KIM'S USA ADVENTURE

Day 24: Amarillo - Durango & Cortez

So this morning at sunrise we were meant to be going on a hot air balloon ride then having a champaign breakkie afterwards....this got cancelled which sucked but considering our 5am wake up call got changed to 7:30am in usual contiki style we all got cheap piss and got drunk at the hotel.....good times were had, i am becoming an alcoholic!! (just joking.....kind of)

- group photo (another group photo in the snow with second contiki crew)
- Durango (stopped off got some lunch and the rugged snow mobile guys came and picked us up, drove us up the mountain and let us loose on the snow mobiles!! ohhh i cannot explain how much fun it was i could do it all day! heren is me being a wimp about it but once i was on i was getting air, doing tricks....was all over it! tahns nearly crashed us down a cliff, freaked herself out and refused to ride down hills after that....was probably the funniest part of the day!! i found it to be alot like a jet ski but way more fun!! not to mention the scenery we were having this fun in.....was just incredible how many people get to say they drove around the rocky mountains on a snow mobile.....breath taking!! oh and a chick ran her snow mobile off the hill and into a tree, she was fine but her wallet will be 800 bucks lighter....ouch!)
- got to our hotel and its freeezing in here we are still in boots and jackets and i seriously just want to jump into bed but we have dinner in a few minutes!! but then bed because t-dog and I are soo freaking knackered and we want to be tip top for the grand canyon tomorrow!

its a hard life.

xx

Day 20: Memphis - Dallas

- Texarkana (this is where the two states join)
- sick in bed (spent 11 hours on the bus, then went straight to bed with the flu didnt even go out for dinner.....sucky day!)

Day 21: Dallas

- 6th Floor Museum (apparently where the fatal shot that killed JFK was fired from....however I spoke to the conspiracy theorists and I do not for a second believe that for a second it came from the 6th floor....eerie stuff that a government could plot to kill a president and hide it)
- Worlds Largest Hooters (Beck's Birthday party lunch)
- Fortworth & Stockyards (this is where we went out to dinner at a traditional texas restaurant where a guy riding a bull came out the front and let us ride his bull called 'lone star' and then we went to a honky tonk where there were pool tables, bull riding, country dancing and lots lots more)

Day 22: Dallas - Amarillo

- what was meant to be a quick 5hr bus ride turned into over 10 as the roads were iced over the towns were getting snowed in and we were sliding all over the roads, all whilst I was having a heart attack the whole time
- The Big Texan Steak Challenge (2 of our contiki boys entered the competition where you had to eat 3.5kg steak, baked potato, bread, salad and 3 fried prawns all within an hour......safe to say that didnt happen but we sure had a lot of fun watching them try and we all put money in as if you loose dinner costs 70 bucks but considering they provided the nights entertainment we provided a couple of bucks each to cover them)
- The Big Texan Bar (this place was amazing with shooting games, giants bears and lots of novelty texas stuff!! this is also where Tahns and I met 2 NFL players Caleb Campbell & Cody Sparks......Caleb was seriously amazing he went to the most prestigeous army academy, went to iraq, came back got drafted to professional footy, went to the olympics as a bob sledder and is now releasing a book....all by 26, and all by being the most down to earth country boy ever! yeah i found my future hubby and he is smitten as a kitten with me and coming to disney land with us woooo woooo we lovvveee America!!!

Day 23: Amarillo - Alberquerki (if thats how you spell it??)

- Santa Fe (one of the most spiritual towns in the usa and home to the chapel with the miraculous stairwell which they incinuate that jesus built)
- Another bus day, not much to report.....going down to the hotel lobby for dinner and having a room party considering it is -18 degrees outside and our hot air balloon ride got cancelled as they said exposing yourself for to that weather can cause frost bite BUMMER

Day 18: New Orleans - Memphis

- City Tour (when we arrived at Memphis Camille took us around for a city tour before going to our hotel, Memphis has got some character and cannot wait to explore it)
- Civil Rights Activist (a lady stands on the corner of the Civil rights museum everyday and has done so for 23 years now, she is quite famous and celebrities often come to see her and support her cause. We listened to her for a couple of minutes and what she is trying to achieve is making the Lorraine Hotel a refuge for those in need instead of the Civil Rights Museum which does not put any of its profits back into the community as she believes this is what Martin Luther King would have truley wanted)
- The Lorraine Hotel (where Martin Luther King got shot)
- Dinner at BB Kings (the restaurant dedicated to the famous musician BB King, was a fun place with live music and great food)
- Blues Club (We went to some blues club on Beale St where the live music was insane and had 100's of famous people's guitars on display)
- Silky's (was an Irish pub where they serve the famous 'bucket drink' which is pretty muchg every alcohol poured into a bucket with giant straws, wasn't the best tasting drink but had a resemblance to punch after a while. This place also had the duelling pianos where we convinced one guy to play the 'Land Down Under' song for us in a blusey rendition....all Americans had no idea what was going on but our Aussie pride was loud as ever!! This place was a local college hang out where they dressed so preppy in slacks, shirts and polyester vests and their girlfriends all looked like miss america's....it was like entering into a different time zone....but they were all pretty funny)

Day 19: Memphis

- Graceland (Home of Elvis, this place was amazing, we got to see his mansion which has been kept exactly in tact, his grave site, his jet planes, his numerous cars and loads of memorabilia o n the king of pop!)
- Sun Studio's (This is where many famous rock and roll musicians began their careers such as Johnny Cash & Elvis. We got to stand in the recording studio that many famous songs were recorded and touch the microphone that Elvis used...pretty cool!)
- Rendevou's Ribs (this is a world famous restaurant renowned for their charcoal ribs. So famous that its location is unsigned and secluded and they do not need to advertise as they often have thousands of customers passing through their doors each day! We were told that this is something we had to try so a whole bunch of us tracked it down and stuffed our faces.....DIVINE!!)
- Group Dinner (tonight we have another group dinner booked in which is always fun)
- Party on Beale Street (there is another contiki crew doing the same as our tour but in reverse and this is the only night we cross paths. There will be 100 contiki people staying in our hotel and we are all meeting up at Beale st to party together....things are going to get messy)

Day 16: Talahasse - New Orleans

- Alabama (USC Battleship, this was our stop off for the long bus day and we saw the big battleship, tanks and planes....pretty cool)
- City Tour (Camille our tour guide drove us around New Orleans before we went to our hotel and showed us some sights, and in general gave us the history on this amazing town....Hurricane Katrina is still affecting these people to these days where some houses still have X's on their doors which states how many people from that home were found alive, how many found dead, if there was any pets and the inspectors initials....pretty gloomy stuff)
- Riverboat Dinner Cruise (this was an optional on the contiki tour which most of us decided to do as it was 12 of our crews last night all together before we get new people tomorrow, it was a big paddle boat that cruises the missippi river.....in theory this sounds amazing and we were all looking forward to it.....in reality we were travelling with 'retiree's r us' and the general age seemed to be 70+.....not a really great start to a big party night but we made up for it off the boat)
- Pat O'Briens (This bar is home to the Hurricaine drink which as Camille puts it "is a sure fire way to ruin your life in the best possible way" it was sooo strong and sooo sweet like a fruit punch, this place was pretty amazing as it had a great outdoor area and a jazz room where there were duelling grand pianos which 2 singers competed for tips, this was absolutely fantastic)
- Studio 544 (Camille told us that this was a shit hole in the wall joint that you will love to death and she was so right the place was so much fun with 3 for $1 shots that came in test tubes and giants syringes which midgets poured into ur mouth from their own mouth or cleavage....weird but pretty funny! I also met the castting agent for shows such as Jersey Shore and most MTV shows there who was the nicest guy ever, he is going to show us around LA when we get there. When I first asked him what he did and he said a casting director I told him he was full of s**t and to piss off, well anyways sometimes I shouldnt jump to conclusions as going through his ID's and googling it was fully legit OOOPPPSS hahaha but he was cool about it and we had a fantastic night....maybe I wont come home after all if I can get on a TV show over here (I can hear dad's heart beating faster already.....haha just playing Im not really thinking that I just want him to get Tahns & I into good LA clubs when we r there!!) So overall met some pretty cool people and had a fun last night with the part of the crew ending the tour at New Orleans)

Day 17:

- Cafe De Monde (Beneigh's are the famous pastries to New Orleans, and renowned to this cafe.....MOST DELICIOUS THING I HAVE EVER TASTED....even better than mini pancakes from the market!)
- Tarot & Palm Readings (All of us girls got our palms read and tarot cards read from a street lady, was pretty cool but I think it to be alot like your star sign they keep it pretty general so you can relate to it on any level)
- Reverend Zombie's Voodoo Shop (New Orleans is the town for the weird and wonderful and a big part of the culture is Voodoo so we visited one of the major Voodoo shops intown....pretty creepy stuff in there, animals blood, heads, spells, potions and real voodoo dolls...pretty cool to see)
- Airboat Swamp Tour (Now this was sooo cool we went to the Bayou to some redneck village where we went on a hover boat for a couple of hours around the swamp, held a gator, and these people even have an albino gator in a hot tub in the little shack they call their shop....so so funny!!)
- Bubba Gump & Shrimp Group dinner (this is the original bubba gump restaurant which is obviously based on a forrest gump theme, Tahns & I went to one in NY and we loved it and this is where we are going for our group dinner to meet our 10 new people joining our group. We already spent some time with a few of them today and they seem really nice and cool so looking forward to meeting the rest as we are all pretty close knit already so they better be up for some fun!!)
- Frenchman Street (this is our party destination for this evening, this street is apparently the 'real' new orleans with classic jazz and blues and a place that the locals love....cant wait to get amongst it as thi place has so much character and soul its just addictive)

Day 15: Talahassee

Today was a bus day so nothing too exciting to report, we did spend 3 hours at an outlets mall though in the middle of the day and I was suprised at my lack of shopping, I really wanted a real pair of Ray Ban sunnies that I always get from Bali as they are nearly 200 bucks cheaper in USA, and today I just happened to walk into a buy 1 get one free sale, so I got 2 pairs of Ray bans for $180!! big splurge but better than spending over 300 on 1 pair at home!! We are about to head out to a group dinner soon so this will be quick but really not much to report at all from todays activities. We r in college town so may go out after dinner but undecided....

xx