USA food tour- LA, Las Vegas, Colorado, Chicago and Minneapolis

It's been a while since my last post, but moving to a new place every four days doesn't always leave much time to sit for an hour and write! But I now have all of the time in the world to get you up to date....

One of the main things I look forward to doing in the US is eating all the food that I can't get back in Australia. Also seeing family and friends is pretty good too! So be prepared to hear a lot about food... my other favourite passtime besides travelling.

I arrived in Los Angeles on the 7th of May and was able to find my way to my hostel in Hermosa Beach. I had the most beautiful view of the beach from my dorm room. I didn't do much on the first day as I was absolutely exhausted and had the worst headache. The second day I was there I walked down to Redondo pier, where they have a few small shops and restaurants. There is also a lot of people who fish off the pier. My two goals for Redondo pier were to have clam chowder and a churro (long dougnut), as there were the things we got as a family when we visited there. To my utter disappointment they do not sell the chowder on weekdays, so I just had to settle for a churro instead, what a shame. I then walked along the main road until I found Joe's, a restaurant that my mum used to go to when she lived in the area in the 70's. I then proceeded to have my lunch - which was massive - and then waddle back to my hostel. Along the beaches in LA there is this huge bike track that pretty much follows the beach up to Santa Monica and beyond. As a family we normally hired bikes and road up to El Segundo (where the sewer meets the sea), then back to Redondo or Hermosa Beach. I, however, rode from my hostel in Hermosa all the way up to Santa Monica and back; 50 kms of bike riding altogether! Mind you I had a very sore bottom for the next few days!

My third day in LA I wanted to go up to Hollywood and see all of the stars in the sidewalk and the hand and footprints. After taking buses and mutiple transfers in trains I finally got there . My one goal was to find Johnny Depp's star and his hand and footprints, as I am slightly obsessed by him (may also be a slight understatement!). I did find some other people's stars as well, so it was quite exciting to see all of these names I knew of on the street. I went to Grauman's Chinese Theatre which is the place with all of the hand and footprints, and that was amazing. They had so many different sets of prints in such a small area. I did find Johnny Depp's, but also found ones for Harry Potter - Harry's, Ron's and Hermione's- and Star Wars. I was also able to find Johnny Depp's star, and then found a star for Winnie the Pooh and Donald Duck by the Disney store. Then I caught the train up a bit further to arrive by Universal Studios. I didn't go into the theme park, but they have a "City Walk" which is an area of shops by the park that anyone can go into without paying. So I did that for awhile, then headed back towards my Hostel. I was going to try and go to a tiny little Mexican restaurant in Manhattan beach, which has AMAZING Mexican food, but I was so exhuasted from the day that I couldn't be bothered going there and then getting back to my Hostel again. The only negative part of my time in LA was the three 22 year old Aussie guys that were in the same room as me for the last two nights. I had forgotten how annoying 22 year olds can be when in another country and surrounded by bars! I was quite happy to leave that room the next day! The actual hostel was fantastic though.

My next stop was Las Vegas to visit my aunt Lori. The first night we were there we went to a casino across the road from her complex and had Mexican food! It was my first (of many) Mexican meals and it was so so tasty. I really love Mexican food and Australia just doesn't have the extent of it that's in the US. Then we went to an outdoor shopping area nearby and had a look at some of the stores there before getting some frozen yogurt. The next day we went down to the strip (where all of the huge casinos are) and went to the Mirage where they have Seigfreid and Roy's Secret Garden since they don't do the Tiger shows anymore. In the garden they had three dolphin pools, llamas and of course the white tigers. There were so many of them, at least 10 - not all in the same enclosure though! A few of them had just come into the enclosures, and so were quite playful. Lori and I had a great time watching them. We then went across to the Miracle Mile shops and had a look around there before grabbing some lunch at this hot dog place. We then traipsed over to the Paris casino and had a wander around there looking at all of the shops. It always amazes me how theme-ised the casinos are, the decor around the Paris casino - at least in the shopping area- does seem like Paris. We then went to one of her colleagues daughters graduation party, so it was nice to meet some of the people she worked with. we then went back to the Mirage to see the volcano eruption. They had changed it since I had last seen it and I was quite disappointed, I like the old one a lot better. We were hoping to go the Pirate show at Treasure Island, but it was really windy out so it wouldn't have been on. Slightly disappointed but that's also changed since I was little, more women 'pirates' who don't seem to wear a lot. Definately not as cool as the sword fights and the pirate ship sinking. Lori and I went back to Town Square and had crepes, which we were very lucky to keep as the wind kept blowing everything everywhere - I almost lost my crepes a few times!

My next day in Las Vegas I had a bludge day as Lori was working. I had planned to go out to the pool and sunbake/swim, but the weather wasn't the best and it started to rain when I went out. we did go and see Letters to Juliette that night, a very cute movie, plus the scenery was beautiful. Lori and I started out our next day by going to the strip again and having a look at some of the fun stores nearby- including a four level M&M's store- so amazing! We then went and had brunch at the Palms. I have never eaten so much food in my entire life, I literally rolled out of the casino. It was mainly Mexican food, but they had amazing french toast as well. They also had unlimited margaritas! we went back to Town Square again and did some window shopping, then headed back to the strip and watched the water fountains at the Belagio, which was really fun to watch, especially when the fountains moved with the background music that was playing - One. So that was pretty much my stay in Las Vegas- also had four cats to entertain myself with, though didn't really see one until the day I left. I had Raven watch me intently when I was eating lunch one day, which was really amusing!

It was now the 14th and I was off to Denver, Colorado to visit my mum's friend Karen and her daughter Amy who is the same age as me. I was met at the airport by Karen, Amy and Amy's fiancé Cameron. After going back to Amy and Cam's appartment, dropping my things off and showering we headed up to Blackhawk - a casino area outside of Denver. Though we did stop fior dinner at a Mexican place... It was a really fun night even though I didn't win anything over $2 despite Amy and Cam's best efforts! They did have a really cool Wizard of Oz slot machine (Pokies) that makes sounds and vibrates.

The next day was very relaxing and chilled out - went and got food for a barbeque and Karen came by a bit later. So I worked on my tan and had a quick dip in the pool. Later that night we went to see Amy at her work (a bar nearby) and had a few drinks and a bit to eat. One thing I found while I was in Denver was that I lost my appetite. Normally I'm hungry all the time (as my family and Scott will tell you) and need my three meals a day, but in Denver I just wasn't hungry.. it was very bizarre! I introduced Cam to a bunch of Australian comedians via youtube and he liked them much better than some of the American comedians (go Australia!), so that was really fun.

My third day day in Denver Karen, Amy and I went to see the Cave of the Winds outside of Denver. The scenery around Denver is just amazing, these huge mountains jutting up - some of them still had snow on them. It's just breathtaking. The Cave of the winds was pretty interesting too - some of the caves were huge and others quite small - but they all had stalgmites and stalagtites. The funniest thing was when our guide was taking about two ribbons in the cave (type of formation), and said of course the big one was called Colorado, and the smaller one was Texas, to which he said hopefully no one is from Texas. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Texas - they always have the biggest and best of everything (since they are the largest state). Well we had a little boy (maybe 9 or 10) who sais he was from Texas andwas adamant that Texas is the best state! It was really funny.We also bypassed an expensive resort nearby and had a look around - very pretty surroundings! Amy, Cam and I ended the day by playing scategories, which I have never played and that was a lot of fun- though not so much when Amy's glass of red wine spilled on the carpet..oops!

My last full day in Denver Amy, Cam and I took their dogs Bo and Jade to the dog park. Bo got used to me very quickly during my stay - he looks exactly like Chance from Homeward Bound, and acts like him too! Jade, however, had her moments. Most of which were running away from me! She acted very much like our family dog Kia - barks and barks but is really a woos! The three of us went to a Six Flags park with lots of roller coasters. I love roller coasters so I couldn't wait to go one all of them. We went on the first one which goes up really high, then does a few loops, then goes up high again and you do the whole thing going backwards. It was really fun, but it took me a while to recover from it, the same as Amy and Cam. After a second roller coaster (no upside down bits this time), the three of us came tyo the conclusion that we can't handle going on roller coasters near as much as we used tgo be able to! The sad realisation we were growing older. I stayed at Karen's that night (with her two dogs and two cats) as we both had early flights the next morning.

I arrived in Chicago on the 18th and was met at the aiport by my second cousin Steve, who I met once years and years ago when we had a massive water fight at my grandma's house. I stayed with my mum's cousin Sarah and her husband Alan, who I also only remember meeting once. I went out that night with Steve and two of his friends - where Steve and I had hamburgers for the second time that day! We then went to the Goldmax theatres, like the Gold Class in Australia, to watch the A-Team. The movie was pretty good, but what was better was the comfy chairs and the blanket you could get AND the most amazing popcorn ever. Caramel covered popcorn drizzled with white and dark chocolate- so incredibly tasty! there was so much of it too - I had enough at one stage but kept eating it because it just tasted so good!

The next day I went to another Mexican restaurant (what a surprise!) with Steve, Sarah and Sarah's friend. It was this little hole in the wall place near where Steve works, and the steak tacos were amazing. We then went to a local winery nearby where Sarah and Steve live, and I did a sampling. They were pretty good - definately liked the reds better - the whites were just too sweet for me! I then did a bit more window shopping later that day. My third day there was Father's day in the US, so I went into downtown Chicago with Sarah, Alan, and Steve. We went to Millenium park first which has these two fountains that have pictures of people's faces on them, no one in particular just everyday people. What's even more amazing is that the faces on these fountain walls move and change, and they also spout water out from their mouths from time to time. We then went and saw this giant bean, all aluminium and so there are just these amazing reflections of the city against it. When you go under the bean and look up, there are like 100 different reflections of all the people underneath, it's really incredible. After wandering around Millenium park for a bit longer, we went down to the river to go on an architecture tour along the Chicago river. There are some amazing buildings along the river, all built in different era's with so many different influences. The reflections off the buildings were pretty amazing too. After going down part of the river and turning back the tour went out to lake Michigan, but needed to go through the lock first as they made the river lower so it wouldn't flow back into the Lake.

My last day in Chicago I went back into the downtown area to go to the art museum there. It is one of the most amazing art museums I have been to, not that I have been to many. What amazed me more is that you could take pictures of all of the permenant exhibits, and there were a lot of those. The impressionist and post-impressionist sections were awe inspiring as some of these well known art works that I studied in high school and use for teaching were there. I saw La Grande Jatte - Seurat's most well known art work. I was able to go so close and I could actually see the individual dots that he made. I was just gob-struck. They had so many Monet's there, the series of haystacks, water lillies. There was also a bunch of Degas works - my absolute favourite artist, and some of his sculptures as well. I was very happy after all of that. I then started to walk back to the train station but decided to make a detour to the Sears Tower - or Willis Tower that is now called. Besides the amazing views of Chicago and beyond - you can apparently see four states on a clear day - there is also the Sky deck, which is a clear window box that jutts out about a metre or so into thin air so that you are standing 400 metres up in the air looking down into the traffic below. I don't like heights, especially when I can see the ground below me or walking on something very high up and very narrow. So I figured that I would just look at the views from the top and not venture out onto the box. Guess where I ended up? It wasn't actually too bad when I got on there, my heart was pounding a little faster than normal, but I wasn't freaking out because I was so hihg up. So I was extremely impressed with myself for that accomplishment!

Whilst I was in Chicago I also had the company of two dogs - Maxi and Brianna. Brianna doesn't like people and I was no exception, so she barked at me each time I came downstairs, but she didn't bark too much after that, so that was nice. She also ran away from me when I tried to get near her. I did get a lot of attention from Maxi though, such a funny dog!

My next stop was Minneapolis where my uncle Fred and aunt Vicky live. I've been to Minneapolis a lot so there were some set things I wanted to do, and I was able to do most, so pretty happy about that. My first full day there I went to the Mall of America with Fred, and we went to the aquarium there as there was a new shark exhibit he wanted to see. It was a pretty decent sized aquarium, I definately enjoyed the jellyfish tanks the most. Especialy since they were inside the tanks and no way of stinging me! Fred left after that and I spent the rest of my day wandering around the hundreds of shops there. Did not buy a single thing though, which I was quite impressed by. Inside the mall they have an amusement park - used to be Camp Snoopy but now is a Niclelodeon themed park. Me and my brother David would always go on the roller coaster, so my plan was to go on the roller coaster once. However I could only buy a ticket that I could get five rides on - I really only wanted the one! So no roller coaster for me :( Next time hopefully. After the mall of America I went out to dinner at Perkins (check!) with Fred and Vicky, and had blueberry pancakes for dinner - they were amazing! We used to go to Perkins for breakfast, so perkins for dinner with breakfast food was pretty good!

The next day the three of us went to the farmers market - Vicky was hoping that they would be in full swing, with tonnes of fresh produce markets and food stalls, there wasn't though :( still had quite a bit there for a Thursday. We then went to the Mill Museum in the downtown area. That was really interesting, I learnt a lot of about the establishment of Minneapolis and what a huge effect the flour mills had on its population and expansion as a city. After visiting the city umpteen amount of times it was good to hear about its history. Outside the museum was the Mississippi river - used to generate electricity for the mills, the stone arch bridge and St Anthony falls, it's actually a really pretty area. That evening after dinner (at a Tex-Mex place), my great Uncle Frank had tried to call Vicky, to which we couldn't get a hold of him. So we went to his appartment complex to be told he had been in hospital the previous day and the recptionist wasn't sure if he was back yet, so we went to the hospital to find out he had been released that morning. So we tried another place to see if he was there and he wasn't, so back to the appartment we went to find that he was there but his phone had stopped working. So in the end I was able to see Uncle Frank (check!), and for 93 he is looking really well. Plus he still remembered me so I was pretty excited about that!

My last full day in Minneapolis (the 25th) I went out to Minnehaha Falls with Fred. The last time I was there the flow of the waterfall wasn't very big, so I was quite happy to see a difference this time with a larger flow! The park surrounding the falls was really pretty too. I forgot how green everything gets in the US - at least in the more northerly regions. The trees and bushes in Australia are green, but its that more blue green or brown green, here it's like this grenn green, the plants are just so green. I was going to send a package home opf stuff I had bought so far, but it was going to cost me about $60 US for a little tiny package as they don't send things by ship or surface mail anymore - so I'm waiting a bit longer! I went to Knollwood in the afternoon (check!) which is a small shopping centre near my uncle and where we used to go to all of the time. It's not as great as it used to be - there used to be so many little shops there and so busy, but now there are not as many shops and definately not busy. Last time we were there a lot of the shops had closed, so I wasn't too surprised, but still made me a bit sad. we had a few visitors that afternoon - Lori was in Minneapolis for a few days while I was there, so I was able to see her again which was good. Fred and Vicky had planned to take me to a comedy place that evening, though the weather had different plans for us! There was a huge thunderstorm that came through, no tornado warnings for St Louis Park, but outside of the city there were. We decided to stay in for the night and watch a movie instead.

So I am sure you have had enough to read for now, and I've had enough of typing! I'll pick up next time from the time I spent in Racine, New York and Boston.