Monday 17 June
Today started as usual with breakfast in the hotel cafe ($3.89 kids meals,and half of them free, people!) and then I – with the help of iPods and diaries – entertained the kids while Ross went for a massage. When he returned we packed up our rooms and headed down to Central Park and back to the Whole Foods Market in Columbus Circle for a light lunch.
The RV rental place had offered us a shuttle from our hotel to their office in Linden, New Jersey to pick up the RV that will be our home for the next three weeks. Our plan was to head for Providence, Rhode Island tonight to move on to Boston from there. Boy did I underestimate NY traffic in the boroughs! It took us two and a half hours to travel sixty miles. We ended up near Hartford in Connecticut about 7.30pm, so stopped in a little town called Meriden for dinner before we repeat the old pattern of travelling for too long and eating too late.
I had difficulty finding an RV park in this state, so dinner was at Maccas so I could use their free wifi, which the kids though was a great idea! From there we travelled another hour down the road to East Lyme to an RV park for the night. Although it is now midnight, I believe I have learnt from the experience of the first RV trip and unpacked properly this time. I THiNK I am ready to hit the ground running in the morning. Time will tell what lessons I learnt!
Postscript: Zac was still up at midnight last night watching me write my diary/blog, so has requested today I include a photo of him in his NYPD gear and Sam in his FDNY gear. I took the photo while Ross was ordering dinner. Belle thought the photo opportunity was not complete unless it included a dancing ballerina princess…;)

Sunday June 16
Today is Fathers Day in the US. The kids are quite excited that their dad gets to have two Fathers Days this year, and think he is quite deserving of it!
Hence we let Ross choose our agenda today. He wished for a sleep in so we all complied, and didn’t go to breakfast downstairs until 10am. I then took the kids to the hotel pool while Ross took our washing to a laundromat – now you know I love washing, but I was not ALLOWED to do it because Ross doesn’t want me wandering the streets of NYC and was not convinced I would find my way home again safely! While I am slightly disappointed I didn’t get to experience a laundromat, I was happy to stay here and supervise kids swimming, and it gave Ross a chance to explore a bit on his own.
We both agree that we love this city but it is not made for a family of eight! I would not recommend it for young families, and while we definitely want to come back, we both want to do it with adult children or just each other (or friends!). Four days here has been quite costly as well (ok, that was partly my fault for taking everyone to Broadway but the kids are calling it their best day ever!). I gave away my hope to attend an off-Broadway play, so that remains on the ‘to-do’ list for the next visit here 🙂
Ross returned from the laundromat with sausage rolls for lunch – real sausage pieces in pastry – and after eating in our hotel room, we walked the 15 blocks back down to the Hudson River intending to go to Intrepid, the Air, Sea and Space Museum on the waterfront. This looked impressive and was recommended to me by a workmate. However, it was expensive for a party of 8, and the space shuttle section was closed, so we took the free option of wandering along the pier between the warship and submarine and looking from there. A Concorde plane sits on the pier as well, but is not open for viewing. I took a photo of it up close for Uncle Bill though!
From there we walked back up to Broadway in search of milkshakes for afternoon tea – another thing Americans do not do readily like decent cappuccinos. We found a store called the “Shake Shack” – which did thick shakes and (drumroll please) burgers and fries!! We shared four thickshakes between us and then stopped in a few souvenir shops for the kids to spend some of their spending money – Zac wants to be decked out in NYPD gear, and Sam of course in FDNY gear so with their funds they bought a baseball cap each and tshirt. We stopped in at a fire station on the way back to the hotel, and while the firefighter at the door wasn’t overly interested in giving us a tour, he did give us the opportunity to explore the station and fire trucks for ourselves.
We considered going to Grand Central Station (which incidentally turns 100 this year) or doing the High Line (an elevated freight rail line transformed into a public park on Manhattan’s West Side, owned by the City of New York) but the kids have done a LOT of walking here, so we opted instead for a quiet night and another decent meal in the hotel restaurant. There will be a lot more to explore on my next visit to NYC, but I feel we have achieved a lot here in the last four days. I checked with Sam at dinner if this was still his favourite city now he has actually been here, and he assures me it is!

Saturday 15 June
Another breakfast in the hotel cafe was hard to resist given some of the kids meals are free! After a hearty meal, we walked the two blocks to Columbus Circle to enter Central Park. Three playgrounds are in short walking distance at that entrance, so the kids of course had to try them all. Little did they know they were peaking too early!
Central Park is another item on my bucket list. I was very impressed with it. Despite being in the middle of such a busy city that never sleeps, it was so relaxing. I could imagine spending time there just reading or people watching in the sun if I was a New Yorker. We walked parallel to 5th Avenue down past the Central Park Zoo (but kept going due to the cost of entry and crowds lined up waiting to get in), past the Metropolitan Museum and to the Jackie O reservoir. Having left our hotel on W57th we found ourselves at the park exit on W81st St!! Look it up on Google to see how far that was!! Legs aching, we bought bottles of water for everyone and turned around to make the trek back!
On the return trip, we stopped at Belvedere Castle (which is a lookout and weather station), walked through Strawberry Fields, and stopped at the Bethesda Fountain so Belle could sing the song performed there in her favourite movie, ‘Enchanted’. Strawberry Fields is a ‘quiet zone’ and right next to the Dakota Apartments where John Lennon lived and was assassinated in front of. I was surprised to learn Yoko Ono still lives there. There is a mosaic at the entrance to that section of Central Park with the word ‘Imagine’ in its centre.
We walked back across and up to the Park exit near 5th Avenue. I had a sneaky plan to visit Bergdorf Goodman and Tiffany & Co on 5th but had tired unwilling travel companions with me…*sigh*. So instead I took them all to FAO Schwarz, the legendary toy store. Tim and Sam missed dancing on the big piano made famous by Tom Hanks in ‘Big’ because they needed a restroom, but the other four lined up for their turn. As we left there it was after 2.30pm so we bought them all an icee/slushie and donut from Dunkin Donuts in lieu of lunch. The regular and healthy mealtimes continue!!
Actually it was part of a bribe to encourage them all to have an afternoon sleep as I managed to get tickets to Broadway for everyone for tonight. After dinner at 6pm in the hotel cafe (yep kids eat free again and the dinner meals are $4.89!), we strolled the 15 blocks to the Minksoff Theatre to see the 8pm performance of ‘The Lion King’. I did see it about a decade ago in Sydney, but it was well worth seeing, and EVERYone enjoyed it. I thought I was introducing the little kids to the story for the first time, until Belle told me in the restroom at intermission that she had watched it “on Moviebox in Australia one day when all the kids were at school”. That was not a proud parenting moment for me, as it means I wasn’t there to guide her through Mustafa’s death in the movie as I was for the older kids! As we only have the movie on VHS, I have promised the kids I will buy it for them on DVD after we are home. Seeing a Broadway show, also on my bucket list, was awesome and ticked off!
As we left the theatre, the crowds in the street were so deep we could not move, and FDNY and police had part of the road blocked off. We then discovered this was because Tom Hanks, appearing in another show by Nora Ephron, was leaving by the stage door and getting into a waiting car. That made the crowds understandable, even for Tim and Ross! And as Tom Hanks’ car drove away and the crowds thinned, I found myself standing next to an actress who played nurse Abby in ER (she married Dr Luca I think…name starts with M…Tinks, help me out here!!)
We then walked the 15 blocks home again. While we have felt quite safe here, we did overhear a couple at a set of lights calling Times Square on a Saturday night “pickpocket central”. Which does not help me in my efforts to get Ross to let me go to an off-Broadway play by myself tomorrow night!!

We began today with breakfast in the cafe in the hotel where we are staying. Not only convenient, but a free kids meal for each adult meal, and kids’ meals come with juice or milk and only cost $3.89.
We then enquired at the concierge booking desk for a recommendation of a sightseeing bus. There are several to choose from and all have salesmen standing around Times Square and surrounding streets trying to coax you onto their bus. The concierge recommended Skyline, an orange bus that has only been operating for the last month and has some introductory pricing for their hop on hop off tour. We bought a downtown loop, walked the 15 blocks to Times Square where the tour began and spent the next two hours enjoying the scenery and commentary. We “hopped off” at Ground Zero where I had reserved visitor passes to the 9/11 memorial for 1pm.
The 9/11 memorial is a powerful place. The reflection pools where the North and South towers stood are the largest man-made falls in North America. Despite the massive crowds the place is quite serene. I spent a lot of time explaining in hushed tones what had happened here to the kids, seeing as Tim was only 6 months old at the time and the younger ones haven’t heard about it. We walked past a woman crying who had just left a flower and happy birthday message on top of the name of someone listed at the North pool. That was quite confronting for the kids and really brought home to them that people had died here.
Wall St is on the next block, so everyone humoured me by walking down that street. Jarrod refused to get in any photo with me though in case he was called “nerdy”…oh please, as if a photo on Wall St will be the cause of that!… The New York Stock Exchange is sadly not open to the public, and is heavily protected by security and police. Actually, the police and security presence is large and obvious throughout the Financial District area. We then walked past Tiffany and Co – alas, a photo of the front door was all I was allowed to get. Ross couldn’t walk past there fast enough!
We then hopped back on the bus to get back to the Empire State Building. Another worthwhile touristy thing to do – we started with a “Skyride” which was a little documentary about NY and the building’s history and then went up to the 86th floor observation deck. Zac and I both felt quite queasy from the Skyride, which was a virtual tour on a screen in front of you while you were moved around in your seat. They are updating the ride, which sounds great – next time I am in NY someone can tell me how the ride has changed – I won’t be experiencing it again!
From there we wandered back up to Times Square for dinner. The boys have been wanting “Five Guys Burgers and Fries” for dinner since we arrived in the US, based on some hilarious YouTube video everyone bar me has seen. While I couldn’t enjoy the joke, I had to admit the burgers were delicious. Our long walk home took us through Hell’s Kitchen which was an interesting experience.
One thing we are not doing well with is keeping regular hours and regular mealtimes! After only having two meals yesterday and the day before, we assured the kids at breakfast at 8.30am our regularity and organisation would improve…..until the 9/11 memorial took so long we didn’t get to lunch until 2.45pm, and the Empire State Building timing meant dinner wasn’t until 8.30pm!! It just takes so long to get around this city, and while everyone is in a hurry, tourists just can’t be. There are 8.3 million people in the 5 boroughs, and Times Square is apparently the most visited tourist destination on the planet. That’s ok though, it’s all worth it! 🙂

We have not yet found a definitive answer as to why NYC is called this, it seems to have something to do with horse racing slang in the 1920s and then a concerted marketing effort in the 1970s. Anyway, we are loving it here! Despite the weather, which has been so bad our first purchase of the day was umbrellas!
The bad weather (the first of the holiday) changed our plans and instead we headed straight to Columbus Circle for a late breakfast after a big sleep in (seeing as we arrived here after midnight last night). Abi and I went to Williams-Sonoma there on Elle’s recommendation and found Star Wars cookie cutters – success! And on special too! (Although with Zac and Sam so Star Wars obsessed I would have bought them anyway..)
We then walked the several blocks down to the waterfront to do a Circle Line cruise around the whole of Manhattan Island. It was a long walk for the kids, but at least the cruise gave them a chance to rest. The cruise went for 3 hours and was very informative. From there we walked up 42nd St to Broadway and Times Square. After dinner in Times Square we explored the area and visited M&M world – three levels of it!
By then it was pouring, so by the time we walked the fifteen blocks back to our hotel we were all soaked – even though under umbrellas. Abi called it BFE (the Best Fun Ever), Tim thanked me for bringing him here but said he will probably never venture here again because of the crowds, and Sam and Belle think the whole place is fantastic. Jarrod took everything in his stride, and Zac enjoyed it but was very quiet for at least six blocks after we passed a homeless man asking for money – he was very concerned about the man and wanted to go back to the hotel and get some money for him.
We are now back at the hotel eating M&Ms and blowdrying our wet clothes! Tomorrow our plans are weather dependent, but we are hoping to get to the 9/11 memorial and Empire State Building.

Wednesday 12 June
We were up, packed up and on the road by 6.45am, but it still wasn’t enough to get us to the motorhome return by 8am. Thankfully although we arrived closer to 9am because of the LA traffic, they held the 9am airport shuttle for us until we had checked in the RV and completed all paperwork. On the way to LA this morning Ross brushed some trees hanging over the road, and upon our arrival we were told we would be charged for a missing light cover ($6) near the door – we didn’t even know a light was there, but figured it was bumped by the trees on the journey in.
Once the shuttle dropped us at the airport, we checked in our bags and waited the 3.5 hours until our flight. We bought the children breakfast at Burger King at 10.30am, and then everyone happily passed the waiting time on iPods and books until our flight.
The flight to New York was smooth and involved a detour around some heavy storms that are occurring due to hurricanes in the mid-west. A couple of famous people sat near us on the plane – an actor in front and a comedian behind – but I need my sister-in-law here to tell me who they were! I recognised their faces, but the name eludes me until I see them on tv or in a movie next!
By the time we retrieved our luggage, caught a taxi into Manhattan and checked in to our rooms, it was 11.30pm (due to time difference, NY is ahead of LA by 3 hours). On the recommendation of the concierge, we walked a block to a 24hour cafe deli, where the kids had a pizza slice each (one huge slice for $2.50) and Ross and I had paninis. The kids thought it was great making a memory by eating dinner at midnight!
Sam assures me that while New York used to be his favourite place ever from reading about it, now he is here it is definitely his favourite. We will see what he thinks of the Big Apple in the light of day 🙂

Tuesday 11 June
Yep, we really broke him. Ross had shortness of breath and chest pain last night, which he attributed to muscle cramping. He aches from shoulder to shoulder and up through his neck. Oops! I think the itinerary has been a little too exhausting for him!
Ross had added the Joshua Tree National Park to the list of parks he wanted to visit, but today on approaching it decided to drive straight past it. Today for him was all about just getting close to LA. Now that we have returned to the Californian desert area, the heat is stifling, so even if he was feeling great it would have been perhaps a difficult stop in the heat. Today’s weather reminded me of that day in Sydney last January that broke records. So the Joshua Tree now gets added to our “next time” list.
We did tour the desert oasis of Palm Springs at lunchtime, and stopped 22 miles from there at a little town called Banning for the night. Our earliest stop yet! Ross managed to catch up on some sleep while the kids enjoyed the pool and playground. After dinner we turned on the tv in the RV for the first time, which kept the kids busy while I repacked all the bags for our flight to New York tomorrow. One moment of panic (isn’t there usually?): I lost Ross’ passport!! It was separated from the others as he needed it when we picked up the RV, and I couldn’t remember where I had put it after that. It was found in a suitcase in between a pile of Disneyland brochures kept for the kids to use in their diaries!
Crisis averted, we are all in bed by 10.30. We have to have the RV back by 8am tomorrow, to Santa Fe Springs which is 78 miles from here. And then on to NYC, with the top priority now being to find Ross a physiotherapist. Ironically, I organised a long list of medicines to bring with an accompanying letter from our GP – Panadol, panadeine forte, something for jet lag, sleeplessness, Redipred for croup, Amoxil for minor kids ailments such as ear infections etc etc. The last 24 hours have proven I did not foresee every possibility or provide for everything!

Monday 10 June
From the Durango RV park this morning, our first stop was Walmart! We stocked up just enough for the next two days to tide us over until we hand the RV back. Then we headed straight for Mesa Verde National Park, the nation’s largest archaeological preserve where we were able to walk around one of the cliff dwellings, and learn about the civilisation there 600 years ago.
Our next stop was a MAJOR disappointment. I convinced Ross there was a great photo opportunity at the Four Corners Monument, where New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona meet. We planned to divide up two people into each state – our cameras ready, and jokes about leaving the kids behind in other states ready (I knew you would enjoy that joke, Dad)….and then we arrived to discover it is tribal land and a tourist centre is being built on the site. A Native American at a tollbooth requested $US3 per person for us to enter, so Ross politely declined and we u-turned out of there. I took a picture of the sign saying “Four Corners USA” through the front windscreen as we drove away.
We the pushed on to the Grand Canyon. Spectacular. Awesome viewing. It impresses me even after a few previous visits there. One difference this time was we entered at the East Entrance, where the first viewpoint was a watchtower which allowed us to climb 89 steps and view 360 degrees that end of the Canyon. Of course, the watchtower has been there since 1933 so is only new to me! I have always been there in winter before, so I guess we never drove along the icy roads as far as the East Entrance.
After stopping at a few other lookouts, we discovered we were too late in the day to explore the visitors centre (it closed at 5pm and we arrived there at 6.30). So we decided to travel on and knock off as many miles as Ross could manage to make tomorrow an easier day.
The time factor against us yet again, Ross gave up his desire to take a helicopter ride into the Canyon (thankfully, says I), and I have given up my plans to visit Montezuma’s Castle south of Flagstaff and another night in Vegas. There is just not enough time to fit it all in before our deadline of Wednesday morning. The upshot of such decisions is of course we are already making plans to return (!), and in the meantime someone is going to have to come with me to see Cirque Du Soliel next time they come to Sydney 😉
We detoured via the town of Williams for dinner at Denny’s, which was good for two reasons: the kids had been looking forward to experiencing Denny’s after I told them my memories of eating there as a child; and the town is on Route 66 which the older kids had been hoping to join at some point. I noticed a difference in Denny’s since I was young – no complimentary water on the table, and choices other than fries as sides! The kids all had a meal each (I usually make them share, partly because I am tight and partly because the meals are so big!), and their nuggets or burger came with sides of salad, yoghurt, apple slices, or cucumber/carrots/celery. Ross and I also enjoyed a meal of meat and veges, and the total bill was only $54! Cha-Ching!
We then travelled on and detoured into Seligman, a little town also on Route 66 where we stopped just to get petrol – or “gas”. However, I think we have broken Ross!! He suddenly cramped up across the neck and shoulders, and wasn’t sure how he would go on. So the goal became very quickly to find an RV park. There was one just up the road, so he turned in for the night straight away before the kids. I have convinced him not to set an alarm for the morning and get as much sleep as he needs. I have also discovered we have gained an extra hour which I am sure will help. The kids are quite worried about him because they know the alternative is me driving! And none of us are ready for that!!

“I’m worried about Dad getting tired” was the catch cry today. Ross decided to spend a day driving to catch up on the miles we had hoped to have done by now. It has been a LONG day in the RV! We have covered 638 miles and across two whole states – Nebraska and Colorado.
We met up with Ross’ parents in their RV a few days ago and they have been travelling with us through the National Parks. That is code for we have been inflicting our punishing schedule on them! They have done really well to keep up with us. We only have three more days with this motorhome and have to be back in LA on Wednesday morning whereas they have several more days and can travel at a leisurely pace. So we said our goodbyes to them at 8am and set off.
I served up morning and afternoon tea as Ross drove, so our only stops today were for a quick lunch and dinner. There was plenty of time for homework while travelling, and we made the focus the boys’ Biblical Studies homework after the little three looked horrified we weren’t going to church!
We did tour through Denver before we stopped for lunch. Denver belongs to a select group of US cities with teams from four major sports. We drove past the baseball field as people were arriving for today’s game. Denver also has the dubious distinction of being the only city to back out after winning a bid to host the Olympics (the 1976 Winter Olympics). It’s official elevation is one mile or 5280 feet above sea level, making it the one of the highest major cities in the US. See: we did our research…and I had a lot of time to read today…
We also spent some time in the Colorado Rockies, more beautiful scenery, and travelled through snowfields (which in summer actually still have patches of snow on the higher mountains!). I will be interested to download all my photos, but am not convinced they will do all these amazing places justice.
Our accommodation tonight is in Durango, purely for its proximity to the Grand Canyon which we plan to visit tomorrow. We are actually close to the border of where New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona meet. I am now off to do several loads of laundry – aaah, the “comfort” of home! 😉

Having explored Deadwood at night, we decided to get up and moving on the next morning. We did all choose a few places at home before we left to research and have printed and brought our research with us in a plastic sleeve display folder for reference. Deadwood underwent fires, decline, and financial stresses last century which spurred the “Deadwood Experiment” in which gambling was tested as a means of revitalising a city centre. The new revenues and developments it has brought are obvious from our little nighttime stroll.
Our goal today was Mount Rushmore, with a quick stop at a Crazy Horse Memorial we hadn’t previously researched. I expected it to be a small sculpture, but the whole site is on a massive scale. The monument currently being built to Crazy Horse (the American Indian who defeated Custer) is so big up high on the mountain that the four heads at Mt Rushmore would fit inside Crazy Horse’s head! There was a very informative movie showing the history of the site and the plans for the future, including the sculptor’s desire to fund the project through the free enterprise system rather than government grants that would come with conditions. (That made us far more willing to pay the $27 entry fee!) There were exhibits, information about Custer’s Last Stand, stalls where American Indians were selling their wares (such as musical instruments and jewellery), just so much to look at and learn about. There are also plans for a university campus for Native Americans on site once the memorial is completed. For a project which began in 1947, there was no talk of a finish date. It’s hard to predict when the big dream will be fulfilled.
From there we moved on to Mount Rushmore, which has always been a dream of mine to see. I have an interest in politics in general (which most don’t understand), and usually follow the American primaries each time and read about previous Presidents. So it has been on my Bucket List to go to Mount Rushmore. As excellent as it was to achieve this and see the monument, I haven’t so much ticked something off the bucket list as replaced it! I am hoping the Crazy Horse memorial is finished in my lifetime so I can return to see it!
We then drove another two hours through Rapid City (which offered such points of interest as a free taxidermy exhibit) to the town of Wall, just to see a set of shops called Wall Drug that Ross’ grandmother had talked about. This is an example of the American Dream. A pharmacist and his wife in the 1920s moved to the little town of Wall to run the local drugstore. They suffered poor sales and few passersby stopped, so to encourage customers they offered free iced water. The water is still free, the coffee is still 5c, but the growth of the business is astronomical. The site houses a restaurant, cafe, gift shops, bookshop, clothing stores, and all manner of souvenirs. We enjoyed our first chance to really shop!
From there we drove through the Badlands National Park. More amazing scenery, but different to previous National Parks we have seen this week. After a couple of stops at lookouts, we exited the Park but not where we expected, so had our first experience of getting, not lost, but out of our way. The time taken to get back on track was costly. We had planned to be in Denver Colorado tonight, but had to adjust our schedule when we found that was still 350miles away at 7pm! We decided to travel as far as Ross could drive and the kids could handle. We stopped in the town of Gordon, Nebraska at 9pm for dinner Grandma had cooked us, and decided to find an RV park in Nebraska for the night.
A couple of hours down the road we found an unmanned RV park called Eagle’s Rest and set up there for the night. After a big day, and knowing tomorrow will be a day of catch up driving, we felt quite exhausted – ironically, we were in bed at 11.30pm which is earlier than most other nights have been!