IndiAnapolis part two

We caught the shuttle bus over to our hotel then after a couple of paracetamol for me we caught a taxi to the Metropolis shopping centre looking for sheets , Donna etc for Catherine. Nothing there so rang our same taxi driver who took is into the citymtomthe circle centre. Still didn't buy sheets Donna etc but Catherine added to her luggage seeing as her suitcase won't be weighed again. We didn't have the correct money to pay the taxi driver so he told us not to worry and just pay him whe we rang him to take us back to the hotel. Very trusting but them I remembered he had our hotel and even our room number. Downtown was quite vibrant is I am sure Catherine will have some interesting outings there.

Ps it is a little like Charters towers here!!
Lol

Off to Lafayette today. There is a Walmart there so will buy the sheets, Donna. Towels..........

Indianapolis

After our departure from Washington yesterday we have made it to Indianapolis. I have come down with cold so spent Friday in bed sleeping all day. Gee, did I ever feel sick. It honestly is years since I have a cold. I could feel my body starting to breakdown when my energy levels were lowering rather dramatically.

Anyway, enough of that.

We were picked up by our trusty super shuttle bus yesterday and after nearly an hours drive arrived at Washington DC airport. When we checked in at another airport forget which one we were told if we checked in curbside we had to pay for our luggage but if we checked in inside we didn't so I asked at curbside and inside and was told we would have to pay except if we had privileges , so imagine my delight when we checked in curbside so skipping the inside cue and discovered our luggage was in fact free again!! Catherine's suitcase weighed just under the 50lbs and mine was 44lbs but she informed me she had some of my gear. Anyway, we were lucky
It then took us one and a half hours to,get through security, catch the shuttle train to our gate etc.
Still had time for some breakfast and it was into our plane. It was an express plane with one row of seats on the left and two on the right. A bit bigger than the one we fly on Townsville to cairns.

Washington DC

Really enjoyed the train trip here from New York. Very comfortable as we perched there in our seats using the wifi. The trip was about two and a half hours but flew by quickly.

As soon as we arrived at our hotel Catherine had me marching out the door quick smart. We started at the Capitol Building, checked out the Supreme Court, Congress library and we then walked for six hours. We went from there right up to the Lincoln Memorial checking out all the various monuments along the way. There is quite a bit of maintenance occurring so the mall wasn't the usual expanse of green but is cluttered with mounds of dirt , equipment etc. It is quite spectacular to see it all even for me who has seen it all before. The heat and humidity is knocking us around somewhat but we persevered. Enjoyed a wonderful meal last night.
 I had prepurchased tickets for the hop on hop off bus so today we joined the yellow line and went up into the Georgetown area. Love the homes in that area. Catherine wanted to checkout the uni there so we marched up there. I found a restroom in the library. Finding restrooms being something I am becoming particularly good at.

After a wander around there we rejoined the bus and continued over to the mall area to start on the museums. They are so huge that there is just too much to take in.

We were both happy to hop back onto the air conditioned bus after a long hot day to bring us closer to the hotel from where we would have a fairly short walk back BUT the bus broke down. Overheated just like us. Well I soon found a coffee shop, Catherine found H and M, Zara, Forever21and had a bit of a shop and we walked back to the hotel.

I told catherine that I was done for the day.  I love the gardens around here. Especially love the planter boxes with the tiered planting. So lush and colorful. There was one planter that had the most spectacular hibiscus growing. Absolutely enormous. The trees are beautiful.

It is a  pretty city and easy to navigate . Love the streets that are named after letter. E.g. K street, c street. Discovered when navigating our way home last night that there isn't a j street.

Of course we checked in at the white house on our walk back to the hotel. Not sure if Obama is home. I would say he is holidaying somewhere lovely and cool.

9/11

As I had booked our visit to the 9/11 for Monday at 10:30am we caught the metro downtown, had a wander around the financial district, had a coffee in a very pleasant cafe that most importantly had a restroom, became slightly disorientated after leaving the cafe, but did then make it to the memorial site on time. Bags were checked and we were through security and into the site. I actually found it very emotional. The tv images of that day are so vividly imprinted on my mind and to think that so many lost their lives at this spot. I took photos of the place but didn't think it appropriate to do what a lot of visitors wre doing and that is take photos with us in the photo. It is a beautiful area with trees and grass areas. Most amazingly there is the survivor tree still standing strong with support ropes but still standing defiantly there. The new towers are being constructed and to see trinity church still there havingmsurvived that day was a message of hope and strength. Yes I am pleased that I went as that day needs to be remembered by the whole world. Having been to the photographer, Sassans exhibition provided the images so that I could see beyond what is now there to what was there. His exhibition so worth seeing. So many artifacts that he collected, including dolls, phones, shoes tickets, not it wasn't macabre but well done. Seeing a piece the only found piece of the plane was eerie. Seeing glass from the buildings windows was eerie. Apparently only enough glass to fill the boot of a car was recovered. The rest returned to sand.
I feel sassan, and I am going to have to check the spelling of his name, was the only photographer allowed into the site. He found it tough . What an understatement!
We didn't linger at the memorial.
But left th visit of course, the court houses. We meandered to what was the civil court, checked my camera in, went through security and wandered around admiring the beauty od the entrance ceiling, peeking into a few courtrooms and oh! Most importantly discovering a restroom.
I loved the architecture of these buildings .
It was then time to walk to Soho where I must admit I did get cranky with Catherine who managed to spend an hour inTopshop while I sat in the shoe section and waited. When we eventually left I then discovered another Bloomingdales was just down the street. Not that I was going to be buying anything else though.

More shopping

Aha!  Bloomingdales helped us recover from the heat, read previous entry. It was Air conditioned, there were great clothes. Oh , happy happy was me!!!!!! We Checked out some surrounding shops an the walked back to our hotel via 5th avenue. ll the jewels had been taken out of the shop windows so we will have to return to see them.    
Oh yes food. One of the shop assistants told us Bout the yoghurt on the seventh floor so off we trekked. Yes worth the trip. Oh and of. Ourse getting the visitors ten percent off our purchases is a great incentive. Think of All the money I M saving!!!!!!!!

What a place!

Well, life here is certainly interesting. It's hustle hustle, well except for those annoying people who dawdle . We have walked our feet off and I have to admit that they are very very sore.   Checked out Macy's store yesterday and my oh my the shoe department was an absolute madhouse I have never seen so many shoes literally flying around. The idea is to give your order to a salesm an who enters it into his hand computer And someone then brings the shoes to you. I decided to be brave and in I went! Wish that I had had no ing gloves, but managed to find a shoe so gave my order to a man who told me where to wait and wait and wait and wait, anyway he eventually turned up Pologizing but had the wrong shoes so he very kindly said he would go And get the shoes himself. He did and yes I bought them but my feet are so swollen that I felt as though I was pushing puffy sausages into a matchbo x.
I think I will jump off a cliff before I tackle Macys new York again. San Francisco, yes, here, no!

By the way Mary Poppins was mArvellous. The scenery, choreography , singing. Definitely worth going to. The theatre itself was spectacular. What amazing places these are. We went to a play called One Man and Two Governors last night and after. Shaky first ten minutes, we laughed our heads off. It was a British show and I enjoy their sense of humor. Before the show commenced a quartet performed. They consisted off a singer, guitarist, bassist?? and percussionist ona washboard. The play was set in the sixties so they were appropriately dressed. Ver impressive.

On departing the theatre there was an avalanche of humanity stu k in the street because apparently Ricky Martin was there so all the star struck ones stopped for a glimpse. When we tried to hustle through, Catherine was grabbed by a cop and thrown. She was rather upset so,we went to a little diner where she had a cup of tea and we shared a bowl of calamari.

Actually then managed to ring dad on the correct day for his birthday. Well we had tried earlier when we knew it would be eight thirty in Aus and couldn't work out why dad didn't answer .catherine said that we could understand it if it was a Sunday cause he would be at chur h and the it dawned on us, it was Sunday over there and that's where mum and dad were. I think we are losing it. Just tired.
Managed to surprise Michael, declan and Kieran with a phone call as well. These phone cards Re great and now we have managed to work out that we can use our iPhone and not have to run around the city like demented lions raging and looking for a Public phone............

A bit slow, we are.

Ok, so today we decided to visit Central Park. Hot hot not, so we caught the metro for the short trip and upon arriving at Columbus Circle, we're immediately accosted by the sellers, hire a bike, be driven in horse drawn carriage, be taken around in  y someone else doing the peddLing whilst we sit in the sHaded pedicab.......ummmmm sounded good to me. Catherine was keen to walk but me being the sucker negotiated a price, and off we went.  Well honestly I think it was worth the sixty, yes I negotiated down to sixty!!!!!!dollars cause it was so hot Nd it gave us a much faster look at the park. I had considered hiring bikes Nd we could ride around ourselves but after seeing the ambulance caring for one poor fellow who had a crash Nd then another, nope I made the right choice. Whizzed around by a most entertaining fellow who afterall was well mannered enough to Apologise for the fact that he hadn't worn a belt and we kept getting a view of his undies, no backside thank goodness cause with the heat I would have passed out
The time saved meant we could progress on to part two of the day.

Hi from new york

An early start yesterday saw us catch the 8:15 am plane for new York which was actually quite a quick flight arriving in new york , I think about 12:30 which was 3:30pm new York time. Only problem was the JFK airport was so busy that firstly there wasn't a spot to offload usmpooemtravellers,and then when there was a spot there wasn't a pathwayso we sat on the Tarmac for an hour before we could get off!  From there we discovered that with our supper shuttle booking we had to give our names to the booking desk where we waited formourmdriver to come and fetch us.  That was nearly an hour, some didn't Rrive at the hotel until nearly eight oclock. Oh boy we're we ever hungry so we threw our gear into our tiny but nice room and dashed out right next door to tonys Italian. Yum yum. One huge salad and one huge delicious plate of ravioli was devoured in record time. No drinks spilled in me but the woman next to me to smash a glass that went under our table. Lol

Oh what a night though. We are at the Casablanca hotel right in the thick of things in times square. I now know for certain that the city that never sleeps definitely doesn't. The lights flashed us, the horns tooted at us, the party goers yahooed us........one sleeping tablet later and I didn't hear a thing!

That is until the alarm and it was up, dress down to ricks loung here in the hotel for their complimentary breakfast of cereal yoghurt pastries etc and we were picked up by mike our urban safarimtour guide.
He took us into the subway, onto the ferry to staten island, around lower manhattan ,Greenwich TriBeCa wall street and left us at the 9/11 museum which was really interesting. Oh my poor feet.
He was very knowledgeable and gave us lots of history, great hints etc.

Off to see Mary poppins tonight! Oh dear my typing on my iPad is improving . Sorry.

Talking about being tired. Did I mention that at all?  After,running around to buy a phone card and find a phone that,works and then remember to leave the 0 out  of 07 when dialing, I rang dad,for,his birthday a day early. Oh dear!

Hi from San francisco

Well at last I have been able to get back into my  blog. So much has happened. Tonight c and i went to a baseball game  which c was pretty excited about! Me, not so much,but despite,being cold i quite enjoyed myself. Of course the activities make the night. Kiss cam was hilarious and I was quite excited when pizzas were thrown into the crowd! Missed out though. Walked,there  and walked home   In a sea of seething orange and black. Luckily the Giants won so the San Franciscans were happy.Catherine blended in as she had been so cold , she had bought herself a Giants pullover. So onward to the Diva we marched careful not to trip over any of the many homeless people sleeping in the streets. Most at that time of night were in fact asleep and not begging as they are during the day.
By the way, The pitchers warmed up just in front of us so,got,some action shots.
Had lunch at the cheese cake factory today. Had a endive, pear and blue cheese  delicious salad followed by the best cheesecakemshared with Catherine. Had my bottle of mineral water spilt,on me by the waiter. He was most embarrassed , poor fellow. Lucky my new iPhone is in a waterproof case.
Went over to Sausalito on the ferry today. There was a Fellow at the wharf merrily strumming his guitar with his little dog ,dressed in pink dress and sunglasses perched on top of the guitar. We laughed and laughed. Just had a stroll along and checked out the shops but didn't purchase anything. There are quite a number of art galleries. A cute place for a visit.
Actually lined up for 45mins to catch the old tram from fishermans wharf back up to the city but couldn't,t leave without doing it.

We now have the hang of San Fran but its off to new York tomorrow. Hope we have free wifi at the hotel.

Well we're here in the USA!

No photos yet but thought I would write things down before I forget. Gosh even the trip over seems so far in the distance already. Despite my fears we did in fact make it to our six am flight from Townsville to Brisbane. I flew out of bed as yes I had been awake for the previous hour waiting for the alarm. When we were about to leave the motel room I checked my watch and commented that my watch had stopped. Oh dear, it actually hadnt . It really was only 4:20am!! The challenge was then on for Catherine to beat my challenge with something dumber but as she said she really didn't think that was going to hAppen. We gransferred over to the internationAl after checking in at the transfer desk at the domestic so then it was a matter of proceeding through custom which wasn't,t a problem although I did ask where the fast line was as we had been given N express card. I was told that I was actually in it! Hahaha Waiting in the lounge was ok, just sat and waited. Time to board eventually arrived. We sat in the middle with Catherine having an aisle seat and me in the middle. Really the trip was fine. Having movies to watch really helps. The food was good and plentiful. I did eventuAlly nod off, for about an hour only to be awakened with a cheery "Good morning. It,s breakfast time. Lights on!!!!! Yikes, not a good feeling but I soon came to and managed to eat an omelette along with yoghurt juice and crossaint. Now to get through customs. Well it was a breeze. Catherine was worried that mybe just maybe she didn't,t have the correct documentation despite. He king a million times but Ll was well. As we lined up a rather imposing lady asked me to show her my docs and when she enquired if I had my est I nearly Answered "yes M'am!!" I have now been fingerprinted, had my photo registered so there will be no mischief from me. All was fine with Catherine and we were through. Just were asked if we had any food and that was that. Out to the shuttle bus, an hour wait as the buses were full by the time they cam to our stop, and we were whizzed off to Anaheim. Couldn't,t check in to our room, so off to Westfield shopping centre we went. The reason? Well, I had decided to buy a new bag here so cams with an old cheap one and Catherine bought one at the salvation army store for two dollars before we left! Well would you believe that just as we. He led that we had everything again in the motel room in Townsville the zips on both our bags broke so buying bags was definitely a priority. The checking girls here thought it was hilarious that the first thing we were going todo was go shopping. We actually filled in until four o'clock , bought bags but nothing else. Back to the note we came, hot smelly, Nd very very tired. I went to sleep and fourteen hours later woke up The hotel is noisy noisy noisy as there Re connecting doors Nd you can hear everything going on either side" crying babies loud talking........... We asked for. Changed of room as the baby was sending us nuts.

O

Welcome to my ipad!!

I haven't been completely alone here at home for the last seven weeks!! No, indeed, I have had the wonderful company of my new ipad!!

Dinner time!

Folding the accounts!

Drinking coffee on the deck. (with Daisy and Tiffany)

At Sheralee's garage sale!

Doing the Pharmacy banking!

What a laugh!!!

I was having such great fun blowing bubbles until....

I blew bubbles into my sister's eyes.

But, it was great fun!!!

My nieces's daughter was having fun blowing bubbles but unfortunately her little sister copped one right in the eye, the poor little darling.

Declan's Fishing Trip

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Declan's Fishing Trip

Last weekend, Declan went on a fishing trip with a few friends which was a 21st present for one of the boys. It was a 24 hour fishing trip out at one of the reefs which was about a four hour boat trip out from the coast. And what a great time he had!!! Two hours sleep(there were only 6 bunks on the boat and 20 people!!)  and alot of fishing. They left at 6 pm so the thrill  of fishing   during the night excited the boys!! (Michael was a nervous wreck as he hates boats.) Anyway, for the last two nights we have eaten the most delicious fresh fish. (Michael was extremely happy as he loves fish!) And no, I can't remember what these fish are called and Declan is still in bed so I can't ask him. lol  He brought home about six of these, by the way.

Lesley