This is a little how we felt when we arrived in Boston! Well Reuben did in any event, at the end of a day of non stop walking in high heat and humidity. Don’t you love it how kids just feel as if they can recline anywhere?
We only had one day to explore Boston, so we set out on a walking tour (with some Uber rides between some sights), to see what we could achieve. This is Reuben again below powering up for the day with some snacks and a stick for possible bear encounters!? Who knows?? (It’s dangerous out there in the urban jungle).
Our first stop (and quite close to our accommodation) was Harvard University. We made a quick stop here to look at the buildings and to check out the medical school, of interest due to Murray being a doctor.
After this we caught an Uber ride to the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum. This was the highlight for me, as the museum was excellent, with so many interactive exhibits and skilled actors in period dress who guided you through it all. Visitors were invited to take on a character and participate too. The 1773 protest here over unfair taxes (the Boston Tea Party) set in motion the events leading to the Revolutionary War.
After lunch in the museum we headed off to the Boston Common (America’s oldest public park) to begin our time of walking the Freedom Trail. Adjoining the Boston Common is the beautiful Public Garden where we took some time out to take a ride on the historic pedal powered Swan Boats.
The Freedom Trail, covering four kilometres, is very rich in history and architecture, but I think to truly appreciate it you need a lot more time than we were able to dedicate to it. We used the Lonely Planet Guide for interpretation, but to fully immerse yourself in the experience you would need to have the time to go inside each building. Pictured below are some of the highlights from along the way.
After we’d thoroughly exhausted ourselves, stomping about in the heat (and shopping for an extra suitcase to cart all our souvenirs home), we just had enough energy to venture into the leafy streets of Beacon Hill for a delightful dinner at a small Italian Bar (which was really crowded, but cheerfully seated us, kids and all and suitcase in tow at the bar).
Next stop New York, New York!
The 1824 built Airbnb house pictured above (with Murray and the girls in the foreground setting out for a day exploring), is where we stayed in Chester, Vermont. Such a classic American beauty! I’ve always wanted to stay in a grand house like this (and yes, we had it all to ourselves). One of the highlights of the house was playing hide and seek with the kids. The house had a basement (very foreign to us in Australia), and two separate attics accessed through trapdoors and hidden staircases. Something I’ve only ever read about in Famous Five novels!
It was nice to take a break from driving long distances, even if just for the day. All too soon we were back on the road again, heading this time for Maine. Before we left Vermont we made a quick pit stop at a nearby village for a maple creemee – a delicious soft serve ice cream made with locally farmed maple syrup. It was totally delectable and is something the kids still speak reverently about or try to recreate by mixing up maple syrup with their ice cream!
This amazing natural phenomenon was not high on our list of must sees, but since it is so famous and we were going right past we included it on our itinerary. The falls are incredible and very beautiful, but equally as amazing is the fact that huge high-rise buildings are built almost literally around the edges of the falls. Most of our waterfalls in Australia are tucked away in remote and reasonably inaccessible national parks, so to visit here with all its urban infrastructure was quite eye-opening. We chose to stay on the Canadian side as the views of the falls are better and it was fun to visit another country, even if for only one day!
This is the breathtaking view from our hotel, which we booked solely for the views. The reviews of all the affordable hotels with fall views were disappointing, mainly due to being constantly crowded with huge queues for the elevators and the included breakfast. This was certainly our experience, but it was a small price to pay for the luxury of being able to see the falls from your bed! They are spectacularly lit up with fireworks every night at 10pm throughout the summer.
It’s unanimous! The whole family agreed that visiting this island in Lake Huron, Michigan (which is so big, it’s like an inland sea), was the highlight of our trip. I was inspired to visit here by reading a post on Mackinac Island by 
There is an eight mile circuit road around the island which is incredibly fun to cycle. The weather was quite overcast and rainy on the days we visited, but even this did nothing to dampen our enjoyment. The girls and I completed two circuits, we loved it so much! There are also very intriguing roads going off through the heavily wooded interior of the island. The boys went off exploring here on a mission to find the skull cave in the afternoon. There is nothing quite like the freedom of riding a bike with the wind in your hair (something we’ve largely lost in Australia due to our draconian bicycle helmet laws). Heck, you don’t even need to wear a helmet to ride a motorcycle in the US!
It was a dream come true to visit Mount Rushmore and it did not disappoint. I was amazed by the scale of it and the likeness to the four presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln). The Americans have a real reverence for their past presidents that is both touching and quite foreign to us as Australians. I was also inspired by the vision and nerve to take on a project like this and succeed.
We also visited the Crazy Horse Memorial, which is still a work in progress and when finished will depict the Sioux leader on his horse pointing to the horizon saying “My lands are where my dead lay buried”. The memorial is a moving tribute to the Native Americans’ dreams and plans for their land and their country prior to colonisation. Dreams which now will be difficult to realise.
As we were driving through the Black Hills a very loud flash flood warning sounded on all of our devices simultaneously and was repeated at five minute intervals. It was so loud it sounded like it was coming from a loudspeaker! This was very alarming as we had no idea how we should react to the warning. Should we stop the car or keep driving and where would we go? Not knowing what else to do we kept driving, except when the hail became so heavy we had to pull over!
The hail was so heavy and fell so fast that it looked like snow lying around everywhere. We were very glad we didn’t wash away in our car and managed to get back to our base in Rapid City safely!
After leaving Kansas City we headed northwest en route to Mount Rushmore. When my husband and I compiled our “must see” lists before deciding on our itinerary for the trip, Mount Rushmore came out on top.
Our last stop for the day was Wall Drug. When I first heard the name, I was really puzzled. What was this place – somewhere you could see drugs stashed in a wall, as some kind of peculiar and offbeat tourist attraction? It turns out that Wall is the name of the town and Drug is short for drug store (what we would call a chemist in Australia). Who would have known? Anyway, Wall Drug came well recommended by the guide books and did not disappoint. It was actually one of my husband’s favourite places on the whole trip. It’s a bizarre collection of outlandish and somewhat tacky, larger than life entertainment as well as a large shopping mall with a western theme. Somehow, it all works to create an enjoyable and fascinating experience. It’s also a good place to buy cowboy boots and other souvenirs.
Boy this place was amazing! NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana) really got under our skin and we could have parked up and stayed a while. We travelled here from Miami via the swamps and sink holes of Tallahassee (a place which has a pace the Lonely Planet calls “slower than syrup”). We were a little confused and thought this was the place Bobbie Gentry sang about in the famous “Ode to Billie Joe”, but that was actually the Tallahatchie Bridge which we crossed later in our trip through Mississippi.
