SAVANNAH, CHARLESTON AND THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS

Florida and all its adventure slips away as we step back in time.  Getting on the road again sees us back in a rain storm even worse than our one on our way in to Orlando.  Somebody has delivered us two perfect dry sunny days for Universal in the middle of two deluge storms, lucky all the way.

Our first stop is Savannah, a town stopped in time with square upon square of information and beauty, where our incredible luck pops up again and we stumble into town when a Jazz Festival is on.  We had made a difficult decision to let New Orleans wait till another trip so this was a treat.  Sitting back on the grass nibbling away on some shrimp, what else, we listen to the music. Everyone is out on the green on their picnic blankets and deck chairs and we are soon invited into a game of catch with a little boy and his basketball. It’s so nice to play, we have been missing the little ones in our family!

We wake up only an hour away from Charleston, another beautiful town of old Southern architecture where we wander the streets, taking in the Visitors Center and learning of the Slave years and Civil War that finally lead to liberation. Our dining experience is at Bubba Gump, a Forrest Gump world of trivia and, you guessed it, Shrimp, delicious.  It makes us want to watch the movie yet again and we have fun remembering all our favourite lines. We visit the market across the street and walk through countless arts and craft stores before running through the rain back to the car.

It is time to head for the hills, literally.  We take the back road and wind our way out to the Great Smoky Mountains.  This is the lower end of the Appalachian Mountains and we spend a couple of days driving, taking in breathtaking views of this spectacular region. We’re starting to get our first taste of the colour changes the trees are going through and understand why people come from all over the world to see them at this time of year.

Our first night camping out in our new car, nicknamed Jetson because of its futuristic doors (you have to be old enough to remember the cartoon to get that one), goes pretty well and we look forward to more National Park camping later on in the journey.We have set up with a blow up bed in the back of Jetson and it actually worked pretty well. We’re looking forward to more camping opportunities in the other National Parks.

We continue to wind our way along the Blue Ridge Parkway and onward to Washington DC.  Luck delivers another very special moment.  A black bear cub lollops across the road in front of us, a delightful surprise.  Now, everyone knows where there is a cub there must be a very protective mum so we stopped to try to spot her but the forest swallows them up.  At least we saw the cub briefly.

On we go to our next adventure. Our time so far has taken us through Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennesse (only a tiny corner) and Virginia, not bad. We are so excited as we are about to stay with a very special couple we met in Madrid who have invited us to stay.

Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the albums GEORGIA AND SOUTH CAROLINA and GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS.

FANTASTICAL FUN AT UNIVERSAL ORLANDO

This is the world of theme parks and, after much discussion and advice from those who have been here before, we decided that Universal was the place for us. Our first day is at Universal Studios, OH MY GOD WHAT A DAY. Here we are in a world that will shake, rattle, roll, spin, scare and speed you through the most amazing experiences. We start with the good old fashioned roller coaster. It’s fantastic! From there we live through the worlds of Shrek, Minions, Transformers, Wizards and Aliens. Even on the ground you are transported into other worlds, taking in a little Blues Brothers and Hollywood magic.

Our favorite world is not a Hollywood creation but boy they have done it well, Diagon Alley from Harry Potter. As we wonder through we imagine purchasing our needs for a year at Hogwarts and take a lunch break at The Leaky Cauldron, washing it down with a Butter Beer. Of course we have already withdrawn our galleons from the very special Gringotts bank with the help of some gorgeous goblins and a very special Dragon. Ah, the magic.

The afternoon is taken up with the Men In Black ride, not everyone’s favourite, and The Simpson’s Krusty the Clown ride that had us laughing the whole time including during the wait in line. We couldn’t leave without another visit to Diagon Alley and Gringotts, the best ride at Universal, and were lucky enough to catch Celestina Warbeck singing on stage, though we didn’t spot Molly Weasley in the crowd.

We take in an animal show with many specially trained creatures of the furry and feathered kind, including Marley from Marley and Me. Back to a little more adventure and into the world of Transformers, what a ride, rip roaring, stomach churning thrills as we save the world from evil one more time.

My stomach has done enough for one day but the girls decide to go back for more at both Transformers and Gringotts. Our senses have finally been pulverized enough for one day and we stagger on to look at the Universal City Walk of restaurants and evening entertainment before a cooling stroll back to our hotel where we collapse into bed.

Sunrise hits and we jump back up into the world of Islands of Adventure, two special islands devoted to more fun. These world concentrate on the cartoons of old and Super Heroes. We start the day with a new roller coaster, The Hulk, even better than yesterdays. We may have been a little park weary but this soon fired up the desire for fun and fear.

We decide to save the water rides for later in the day and head through Jurassic park. Then we move on to more Harry Potter fun. This time we enter into Hogsmead and eventually into the dungeons of Hogwarts Castle. Words can not describe the wonder as we watch and overhear the conversations between the moving paintings gossiping about the goings on at Hogwarts. Harry, Ron and Hermione appear from under the invisibility cloak and hatch a wonderful plan to transport us away from boring classes to be involved in the service of catching a snitch and other daring deeds for Professor Dumbledore.

Our ride is the best one yet and we emerge back onto the Hogsmead streets exhilarated and starving. The Three Broomsticks soon solves this problem. We ride a very terrifying dragon next and admire the Hogwarts Express, clouded in steam at the station.

We exit the exciting magical world and pause for a moment at a very special, very old talking rock. Children stop to have a little conversation and a delightful cooling off with Cosmo, their looks of wonder and astonishment as entertaining as anything we have done.

A little down time is the order of the hour and we wander on to The Cat In the Hat, Dr Seuss, world of fantasy, riding a very sedate overhead train looking on such colour and beauty, transporting us back into our childhood memories. A magnificent Merry Go Round full of magical creatures completes the experience. The batteries recharged by the beautiful world and lots of sunshine sees us ready to face the water rides.

As we tumble, slip, slide, scream and float our way through the Looney Tune creations we laugh uncontrollably as we and our fellow travelers are soaked to the skin and refreshed. Spider Man and Twister are last and though we have a new burst of energy it is only enough to transport us back through the streets of super heroes back into the real world and home before we crash in a heap, our body and minds overloaded with frivolity, fear and fabulous experiences. And we’re thankful for the stunning weather we had for both days at this wonderful place.

Wrapping up our Orlando experience is a little contradiction. NASA is trying its hardest to explore the universe and find life other than ours. In “reality” at Universal we seem to have found lots of life other than ours in the shape of fantastic monsters that we are spending a lot of energy trying to save the world from. Who has it right, and should we just be happy with seeing “stars”. On with the adventure I say.

Photos can be found on our Facebook Page in the album FLORIDA.

USA PHOTOS

We’ve finally uploaded all the best photos from our time in the USA so far, bar Washington DC (coming soon).

They can be found on our Facebook page in the albums below, just click on the place to see!

FLORIDA

GEORGIA AND SOUTH CAROLINA

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS AND BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

NEW YORK

KENNEDY SPACE CENTRE

Have had a few computer issues so have not managed to post as fast as we would like, we have been writing though so stay tuned. Hope to catch up soon with our recent travels in USA and watch out for a few post entries about our time in Scotland.

We have made our way up toward Orlando and first stop is the Space Centre another awe inspiring place. First thing is the bus tour around the Cape Canaveral facility. Very polite and informative guides divulge a torrent of information regarding the past, present and future plans for the mobile launch pads. It is quite extraordinary to imagine the moments before a launch and all the planning that comes down to a moment in time counting down to the lift off of a rocket. We are shown the amazing Crawlers that transport the rockets from their birth places in the huge buildings with the largest automatic doors in the world.

Half way around the center you are dropped off at a building that takes you on a journey through the actual Apollo Control Centre and shows the footage of the first Apollo mission launched. It’s quite amazing to see the actual place where history has been made over and over again. Another door opens and their is an actual rocket suspended from the ceiling with so much information to absorb about this amazing Space Program that saw a total of 12 American astronauts get to walk on the moon. A small number but such a huge achievement.

Delivered back to the main center there is so much more to learn and see. We start with the Shuttle exhibition, another massive building that holds the actual Shuttle Atlantis, displayed in all its glory with, shall we say, warts and all. She is just as she was on her retirement after a final trip into space and re entering the earths atmosphere. The Shuttle program is now over after millions of space miles traveled by these incredible inventions and their amazing crews. As I said WOW. Here we take a ride in a launch simulator and get a taste of the “g” forces and shakes and rattles endured to break out of our atmosphere into the universe beyond.

And how big is this ancient world? We take a look at the Hubble Telescope exhibit and are inspired by the vastness. We learn of all the problems overcome to produce the most spectacular photos you have ever seen, taken of events that took place light years before. Stars being born and dying and other complete solar systems, it is all jaw dropping, fantastic. A short drive takes us to the Astronaut Hall of Fame and paying tribute to the amazing human beings that have been in space and looked back at earth in all her splendor, especially those who did not get to return.

Oh, how I wish I could do this one day. The over riding theme of the entire day is that young children have looked up at the stars in the sky and wondered how to get there, and some have made it a little way closer than others. It is with great passion that the Space Programs that have gone before have come to success, and sometimes failure and loss of passionate lives. It is a Universal passion that now sees an International Space Station take in visitors and let them live in Space. How far we have come BUT how far we still have to go.

NASA talks to the young whilst they explore this amazing world looking for those pioneers of the future who know it is their destiny to reach for the stars. As these facilities open their doors to the world of private enterprise one wonders what the future holds. How long will it take to probe further than man has ever gone before? Will there be a bus trip to the Moon one day soon? Will we find a planet that will sustain human life? Will there already be other life forms out there? It is the stuff of dreams that one day will be reality? Go NASA and all the International Space Programs, make it all happen!

Full of new information and trivia, did you know Barbie was invented the same year that we first put a man into space? We leave inspired. We absolutely loved the time line of all the missions and what else was happening in the world, what songs the Beatles were releasing, the famous stars that were being born and sadly those who left this life, the political scandals of the day, the wonderful inventions released. So much to learn our heads were spinning, we recommend you just go do it one day and you will know what I mean.

Our day ends and we head on to Orlando to begin a new adventure. On the way we are ‘treated’ to rain Florida style. It just falls like a sheet and just doesn’t stop. It is a slow, tense trip as you can literally only see a vague shape ahead with little red lights. We sit in the traffic as it moves at glacier pace and hope that the weather is better the next day, we’d rather do Universal in the sunshine!