Happy 4th of July

No.66 on my 101 list is to book a holiday to the States. I have actually been to the States twice, as my husband worked out there for a wee bit. The first time we went the kids came too and we all flew out together. We stayed with one of Babes work colleagues in Lafayette, Louisiana. It was an amazing trip.

I will never forget though, when we landed in Houston we went outside for a bit of fresh air and when the automatic doors opened and the heat hit us, it was like walking in to a solid wall.

We took a trip to New Orleans and went on a paddle steamer up the Mississippi river to an old battlefield. Fascinating stuff. We also went to Bourbon Street, now there's an eye opener.

The second time I went out alone to join Babes for his last week there before he came home for good.

Americans are not what I thought they would be. The ones I met were charming and polite even in the supermarket, if the aisles were busy with trolley's, people would say "after you ma'am" to let you past, unlike here where some people just ram you with the trolley to get past. The neighbourhoods were fascinating as well, you would be driving along past all these fabulous plantation type houses belonging to doctors and lawyers, then you'd reach a crossroads and on the next block would be battered old shacks and people walking barefoot dressed in rags.

Anyway, I loved it there and definitely want to go back and explore more of the States. Babes and I were supposed to go on a Amtrak train tour, in May this year, covering New York, Philadelphia and Washington but sadly we had to cancel it (losing our bloody deposit gggrrr). I guess I could have marked the task as completed as we did book it, but since we didn't actually get to go, I have decided to leave it as not achieved until we finally make a trip.