Day 189: Washington DC: Walking Tours and Bad Photos

July 12, 2016

Today was an incredibly huge day.

We started by taking an almost 5 hour walking tour through all of the monuments in DC. They are all really amazing, some more amazing than others, and I am so glad we had a tour guide to talk us through some of the symbolism and hidden things to look for!

We started at the Washington Monument.

Next was the WW2 Memorial. There was a hidden "Kilroy was here" (a symbol for the war) which Vets illegally carved one night.

Next, we went to the Vietnam and Korean war memorials. The number of names was really sad, but the number of people looking for loved ones and leaving small mementos was sadder.

Our next stop was at the Lincoln Memorial. This place is cool, with a lot of hidden things, including a carving where the "I Have a Dream" speech took place, a type, an extra face, and all of the states, spread around the place.

After lunch, we saw the Martin Luther King Memorial, the newest on the Mall.

The Roosevelt Memorial was a little bit too spread out, but apparently during Spring, the cherry blossoms are amazing.

The final stop was all the way around the other side of the Basin, the Jefferson Memorial. It was a long hot day, but an incredible tour.

We stopped in to see Obama's place after some lunch, and even saw his helicoptor's flying over twice throughout the day, so he was obviously headed somewhere important.

The Smithsonian Museums are just as amazing as their reputation, and the Natural History Museum was incredible, with human and animal exhibits from all around the world, and time.

We ended the day seeing the Monument from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in the Pool of Reflection, all lit up.

Tomorrow, more DC xx

Day 188: Washington DC: Fire Masters

July 11, 2016

Today we got a bit of a sleep in before heading off towards DC. It was a fairly uneventful drive, but I started a new e-book.

By the time we got to the campsite, we were both not in the mood to go exploring, so we just went for a swim. As we ate dinner around our amazing fire (we are so skilled) we also got to watch some fireflies light up just behind us!!

I spent a really really long time trying to capture them on my camera, and the only shot I got (out of literally hundreds) were just behind Emma walking through the screen, and when one landed on her arm!

Tomorrow, Washington DC xx

Day 187: Smoky Mountains: Hiking

July 10, 2016

Today we got up bright and early to see the sunrise. We got to see the best parts of it before the fog rolled in.

The colours were just incredible, and you could see why they are called the smoky mountains, with the fog just rolling up from below the canopy.

Getting up so early also meant that after a quick power nap, we could hit the trails before it got too busy.

The first sign of life we saw were in fact not human, but a bear footprint. It was headed off the path though so we forged on.

The 15km was completely worth it to see Charlie's Bunyon. A poorly named, but incredible spot. The best pictures involved climbing over 2 sets of cliffs, but it was completely worth it.

The hike was pretty hard, and it was early afternoon when we decided not to do another hike as the park was getting full.

One of the highlights was a shelter where people camp overnight if they are doing the whole 3300km of the Appalachian Trail, which had a cool book of people passing through! There was just us and a friendly deer there though.

On the drive, we did set off some 4th of July fireworks on a side road.

Tomorrow, driving xx

Day 186: Smoky Mountains: Bonfires

July 10, 2016

Today we headed to the incredible Smoky Mountains.

Most of the roads into the park were closed, with no signage to direct us to the park, but after a 2 hour detour through a town that looked like the Ballarat Show's poor cousin, we finally made it.

We lit a magnificent fire end collected wood from all around our campsite to keep it blazing from early afternoon well into the night.

We are now smore experts.

Tomorrow, hiking xx

Day 185: Nashville: Music City

July 9, 2016

Today was a huge day. After scoping it out last night, we planned a full day of sightseeing and adventure.

We started with a 120 year old full size replica of the Parthenon. While the original Greek one no longer exists, for some reason, an America city decided that what their park needed in the late 1800s was a full scale recreation.

It was actually quite impressive. Inside was a modern art gallery on one level which was reasonably interesting, but the entire upper level was a huge chamber housing gods and giant columns.

The surrounding gardens were probably very pretty too, but we spent more time chasing squirels than anything else.

After the ancient site, we tried to go to a famous flea market. There was absolutely nothing there though, so we instead headed to a farmer's market.

We ended up getting 3 different lunches to share, and the detour was actually a really great one!

I found a groupon for cheap tickets to see the Musician's Hall of Fame and Museum, and being the Music City, I thought it was worth having a look. In the end, I had to put more money in the meter because we just couldn't see and do everything with just an hour!

They had a whole interactive section where you could play a heap of instruments and even produce your own song.

We spent the afternoon bar hopping, drinking soft drink because despite drinking for over a year in Australia, Emma is underage here, and I have to drive.

We heard some great music at some of the bars though, and even though it was 2pm, some women were already kicking off their shoes and getting down to dance. Literally.

The last bar on our list was the Wildhorse Stampede which is a huge 3 story complex with 5 bars which gives free line dancing lessons. Emma and I were obviously amazing at this *cough cough* but it was great fun, and we had a huge plate of southern BBQ for dinner.

We headed back to the campsite early to have a campfire and some smores, but it started to rain torrentially, and we didn't get to do anything other than huddle inside the car watching the lightning get closer and closer.

Tomorrow, Smoky Mountains xx

Day 184: Memphis: The King

July 7, 2016

Today we got to walk in the blue suede footsteps of The King himself, Elvis, in Graceland.

I wasn't too sure how interesting it would be to a passive Elvis fan like myself, but it is actually a really incredible place to see.

The house itself is like a time capsule, still set up the same way it was when Elvis lived there, complete with swanky new Microwave in the kitchen and the Jungle Room, and it was incredible to see.

There was an iPad audio/visual tour that went with it all that gave a really personal insight into his life, with people from his life telling stories, and pictures of him just hanging out in all the places we were walking.

The garden around the house were all still there, with a couple of horses and cars around the place, and the outer buildings were set up as museums of sorts, with one in particular dedicated to all of his trophies. There were a lot of them!!

The most moving part is that Elvis is actually buried at Graceland along with his parents and grandmother, and it is a beautiful resting place for such an incredible soul.

We spent the afternoon listening to some country music at the campsite, and even managed to win a free CD for being from so far away!

Tomorrow, Nashville xx

Day 183: Atlanta: Cola and Wet

July 6, 2016

Today we went through 4 different states, but our main stop was in Atlanta.

I had a few plans, including seeing the home of Martin Luther King, but as soon as we got out of the car to see the Olympic Park, it started bucketing down with rain, so after seeing about 30 seconds of the music show, headed into the World of Coca Cola, the original home of Coke. We were literally dripping wet onto their floors.

It ended up being a really cool place though, with a heap of history about Coke, but a heap of completely blatant propaganda for drinking Coke. The 4D movie was literally just an ad.

They had a room where you could taste over 100 coke products from around the world, which was great! Don't bother with "Beverly" in Italy. Just no.

The rest of the day we were just too cold and wet, so we just drove towards Memphis. Today we were in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.

Tomorrow, Tennessee xx

Day 182: Jacksonville: Starting the Road Trip

July 5, 2016

Today was our first day headed north on our road trip together. We went about 400km, and ended up in Jacksonville, right on the Florida border.

The town itself was fairly quiet, but Hemming Park had some awesome art installations and some people playing music, so it had a great vibe.

They had a really nice public transport system which was just one track of monorail, and was free, so that was a good way to look out across the river and see what was happening, but it was really too hot to do much else.

We met some colourful characters too, which is always fun!

Tomorrow, Atlanta xx

Day 181: West Palm: Fourth of July

July 5, 2016

Today we were able to witness the patriotic celebration of Independence Day.

We started off with a lay by the beach, but soon headed to Flagley, the street on the foreshore where all the action was happening.

We got some $5 wristbands which allowed us to go rock climbing, play a giant game of twister, have an inflatables race, and sit in an airconditioned room.

That also gave us access to free face painting. We of course went for the subtle, yet great look of red, white and blue fireworks on one cheek and of course, an eagle on the other. The woman didn't even bat an eye at our request.

We also got free balloon hats, but Emma popped hers within minutes by sitting it on the spikey grass, and I gave mine to a kid who was looking jealously at my helicopter headpiece.

The fireworks were great. Done in an American colour scheme for about 20 minutes!