I spent all of last week up in the Lake District with a huge bunch of friends. It was so nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of life down in London and replace it with the tranquil mood of the Lake District.

We were staying in what I would class as the middle of nowhere. We’d managed to secure a house/barn combination on some forestry commission land. To get to it you had to drive down a windy gravel track, over cattle grids, past rivers and through trees.

The drinking side of things had been organised very well. Tim had been in contact with a local micro-brewery and we managed to bag ourselves a seventy pint keg for £67.50. Bargain! We did however manage to consume that virtually in one night, so we placed an order for another two, which were just about consumed by the end of the week.

The week was spent walking, climbing, abseiling, making death slides and generally having as much fun as possible away from everything technological. I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we’re looking forward to all doing the same thing next year.

Ant and I got back from the USA yesterday morning. My bodies a bit jet lagged at the moment. I feel perfectly awake, but my body feels like it should be sleeping. Very weird sensation.

We’ve had a great month and have taken in a lot of sights including: Fenway Park, Cheers bar, CN Tower, Rogers Center (Skydome), Niagara Falls, Space Needle, Pike Market, Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Hollywood, Grand Canyon and many other places.

We did so much it’s going to difficult reviewing it all in one post, so I’ll try and make a series of posts outlining each location. What I can do in this post is list the locations in order of how I liked them.

My list goes as follows.
Toronto Everyone was friendly in Canada and we both felt safe when out and about. We were five minutes away from the CN Tower and the Rogers Center, which helped too!

Las Vegas Amazing place. Vegas had a great atmosphere and was one big party town. Most things never closed.

San Francisco Nice place to go shopping if you’re that way inclined. The streets are unique because they’re so hilly and all over the place. The Golden Gate Bridge is something worth seeing too.

Vancouver Like Toronto, everyone was friendly and you felt quite safe. Some lovely scenery and generally good atmosphere.

Boston Nice flat area of the US. The parks were all well kept and the streets were clean. They did nice seafood and the Cheers bar was good fun.

Los Angeles I really liked Beverly Hills. Some very nice houses, but definitely a city you need a car in.

New York Been several times before, but it’s always a bustling city. MOMA is a great gallery to visit.

Seattle Definitely a place I’d think twice about going back too. Far too many beggars and homeless and the space needle has too many tacky attractions like Brighton/Blackpool.

Ant and I saw this in Seattle and both had a good laugh about it.

Not exactly subtle, but at least it doesn’t “beat around the bush”.

Today we visited Alcatraz in San Francisco. Unfortunately for us, all the online and phone tickets had sold out until next week, which meant we had to be down to the ticket booth by 6am to queue and wait for that days released tickets.

Despite arising at the ugly time of 5.15am, we manged to get tickets and were some of the first people on the island. They have a fantastic audio tour that really sets the mood of the place and features some of the original prison guards and inmates.

We’re both liking San Francisco so far. We weren’t so sure about Seattle. It seemed a rather dull place and there wasn’t a great deal to do apart from go up the space needle. The space needle was surrounded by tacky fairground attractions and far too many beggars.

Los Angeles and Las Vegas are our next two destinations, where we finish up our traveling. Should be a good couple of weeks left and I’m sure I’ll post again soon.