Monday, September 27, 2010

Chicago


Saw this and thought of mum and her serious addiction to cooking...miss home meals already!
Jazz in the park...with a beer and our very own ´hostel´ made pasta.
This photo was taken quite early on. We got there at 6, an hour before the jazz started, and found ourselves a good spot. Little did we know what we had in store! By the time the show started hundreds of people started to arrive and we might as well of had people sitting on our laps! If a tiny bit of grass was showing between our blanket (sheet from the hostel!) and the next persons then somebody would sit there. We even had people come along a place a chair right in front of us...it really was a dog eat dog war! We could only laugh but it was a great night just chilling with a live jazz band. 
The jazz stage all lit up at night fall.
Day two in Chicago we headed to the Lincoln Park zoo...best zoo we´ve ever been to and it was free!
A seal show we went to see. It wasn´t a cruel touristy show it was an open viewing of the zoo keepers making the animals do certain things to check the health and fitness of the animals. If the different animals didnt want to take part then the keeps left them alone. Here the seal is waving so that the keepers can check its flippers for any damage. The shows are only once every other day so we were lucky to catch it.

Otters...these guys were so funny.

Seal coming to say hello...I won´t bore you with too many animal clips I promise!
Leopard...gorgeous animal!


Russ thought it´d be funny for me to have a photo taken with the bears nuts! NICE!

This hippo had a massive enclosure but this part was literally a pool full of fish. The hippo would literally flop into the water, walk along the ground of the pool stepping on anything in its way and catch whatever fish he fancied for dinner. Catching the fish was so effortless. He just swam/walked, opened his mouth and an fish, in the wrong place at the wrong time, just ended up in his stomach within seconds! 

The lion enclosure
Perparing dinner at the hostel...Spaghetti Bolognese. Was so amazing...oh the little pleasures in life!

Chicago down town at night

We wanted to see a show and this was the cheapest! Circque de soleil. I don´t know how we managed it but we had to practically ran across from our hostel to the other side of downtown Chicago to get to the show on time. By the time we were there and got over and sweating and panting the show was over. It only lasted about an hour!
Most impressive part of the show. This was a sphere cage with three motorcyclist going around the inside walls at all angles while a man stood in the centre! Crazy! (Reminded me of the episode of the Simpsons where Homer has loads of attempts to ride one full vertical lap of the cage to win money)and keeps landing on his head!)



Navy Pier was a great place day or night with loads of entertainment, bars, fun rides, shops and restaurants.

Looking back at the sky scrapers from the pier...stunning!
We asked an old guy to take this photo and he really didn´t have a clue! We had 2 pictures of his nose before this one!!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Camping in Devils lake (by Lake Michagan)



We caught the bus over night from Niagara to Chicago and met a guy called Ross who kept us entertained the whole way. He was so funny and turned out to be a hotdog connoisseur! We'll fill you in on the details when we are back. We've been keeping a diary everyday...with a memory like mine I have to. We arrived in Chicago with no where to stay so after 6 hours of walking around the city with our back packs we ended up renting a car and staying in a hotel (the radisson!!!) on the outskirts. lastminute.com was our saviour for cheap deals. We then took the car north to a place to Devils Lake and that's where the pictures begin...

Camping in Lake Michigan with our $19 tent from a supermarket! Our home for 3 nights! The mosquitos were mad hence the striking outfit!
Chef Le Feuvre making dinner of flame grilled sausages!

Dinner time! Russ was very proud of himself as you can tell by the look on his face here!
I was debating whether or not to even put this picture up but here you go. Swollen eye lids from no sleep! Tenting on the hard floor with no roll mats for protection is a no no!
Cereal for Breakfast in the woods...how organised are we!
Lunch down by the Devils Lake
Russ taking a dip in the lake...on his own! It was too cold for me. Notice the lack of swim wear!
On our hike that took us up way above the lake...oh they're Russ's Boxes drying out by the way!
What a view! Loved it!
Further along the path...stunning! It was so quiet up there, good spot to catch our breath.



Part of the walk we did around the lake was like this all the way to the highest point above the lake (loads of big rocks formed stairway to the top) POOPED!!

A stone formation called 'Devils Gate'.
View over the forest below

 
Chilling out enjoying the view...so much more relaxing then marking books and screaming teenagers period 5 on a friday!
Dinner time number three! There aren't any photos of dinner time number two as we couldn't managed to light a fire...we had to have jam sandwiches in the dark!
Proud Man! Chicken burgers and roast potatoes on the fire...that he made! Chuffed? Just a bit!
Roast/charcoal Potatoes...at least he liked them!!

Niagara Falls





Just off the bus to Niagara and ready for lunch...pesto pasta!!
Our Hostel just up the hill from the falls. A really weird owned this and he was pretty forceful on us staying another night, we didn't!!
This is seconds away from the falls...why do they have to make such a natural thing so bloody touristy!
There it is...Niagara Falls. Stunning! (Right on the road side...shocked me!)
Cheesy photo before boarding the 'Maid of the Mist' boat. These macs were just a thin plastic sheet...with the sun shining we were soaked, not only on the outside but from the inside with sweat! Boiled!

View of the falls on the American side.

Getting soaked as we went really close to the horseshoe shaped falls on the Canadian side.
 
American side from the top! Posing for the camera while squinting! 


Just in case you haven't seen enough of our ugly faces already! (Horseshoe falls behind us)
Russ at the top of the falls. The spray coming off the falls was like torrential rain!


Dinner at Wendy's! Russ has set the challenge that we have to try every different fast food in America! Watch this...waistline!!

Chilling on the grass in front of the falls watching a battle of the bands contest...what a view! Later discovered I was bitten by grassy bugs!! Itchy!
Fireworks over the falls.
Day 2 Niagara. Took a walk over the bridge between Canada (the Side we stayed on) and America.
View from the bridge.

One foot in Canada and the other in America...weird! :)
View from the American side. Canadian side was definitely better as you could see more.
Russ inside one of the barrels that people used to go over the falls in! Some people actually survived!
Managed to get away from the weird hostel owner and found ourselves with a en-suite heart shaped bath for $10 less! That is what you call a RESULT!!