I am sitting in Dubai as I type this
reflecting on the activities and feelings I’ve experienced over the last 2
months. The USA has been an unbelievable end to this epic journey (hopefully
one of many). On its own merits, the USA is a wonderful place to visit- varied,
huge, naturally gorgeous, the origin of so many wonderful and not so wonderful
things (think Macbooks and McDonalds), and home to an interesting variation of
people whose beliefs and values differ widely. What made our US trip so memorable was seeing close friends in their family homes and reconnecting with
family. Oh and then there was Burning
Man…(!!!)
Colorado
Colorado- the home of Kelsey and our first introduction
to the USA. Colorado is an amazing place- the music scene alone is out of this
world. Dan loved all the microbreweries and craft beers on offer. Those endless
mountain ranges...
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| Tailgating at Red Rocks |
Our first night in Denver, we visited Red Rock,
a natural rock amphitheatre to see Devotchka with the Colorado Symphony
Orchestra, Elephant revival, and Gregory Isakov. What a great introduction to
music in Colorado. There were times during those 10 days when I couldn’t
believe the level of talent and brilliance of even smaller bands playing at
small beer festivals or restaurants. It turns out I’m a fan of bluegrass too.
Thanks to Kels and family, we got a really
good feel for Colorado and an initiation to the states. We visited multiple
breweries, ate delicious food (oh this is what Mexican food is!), hiked the
flat irons in Boulder, hiked a 14’er (mountain higher than 14 000 feet) called
Mt Democrat, rode horses at a Kel’s parents ranch, partied in Boulder with
Dan’s old friend Annelisse and met her rad friends, ate burgers in the park,
played American classics ‘corn in the hole’ and ‘beer frisbee’, cycled to and
around Denver, ate at some drive-thrus, tasted Damian’s delicious cooking, went
shopping in some MASSIVE grocery stores, visited Garden of the Gods, drove
through South Park…oh and we got to hang out with the cutest of them all,
little Ava. Thank you to the lovely Frieda and Charles who had a bunch of strangers over for a wonderful yum dinner- looking forward to seeing them in Cape Town in December!
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| 14000 ft up! |
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| Selfie at 14000 ft up! |
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| Mt Democrat |
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| South Park is real! |
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| A little stop in the pretty Breckenridge |
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| Flat Irons, Boulder CO |
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| On top of the Flat Irons |
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| Danny made a friend! |
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| Fine Southern food, Boulder CO |
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| Delicious breakfast- grits included |
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| Garden of the Gods |
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| Ava and aunt Kels |
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| SWEET! |
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| Cowboy style |
The East Coast- NYC, Cambridge/Boston,
Pennsylvania
Everything there is to say about NYC has
been said already: Soooooo many people- sooooo many different kinds of people
of all races and cultures in one place, soooo much to do, big city, frenetic
energy. Loved it.
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| Er... |
NYC is divided into 5 boroughs: mainland
Manhattan, Staten Island, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens (the latter 2 are on
the same island as Long Island).
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| NYC subway Map: Look for Mnahattan, Staten Island. the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn written in blue to give you an idea of the city's layout. |
Dan and I spent 2 weeks in total in NYC- staying
in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan for varying intervals of time. We figured out
the subway- the home of commuters, performers and crazies- the difference
between the local and the express (the hard way), which side to enter (the hard
way), and how to get home via subway late at night (can be hours depending on
where you’re staying but no worries about who’s driving!). Learning to capably
navigate the huge city was really fun- I loved the energy of the commute and
being a part of it. One night, our late-night bus driver took us all the way to
our block in Queens because we were the last on the bus. Thanks Johnny!
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| Johnny gives us a thumbs up! What a legend! |
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| Subway performers |
We reconnected with cousins and saw
friends, some unexpectedly (thanks Facebook).
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| Shabbat dinner in Long Island with my cousins |
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| My cousin Simone and Bill had Skylar while we were in town! |
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| Look what we made! Beautiful! |
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| Jason and Megnaa in Brooklyn! Thanks Facebook for the last-minute meet-up |
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| Dee and Dan catch up in Central Park with the kids |
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| Dan and Dee |
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| Cousins united! |
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| Danny and Laura |
In the city, we visited Times Square, Bryant Park, the Rockafeller Centre, Central park numerous times, crazy midtown, Korea town, Chinatown and Little Italy (I was amused when it was pointed out to me recently that Little Italy and Chinatown are almost always next to each other in a big city and that Chinatown is usually expanding into Little Italy making Little Italy significantly littler.), Greenwich Village, the west side, the east side, Long Island (not actually part of NYC), the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art), MoMA (Museum of Modern Art), and the Natural History Museum.
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| Free performance in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. The same men who designed Central Park designed Prospect Park. |
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| Empire State Building |
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| View of Freedom Tower near Washington Park- first night with Bill and Simone |
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| Dessert in Korea town with Laura |
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| City sunset after a visit to Chinatown and Little Italy |
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| Waiting for the subway |
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| NY Public Library |
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| Roof of NY Public Library |
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| View of 5th Avenue through ornate library window |
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| Hanging out in Central Park |
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| Late night Times Square |
We took the FREE ferry to Staten Island to
see the Statue of Liberty. The story goes that long ago, a mayor promised
Staten Island that if he were to be elected, the Staten Island Ferry would
always be free. Evidently, he was elected.
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| View of Manhattan from the Staten Island ferry |
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| The Statue of Liberty in all her glory |
MoMA was my favourite museum by far- you can pick up an IPOD touch and listen to summaries and commentaries about the art
works at your leisure. If you have to
choose a museum in NYC ( I haven’t been to the Gugenheim and many others so
a hand full of salt with this advice), MoMA is it!
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| Jackson Pollock One: Number 31 (my favourite) |
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| Van Gogh- Starry Night |
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| Andy Warhol's famous Cambell Soup Cans |
One of my biggest highlights was seeing
Louis CK at the Comedy Cellar. We had visited the Comedy Cellar the night
before- seen some great comedy, including Judah Friedlander who was hilarious
(that guy with the hats from 30 Rock), and I wanted to go again (secretly
hoping that Louis might show up). When he walked on stage– Dan and I actually
embraced. We had front row seats in this very intimate venue to his new
material. He was amazing. A dream realised!
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| Early in the evening, before the queues! |
My second biggest highlight was eating the
BEST BAGEL in the WORLD delivered to us by Laura from Absolute Bagels (seriously, the best)!
Cambridge and Boston
After out first week in NYC we took the bus
to visit the lovely Emma in Cambridge and, a few days later, Indira and Emmory
in Boston- friends of Dan from his London days.
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| Indira, Emmory and Danny reunited |
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| The lovely Emma |
We were treated to Emma’s dad
Jerry’s delicious breakfast spreads each morning before heading out on our
bicycles around Cambridge or taking the local subway. We visited Harvard
University, had drinks at Harvard Square with my cousin Jake (hadn’t seen him
in years- thanks again Facebook!), cycled along the river dividing Cambridge
and Boston, met Emma’s friends for a braai (grill or BBQ- there is a subtle
difference here but I haven’t figured it out!). In Boston, we joined a tour of
the Freedom Trail (thanks Jane!), checked out the Boston Common, the swanboats,
and marveled at the beautiful historic buildings. We had the best pizza I’ve
ever tasted in Little Italy in the North End. No Chinatown here but we did see
an Irish Marching Band commemorating one of the saints- this after we had
passed through a Peuerto Rican festival and a Holocaust Memorial! So lots of
cultural heritage in Boston!
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| Homemade scones and breakfast :) |
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| Visiting Anna's bunny, Billy in Cambridge |
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| Admiring the Charles River which runs between Boston and Cambridge |
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| Jake and I, Harvard Square |
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| Like a couple of students (tourists), Harvard University |
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| A Freedom Trail Tour in action |
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| Puerto Rican festival |
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| From the Holocaust Memorial |
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| The North End |
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| Like a couple of kids (tourists) |
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| Pretty Boston building |
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| Site of the Boston Massacre- now the entrance building to the local subway |
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| On land... |
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| ...and water |
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| Exploring Boston |
Pennsylvania
After a couple of fun, chaotic days back in
NYC, we headed to Laura’s family home in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania-
about an hour from Philadelphia- for our last weekend on the East Coast. We
relaxed in the best way possible- checked out Laura’s folks incredible olive
oil shop (I have never tasted so many delicious flavours and dipped sooo much
bread). We swam, we ran, we (Laura) picked tomatoes, we explored their gorgeous
property. We went for a wine tasting and had the most horrendous wine! So much
fun! The perfect weekend after busy city life.
Back to NYC we stayed at Laura’s for our
last 2 nights. Kels arrived in NYC for our last night- best reunion ever! We enjoyed dinner on the
rooftop overlooking Central Park. The next morning, Dan and I were off early- on a
flight to Portland, Oregon with a stop-over in Chicago.
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| View from Laura's roof (Keanu where are you?) |
Chicago
Ok so we didn’t actually visit Chicago but
I we saw it from the air and it is worth commenting that Lake Michigan is
HUMONGOUS and resembled the sea to me. I guess that’s why it's not one of the little lakes.
Stay Tuned
Next up: Portland and the Oregon coast, Nevada, Burning Man, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Ventura and Santa Barbara, Highway 1, Big Sur, and those exquisite redwoods! Did I mention Burning Man!?
