Manhattan, New York City

Due to what I consider a miracle we got a nice decent size studio on E 30 St, in the heart of Manhattan.

In the three months that we were there, we tried to live the Manhattan life and do everything there is to do in New York City. We didn't even get close. There is enough to do to keep you busy for years. Infact, if you tried to eat at every restuarant in the city you couldn't do it because they come and go so fast.

The one thing we noticed right away was how everyone was so thin. Since you have to walk everywhere, everyone is thin. Not like Houston, were you walk no more than a quater mile a day, New Yorkers walk on average 3 miles a day. So how we both ended up gaining weight while we were there was a mystery. My money is on all the pizza we ate. New York pizza is the best. Simply awesome. We couldn't resist. :)

The Empire State Building

Central Park

Rockefeller Center

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge

Our visit to the "Secret Underground" of Chinatown where they have all the counterfeit goods.

Times Square

The World Trade Center

New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street

On the Staten Island Ferry

Wsshington D.C.

From Tennessee we went into D.C.

Just by driving around you can feel that this city is different. You can feel the power. Not too many people live in D.C., it's too expensive. Most people live in Baltimore or the surrounding areas. Thanks to Faheem, a friend from Miami, who took us around, we saw a lot more of D.C. than we would have been able to see on our own.

In D.C. we visited all the monuments, the Smithsonian where we saw the dinosaurs and the Hope Diamond (see pictures below). What was amazing, was that everything was free. All the monuments and museums were all free. The Smithsonian is so large it takes over a dozen huge buildings. It would take a week at least to see them all.

We also saw the pro-immigration rally which was democracy in action. It was mainly a Hispanic rally and hundreds of people had come from all around the country to make their voices heard. Very cool.

We also visited the White House. The street in front of the White House, Pennsylvania Ave used to be open to traffic until 9/11. As we traveled the country we saw a lot of changes and this was just one more. Now it takes a half mile walk just to get to the place. They still offer tours, but you have to ask your congressman 6 MONTHS in advance. Needless to say, they do a lot fewer tours than before.

Ruby Falls

A great place to visit in Chattanooga is Ruby Falls. They say it is the largest underground waterfall. And since I love waterfalls, this was a place not to miss.

As you go inside you are taken underground via elevator until they let you out inside a cave. The tour guide explained all the parts of the cave, the formations, and then at last, the falls.

Since it's pitch black dark down there they use lights all over. Around the falls there is a opening where your tour group waits and hears the waterfall, but you can't see anything. After some suspense, the guide turns on the lights and the music and you get to wow at the falls, which are much higher than you would imagine.

You get walk around the falls and then return to the elevator for the trip back up. I wanted to add the pictures we took underground but they didn't come out right. So I will have to use one from their website.

The amazing thing about the falls is that they don't know where the water comes from or where it goes. They have tried several time to throw dye into the water to try to determine where it ends up, but they never find it. So I guess that mystery will remain. Sometimes it's better to not know everything.

A short distance from the actual Falls is Rock City. From the top of the mountain you are supposed to be able to see 7 different states. Check out the picture before. It truly is a beautful lookout. Whoever is in charge of the place has made it into a great trourist attraction. They have turned a simple mountain into a great experience. You don't simply walk up to the lookout. You take one of several paths that have gardens, rope bridges, displays of famous fairytales, rock formations, and its own 100 foot waterfall.

Chattanooga

This tiny little town has a railroad running through it. OK, so most towns have railroads but this one was built around the railroad station. That station has now been converted into a hotel, and the one where we were lucky enough to stay.

They still have the tracks around the hotel and they take visitors on a short ride around the hotel. We didn't find much else to do here. Actually we didn't really look. We stayed here for a couple days and basically just relaxed.

Time Shares

Time Shares are still a booming business and several companies have resorts in the Smoky Mountain area. While you are walking around on the streets of Pigeon Forge you get approached by salesmen that offer you free tickets to shows and attractions. In order to get the tickets you have to sit through a time share presentation. What we found out was if you don't want the tickets they offer cash. Either $100 or $125 for each tour. There are 5 companies willing to pay so you can make some cash if you are in the area for a while.

And that is exactly what we did. We went to three tours. It paid for our hotel and expenses while in the area. And we learned a lot about high pressure sales.

One thing to remember, never buy a timeshare directly from the resort. You can buy it resale for 50% off or more.

Smoky Mountains

Pigeon's Forge is the place to stay if you want to go to Smoky Mountains. It's a white, blue collar paradise. This is the place to go to hear country music, southern drawls, ride go carts, and have tail gate parties in pickup trucks.

The park itself is nice. But after all the amazing mountains we had seen in Alaska, Canada, and California these were nice hills. The fog rolls in and covers the mountains that makes it look like smoke.

We didn't see any animals in the park though. They are supposed to be everywhere but we didn't see any. Maybe all the people scared them away. We were there over a holiday weekend and all the crappy motels were all full.

On the border of the park is an American Indian reservation. Unfortunately it's like they have no pride left. We saw sitting around doing nothing but drinking all day. There are two sides to the park. All the motels and tourist hot spots are on the side that is not the reservation. There is nothing on the reservation side except a casino. This small casino hardly attracts any visitors. With all the land and people that flock to this park, these guys are sitting on a gold mine. They can attract big money to their side if they want to. But they don't. I asked around and the consensus was that they are content getting their monthly checks from the government.

One of the saddest things I have seen in regards to animals was witnessed in Pigeon Forge. There was a souvenir shop that advertised that they had live bears. I love bears so we went to check it out. For $5 bucks you can see and feed some apples to 2 black bears.

These poor animals were much fatter than they should be and maybe that was because they stuck in a tiny cage no bigger than most people's family rooms. Every visitor got a cup full of apples that they basically threw at the bears. There were apple pieces all over the floor of the cage along with bear poop. The bears just sat there. They looked mentally sick. We felt so sad for the bears that we left right away. I almost threw up. It was disgusting how they treated those poor animals.

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Myrtle was a nice place. The beach is beautiful and is cheaper than most popular beach towns. Maybe because it's falling apart. The beach that people remember is no longer. The amusement park that was on the boardwalk has since closed.



The new places that have opened up are nice though. There are a couple places which are malls that serve as tourist attractions and Ripley's has opened an Aquarium, which they have opened in other East Coast tourist towns as well.

Atlanta

From Orlando, we stopped for a bite to eat in Gainesville with some friends, and then went on to Atlanta. There we hung with and stayed with Hina's cousin and his wife. We had so much fun with them, we stayed longer than we originally planned.

Atlanta is a great place to live, except that everything is so far away. It took us at least 30 minutes to get anywhere.

One day we won't forget is the first day we were there, another friends dropped by and one thing lead to another and we ended up driving 8 hours to Tunica Mississippli to go to a casino. It was the first time we both played poker with live people and we both ended up making money. I think it was mostly in part because we got there late, around 11 at night, and the players were drunk. We got a free room and drove back the next day.There are some nice places to visit in Atlanta. The most popular is probably Stone Mountain.

After Atlanta it was time to go to New York City where we would spend 3 months. But before we got there, there were plenty of places to see along the way. Some of the places we stopped were Myrtle Beach, Smokey Mountains National Park, Chattanooga, and Washington D.C.