Spangled Banner museum

<-- say can you see the full size replica of the original


The star spangled banner museum tells the story of the survival of Fort McHenry against British bombardment, which then became the basis of the national anthem. They've done a great job of preserving some of the buildings around here.



<-- looks like a guitar factory

Baltimore is go -->

Washington

<-- to get to the train use the smiley face gates

trains are groovy -->

<-- the capitol

changing the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier -->

Washington

<-- a walk interstate

When I was just a baby my mama told me; son, always be a good boy, don't ever play with guns -->

<-- trumpeting at the white house with the fat dudes in suits and sunnies

They gave Lincoln a big chair to see over the top of all the tourists -->

Richmond, Virginia

<-- Stonewall Jackson, a main Confederate leader on Monument Avenue.


Richmond has the Confederate Whitehouse, the Museum of the Confederacy, the American Civil War Museum, and Monument Avenue with the Confederate heros, and is Civil war central.


<-- There are enough cannons around for the South to have another go

Thomas the Tank Engine at Historic Tredegar -->

Yorktown + Williamsburg

<-- Yorktown.


First stop was Yorktown, scene of the last major battle of the American Revolution in 1781. Mainstreet is how it was, and you can walk the battlefield where the ditches are still in place. Then we went to Williamsburg.






<-- Williamsburg -->

Raleigh, NC

<-- Duke

Durham -->

Ollie slept the entire flight. We got to board before everyone else which is the greatest thing ever.


<-- St. Ollie

The traveller

<-- for Finding our way Home


Ollie's now 4 weeks old, and has seen 6 states. He will add a couple more in the next 2 weeks. What a patriotic little American.



View Larger Map



<-- Nevada takes a while to get through but is lovely -->











<-- I couldn't persuade him

he couldn't persuade me -->

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