Washington D.C.

Washington D.C. was everything I thought it would be and more. My aim was to see as much as possible, monuments and museums galore. 

This was the final stop on the Grand Southern tour and was the longest at a 3 day stint. On the final night we had one final blow out party to commemorate the trip and to start the goodbyes. While we travelled together the next day through Philadelphia on the way to New York, this was the last time we had to drink and party together. We had a t-shirt signing party. Everyone bought white t-shirts and we spent the evening writing notes, drawing pictures and saying goodbye. And did all of this while drinking, so you can imagine the comments that were being made! I also managed to face off against 4 Aussies in a battle of Flip Cup and won! It was probably my crowning moment. Needless to say I did NOT feel like a box of fluffy ducks the next morning on the bus!

While we were in Washington for the weekend so were 30,000 Boy Scouts for their National Jamboree and 10,000 African-American woman from a National Sorority for their conference. You'll no doubt see numerous geeky scouts, and beautiful black woman in my photos!

Meanwhile here's what I did and saw in Washington during daylight hours:

Arlington Cemetery. 

Arlington is in Virginia, on the other side of the river from Washington D.C. Arlington Cemetery is where America bury anyone that served in the military service, or during battle, and their spouses too. Presidents are buried there too. It was a very somber place and seeing rows upon rows of white marble headstones, up and down the hills really showed the toll this country has taken during conflicts. We visited the site of John F. Kennedy and Jackie Onassis then went to the changing of the guard at the gravesite of the unkown solider. 

Marine Memorial.

I feel a little bad that I don't remember the name of this site, but you'll know the statue when you see it. It's a dedication to all Marines that have given their life in the name of USA, with a large statue of 6 men erecting a large flag in Iwo Jima. It was here that I came to respect the level of respect and honour that American's show their armed forces and those that gave their lives in battle. 

Nighttime tour of Washington City

On this tour we had a local guide that talked about living in Washington, the diversity of the city and showed us the highlights of the sites. We stopped at the Capitol Building, the Washington Monument (which is currently covered in scaffolding and wrapped in plastic for maintenance work. Locals already thought it was fellic looking and now that it's covered in plastic you can imagine the jokes!), Jefferson Memorial, Franklin Roosevelt Memorial, Martin Luther King Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial. All of these were very big and very well done, true dedications to the heroes and presidents and the great work they did. 

Smithsonian Museums. 

Get this, if you were to go to each exhibit and spend one minute at each item on display at each museum and did this until you saw everything in the storage facilities too, it would take you 89 years to see everything in the Smithsonian collections! Needless to say I compromised on what I saw! The Smithsonian Museums are numerous Museums dedicated to various things. They line the National Mall between the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building. On the first day I went with a small group to the Holocaust Museum (almost made me cry), the Natural History Museum (where I went in the butterfly house and saw the National Geographic Nature Photography winners for 2012), the Sculpture Garden (New Zealand does Sculpture art better!) and the National Museum of modern Art. 

On the second day we went to Newseum (a relatively new museum dedicated to the Press, with exhibts on famous headlines like the Unabomber, 9/11, JFK, etc) Did I mention that some of these Museums aren't in the Smithsonian Museum cluster, so heaven knows how long it would take to see EVERYTHING in Washington?! I missed seeing the Spy Museum and the Air & Space Museum, along with numerous Art Galleries and Museums. Oh well, guess I'll have to come back!! 

The White House.

We walked in the blistering heat (I've honestly never sweat so much in my life!) to both sides of the White House. It's a giant White House. With large lawns. And that's honestly about it. It is much smaller than it looks in the movies, or shorter I should say, it always seems so long in the movies, like Buckingham Palace long, but it's not. 

Durango, Alburquerque & Amarillo

After the Grand Canyon we did a whirlwind trip from Arizona, detour through Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and finally into Texas. 

On the way to Durango, Colorado we detoured through Monument Valley in Utah and stopped for a photo op at the point Forrest Gump stopped his cross country run. I'm loving that every day we go through some place or it's specifically detoured too by our tour guides, because they want to show us where some famous site is or a movie was set. It's very cool. 

Durango, Colorado is a small town in Colorado, which really is a beautiful and rocky as it's portrayed. It's also 7kms above sea level and my feet are really suffering in the heat and altitude. 

In Durango we went to a Brew House for a good dinner, with vegetables even! Then we headed over to a local bar and proceeded to drink our body weight in beer. The next morning while the majority of the group went off to do rafting and horse riding, I joined a few girls for an indulgent manicure/pedicure. My feet sure did need the attention. 

Then it was back on the road to Albuquerque. We had a so-so meal at the hotel and an early night. Our wake up call was 4.30am, for a 5.15am Hot Air Balloon ride over the city. 

We helped with the set up, boarded for an amazing hour flight, then helped with the pack down once we landed. I had wanted to do a Hot Air Balloon ride since I was about 10 years old, and it was on my bucket list. It was much smoother than I had expected, all though I wasn't prepared for the heat. Afterwards we enjoyed a glass of champagne (a Hot Air Balloon tradition) and even got certificates for the rise. 

Later that morning we drove to Amarillo, Texas. Stopping at Cadillac Ranch just outside of the city. Some Farmer bought 10 different era cadillacs, cemented them in to the ground tail down and called them art. When people started graffiting them he made it part of the artwork. So naturally we got spray cans at took to work graffiting cadillacs in the middle of the desert. (Who thinks up this shit?!)

Once in Amarillo we stayed at the Big Texan, which is a quirky side of the road motel with cool facades and is home to the '72 oz Steak Challenge'. Four of our group attempted the challenge in a battle of nations. Braden (USA & our tour manager), Tiaan (South Africa), Gary (Australia) and Nathan (New Zealand) were the brave souls to attempt it. Although, to be fair Braden only did it because our group bribed him in to it. They had one hour to eat a 72oz (2kg) steak, Shrimp cocktail, roll, salad, baked potato and a beer. If they did it they got it for free. The whole group chipped in so that they didn't have to pay for it all if they didn't. They sat up on a platform in the middle of the restaurant, being on a live webcam and had the largest hall of Texans watching too. While none of them finished, they made a pretty good effort of it. Tiaan got the furtherest with only a small portion of steak left at the end. 

After dinner and few drinks we hopped on over the pool for a midnight swim. With the temperatures in Texas averaging in the late 30's a swim was in desperate need. The boys got rowdy and we called it a night. 

After 3 days on the road with only quick stops in cities, we were all hanging out for our 2 day stop in Dallas up next. 

Grand Canyon

We left Vegas and headed to the Grand Canyon for an evening peek at the Canyon itself.

We spent two nights in the National Park lodges, just a three minute walk from the south rim of the Canyon. We had a whole day there and my roommate and I took advantage of that by walking along the rim and checking out the gift shops, art galleries and of course, take lots of photos. 

The morning had started with a 45 minute Helicopter ride over the Canyon. It was spectacular! 

*Please note that these photos are completely unedited! 

That night our entire group grabbed a picnic dinner and bused about 2 kms up the road to a beautiful spot on the rim. From here we had champagne and watched the sunset. It was a very magical evening. 

Dress Up Babies

 

Just before Christmas I met up with the antenatal group I took photos of at just 5 weeks old. These gorgeous babies are now 5 months old and celebrated the festive season with a dress up party.

 

Alexander, Emily, Imogen, Max, Zen, Matariki and Sam

Alexander, Emily, Imogen and Max

Anna and Alexander

Alexander the pirate

Jake, Imogen and Rowan

Jake and Imogen

Jake and Imogen

Imogen as a flying Elephant

 

Zen the party rocker

Emily, the cutest bear

Voon Shan, Matthew and Emily

Sam the Sailor

Holly

 

Holly is one cute chocolate labrador. One doesn't expect her to pop up in the bathroom window while you're on the toilet!

 

She sure does love her giant, tree trunk sized, sticks.

Castlepoint and Kite Flying

Over the festive season my best friends John, Rach and I made a list of all the things we say we're going to do, yet never do. Aptly named "The List". The goal is to check everything off the list before the end of the year.

This weekend we crossed off two things on "The List".

1. Go to Castlepoint for a weekend get-away.

Rach grew up in the Waiarapa and spent many holidays at Castlepoint, a beautiful seaside village about a 45 minute drive from Masterton. It has an iconic lighthouse and wonderful beaches. Rach has been talking about taking John and I there for years. She has fond memories of the campgrounds, swimming and general summer fun. We booked a cabin at the campgrounds and headed up on Friday after work. We spent hours walking around Castlepoint, up to the lighthouse and swimming in the lagoon and in the beach. It also happened to be the 100 year anniversary of the lighthouse erection which meant there were lots of festivities on. The best being the lighting of the lighthouse after dark. Of course, I took hundreds of photos to mark the wonderful weekend away. A chance to relax as our little family and to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city of a few nights.

This ones especially for my nephew. Just wait till he sees all the wheels I found and photographed for him!

My new favourite photo

In case you're wondering, Yes, she did catch it!

It had a moat and a drawbridge and everything!

and 2. Fly a Kite.

I bought a kite last year and thought it would be a great family activity at the local parking. Living in windy Wellington this seemed like a great idea. But, we never get to the park and the kite has sat untouched for months. We took it with us to the beach. However, in typically uncanny fashion, there wasn't much wind and try as we might for hours, we managed to get it up in the sky only a handful of times. But it was awesome when we did.