My American Adventure

It all started on May 10th 1999, when I boarded a plane to Sydney on the first leg of my flight to the USA, where I was finally going to meet my online buddy, Karen. It was a long trip… by the time I reached Philadelphia I had been travelling for 25 hours, inclusive of the very brief (just time to make the next flight) stopovers in Sydney, LA and Chicago.

Over the next two weeks, Karen showed me around her part of the world, first of all driving me down to Virginia Beach where we met up with two more 'net buddies. Another two who had intended to join us didn't make it… (maybe they thought we were dangerous)… and missed a great time. Unfortunately the weather there was pretty lousy, and the outdoor activities we'd planned had to be abandoned. After doing dinner and drinks on the first night, the next day we hit the new local shopping mall, and let them know we were around ! (We're not called the Rowdies for nothing !) We had a fun day and evening, and said goodbye to Virginia Beach the following morning.

The next stop on our epic journey was to be Niagara Falls, and the trip north was a real education for me ! I never realised that America was so pretty ! We drove up through Virginia and along the top of the Blue Ridge mountains. No wonder John Denver sang the praises of this place ! And the sight of a wild deer grazing on the side of the freeway topped it off perfectly !

Niagara Falls was all I'd ever dreamed of and more ! Awesome ! If you're a waterfall freak like me, this is the one to see. We went on the boat trip… the Maid of the Mist… right to the base of the thundering Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. The blue plastic raincoats we were given to keep us dry were no match for the fury of this beast !

Later we went through the tunnels behind the falls, to look out at the roaring cascade from a different angle. At night the falls are floodlit in all the colours of the rainbow and make a spectacular backdrop to the bright neon lit amusement area of Clifton Hill. The whole experience was simply magical !

Our next port of call was Philadelphia where we explored Penn's Landing and the Museum of Art amongst other interesting venues. The Museum steps are famous as Rocky's training ground in the movie Rocky 53 or one of those ! It was a glorious day weatherwise, and I can honestly say that I've never before seen the sky the colour it was that night. I can't even begin to describe it !

New York City was an eye opener. I didn't know there were 15 million people living there ! We parked the car in what seemed to be about the centre of the city, walked for close on an hour… and then found out we were still 2 miles from the World Trade Centre ! Needless to say, we caught a taxi ! The view from the top of the tower was well worth the effort though. What an enormous city !

And I couldn't come home without getting my toes wet in the Atlantic Ocean. Atlantic City is a hive of activity, with all its casinos, souvenir shops and eateries. The boardwalk was like Flinders Street Station, and this was pre-season ! We were paddling along in the shallows, thinking it was just a little chilly… when all of a sudden, without warning… a wave about a metre high sent us running up the beach, squealing and giggling like schoolgirls ! And we didn't even have a change of undies with us !
Should have had the paper knickers that I ended up having to buy in Singapore…. But that's a whole 'nother story, and I think I'd better leave it for next time !

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