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.

Miami and Orlando

From Houston we went straight to Miami for a wedding. Normally this is a two day trip since it's about a 20 hour drive. But we needed to get there so we drove all night. This is a trip both Hina and I have done several times since we both grew up in Miami and have driven to Houston from there a few times. The last time we drove there was to Orlando and then to Miami for a short stay. Before that we drove from Miami to Houston after our wedding.

After a couple days in Miami we set off again. Visited Orlando again for the 100th time. But this time we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom. It was supposed to be a great park. But it wasn't even better than some of the zoos we've been to. They had just opened their newest ride, a roller coaster called Yeti or something. 2 hour wait for a 2 minute ride. Didn't do much more than give me a headache. The best attraction of the park is supposed to be a safari type trip through acres of land modeled to look like Africa with live animals. While the ride was pretty long, that was the worst part. I couldn't wait to get off. Instead of seeing hundreds of animals what you see are about 3-4 animals in each area and like 10 other tour busses driving around. We saw more people on this ride than animals. Overall, this park sucked. Hina wanted to skip it but I had to go. "Who knows when we will come back to Orlando", I said. Hard to admit, but she was right, as usual.

Back to Houston

From Rushmore we had to take a detour back to Houston. Not much to report about this part of the trip. Dry land, nothing very pretty to look at.

Mount Rushmore

It took a day to get to South Dakota and the Mount Rushmore area. And it was hot here too! But the enterprising people that live in these parts really know how to entertain tourists. There are dozens of tourist attraction all around the area. And a short distance away is Sturgis, where they hold the big motorcycle rally every year.

A short distance from Mount Rushmore is a new monument they are building for Crazy Horse the Native American chief. That sculpture, if they ever finish it, will be even more amazing than Rushmore. Right now they are still raising money for it.

YellowStone National Park

After making some adjustments to our travel schedule because of skipping Glacier National Park we made it to Yellowstone.

Man, was it hot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are talking about end of July, beginning of August. It was over 100 degrees everyday we were there. Tour guides kept trying to comfort us by saying, it had never been that hot before. Not much consolation since that is the same thing they said in Palo Alto, Vancouver, Banff, and now here.

After hearing about Yellowstone since I was little, I guess I was expecting too much. I am not much an outdoors kind of guy. But the collection of never before seen natural oddities made it a worthwhile trip. The hot springs were something else. Old Faithful and the other geysers were nice. But after the dancing fountains of the Bellagio, it wasn't as entertaining. Everyone sits around the geyser, and it starts to erupt. Kind of like a small volcano of water. After 2-3 minutes it stops. And then it repeats about every 45 minutes or so. You can watch it maybe once or twice and then you find it loses its charm.

The amazing part to me was the hundreds of buffalo or bison as they are properly called, roaming around the park. We drove all around the main roads of the park two or three times. One time at night, on the way back to our lodge, we got stuck in a bison jam. Hundreds of buffalo were crossing the only road. They were literally three feet away from our car. I wanted to take a picture, but opening the windows or sunroof meant exposing yourself to the huge mosquitoes and other swarming bugs.

On our way out of the park, we happened to get lucky and see a couple cars on the side of the road. We stopped to see what it was and there in plain site were a couple of brown bears: a mama and her cub. Soon there were dozens of cars and about a hundred people gawking and taking pictures. Luckily the park rangers were there to keep order. Those guys and gals do a great job!

The route we took to leave the park was the NorthEast exit. This road is only for the brave of heart and firm hands on the wheel. DO NOT take this road with any snow or rain. We actually climbed up and down the sides of mountains with no guard rails, barely enough room for one car much less two, (it was a two way road), and more twists and turns then in California.

The park is so huge that it even has its own canyon. It's called The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Not as big as the real Grand Canyon but it was still very impressive.

Yellowstone is a great place to take the kids. There is so much to learn, see and do that they will remember it for the rest of their lives. But if you can come in any season besides summer, do it. The park is open everyday of the year and gets covered with snow in winter. That is when visitors get full access to the entire park by snow mobile.

Here you see some of the sulphur pits that the park is famous for.

On To Yellowstone

As we left Banff, we headed to Calgary, took a right and went straight down to the border. Had to drive through Montana before we stopped for the night. Now I know why it's called the Big Sky state. There is nothing around for miles and miles. All you see is prairie and sky. Lots and lots of sky. There is nothing to block your gaze. It's funny, but I felt as though I could feel the spirits of the Native Americans watching us as we drove through, as if they were still protecting their territory.

We were supposed to stay at the lodge at Glacier National Park. But the lodge was overbooked and the only other places to stay were little run down motels run by Native Americans. It's sad to see the state of what was once such a proud people. After checking out there was to do in the park, we decided to keep driving and skip the park altogether.

Columbia Ice Field

A short drive from Banff National Park is another national park, that holds the Columbia Ice Fields. These are a series of interconnected glaciers. The major attraction is the ability to actually take a large bus onto the glacier itself and walk around on it!

Ever been on a glacier before? It's awesome. I am running out of adjectives to describe how beautiful and extraordinary this part of Canada is. The buses actually have 8 feet tall wheels. You have heard of Monster Trucks? These were Monster Buses.

Some smart visitors brought empty water bottles with them, which they filled up with melting water at the top of the glacier when we got off the bus. I have never tasted water so pure and refreshing. Better than any bottled water in the market. If someone could find a way to bottle glacier water, they would make a fortune. Maybe they already have.

Banff

Out of the whole trip, we loved Banff the most. Simply breathtaking natural beauty. Banff is actually a Canadian national park. But it is also a city inside the park. The city was first built on the outskirts of the park, but the government decided to make the park larger and so now the town is inside the park. But no one can build anything new there.

If you want to live near Banff, the best place is a booming little city called Canmore, just out side the park. Homes and condos are going up like crazy here and the prices are going through the roof. It's as close to living in heaven as you can get. I love the beach and oceans too, but living at the foot of mountains and rivers is a whole other ball game.

I wish we had spent more time here. The lakes are a sky blue color. The animals are wild, and the mountains have glaciers on them, even in summer. But the glaciers are receding every year. In a few years, they won't be there anymore.

The most famous part of Banff is Lake Louis. The lake is gorgeous and the hotel on the bank is amazing as well. Look out your window and see the lake in front of you with mountains to the left, right, and behind the lake.

The water of the lake is an aqua blue. Not regular blue like rivers or the ocean. It's something you have to see with your own eyes.

Grouse Mountain

Grouse Mountain is a great example of out of the box business thinking to take a liability and turn it into a goldmine.

One of the best parts of Vancouver is that they have a mountain about 30 minutes from downtown. In the winter, everyone can make the short drive to go skiing whenever they feel like it. And for years, the best time to go to Grouse Mountain was the winter. But the people who won/run the mountain have put together a great plan to get people to come to the mountain in other seasons as well. In the past, tourists would take the tram to the top just for the views. And since there was nothing to do at the top they would just come back down. But now there is plenty to do and they keep adding more. By adding other attractions, they have been able to raise the rates to visit. They also have become a legit tourist attraction complete with activities. This causes people to spend the whole day there, eating, drinking, and buying souvenirs.

They have added a nature preserve for a couple of brown bears found in the wild, a small movie theater showing movies about Vancouver, a fascinating Birds of Prey show, a live lumberjack show, and they keep the lift chairs running so people can go even further up the mountain for even better views of the city down below.

Here's a picture of a tip jar we saw on the mountain. I thought the label was kinda ingenious. It makes people more inclined to "tip".