True Story : I Wrestled A Gator!*

I'm back! After nearly a month travelling in Florida and the Galapagos Islands I'm back at home, with the dogs and the builders and the dust (I'd forgotten about the dust!). It was a pretty amazing trip - the Galapagos Islands were everything we'd hoped for and more. But before I get into the (relatively) highbrow, nature lovers paradise that was the Galapagos I wanted to tell you that I wrestled an alligator! 

Well...I sort of wrestled an alligator. Okay, I didn't actually wrestle it. At all. Our guide and the step-sons wrangled the gator, I just sat on it (which, on reflection, just sounds a bit weird really…) 

Let's back up a bit. We had to go to Orlando for a convention, and we had a day or two to spare. The accepted thing to do when you go to Orlando is visit the theme parks. But the thought of dealing with all those crowds and queues and the awful theme park food had us slightly terrified. Not to mention the fact that I hate roller coasters. So instead we booked a behind the scenes tour at the wonderfully named Gatorland. 

I'll be honest and say our expectations were lowish going in, but it turned out to be completely, utterly awesome. Our guide was hilarious and passionate and clearly loved the reptilian critters he worked with every day. He regaled us with tales of dog eating gators and croc handling slip ups and rescuing cockatoos from hungry jaws. 

We met a giant tortoise who liked having his neck scratched; a baby gator, a small scorpion and a very big spider; and a family of incredibly rare white gators. We got to do things that felt like they were right on the edge of safe. We stood on a sandy island and threw chunks of meat at a hoard of giant hungry gators; in the middle of a gator infested pond there was just us and two guys with sticks and a bucket of meat. And then we got rather hands on with one especially accommodating fellow. It's not an opportunity to say no to is it? 

Ps. If you go gator wrestling do make sure you wear a more appropriate outfit than I did. Jeans and a tee would have much more suitable than my shortish dress… 

*Sort of

Pills! And other American tales...

Although we ended up having a fabulous time in the US, it's safe to say that America and I did not get off on the right foot this visit. You see, just about the moment we touched down at McCarran International Airport I realised I'd forgotten to pack my trusty pills - the daily ones that help regulate my pesky hormones and stop me getting pregnant. Oops. 

If I was in Hong Kong or Thailand I'd just stroll to the nearest pharmacy (and there'd likely be one on the next street corner) and pick up a pack to tide me over. But I was in America, a place where reproductive health is a bit of a touchy topic at the moment (see also 'war on women'). 

Straight off the plane I did a quick Google to get the lay of the land (so to speak) and it left me fearing poking and prodding and testing. Chats with two different yet equally sceptical/unfriendly/judgemental concierges (both female) didn't make me feel any more comfortable with the whole situation. 

After many dead ends I was finally referred to the hotel doctor, who berated me for - among other things - laughing on the phone (he clearly didn't think I was taking my reproductive health seriously enough). Did I mention I'd just gotten off a long haul flight? And hadn't eaten? And was possibly delirious? 

Anyway, long story short, there was a knight in shining armour in the end. Or, more accurately, a Walgreens pharmicist in a lab coat. I may have cried. She may have been awesome. No! She WAS awesome. Another Google to find the active ingredients in my usual meds, a search of the shelves to find a match, a quick call to the grumpy doc to get the okay and voila! Crisis over. 

The lesson - ladies, when you travel to America don't forget your pill. And, by the way, I noticed our hotel mini bar was well stocked with condoms. I know there are health issues associated with oral contraception so it's a bit more complicated but at the (emotionally fraught) time it did make me think - if you want control over your reproductive health, best not to have lady parts. 

[Speaking of lady parts, if you're easily offended by naked lady bits don't try too hard to figure out what is lying on the immaculate Vegas lawn in the photo below...]

 

The lovely Walgreens pharmacist reaffirmed my faith in America - just when it seemed every man and his dog wanted to have a say in my life, she made me think that maybe it really is a society built around convenience, choice and freedom. 

She also reaffirmed my love of Walgreens. I am obsessed with the place. I think I visited almost everyday. I bought five different mascaras, lingered longingly in the snack aisle and stocked up on all kinds of wonderful over-the-counter medication (Nyqil! Robitussin! The pretty blue one that helps me get over jet lag!). I realise this makes me sound like some kind of pill popping freak. I'm not, I promise. It's just that the strongest over-the-counter medicine you can get in Korea is a hangover cure that tastes like bee urine (or so I'm told), and this is after they've relaxed the regulations.

Other American things: 

- At one of the Vegas bars where we were having a pre-dinner drink or three, there was a DJ who was Goldmember! Helmet hair, stilted dance moves and all. And he played Gotye. It was pretty great. (On second thoughts, it would have been even greater if he was actually wearing roller skates...) 

- There are three main differences between a reasonably priced hotel room in Vegas and an outlandishly priced one: double glazing or lack thereof, the size of the bathroom, and the level of smoke stench. We had a reasonably priced one on this visit.

- Vegas is possibly the best place on earth to be jet lagged. Wide awake at 4 in the morning? Go say hi to the cleaners on the casino floor, grab a vodka and orange juice and maybe tuck into a plate of hotcakes (American breakfasts! Oh my!).

- I have a serious, serious mac 'n' cheese problem. I go weak at the knees anytime I see a bubbling mass of pasta with that gooey, creamy sauce. Y to the um.

- The outer fringes of Orlando suck. It's an un-walkable soulless wasteland with not even one token 'gator napping by the roadside to brighten things up. But the shopping is quite enjoyable. And did I mention the mac 'n' cheese? (Orlandians - please don't send hate mail. I'm sure there are nice bits. Somewhere.)

Holiday Slideshow : San Francisco

The last stop on out US adventure was San Francisco.  San Fran has a special place in my travel memories - it was the first American city I ever visited, and what a wonderful introduction to America it was!  I have fond memories of warm days spent wandering up and down hills, lazily admiring the gorgeous 'Painted Ladies', eating delicious chewy crust pizza, smelling the sea salt in the air and just generally picturing myself becoming a local.  

And this visit was really more of the same.  We ate great food, held our noses while laughing at the antics of the Pier 39 sea lions, caught a cable car up a ridiculously steep hill, admired the city from the top of Coit Tower and watched the mist roll over the city.  

We also visited Alcatraz where I took roughly half a million photos, which was actually quite restrained considering...

Holiday Slideshow : Vegas baby!*

I adore Vegas.  It's one of those only-in-America places.  These days you might find similarily ridiculous over-the-top, just-because-we-can, ostentatiousness in places like Macau and Dubai, but they don't come with the history, heart and sense of pure fun that you find in Vegas.

If you google 'kids in Vegas' you'll find all kinds of sites telling you that Vegas is not a family holiday destination.  But both the step-sons loved Vegas - in the post trip review that we always do, Vegas was the bit that everyone agreed was completely ace. (FYI, the step-sons are 11 and 13 years old.  Also FYI, we don't gamble.)

They were intrigued by the stories of how Vegas was developed, they loved the idea that all this crazy stuff was built just for fun, and they never got tired of making jokes about France being right next door to Egypt which was right next door to New York... They loved all the great meals (especially one at Switch - a super tasty steakhouse in the Wynn where the decor changes every 20 minutes or so), and the view from our amazing room at the Bellagio (see photo above).  Vegas was a hit - and that's even though we didn't have time to visit the sharks at Mandalay Bay, ride the roller coaster at New York, New York, or even go for a swim!

Probably the most amazing thing we did in Vegas was a helicopter ride out to the Grand Canyon, via the Hoover Dam and all kinds of amazing desert landscapes.  The weather wasn't great - there was a lot of rain and mist about - which meant we couldn't land in the Canyon, but it was still pretty amazing.

Seeing as I have inherited my Mum's dislike of flying, small spaces and heights this part of the trip was somewhat challenging for me.  Especially as the pilot decided the front seat was the best place to put me.  I was basically in a perspex bubble, vibrating high above the earth.  For the first 45 minutes I was completely kind of freaking out, much to the amusement of my fellow passengers.  

If you haven't experienced that kind of panic before, it's like your brain just constantly screams at you 'get out NOW', but you can't, so you're trapped, and it's not very fun, at all.  And also clearly not very logical.  And a bit embarrassing, especially once the swearing kicks in.  I've found ways to calm myself down (counting is good, as is photography - they give me something else to focus on).  And once my body/brain got used to the way the chopper moved it was all okay.  So for the last 45 minutes I was actually able to stop freaking out and enjoy the views.

*As we helpfully taught the step sons on this trip, you can never ever just say 'Vegas'.  It's always always 'Vegas, baby!'.

Holiday Slideshow : Hoover Dam!*

Before we hit the bright lights of Vegas (baby) we headed to Hoover Dam.  I had pretty low expectations here because when it comes to giant feats of engineering and historical milestones I've really only got about five minutes of 'wow, that's cool' or 'hmmm, interesting' in me before I start getting bored, bored, bored.  So it was a pleasant surprise to find that the Hoover Dam was in fact amazing.  A prefect combination of stunning natural scenery and grand human design, with just enough interesting factual tidbits scattered about the place.  

It was built in the early-mid 1930s, and the public areas were purposefully designed to be beautiful, so there are all kinds of gorgeous Art Deco touches everywhere.  Whilst everyone else on our tour was agog at how much cement was needed to build the thing (over 5,000,000,000 barrels if you're curious), I was obsessing over light fittings and tiles and mosaics and fonts and the way the tunnels curved just so. It was wonderful!

*Said in Penguins of Madagascar style, aka this.

Holiday Slideshow : Death Valley

These pics were taken at Zabriskie Point, in Death Valley.  Pretty amazing huh?  Death Valley is pretty amazing actually - apparently it's one of the hottest, driest, lowest places on earth (I was pretty glad we were there in the cool season, I imagine it would be almost unbearable in Summer).  There's peaks and troughs and giant salt plains; there's sand and stone of all colours and mighty, ferocious winds.  And apparently some scenes from the original Star Wars were filmed there.  Awesome.

With all these wonderful natural patterns around me, I couldn't resist taking a few black and white shots. I think Death Valley looks pretty great sans colour, don't you?

Holiday Slideshow : Mammoth to Death Valley

I'm back in Seoul and loving sorting out our US holiday photos - it was a seriously great trip, with lots and lots of good things packed in.  So, let the holiday slide show begin!

After our ice skating skiing in Mammoth we picked up our hire car (a giant leather-lined boat of a thing that the hire car guy called a 'pimp-mobile'!) and had a most amazing drive through to Death Valley (during which we were listening to our US road trip playlist, of course!).  

For most of the drive we had the misty Sierra Nevada on one side, and the arid White/Inyo Mountains on the other, with unbelievably vast lengths of straight road stretching out in front of us.  It was some of the most spectacular, wondrous scenery that I've ever had the pleasure of seeing - other worldly and oh so majestic.

Hello!  How are you?  We are all jet lagged but well and happy and full to the brim with mac 'n' cheese and Reese's peanut butter cups.  At the moment we are in the stunningly beautiful Mammoth Lakes, California.  It's been lovely - blue skies, gorgeous views, the scent of pine in the air. 

I've realised that it's a bit tricky to ski with a DSLR hanging off your shoulder, so I'm afraid all I've got are a handful of iPhone Instagram-ed pics that in no way do justice to the sweeping majesty of it all. Especially as most of them are snapped in a haphazard, super fast manner so I can get my ski gloves back on before losing a finger to frost bite...

I've also realised there's an upside to jet lag.  Because it means all the non sleeping people get to sit up in the wee hours, and talk and laugh and watch TV - namely Animal Planet (I can highly recommend Gator Boys for late night viewing) and ridiculous tele-marketing ads (I think all of us now secretly want a RoboStir).

Anyway, Mammoth is amazing.  Fantastic food, fabulous facilities, friendly folk (too many effs, maybe?). This winter has been a bit mild, so there's not a great deal of snow.  We've spent a lot of time skating over rock hard ice instead of skiing (and panicking about snapping a leg in half due to the hard and fast snow conditions, though I have a feeling I'm the only one panicking...).  They're predicting one of the first big snow storms of the season to hit in the next day or so - just in time for our drive to Death Valley!  Oh weather, you fickle thing you!

US road trip playlist : Suggestions wanted!

[Nostalgic by f2images]

Our 2012 travel is about to begin, and it's beginning with a bang!  On Sunday we are flying out to San Francisco (and somehow landing before we take off, which never ceases to amuse me), meeting up with the step-sons and then embarking on a bit of a US adventure!  There'll be skiing in Mammoth, followed by a drive through Death Valley.  Then it's on to the bright lights of Vegas, an aerial view of the Grand Canyon, and finishing off with a few days in the lovely San Francisco.  

I can not possibly explain how excited I am about this trip!  Not only are we re-visitng two of my favourite cities, but I'm also going to see some iconic parts of the US that I've never seen before.  And more than that it's the boys first trip to the US - it's going to be so much fun to show them around!

They don't watch a lot of American TV (although the oldest' new favourite thing to watch is The Daily Show, that boy has damn fine taste!) but they have soaked up their fair share of American cultural references (see the celebration of junk food in Over the Hedge, the New Yorkers in Madagascar, and pretty much everything in the Toy Story trilogy).  So, as well as all the big fun stuff we have planned, I'm ridiculously excited about all the little fun things - like visiting a supermarket to gawk at the cereal aisle. Oh, and the food!  Tex mex, steak houses, buffalo wings and sliders served bar-side, a tower of hotcakes for breakfast and Reese's peanut butter cups!  Oh my!

We have a car for a few days, where we'll be driving from Mammoth to Las Vegas, and I'm putting together a road trip playlist.  I want all American artists, and I'm going for a kind of folksy country dreamy driving feel.  Here's what I've got so far:

Then there'll be some Neil Young, Simon and Garfunkle, maybe some Bruce Springsteen?  I'd really like to have Beth Orton on there, but she's Bristish...

So, over to you - if you've got any suggestions sing them out please!