Hawaii - 3 O!

Honolulu, Hawaii was our last stop on the way home and was all about the beach.  We also managed to fit in some good shopping, snorkeling and some well deserved massages after our busy trip. 

Whilst we were in Hawaii it was Katherine's 30th birthday!! Very cool place to spend a very special day : )

Waikiki Beach 

Beach time - Waikiki beach

Waikiki Beach 

Some R&R at Waikiki Beach 

Haunamu Bay marine reserve where we snorkeled

Haunamu Bay

Oreo cheescake at The Cheesecake Factory Restaurant, Waikiki

Beautiful sunset Waikiki beach

San Francisco - Alcatraz, Oakland 'A's, Americas Cup & Tahoe

From Vegas we flew to San Francisco. To our surprise we caught a view of the Yosemite bushfire frontline belowing smoke as it ate into the national park. This had been dominating news bulletins in the US as some of the bushfire was largely out of control, quite a sight.

We were both pretty excited about visiting San Francisco, hearing great things about the city itself and of course the America's Cup which Team New Zealand had just qualified to race for.  Our hotel in San Fran was near the waterfront which had amazing views to the Bay Bridge and was just a short 25 minute walk to the America's Cup village. The day after arriving we caught the ferry out to Alcatraz and were treated to close views of the Team NZ and Oracle boats training in the harbour. 

The audio tour of the Alcatraz prison was exceptional.  It led us up and down the cell blocks regaling us with stories of escape attempts and what daily prison life was like. 

On the Saturday we caught up with mates Mojo and Alicia for a tiki tour around San Fran. We ended up chilling out at the Americas Cup village swilling beers on bean bags in the sun watching the Red Bull youth racing series on the big screen.  That evening we caught the BART train out to the Oakland-Alameda County Colosseum to watch the Oakland Athletics take on the Tampa Bay Rays in Major League baseball - we had amazing seats right in behind home plate.  We settled in with hotdogs and beers for a close game where the 'A's (my adopted team) won 2-1.

For the final few days we went out to Lodi and Tahoe to get a bit of an outer city experience of the area. We visited Squaw Valley resort and Lake Tahoe, where unfortunately the smoke from the Yosemite bush fires spoiled the views of the surrounding mountains.  This all cleared on the second day revealing some stunning vistas across the lake.

Flight from Las Vegas to San Francisco - frontline of Yosemite Bushfires 

Watchtower on Alcatraz

Welcome message - Alcatraz was taken over by native American Indians to protest unfair land takeovers by the US Government.

Emirates Team New Zealand training in the harbour

Team NZ (photo taken from Alcatraz)

Alcatraz main prison building facade

Famous inmate Al Capone 'Scarface'

Basic cell layout

Upper deck (an eerie feeling imagining the history of this building) 

View from Alcatraz towards San Francisco 

Alcatraz island

Thumbs down at the foggy Golden Gate Bridge

Whamp whamp = GG Bridge

Beers and beanbags in the sun

Beers in the sun at the Americas Cup Village on the waterfront

Oakland 'A's vs Tampa Bay Rays baseball game

Go 'A's!!

After the baseball

Hiking near Tahoe

Squaw Valley Tahoe

Riding the Cable Cars in San Fran

Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista - a San Fran institution

Vegas BABY!!

On our way to the west coast we made a pit stop in Vegas for a couple of nights.  We stayed at Planet Hollywood in a cheaper (since it was midweek) but very flash suite! We spent our time wandering along the strip and continually ducking into casinos for a game here and there to keep out of the immense heat up around 40 degrees. 

Roulette was our game, had a few good runs but the wheels came off and we cashed out slightly up and threw that at dinner at Gordon Ramsey's burger restaurant which was excellent.  Sweet potato hand cut fries with icing sugar?! yes!  The evening on the strip was very impressive, water fountain displays outside the Bellagio, big screens everywhere.  It made Times Square look pretty small scale I reckon.  We finished our stay with a Cirque de Soleil show 'Mystere' at Treasure Island, very very good.
  

Planet Hollywood

Ramsey's Restaurant - Burgr

Paris Casino

Dinner out

'Welcome to Las Vegas'

The show we saw

Blame Canada! Toronto, Niagra Falls, Cedar Salmon and Manford

From NYC we flew up to Toronto and stayed with Abo and Mel. We spent a sunny day out at the epic Niagara falls, (only a 90 min drive away) and we were treated to some Canadian culinary delights - cedarwood smoked salmon and maple bacon.  This is hands down the best salmon and bacon I've ever tasted, jebus.  I cannot however side with the 'Clamato' juice which is made of clam extract and tomato juice urgh, the ole 'but it's good for you' didn't quite get me across the line, sorry Mel haha. 

Also caught up with Wellington old boy Mitch 'BB' Buchanan, sporting a black eye and a tale to tell.  To top it all off we went to see Manford and Sons at the Molson Amphitheater with Abo's United Nation mates which was grand. Nice work Toronto.

Flight from NYC to Toronto - view of Niagara Falls...jackpot

America Falls (Canada on our side, America on the other side)

America falls (left) Niagra Falls (right)

Niagra

CN Tower - a Toronto landmark that looks suspiciously like the Auckland Sky Tower

Street art Kensington area

Street art Kensington

 Manford crew @ Molson

The Big Apple - New York City

Our first stop on the way home from Edinburgh was New York City 'The Big Apple'.  We flew into JFK International airport and immediately spotted a distant view of the famous Manhattan skyline partly concealed in a veil of smog.  Temperatures were well into the 30's and below ground in the subway this heat was even worse - thankfully the subway train cars were air-conditioned!  After about an hour on the subway we made our way to our hotel in Queens and were instantly impressed with the politeness and helpfulness of New Yorkers when asking for directions.  

Each day we caught a short 5 minute subway train from Queens onto Manhattan Island. New York is an extremely compact city, which is demonstrated by the masses of high rise buildings towering above the streets. In parts of New York the buildings were so tall they completely shaded the street below on a sunny day.  

Muc h of our time was spent visting touristy landmarks and areas of New York that have become so familiar to Kiwi's from american tv programs based in NYC.  We visited Battery Park where we saw the Statue of Liberty, the Wall Street bull (no longer on wall street, now located in bowling green park), Wall Street, the Empire State building, Times Square at night, the Brooklyn Bridge, World Trade Centre memorial and a Broadway show – Wicked, the tale of the witches of OZ.

We dived into typical New Yorker foods and sampled New York pizza and buffalo wings and visited the Metropolitan Art Gallery (The Met).

Statue of Liberty

Wall Street

Freedom tower ferrari (near the 9/11 memorial)

9/11 Memorial  - 9m inverted waterfall in the footprint of each of the twin towers.  The names of each person who died are etched in a steel plaque around the edge. A very moving memorial.

Empire State Building

Times Square

PIZZA!!

Wall Street Bull

Set of Wicked on Broadway