Snowbirding

I gotta start this by saying that it is completely impossible to go hungry in the United States with every town having so many eating places lined up in a row waiting for you to walk through the door - MacDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Waffle House, Pancake Place, Wendy's, Dunkin Donuts, Crabby Mike's - on and on the list goes. Obesity is a BIG problem here, and I am slowly joining the crowds. But on with the blog.

Like thousands of citizens of the colder climes of the USA, we headed south to the sun. We hit Fort Lauderdale in Florida and basked like lizards in temperatures of 85 degrees F. Wow, this was living. Another luxury resort thanks to Swavek - right on the pristine white sands of Holllywood Beach. We tootled across the boardwalk, swam in the warm Atlantic ocean, wandered back and leapt into the even warmer water of the resort pool, finishing off with a plunge in the hot spa and a snooze on a poolside lounger.

In the evening we drifted along the boardwalk admiring all the beautiful young people, some of whom would sashay past us on rollerblades, others on Segways, bikes, or their own two gorgeous legs. The older folks like us who visit too many bakeries would pass envious sideways glances and think longingly of their lost youth and figures, and maybe like me wondered why their new pair of jeans had shrunk.

We ate dinner on the deck of a cafe right beside the Intra-coastal waterway, watching luxury boats glide by an arm's length away.

Another chapter in 101 ways to kill your wife - we were walking along looking for a bus-stop in the hot heat of mid-morning when a stranger stopped and offered us a ride - quick as a flash Rob accepted, while thoughts of kidnap, rape and murder flew through my mind. However, our saviour was a good man and dropped us at the exact place, and the only payment he exacted was to hand us a religious tract. To repay his kindness we both read it.

We cruised on a water-taxi along the waterways and canals of Fort Lauderdale, simply goggling in stunned amazement at the massive mansions of the rich and famous, their luxury boats moored at their own personal docks. Star alert - we saw the mast of Johnny Depp's yacht!


Huge colouful iguanas sunned themselves on the banks, and all manner of boats sped past, the bridges opening up to let the tall ones through. It all seemed so removed from the real life of mere mortals like us, we felt more comfortable back in the Latin areas of Hollywood where every race under the sun seems to be represented.

The Big South

No one has a smile quite as big as Emily's, and it was heart-warming to see her waiting for us at Myrtle Beach. And at last we got to meet Swavek, Emily's lovely young man we have heard so much about. He has earned many, many bonus points for a) putting up with Emily, b) putting up with her parents and c) putting us up in luxury resorts!!

We arrived in time for the Coastal Carolina Soccer Women's senior night, when the 5 seniors were honoured. Emily's best soccer mate in the whole world, Emma, looked after us that afternoon, taking us to Conway for lunch and a stroll along the Waccamaw River. Emily had put her on "parental duty" while she went to classes. It was great to see Emma looking so happy and settled into life in South Carolina, where she teaches troubled children. It was also nice to catch up with Julia Baldwin, another kiwi imported to the Coastal team, and to meet the other girls on the squad and some of their parents.

Unfortunately, the heavens opened just before the game started and we were absolutely drowned - for the second time on this trip. Not only that, but Coastal lost, breaking a run of 9 wins. I think our arrival jinxed the weather and the team. But we did get to meet Swavek's parents, who a few nights later hosted us for a delicious Polish dinner in their home. They spoil Emily rotten, and even presented her with a birthday cake, which was more than her parents managed.

We spent a day with Emily in the Brookgreen Gardens, enjoying the warm autumn weather and admiring the statues and water fountains. We ambled along the endless white sands of Myrtle Beach from the door of our luxury resort, hunting for fossilised shark teeth and finding one, and ended each day with a soak in a hot tub under the stars. We hired a car and drove to Hilton Head, a resort island south of Charleston, stopping to visit another relation of Rob's on the way.

We spent a day hiking around Pinkney Island, a nature reserve, and were quite excited to see an armadillo amongst other creatures. I had the misfortune to be bitten by fire ants, don't ask me how two of them found their way to my armpits, but they did, and boy, do they have a horrible, itchy, long-lasting bite. The red welts are still showing, two weeks later.

Other days were spent driving to various University's in South and North Carolina to watch soccer games, a real treat for us to see Emily playing for her university team at last. We also had a wonderful time staying in a gorgeous resort in Gatlinburg, a Germanic sort of Queenstown, snuggled in the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. We especially enjoyed a long hike to the top of Mount LeConte - thank goodness for handrails on the steep sections - and a drive around an historical area looking at old cabins and churches - and would you believe it we even saw another bear, only this time from the safety of the car. Just as well, as it was a big fellow, up on a bank above the road.

While we were up in Gatlinburg, the American election took place, and we became riveted to the television. It was fantastic to feel as if we were actually participating in such an historic event. Go Obama!! A few days later we read the results of our own election, and have decided we may not come back to New Zealand. But good on the Greens for picking up more seats. And of course we have been watching the dollar slide ever since we got here, so lucky our return tickets are pre-purchased as we may not be able to afford to go home anyway. However, we didn't let that stop us checking out the many outlet stores Myrtle Beach is so famous for.

We returned to High Point in North Carolina for the Big South Soccer tournament, the proceedings beginning with a huge banquet for all the teams and their parents. Emily scooped up several medals and awards, including the trophy for Scholar-Athlete of the year, clever girl. Americans are huge on awards, ceremonies, presents, decorations (every second house and shop was festooned with Halloween pumpkins and other such stuff) and they play the American anthem before almost every game. The Coastal team got through to the final, but were beaten 2-0. All the girls were gutted to lose, they thought this was going to be their tournament, so hence lots of tears at the end.

We had a bit of an adventure one day up in High Point - smoke started pouring into the rental car. We had noticed a funny smell and checked the water which was fine. but now the reservoir was empty, and we had to top it up and drive back to our accommodation rather slowly. We had to hang around for most of a day waiting for a replacement car. We really don't have a lot of luck with rentals, this is the third time we have had breakdowns.

It was sad to say farewell to Emily and Swavek and the rest of the folk at Myrtle Beach. We don't know when we will be seeing Emily again as she is staying on for at least another year. But time to head south to warmer climes.

North East Expedition

Getting out of San Francisco was a lot harder than getting in. We were both randomly selected for the full security search treatment, including going through a machine that blows puffs of air all over your body and having all our hand luggage manually searched. We nearly freaked out when we got to Toronto and Rob discovered that he had left his 6-inch mercator knife in his hand-luggage -the scary bit was that the security men going through his bag never found it.

Rob’s cousin Michael met us at the flash airport in Toronto and whisked us to his beautiful home where Sheila greeted us with a lovely meal. Over the course of 3 days and several whiskies, Michael got Rob hooked on big league baseball. Mike and Sheila were wonderful tour guides, and we enjoyed going to see Niagara Falls, a place I had wanted to go since I was about 8 years old and read about Blondini crossing it on a tightrope. Now I have seen the falls – and they are magnificent – I cannot believe that any sane person would even momentarily contemplate crossing them by any method. We went up to the falls in a boat called the Maid of the Mist, and the force of the water was unbelievable. We were provided with ponchos to protect us from the spray, but they were useless, and we all got completely saturated – it was just like being under a high pressure hose. We also visited an incredible butterfly sanctuary nearby, and next day Michael took us to the excellent Museum of Toronto, and up the CNN tower for a panoramic view of the city.

Flying into New York city was an absolute thrill – the day was perfect and we flew very low over the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan Island. What a city! It truly is an exciting place, and we quickly immersed ourselves in the tourist culture. Broadway, Times Square, Central Park, Waldorf Hotel, Carnegie Hall, the subway, Brooklyn Bridge at night, the impossibly large Metropolitan Museum.


We stayed in a hostel right in the middle of Manhattan, an absolute dive but brilliant location. Rob could simultaneously touch opposite walls of our room, and we couldn’t open the door properly when our luggage and we were all inside. The room opposite was blocked off with yellow tape with a warning sign – Rob reckoned it was being fumigated for bedbugs, and when he saw them hauling out the mattress next day he was convinced. Arrgh – but we survived.

We took the train up to Albany alongside the Hudson river bordered by glowing autumn colours. Pete and Tina met us and looked after us, took us hiking in the lovely Catskill Mountains with some of their friends and lent us a car so we could visit the Adirondaks.

We had originally planned to camp, but thank goodness we changed our minds and took a motel room as next morning we awoke to a white wonderland. It was freezing!!

We returned to Albany where we enjoyed soaking in the spa pool under the stars and sharing many a fine wine with Pete and Tina, as well as touring much of the local area which is just stunning in the autumn. A highlight was meeting Pete and Tina's surrogate grandparents Greg and Rosalie, and visiting the Albany Museum with them where Greg showed us around the amazing displays and models he has built over the years. Outstanding.

California Dreamin' comes to an end

A nostalgia trip back to the 70's took us north of the San Francisco bridge to a little beachside hippie hangout called Bolinas. You won't find any signposts to it - you just have to know where it is. The place is full of alternative lifestylers and out-and-out weirdos, and has a character all of its own. We stayed in a cool pub called Smiley's and ate great food across the road at a cafe that used to be called Scowley's, but is now Coastal Cafe. Wandering along the street amongst the locals is quite an experience.

We headed up to Point Reyes National Park for some bird-watching and camping - although they wouldn't let us into the State Park. We could see spare campsites in there, and they were letting other people in. We reckon they just didn't like our accents.

Camping in the States is great, as long as there are no fire restrictions, and you have a billy and matches. Campsites have a fire-ring with grill, and a table. We cooked all our meals over a fire. But what we would have done if it had rained, I don't know, as there are no kitchen facilities or other shelter provided. Many camps don't have showers either, so you just have to go dirty....

We hit the big city lights after our countryside rambles. A hop-on-hop-off bus tour of San Francisco gave us a good look at the city and we loved the old buildings. The Sea Lions at Fisherman's Wharf were a highlight. They are really hilarious, fighting each other to be king of the raft, barking crazily, sliding over one another and generally showing off to the crowds. They arrived on the piers after the 1989 earthquake, and all efforts to remove them using high-pressure hoses failed. Eventually the city fathers accepted them, and the boaties had to move their boats. Hooray for the Sea Lions.

California dreamin' came to a close much too soon, and it was time to pack up and head for the airport.