay here.

The entire East Coast of America (except for Florida) from the Carolina's upwards, at this very moment are preparing for the onset of Hurricane Irene. It touched down this morning in North Carolina as a Category 1, but does expect to strengthen as it moves north towards New York City by Sunday. We haven't really felt much more than a little wind here today. 12 states have been declared in a state of emergency of which some low lying places have already had area's of mandatory evacuation. We wish them all the best of luck for the weekend ahead.

That's about it from us. More on our Florida adventures soon, as we are here for two weeks - stay tuned, they'll be good!

Love Team Connor USA.
XOXOXOXOXOXO

Memphis and Nashville - TENNESSEE.

Took two days of driving to get out of the state of Texas, scenery became a little nicer towards the north east. Crossed over the border into Louisiana (state #27). On to our hotel for the night in Benton. Just outside of Little Rock in Arkansas (state #28). Touched into the state of Mississippi (#29) and up into Memphis, Tennessee (state #30) - home of the King of Rock and Roll - Elvis Presley!

Had lunch in the world famous 'pedestrian only' Beale Street. A carnival like atmosphere where BBQ and burger joints are in every second shop. I wanted to eat at what I thought looked like a great BBQ place - called BB Kings! Till David told me that BB King was 'only' one of the greatest jazz musicians of his time - and not a BBQ joint!

Went to Graceland! Very impressive. Were not allowed to take much photography inside the mansion unfortunately. Elvis bought the mansion back in 1957 for a total of $100,000 as a 22 year old. After his divorce to Priscilla in 1973, he redecorated it with wall to wall shag pile carpets and vinyl, and 70's furniture (in fact the kitchen looked quite similar to mine at home in Ballarat)! Then on August 16th, 1977 Elvis died of heart failure in his upstairs bathroom. Priscilla made the decision in 1982, to open up Graceland for the public to tour through and remember his contribution to music for years to come.
We arrived there the day after the anniversary of Elvis' death. There we many tributes and wreaths still on his grave sight out by his pool. Many of his cars were on display, loads of gold and platinum records and most amazing was his wardrobe of costumes! Kenny thought it was terrific - just hangin' out in the King's house!

Off to Nashville, approx 4 hours away. Not only is Nashville the capital city of Tennessee, it is also the Country Music capital of the world - also know to the locals as Nash Vegas! Very cool place. Population of over 590,000 people!
Has a downtown strip similar to Memphis where live music is playing on every street corner and out of every bar and restaurant in town. We strolled down the street enjoying all that Nashville had to offer. Margarita's, Brisket, Ribs and yes.....line dancing! The 'Wildhorse Saloon' was offering free lessons, so off we went! Film crews were driving down the street making music clips, budding young singers and musicians busked on every corner. At least people here know where Australia is, thanks to the great Keith Urban (who is just idolised in Nashville)!
Cowgirl boots are the most worn fashion item here in Tennessee, so thought we'd fit in with the crowd - denim shorts, boots and off we go! David tried hard to find a Cowboy hat too, but to no avail. Instead we just went and saddled up our horses and went on a trail ride early one morning. An hour ride in the beautiful surrounds of Mt. Juliet saw Team Connor take to the trails of the bush. Jackson and Makalea did really well except Jackson's horse wouldn't let anyone else's pass his, so he had to be in the lead.

Saturday night we'd bought tickets to a show called 'The Grand Ole Opray'. For those who don't know what this is, it is a live produced country music concert that goes straight onto the airwaves of radio for millions of listeners to enjoy from the comfort of their homes. It has been running for approx 70 - 80 years and is a lavish tribute to classic Nashville country music. The auditorium seated 4,400 people. To my surprise there was something for everyone! From very old country singers to the ever popular modern day artists... Dad - you would've absolutely loved it!!
Everyone from Johnny Cash, Charley Pride, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks and Keith Urban have all performed on that stage at some point in their career. Had the pleasure to see and hear "Little Jimmy Dickens", the ripe old age of 90 and still going strong!

Leaving Tennessee tomorrow on our way through Georgia and into Florida.....baby!

Start warming the weather up down there for us in Oz.
Love to y'all.....

Team Connor USA.  XOXOXOXO

Austin & San Antonio - TEXAS!

Seriously.......this is Lance Armstrong's bike shop - Mellow Johnny's!

Not quite what we expected. Situated in downtown Austin, Mellow Johnny's is the heart and soul of Lance Armstrong. Pictured at the front is Juan Pelota the infamous coffee shop (meaning one ball/nut)....

Inside is pretty amazing though. Super friendly staff and merchandise from wall to wall. Down stairs are a lot of Lance's bike's from years gone by, and plaques of what the paintwork represented to cancer victim's and survivor's and what drove him to those 7 Tour de France victories (of which there is a signed one from every winning year, upstairs). Also a bike fit out & simulated training room.

A short stroll from the shop are many Lance Armstrong named bike paths that take you in and around the city of Austin - the capital of Texas.

One of the guys at the bike shop told us where to experience some of the best Tex-Mex cuisine this close to the Mexican border. He sent us to the locals haunt of Curra's! Great taco's, great enchilada's and great Margarita's!

Off to the south of Austin is the very pretty city, with 1.3 million people, called San Antonio. We had been advised by many people to do the River walk - pictured above. Most impressive. A strong Spanish/Mexican influence delivered a scenic stroll through sidewalk strewn restaurant's, cafes and gift shops. San Antonio is also home to the 'Alamo'. A pivotal event in the Texas revolution that saw the Texans eventually defend their state from the Mexican infiltration back in 1836.

At dusk after driving the hour and a half back from San Antonio, we took up our place on the Congress Ave Bridge with hundred's of other tourists. This was to witness the flight of 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats, that take flight each night at dusk, from their home under the bridge in the middle of downtown Austin. The sky turned a black haze as the bats made of to their night destination.

Thus concluding our time in Texas. Next stop Nashville Tennessee via 'Elvis - Graceland' and  three more states along the way.

Love to all.

Team Connor USA.

Dallas/Fort Worth - TEXAS.

Dallas Cowboys....baby! Yes we just happened to be in the right place at the right time to catch a practice game. Dallas Cowboys V's the Denver Bronco's. Honestly... if they put on this much of a show for just a practice game then we would LOVE to see the SUPERBOWL! Awesome, awesome, awesome - our $11 seats up in the back row of the 100,000 seat stadium did not dissapoint! From being able to see Tony Romo (the quarterback), to the Dallas Cowgirl Cheerleaders to the Cowboys having a win was an experience we will not forget - not to mention the 50 yard screen that hung just below the retractable roofline! Here is some footage we took -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFWzxaVt-xU

Everything is BIG down here in Texas - it is true. The Stadiums are BIG, the screens at the games are BIG, the trucks (ute's) are BIG, the roads are BIG, the meals are BIG! The landscape is remarkably like that of back home in Australian outback - big, wide open dry spaces.

There are 23 million people who call the state of Texas home (more than what we in Australia have in the entire country - approx 17 million)!

Dallas is in the middle of its 42nd day straight of temperatures over 100 degrees (38 C). Lets see if I can break that for them with my 'lack of' sun tanning ability!

 Dallas was not only the home to the like named hit television series back in the 70's & 80's, and the home of Dr. Pepper - eeww! But it is also the place where JFK was assasinated on November 22nd, 1963.

Pictured above is Kenny on the 'grassy knowle'.

 We also took a tour of the '6th floor museum' which relates to the floor level and window from which the shots were fired by Lee Harvey Oswald back on that fateful day. Even today, the roads outside the museum show the path that the cavlecade took and also have 'X's marked in 2 spots on the road where the hits were made.

Fort Worth is a neighbouring city of Dallas (commonly joined by the same International Airport - of which we later found out that Qantus now fly into, as there were a lot of Australian's down here in Texas)!

Fort Worth was a nice small city with loads of character. With it's horse mounted Police men rather than Police cars and cowboys and cowgirls just roaming the sidewalks. In 'historic downtown' we came across a cattle drive over cobblestoned streets of 'long horned cows'. These animals look rediculous! Their horns span 6 foot across their heads! 

Today we moved on from Dallas/Fort Worth and headed for Lance Armstrong's city of Austin - Texas 4 hours south!

Team Connor USA. XOXOXO

OKLAHOMA....!

That's got you interested, hasn't it........more about Kenny in just a second!

We arrived in Oklahoma City - Oklahoma in yet another HOT day - 110 F (or 43 C).

All we new on arrival about the city, were the bombings that took place at 9.02am back in 1995. This incident killed around 165 people. It was a blast on the Federal Building in the centre of town. The perpetrators targeted this building which was the work place of many Federal Office & Law Enforcement workers and also very sadly their daycare centre.

 We took a tour of the monument site and memorial museum that they have established here in remembrance of these people. It was truly, a sad, moving and humbling experience to have the opportunity to see.

Oklahoma City also has a very nice quadrant of town called 'Bricktown' - a small man made stream surrounded by restaurants, bars and ice creamery's, which we frequented on many occasions.

Most afternoons saw us evade the heat of the day in our hotel pool. I appear to have the 'whitest' stomach around, so took the time to work on the tan! Yet as soon as my mid riff appears, unfortunately so does the rain clouds and freak thunderstorms!

At the hotel pool we were lucky enough to become friends with a Navy SEAL. He had sustained injuries which claimed one of his limbs from a war, at a very young age 2 years ago, not that it harbours him in any way whatsoever. We were lucky enough to be graced with his company for the 3 days, and he is truly one of the most inspirational, strong and heroic human beings we have ever had the chance to meet, he is a total credit to himself, his family and his country.

Off to Elk City - on historic Route 66 (approx 2 hours out of OKC) to visit another family whom we had also met at our time in Yellowstone Park together. Chy & Laura. They have a beautiful home with a pool. Flowers and gifts for the kids awaited us at the door. We had stopped at a gas station to grab  drinks before heading there. To our disappointment, they had no flowers to purchase for Laura, which had Julia thanking here lucky stars later, we had forgotten Laura was the local florist. As the sun was out I again decided to proceed to the pool area to work on my stomach tan. Now Elk City is in the middle of a drought, they have not had a drop of rain for 7 months - surely I 'can not' bring rain by exposing my stomach to the suns rays. Well guess what.............within 20 minutes the grey clouds rolled in and the heavens opened! I was very quickly asked to become a permanent resident of the area to keep the rain coming!

Now Chy had mentioned that he was fond of cooking Brisket (not that we really new what that was other than a 'cut' of beef). It is an 18 hour process of marinating, smoking and slow grilling the meat. Served up with Pork Loins, Pork shoulder, chilli beans & potatoes! Wow - close to the best red meat we have ever eaten - pictured above - (not to detract from our juicy turkey for Thanksgiving mentioned earlier in the trip blog). Enjoyed by the pool with their close friends Larry & Rhonda, who then invited us the next night to share in their family feast of Meatloaf (Makalea's favourite), brisket,  red beans & rice, Baudoin, beans, fresh rolls & potatoes! This feast was as equally as amazing - the shear quantity of food would be the equivalent to two Christmas dinners!

During the course of the afternoon, as most Americans carry or possess fire arms, we had the chance to go out to a shooting range and fire off some rounds at some targets - WHOA!

Kenny will now sign up for National Service. See all pics. On our return I checked the sky and popped out to the pool - yep, it happened again!

These times are what our memories of America will be of. Good food and truly the most hospitable people you can imagine - not to mention trying to eat the nations entire food supply in one weekend!!We sincerely thank you all and hope that one day they can make the journey to Australia so we can return the favour - I will just get a spray tan for when you come across!

Headed south across the border down to Texas (state #26) - the lone star state!

Love to all, Team Connor USA xoxoxo