MINNESOTA - MINNEAPOLIS

Today was all about driving, toilet breaks and petrol.
Oh yeah and getting to Minneapolis.
Nic had a conference there for Cystic Fybrosis and while she was at the conference centre all day, for three days, my plan was to stay in my pj’s for as long as possible.
So Shelia (did I mention that’s what we call the Tomtom?) got us safely to Minnesota and we pulled into the driveway of The Hilton where we were staying.
Pretty flash huh? Are you jealous?
We were pretty excited to be staying somewhere so posh and after parking the car (self park not valet - we are on some kind of a budget you know) ended up in the big fancy foyer to check in.
While we were a bit put out that we actually had to pay for parking (everywhere else we have stayed it has been free) imagine what we thought when we found out that there was no breakfast included and even more scungy, no free internet. Now, we obviously don’t stay in fancy places but they are not cockroach infested motels with loofah like towels and walls so thin you can hear the guy next door fart. But they do provide free parking, free internet and free breakfast all for less than a third of the price than the Hilton.
The rooms however were lovely and big with soft comfy beds, warm doonas and Crabtree and Evelyn toiletries.
I have also come to realize how to tell if you are actually staying in a fancy hotel.
Look in the cupboard. If you can take the coat hanger off the rail (don‘t you just hate trying to hang things up in the places where they are fixed?), you are on a winner.
I guess they figure that if you can afford to stay there, you’re not likely to steal the coat hangers.

ILLINOIS - CHICAGO

We got to our hotel in Chicago last night with me assuring Nic that there would be an elevator if we weren’t on the ground floor. This was after all, a large city. It wouldn’t be like the motels we had stayed in so far.
After lugging our stuff up another set of stairs ………. Well you get the picture.
There has been a dramatic change in the weather as we have been moving towards the west (we have also picked up an hour now that we are on central time which is very nice) and today the thermals and my new scarf and coat were put to good use.
The place we were staying at was in the city so we could walk everywhere which was fantastic as it can be a real pain trying to get parking.
Oh yeah. And it was good exercise too.
We started out on the river walk which was basically to get to the start of the Art and Architecture walking tour that is suggested in the Lonely Planet guide - well actually the end because we did it backwards. (The water was such a pretty green/emerald colour, like a swimming pool, that it almost looked fake). We saw a lot of amazing buildings - Chicago is well known for its architecture and for a long time, had America’s tallest building. Everyone knows it as the Sears Tower but it has recently been renamed to the Willis Tower as someone new bought it.
While we were walking we noticed a glass case with the wings worn by Miranda Kerr for Victoria’s Secrets and you can stand in front of it and it kind of looks like you are wearing them. Naturally we did that and then found they have a bunch of them all around a particular part of the city.
We had a look at two of them and then we were over it.
Along the architectural walk we stopped by a yummy chocolate shop, the Chicago Cultural Center and also saw a pigeon get hit by a car. A girl carried it over to the grass and Nic spoke to some road workers who were going to call someone to come and get it and look after it. Something like the Chicago version of the RSPCA I think.
On the walk was a place called Millennium Park which was full of sculptures, one of which is amazing and officially called “Cloud Gate” but everyone knows as the Bean. Because it looks like a huge super smooth and shiny bean that you can see your reflection in as well as the city around you. If you stand under it and look up, the patterns the reflections make are incredible.
Before the end of the walk we wandered down to the harbour to look at the boats. Man was it cold down there and there were a ton of geese/duck things. I guess I should know exactly what they were but they didn’t quite look like geese and they didn’t quite look like ducks. What I do know, is that you had to look where you were walking to avoid their poo. So I saw more of the ground than the view.
The last place we wanted to go before grabbing some dinner was to visit Oprah. We would have loved to see a show but you need to book in advance and we didn’t know what day we were actually going to get there. But we walked to Harpo Studios anyway just so we could take our photo out the front.
We weren‘t the only ones.
After that we grabbed a quick dinner before heading over the road to sit in our $20 seats up the back to watch “Cats”. We have both already seen it but it was years ago and we thought for $20 why not see it again? It was actually a toss up between "Cats" and a show called "Michael and Michael Have Issues". Do you think we made the right choice?
Good name for a show though, huh?

PENNSYLVANIA - MIFFLINVILLE

We stayed the night in a place called Mifflinville.
Yes. Mifflinville.
You can stop laughing Nicole. Funny how we thought of you when we found that place.
We left Mifflinville (hahaha - we laugh every time we say it) to drive to Chicago. It was a full day of driving but we stopped at a few rest stops and then spent ages at Walmart - Nic was hanging out to go there. We bought more stuff but I must say we were good and bought fruit, tuna, ham, bread - healthy stuff so that we don’t constantly eat bad things.
It was a long day but we made it to Chicago at a decent hour.
The fact that we are heading towards the west coast meant that we had to put our clocks back an hour - so that helped too.

In some parts there is beautiful scenery along the way. The leaves are turning orange and red although these photos don't really show it that well.

RHODE ISLAND - NEWPORT

We got to Newport and after the let down of Providence we were thrilled to see a very busy, lovely seaside town (different to Mystic but just as nice).
I was still on a bit of a high after all the shopping and just wanted to keep that feeling going. Nic wasn’t quite so excited but she happily (well almost) went into all the shops I dragged her to.
We had a nice lunch - I hoed into some clam chowder, bought some fudge and walked along the harbour. We soon realized the reason the place was so busy (apart from it being a long weekend) was because of the massive cruise ship that was docked there. And when I say massive I mean absolutely humungous (not sure on the spelling of that - or if in fact it is a real word). It was like an apartment building with tons of different levels.

How does something that big actually float?
Rhetorical question.
We stopped at a yummy fudge/chocolate/icecream shop to get an icecream (cookie dough of course) and then walked past a shoe shop. Everytime we have walked past one I have looked for my boots.
Well, I found them in Newport.
On special.
Could this day get any better?
Well I mean of course it could. Tall, dark and handsome wouldn’t go astray but until then I was happy with my boots.

RHODE ISLAND - PROVIDENCE

We had stayed in a place called North Attleboro for the night (which incidentally the Tomtom couldn’t find so we kind of got a bit lost) and the plan was to spend the day in Providence. Well we got there fine but it was a Sunday and a long weekend (Columbus Day on the Monday) so the place was as dead as anything. Which I found really odd as it is the capital of Rhode Island. I mean if it was a Sunday in Melbourne, particularly a long weekend, then Melbourne would be packed.
Not Providence, Rhode Island.
But despite that it is a lovely town and we drove around the grounds of Brown University before deciding to drive down to Newport for the rest of the day.

CONNECTICUT - MYSTIC

Our day started with a stop off at Hamminasset (I think that’s the correct spelling) where we took a walk along a beach, that was completely covered in shells and pretty much just admired the scenery.
We were then on our way to Mystic, a gorgeous seaside town that I think there is a movie about (Mystic Pizza?????).

We had only planned to stay for about half an hour. When we moved the car out of our two hour park we realized that was completely unrealistic.
Hours later we had bought so much stuff (which for me included a dress, hat, bracelet, necklace and numerous presents) that I thought our credit cards might have a heart attack.
I don’t usually go in for retail therapy - neither does Nicola actually - but for some reason this town just made us go crazy in the shopping department.
And you know what? It felt good - my Mum would be proud.
We had lunch in a cute little pub that felt very English (only they didn’t have chips cooked in lard on the menu) and decided later in the afternoon that we should leave before we ran out of money.
On our way to our hotel we stopped off at Foxwood which is the largest casino in the world. Just walking around the complex was a great workout - we didn’t gamble though.
No money left after the mad shopping spree.
We did however see a beautiful sunset from the carpark!
Dinner was Subway in the car on the way to the hotel. Nicola went in to get it and came out with buffalo chicken which was so hot it nearly blew the top of my head off. The only criteria I had was that it not be hot.

I don’t think she could have chosen anything less hot!

CONNECTICUT - NEW HAVEN

So I had to pack my suitcase again and after living out of a cupboard like a normal person for two weeks, I was not looking forward to it. I left a suitcase of stuff in New York (mostly summer clothes and presents) and when Nic got to me in the morning I was just about packed.
Although there was a lot of sighing and complaining while I finished.
As there was the night before when I started.
Anyway we caught a cab to Grand Central Station and caught the train to New Haven. About 15 minutes into the journey we had to return to the station and change trains because of mechanical problems.
There was also a guy listening to music on headphones and tapping his foot.
Sooooooooooooo annoying!
Great start to my next road trip.
We didn’t get there too late though and Jed and Theary (whose car we are using as they are going back to Cambodia now that camp is all closed up) picked us up at the station. We went out for pizza for lunch and then an Italian (I think) bakery for some yummy, bad for us stuff.
We had to then go and pick up a rental car for Jed and Theary (long story but they needed a car for a few more days before they left the U.S. and we needed their car that day) and when we got there they didn’t have a car even though Jed had booked one for 1pm. Apparently a few people had not dropped their cars backs and some others had decided to keep their car longer. Jed wasn’t the only customer waiting.
We decided to go an have a look at Yale University, which was close by, while we waited for them to find a car. It was really nice with lovely architecture.
But most exciting of all - we went into a shop and I bought a coat! After all that unsuccessful shopping in New York with Fiona, Nicola picks up a coat that she thinks is “me” and I love it.
And it's on special.
Got to be happy with that!
We looked around a few more shops before heading back to Budget to find out what was happening with the car. Long story short - they didn’t have one and even though they could have had one brought up from New York in the time we had been waiting (it was now after 6pm) they didn’t. Jed was not impressed - understandably - and in the end Budget did nothing and he found a car at Hertz. It was the last one they had and smelt strongly of lemons (to over power the stale cigarette smoke) but it was a car. As far as I am concerned Budget should compensate him in some way but Jed said that’s not the way it works here.
Eventually we were on our way.
This road trip we have a Tomtom which is very exciting and it led us all the way to Milford where we were staying the night.