Hi everybody,
Sorry for the lack of recent posts we've been very busy having too much fun! We have been to Boston and are currently in New York and we fly back in the wee small hours of the 5th. We will, at this rate, update the blog when we get back home and will be adding more details and photos.

Thanks for reading.

Toronto Pronto Tonto!

CN Tower
Baseball from above
Guess which one had their hood on?
Niagara Faaaaaaaaalls!

Well we crossed the border into Canada and reached Toronto after 19 hours on a bus and four changes(Phil's romantic notion that we avoid New York City until out last stop which added 2 hours to our journey). He said he'll make it up to me somehow, i'm still thinking of how he's going to do that.

If that wasn't bad enough we had a full day walking around D.C. the day before starting at 7 am. To cut a long story short we had gone 38 hours with only 4 hours sleep.

All I managed to do was make my bed and have a shower before flopping into bed. I had such a deep sleep that I didn't hear the Mexican singing and shouting that apprently went on in the courtyard right by my room.

This hostel 'Canadiana' is fantastic. My room had and ensuite bathroom with shower and my bed was lovely and comfortable with crisp sheets. Also they did a free pancake breakfast, although the pancakes were so stodgey that the maple syrup got absorbed instantly so I had to drench them( what a shame). It's the simple and free things that really count when you're travelling.

We didn't realise there was so much to do in Toronto and hadn't budgeted very much for this section of our trip and so mainly lazed about. We went up the C.N. tower on our first day. That was really good because the baseball stadium roof was open and so we could see them practising.

Also, while we were up there, I spotted a funny fan shaped glass roof on the harbourfront. We decided to go there after lunch at ' TimHortons', a popular food branch in Ontario. Phil felt he should have his food for free as him and this Tim chap share surnames.

The roof turned out to cover a stage where a concert was going on. There was a wonderful woman from Barbados playing with an excellent band. They played jazz,blues, soul and calypso and she had the most amazing voice, best of all it was free!

When we got back to the hostel I still needed sleep so had a 'siesta', it was really sweet as, when I awoke, one of my roomates had turned the light off and closed the curtains for me.

Phil loves the fact that he can get served here being 19 and all but I still can't buy alcohol. We should really have thought about that before we came!

Today, we went to Niagra Falls on the cheapest trip we could find. It was pretty decent for the money we paid. We went to a winery and did some wine tasting , not such a great idea at 11 am but hey its the only alcohol i'm going to get while I'm here. We then stopped at the worlds largest whirl pool and then got discounted tickets for Maid of the Mist.

Phil and I looked very fetching in our anoraches and i gave up with mine after it kept falling in my face( hence why Phil looks alot dryer than me). It was fun but I got water in my eyes and it stung like crazy so didn't see alot but there's so much mist that i didn't miss much anyway.

We then went for a walk along the rim and got really close to the Canadian Falls drop (there being 3 waterfalls that make up Niagara- American falls, a small waterfall called something like the bridleway and then Canadian Falls). I followed a certian bit of water with my eye down to the drop and it made stomach fall! I thought it would have been bigger but it was still impressive.

We've just been emailed a link from Caitlin(Phil's pen pal that we stayed with in Seattle) about the hostel we've booked in Boston (our next stop). We had decided to avoid HI hostels after our experience in Washington D.C. but this website says that the hostel we're now going to is horrific and that the manager is crazy and comes into your room in the middle of the night and shines a torch in your face. So we're trying to book some emergency accomodation and it looks like we'll have to stay in the Hi hostel after all, if they have some room. Don't worry Dad i'll keep you posted on that one!

Mr. Horton and Miss. Grundy go to Washington

I thought this got blown up in Indepedence Day?
Washington Monument...how phallic.
We got caught in a freak rainstorm!
Capitol Building
Lincoln Memorial at night

After a long day of travelling involving two buses, two planes and a shuttle minibus, we eventually arrived in Washington D.C! With so much to see, we had to plan our 3 three days with military precision in order to see what we wanted. And see things we did! On our first day, we walked the 6 blocks or so down to the White House for photos, then headed over to the Washington Monument, which is massive. We didn't go up, just took many worm's eye view photos! Then we marched to the Smithsonian area, to see the Museum of American History. Unfortunately the museum is closed for renovation - but no fear! - they've moved their main exhibits over the Air and Space Museum, where we just happened to be going to anyway. This museum holds every important plane ever, I think. From the Apollo 11 command module to the actual Wright Brothers' plane, to the Spirit of St. Louis. And the American History section had some amazing stuff - from the start you had Lincoln's top hat, the original Kermit the Frog. There was also C3PO and R2D2, and one of George Washington's uniforms.

After doing the museums, we needed to update our blog, so went to an area called Dupont Circle, which is a very fancy residential area. It reminded us of Kensington or Chelsea. Big townhouses and trees and such. Swish.

The second day we started at the International Spy Museum, which was very well put together, with lots of crazy gadgets on display (flying pigeons with cameras strapped to them?). There was also a slightly scary room full of anti-communist displays, with titles such as 'The Red Terror', basically saying that all communists are also terrorists. Good to see the Cold War isn't completely over!

After the Spy Museum we checked out the National Archives, which contained many interesting things, including one of the copies of the magna carta. The queue for the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights was massive, and seeing as they don't mean quite as much to us Brits, we thought we'd leave those. You can buy copies in the gift shops anyway!

In the evening we befriended some Swiss girls and walked to the WW2 memorial, which looked good when lit up at night. We also came across a evangelical gathering by the Washington Monument, where far-right Christians were handing us leaflets. But we weren't interested in being converted - we just wanted to use their porta-loos!

On the third day we started at the Capitol building, which was all very patriotic, but very impressive inside. It was good to learn the history of the place (including how the British burned it to the ground!)

From the Capitol we had lots of time to kill (our bus left at 12.45am) so after gettign some Canadian dollars we hung around a coffee/book shop like the cosmopoliatan people we are, then headed to the Lincoln Memorial for some spectacular night time views (see photos!). We also found the creepy Korean War memorial - a dozen or so white statues stood in various poses across a grassy area - it depicted a moment mid-battle, I guess, but they looked like ghosts to me.

So after 17ish hours awake, we then had to get to the Greyhound station for our 19 hour cross-country ride to Canada!

A big hole in the ground!

amazing view number 1
aamazing view number 2
fun and games at the canyon!
our little hostel
Our main reason for visiting Arizona was to see the Grand Canyon, and we got to do that, taking a cool little minibus up there with other travelling folk (who engaged in political and environmental discussion during the journey - the conclusion of which was 'our planet is screwed up'). I can easily say the Canyon is the most dramatic sight I've ever seen. You look out over the cliff and the just this unbelievably big hole in the ground, 10 miles across and a mile deep, with incredible shapes and colours inside it. It's near impossible to comprehend the scale of the place by looking at it - it just looks too big, or as if someone had put a 2D backdrop in the way. The photos can't really convey how big it is - it's a place you have to see with your own eyes. Rose and I did a trail about 2 miles down the South Rim, and by the end of it our legs were in great pain the the dust had covered our legs and shoes! And while we were slogging it back up panting and stopping every 5 minutes, there were people 40 years our senior striding past us. Show offs. Also. a mule farted at us whie it passed. A fond memory indeed! The best part about the hike was, looking across the canyon and being blown away by the size of it every time.

We stayed in a town called Flagstaff that night - town which seems to be run by children and students, with trains literally 1000 metres long passing through every 15 minutes or so. They were also playing The Princess Bride in the main square - so at least they have good taste in films!

We're in Toronto at the moment, after visiting Washington D.C. but judging by the length of time between blog posts, it might be some time before you hear about that!

Without the palm trees this could be Weston-Super-Mare!

One day our names will be on here...
Heaven knows why obesity's a problem in America
The one and only William Bradley Pitt!
How's that for a West Coast image?
They actually have canals in Venice! Ain't they pretty?

Well we've done L.A. now! We got the greyhound, which was a 9 hour trip. I was impressed with the route we took as there were only 2 stops( a 15 min for lunch and a 5 min loo break 3 hours after that). It was good because I knew we were getting there as soon as possible, but I was also worried as the driver looked pretty worn out when he dropped us off.

Our hostel was really nice in Hollywood. It was one of a chain known as " USA HOSTELS", a lot of thought went into the name I know. It was really nicely decorated, very new, and the rooms had their own shower/bath in. Unfortunately, they did not serve the free meals that we were used to 'The Green Tortoise Hostel' so I had to cook my own meal. Phil had wisely opted for a microwaveable thing but I decided to go for the more hardcore macaroni cheese from a box.

There were no measuring facilities in the kitchen and i had not cooked anything in over 3 weeks so everything took twice as long to do. I also had forgotten to get butter and the milk was fat free, so i knew this wasn't going to be the best dish from the start. As i was setting my meal on fire I got chatting to some Danish lads. I don't know why the mocked my food, they were trying to cook roast potatoes and chicken nuggets in a broken oven. when I asked how long they had waited for it to cook they said' so far 1 hour' and i said ' at this rate when do you expect it to be done ' In 3 hours' came the reply (it was already 8.30pm).

There was a free comedy night that night and we got served at the bar, so had a few beers (well i had one to Phil's three). It was very good.

In the morning we decided to go exploring Hollywood Blvd. The museums we wanted to see were shut 'because it's a monday' it was explained. Of course silly us expecting something to be open on a Monday, foolish Hollywood ways.

Instead we went to the Kodak theatre, where the Oscars are held,and walked along the walk of fame. It was all, to me, dissapiontingly ordinary. After eating the biggest slice of pizza I have ever eaten, we decided to take the metro to El Pueblo de Los Angeles (the oldest distrcit in L.A.). We went to an art musuem that celebrated the 'feminist movement'. There was some inspiring stuff but also some, I thought, unecessary exhibits. Unecessary in that they showed pictures, paintings and videos of female genitalia, as if that represented what being femimine and the feminist movement was all about. It angered me as the 'artists' were obviously just wanting to shock people rather than educate or move them.

The following morning we went up the road to see some of the 'Ocean's 13' cast doing the 'cement ceremony'. We got there around 9.30am and there weren't as many people there as i had thought, it being Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon. We lined up behind a metal gate slightly up from the entrance to the Kodak Theatre so we couldn't actually see action. Instead we watched from a live t.v. screen. It was an absolute shambles. The Mayor of Hollywood was presenting the ceremony and he didn't even know what film the gents were from. He made this big announcement and then he pionted to the door and it was like in a movie...everyone got ready and no one came out of the doors. It was so funny. He then had to ad lib for 10 mins until the stars were actually ready to come out. When Brad, George and Matt did come out everyone cheered and the mayor told everyone to quieten down. What? Hello! This is Brad pitt we're talking about.

Anyway, after the ceremony all three of them came down the red carpet and signed things for the fans and it was all very exciting. We then moved hostel, because a guy in San Fran had mentioned a hostel right on Venice Beach.

When we got there, the weather was cloudy and chilly and the hostel was pretty grim. As we walked along Venice Boardwalk we were pretty miserable and hence came up with the title of this update.

Phil: Venice Beach is a strange mix of tacky, dirty (like Weston-Super-Mare, you see?), bohemian and serene. The boardwalk is lined with tattoo parlours, souvenir clothing shops and fast food cafes, while further inland there are trendy clothes shops, arty homeware stores and cool little cafe's. We also discovered the Venice Canals, or rather the American version. But these are just as picturesque as their Italian counterparts, with gardens full of flowers and other carefully chosen foliage, ducks swimming along, and dozens of little rowing boats moored outside the little summer houses. I'll let the photo above say the rest. Also, in case you though rollerblading was a thing of the past, come to Venice Beach, where you'll find it's very much alive and kicking (or rather rolling)! It's like stepping 20 years into the past...

So all in all, a few days chilling by a California beach didn't do us too much harm!,

At last we're where we belong - in prison!

The ruins of Alcatraz
Upon arrival, all tourists were forced to be stripped searched, showered, and then wear their prison slacks.
Obligatory Golden Gate Bridge Photo!
and here is a seagull. See how she stares.
action shot of cycling

Phil: Hello again! Here to tell you about the various things we've been up to this past week in San Francisco. On Tuesday we visited Alcatraz, which was both insightful and creepy. After a quick ferry ride we stepped onto the island and immediately saw how the place has basically been left how it was in the 60s, albeit slightly in ruins. It's good that they haven't restored it all, as it would have lost the atmosphere. This meant what you see on the island is the same environment the prisoners saw. There are still grenade marks on the floor from the 'Siege of Alcatraz' back in the 1940s, and graffiti from the Native American occupation in 1969 still marks the walls.

What surprised me most was how compact the whole place is. I was expecting a big, maze-like prison but it's just the one big jailhouse, with three rows of cells on 3 floors, special 'D' wing for violent prisoners, a dining room, and offices for the guards. As we walked round, an audio tour gave information and had soundbites from guards, prisoners, and others who lived on the island. It really added to the mood, especially in places where famous events happened, and you're standing right in the spot where it happened and can imagine it in front of you.

Outside of the prison, there are hundreds of seabirds all skwarking and nesting and pooing, and the ruins of the guards' houses. The lighthouse still lights up the bay at night.

Rose:Friday we went on a bike ride across Golden Gate bridge with some English girls we met on the Yosemite trip. It was quite a funny sight as none of us had ridden a bike in years. We also kept on forgetting that Americans drive on the other side of the road and there was at least one occasion where I nearly got run over. It's near death experiences that make you appreciate the finer things in life!

It would probably have been better to walk across the bridge as I couldn't take my time to look over the side and see the view. Instead I was busy making sure I didn't bash into pedestrians, as much fun as that would have been, I didn't want to get blood on the bike wheels as I would have probably lost the deposit!

Something I was surprised to see on the bridge was lots of emergency phone booths with slogans like 'There is hope, just ring this number', obviously aimed at the more suicidal members of the public who had chosen Golden Gate Bridge as their final destination. We stopped off in a village called Sosalitas, or something like that (Phil:It's Sausalito!), for a spot of lunch. We must have looked attractive with our helmet hair and red puffed out faces.

Phil: This past week, we've also been to Castro (full of large men with small dogs), Haight Street (full of small men with large beards), Golden Gate Park (small gardens with large entrance fees) and Pier 39 (large seals with small baby seals). San Francisco is certainly an eclectic mix! Next stop, Los Angeles...

MOS ATTACKS!

To the right you can just about see the mist trail
Rainbow!
The soup line for the homeless
Sleeping headquarters
See what I mean?...boils i tell ye

The Green Tortoise trip to Yosemite was amazing! We travelled and slept on a bus for three days, I felt like such hippy! There were 36 of us (maximum amount of people allowed) and our group was made up of people from 18 different nationalities.They were all stereoptypical of the country they came from and had typical names,such as, Klaus from Germany, Bernado from Mexico, Jorgen from Denmark and Carlos from Spain.

All the youngens(the cool peeps)sat at the back of the bus and we slept on this gaint mattress(16 of us). It felt like we were the grandparents in 'Charlie and the chocolate factory' all sharing a massive bed.I was very cosy and comfortable, but maybe that's because I'm small. The taller members of the group had to sleep diagonally.

On the first day at Yosemite a bunch of us went on the Mist Trail.It was probably the worst time to go ( Mermorial day bank holiday weekend) The walk was beside a giant waterfall and there was only a metal rail between us and the rocks below. The closer we got higher up the trail the closer we got to the waterfall and the mist coming off of it (hence the name 'the mist trail'). We got absolutely soaked.

That night we stopped at a campsite and I was suprised that I was the only one out of all the group (including hardcore travellers) who knew how to make a campfire. Phil and I demonstrated how to make splints out of newspaper and I was the only one who went and got kindling.

In the morning we awoke to a terrible sight. Phil, amongst others, had been attacked by mosquitos during the night. I don't want to be to graphic but it looked like he had giant boils all over his face.I could have given sympathy, I could have found him some lotion to soothe his wounds, instead I took photos of his horrible disfigurements( to Phil's family- they weren't that bad and I did give him lots of sympathy like a good friend should... honest).The mossie's didn't seem to go for me. Probably because I smell bad, but I'm not complaining.

On the last night we went to the oldest bar in California. This amazing saloon type place with massive Deer heads on the walls and dolar bills stuck to the ceiling. That night there was a live band and I had to dance, it just had to be done.Unfortunately, because the law is that you have to be 21 or over to get into a bar here, alot of people were I.D.'d and Phil had to go back to the bus. Thankfully, I got missed out and so carried on my getting my groove on. Because I don't mind making a fool of myself on the dancefloor I think the others felt more comfortable to join in and soon everyone was up shaking their bootay!

We got dropped back off at the hostel at 6am and sneakily had showers (as we weren't technically allowed to check in till 12pm). Phil and I went to Union Square park and slept on the grass like hobos.We then stumbled across the Yueba Buena Gardens where we found a kids play area, which had hand rails that you could talk through the ends and hear the other person speaking. We had a great conversation whilst 5 year olds were pulling at our t -shirts to make us get off and allow them to have a turn.

We ended the day playing table football, drinking a bud and having a free meal provided by the hostel.