The One with the Family Holiday

Okay, so I've been on holiday with my parents and Adam for a week. Here's what we did :)

Day 1 - August 9th

We arrived at JFK airport in New York after a delay at Heathrow and then another delay landing which meant we were about half an hour late landing. We were all absolutely exhausted so we took a taxi to the Jolly Madison Hotel in New York, on the corner of 38th and Madison. It was quite a fun ride, NY has an atmosphere immediately as you step out of the airport. We had an hour's rest at the hotel, then wandered down 5th Avenue to find somewhere to eat. We ended up at a kosher deli called Ben's - i had a delicious turkey burger. We then wandered back to the hotel to shower and collapse into bed. The humidity in NY was ridiculous - permanent frizzy hair = not a good look!

Highlights

- a Spanish spiderman wandering around near Times Square
- a car with bullet holes in it driving around near the airport
- a very nice customs officer at the airport who let me into the country asked if we were from 'dur-bee' which made me giggle because he had only heard of us because of our failure of a football team


Day 2 - August 10th

Cleansing your face at the end of a day in NY is a scary experience - I was thinking that the filthy cotton pad was how the inside of my lungs would look like from breathing in all the pollution. We started the day by going up the Empire State Building. It was amazing to be so high up. I didn't expect the architecture in NY to be so diverse, I always imagined it would be skyscraper after skyscraper with no character, but each building is unique and different. We then went on the open top bus to Battery Park, but the queue for the Ellis Island ferry was too long so we went to the Rockefeller Center instead. We didn't go 'up the rock' but we walked around the underground mall with shops etc. We went back to the hotel for a rest, then went on the uptown bus which went around Harlem and Central Park. We took the night bus which gave us night views of Manhattan, but also went over the Manhattan Bridge to Brooklyn, where we stopped at a lovely ice cream factory. NY has a different atmosphere at night. I just liked all the pretty lights. Times Square looks amazing lit up. Our bus then proceeded to break down - cue angry Chinese bus driver arguing with our tour guide - then we had to wait half an hour to get a new bus. We were all zonked so we went straight to bed...


Day 3 - August 11th

We had breakfast at the Moonstruck diner - chocolate chip pancakes and OJ :) then we walked to the port where the Ellis Island cruise left from. The indoor air-conditioned seating was much appreciated after walking about ten blocks to get there! The cruise was very nice, saw the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, then we took the bus to Central Park, getting off at the place where John Lennon was shot, where there' a memorial which Yoko Ono set up called Strawberry Fields. We then went through the park to Bethesda Terrace where they were practising for an opera the next night. The singer was extremely painful to listen to. We lay on the grass by the fountain to watch the world go by. We then caught the bus back to Times Square, and walked back to the hotel after stopping at a diner for a sandwich. We put on the Discovery channel, and on came 'How It's Made' which is an awesome programme. We learnt how to make donuts, golf carts, pepperoni, baloney and BLIMPS!!! We went straight to bed as we had a long drive ahead of us the next day to Niagara.

Highlights

- an Elvis impersonator dressed in full glittery white jumpsuit in the diner sitting behind us, eating a banana and polishing his guitar. We left before he started singing though...
- friendly squirrel named Sam and a pigeon called Percy in Central Park


Day 4 - August 12th

Woke up early for breakfast, then took a taxi to Newark Airport to pick up our rental car. We went on the New Jersey Turnpike which is in lots of songs, so i proceeded to sing them to everyone :) We got to Niagara Falls (the Canadian side) after about ten hours with horrendous traffic coming out of NY, and lots of stops along the way. It was misty and dark when we arrived but we could see the outline of the falls, everything was wet from the spray.

Highlights

-'Welcome to Canada' sign
- a crazy guy who owned the diner we ate at talked to us at length about how he thought a civil war was going to break out because of Obama and his 'Socialist Takeover'. He told us he was going to but a shotgun (but only a small one so his wife could use it too). We nicknamed him Chuck. He had scary eyes...


Day 5 - August 13th

Wow - what a day! We woke up at 8 to Mum jumping up and down with excitement. She'd found a bus tour that took you round the main attractions at Niagara (on the Canadian side). First was the walk behind Niagara Falls. This was amazing, to be standing a few feet behind a massive wall of water was incredible. We then drove around the area while the tour guide told us about the area and the few people who have survived going over the falls - not many. We went to a butterfly conservatory, which was very pretty but i couldn't stay in there for more than 20 minutes before I got freaked out. There were some cute poison arrow frogs though. We went on the Maid of the Mist boat, which was absolutely amazing. Standing there while water crashed down all around you was pretty awesome. We came back to the hotel very wet but happy - the boat trip was what we called 'Ultimate Refreshment'. We went to one of my favourite diners called Denny's for dinner, then went souvenir shopping and watched the falls because they light them up all different colours at night - beautiful. We have nicknamed Niagara Falls 'Fallsvegas' because of all the hotels, casinos and shops lighting up the touristy area.


Day 6 - August 14th

We went to see the falls one last time in the morning, getting soaking wet in the process. The water's got loads of minerals in it, so it tastes pretty good. We drove from Niagara back through a little bit of NY state, then into Pennsylvania. We got onto route 6, which is a famous road in Pennsylvania which is beautiful and has lots of little quaint towns along it. It was extremely pretty and green, and there was lots of nature to look at including elk, moose and squirrels. We drove pretty much all day, then stopped at a motel in Port Allegany for the night - free wi-fi - yes!!


Day 7 - August 15th

We drove to a place where you can feed deer with your hands, apparently they like to eat Graham Crackers :) They looked just like Bambi - so cute! We stopped at Pennsylvania Grand Canyon which was beautiful. After many more stops and the help of my superb map-reading skills we ended up back at a hotel near JFK so I could catch my flight to Charlotte in the morning.

Highlights

- talking to a very nice pastor we met at the canyon who had visited Scotland 16 times
- stopped at an amazing diner which was all chrome and leather seats - like the proper old-fashioned 50s diners. I love quirky places like that - especially when the restrooms are labelled 'Guys' and 'Dolls'


Day 8 - August 16th

We got up early so I could finish packing. We then took the shuttle bus to Terminal 3 where I checked in my bag. We had a Starbucks, then I went through security and did a little bit of souvenir shopping before boarding the plane to Charlotte. It was a tiny plane- two seats on the left aisle, two on the right - so i was nervous about turbulence because it freaks me out, but it was actually a pretty smooth flight. I was met by two guys from Appalachian along with two girls and Bob the leader. They all seem really nice, so I'm now sitting in the Quality Inn. We're leaving at nine tomorrow to go on the two hour bus ride to Boone, where my ASU adventure will begin :)