Home Sweet Home

Our flight home was very smooth - just long! It was that smooth that Genna even went the entire flight without being sick!! We were met at the airport by Bazza (Bluey's Dad, my Pop) who was very happy to see us - as we were him. Traffic in Melbourne wasn't too bad and we were out the other side in pretty good time. We only made the one stop on the way home - we called in to Trafalgar Bakery for a meat pie. Even though we don't eat a lot of meat pies in our house - when you can't get one, you really do miss them.

It was nice to see our house again - although I reckon Genna & Bluey took one look at the weeds in the front garden and worked out which job Bailey & I have got first up. I am looking forward to my own bed again, I must say. We are all quite tired - in fact Bailey got a bit cranky with me at one point and decided to hide (and have a little nap at the same time). The pictures below will show you where we found him.

 Doesn't look too interesting......

...... until you realise that this is the top shelf in his wardrobe - not even sure how he got there?

Well folks, this will be my last entry. I hope you have enjoyed travelling with us on our incredible trip. For those of you that we got to spend time with along the way, thank you for being part of our journey. It is the people along the way that made it such a memorable time. Good bye for now, make sure you take up our offers to visit - otherwise I will see you around harvest time 2016.

~Riley

Our final day

For our last day of our awesome adventure, we decided we couldn't leave the USA without spending a day looking around Hollywood. So, we checked out of our hotel and jumped on the shuttle bus. 2 buses and 3 trains later, we were stepping out of the subway and straight onto the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was lunch time and as we were checking around for somewhere to eat, when a guy approached us offering to take us on a $40 Hollywood tour for $20 each. We couldn't think of a better way to see the sights, so, without confirming we said we would ponder our decision over lunch. In the meantime, another guy approached us and offered to match his offer and explained why their tour was better. Again we said we would discuss it over lunch.

Now, Genna spotted an Irish Pub with her's & Bluey's favorite words on the door - Happy Hour! A great feed and a couple of $3 pints of Guiness for Genna & Bluey and we were off to get on the bus for the second tour company. Why the second company? We could see where their bus was, so we went there!! So, off we went and straight up to the big Hollywood sign we went. We made a slight detour on the way - past the apartment building used in the final scene of Pretty Woman, where Richard Gere comes to 'rescue' Julia Roberts.

This is the fire escape used in that famous scene

Bailey & Riley posing in front of 'Hollywood' 

Next, we went for a cruise through the Hollywood Hills, going past many of Hollywood's biggest and most expensive residences (and we were informed of which stars lived where) in this area.

Lake Hollywood with LA in the background

We got to see some great sights and famous buildings in the Hollywood area which was a great way to end our vacation. There are some amazing venues in this area and we got to find out a lot of things with regards to how some of the entertainment world's biggest names got their starts in the world of show business.

Christina Aguilera's place

Sylvester Stallone's new mansion being built

Frank Sinatra's mansion

We actually pulled in to Mickey Rourke's driveway - very cheeky

J-Lo's house that she recently sold

This is the front of Bill Cosby's mansion - there were bronze statues everywhere

Riley & Bailey on the Beverly Hills sign

Drive down Rodeo Drive - of course there is a $1.8M Bugatti parked there!

Madonna's place - it has lemon trees all the way around the property

The world famous House of Blues in Hollywood

The very popular Saddle Ranch bar & restaurant

This was a great finish to a great holiday. At 6.30pm, we started our trip back to our Hotel to grab our bags and head to the airport for our 15 hour flight home. We were at the airport by 8.30pm and checked in. That was 100kg of luggage of our hands. Thankfully we had free internet in the airport to pass the time away - Bluey & Gena (of course) were talking travel with an American couple who were on their way to Australia. The only surprise - they didn't invite them to our place to stay during their visit!!

So, after nearly 20000km's, 26 States & 4 Provinces we were boarding a flight for Melbourne. It is hard to believe but our trip of a lifetime is officially over. I certainly have mixed feelings. Whilst I am looking forward to seeing all of my family and friends, I am really going to miss North America. The around the clock sport,  the places - and mostly the people we have met is something I will never forget, nor will the rest of my family. 

~Riley

Visit to our sporting Holy Grail

Our last full day in the states today and Bluey had one thing in mind - he had to get to Staples Centre in downtown LA. Staples Centre is the home of NBA teams, the LA Clippers & Bailey & Bluey's beloved LA Lakers and also the home to the NHL's reigning Stanley Cup champion LA Kings. All around the US, Bluey has been trying to get a Wayne Gretsky (The Great One) or Dustin Brown jersey but since the Championship win, they have sold out everywhere.

So, it was on to 2 buses and 2 trains to the LA Live shop to finally get his jersey. Now, for those those that don't know, the NHL and its players are currently in dispute over a new Labour Agreement. What does this mean to us? Bad news actually. Normally, the pre-season would be under way by now in the NHL and the store full of Kings gear but due to the lockout there wasn't a lot on offer at all.

We were told that it would take 2 weeks to have a jersey personalised (there weren't any made up at all due to the lockout) which of course was bad news to us. The staff were really good to us when we explained that we were heading home to Australia the next day, all of a sudden we had people going everywhere. It just so happened that the guy who sewed all the numbers and letters was on and at the okay of the Manager, they were going to bump everything aside and get straight to work on Bluey's jersey.

We had a bit of time to kill whilst we waited, so we went up the street to the LA Live theatre and went in to watch 'Trouble with the Curve' - Clint Eastwood's latest movie (which was excellent). By the time we returned to the gear store, the jersey was ready and Bluey was in heaven. Great result.

Back to the hotel for a swim and a feed and it was off to sleep for our final sleep for this trip. I'll try to put an update in for our final day later on as we aren't flying out until 11.30pm.

~Riley

Orlando to Los Angeles

Everyone was a little bleary eyed this morning as we were up and going at 6.45am for our 8.50am flight to LA. We still managed to get our last bad packed, get in some breakfast and be at the airport an hour before our flight. Now, after 4 months of travelling - doing anything quickly at this time of the morning is a big effort.

Upon arriving at the airport, we discovered that our flight was delayed by half an hour, which turned into an hour. Still, we needed to get through check in and it is fair to say Bluey was a tad nervous with regards to the weight of our luggage. The maximum weight we can have per bag is 23.5kb (50 pounds). The first suitcase went on - it weighed 51.5 pounds, the lady let it slide (or more so drag). The second suitcase went on - 50.5 pounds. Again, this was okay. The 3rd suitcase went on - 55 pounds. Oops!! We were given the option to leave it and pay $90.00 for the over weight or we could take stuff out. Without hesitation, Bluey unlocked the case and started removing clothes. It was surprising how few things had to be removed to get it down to the correct weight. These were then transferred (or more so stuffed) into the last suitcase. Despite looking the fullest, that case then weighed in at 49 pounds - hardly a challenge Bluey reckoned. So, after leaving Australia with around 20kg's total between us, we are going home with 100kg's of checked luggage, plus about 15kg's of carry on luggage - and keep in mind we sent home 30kg's of luggage from Chicago and have another 10kg's of cookware coming home from Detroit and you start to get a picture of how hard our credit cards have worked - they even look worn out!

Still, we were in the air at 10.00am for our cross continental 5 hour flight. Of course, it should have been 3.00pm when we arrived but with the time change it became 12.00pm again. The flight itself was really good - even Genna coped well, which was very unusual.

We checked in to the La Quinta Inn & Suites adjacent to LA international airport for our last 2 nights. We didn't really get up to a lot. Genna, Bluey & Bailey went for a bit of a walk in the afternoon but we are a fair way from everything so they were back reasonably quickly. Now for dinner tonight, Genna & Bluey let Bailey and I order room service. This is something we have wanted to do all trip but they have always preferred to get out of the room to eat and just leave the room for sleeping. With that, they both went downstairs to the restaurant on the bottom floor to eat and left us to eat away in our room. It was weird as although we were eating at 8.00pm, if we were still in Florida it would be 11.00pm, so I am not sure our bodies had a clue what was going on?

I'm not sure what we are doing tomorrow at this stage, but you guys can read all about it tomorrow.

~Riley

Last Day In Orlando

It was so nice to be able to sleep in till 11am, get up, and know you didn't have to do anything except soak up the Florida sun. We lazed around in the pool, sun-baked, enjoyed some peace instead of rushing around cities and theme parks, trying to see everything with not enough time to do it, which seems to be the norm in recent weeks!

Bluey and Bailey having fun in the pool 

Around 5:00pm we jumped on a bus and went and played a round of mini golf at Pirate's Cove. The course was great! The only problem was I choked on the first hole, eventually losing by 2 shots to Bluey and Gena. 

We went to dinner at a highly regarded mexican restaurant, Don Pablo's. The problem was, we waited half an hour to get a seat and then it took ages for our food to come out! The food was great but we were on a time limit as the last trolley was at 10:30pm and we had one more mini golf to fit in - Congo River! 

Bailey lining up a long put

Gena & Bailey on the course 

The trolley are supposed to run every 15 minutes but we were forced to wait for 30 minutes to get there so we were down to 35 minutes to finish 18 holes.. tough ask! The course was great, with live gators in the ponds as well! The problem was we didn't enjoy it at all, rushing through it, not getting to score properly, it was pretty crappy in fact. 

We had to run through the last 3 holes, then run to catch the bus.. we were up most of the night packing all our bags as we had an early flight to Los Angeles the next morning.

~Riley.

A well earned day off

Our plans for today weren't too much - have a big sleep in was first on most of our agendas. We spent a couple of hours by the pool. It was very hot so we were continually in and out of the water.  We stayed until we were all water logged. 

We decided that we need to give Bailey his fix of mini-golf but as the other Outlet Mall was close by, we should have a look there first (whilst it was still really hot) and hit up the mini-golf later on. The course we wanted to play was supposed to be awesome at night anyway.

It is amazing how time flies when you are engrossed in what you are doing. Of course Bluey found Adidas, so he was content for a fair while and even Bailey was having a great time in there this time. It seemed like we had been there for 1.5 to 2 hours when Bluey suggested we grab something for lunch which Gena found amusing. The reason - it was 7.30pm! Bluey forgot that he didn't get up until lunchtime. Okay, so dinner time instead. At this stage, our plans were thrown a bit as a thunderstorm had rolled in and looked set to stay for some time. The climate here is so much like Queensland - hot and humid and when it rains, it really rains.

We had a great meal at an Italian restaurant and when finished, it was still raining (and still hot) so we headed for home. Bailey would have to wait another day for mini-golf. We then heard that there was a Disney Outlet store here, so without hesitation, off we went. Well, Gena and Bluey were in a frenzy here. We were all shocked art the prices and G & B took impulse buying to a new level. I reckon we are going to have to get yet another suitcase?

So, eventually we had to go, as we were running out of time to get to the last I-Ride trolley, all of us lugging big shopping bags. I reckon my folks even shocked themselves when we got back to our apartment and they went through everything that we got?

~Riley

Universal Studios, FL

We got opinions from a heap of people, and everybody said the same thing - unless you have younger kids, Universal Studios is better then Disney World. So, Bluey organised a 2 day park hopper ticket and on day 1 we hit up 'Universal's Islands Of Adventure'.

No messing around, we were in the gate and straight on to our first ride which was the Incredible Hulk coaster, awesome! Straight onto the Doctor Doom's Fear Fall, which shoots you up, drops you down, then gives you a great view of the park!

I could give you a list of all the rides we did in order but that would be way to much typing.. We made it to 'Toon Lagoon' and bought what was called a 'Meal Deal' where you pay an initial fee and get unlimited food at restaurants in either of the two parks. We then walked to the other side of the park to try to see a show for Gena. Turns out it was cancelled due to technical problems.

We took the opportunity to go to the Harry Potter part of the park, so we did. The village had all the same shops out of the movies, and you could buy all the replicas which was pretty cool. Our first ride there was the 'Dragon Challenge', longest walk I have ever had to get on a ride, it felt like a mile to walk, before stepping straight onto the ride. Just for the record, if you plan on coming to Orlando, I recommend this time of the year as all of the kids are back in school and the parks here are virtually empty! We then we did a Harry Potter simulator ride that was great, one of the best rides of the two parks and the walk through to the ride took you through the classrooms and corridors of Hogwarts!

The family in front of the Hogwart's Express

After that we had to rush back over to 'The Lost Continent' to see the show that was previously cancelled. It was a 'Comedic Stunt Show' of Sinbad, that although was good I thought they overdid it a bit.' Great pyrotechnics though.

Back to Toon Lagoon to do all of the water rides to cool off, we were all drenched by the time we had finished them! To finish off at Universal's Islands Of Adventure we went up to Jurassic Park to do the 'River Adventure' - yet another water ride that takes you through past all the dinosaur's, then drops you 100ft and near drowns you.

We tried to cross over into the other park at about 5:50pm only to find out that the other park closed an hour early for some Weirdo Convention. Gena & Bluey weren't happy since they paid extra for a two park pass with the meal deal. They went to complain, (Gena bad cop, Bluey good cop) and before you knew it we had an $106 voucher to get the meal deal again tomorrow - they were pretty awesome!

Universal Studios Florida is the name of the other park and I must say, this one was better, even though it had less rollercoasters. First up was the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, which was a high speed roller coaster, that, before it starts lets you choose a song from different genres and you listen to that song while you ride. It was so good, Bluey was still singing half an hour later!

The ride takes you straight up at the beginning

And then launches you 'rocking' into the ride

As we were walking up the street was saw a sign for a magic show, which was about to start. The actual show was terrific, and after it we ended up buying everything the magician used in the show, (buy 1 get 3 free!). I won't talk too much about them as I plan to demonstrate them when I get home.

We went across the street and walked straight into the Horror Make-Up Show. By the end of the show my sides hurt from laughing so much! It was interesting and hilarious at the same time!

We then went up to the Men In Black alien attack where you had the gun, and you went through shooting as many aliens as you could, trying to get the highest score. That was our favourite and I think I rode it about 10 times and had the highest score in the family of 285,350.

A photo of the photo from the ride

Bailey and Gena left for about 30 minutes to go watch the Animal Actors show that was filled with Dogs, Cats & even Chimps.. Apparently it was great and of course now Bailey wants a Chimp of his own!

Of course Bailey wants one of these now!

Nearing the end of the day we went into a Twister Simulator, which was an experience! Bailey and I then ran up to 'Disaster' where they put you in a disaster movie. Gena and Bluey did coffee instead which was a shame since Bailey and I were the first picked to be the stars of the show! Bailey did his scene and in the final piece it had him tackling The Rock and then lying on the road talking to him!

The last coaster we went on was the Revenge of the Mummy, we went on the same one in Los Angeles but it turned out to be totally different which was a pleasant surprise. Bailey, Bluey and I got free tickets to go see TNA Wrestling live so while Gena left, we went and queued up. It started at 8:00pm and went through to 11:00pm and we got to see the likes of Hulk Hogan, Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle, even Shaq made an appearance! While Bailey and I actually got into it, we expected Bluey to hate it, but he actually had a good time, laughing at how stupid it was. At the end we were all given t-shirts, so we went home with smiles on our faces!

The start of the Tag Team fight 

Action from the bout

Bizarre finish to the bout with Hulk Hogan (top left) coming in to sort things out

Jeff Hardy remonstrating with World Champ Austin Aries 

Jeff Hardy in full flight

Jeff hardy after his win

The only thing that made sense to Bluey was the female ref in the final bout

.
~Riley

Orlando, Florida

Our first full day in Orlando.......... Disney World or Universal Studios? Did some one say shopping? We decided that instead of dealing with line ups and crowds, we would take Plan B and hit up the Outlet Malls. So, we jumped on the I-Bus and headed down to the mall for the day.

First on the agenda was to buy a new suitcase - we needed to up size Bailey's to a big model as despite sending 35kg's of luggage home from Chicago, we were out of room and certainly still needed more room.

Part of the reason we needed more room - every outlet mall we have been to has had an Adidas store. Now, what we have found throughout our trip (and the many Outlet Malls we have been to), Bluey loses complete control at Adidas! Nike - nothing, Puma - pretty good, but Adidas - completely out of control. He loves the stuff and I guess when you can get things for $15 that cost $60-$70 at home - fair enough. But I believe he will be in for a shock when he gets home and finds everything he has got from Adidas because I am sure he has bought the same thing a few times in different stores? We got a lot achieved throughout the day - fairly relaxing and productive always make for a good day.

Back at the resort, we stayed relaxed. had a bit of dinner followed by a swim in the pool - even at 9.00pm here it is still nice and warm.

~Riley

Our first flight in 4 months

Monday signalled time to say good bye to New York. We all agree that this is right up there with our favourite cities and a must to return to in the future. But our adventure is continuing and this day comprised a couple of flights and ending up in Orlando, Florida via Charlotte, South Carolina.

Bluey was able to get us in to a 2 bedroom suite with a living room and kitchenette - I think Gena was pretty happy to have Bailey and I in a different room for the first time since Canada. Whilst the room was a bit dated - it will more than do for the next 6 nights.

We got sorted with the local transport and caught the I-Bus up the road to where there were restaurants and shops etc. Once Bailey and I spotted Denny's, we weren't eating anywhere else. An I-Bus back again after dinner and we were done. We just went back to the room and chilled out after a day where our first Taxi was at 9.00am and our last bus was at 10.00pm

~Riley

Genna's Birthday in NYC

Genna would like to thank everybody who wished her a happy birthday. Note the spelling..... after years of trying to get people to spell it correctly, she has decided that she needs to spell it correctly and in a way that it sounds like it reads!! Interesting.....

It was pleasant surprise not having to wake up at the crack off dawn this morning. We had breakfast and came down into the lobby. Bluey booked our flights to Orlando and Genna dissapeared. Bluey, Bailey and I assumed she had gone to the Transit Musuem without us so that was where we went.

We spent 2 hours at the Transit Museum, which was really interesting, showing the history of all of New York's Subway systems and public transport in general and how it was all built and powered. It was quite amusing listening to this volunteer explain basic electricity to Bluey, Bailey and myself and going into generation of power. Bluey just stood there, listened and then explained to the guy how it actually works. The musuem was built in an old Subway Station so you could go further underground and they had a history of all the different train cars they used. As we walked out we realised, we still hadn't seen Genna...

As we were walking back, we quickly ducked into a store and bought her a card, a 2013 diary, and some of her favourite licorice. We got to the room to see Genna lying on the bed watching TV, although we accidently left without her, it turned out the best birthday gift we could've given her. Some peace and quiet away from her boys! We gave her the gifts to go with the handbag & purse we had previously given her and sat around for a while before we walked over to Rob and Bridgitt's where they who were kindly cooking us dinner.

It was a adventure trying to find their house, but we got there in the end, and what a night we had, definitely a highlight of the trip. We got there and saw their daughters Grace and Lizzie - 5 and 10 - and I think within 5 minutes the champagne was popped. We shared stories and ate appertizers while Rob was cooking us up some lovely Beef, Mac&Cheese and Mushrooms (Bluey loved those).

Rob & Bridgitt, Lizzie & Grace

Once dinner was finished, unexpectedly Bridgitt brought out a cake and the girls brought out a gift bag for Genna. They bought her a Brooklyn mug, a cook book, a pass from a 1900's carousal we visited the previous night, and some of our beloved American Beef Jerky - made in Brooklyn. The cake was to die for, so sweet! We spent the rest of the night watching football, sharing stories, drinking Italian wine and having a great time. A singlet was brought out that we all signed and gave to Gena to remind her of the day.

This cake was sensational

To finish the night off, Grace and Lizzie brought out a console that connected to the TV that played old games like Pac Man, Galaga, Pole Position etc. and we spent a good hour yelling at the TV playing all the classics.

We didn't get home until about 12:15am and we have to be up early to catch our flight to Orlando tomorrow morning. Thanks to Rob, Bridgitt, Grace & Lizzie for making Genna's birthday one to remember.

Again apologies about the lack of photos - we have limited internet at the moment, but we will get them on and update Gena's portion of our NY experience when we get to Florida.

~Riley.

Brooklyn, NY

It was definitely much easier going out of Boston than into it, though the challenge was yet to come. Since we had stayed at so many Hampton Inn's during our trip, we had some loyalty points we still hadn't spent so we scored a free $500 night at a Hampton Inn on Manhatten, about 500 metres from Times Square. The challenge was for Bluey to drive through the center of New York, and come out in 1 piece.

We made it to the hotel and had to unload the whole car as it we were dropping it off the next morning, and straight away we were on the next train to Yankee Stadium. Yankee Stadium is the newest and most expensive ball park in the MLB so of course it was pretty damn good, and it was pretty damn hard to get seats! The seats we had were in the bleachers but by the 3rd innings Bailey and I were in the comfiest seats we have sat in at a ball park. Bluey and Genna knew they would have trouble getting past security so they were happy to stay up there, and were within talking distance anyway. While the players were warming up in the 5th, Yankees star Andruw Jones through a ball into the crowd, straight into my hands, the only person in the crowd to actually catch the ball that night!

No expense spared at Yankee Stadium - there was about 4 giant screens

The crowd start to filter in

The big man - CC Sabathia on the mound for the Yankees

A meeting on the mound as they change pitchers

Bluey and Genna came and sat with us in the 7th and about 20 minutes later there was a ball flying at us, a long home run hit by the Yankees star, Alex Rodriguez. All of a sudden I saw Bluey scrambling to get it. The ball hit a sign behind and hit the ground, Bluey and a mob of 5 other guys jumped on it, just as he just about had it an asian man snatched it out of his grasp, the whole family was shattered! Two balls in one night would've been awesome, but the night was still good with the Yankees losing to the Rays 5-2. In case I hadn't mentioned, we barrack for 2 baseball teams in our family - the Dodgers and whoever is playing the Yankees!

We got off the Subway at Times Square, and what a place at night! There is a set of steps in the middle of it that gives you an aerial view of the billboards, flashing lights, stores, people, cars, you could sit there for hours and just watch it!

Approaching Times Square

This sort of crowd is here around the clock in the City that never sleeps

It was past 12 by the time we got home, but Genna and Bailey were happy as they didn't have anything planned for tomorrow, for Bluey and I though, it was another story.

This morning we had to navigate our way to Brooklyn, drop Bailey and Genna off at the Sheraton Hotel with the luggage, and we then kept on going to Middletown, NJ - a 45 mile drive through traffic that we had to do in 40 minutes. We ended up being 25 minutes late. So, after 15 weeks of driving, we had to say goodbye to our Dodge. It took us around North America for 11436 Miles (18400 km's) with hardly a whimper - I reckon Bluey is going to miss it?  It took about an hour to get everything sorted out with the car before we were on a train back to Penn Station, NY. An hour and a half later we were going back out to Brooklyn and our hotel.

We met back up with Genna and Bailey and found they had made themselves quite comfortable. We made plans with Rob (Genna's friend from the tennis last Monday) to have dinner with him and his youngest daughter in the most famous Pizza restaurant in New York City - Grimaldi's. When we got there we found there was a line was at least 100 people long - and apparently this happens all day, every day! Although I hate line-ups the pizza we ate there was worth every bit of it, best pizza in my life!

To finish off our night we went for a walk around Brooklyn Heights with Rob and saw some stunning views of the Manhatten skyline and the Statue of Liberty at sunset and the Manhatten and Brooklyn Bridges. By nightfall we were all eating ice-creams before we said our good-byes and walked home.

This is the view that Rob & Bridgitt have from Brooklyn Heights

.....and this view of Manhattan - I could get used to that!

We are planning to catch up with Rob, Bridgitt and their 2 daughters tomorrow and do something that has not been planned yet as it is Genna's birthday.

~Riley.

Boston, MA

New York to Boston via Connecticut is about 3.5 to 4 hour drive, but just as we crossed the Massachusetts  border we went and visited Bluey's buddy Joey, and his family. While at Joey's we met his Chickens, Goats, Ducks, Dogs, Cats and Pigs! After that, we went and had an early dinner with them. Later that night, after an hours drive to our hotel - that turned into a 2 hour drive with the Boston traffic -  Bailey, Bluey and I went to Fenway Park, the oldest stadium in baseball (it turned 100 this year) with Joey and his daughter to see the Boston Red Sox play the NY Yankees.

The historic Fenway Park

Celebrating it's 100th Birthday this year

Fenway Park was definitely one of the best ballparks we have been to for nostalgia but short on the glitz & glamour of the newer stadiums. Fortunately for us, the Red Sox came out with a win in the 9th innings.

Our seats overlooked the Boston Bullpen

Bluey with his mate, Joey

Jacoby Ellsbury getting the game winning hit in the bottom of the 9th innings

Yesterday was pretty cruisy, we took the subway into Boston, got off and walked to the original bar out of the old TV show 'Cheers' and had lunch there.

....where everybody knows your name

We then walked the 'Freedom Trail' through Boston, which takes you to the 16 main historic sites of the city from the period of this cities fight for independence from the British. Nearing the end of the trail, I wasn't feeling good, so we stopped off in the area of the City Hall. As we were looking around there we spotted stairs down to a cool looking bar. The plan was to stay for 1 beer but we ended staying for 4! We had a great waitress, Emily that Genna got chatting with. Genna was so impressed with the bar, she even got a picture of Emily behind the bar of 'The Hideout'.

Emily behind the bar of The Hideout

When we got back we tried to go bowling only to find every lane in the joint was booked out! We ended up having dinner in their before going home.

Unfortunately I am stuck in the hotel room today as I was too sick to go out with everyone. Hopefully I'll be better by tomorrow! Whilst I was laid up for the day, Genna, Bluey & Bailey headed into down town Boston for a tour of the sights. They hopped on a trolley which had 9 stops around the city with commentary from experienced locals who were able to give an insight into historical events and folklore from the oldest part of this country. They were enjoying the commentary that much, that they decided they would do the complete circuit before starting to get on & off the trolley to take a closer look around. Their first stop was at the oldest building still standing in Boston. It was the house where Paul Revere lived. Paul Revere was everything in Boston - there wasn't a job he didn't do and anything going on in Boston in and around the time of the Revolutionary War, that he wasn't involved in. Although it will always be his midnight ride that most will remember him for.

The Paul Revere house sits in a typical Boston street - it's just a few hundred years older

Built in 1680, Revere's house has been turned into a Museum (first one of those we have seen). From there, they ventured into Little Italy (Boston's North end) for a great lunch, before continuing on the tour. They went to the site where the historic Boston Tea Party took place as well as The Boston Massacre (all amazing stories as well).

The highlight without doubt was a visit and tour aboard 'Old Ironsides' - the USS Constitution. So named because her wooden hull was made from a rare type of wood (only found in the USA) that was so dense, cannon balls could not penetrate it's sides. It was 33-0 in conflicts and despite being commissioned in 1797, she is the world's oldest commissioned warship afloat and last month sailed under her own power for only the second time since 1881.

Bailey & Bluey on the Gun Deck of the USS Constitution

War Ships certainly looked different 325 years ago

The Bunker Hill Monument and the story behind the reasons it was built back in 1842 is another remarkable story in this cities storied past.

This Monument was built to celebrate a war that was actually lost

Just to put a modern touch to the tour, a walk past the Boston Gardens. Not a flower in sight, it is home of the Boston Celtics NBA team and the Boston Bruins of the NHL. Apparently Bailey & Bluey booed as they went past - lunatic Lakers fans.

When they got back to the hotel, I was feeling a little better - at least I was up for a couple of games of tenpin bowling at the Bowling alley just up the road. Everyone got a bowling lesson from Bluey, who was looking sharp in his Charlie Sheen style bowling shirt.

 ~Riley.