Amarillo - When the day is dawning, on a Texas Wednesday morning

My day in Amarillo started on a curious note - the main tourist attraction is apparently the Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum. Not having an idea as to why you would have a museum related to a quarter of a horse (and indeed, wanting to know which quarter) I went to have a look. Apparently a Quarter Horse is a breed of horse which was originally bred to run quickly over a quarter of a mile. The museum was a bit dry, but at least I found out what one was! (I am not sure the horses in the photo at the bottom were genuine quarter horses though...)
Next stop was the Amarillo Museum of Art, which had mainly art from Asia and some special exhibitions. After this I saw some art out in the wild. On the way out of Amarillo is the Cadillac Ranch - 10 upended Cadillacs in the middle of the desert. They are apparently also free for people to Graffiti, as you can see...

Show me the way (Oklahoma City - Amarillo, Tx)

After a busy day in Oklahoma City (and given the roadworks there) I decided to take the easy route to Amarillo by following the Interstate (with just a few detours!). Now, for a fair part of the route it is one and the same as things get a bit more spread out round here!

Again, crossing the border to a new state (in this case from Oklahoma to Texas) brought an almost instant change in the landscape. I became a lot more open and flatter and drier - you can see how it moved to more desert-like conditions from the picture above.

Given the schedule of the trip I am following I am therefore nearly half way along Route 66 already - this means that I should have a few days of slightly less travelling, starting with today!

Coming this Fall

The majority of trailers for TV programmes on US TV at the moment are "coming this fall" - that's the autumn - that's three months away! I know US TV goes through a bit of a quiet patch over the summer (it has already started save for a few talent shows and Masterchef) but really, nothing until September???

Oklahoma City - Quiet Reflection

As I mentioned on the journey in, there were a lot of roadworks in the centre of Oklahoma City. I don't know whether it was because of this, but it was very quiet walking around in the evening. However, this did give me the opportunity to find out that the city centre was a lot smaller than I expected - I don't know why the hotel offered a shuttle bus when it was within very short walking distance!

My main visit on the Tuesday was to the Oklahoma City memorial and museum. This is dedicated to the bombing of the Federal Building on the 19th April 1995. There is a memorial garden (see above) and 168 empty chairs, one for each peron killed. The museum (in a building which itself was damaged in the blast) takes you through the timeline of the day, and the aftermath, in a very powerful and moving way. The availability of media means you do get to see a lot more of the response than you did (for example) at the Hirosima museum which does a similar thing.

After this I visited the Oklahoma City Museum of Art (for possibly the first time haing to pay at a gallery!) which had an interesting exhibition relating to the art of the New Deal in the 1930's. Then, all too soon it was time to leave Oklahoma City (with just a quick walk past the botanic gardens, below) as I had another leg of the journey ahead of me.

Nearly 24 hours to Tulsa (Springfield, Mo - Oklahoma City)

According to my route guide, the journey from Springfield, Mo to Oklahoma City is the longest of my route at 285 miles. It also claims that it can be done in 4 and a half hours. Given this means you would have to travel at a constant 63.33 miles an hour, this is fairly unrealistic for an American freeway never mind following the old Route 66!

I didn't help myself in this by missing a turning at one point early on and therefore running a slightly different route for the first half of the journey. This meant I missed Joplin, which has recently been hit by a major tornado, so probably it was just as well I stayed out of their way. Unfortunately this also meant the small corner of Kansas cut by Route 66 - good job I said at the start I wasn't being completest!

Back on Route 66 in Oklahoma, it actually ran as a "proper" road for most of the way, by which I meant it wasn't just an old road following a modern road but an actual state road. I crossed on to the historic road through a trip through Tulsa (took maybe 5 hours, rather than 24!) but then found my way back onto the 66. Oklahoma was generally a bit flatter than Missouri had been, with some more farmland, but still was a bit up and down.

Towards Oklahoma City came Pops (see above) a diner with over 500 different types of fizzy drink to choose from. I had what was meant to be a spicy ginger beer (slightly disappointing unfortunately) and an Apple Cobbler. (EVENING UPDATE - a picture of the Pops bottle was used as the background on the evening weather report on KFOR and apparently it lights up at night and cycles through different colours!)

Overall, with stops the journey took closer to 8 hours. Just to add to the fun of it there were roadworks around the hotel meaning that I had to do a few loops to find where to park!

Springfield, Mo - the other, other Springfield

Having arrived yesteraday I went for a look around Springfield. What I found was... not a lot. Maybe because it was early Sunday evening, but I don't think it is really a tourist town (although it does have a lot of hotels!). Apparently it is the birthplace of Route 66 although there is little sign of it.

Therefore, I am hitting the road this morning and heading off to Oklahoma City!

Racing along (St Louis - Springfield, Mo)

Leaving St Louis I had one last local stop to make. The Laumeier Sculpture Park was on the way out of town and, being a lover of sculpture was an obvious stop on the way. It was certainly worth a visit, however brief, as there were many interesting sculptures dotted around an area of parkland.

Back in the car I found a use for the satellite radio, as it was the only place to get coverage of the F1 Grand Prix in Canada. And not just coverage - BBC Radio 5 live coverage! This meant that, when 5 Live moved away from the Grand Prix during the red flag period you ended up getting coverage of the latest managerial moves at Nottingham Forest and England's Under 21 game! At the end of the scheduled coverage they had their "Chequered Flag" programme (despite the fact the race was nowhere near the end) which included some interesting updates on the US Grand Prix that will happen next year. When racing resumed they returned to the 5 Live coverage. The length of the delay in the middle meant that the coverage kept me entertained for the whole journey, and I was even able to get into my hotel room and log on in time to see the final lap and Jenson Button's stunning victory!

On the drive itself, the countryside moved from the flat Illinois farmland to a more undulating drive through Missouri. I don't know whether it was genuine or just my following of signs (or signs not being there) but I also spent a greater proportion of the journey on the Interstate than the first long trip. Still saw some Route 66 sites, though, such as the giant rocking chair below.

St Louis - Going through the Gateway

A chance in the schedule to spend a whole day looking around St Louis - a city built on the Mississippi river at the Illinois/Missouri border. First stop was the Gateway Arch at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. Now, I have been up many towers for the view over the years (indeed, you can see evidence on many of the posts below!) but I have never been up an arch - until now! You go up in a small capsule train (see below for a carriage), with each carriage seating 5 - pity the families of 4 who had me added to their carriages! At the top there are good and clear views looking in both directions, as you go up and down the top of the arch.

After this I had a look round the Old State Courthouse (where the Dread-Scott slavery case was heard) which also housed a small history of the local area. I then drove out to the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts and Contemporary Art Museum which were next door to each other. Adding to my good luck with galleries, Saturday was one of only two days the Pulitzer was open and was the day the CAM was free! The CAM was particularly impressive in terms of what it offered (as a small museum) - you had the option (for free) to take an i-Pad on the tour, which gave access to videos on the displays, further reading, even related music! They also offered free coffee (etc) to encourage you to linger a while. Whilst the art itself wasn't necessarily that which I would go out of the way to see again, the overall experience was very impressive.

I then drove slightly further out to Forest Park, which is a large inner-city park (and when I say large it makes the down in Bristol seem small). In here was the St Louis Art Museum which, whilst undertaking a major development at the moment, still had some interesting pieces including particularly some early 20th century furniture.

Final stop was the citygarden - a sculpture park near the old courthouse and my hotel which had some interesting pieces. The fountains in the garden were pink (see below) relating to a big race raising money for breast cancer which had taken place earlier in the day. One thing very noticeable about both here and the Forest Park earlier were the number of people having their wedding photos taken there - obviously a popular day to get married!

Springfield Il - Abe's town

With a shorter journey ahead, I was able to spend most of the day in Springfield. The main claim to fame here is that it was the home of Abraham Lincoln before he became president (he was actually born in Kentucky but achieved his fame from here, having moved to practice law at the age of 27).

Lincoln's one and only home he owned is still here and open to the public (thanks to Lincoln's son donating it - he also specified that access should be free). It is quite an impressive house (but no mansion, see picture below) and apparently was significantly rebuilt during Lincoln's time as he became more successful. Also here is the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. It is not an "official" presidential library (the concept has only existed since FDR) but still acts as an archive for many of Lincoln's papers. The museum itself is described on wikitravel as "being very 21st century, but in a good way" - I see what it means but it was a little too Disneyfied for my tastes (with shows and models) but hopefully it helped engage some younger people!

Also had a walk round Springfield and saw the old and new capital buildings (see below and above), apart from which the centre appeared fairly deserted. Then a journey through Illinois farmland to St Louis.(What is remarkable is that if you were doing this in 2 weeks, you would be in St Louis on your second night. Therefore everything I have seen in Chicago, Springfield and along the route you would have hardly seen!)

The car

I thought it was about time I showed you what I am undertaking this trip in. My car is a new Chrysler 200 Convertible (pictured above). Whilst maybe not the all-American muscle car you might dream of, it is a good drive and (I think) a bigger car than I was meant to have. This helps in storage as, if you want to have the roof down, the boot space is significantly reduced so the case has to sit on the back seat - this car is big enough that it can sit flat and secure!

It has no sat-nav, but it does have a compass which is surprisingly useful! It also has satellite radio which I haven't explored as yet (have been listening to more local stations where Adele appears very popular at the moment!)

Despite the weather have done some travelling with the roof down - which is fun, and also significantly increases visibility - and haven't had my hat blow off yet!

http://www.chrysler.com/en/2011/200_convertible/#/default/

On the road (Chicago-Springfield, Il)

There's no road trip without hitting the road, so two days in it was time to get moving. Having picked up the car in a wet Chicago I started the journey south (whilst the weather got warmer as I travelled which meant I could put the roof down - until it got too windy!).

Route 66 is no longer a road in its own right. Instead there are heritage route signs (a bit like the sign on the Route 66 post below) which show you where to go. However, they are a little small, and occasionally a little close to the junction, so you have to keep your wits about you to follow them! Now, if you do happen to miss them then it should not be too bad (as there is always a "main" road going the same way that you should be able to find) but as they are not at every junction you do have to worry slightly. Made it in the end, though!

The advantage of following the main road is that you get to see a lot of Route 66 history and paraphernalia along the way. There are traditional gas stations, old buildings and more unusual items, such as the murals you can see here in Pontiac, Il and the man with the hot dog (one of several large characters along the route)

Changes

The Today Show (known as Today) is the original breakfast TV programme, both in the USA and in the world. This week has seen what is a rare event - a change in presenters for the programme. Meredith Viera has left after 5 years as main anchor, to be replaced by Ann Curry. What is amazing (from a British viewpoint at least) is that Ann has been in her previous role on the show (news reader) for 14 years before stepping up. (The other key presenters - Matt Lauer (anchor) and Al Roker (weather) have been with the programme for over 15 years each). This both shows the conservatism that can often occur on US TV and the way that there is a "family" feel built up between the presenters in a way that rarely occurs in the UK.

It also means the show over the past couple of days has been dominated by send-off to Meredith (Wednesday) and welcome to Ann (and other people with new roles) Thursday. As part of the send-off to Meredith they followed an internet video done a year ago (here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tw-FpWqtrI) with a live version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GGdCsktwNg - I think they show something of the scale and the feeling of the show.

Chicago - more sunny than windy

The start of the Route is in Chicago, so that is where I begin, with 2 nights here. So far, this means that the trip feels much like any other holiday I would take - looking around a big city, visiting art museums, taking photos of big buildings...

Chicago itself is full of skyscrapers (as you can see from the photos). It is perhaps the birthplace of them, and still has some of the highest buildings in the US. Architecturally it is very interesting, with lots of interesting designs and evolution over time. There is a little bit of ti that reminds me of Hong Kong (lots of skyscrapers on the waterfront) -Hong Kong if it had a lot more space anyway!

The weather here has been incredibly hot for the first couple of days - mid 90's in Fahrenheit and very sunny. Fortunately it has not felt too oppressive - and everywhere is air conditioned anyway. Apparently in winter it is covered in feet of snow, which would be a big change! Having said that there is a big change this morning when the weather has broken with thunderstorms and is now mid 60's as opposed to mid 90's!

What have I done here? After flying in on Tuesday I visited the Millennium park (the picture below is of the city skyline distorted through a sculpture there) and the Contemporary Art Museum (which was free as it was a Tuesday). Here there were exhibitions on both a German artist and a Los Angeles artist, linking both where I have come from and where I am going!

Wednesday I went to the Art Institute Chicago. This was much more impressive than I expected - a large collection of which a surprising amount was more modern. In terms of the range possibly the best comparison I can come up with is the V&A in London. Later I went to the Chicago Cultural Center to see a couple of exhibitions there and then onto the Hancock tower to take in the views across the city (and the coastline of Lake Michigan). On the way back I passed a local news team interviewing someone in the street and may well have appeared in the back of shot (although as it would have been live I will never know). Finally I had a walk around the Buckingham Fountain which you can see below.

Overall, a really good couple of days (and I have only scratched the surface of the city). However, there is a road ahead calling my name so I'd better get going!

Route 66

As I mentioned in my catch-up post below, I am off on my longest trip yet in the USA - both in terms of duration and distance. I am driving Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles for the next three weeks, and will be writing about it as I go on here. So far I have only made it as far as Chicago(!) but today I get my car and hit the road.

(The picture above shows the official start of Route 66 which is just outside the cafe where I am writing this. I won't actually be driving on this point as it would mean picking up the rental car at the airport, driving into Chicago, only to drive back out again! I'm going for the experience, not to be completest about it!)

Playing catch-up

Just before I head back to the USA for my longest trip yet, I thought I should catch up with my previous visit and post some pictures of Boston.

Boston was a great place to visit - a lot of history and some picturesque sights. Particular highlights included walking the Freedom trail, the ICA, the JFK Presidential Library, Cambridge and seeing Marina and the Diamonds in concert.

Looking for a New England

Nearly 2 years after my last trip I am back in the USA, this time on the East Coast in New England. My trip started with a few days on Cape Cod. Cape Cod is a really different side of Amerivca to that which I have seen before. Having mainly spent time in big cities before, Cape Cod was a much more rural and costal experience. If I were to compare it to the UK it is a lot more like being in Cornwall or the Lake District - two great tourist destinations and Cape Cod is no different.

One of the unique things of this area is the architecture. The New England style of houses, churches and other builings are quite stunning (particularly against some good weather!).

Another noticable thing from the area is that many of the places are named after locations back in the UK. In my short time I visited Falmouth, Sandwich, Yarmouth, Chatham, Harwich, Wareham and Barnstable. Most of them are small towns, mainly focussed around a main street which tends to have a few art galleries or antique shops on it. The only odd aspect of this is that there is often a fair gap between the main street and the beach/harbour - more than once I set off walking down a road to the sea, only to still be walking half an hour later!

Overall, you can see why Cape Cod is one of the top tourist destinations for America's elite (Hyannis was a favourite of President Kennedy - there is even a museum dedicated to his relationship with it - and President Obama was just off the coast on Martha's Vineyard whilst I was there). It makes for a very relaxing break, and I am sure I will be back.

Reflections on Seattle

After several thousand miles of travel, 3 locations, 4 hotels and lots of different experiences I have now returned home. My final day in Seattle was spent sorting out and going for a walk (between the showers) around Lake Union near my hotel. The flight back was relatively uneventful and I managed to get from the airplane docking at T5 to my having my case within 20 minutes which was quite impressive!

Having been through Seattle three times on my holiday I have begun to get an impression of the place! Architecturally and geologically it is quite interesting, surrounded by mountains and water with some unusual buildings (the space needle and the new central library being two particular favourites). I also enjoyed seeing more of what it is actually like to live there by meeting a friend of mine who now lives in Seattle. The city also has a lot of public sculpture about (including the excellent Olympic Sculpture Park) which was good to see.

The hotel I chose (Silver Could Inn at Lake Union) was quite comfortable, and was a very spacious room. It is the first time I have had a working (gas) fire in a hotel room I have stayed in! Location wise it was a little out of the way, but it had a free shuttle bus to get downtown and a more central hotel would not have been as spacious for the price!

One of the highlights had to be seeing history made with the election of Obama. I can't wait to see what the impact is of his taking office. Of my predictions I am three from four, with the only incorrect prediction being that Gregoire held on as governor (fairly comfortably - compared to the other two local results this one was declared quite early - it is only today that I have seen a result in the Reichert/Bruner race!).

Overall I have a good time on my holiday and enjoyed the places I visited. None of them are really places where you could go to for a fortnight, but the way I had structured it worked well, with just enough time at each to see all that I wanted to see. Lots of memories (and photos) to take away - now back to the travelling for work!

The first shall be the last

The last full day of my holiday (before travelling) was "First Thursday" in Seattle. This meant that it was the first Thursday of the month, and therefore several attractions were offering free entry. It was also a very wet day, with the heavy rain that was threatened turning up. Still, to have gone this far in the holiday without a fully wet day (considering where I have gone to) was quite good going!

My main stop of the day was the Seattle Art Museum. This, with free entry, had a selection of art from different ages and styles. For my taste there was slightly too much focus on Native American/First Peoples art and not enough contemporary art, but it passed a few hours quite successfully! After this I sheltered from the weather in a coffee shop for a while, and also went round a few shops.

My final stop of the day was the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum located at the "Seattle Centre" (near the space needle) which was offering free evening entry. The Music part of the museum offered some historical displays (on electric guitars and Jimi Hendrix to name two), often with multimedia aspects. It also offered a hands-on room where you could use many instruments. I took the opportunity to have a go at playing the drums. Not sure I will be taking it up professionally though... The Sci-Fi museum was a bit disappointing though - the focus was on Star Trek/Star Wars and I didn't manage to find one reference to Doctor Who in the whole place!

Reflections on Portland

Before I head back home, I should tie up some loose ends with some reflections on Portland. Portland is not a traditional tourist place, but I managed to find plenty to do there. The town itself is not the most interesting place architecturally - the most noticeable thing are the many bridges that cross over the river. There is also a lot of homelessness about (something that I have seen in all three locations, but particularly in Portland). However, it does have several things going for it, not least the public transport system which is plentiful and, in the centre, free. (It does stop every two block though so it is usually just as quick to walk).

The hotel I stayed at (Hotel Fifty) had definitely benefited from its recent makeover and was quite comfortable. It also had some good design features such as a way of turning on the water in the walk-in shower before you walk into it. Location-wise it was within walking distance of most things, particularly shops, giving it a similar feeling to being next to Broadmead in Bristol or the centre of Swindon. However, the museums and galleries there were well-stocked given the size of the town so it made for a diverting place to spend a few days.

Eye of the needle

Wednesday brought some good weather to Seattle, possibly for the last time on my trip, so I made sure to get out and about. First stop of the day was the Olympic Sculpture Park, which is run by the Seattle Art Museum and has a selection of sculpture by the waterfront. As this is near the "Seattle Centre" I walked over to there to take the monorail back downtown. From here I bought some coffee from the original Starbucks and drunk it sitting outside! (This time wearing a coat rather than just a t-shirt).

I then walked along another part of the waterfront past the ferries, ending up at Pioneer Square. This is the area where I stayed on my very first night of the trip. Back then, at night, it seemed a slightly dodgy area (and I had no idea that my hotel was 50 meters from the water) but in daylight it had a lot more historical and architectural merit to it. I also visited Powell's which is a famous Seattle bookshop.

From there I headed back to the Space Needle. This is obviously an icon of Seattle, and rightly so. The views from the top were magnificent - speaking to a guard there he said that some of the views were the clearest he had seen, particularly looking towards the Canadian border. You also do not realise how Sattle is surrounded by mountains until you are up there. Being Seattle, there was naturally a coffee shop up there, so I had a coffee as it gradually got dark, giving another view of Seattle at night.