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May 4th be with you…had to be done.

Nice little sleep in this morning. We have decided to have at least one more day here so that Wes and I could have a look around. Plus, we still have to confirm the bikes and a few other bits and bobs.

Good news, we have hot water and Wes is feeling better. In other news, we have had another little problem.

Just as I was about to get my breakfast we heard a large crack. The back of the screen covering the cooktop had completely shattered. We tried to clean up as best we could but we will need to purchase a small vacuum to get the bits fallen down the cracks.

Our first stop for the day was to the bike shop to select a bike for me. There was not a lot of choices, actually, there was no choice. I am now a proud owner of a cruiser and if I must have one I am taking the front basket too.

After we had sorted out our bikes and accessories we had a lovely walk around Cape May. The houses and buildings are in the gorgeous Victorian-style and in the most beautiful colours.

Cape May is seaside resort set along the Atlantic Ocean. Not a very pretty beach, although it is always nice to look out onto the ocean.

Next, Back to Walmart to make the vacuum purchase. AND to buy some onions to help the disgusting odour coming from our freezer. We know that smell and that is the result of forgetting seafood in the freezer and turning it off.  Thanks, the previous user.

Quick stop back at the motorhome (we still have the hire car to get around) for a snack and to wait for the bikes to be delivered.

A little try on our bikes for Noah and me. I think I might like this bike!

Out again for more exploring. Sunset Beach (again, nothing special) with its concrete shipwreck and sunsets as well as Cape May Lighthouse, where you are no longer allowed to swim as they have deemed it too dangerous.

So, an ocean rip and current is too dangerous but being shot by a gun is not…

Those crazy Americans 😳…

Our last stop was at Wildwood Cresent Boardwalk and Pier. Lots of large amusement parks, arcades and carnival games and fast food. We too participated in the carnival games and fast food.

There were plenty of people around and the ‘season’ has not yet started. Everything opens fully on Memorial weekend (Memorial Day 2018 – 28 May: last weekend in May to honour all those who died serving in the United States military).

Back to the campground, rides on our new bikes, a campfire, marshmallows and lots of fun in the sun.

I believe the weather could be turning…chilly.

Cape May

Gorgeous Victorian Buildings

Cape May Mall

Please not Rotto 2019!

Beachside Hotel

Victorian Style Houses

Beautiful Colours

Sunset Beach

Beach Combing

Cape May Lighthouse

Amusement Parks

Wildwood Boardwalk

Campfire

New Bikes

Cape May bike shop

Bob and Bobette

Pete had arranged to hire a small car for today so that we could explore Cape May, as well as try and find a few more of things we would like for the motorhome, particularly bikes.

As I have finally started back on a fitness program, I quickly bolted out the door to fit in my 30 minutes run before Pete would be collected by the car hire company, outside the KOA Campground at 8 am.

It was a lovely run up and down the park road to the lake, it was not so lovely realising how far I have to go to get my fitness back :-).

On my return, we have decided to change our plans slightly as Wes is still not well and a day in bed for him is required.

Pete will go off with Noah and run some errands while I stay here with Wes.  We have also discovered that we have no hot water, this could be a whole day in plans broken on just that.

Pete was successful in that he managed to find a printer and bikes, we have not been so successful on the hot waterfront, although after numerous phone calls and runarounds a mechanic from the New Jersey Depot is coming down this evening to see if he can fix it.

Let’s hope so…

Wes and I have spent the entire day inside the motorhome, we did take a small trip to the campground bins.

Hopefully Wes will be a little bit better tomorrow, and we can do some exploring of Cape May.

Pizza and Spaghetti Bolognese on our campsite picnic table enjoying the beautiful evening.  Plus, the mechanic arrived at around 9 pm, hot water should be fixed, fingers crossed.

Poor Wessy

My running track

My work station

Hire car and PJ’s

What a difference a day makes, the last few days it has been a chilly 6 degrees (it did warm up nicely once in New Jersey) and today after a cooler start it will be a warm 30 degrees.

Once we were all awake, fed and clean we continued our trip down to Cape May. We did not see a lot of scenery as most of the trip was on the Garden State Parkway, just lots of fast cars, trucks and tolls.

A few retail stops along the way to pick up more supplies (Homedepot, Rite Food) and then we arrived at the Cape May KOA, New Jersey.

It was already mid-afternoon so after a load of washing, my first run back on a training plan and a little exploration around the campground it was time for dinner.  Sausages, steak and salad, all eaten outside on our lovely picnic table.

A beautiful warm spring day.

Way to Cape May

Our travelling home

First service stop

Run, Shattered!

Our dinner table 🙂

Lakeside Beach

Cape May KOA

Today’s the day we start our Motorhome adventure and the original reason we decided to spend some time in the USA.

When we first started discussing our American Adventure it was all about the motorhome, somehow I  managed to squeeze in a sneaky additional two months of extras, Pete is still unsure how this happened.  In my defence, I was already coming to America (Caz’s 40th Birthday) and it really did not make sense to return to Australia and travel straight back again.

Luckily the motorhome company managed to fit us in an early 9 am pickup. Up early, an Uber to the depot in New Jersey and then a couple of hours of paperwork and motorhome orientation.

Eventually, we were all packed up and ready to go. Well, to Walmart anyway to collect all the extra bits we needed and fill our cupboards with food.

I can’t believe I am saying this but I will be happy to cook simple, clean, plain, healthy food.

Pete is once again driving the motorhome or beast (it’s huge) like a local, although I can tell he is slightly strained.

We have decided to stay in a park close by, not too much driving and enough time to set up and check everything is working.

Not far from Walmart we found a lovely quiet park called Pine Cone Resort (New Jersey) and on arrival, we have been greeted by kids.

It didn’t take long for the boys to warm to them and off they all went to play on the playground. I had been hoping this would happen.

A simple chicken and salad dinner outside on the picnic table and then more time for the kids to play. 

The weather has also warmed up nicely. Let’s hope we find lots of kids for the boys to play with and lots of warm weather on our 4-month motorhome adventure.

Motorhome Depot

Excited!

Our New Home!

She’s Big

Pete killing the driving

It keeps them quiet…

On the road

Pine Cone Resort

When I was in New York in February we had some unexpected lovely mild winter days, we also had some friggin freezing ones too.  End of April, spring, weather should be nice right?

It was when we arrived…

It is 6 degrees this morning, Brrrrrrrrr…

In saying that it was still a wonderful start to the morning walking and meeting Shelley and Marie outside their gorgeous apartment.

Onto the Rockefeller Center, a quick watch of NBC’s Today Show being taped and then breakfast down at the Rockefeller Concourse.

Next, on the Subway heading downtown. First stop the 9/11 Memorial, across to Wall Street, mandatory photos with the Charging Bull and Fearless Girl and then down to Battery Park.

We managed a short view of the Statue of Liberty before the cold and rain sent us in search of a cafe indoors. We found a lovely cosy spot and decided it would be a good place to have lunch.

By this time Marie was starting to fade (she has unfortunately caught a holiday cold) so she decided to take the subway back to their apartment. We would continue uptown to the American Museum of Natural History. With a short stop on route to B&H for Peter.

We spent a couple of hours wandering the museum and then a nice, although cold walk, back to Midtown.

An hour in our own places to regroup and then Marie joined us for our farewell to New York City dinner.

Once again New York has impressed (although we were not expecting the cold weather) and seeing Shelley and Marie again has been wonderful.

We may be able to fit another sneaky trip here before we return to Australia and there is also a chance we may catch Shelley again on our travels.

Let’s hear it for New York, New York, New York, that beautiful concrete jungle where dreams are made of…

Bryant Park

Subway

Noah & Wes

World Trade Center Station

9/11 Memorial

The Survivor Tree (Green)

Wes and his girl

Battery Park

Cosy Cafe

More Subway Rides

Marie you trooper!

Museum of Natural History

Watch Out Noah!

Do we look scary?

The Browns do NYC

Our walk to Midtown

Dinner!

Farewell NYC

We were all up fairly early this morning with a nice layabout before our meet up with Shelley and Marie and we are feeling 90% healthy and refreshed.

It was soon time to go down to the lobby and meet the girls and it was wonderful to chat and catch up with these lovely two. Our end to buffet celebration was a bit premature as the only option for breakfast at the hotel was a buffet and Shelly and Marie had a hotel credit they kindly offered to include us in…buffet breakfast it was.

After I chewed the girl’s ears off for a couple hours, we left them to pack and move to the apartment they will be staying in for a month or so and we went off to explore NYC.

Washing dropped off, Time Square, Rockefeller Center, Bryant Park and Central Park, all wonderful to see again.  Plus, I got new sneakers at the ASICS shop.

The boys finally got time to play and be boys and climb and climb the rocks in Central Park they did, while we enjoyed watching the world go by.

Soon it was time to see Shelley and Marie’s New York home. Even from the entrance with it’s New York City doorman it looked amazing and it did not disappoint once we were inside, even the apartment lifts (or elevators) were grand.  Their corner penthouse apartment (it’s on the top floor :-)) is just gorgeous with views sweeping along Times Square in one direction and New York skyline and Hudson River in the other.  They are going to have a wonderful stay here for sure.

After a good look around and apartment envy, it was time for dinner. We decided to find something close as it was getting cold, nobody felt like venturing far. We found a lovely Italian Restaurant.

After dinner, we said our goodbyes and made plans for an early meeting tomorrow to enjoy the day together.

Times Square

Wes in Times Square

Rockefeller Center

NYC Streets

Central Park Playground

Spring!

Having fun!

Finally…

Central Park

Time to play…

Grand Elevators

View of Times Square

The girl’s new pad

View to the Hudson

Dinner!

Beautiful NYC

Carriage Rides

Taxis and Buses

Both Pete and I did not sleep well last night. Pete was still not well, I never do before a flight and was not feeling great and now poor little Wes is also not feeling the best.

Therefore, we were all rip-roaring to go at 6.30 am for the opening of the breakfast buffet.  The bonus of going at this time means no crowds and hopefully limited sneezes on the food (maybe just from us).

Pete and I celebrated that this could be our last buffet for a while, the boys not so happy.

After breakfast, we went back to the room for the last pack up and rest before our transfer to the airport.

Cuba has been amazing and it is now time to move on and back to the USA with our arrival into New York (my second home) AND we also get to catch up with the beautiful Shelley and Marie again.

Our airport transfer arrived early and we would be thankful for that. They tell you to get to the airport at least 3 hours before your flight and there are many, many good reasons why.

We arrived to a very long queue to check in that was not moving quickly. Not only that, we also had to let in all the locals that decide to arrive late for their flight. Oh look, another one for Miami, hold the plane…

Finally, we were at the front of the line. We took bets on how long the line would take, I won with this process taking over an hour. Check in was probably another 20 minutes. Wes and I were both feeling unwell, this was not helping.

And then, I won again with an extra security check that I was told to “make sure I do”. This involved a separate security line, shoes off, body x-ray and then an individual piece check of my hand luggage.

You would think this would not be too hard but with a group of us waiting for the lucky additional security bag check, the process went something like this: guard talk to other guard, sneeze, pull one thing out of bag, scratch head, talk again to other guard, oh what’s over there, pull another thing out, yawn, chat, play with hair, take another thing out etc. etc.

One lady passenger was dancing while waiting…

Eventually, it was all finished and we could have a sit down. By this stage Wes and I were going down hill fast. Plus, I still had the extra anxiety over us not being seated together, with the boys being separated from us, as well as just having to fly in general.

Hit the jackpot again, an hour flight delay.

Luckily the Peter Brown charm was in use and he managed to sort out all of our seating issues and then it was time to board the plane.

Nice flat quick flight.

We arrived in New York City and to a lengthy wait through immigration.

Next, time to queue for a taxi and a long taxi ride through heavy traffic to arrive at our hotel in Manhattan, Sheraton Times Square.

After settling into our room, Wes and I were at the end of what we could handle for the day. Straight into bed for us while Pete and Noah went for a short walk and grabbed something to eat.

I did not take a single photo today, this only occurred to me as my head hit the pillow.

Thanks to google images I am able to show you how our day kind of went…

Can’t wait to explore New York tomorrow.

Havana Airport

Check in

Waiting to board

Nice flight with Delta

Queue into JFK

NYC Traffic

Sleep

Today we have our tour to the Cuban countryside and Vinales.

We decided to book a private tour which in the end was the same price as the ‘tourist tour’ without the souvenir shops and crowds.

Pete was still not feeling well so at 8 am I took the boys and left him with a day to himself to rest.

It was a long drive but the countryside was beautiful.  We stopped at a local tobacco farm and co-operative, saw mango, pineapple, coffee, and banana plantations.

We passed beautiful mountains and rock formation, murals and even toured an underground cave with a small unexpected boat tour in the cave water.

The road was filled with grazing cows, horses and carts, vintage cars and little farmhouses.

As our guide had limited English and we speak no Spanish (sorry, we can say si and gracias) the tour was a bit of a guess what is up next.  The cave through me a bit but luckily there was a small group just in from of us, and we tagged on to them.

We had a lovely Cuban lunch at a local restaurant and then it was time to turn back to Havana.

The three of us in the back had a little snooze, we made it back alive so I assume the drive did not.

All and all it was a fabulous day.

Cuba has been wonderful and an absolute highlight!

Tourists!

Resting Peacock

Bananas

Pineapple

Farmhouse

Local Hotel

Rock Formations

Watch out, behind you!

Murals

Countryside Streets

Cuban Transport

Driving…

Caves

Surprise, boat tour!

Unexpected Boat Tour

Traditional Restaurant

Lunch View

Cuban Traffic

Traditional Houses

Our Tour Guide

Time for a selfie

Beautiful Countryside

Tobacco storage barn

Tobacco Plantation

Farm Co-operative

Drying Tobacco

Tobacco

Pete was feeling a little bit off late yesterday so we decided not to make any plans and see what the new day brings.

Down to the buffet breakfast, the boys LOVE a buffet of any meal, we are not such fans.

After breakfast, we decided to hire another vintage car to take us to a few more of Havana’s main sights that we had not seen.  A beautiful red 50’s Buick.

Across the city to see Funsterlandia (mosaic art by local artist Jose Fuster), past the coast, back to the Christ of Havana and then finish with the Morro Castle (a sea fortress at the mouth of the harbour).

Back to our room and a casual lunch around the pool.

Pete was still not feeling well and was grateful for a little bit of space and peace so that he could rest.  I decided to take the boys to explore the Hotel Nacional and have a look at their beautiful gardens.  As we were leaving the lights started to go out, ok, no problem.  As we got to the lift they went out again.  Umm, maybe the lift is not such a good idea.

We decided to take the stairs from our level 14 to the lobby, just in case.  The housekeepers needed to let us through their secret door when we couldn’t find the exit.

As we got to the hotel entrance down came the rain, thunder, and lighting.  Us poor Geraldton peeps got scared, we normally stay inside in this sort of weather.

And stay inside we did. The boys and I decided it was best to sit in the lobby bar and watch the world go by. I managed to keep the boys at bay for a few hours with one phone, two Fantas and a couple of champagnes (for me).

Finally, we decided that two and a bit hours was enough. I gave them the, “you must be quiet” drill and we went back to the room.

Pete was feeling a bit better but I am not sure if he will be well enough to take our day tour to Vinales tomorrow.  Maybe a quiet rest day in bed all by himself will be exactly what he needs.

Dinner at the Italian Restaurant with the boys and myself, ready for our big drive tomorrow.

Marina

Fusterlandia

Still Cuba Crusin

Havana’s Murals

Mosaic by Jose Fuster

Sea Fortress

Wessy our love…

The Browns

Back Seat Bogans

Mosaic Art

Nonno. our love…

Havana

Christ of Havana

Morro Castle

Buick and Chauffeurs

Waiting out the rain…

Dinner Dates

I was going to wake the boys early today to get going and start exploring but after such a long day yesterday, I thought it was best to let them sleep.

Once up we went down to the buffet for a nice casual breakfast.

Next, onto the 10 am hotel shuttle into Old Havana.  We spend the next few hours wandering the streets, taking photos and exploring the Museum of the Revolution. We must be the only tourist travelling with kids and as we have no Hispanic heritage, we slightly stand out in the crowd.

It was starting to get warm so we decided the best thing would be to take the 1 pm shuttle back and have some lunch at the hotel.  Delicious lunch of seafood paella and local lobster.

A trip across the road to stock up on water and then back to the room for a little bit of school work and a quiet relax.

In the late afternoon, when the temperature was slightly cooler I took the boys for a walk down the coastal Malecon to Hotel Nacional and left Pete with some time alone.  We were still probably a bit too early as the walk back was quite warm.  The promise of a Sprite when we returned kept the boys from complaining.

People watching at the Piazza across from the hotel and then back for a light dinner around the pool.

Old Havana

Magic Colours

Cuba Mornings

More car photos…

Building obsessed

Vintage Cars

Cobble Stone Streets

Piazzas

Come on in…

How Cubans Roll

Waiting for the shuttle

Noah and Wes

Museum of the Revolution

Lunch

Fidel Castro

Revolution Square

Malecon

View from Museum of the Revolution

More Walking

Hotel Nacional

Cuban Sunsets