Boston, Massachusetts
Boston, home of Harvard University and winding streets that make no sense. We arrived in Boston in the late afternoon and eventually managed to navigate our way through the rabbit warren of streets to Cambridge, where Harvard is located. It is a really nice little city – if you are not driving that is!
We spent the following morning exploring Harvard Square and the surrounding streets. It is so quaint but solemn all at the same time. Even though it is summer break there were still intellectuals sitting in cafes, discussing very deep and significant things I’m sure, and academics marching around on important missions.
The Widener Library houses 57 miles of bookshelves and 3 million volumes - kind of impressive
The grounds of Harvard are stunning. It is actually quite an imposing environment. You can almost feel the pressure in the air that the students must be constantly under, There seems to be a great weight of history and expectation of success and it gave us an insight into why Harvard graduates have doors open for them left, right and centre. Oh, and seven US presidents including Obama, graduated from Harvard. Not too shabby a record I say!
We spent the afternoon in Boston itself, which is full of great old buildings and cute cobblestoned streets. It is quite a distinctive little city and I’m sure there are more than a few hidden gems around the place if you had the time to explore or knew some locals for the inside word.
Swan Boats in the Boston Common public garden
An actual wine cellar spotted while walking the streets of Boston
New York, New York
New York, what’s not to love?! We only spent two days there because it is hugely expensive and also rather awkward when living in a camper, but I am so keen to go back and explore it properly.
Obviously, there is so much to see and do, so to start ourselves off we hit the streets and wandered down through Wall Street, past Ground Zero and caught the Staten Island Ferry to cruise past the Statue of Liberty. It was pretty amazing to see all these things in real life. New York definitely has a certain energy about it that is unique to this city and I guess it is what makes it such an iconic place.
An unusual shot of the Statue of Liberty from the ferry
We stopped at a water front bar for a refreshing drink, had lunch in Little Italy, wandered through Chinatown (I got a Guess watch for $12.00 – totally genuine J ) and watched an outdoor soccer game while eating soft serves from an ice cream truck. Ahh, the simple pleasures in life!
We ended the day by going to this great little bar that had some live music and made friends with Neil, a struggling comedian. Unfortunately I was suffering from a major case of heat exhaustion, which didn’t mix well with the couple of frozen margaritas I had and it all ended in a bit of a mess for me. Aidan looked after me however and got me home to Buzz for a much needed lie down – he missed out on seeing the band he was really eager for though, sorry babe!!
We got off to a slow start the next morning, as I was still in a bit of a delicate state, and headed to Times Square for some people watching. We spent the day wandering through downtown Manhattan, checking out Central Park, the very sexy looking Apple store, the cute little side streets, Rockefeller Plaza, Grand Central Station and topped off the day by going to see Chicago at the Ambassador Theatre. It was our first theatre experience and we loved it!! We scored last minute tickets at a reduced rate for the second row just left of the centre of the stage and got up close and personal with the actors. I think I even got some spittle on me! Charming.
Locals playing Bocce, they put my skills to shame
Grand Central Station - very grand indeed
And there were cops standing just around the corner
Although we loved New York and there is still so so much to explore we decided that it will have to wait until we can do it properly i.e. stay in a hotel and have some money to burn! We have discovered that cities are just really difficult to truly enjoy when living in a camper. There is no respite from heat, we usually have to park far away from the central areas and we always feel a bit crusty as proper showers are few and far between. However, New York is definitely high on our priority list for another visit in the not too distant future!
Scranton, Pennsylvania aka home of The Office
The Office (US) is our absolute favourite show. We have watched all 6 seasons at least 4 times and are just a tab obsessed. A large amount of our conversation seems to be quoted The Office and making “that’s what she said” calls (those who watch will know what we mean - we have to entertain ourselves somehow with our endless hours of driving!) Anyway, on discovering that Scranton, the town The Office is set in, was only a small detour on our route we knew we had no choice but to go.
We were pretty hyper on the way in and instantly searched out the landmarks portrayed in the opening credits. It has all changed but it was still so very super fun to find the Penn & Paper building (no longer called that sadly) and figure out where everything was filmed from. It is probably the most tragic and cliché thing we have done so far but as Jim, Pam, Michael and the rest of the Dunder Mifflin crew have all been a part of our life for the last few years, how could we not visit their home town?! (never mind that it is all filmed in LA – totally not the point!)
A very special purchase - a Dwight bobble head
Nice of them to put a concert on for us when we arrived, complete with fireworks
Also on the plus side we found a really decent coffee shop! Bonus! We spent a fair few hours there sipping on lattes and escaping the heat box that is Buzz at the moment. The heat is really starting to get to us as we really have had no relief from it for nearly a month and we are both starting to feel really drained. Who’s idea was it to go road tripping in the middle of summer in a camper with no air conditioning?! Crazy kids.
We polished those ones off
Wisconsin
After saying goodbye to St Louis we bypassed Chicago for the moment and headed straight to Grafton (just outside of Milwaukee) to catch up with some friends of Aidan’s from when he did a summer camp over here in 2003. A big shout out to Peter and Amy for letting us stay at their place for the weekend. So nice to sleep in a real bed!
Downtown Grafton - A cute small american town
It was really interesting to see another side of Aidan whilst we were there. Summer camp was a pivotal time for Aidan; I guess I see it as a time in his life of “finding himself” and I really enjoyed watching him interact with the people who were around him at that time. I also got to hear lots of stories about Aidan that I hadn’t heard before, and they all call him “Aussie”. So cute!
On Friday night we all headed out to a paddock where there were a bunch of circus folk with side show rides and the like, but the drawcard for us was a country cover band playing in the big tent. It was a total hick fest and I totally loved it! I never thought I would say this, but country music is not too shabby! With classic lines like “she thinks my tractor’s sexy”, how can you not start tapping your foot to that?! I had a blast having a dance with the girls and I even got a Keith Urban song dedicated to me just for being an Aussie!! (I had no idea what the song was, but I went along with it).
We spent the rest of the weekend eating bagels, having a beer or two, playing Frisbee golf and horse shoe throwing (both of which I was extremely bad at), walking along the beach next to Lake Michigan and other such shenanigans. I also had a very good milkshake – chocolate cake batter. Pretty awesome I must say! I think I should open a milkshake/ice cream parlour.
Our next stop in Wisconsin was Aidan’s old camp. It is on a lake about 2 ½ hours from Milwaukee, and it was so beautiful! Aidan caught up with the grounds manager and his son, who was also a leader at camp when Aidan was there, and they let us spend the night on the campgrounds parked next to the water. Pretty sweet spot I must say! It bought back heaps of memories for Aidan and I got the grand tour of where this story and that story took place. He got up to some shenanigans back in the day, that’s for sure!
Tuttle Lake - Camp Indian Sands
Being here brought back so many good memories
Ever since I can remember, Aidan has talked about taking me to Noahs Ark Water Park, the biggest water park in the US and so that became our next destination. So so so much fun although I think I nearly had a heart attack from fright on one of the rides. I’m a scaredy cat when it comes to heights and going down them backwards!
We also indulged in some touristy pursuits and played mini golf. To up the ante, for each hole the winner got a minute of massage and either of us could raise the stakes on any particular hole, so the pressure was on. Unfortunately I lost. Aidan ended up with 21 minutes of massage and I only got a paltry 11 minutes. My short game needs some work.
It was to our great excitement that we discovered there was a drive in theatre in the area! We headed out early and got a super possie for our double feature of Toy Story 3 and Prince of Persia for $8.00 each! Bargain central! Hamburgers, buttered popcorn and a drive in theatre – I was content 
We were getting pretty excited at this point
Buzz was getting pretty excited too by now
We also spent a couple of days camping out next to a lake, going for hikes and generally maxing relaxing!
Breakie time!
That's one massive dandelion thingy
A small treat anyone?
Jen looking out the window with a tornado looming, so eerie. Lucky for us it past us by.
Miami, OK – Kansas – Missouri
After spending the night in Miami, Oklahoma we headed off for a full day of driving towards St. Louis. In this section there is a huge amount of the old road that is still drivable, so although much slower it is also much more enjoyable. Plus lots of photo opportunities!
Old Route 66 - One lane highway
So the story goes that they didn't have enough money to build two lanes. Besides this whole automobile thing wouldn't take off!
We passed through Kansas briefly before crossing the border into Missouri. Three states in one day - impressed much?! We discovered that just outside of a small town called Carthage there is a drive in theatre still in operation!!! Probably the coolest thing ever. Except that they only show movies on the weekend and it was currently only Tuesday. There are some drawbacks to not pre-planning our trip and this was one of them. After a milkshake (chocolate chip cookie dough – good, but not great) at a cute diner/deli combo we headed onwards for some more rolling hills and nostalgic sights.
On arriving in St. Louis after a loooonnnggg driving day we headed to Riddles Penultimate Café & Wine Bar for some impressive folk music and a beer or two. Super end to a really long day!
The following morning we headed to the Art Museum to take in some more contemporary art and then wandered on down to the waterfront to check out the famous Arch. It is huge! I was most impressed to discover that it was designed and built before the advent of computer technology (1963-1965) as a monument to the progress of man. Smart little chookens those designers. Love the good old days of pre-technology!
Random shot while waiting for the train into St Louis
There's a cable car running up each side of the arch with a viewing platform at the top
The oldest gas station on Route 66
An abandoned and overgrown section of the old road
The town of Dwight - In honour of Dwight Schrute from 'The Office' 