USA: DC, Philidelphia, Boston

So the plan was to explore the NE of North America from Toronto much like I did Europe from London, on really cheap flights and speedy trains... unfortunately neither of those things exist here. BUT rental cars are dirt cheap! You can get a car for $12 a day sometimes. So we managed a few adventures down into the States. The first trip took us down through New York and Pennsylvania to Washington DC (9hr drive) for a couple of days and then to Philadelphia. DC is very awesome, all the sights you see on TV, heaps of flags, awesome free Smithsonian Museums (we only got time to see one, the Air and Space museum), excellent happy hour specials and a feeling that something important is happening behind every door.

Somewhere in Pennsylvania, I wouldn't try and paint that roof.

Now for some lazy writing... bullet points! Highlights of the trips included:

• Dunkin donuts
• Learning new words like Turn Pike
• Being close to history: driving near Gettysburg, being where they signed the Declaration of Independence.
• Visiting the Basketball Hall of Fame
• Philadelphia Cheese Steaks... man, they are good!
• Bostons almost European feel, mostly due to narrow streets.
• Having a pint of Sam Adams in the original Cheers pub. The beer was expensive for America, but what I would consider a cheap pint in Toronto.
• Really good hot, fresh Apple Pie in a small town somewhere in upstate New York.
• Getting another 6 month US tourist visa at the border by a really nice immigration officer.

Unhighlights:

• NZ Drivers licence not being acceptable ID
• Driving through Massachusetts.. its just a freeway going through trees... pretty trees... but similar trees.
• Understanding direction from Google about how to go around a round about..  the third right = turn left.
• Canadian Consulate in DC... they need some pointers from the US Immigration guy in Buffalo (see highlights above)
• Only going for a long weekend.

Seen as no one reads this, they just scan the photos, here are some more.

Me, the White House and one of my favourite T-shirts that I had to retire.

Capitol Hill - you can almost see the lack of progress on Health Care...

An ACTUAL Apollo capsule. Air and Space Museum

One Liberty Bell... Philadelphia.

That's about it really. I don't really have any photos of Philadelphia or Boston. Mostly as we were just hanging out, not doing the exploring thing. They were some good trips though. The plan was to get to New York City too, but that didn't happen... not this time at least.