ahhh! the photos are backwards again! ok, so the last picture next to this writing is of us playing mini connect 4, we had 10 hours to spare in Raleigh North Carolina, unfortunately it was a sunday and everything in Raleigh is shut on sundays - we struggled to find a cafe to get something to eat!anyway, we found a niceish park and layed there all afternoon and played connect 4 for a good part of it! i think i won overall but there were a few close matches!!

the next load of pictures are of us at Magic Kingdom Disney Land where we had an absolutely fabulous day! We were kinda expecting a theme park but i actually think what was there was even better we really felt like we were in some kind of disney film for the day! lots of the rides were like entering adult sized stories which were great! there were also a few good rides - mini rollercoasters really and they were good fun too! I'd say the best ride was space mountain, followed closely by the thunder railroad and close 3rd The Buzz Lightyear ride! We had our photo taken with so many of the characters, daisy was on heat when she met gav, she wouldn't leave him alone - even when we were queuing for the next character she came back up to him for an extra cuddle, was very funny, gav says if only she'd been taller!! theres also a photo of me in Minnie Mouses house a very cool quirky house!; and one of us outside Magic Kingdom next to Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse of course, oh yes, back at downtown disney there was a Harley Davison Shop and Gav couldn't resist trying out the bikes for size so here he is zooming along!!

once again the photos have gone on in a wiggledy order! the last one is of the group of us at Washington DC sitting outside the Capitol Building waiting to be let in! thats the last pic of DC!

All the other photos are of our next stop to Rock Hill, South Carolina home to Lloydyboy! we had a really good fun filled weekend with Lloyd and his friends, Lloyd showed us around his uni, we went to watch 2 college soccer games of the team he used to play for in which they drew and won - both good games with very funny commentary, "its corner kick time for those eagles", "lets help our guys get it in the back of the net", and a countdown for the end of each half which was all highly amusing!! no cheerleaders though much to Gavs disappointment, they're only for amercian football and basketball! our first night out we went to a fraternity party of pi-kappa-alpha, which kinda reminded us of our parties in the gamesroom, a band/DJ playing, lots of drinking, dancing, hanging around chatting, unfortunately when we got there, there wasn't much booze left so we stayed for what we could get our hands on and then moved onto a student bar - very much like the bars back home where we had a few more drinks and met a few more of lloyds friends! was a good fun night! our last night some of Lloyds friends had a house party so we chipped in for the kegs of beer and relaxed! the party really got started, loads of people turned up, we got talking to soo many people - a freshman asked if he could kiss me and if i could take him for a ride somewhere - it wasn't that hard to resist!! i think he later passed out in the garden looking for a beer! bless! we both had a really good time, above is a photo of me and lloyd having a blast, and also one of gav and lloyd with lloyds basketball giant friends jason and craig - i think i came up to their waists, and gav almost made their shoulders! what a night! had an awesom few days, so thank you thank you thank you to lloyds and all of his friends for making us so welcome and showing us a good university time in South Carolina!!

we only had a very short stay in washington DC and we didn't realise how early everything shut! the first afternoon after we got there we just went for a little walk and on our second and only full day there we went on what we thought was a morning walk tour of the city. What started out as being a 3 hour walking tour turned into a 7 hour walking tour and then we added on an extra 2 for fun! Blimey our legs and feet were aching after that hike but we saw soo much of the city. The morning was kinda dedicated to seeing lots of memorials; Lincoln, Roosevelt, Jefferson, Vietnam and Korea to name a few, all very interesting to see and read about; we also saw the White House but couldn't go inside as tours stopped after 9/11, but apparantly Bush was there! We also saw the Washington Monument and went up to see the views of Washington from above which was cool, however by this time Gav had lost a lot of steam so he didn't go up so I went up with a few others from the group which was equally good! In the afternoon we walked to Virginia and back, yes we walked that far! ok, it was only 2 miles away but still we walked to a different state! Over in Virginia we saw the Arlington cemetery where the Kennedy graves are with the everlasting flame, as well as hundreds of soldier graves, Arlington House and the changing of the guard of the unknown tomb which was all very cool! The extra bit we added on the end was walking/metroing to the State Capitol Building and the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court was closed but we managed to have a quick look around the Capitol Building and watched the senate for while (and rested our feet!) - security was really tight though, couldn't even take in bottled water - I had to have my perfume put in the bin too, which I later fished out, noway was I wasting that!! It was a really good day, very tiring but very worthwhile and the people we hung around with were all cool and made it a better day!

the pics are of the Washington Monument, Gav ouside the Lincoln memorial (can't see it) by the reflecting pool with the Washington Monuement in the background - this scene may look familiar from Forest Gump!?, and lastly obviously the White House. hopefully some more will be coming!

Ok these photos are all backwards! the one to the left is of us on brooklyn bridge - we only walked half way across, i think its a mile long, but it was good just to walk as far as we did so we could see Brooklyn on one side and manhattan on the other - manhattan financial district is in the background of the picture. we saw Bush on the way home from Brooklyn Bridge - when i say saw him we saw him been driven away in his car!! still its about as close as we were going to get!so many protests around - all shouting to arrest bush! he went to ground zero not sure how popular he would have been there..!

so the other photos are of our last day (sept 11th), we didn't go to ground zero, instead we spent most of the day wondering around central park as it was such as nice day and all others days we had been there it had been miserable! there was a september concert outside with singing and dancing acts - there every year on the anniversary of sept 11th to fill the sky with music and hope instead of smoke and sadness, a nice idea and some good music. we also went up to Harlem the area on the far north side of central park which was different, gav didn't enjoy much describing it as a s**thole! it was ok, just different from Times Square I guess! then in the evening we went to a comedy club where we met up with our friend from camp G and his girlfriend Jasmine - Hey Guys hope the appartment's developing ok! - as always there were some halarious acts and others that barely got a murmur of a giggle - don't worry though Joe I kept my mouth shut at this comedy club!! anyway, we had a really good evening, good entertainment and great company, all in all a great way to end new york! however there was one last stop! Hogs and Heffers! as recommended by joe and sal, the Cayote Ugly movie bar, and it lived up to all expectations - the photo is of Gav outside the bar being a hog! we had planned to go there with G and Jas, but Jas was only 20 so no can do, but we had fun on our own! definitely left NYC on a high!

after our long day of manic sightseeing, we were wondering around times square and randomly bumped into a guy who had tickets for Sean Paul's private party and we can tell you it was amazing we met so many celebrities!! i had to prize Gav away from that silly blond then again he had to fight to get me away from Brad and Jonny! god they were fit even up close!! next door to the party Simon Cowell was doing the latest auditions for American Pop Idol so it seemed silly for Gav not to go for it - he got through but unfortunately he had to decline as we only had 3 more days in NYC! still what an achievement! we then went back to the party and Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne had turned up - without their pets thank god so heres Gav with them! we met so many other celebs, whoopie Goldberg, Beyonce, Nick Cage, Robin Williams, Julia Roberts just to name a few! wow what a night!!

ok, so all jokes aside, yes they were all made out of wax - but we both thought they were excellent, some better than others but all very very good! walking through the times from 1920s to present was cool too seeing the likes of Charlie Chaplain, Roosevelt, Marilyn Monroe, the beatles, mick jagger, neil armstrong, the spice girls, michael jackson, god so many! it was a lot of fun we felt like we really were at a party!

This was our second day of manic sight seeing where we did everything else we planned to do the first day! we started off on one of those red open top bus tours of downtown manhattan which wasn't as good as the previous ones we had been on but it was informative all the same! our first stop was ground zero and words cannot describe how sad it was being there, seeing it, reading the timeline of events, looking at the pictures, listening to the protestors and people reading out obituaries of their loved ones, it was so hard to imagine buildings even standing there let alone collapsing. we met a guy in florida who was there and saw the whole thing from the planes going in the towers to the collapsing of the buildings and he said it still haunts him now. the new freedom tower sounds good, 1776 feet tall (year of independence) which i think if I'd heard about in england may have thought it cheesy, but seeing ground zero it kinda seems nice and appropriate somehow. i don't know if you know but 8 buildings were actually destroyed, 5 others collapsed within days of it happening and the 8th building was announced chemically unsafe whilst we were there and will be collapsed soon i guess. only 1 building has been rebuilt so far which opened this august.

our next stop was the statue of liberty tour, we only did the cruise, we had the option of getting off at liberty island but because you can only go in the feet and we had so much we wanted to do we decided to just admire her from the boat! so theres one of her face on and one of her with me and gav - looking very nice too!

the next stop was a tour of madison square garden aka the worlds greatest arena, the pic here is of the main arena where they host everything from ice hockey, basketball, dog shows, concerts, and loads more that i just can't remember! we also went into the locker rooms - the basketball one has doors 7ft tall - even so some players still have to bend down to get in! and the hockey doors are 6ft wide so they can get in and out with all their padding on - very clever! everything about the places was very impressive!

after madison square garden we went up to the guggenheim museum and gav and i have definitely decided that we are very uncultured because although there was some very good artwork we just didn't get most of it! there was a big display of the guy who does the splattered paintings that look like a 5 year old has done them (i thnk his name was Pollock), and even though we listened to an explanation of the brilliance of the work we just couldn't see it!! but we felt good because we could tick off going to an art museum from our must dos before we die list, plus i'd read about the museum and wanted to go but thats neither here nor there!

so this is a picture of the financial district, the twin towers would have been on the far left of the picture, you can just about make out the empire state building (white top) and crisler building (green spiral top - although its actually silver) - even though this pic looks like the crisler building is the tallest the empire state building is, but only until 2009 when the freedom tower will be finished! but anyway, this pic shows how nice NYC looked from the sea at night, ahhh!

Hey so we made it to the big apple! our first day to go with the trend rained all day - we got completely soaked walking around central park and along 5th avenue so after a few hours we retreated back home where it was at least dry! the hostel we stayed in was by far the dingiest but it had everything we needed! the first pic is of Times Square at night - god that place was buzzing all the time but especially at night - i got excited everytime we went there - morning, noon and night! the one below is of us at times square in the day - were by the old New York Times offices (first building in the area thus the name Times Square interesting huh?!)

on our second day whilst walking around times square we saw the ticket stand for on the day broadwalk shows and we got tickets for Phantom of the Opera, only 30 pounds each, right by the front, right in the middle and the show was absolutely fantastic! i was jumping around like a looney from just getting the tickets so you can imagine what i was like actually going to the show! and it lived up to all expectations, it was fantastic, brilliant, amazing, excellent - if you havent seen it you really must!! even gav got excited and smiled a lot! he really liked it too, we both had a fabulous night! a show on broadway woowho!

on the same day we went to grand central station, oh my god we had never seen anything like it! i swear it hasnt changed since it was built in 1913! all marble, gold everywhere, chandeliers, so grand! theres a pic of gav waiting under the clock for someone - not sure who but it had to be done!

the other pic is when we went up the empire state building - we had 2 days of manic sight seeing as we bought these pass things that got us in everywhere free, and empire state building was first on the list! it was an absolutely amazing view over manhattan, north, south, east and west! the photos look like the sky was murky but it was such a clear day blue sky going on forever! we saw out where the twin towers once stood but at that point it seemed hard to believe there was room for them, so many tall buildings packed into a small space! because we were there around september 11th, 2 beams of light shone from where each of the towers stood which was a nice effect. so as well as going up the empire state building we went to the intripid museum which was an old war ship where we saw concord amongst other things - it was actually a lot better than i was expecting! our last stop of the day was a 2 hours cruise of manhattan island where we saw the statue of liberty at night which was awesome, and we also saw New Jersey, the financial district, along wall street, we went under the brooklyn and manhattan bridges, it was all spectactual to see at night and we didnt get sea sick at all - were getting pretty good at being on water! ok, lets try for some more pictures!

last stop at boston before going to NYC!!! this is actually where the outside of cheers was filmed - inside is nothing like the program but it wasnt filmed there anyway! still, pretty cool to read and see all the memorabelia! and this photo is pretty cool too don't you think?!! ok, we've got to go, the library is closing! but i think we've put enough on to keep you going for a few days! we'll put NYC (amazing) and washington dc (very nice too) asap! hope you are all well, oh, tam, wanted to go to new orleans on way to chicago but train line broken - rubbish!! have to come back another time!! hope your loving your tour - we miss you too! and all other friends, work, uni, home, we miss you all, sounded like we missed a good birthday bash at the gilman resisdents! hope we were missed at least a little! ok getting chucked out! miss and love you all! sara and gav!! xxx

So we left canada - took an age to get through the border back into america as loads of people didn't have visas - what we're they thinking! so we finally arrived at Albany to be met by Carey and Courtney - blimey Courtney's hair had got long!! we had a fun filled few days, chilled the first night catching up on gossip - my favourite pastime!! - found out that courtney didnt get sacked at all from camp so don't know what mike was going on about police being called!! anyway, so the 3 of us went shopping whilst carey played football, we then went bowling, courtney kicked arse - i only managed 1 strike in 4 games, i lost count of how many courtney got - he won 3 games and gav won 1, i lost all of them! but hey its the taking part right! we met up with carey later, her team won woowho, and had another chilled fun evening! we all had a sad parting the next day BUT WE WILL SEE EACHOTHER AGAIN!!!

From Albany we went to Boston! within an hour of arriving we were off on a pub crawl with about 20 others from the hostel so met loads of people really quickly and got to hit the nightlife of boston - which is pretty cool! went to 4 or 5 bars, one of them our 'guide' couldnt get into because his ID had expired! very funny! the next day - it rained ALL day! we walked around trying to find salem for about an hour - later found out its about 15 miles from boston - oops must have read the map wrong! so, soaked to the skin we decided to get on a tour bus, 1 to dry off, and 2 to actually find the places we wanted to find! the tour guides were really good and told us loads of funny stories about boston! did you know its the most expensive place to live in the USA? and the most expensive area of boston is on top of what was once a rubbish/swamp/dump? funny! on the bus we went all over boston city, through the boston gardens, round cambridge, went up to harvard uni which was pretty cool but also very similar to any other uni! we went to the USS Constitution (a war ship), the beacon hill monument - but couldn't actually get near it coz of construction works! we also went to the new england aquarium - 1 of the pics above is of me holding a star fish - much harder than i thought, i thought they would be soft but i think they have some sort of shell on them - anyway, the whole thing was pretty cool, dragon fish are cool if you ever get a chance to see them!

luckily our second day in boston was better, beautiful in fact, sun shone all day! so we went up the prudential tower and got some beautiful views over boston, the one of me i think has the Back Bay area of Boston behind me and the Boston Common Gardens - absolutely gorgeous! from there we went through a mall and took a picture of gav with a boston cow - these cows were all over the city in hundreds of different designs, they were being auctioned off for charity, i cant remember the big thing about boston cows but it is a big deal for some reason! oh, theres also a photo of me and gav having lunch on boston common garden, sorry its upside down, took it ourselves! the gardens looked so much better in the sun! boston is beautiful, we can see why people talk about it so much and why it is so expensive - some of the most expensive just look so grand!

last ones of toronto! the first picture is actually of our last day in toronto, we went on a ferry tour of some of the toronto islands, i think theres 13 of them and we went around 7 of them, they are completely unspoilt, you can't drive a car on them, no-one lives on them - the nearest thing is living on a boat docked onto them which means they are completely beautiful islands. unfortunately our tour didn't drop us off and pick us up so we just sailed around but that was pretty nice anyway. the photo is on the way back to toronto mainland, the sun was just setting so you can see toronto city in the background, it was a really beautiful view and a really nice warm evening - and neither of us got in the slightest sea sick - in fact we're getting quite good at these boat tours!!

the other photos are of MY BIRTHDAY!!! turning 24 wasn't my happiest moment but hey any excuse to celebrate! we had a really good day despite the really crappy weather! we went on a trip to niagara falls and on the way we went to a wine tasting session to try ice wine only really made in canada (mainly niagara) - its made from frozen grapes, each grape gives 2 drops of pure grape juice so you can imagine how sweet the wine is! first we had a chardonnay sweet factor 1, then a german desert wine sweet factor 3, then ice wine sweet factor 22!! was like a syrup, couldn't drink much at once, was nice but very very sweet! from there we went to niagara falls, we went on maid of the mist and got hailed and rained on but hey we were still happy and even in the rain the falls were still spectacular! we also did the journey behind the falls which was a bit disappointing as although you are behind the falls the peep hole they give you to look out of is so small you can't really appreciate it but it was good all the same - i really wanted to go to the american side of the falls but time wouldn't allow it - i'm sure the americans probably let you get a bit closer! so theres also one of us with both falls in the background, a little wet but we had dried off quite a lot by then! it was a really warm day just a little wet! on the way home we stopped off at niagara lake, niagara whirlpool, niagara villiage and a few other places all very nice to see! we had a few drinks in the hostel in the evening with some of the guys from the trip, we were going to venture out but because the schools arent back nowheres open on a tuesday night - but no fear - there was a party at the hostel the next evening so we partied like troopers and made up for it then - had a good and fairly cheep night! a good birthday - one we will definitely both remember!! bye bye toronto!

this is us when we went up the CN tower - we decided to do it at night and we're really glad we did because you really see a city in a completely different way - and all of the other cities we've been to and seen like this we've done in the day time so it makes toronto unique! the first one is of on the glass floor - only problem with night time is the glass floor photos don't come out that well! but hayho it was fun jumping around on the glass! we kinda sat just watching the city go by for a while so the next one is of us with toronto in the background, and the final one is when we we're back on the ground and its gav standing next to the cn tower kind of on top of me but the photos pretty cool, kinda shows how high up we are - -the observation deck is the orangey coloured ring up there - but i think it goes up about another 100ft from there! blimey charlie!!

TORONTO!!! so the first picture is of me in our dorm room in our hostel! Global Village Backpackers is definitely the best hostel we've stayed in so far - and not just because its the only mixed dorm we've got into so far! (including up until now in washington dc!) so we shared with a few different people - one guy snored and sounded like he was gargling snot - that was not pleasant to wake up to!! still the hostel had a great atmosphere, it had its own bar, a tv room, lounge room, patio area - it had everything and really cool staff too! we met some good people there too!

we spent our first day at a castle/house called casa loma, a guy built it for his wife - a castle that over looked toronto, was a lovely place and had a lovely view - probably would have been better on a clear day! you can just about make gav out sitting on the steps behind the fountain. on the way home we bumped into a guy selling a truck and we figured that sounded better than the train so this is gav next to our new truck!!! what a purchase - best so far - he reckons hes gonna get some fat alloys - i don't think so!!

then theres 2 of me, the last is me outside the hockey hall of fame with statues of some famous players, then inside the gift shop trying on some tops and playing around with a stick and puck although i think the stick is a little small for me!! we didnt actually go into the hall of fame, we could see through the entrance and it was just displays of famous people's uniforms etc and as they didnt mean anything to us we figured it wasnt worth it - still the giftshop was fun! ok, more pics!