McDuff On Tour

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The final countdown photos (back to front order!)

THE SCOUT in Malibu

Biking the Golden Gate Bridge (Michele didnt know it was a serious photo!) Note Tristan Mullet!

Just been paddle boarding in the rain in Santa Barbara

Grand Canyon

Only in Vegas!

Deschutes Brewery tour with Noel

Valentines day cupcakes in Portland with Teal and Sean & co!

The All American burger joint with Sharkey

On our way for a cuppa with the President!!

Freezing in New York but a magical day on the Island

THE END

The final countdown

Dear Diary,

We figured there is time for one more post to recap our final 6 weeks before we get home. From The Netherlands we caught our last hi-speed train to Germany and flew to the United States of America! As we've covered a bit of ground we figure a few photos and an overview might better describe our time across this massive country.

1. We visted New York where we were greeted with piles of snow, sun shine, bagels, bright lights, and plenty of tourist activities. We managed to fit in a boat trip to see the lady in green (Statue of Liberty) & Ellis island, the bright lights of Times Square, the twin towers site, a number of shopping and art districts, downtown wall street, Central park, and a Broadway show.

2. Washington DC - we got the 'all American' muesum fix at the Smithsonian Institute (4 museums in a day!), completed a walking tour with an over pasioniate 'bless America' type to see the many monuments, and had a look from afar at the White house.

3. A 9 hour bus got us to visit Sharky (thanks for having us!) in Charlotte. We jammed in as many americanisms as possible - a trip to Chimney mountain, ihop, a vending machine that rents DVDs for $1, a super Wallmart, the Nascar museum and Micheal Jordan (well not actually but he lives here!).

4. 7 hours across the country via 2 planes got us to Portland nest to stay with friends of the Pinnicks. Was a pitty that the airline couldn't figure out that our bags needed to be placed on the same 2 flights in order to come with us! (we got them 12 hours later). Here we learnt Disc golf, what US rain feels like, how to train a husky dog, what good US coffee is, and what hanging out in a cool green US city is like. Thanks Sean & Teal - awesome time.

5. A bus trip through solid snow got us to Bend, a glorious town where the Pinnicks live, friends of Pinnicks, and a bunch of other super friendly people. We got to go to Winterfest, rode in the biggest pick-up truck known to man, went snowboarding, tried a wide range of American foods, went to the best bar in america, drank the best beer in america, saw mountains and canyons ... all in five days of action packed fun. Thanks Noel & Tyson.

6. We went to Vegas for four nights, we didnt win big - enough said!

7. A tour bus trip (booked through a cowboy on the street named bill for halfprice) got us to Hoover dam and the Grand Canyon. Stunning place, note to airtours... its ok to schedule one of your three food stops over 16hours not at McDonalds (only in America)!

8. We made it to California, first to Santa Barbara. We gave stand-up paddle boarding a go in the rain, clam chowder, walked the pier , white sand, and put our $5 umberalla to work here as it didnt stop raining til we left! Thanks to the 'extra friendly' bus driver for the 4 hour delay making our 12 hour bus trip 16 hours from Vegas (not impressed!)

9. Another bus got us to San Francisco along the Pacific coast highway - beautiful. Some stunning views and an equally impressive city on arrival. We biked the golden gate bridge & took the ferry through the habour. Rode the tram and saw the ferry building, china town, and the piers. Took a walking tour and got seriously lost through in a really undisirable area of town!! And got a grand tour of the a Chiropractic University!

10. Lastly a short flight got us here to sunny Long Beach where we are staying with the Storkes. We have discussed matters at local resturants, local beaches, surfed, had a grand tour of the Walt Disney concert halls, been to Hollywood with Ed and forfilled the Californian dream. 3 days ago we borrowed 'the Scout' a 5.7l mini truck and went camping by the sea in Malibu, after we stopped to hire a tandom and ride by the freaks at Venice and Santa Monica. AND FINALLY - just yesterday we went to Disneyland, 11hours, minimal stops and almost 20 rides.... the funnest place on earth! Big thanks to the Storkes for having us and to all other drivers in California for not hitting us whilst we used your highways.

We are sitting with our bags packed, this time our destination is HOME - right after we go and watch Dr Phil be filmed tomorrow morning!!!

Thanks to everyone whos helped us, written to us, or thought of us on our adventure. This has been the trip of a lifetime.

See you soon,
x McDuff

Saturday, February 19, 2011

IRELAND AND PARIS

SORRY ALL BACK TO FRONT

CREPES IN PARIS MMMMMMMM

UP THE EIFFEL TOWER

HAVING A THIGH SLAPPING TIME IN DUBLIN!

GIVING THE BLARNEY STONE A SMOOCH!

THE CLIFFS ALONG THE RING OF KERRY

MMMMM GUINNESS

FANTASTIC IRISH DINNER WITH PAUL AND AOIFE (POTATOES AND BEEF STEW)!

UK

STONEHENGE - FREEZING!!

CHECKING OUT THE CANAL BOATS - VERY SKINNY!

WALKING THE WALLS OF CHESTER

HANGING OUT ON THE LAKES IN THE LAKES DISTRICT!

SNOW ON THE BEACH IN BLACKPOOL

AWESOME OLD FARM HOUSE IN NORTHHAMPTON

Round the UK in a month

Dear Diary,

Has been a little while since we have been able to check in!! So time for a speedy re-cap:

After the last time we checked in we picked up our rental car and the four of us toured the UK. We stopped in Northampton where we were lucky enough to stay at an old english farm house. Then we moved onto Stockport to visit the Cavendar family (Dixon side) family of Aunty Jose, cousin Alan and Sally. Here we got to see lots of the areas were Nanna & Grandie Dixon hung out and was a really great part of the trip! We spent our next couple of weeks driving through snow, ice, some sun, and massive amounts of English and Scottish countryside.

Stops included Blackpool (an old carnival town), Edinbrugh (a stunning city with plenty of snow), The Lakes District (potentially our favourite english area with rolling hills small towns and of course lakes), Chester, Stratford Upon Apon (the home of Shakespare), Bath (an old place set in the hills), and of course Maindenhead - Cousin Alans place which we came and went from a number of times. Thanks again Alan and Sally for having us.

Oh yeah and we also managed to see Stonehenge and Windsor castles on out travels, particularly impressive places!!!

Next we flew 'across the ditch' to Ireland for a 5 night mission to see as much as possible. We stuck to southern Ireland and managed to fit in a huge loop of small towns, Irish pubs, cliffs, country lanes and lots of Guiness!

From Dublin we went via Adene to Tralee, the next day we circumnavigated the ring of Kerry passing through Dingle and Killorglin to stay in Kenmare. After a hearty breakfast we drove onto Blarney to give the Blarney stone a smooch at the castle (freezing cold I might add) and then on to stay in Cork. The last hurrah was from Cork to Waterford for a stop to check out the crystals and then back to Dublin for a some jigging and fiddle playing at the local pub!

Back to Maidenhead for lunch at the oldest pub in England and to stay the night before the Eurostart to Paris the next day.

PARIS - very very cool (and cold!). Had 3 days here and we managed to tick almost every tourist attraction off possible! We went to visit Mona Lisa, we crossed the bridges, went to the Notre Damn cathedral, climbed up the Eiffel, window shopped on the Champs d Elysees, stood under the Arc de Triomph, then checked out the city lights by night on a bus. Im sure there is more but I think you get the picture!!

Then on Jan 26th we sadly went our seperate ways. Mum and Dad went onto Singapore to find warmth while we went back to The Nehterlands to see Emilie, sort out what we had left there and plan the last 2 months of our trip towards home.

Thanks Mum and Dad for an awesome trip. It was soooo nice to have someone to share our experiences with. xxx

x McDuff

Tristan & Michele