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Hello to you all once again and I hope you had a wonderful weekend.
This weekend was bittersweet for us. We were happy because it’s the last weekend we have to find a motel that doesn’t triple its rate on a Friday and Saturday and one that isn’t so full that we get stuck with a room with no microwave, a single bed to share and on the 3rd floor! But it was our penultimate weekend after 7 incredible months, so we were also very sad.
After St Louis it was a few hours drive to Louisville, Kentucky where we got caught in the most intense storm I think I have ever seen. We were staying in the smallest motel room ever which was opposite a Waffle House and on a main road, and after popping out for dinner settled in to check emails, write blogs and watch a movie. At around 9pm the heavens opened and water just started cascading from the sky. It was relentless and just kept coming heavier and harder, not like UK rain, this was like something sent from the devil. The cars on the road slowed down to a crawl and everywhere seemed to go very very quiet. That was until the thunder and lightning started. The lightning was intermittent between sheet and fork and came every 10 seconds followed by the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard. The storm was right on top of us and the thunder started to shake the windows and you could actually feel rumbles. We took some video footage, heard it calm down an hour or so later and went to bed. At exactly 3.14am later that night I was woken up by another storm, but this one was even worse. I looked outside the window and just saw water, everywhere, falling from the sky and flooding the roads and sidewalks. The lightning lit up the dark sky like someone flicking a light switch on and off because it was so quick and continuous and the thunder again was so loud and intense that the windows were rattling and car alarms were going off all around. I was actually quite scared and so amazed at the sight that I woke Kav up and we watched and videoed the storm for another 15 minutes. I’ll put the video up on STA soon so that you can see what I’m talking about. The funny thing was that to us this was unseen and quite petrifying but obviously to locals it was the norm because while all this was going on people were still driving on the roads and there were people running in and out of the Waffle House opposite (at 3am!), completely unbothered by the storm. Not an experience I would like to go through regularly!
The weather has been very unpredictable throughout our USA trip. Don’t be fooled that summer in the states means 24 hour sunshine and happiness. No, the USA weather can be very changeable and dangerous I might add. I can’t tell you the amount of times we’ve been driving on the freeway in hot sun only to suddenly be confronted with such intense rain that even your windscreen wipers can’t help you. We’ve had to drive at a little over 10mph at some points barely being able to see the road, only to be met with brilliant sunshine 3 minutes later. Sometimes you can see the dark clouds looking ahead of you as a warning but sometimes it can just come out of nowhere and surprise you. We’ve also had sandstorms in New Mexico, mini tornados in Arizona and such high winds in the northern states that even Kav’s strong arms were put to the test while keeping the car straight.
Don’t expect us to be coming home all bronzed either. The sun, when out, can either be too hot to be out in or is hidden by clouds! Plus, being in the car 6 hours a day doesn’t help getting a tan either! But hopefully this week, before we head to New York, we’ll have a couple of days on the beach in Florida to help rid of the white that is currently the colour of my skin!
After deciding that Louisville didn’t really have much to offer we headed to Cincinnati on our way to Pennsylvania. Cincinnati is one of the nicer looking cities that we’ve driven through, but apart from businesses and the Ohio River, it doesn’t offer much especially to tourists and travelers. However, we had read about a great place that serves 5-way chili so we managed to plan our day around stopping there for lunch! It was called Skyline and serves either 3-way, 4-way or 5-way chili. 3-way is with no beans or onions, 4-way is with either beans or onions and 5-way, well I think that’s obvious, served on either steaming spaghetti, hotdogs or on its own. It is obviously incredibly popular in the city as there are a few locations and the one we visited was packed full. We both had 4-way with beans on spaghetti and it really was as good as it’s review, and totally worth the visit and stop.
That weekend we headed into Pennsylvania to get a hit of chocolate in Hershey and to check out Amish country. I must say Pennsylvania is a beautiful state and full of history and interesting things to do and see. And what did we choose to see? The Hershey Chocolate Factory! Hershey chocolate is like Cadbury’s in the UK and makes such US favourites as Reece’s Pieces, Mounds and Milk Duds. Hershey the town was built by Milton S Hershey around the chocolate factory. He started making chocolate in his teens but couldn’t quite get it right and after many failures and setbacks around the world, he moved back to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, tried again, got it right and became an incredibly rich man, making the country’s favourite candy. He built the town of Hershey around the chocolate factory to house his employees and their families and today the town is thriving and worships its namesake. The town street lights are in the shape of the famous Hershey Kiss chocolate drop, you find street names such as Chocolate Avenue and Hershey Park, a family amusement park which has one of the oldest running wooden coasters in the country. We took the famous trolley tour around the town which was very cheesy but great fun with singing, free chocolates and some terrible acting ’hosts’ and then went on the very slow ride in the factory that tells you how Hershey’s chocolate is made. We did buy you all some chocolate but because it was starting to melt, we had to eat it all! Sorry!!
That afternoon we took a drive around the Amish country town of Lancaster in search of true, traditional Amish people. I know it’s awful but it’s like looking at a car crash, you just can’t help but stare because it’s something different and odd to you. I must say though they are lovely people and they sure do know how to cook and sew! We took a stroll around a farmers market, drooled over the homemade fudge and cakes, had the best creamy broccoli soup and non-alcoholic apple cider I’ve ever had and then took a look at the clothes, quilts and other homewares items they make and sell. Then we took a drive around and saw lots of ‘locals’ in their horse drawn buggies going about their business with all the women wearing homemade long dresses, aprons and their hair in buns wrapped in lace while the men had the traditional straw hats on and long thin beards. It was so quaint and the whole town had such a lovely vibe about it that I started to feel very bad about taking photos of the people so we left the town in search of glitz and glamour in Atlantic City.
The only thing I really want to say about Atlantic City is that it’s no Vegas! It’s incredibly tacky, cheesy, run down and very unexciting. It’s on an island off the New Jersey coastline and the main gambling attraction sits on a boardwalk by the Atlantic Ocean. There are various shops selling crappy souvenirs and over prices snacks and goodies and a handful of small casinos that look OK from the outside but are dreadful inside. I think the most exciting thing we did there was spend 30 minutes in a Brookstone store trying out their amazing massaging lazy-boy chairs!
Our next stop was the Capital, Washington DC. We had a slight problem with Washington in that it was the week leading up to the Fourth of July holiday weekend so the whole city was going crazy in preparation for the thousands of people who spend it there and everywhere was incredibly busy and way over-priced. We managed to find a cheap motel miles outside of the city, but then had to pay an expensive car park to look after our rented car while we took a stroll around the National Mall. First we visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History which was rammed full of over-stimulated kids and irritating parents then we walked all the way down the Mall to the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool in the Constitution Gardens which was a long, long way in the 100° heat. The Lincoln Memorial is incredibly impressive and weirdly made me very emotional although I was also trying to ignore my feelings of pure hatred towards all tourists for their blatant disregard and disrespect for anything sacred. There were people sprawled all over the stairs, little kids running around screaming, people yelling down cell phones and tons of people with their feet in the WWII Memorial Pool which really really angered me. But after the Six Flags ‘episode’ where I got those kids chucked out the park, Kav won’t let me voice my opinions in public anymore!
After the Lincoln Memorial we walked back, past the National Monument, which I’m sorry is just a pointy column and then up to the White House. I did wave at what I think was the Oval Office’s windows but I’m guessing Obama wasn’t looking out because I didn’t get anything back. That was it for us in Washington unfortunately but I think we saw the most important things and we saved a lot of precious money!
The next day we popped to the Baltimore/Washington Six Flags park and rode an awesome Superman ride. It was the original ride, not one of the new coasters that allows you to fly like Superman. It’s a traditional top of track rollercoaster but was unbelievably fast, has an awesomely high drop that bends back on itself and just makes your stomach jump the whole way through. But it was way too hot to stay all day so we did a few rides and left – that’s the beauty of an annual pass!
The next day, on our way south we stopped at Monticello – the house that Thomas Jefferson built and lived in after his Presidency – in Charlottesville, Virginia. We did a guided tour of the beautifully restored house filled with artifacts that he collected on his travels around the world including a lot of English furniture and African tribal wear, as well as a copy of his Declaration of Independence. We also took a stroll around the gardens and plantations which were farmed by slaves, and his grave which is just behind the house in a tiny graveyard. It was very educational and perfect timing for the Independence Day celebrations that weekend.
Having never spent Fourth of July in the States I wanted to make it really special and do something memorable. That’s why I chose Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. The town’s motto is “that the future may learn from the past” and is a historic area meant to be an interpretation of a Colonial American city exhibiting dozens of authentic or accurately recreated colonial houses and relating to the American Revolutionary War. The 6 or 7 main streets are filled with shops selling toy 18th century weapons, kids toys, souvenirs, candles and other such knick knacks, as well as taverns, sweet shops and buildings such as magazines, a court house and the Governor’s Palace (House). Everyone who works in the ‘town’ wears 18th century clothing and speaks in old language and various things happen around the ‘town’ that you can get involved in or watch to learn more about those times. For example, the night we got there we bought tickets to go to something called Cry Witch. It was an interactive mini-play that took place in the Capitol Building and was a re-enactment of a trial where a woman accused of being a witch back in the late 18th Century. There were 6 actors and around 50 spectators (us) who also played the part of the jury. The charges were read, the witnesses were questioned and we were asked to deliver our verdict. It was all done incredibly well and was fascinating to watch and hear. That’s the thing about Colonial Williamsburg - they try so hard to make you feel like you have been thrusted 200 years in to the past. But the problem is that because of all the 21st century people walking around, the electronics, cars and modern day conveniences constantly surrounding you, they unfortunately never quite succeed. Having said that, they pulled out all the stops for the Fourth of July and we spent the day bombarded with over excited and over patriotic American’s and feeling incredibly guilty to be English!
We got up nice and early to make sure we got a parking spot before taking the shuttle from the Visitor’s Centre to the town. After studying the programme of events the night before and pre-planning our day we made a beeline for the Market Square to watch the fife and drums ‘Salute to the States’ event. This is when the flags of the original 13 states that declared independence are presented individually to the bang of a canon and the fife band playing their own state anthem. It was all done very professionally and stirred some really emotion in both of us. When each state was announced you’d hear a cheer from the crowd because they lived there and when it was time to play the national anthem we looked around not knowing what to do to see every single person take their hat off and place their hand over their heart. I know we are patriotic in the UK but no one does it as well as the Americans!
After that we went and bagged places to sit for the reading of the Declaration of Independence at the Capitol building. Every single person in the town must have turned up for that because there were hundreds of us, melting in the hot sun waiting for ‘Jefferson’ to walk out onto the balcony and tell us exactly why they were declaring their independence and how much they hated the English for their persecution and oppression. Kav and I felt like we had flashing neon signs above our heads saying “English and sorry” and that we shouldn’t be there, but seeing as they got what they wanted in the end and everything turned out ok we stayed to enjoy the rest of the day!
We did pop back to our motel to pick up the picnic we’d made for the evening, then made our way back to the Market Square with a blanket to bag our spot for the evening concert and fireworks. 6 hours later after a few games of Ludo, far too much apple cider (non-alcoholic) and people watching, the concert started which was more fife and drums (I now hate the sound of fife and drums!), we ate our picnic surrounded by I’m guessing 3 thousand people, and then watched the pretty impressive fireworks. Of course it was a crush getting back to the car, much like after the fireworks at Disneyworld, but it was a truly brilliant day and I’m so glad we were there for the celebration and that we spent it in Colonial Williamsburg.
Bit tired now so going to bed, but will update you on last week another time.
Lots of love,
Sally xxx
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