Home again

I am worried that if I don't write something soon you are all going to think that I have finished this blog rather abruptly. I can assure you that this is not the case. I will give you some warning before this thing finishes, promise! I have loads more photos to show you too- not just the last week or so in New York but loads that I didn't post from all the other places too.

OK, now where did I leave you? Probably in Milwaukee and probably up to my elbows in pumpkin guts. After all that work, me and my sister left before Halloween and were sad to find out that someone went into a smashing frenzy over that weekend. RIP pumpkins. Our last day in Milwaukee, we went to The Domes, three big greenhouses. It was pretty mental to be looking at loads of beautiful flowers when it was so cold outside. There was a show garden, a tropical environment and an arid one. Most of them reminded me of places that I had visited along the way- they even had birds in them- though I don't think that the sparrow we saw was an original tropical feature.

The next day we went to Chicago to visit the Shedd Aquarium. Now, I don't know why this is the case but I love aquariums, I really do. And this was quite possibly the best that I have ever been to. Seriously. Sydney Aquarium has always been the best until now. But this could just be because Chicago has dolphins there. And I had never seen those kind before- they were beauitful white sided Pacific ones. And in the tank next to them were beluga whales, which was also a first for me. They had some really cool exhibits and we had a great time even though we kinda rushed round because we arrived so late.

Then Gareth took us to a hotel out near the airport and left after dinner. The hotel was nice enough and it was a treat for me to have a bed to sleep in after two weeks of sleeping on the floor. Me and Penny snuggled into bed early for a CSI marathon and some chocolate biscuits. Moments later, Penny emerged from the bathroom with a worried look on her face

'There's something wrong with the toilet,' she said.

I told her it would be fine and to settle back down again. Her next visit to the smallest room ended with her standing with her hand in the cistern trying to stop the water from overflowing. It didn't work and the water sloshed over the floor as I called reception.

'Is the water coming out of the room?' the guy queried
'It would be if my sister wasn't head first in the cistern,' I replied

We transferred to another room.

An early start the next day saw us timidly using our new bathroom and heading off to Midway Airport and our flight to Newark. The flight was fine, if a little delayed and we arrived into Newark before lunch. We had a snack and went to get a shuttle bus. We stood in a queue for nearly 45 minutes before being told that our bus would be there in 'twenty minutes or less', another 40 later and we were on the bus and starting an hour and half journey into New York. Yes, I know that it doesn't take that long to get from Newark to New York but trying telling the driver that!

We arrived into our hotel (on the Upper West Side) over four hours after arriving into Newark and settled down to watch some 'Sex and the City' after dinner.

We were in New York!

(photos and more to follow)