The best of times and the worst of times, Portland OR 1 October 2010

It is with a heavy heart that I write what will be our last blog for this trip. Before I explain why I'd like to start this entry on the same happy note we started our day on.

1 October was Daniel's first official day out of the US Air Force and we travelled from Seattle to Portland excited about what the future was going to hold. We stopped at the Japanese Gardens in Portland at lunchtime to take a walk around and admire the beautiful gardens. When we returned to our car an hour later our day drastically changed.

Some lowlife had smashed our car window and taken camera equipment (thankfully Dan had some with him so they didn't get all of it), computers, hard drives (yes, with a majority of the great photos Dan had taken on our trip) and some personal documents. While the camera and electronic equipment will be covered under insurance, losing photos is heartbreaking.

Nevertheless life goes on and we are both safe, which is all that really matters. We have had a wonderful trip and are lucky to have this blog that has preserved some of the great memories. There is no way that either Dan or I are gong to let the a**holes who stole our stuff ruin this trip and all plans remain as they were originally. I leave for Australia on 10 October and Dan will follow on 4 November (unless someone has a rich uncle who wants to pay for a second trip for us).

However as we have no computers there will be no more blog entries until I have a computer again and can finish it. We will both have very limited access to e-mail but will be checking it when we can and are both contactable via our mobile phones.

Thanks for reading our blog, we hope you found it entertaining and we will let you know when we finish it. For those travelling a word of warning, no matter how safe the neighbourhood looks, what time of day it is and how well you try to conceal your personal belongings sometimes "Sh*t happens!"

Greybull Wyoming 17-18 September

Not too many pictures with this post as it was a travel day from Mt Rushmore, to Greybull, Wyoming through BigHorn National Park. We had a quick stop at Devil's Tower before some bad weather moved in a clouded everything over.

It is just a quick overnight stay before we head to Yellowstone National Park.

Devil's Tower before it was covered in cloud.

One of the local Prairie Dogs

Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse - 15-16 September

It is ok, this guy isn't real but one of the friendly fella's we saw at our stop at a place called Wall Drug. It is a pharmacy that started off offering coffee for 5 cents and free iced water to attract customers. Now it has basically made the whole town a tourist attraction.

Now before any of you ask I want to answer the question that I know you want to ask....yes the carving at Mt Rushmore is massive!

It was wonderful to see one of the most iconic images of the USA and even more impressive to see it in person, both during the day and at night. We also took a walk up to the base of the mountain which almost blows your mind when you see the scale of Washington's, Jefferson's, Roosevelt's and Lincoln's faces.

A few miles from Mt Rushmore and even larger scale mountain project is being undertaken. It is a monument to a hero of the local Native AMerica tribe of the area, called Crazy Horse. The project has been going for approximately 50 years and is at the current state of having the face of Crazy Horse carved out of the mountain. The completed sculpture is shown in white and at the projects current rate will taken between 150 to 200 years to complete, so not something Dan or I will see finished in our lifetime.

The Crazy Horse sculpture and mountain.

To give you an idea of the scale of this mountain carving, it is 10 times bigger than Mt Rushmore and if/when it is completed, it will be the world's largest.

Kansas City, 13-14 September - Go Ch-Ch-Ch-Chiefs!

After a nine hour drive from Chicago, crossing our fingers that nothing would go wrong, we finally made it to my mecca of football, Kansas City. Ever since I (Daniel) was little I've loved the Kansas City Chiefs. I can remember watching the Nigerian Nightmare, Christian Okoye, just dominate and knock-out defenders; then Marcus Allen, Derrick Thomas, Priest Holmes, and Trent Green were greats to watch. After all those years watching on the television, I finally got to see the Chiefs play in Arrowhead stadium. We'd planned part of our trip to make sure we arrived at the right time. New stadium, new coach, new team...and hopefully new Chiefs. Last season hurt with a record of 4-12. I knew (well, hoped) this season would be different. I'm already shouting playoffs in the hopes I don't jinx the team, but hey, with their record last year I'm not sure I can jinx them. If they win five games they've beat last season's wins. Ok, ok, we finally got to the stadium about an hour before the game. Parking was not too bad; getting there reminded me a bit of the 405 in Los Angeles on a busy day. Seats were great on the upper level around the 40-yard line. Things were going great. Below is a shot of the field:

And then Emma and I pre-game. A nice Chiefs fan offered to take our picture.

Everything was going great. Old Achy Breaky Heart Billy Ray Cyrus sung the national anthem and two beautiful navy choppers flew over and hugged the stadium. Even after 8 years in the Air Force I still get excited to see aircraft (jets or helicopters) zoom overhead. But wait...there's more. Now, I can't say Emma jinxed us, but I'm going to say she did because it makes the story better. Someone (Emma) had to say, "Wow, it's a great night for football. Easy parking, nice warm weather, Billy Ray Cyrus (ok, artistic license there), and Monday Night Football in Arrowhead Stadium." Well, thanks babe. Things got a little electric after that...literally. It started raining and lighting poured around us in the middle of the first quarter; we thought it wouldn't last too long so we braved it out...and braved it out...and braved it out. Finally at halftime we had enough and went down to the concourse with everyone else. Hey, the weather guy said it wouldn't rain until the 4th quarter (what the heck!). So we braved it out in the concourse like two sewer rats soaked to the bone. Many other fans decided to hang around but tons decided to leave. We were there to see the Chiefs and I was going to see it to the end, even though it continued to piss down with rain. Halftime...rain. Third quarter....rain. Fourth quarter...rain, up until the last few minutes of the game. We'd come this far so we went back out into the seats and braved it.

And what happened...San Diego drove down the field in the last minute of the game. They had four downs within the 10-yardline to score a touchdown. Recollections of last year turned my stomach; I knew that the Chiefs would have a hard chance winning if they took it to overtime. First and second downs played out unsuccessfully. Third down...Philip Rivers rolled out, setup and passed. Incomplete. Fourth down and goal with around 20 seconds left. A lot of nervous fans left in the stadium, including myself. Security didn't really care if folks moved down; I think they figured that if you had braved it out you had deserved a better seat. Ok, where was I? Fourth down, twenty some seconds left. Philip Rivers rolls out again; feels like forever for a Chiefs fan. He sets up, finds the receiver, throws and...incomplete! The stadium erupts all at once with the loudest cheer. Fans go wild doing the Indian chop and it truly was exhilarating. We had braved the elements and the team came through. I was so excited that my only game in Arrowhead Stadium was going to be a win. Super bowl champs for sure. Well, I'd be happy with a good season and anything will be better than 4-12.

We drove home in the rain, both shivering and frozen, but I have to say it was terribly worth it. Had a terrible migraine the next day, of which I chalk up to the long drive, tiredness and constantly chattering teeth, but I couldn't have been happier and it was a wonderful experience. Would I do it again? Heck yeah! Except next time we'd take some rain jackets and maybe a bit warmer clothes. But it's too late and I wouldn't change it for the world. Something I've always wanted to do and it was a wonderful experience. And I think Em had a good time too, though I'm pretty sure she only braved it out for me. Isn't she great!

Chicago, 10 - 12 Sept 2010

The windy city certainly livd up to it's name and even turned on some rain for good measure. Luckily that sun came out on our second day there and we got to enjoy the famous sights of Chicago, including Cloud Gate (know as the Bean by locals) and a number of building that have made the skyline famous on a boat tour on the Chicago River.

The Corn Cobs, IBM Building and Trump Tower.

Cloud Gate

Our luck continued when we came across a Wine Festival that was being held. We spent the evening trying a number of USA wines while the sunset over the city, not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

OK, so it isn't a glass of wine, but it was the biggest Margarita I'd ever seen.

The Chicago city skyline. The Wine Festival we went to is the white tents you can see.

Ottawa and Gilbert, 31 Aug - 10 Sept

Surprisingly enough Daniel put the camera away for a few days so there are no photos with this blog entry. There wasn't enough time to take too many pictures while we were in Ottawa visiting our friends. We had a great time catching up with everyone after two years away and hope that some of them come to visit us in Oz....hint, hint!

From Ottawa we headed south to Gilbert, WV to see the family. Apart from the terrible long drive down, thanks mainly due to wild weather from Hurricane Earl, our time in Gilbert went by all too fast. Mom spoilt us with yummy biscuits and Rozie with spinach and artichoke dip, so it was probably lucky we only stayed for a week otherwise we would have had more pounds to lose! It was sad to leave, but Dan is headed back in October to see everyone again and of course we are sure they will come and visit us in Australia, as soon as they get their passports!

Vermont, 29-30 August

The folks in Vermont certainly tell it like it is!

This is a sign we saw not long after crossing into Vermont from Maine.

We travelled through Vermont on our way to Ottawa, Canada. While we had high hopes that there would be great photo opportunities on this part of our trip but unfortunately we were disappointed. Maybe it was because the fall leaves hadn't turned yet, or because the weather didn't really cooperate.

We stayed overnight in Montpelier, the capital of Vermont. We don't have much to report from this stay and for anyone traveling through Vermont you can give this stop a miss. We found the city lacked any atmosphere and it was obvious we were tourists from the way the locals stared at us. It was kind of creepy and weird. The creepy feeling wasn't made any better by the fog that covered the city the next morning.

We leave Vermont happy though as we are heading to Ottawa, Canada to see our friends.