Stuck in Folsom Prison

<-- Ollie's first trip to prison

At the East gate like Johnny Cash. When I think about my baby, i hang my head, and check him out -->

I always wanted to go to jail. Folsom to be exact, and finally we did it! There's a cool little museum with all the makeshift knives, tear gas guns, a ferris wheel made from toothpicks, and a dummy prisoner who tells you all at the push of a button. And you can get the Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison CD, which we did.

I felt a bit guilty being a tourist here, since many of the visitors looked like they didn't come for the museum. It's a beautiful building, and still very active, judging by the constant flows of cars here.



<-- its still a busy jail. The guys in green should mostly be safe.

Eureka

<-- Eureka, NV

The court house -->

Marie likes this place because it has the same name as the show on TV. Doesn't look like there's much to do here. Some of the old buildings are in great condition.


<-- A lot of phantom, not much opera

Butte, Montana

<-- the ballroom at the Finlen

the Thornton building -->

Butte is a medium city, with a ghost town at its heart. Built by billions of dollars worth of copper, all the buildings were built with no expense spared. Many buildings are now boarded up, and some burned down. A few of them are still doing a quiet business. We stayed at the Finlen, where Nixon and Kennedy once stayed, but now costs about $50 to stay. You can feel yourself going mad barrelling around the building.

We took a walking tour of town. We saw a very well hidden luxury bar from the prohibition era. The old jail had a rubber hose, and some knuckledusters in the "interrogation room".

<-- beautiful art deco at the Gamer Cafe

knuckledusters were standard issue for the Butte police. -->

Yellowstone NP

<-- local resident

Ollie checks out the large thermal pools -->

The park has lots of bubbling mud, geysers, bears, moose, elk and coyotes. It's the oldest park in the US.

<-- hey papparazzi, leave that bear alone!

Old Faithful goes off every hour, and Young Faithful goes off every 2 hours -->

Grand Tetons

<-- finally got there, the Grand Tetons

hanging out in the national park -->

Alpine, WY

<-- sleepy boy ready to get packed

a lot of elk went into the arches of Wyoming -->

Friday 2 Sept

<-- free circuses for the young gamblers

everythings bigger in America, even the very small cities -->

We're off on holiday, yee ha. Day one gets us to Reno, and brings us face to face with lots of crazy people. Nevada has lots of historic small towns, nice colours. The end of day 2 gets us into the Mormon state, Utah.

<-- Ogden, Utah

More photos

<-- ET must phone home

aw crikey -->

<-- pass the bottle, it's Jack Thompson's son

Getting enough sleep

<-- smiling at angels or gas

rolling with the punches -->

Ollie's getting enough sleep that is. I'm ok, but the food source is suffering a bit as she needs to be available for hours each night.

ready for the Chinese space program -->

<-- fattening up for the weigh in

A couple more shots of the final product

<-- cunning as a fox

great score on the telepathy tester -->

<-- the parents with Ollie watching in the background

Photos of Oliver

<-- not pleased

the garden gnome we stole -->

You could spend all day just looking at the newbie. I think he looks nothing like these photos.





<--babushka doll

the thinker-->

13 August Ollie's Grand Entrance

<-- 12pm all's well, scoffing an icy pole

2pm waiting . . . -->

It was nice to get in a day out before the big one. Marie saw the doctor in the morning. Turns out the fluid was amniotic, so they wanted her to go straight in. At 2pm, we were fine, then the pectosin started to kick in, and the pain too. At about 4pm, the nurse told us we were 7cm. She couldn't believe it, and had another nurse confirm it. This is when Marie asked for an eppy. At about 4.30 we were 9cm, and around 5 the eppy was just like magic, we were 10cm and ready to go. Our doctor took her time, answered a couple of calls, including while we were pushing. She did tug o war on a vacuum pump. His head appeared, then she strangled the poor boy to get him out. At 6.39pm, Oliver arrived.

<-- doc thought he's going to be a little one

taking a bath at about 15 minutes of age -->

12 August - A nice day in the vineyards

<-- checking out the bridge in the morning

tasting a few in the afternoon-->

We hired a car, and with Marie due anytime, we headed off, about an hour north of the city, and went wine tasting in Sonoma (not Marie). Marie's water broke at 3pm. She wasn't sure, so we kept on tasting.

<-- Golden Gate bridge

the view from Twin Peaks over the city -->

11 August 2007 We're overdue

<-- the new setup

where's Olly? -->

Lucky there's no late fees, as having a kid is expensive enough. Olly keeps getting well fed, and Marie had half a glass of wine tonight, so he's in no mood to come out into the cold.

Anna and Vicky visit

<-- Anna and Vicky check out the city

<-- Marie and Anna sit on the wall.

"Postcard alley" is a few blocks from our place. The houses near are typical of the area, and there's a nice view of the city.

Wandering the neighbourhood

We're near a few hills, strangely enough. All have beautiful old Victorian houses and great views for miles away. You could get some serious air time down the streets here, but the middle of town is even a bit better.

At the moment, we're both working from home. Tomorrow, Marie is off on leave as a disabled person / my personal cook.

3 weeks to go

wo oh wo oh wo oh wo!

4th July 2007

Independence from England. I think I've heard it said more as "4th of July" than July 4th. They had some good fireworks, and we got the day off.