Washington D.C

Filling time between stops on the bus tour

D.C will forever be in my memory as THE worst place to find parking in the world!!!!! We ended up parking in the NBC building for $19 and getting a bus tour from Union Station. Our first time on an open topped bus and nearly got decapitated from some low hanging branches!

The Lincoln memorial

Unfortunately the reflecting pool was closed and empty while they patch it up which was really disappointing we might photoshop (add blue on paint!) to the photos we took! Was hard to picture Jenny running through the water shouting Forrest when there's diggers around!!

Abraham Lincoln in the memorial

Makes me think of Night at the Museum, kept expecting him to move, Leanne felt like he was looking into her soul! 

The White House

Security was tight! Leanne had the sniffer dogs all around her but it was the bread she took from the all you can eat buffet we had for breakfast, she was full up after the fried chicken and the turkey sandwich!

The Capitol Building

Heard some English people talking here, instantly hated them! stealing our thunder!!!! 

The Washington Monument

Baltimore

On route to Baltimore

Inner Harbour

Watching the different acts in the harbour, singers, dancers and an annoying woman with a feather boa and a uni cycle. Lots of shops and restaurants here. 

Chesapeake boat, a submarine painted like a shark, a converted power plant and the countries best aquarium all in one picture!

USS Constellation

On a pedalo at night

Getting a bit of exercise on the pedalos! I had to drive this aswell as leannes not the best at driving things and with her sense of direction we'd probably end up in southampton!

Atlantic City

The Hotel and Casino we stayed at.

Drove over to Jersey Shore to Atlantic City which has just been demoted from 2nd biggest gambling community after Vegas to 3rd. The majority of the people here are old or fat!! We've never seen so many people in one place with mobility scooters and/or breathing apparatus!  

Root beer float

 Laura thought she had to see what all the fuss was about so she bought a root beer float. I guessed it would taste like shandy, Laura guessed beetroot. It was neither. It never crossed our mind that Savlon would be a flavour! It was effing horrendous! Thankfully they thought our accent was 'cute' so they took it off the bill and got Laura her usual, diet coke. Was nice of her, but it did mean we had to give her more than 10% tip, so swings and roundabouts.

The Boardwalk

Spent the day on the boardwalk, visiting all the little shops, and popping into a few casinos, then walking out after realising we didn't have a CLUE how to use any of the machines. Laura decided she needed better footwear AGAIN, so went on the hunt for some. Bought some from the children's section, cause she has stupid little trotters, but saved a few dollars so can't complain.

Crazy Golf Victor

 Laura may have won, but at least I didn't end up with a glasses tan line!!

The beach

Revel

We were here for the opening of a $2.5 BILLION casino! It was on Fox news and everything. Like the other casinos, we walked in, looked confused then left. 

Having a flutter

Laura thought she'd give it a go, while waiting for the Wheel of Fortune to become free, not that she won any, luck was on my side! Well it was until Laura convinced me to gamble all my winnings away, then spent the night in a Gamblers support group. Gambling is a mugs game! 

Supersize me!

My breakfast most mornings.

Philadelphia

Philly skyline on the drive in

The first drive went well after getting a 'roller coaster' from the airport to alamo and asking the car hire people a million questions! Got used to being on the left of the car pretty quickly. Put the radio on to take in some american music and all we heard was Adele, One Direction, Coldplay, The Wanted and Jessie J! Nice to see the brits doing well over here though. Hadn't eaten because of the nerves so first stop was applebys! 

Where the declaration of independence was signed, and the liberty bell hung

                                                   

 Leanne getting used to her glasses so she can actually see what we're visiting!

Leanne and Ricky, the nicest man in Philly!

Rocky steps!

Or more culturally known as Philadelphia museum of Art. Looking a bit dismal unfortunately. The first night driving to the motel was in the dark and rain, typical, ten and two all the way! 

Rocky

 Questions we've been asked so far....

1. How are Will and Kate?
2. Next time we see Kate can we ask her to marry ricky! 
3. Did Henry VIII sleep with his mom?
4. Are you from South Africa?
5. Where are you guys from? x5
6. Is Birmingham in London?
7. Is England in Canada?
8. Is England in Europe?... Yes!... I didn't know that.
9. Has the Yorkshire ripper been caught?
10. Where's the Metro stop?... I have no idea sorry... straight up English!

New York

Statue of Liberty from Staten Island Ferry

Time square

Grand Central Station

View from Brooklyn Bridge

Central park

 THINGS WE LEARNT IN NEW YORK!

• Wear supportive footwear! After walking around for twelve hours you will feel as though you have a chronic case of shin splints! I had to buy some granny runners to support me on the second day!

• When to walk and when not to walk. We learnt quickly when Leanne nearly got mown down 5 mins after getting off the coach!

• The Americans love the English accent but a Brummie accent is like speaking gibberish! A few examples ... 'sprite', the letter 'a', and their very own 'dime'!!
• Our haircuts are the shiz over here! copious compliments :)
• Some people are rude but some are extremely helpful, ignore the rude ones because the lovely ones more than make up for them!
• Its cold, wrap up warm! Even if the sun's shinning the buildings are tall and everything's in shadow! Wind tunnels galore.
• Don't pay for a Statue of Liberty tour get the Staten Island Ferry its free and goes right by it.
• Give yourself time to go around Central Park especially in the summer its big and beautiful, we barely touched it and spent a good few hours there. 
• Figure out what time sunset is and walk half way across the brooklyn bridge, watch the sun go down and all the lights go on, amazing!

We're going to bed now and gonna attempt to sleep, but the man next door is HEAVING up phlegm every 5 seconds, but it seems to be every time we speak so dunno if he's just annoyed at us or dying of T.B. What a douche bag! Picking up american slang already! 

loves loves xxx

And so it begins....

We've decided to create this blog so we can update it when we are travelling around America! The plan is to add pictures and just to write all about what we've been up to, so you can share it with us!

The trip kicks off in New York for 3 days on March 29th, then we'll pick up the car from Newark airport and start our journey off down the east coast. We've got three months to get around full circle back into New York on the 21st June for 4 days then we fly back to sunny England!

A few interesting facts (for us only probably!)

• We will drive approximately 15,000 miles
• We will visit 37 states
• We are staying in 62 different hotels
• We will use approximately 30 tanks of petrol (sorry environment, i'll get a bike when I'm home) 
• We change time zones 10 times throughout the trip