beach stop in santa cruz and santa barbara

22/05 - 26/05 Santa Cruz

This week we were both looking forward to as we just wanted to sunbathe on a beach after 6 weeks of sightseeing, however the weather wasn't that great - sunny but windy but we still braved the beach.

On the night we arrived we explored downtown. A nice place with trees and plants everywhere. The atmosphere was strange tho. It had all the "peace" people there and the worst buskers ever but it still made people dance around etc..

Day 1

We got up a little later than planned and just went to the main beach on boardwalk. To our surprise we were greeted by an amusement park right on the beach itself!!! It was like being in Blackpool except without all the gypos from Scotland and Newcastle lol ha ha. It was sunny but not too hot so we just sunbathed a little, bought a volly ball, then went on the rides - We still caught the sun and even got a little burnt.

Day2

A cloudy day but warm so we went to Capitola beach which was a quaint little fishing place - a bit like Robin Hoods Bay. We walked for ages around the place then played volley ball before being kicked off by the owners of the nets - the group of people had only stopped for a breather and we just jumped on and were getting well into it.. we walked away dead embarrassed

Day3

A chilly day so we watched TV in the motel and just chilled downtown.

26/05 - 30/05 - Santa Barbara

We fulfilled one of our dreams and drove down highway 1 - an amazing drive with the pacific on the right all the way down. We stopped and swapped over driving s we could both admire the sea. This place we fell in love with straight away.. its class!!!! Its a beach place with a cool downtown. Its probably the prettiest city yet and even may rank above San Fran and New York.. The streets were lined with flowerbeds, fountains and palm tree's and the beach was gorgeous, even the homeless people had tans!!

Day 1 - Ayy the sun was out and hot. We got to finally do what we'd been waiting for.....lay around on a beach all day, playing the occasional game of volleyball and eating ice cream - just perfect. That night we went to the supermarket to get some tea in, a feast of stag chilli in a can and pita, all for $3!!

Day 2 - Another day at the beach, this time east beach where we spent the day people watching and had our first proper dip in the pacific. We walked up to butterfly beach where apparently a load of celebs live, there were loads of signs saying 'Private Keep Out' but we didn't see any celebs, all we saw was a baby seal dying on the shore, ahhh. That night we decided to treat ourselves to an Italian downtown, a great atmosphere at night, really lively.

Day 3 - Back to east beach for our last day of sun.
Before heading off to LA we had a stroll around the parks and a last look at the surf shops where rich bought himself some boardies......soz surf slang for swimming shorts for the senior people reading this!

Next stop LA, Becks - get the kettle on we'll be there in 10!!

Ps After looking at my chest on these pics I trimmed the old chest hair......

All our love

Team RA

xxxx

Send my regards to San Francisco

Hello again!! Well its been a while since we've updated the blog but again a busy week or so, this time in California.

San Fran: 15th - 20th May
1st day - We arrived in San Francisco after a 6 hour flight from New York and just loved it straight away. The first afternoon we went straight to the coastline, walked along the seafront and went up to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was so hot that afternoon so we got a bit of colour. That night we were going to carry on exploring the city but as soon as we got back to the hotel we fell asleep so after a good nights sleep we were up bright and early the next morning.

2nd day- We had a mint breakfast on Pier 39 (the main place for restaurants and bars) and saw the sea lions that live on the dock, then we hired bikes, rode along the seaside and across the GG bridge (soz abbreviation) which was a fantastic experience and a great view of the city. We couldn't believe how high up it was!! We were lucky there was no fog that day covering the bridge as usually you can't see the top of the bridge. That afternoon we took the boat trip to Alcatraz!!! Here we spent about 3 hours listening to a ranger telling us stories about the prisoners/guards and listened to an audio tour as we walked around the cells.

3rd day - A pretty sunny day again so headed to the largest park in North America - Golden Gate Park, only thing is we didn't realise how high up it was and we ended up in the fog which was the same height as the Golden Gate Bridge so it got a bit cold! We walked through a Japanese tea garden, had some jasmine tea and fortune cookies, then we hired a pedal boat and went around the lake, there was waterfalls and even turtles/big fish in the lake. That night we went to Union Square in the heart of the city for something to eat and see what nightlife was like in San Fran.

4th day - Had a day of just sight seeing the city as we woke up late. We went gay watching in Castro and saw a few sights that shocked even us, we thought we were mature but we couldn't stop pointing them out and laughing ha ha lol!!! Next stop was the most photographed place in San Fran, a row of Victorian houses that they use on loads of postcards and that were saved from the earthquake in 1906. Later on that afternoon we walked through Japantown. That night we met up with Lou and Mark (Saunders sister+hubby), had a nice meal on the pier and a few drinks, it was a really nice night and really good to see them.

5th day - Went on a historic cable car right up all the hills of the city to Lombard Street. The cable cars were great, we were hanging off the edge of them and got chatting to the conductor who told us all about how they run off a cable underground and only have wooden brakes!! Lombard Street is called the crooked street, it has 8 40 degree turns going down a really steep hill, its also where Danielle Steel has a house, it was a gorgeous area, a cross between a nice Whitby and a really posh Viking Road in Stamford.

20/05 - packed our bags ready to leave San Fran and picked up our hire car that we'll have for the whole of California. We really wanted a camper wagon but it turned out too expensive so we settled for Toyota Corolla and set off on route 101, got a free upgrade from the 'egg on wheels' we were meant to have as the lady on the sales desk described it when she was trying to get us to upgrade (must be the English accent again). They wouldn't let us a hire a TomTom so we bought one ourselves, worth its weight in gold i tell thee - it has saved soooo many arguments we actually drive whistling and holding hands now lol!

Before getting to our next stop - San Jose, we stopped off at Muir Woods. It was great, full of redwood tree's with massive trunks, tallest trees we've ever seen. Then it all went a bit wrong. I left the camera in the ladies on our way out, when we realised about 10 minutes later and went back it'd gone - American Gypo's! Luckily we'd burnt all pictures up to Phili on disc and sent it home but we still lost us running up the rocky steps, all of San Fran, and Muir woods.....gutted. So after a very quiet journey to San Jose we decided to have a few days there and then seeing as though its only 45mins away we decided to go back to San Fran, re-visit our favourite places and take some more pictures.

San Jose 20th-22nd
1st day - Arrived a little late after the camera fiasco so just had enough time to get our bearings and buy a new camera. We ate in downtown San Jose and had a weird tea of mashed potatoes and chicken skewers

2nd day - The day of the big game....Headed straight for an Irish bar to have a few beers, a bit of lunch and watch the game. What a afternoon, it was such a mint atmosphere in there. After the game we took in San Jose, to be honest not that much to do here so 2 nights was definitely enough

3rd day - Back to San Fran, a whistlestop tour to retake pictures but really nice to be back, we decided this is definitely our favorite city so far.

At the moment we're in Santa Cruz and its great, we'll update you all when we've spent a bit more time here.

All our love
Team RA
xxxxx

UUUURRHHHH uuuuRHHH ( or what ever Rocky says at the end)

Phili 12/05 - 14/05

This is our last stop on the East Coast of USA. We can't believe that a month has past - we've seen and done so much!! We arrived here in the rain so decided to take a bus tour around the city on the afternoon we arrived - to be honest we found out a lot more stuff about phili than we would of if we had just wandered around. This is all we did for the first day as we only arrived at lunchtime.We had tea at Hard Rock cafe.

2nd Day

A hot day for starters. We set of wandering around the city and saw the sites up close. 1st we saw the Liberty Bell then wandered round eventually running up the Rocky steps and looked over phili. - A great moment ( We'd forgotten that the Rocky film was filmed here!!)

That night we took 1hr bus journey to Atlantic City. For those who don't know this place is a smaller version of Vegas. Here we got our bus fee paid for by a casino much to our surprise - so we decided to use this as our gambling fund. We actually ended up doubling our money!!! ( Team RA luck)

Team RA on top of the Rocky Steps

After the wins in the casino we took a night stroll along the broadwalk/beach before heading home to our worst hostel yet!! But for 13 pounds each a night we can't really grumble.

So:

New York, Boston , Montreal, Toronto , Niagara, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Washington, Phili, Atlantic City.......DONE.

Next Stop SAN FRAN and the west coast.

PS. Thanks for all your support for the new hair style. I am going for the Grandad Bill / Mick Hartley look. lol

Pittsburgh and Washington

Hello all - hope everyone is well. We've had another busy 5 days traveling from Cleveland - Pittsburgh etc. Anyway here's what we got up to:

Pittsburgh 7/05
After a short coach journey ( only 4 hrs!!!) we arrived at a very muggy Pittsburgh.We only stayed 2 nights but looking back we think 3 nights would've been better as it was another pleasant surprise.

Day1 - You may or may not know that the place is on a hill with 3 rivers running into it so, after walking around we got a cable car up the Mount Washington incline and got a fantastic view of the city. The hotel was a little out of the way so we just had some soup from a petrol station for tea and just played pool in the bar.

Day 2 - We explored downtown. Found this mint Mexican sandwich place where they were laughing at our accent and kept talking to us while we were eating - good crack. Afterwards we went across the river and went to the Andy Warhol museum which, if we are honest was a bit arty farty but saw some famous paintings. After we walked along the river towards the science museum passing a couple of stadiums along the way. Here we arrived late so we got in free and again because we were English got friendly with a coupe of workers there and got a guided tour of the place.. It was a really good afternoon. There was a sports centre where we tried our hand a pitching a baseball and golf swing etc. Rich got 53 mph pitch / Amy 30 mph. To put into context the Yankees fast bowler ( our new club) pitches at 85 mph ( which we think is slow compared to the Red Sox....lol)


Washington 9/05

Day1. Got here after a 9hour bus journey... but we have got ourselves used to the traveling. Our hotel again is basic but this time more central. We dropped our bags off, walked around and stumbled across this restaurant where you can sit at a community table with about 8 or 10 people instead of waiting for a table for 2.. so we did and met a couple from Texas who we went out with the following evening. After the meal we took a night time walk around the white house area.


Day2. It turns out the couple we met were very important people - so we tagged along with them for a bit ha ha lol. After visiting the white house we walked across to the reflecting pool where Lincoln memorial is. ( I had a nice moment early in the morning when I went for a run and ended up on the steps of the Lincoln memorial.. only me there!!!)



After this we carried on walking round Washington taking in all the sites.













Day3. A rainy day but we decided to hire bikes and go over to the Pentagon. We got soaked and lost and ended up on a 6 lane highway... bloody Amy with the map!!!!

And that's about for day 3 and Washington. Phili is the next stop so will speak to you then.


Take care

team RA xx

PS. Grandad - whats going on with Man City.....x

Hello.. is it me your looking for??

Hello everyone. Its been a while since we have updated the blog but its been a busy week or so. anyway we'll start off in Toronto:

29/04 - we arrived in Toronto via train which was class (compared to our trains at home). Here we spent 3 nights in a hostel that probably is the best one we've stayed in. TV / good people and a big modern kitchen so we started to cook our own food and save the dollar.
1st like always we got our bearings and wandered round, got used to the tube. It was cold but at least it was dry!!! We visited the TV studios where they broadcast everything, the harbour, a few parks, the Rogers stadium and just wandered round the place. Its a nice city... very fancy architecture. That evening we booked a meal at the top of the CN tower. They say its the tallest building in the world but we're sure there is another one, anyway we had a meal in the revolving restaurant seeing the sunset come down over Toronto.. Its a moment that will stick in our minds forever. It was breath taking after I'd overcome my fear of heights!!


2nd day we ended up on Canadian TV!! Purely by chance. We went into a building thinking it was a museum.. It turned out that it was a broadcasting studio. Only employees were allowed in and there we were in the middle of it - lol. Anyway they asked us if we would like to be in the audience of a music show - a bit like MTV, a live broadcast that goes across Canada - so we did. There were bands like Dankes Jones ( never heard of them) but it was a good laugh.. We were behind them and you could see our faces on TV. Have a look on you tube for MOD Canadian much music show.. it might be on.(01/05)

Next stop was Niagara Falls on 2nd May, only a couple of hours on the train so arrived there at lunchtime. The weather wasn't that great but that meant there was no-one around so no queues for the falls. We dropped our bags off and as we headed to the Maid of Mist we couldn't get over how tacky it was - just like Blackpool/Brid but we loved it. It was the 1st day that it'd opened for the season so it was pretty good timing! We went right up into the mist and only feet away from the falls, it was mint. Afterwards we went right behind the falls in these tunnels although Maid of the Mist was definitely better. Got back to our hostel that evening and was faced with the happiest people we have ever met, seriously friendly, every time we walked in they'd shout "hey everyone, its rich and amy!" a little too much after a while...that night went out for the worst Indian we have ever tasted. After the meal we walked across the rainbow bridge into america and saw the falls from that side.


2nd day - we went on a jet boat rafting thing that went right into the rapids at the bottom of the falls, with two other girls from the hostel. They were Level 5 rapids apparently they only get up to level 6. We were dressed up in woolly jumpers, yellow boiler suits and got absolutely soaked but it was worth it,we are somewhere under the water!
That night we went into the Billion dollar casino and saw the falls lit up.

4th May - arrived in Cleveland. Everyone told us it wasn't worth going to but straight away we loved it, its the first city that's not touristy - just like how we'd imagined Americans lived. Here we're staying in a B+B, well its really just a granny flat at the side of someone's house but its really nice and we get a homemade breakfast every morning. So far here we've been to a state park by the sea and had a picnic of hospital food. We didn't realise that Cleveland had a beach!! (we're staying next to a hospital so we thought we'd get some cheap lunch!). Anyway we are staying here for a couple of days. Today we will go and visit the Rock and Roll hall of fame. Weather is a bit more like it- hot!!.









Next stop Pittsburgh...

All our love

Team RA xxx