St Louis to Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Our stay in Kansas City was very pleasant. We chose the Hotel Phillips on 12th Street, and walked down through the Power and Light district to Jack Stack Barbeque, via a couple of bars. We went in the UFO bar which had a special seating section for 'believers' and then Anton's Tap Room, both popular in a Wednesday evening. 

Wall decoration in Hotel Phillips

I'd read about Jack Stack on the Internet (my usual search for 'best place to eat in....) and enjoyed the walk downtown to the renovated railway warehouse. The staff were excellent, and the food was as proclaimed on the menu - the best Barbeque in America! 

We chose one more bar on the walk home - Tom's Town. Beautiful bar decorated in prohibition style. Tasty cocktails. 

Thursday we started out late and drove around Kansas City looking at the architecture and parks and a few shops. We spent a lovely evening with family in Lawrence - great to catch up with them and see how the kids had grown in the three years since we last passed by!

We were on the road by 7.30 am, heading for Mount Rushmore. The countryside of Kansas was very green - luminous, really. Many fields were flooded and the rivers swollen well beyond their banks. 

Breakfast was in a small town off the Kansas highway 75 in a diner. When we opened the door everyone stopped talking and turned around to look at us, as one. Very disconcerting. We sat down and the crowd started talking amongst themselves again. It was an excellent breakfast!  

Onwards through the rolling farmland of Nebraska, we started to see more freshly plowed fields, healthy cattle and buttes and hoodoos - eroded rock formations. I wasn't expecting to see them here on the great prairie. 

We had planned to go to Mount Rushmore, but we were driving in constant rain and after 10.5 hours of driving decided to stay in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. We found a nice hotel on the highway and even did some washing! 

Mount Rushmore is off the table for this trip. It would have taken at least two days from here to Yellowstone via Rushmore and we are tight on time.  

Next time. 

Columbus to St Louis, Missouri

Two phrases we've heard often now from people we meet:

'I could listen to your accent aaaaall day!' and,

'You've seen more of America than I have.' Some people even ask if they can come with us on our journey! 

We set off for Dayton, Ohio, and the National Museum of the United Sates Air Force. 

The museum was free to enter, with maps available for a donation. There were many volunteers inside, happy to point us in the right direction. 

It was the best museum I have ever been to - if you're interested in either aviation or military history, this is an incredible source of information. 

The aircraft are not replicas in the main, and their histories are recorded on the information boards. The displays are extremely well presented, with fascinating stories and names to the photos. Incredible research has gone into this. If you wanted to read everything, it would take a couple of days. 

South from Dayton the countryside flattened out and we saw more factories. The houses appeared to have been built around civil war era - white weatherboard, huge barns, freshly mown grass, neat. 

We passed through Cincinnati, which looked like a great town to visit. 

Big driving holidays always leave me feeling a little guilty that we don't stop in every interesting town, but it's an impossibility within a relatively short timeframe. Even if we were here for six months we still couldn't see everything. 

The grass became electric green in colour as we travelled through Kentucky, the bluegrass state. The trees had more leaves and it was significantly warmer. 

Our second stop was at the Buffalo Trace  Distillery in Frankfort, where Blanton's single barrel bourbon is created. It was an impressive site with old red brick buildings and a heady air of warm bourbon. We wandered the grounds, which were well signposted with information boards. 

We stayed just outside of Louisville for the night, and found in the morning that it was another pretty city, with many ornate bridges. 

Through Indiana, the Hoosier State, to

Illinois. The highest point in these two states is around 1200 feet, which is pretty low. I'm looking forward to being back in the mountains, although it is nice and warm here. 

A couple of hours through Illinois and we arrived in St Louis, Missouri. We've stayed here before, but not had time to look around. 

We started gaining time back today - plus one hour! 

We arrived in St Louis just before an enormous thunderstorm hit the city. It lasted well over an hour, after which we took a cab to 4 Hands Brewing Company to sample more American craft beers. 

Scranton to Columbus, Ohio

Covered bridge of Pennsylvania 

This morning we set off for Fallingwater, an iconic house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for a department store mogul in the 1930s. 

The house sits in hilly countryside south east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It's over 80 years old but still looks innovative and modern, and is a popular tourist attraction. Fallingwater sits above a waterfall, and nestles into the rock of the hillside behind. 

Our bed was in Columbus, Ohio, tonight. The drive took us through West Virginia (for 8 miles) and into Ohio, which is a new state for both of us. 

Green, farming country, with big rivers, coal and cowboy towns with ornate architecture in their red brick buildings.

We watched contrails criss cross the blue sky to form patchwork, and were grateful that with so much roadwork going on, we were out and about on a weekend. 

New York to Scranton, Pennsylvania

Under grey and rainy skies we farewelled New York City and headed out through New Jersey and north into New York State again. The vegetation here is still wintry looking, with fewer leaves and blossoms than in the southern states. 

Woodbury Common is one of the biggest and newest outlet malls in the USA. It's not really 'close' to New York - about an hour and a half north, with good traffic.

Being a Saturday it was quite busy, with lines to enter some shops. I didn't even go into my favourite clothing stores as the lines for fitting rooms would have been silly, but enjoyed checking our shops that aren't common, like Gucci, Celine, Chloe, Burton. 

We finally had an opportunity to try the Shake Shack for lunch. The burgers were excellent - made on brioche rolls, and fresh. Now second on my preference list after Five Guys (sorry Chryss!). 

It turned into a beautiful cloudless day as we left the shops an headed west to cross the country again. Whilst we still have a few weeks of holiday left, this defintely feels like a turning point in the trip. 

The highway was bordered by farmland with huge red and white barns and storage silos. Cows. Tractors. Idyllic and green. 

We stopped for the night in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a largish town on our route. We wandered through the town centre, admiring the old buildings on our way to dinner at the Backyard Ale House, which had great service and tasty beers. 

New York City

I'd booked tickets on the 11am Circle Line cruise around Manhattan, departing from 42nd Street, adjacent to the USS Intrepid. To get there, we thought we'd try the Citi Bike program.

For $9.95 each for 24 hours, you can pick up and drop off a bike at hundreds of locations around the city. You have to drop off the bike within 30 minutes, or pay additional fees. We just kept an eye on the time and then swapped out the bikes. They were comfortable and easy to ride - no helmets, though, and the handle bars were filthy so I think that gloves would be a great idea. 

We loved it - rode across the Brooklyn Bridge, through Manhattan and then up the greenway bike/foot path along the river to the cruise depot. 

I've been keen to take this cruise for a long time but it is a 2.5 hour trip, and time in New York is precious. There's so much to do that you have to prioritise. 

We sailed under 18 bridges and one railway bridge had to open sideways for us to pass by into the Hudson River. 

The commentary was very interesting and entertaining - the 'guide' stood at the gangway at the end of the cruise to accept gratuities. Many professions in the USA are poorly paid and rely on tips to fortify their incomes. 

I enjoyed seeing the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island from the water, and viewing this impressive city from the outside. We had perfect weather - warm, blue skies and calm waters. The tour cost $36 each after an online discount - well worth doing! 

The UN were in town and security were omnipresent. As we sailed by the building we were 'escorted' by the coast guard who were in a 700 horsepower RIB (rigid inflatable boat) and had a SAW (squad automatic weapon - picture a guy standing at the prow with his hands on a machine gun looking very serious) and various other firearms. 

We could have caught a taxi or taken the subway back to the hotel, but had enjoyed the biking so much that we rode back. I doubt that a taxi would have been much faster in the traffic. The ride down 2nd Avenue in the traffic was not as enjoyable as being on a dedicated bike path. The Manhattan Bridge also doesn't have the same majestic view as the Brooklyn Bridge does, the bike path being underneath the cars rather than on top in the sunshine and fresh air. 

We showered and then returned to the city by hotel car. It took one hour to cross the bridge, when it should have been a 7 minute trip! We changed our plans to go uptown and stopped in Wall Street to have a drink at Fraunces Tavern where George Washington farewelled his generals as he retired from the Continental army. 

We had considered staying another night to see and do more, but weekend accommodation is more expensive and there would be long lines at the art galleries and museums so we decided that we'd just come back again! 

Lorton to Brooklyn, New York

Today's journey took us through Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to New York. 

During the night we left Florida and travelled through Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina to the train station in Virginia. I think we're up to 16 states for this journey so far, although I slept through a few! 

The drive was through bucolic farmlands with barns bigger than the houses, farmers in their fields on their tractors, healthy cows, green rolling hills, German influences in the architecture. 

The landscape was peppered with flowering dogwoods in white and pink, and another tree with no leaves but lovely purple blossoms. There are wildflowers everywhere.

We stopped at Gettysburg, an important battle field of the American civil war, and took the self-guided tour through the memorial park, which was very impressive.  

The town of Gettysburg is very pretty - old buildings in excellent, cared for condition. There are lots of museums and tourist shops, but that's to be expected in such a town, and everything is tucked into the original buildings. 

I had googled 'best place to eat in Gettysburg' and came up with the Lincoln Diner - an authentic old fashioned American diner. It was the best diner we've been to - we sat at a booth and drank our bottomless coffee. The waitress wrote our order on her notepad and took the check from her apron pocket when we'd finished. Just like on tv. 

The day had been overcast but as soon as we turned east towards New York City, it cleared to a beautiful warm day. Navigating the crazy highways to enter the Big Apple after driving all day is not to be recommended. It takes concentration and either deep faith in your gps or a clued in navigator (and faith in them!), and a steely nerved driver. 

We took the famed Holland Tunnel onto Manhattan, crossed the island and then took the Manhattan Bridge to Brooklyn, where we'd chosen to stay. We're lucky enough to have been to NY a few times, so we thought we'd check out the view from here. 

After a drink at the hotel's rooftop bar, we walked through the streets of Brooklyn to an Italian restaurant, Rucola. This was another recommendation from Claire. Unexpectedly we were seated straight away, and had a lovely dinner. 

Kennedy Space Centre

It was an hour's easy drive from our accommodation to the Kennedy Space Centre at Merritt Island, Florida. We wanted to arrive early as we had limited time before we needed to be in Sanford to catch the Amtrak Auto Train. 

Tickets were USD50 each and included a guided bus tour to the Apollo/Saturn V Centre. Parking and ticket purchase were easy, but would quickly attract long lines as the day goes on. 

We enjoyed walking through the Rocket Garden of 100 foot space craft and watched people crawl into the replica capsule from the Apollo. 

The bus tours leave every 15 minutes. The driver was very informative and funny, and showed videos of the history and plans for the future of the space program. He drove us around the living complex. They're doing a lot of renovating/rebuilding to modernize the Cold War era site, and are now self sustainable thanks to solar power and theories water and treatment plants. 

The Centre sits in a nature reserve and there are many animals on the endangered list that call Kennedy home. We saw a manatee (like a dugong), three alligators (all alive this time) and a turtle, along with many birds. Bald eagles nest here from September to May - one nest was the size of a king bed!

The photo above shows a 'crawler', built in the 1960s to transport the rockets from the Vehicle Assembly Building (below) to the launch platforms. Each of the four tracks has 57 'shoes' and each shoe weighs 900kg! 

The Vehicle Assembly Building is one of the largest buildings in the world by volume. The roof is 8 acres and the flag is 21 stories high! It's difficult to depict how big it is in a photo. 

I really enjoyed the bus tour - it took about an hour and a half, including the videos at the Saturn V Centre. Note: sit on the right hand side of the bus (left as you walk in). You'll get the best view of the sights. There are plenty of other things to do including meet astronauts and see imax movies. 

Saturn V rocket for Apollo 18

The Rocket Garden