Squeal Like A Pig…

It’s only been about 2 months since our last blog – it feels like much longer as we’ve covered so many miles and seen so many things. We crossed back into the States from Canada at the New England Border, made our way down the East Coast stopping off at lots of cool cities like Boston, New York, Washington DC, and made our way all the way down to the Mexican border.

Our first stop was Maine, which is home to lobsters, blueberries and lighthouses. We tried our best to combine all three wherever possible. A typical afternoon could be spent hiking near several lighthouses, eating wild blueberries found along the trail, and finishing with dinner at a BYOB lobster shack (with the sound of a lighthouse fog horn in the background). No utensils are allowed at a proper lobster shack- you pull apart soft shell lobsters with your fingers, dunking the meat in the melted butter before gorging on it. Of course this means you end up with melted butter and random lobster bits everywhere, but that’s all part of the fun! When we were feeling especially decadent, we’d finish off with blueberry pie and whoopie pie for dessert.

Lobster lunch in a restaurant at Bar Harbour, Maine

Portland Lighthouse, Maine

Next was Boston, a gorgeous city that seemed to be still living on the glory of the American Revolution. Flags abound! And the various statues and plaques around the city give the English a real serving. (Most probably well deserved, I’m sure – but amusing nonetheless).

The balcony where the Declaration of Independence was first read to the American public

Our Aussie friends Sally & Brett have been living in New Jersey for a few years now - we popped by to say hello and ended up staying a week. Thanks guys for putting us up! Sal’s meat pies helped keep the homesickness at bay. We could also travel into New York by train, thus saving us from navigating Manhatten’s streets in a campervan. New York was – well New Yorkish. Highlights were downing a “dirty water” hotdog in Central Park, riding bikes straight down Broadway through Times Square (scary!), catching up with our other friends Rosie & Ryan at the top of the Empire State Building, and of course eating too much cheesecake.

Sal, Brett & Cole enjoying an old fashioned New Jersey diner breakfast

Riding our bikes down Broadway through Times Square, New York

Checking out the Views from the Empire State, New York

Washington DC, on the other hand, felt like the complete opposite to New York; DC’s city streets are calm, wide & majestic. And there is so much to do! We followed the usual tourist tracks – The Whitehouse, The Capitol, National Archives, many of the memorials (Lincoln and FDR were my favourites), Arlington Cemetery etc. We also popped by the National Aerospace Centre – which was so awesome! Anyone who has a hidden inner geek will be fascinated for hours.

The Apollo Capsule that Armstrong, Aldrin & the other guy returned to earth in after the first moon walk

After all this city action, we welcomed the opportunity to get back into the wilderness again. Following the scenic route south through the Shenandoah National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway & Great Smokey Mountains gave us about 1000kms worth! We’d stop every 100kms or so to stay overnight, hike out to a waterfall, ride horses, or learn a bit about the Appalachian people and how they got by back in the late 1800’s. If you’ve seen the movie Cold Mountain, then you’d get the idea. (Deliverance was also set in this area, but perhaps not as reflective of our experiences…)

Appalachian Trail marker

Horseriding in the Great Smokey Mountains

A hop, skip and a jump past Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi; we headed for Louisiana. Not really knowing a lot about Louisiana besides that New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina a few years ago, I really didn’t know what to expect. I was so pleasantly surprised by this state – I think it is now one of my favourites. To start with, New Orleans is just rockin’. I mean, any town where you can buy your drinks “to go” and party on down the middle of the main street with jazz music spilling out of every bar along the way has just got to be cool. Add to that purple beads and blow-your-socks-off cocktails, and well – lets just say that it took us 2.5 days to stop feeling hungover. Just can’t rebound like we used to! Outside of New Orleans, Louisiana feels distinctly different from the “Main Street USA” feeling that dominates much of the other lower 48. It’s hard to describe - a heady mix of hot breezes, swamps & alligators, plantations & slavery, French & Arcadian influences, seafood and gumbo. All up, Louisiana was a very pleasant surprise indeed!

On Bourban Street, New Orleans

Alligator in the Louisiana swamps

Heading into Texas the first thing we noticed was the damage from the recent hurricanes. They’re doing their best to get everything up and running again, but it’s going to take a while. The most noticeable thing is the piles and piles of dead trees lining the highways waiting for the garbage truck to pick them up. Some towns lost half of their trees, maybe more. But funnily enough, everyone is in good spirits. The Texans we met seemed to be very proud of the cleanup efforts (as opposed to that Louisiana mob – whom the Texans seem to think are a bit too laid back. But then again, Texans think a lot of things…)

The best thing about Texas is the BBQ ribs. So much better than any we’d tried in Australia, which don’t deserve to be placed in the same category. It’s worth a trip to Texas for the ribs alone. I’d suggest you limit your stay to Austin, our favourite Texan town - lots of uni students and live music give it atmosphere, and abundant bike paths suited our preferred mode of transportation.

Blues band in Austin

Here’s the map for this latest leg of our travels.

Next Stops – Mexico!!! Down the Gulf Coast to the Yucatan, across the mountains and back up the Pacific Coast. It’s time to start seriously working on our tan…