The Countdown Is On...

Only 3 hours before we celebrate the New Year.

Liz and I are currently in New York City, and have been here for the last few days or so with her parents and sister Kitty.

We are about to head out to the Mark Hotel, to have a nice dinner and some drinks as the New Year rolls around. Hopefully a few photos to follow...

This Time The Queen Came To Visit Me!

After a warm reception at Queen Lizzie's Palace (see the posting on Liz & my visit to Buck House), the Queen decided to return the favour and drop by the Reuters Building in Canary Wharf for a quick visit.

She was here for the official opening of the building, and I was one of the hundreds that lined the entrance waiting for her arrival.

It was all over in a moment, but was a lot of fun.

Fireworks & Fun at Sunshine Garden Centre

In preparation for Guy Fawkes, Paul's work had a special fireworks night on Saturday. Over 300 people turned up for the event, which was by invitation only - we managed to get on the exclusive guest list 'cause we knew one of the organisers ;)

We enjoyed a delicious sausage sizzle and some mulled wine before watching an impressive fireworks display (all for sale at Sunshine Garden Centre!)

Inside the Garden Centre is an impressive Christmas display (yes, Christmas is just arround the corner...) Liz loved looking around - I can see we will be having a "Sunshine" Christmas this year :)

Some more pics from Ellie's Birthday

A few more photos from Ellie's first birthday party.

Here she is with the new toy we gave her - she had just started walking a few weeks earlier and we thought a present that she could push along as she walked would be perfect. We also gave her a couple of books, which I read to her before she went to sleep that night...





Blowing out the birthday cake - Ellie seems a little unconcerned with the goings on until...



...it was time to eat the cake! I absolutely love this pic - Ellie thought the whole thing was hilarious and laughed as she rubbed icing into her hair!

Ellie's First Birthday

Presenting Miss Ellie Douglass on this auspicious occasion of her first birthday party, pictured here making her grand entrance wearing her brand new party dress.

Visiting Old Lizzie at Buck House

Each year during the Summer, parts of Buckingham Palace are opened to the public. It was quite cool to be inside and see Buckingham Palace from the other side of the front gate.

I remember when I was small we had a visit from Theo & Susan, an English couple Dad was friends with from the days when he used to work on the P&O cruise ships with Theo. They gave me a jigsaw puzzle of Buckingham Palace that I really enjoyed putting together. Every time I visit the palace I always think of that puzzle...

The bottom photo is taken from behind the Palace - a beautiful day and great weather for siteseeing...

Ellie Playing Outside

Ellie enjoying a nice day in the backyard. She loves water and had so much fun playing in her little pool. Afterwards there was some time for some hugs with her Aunty Liz & Uncle Mark...

A Day At The Farm

A Day At The Farm, originally uploaded by mkdougal.

We've been in London now for just over two weeks.



As part of Reuters involvement of Community Week (normally a May event but because of busy times we are only now in August able to participate!) I am currently standing outside Hackney City Farm.



A bunch of Finance staff are going to spend the day tidying up the farm ready for an open day tomorrow. Should be fun...!



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Sent from my Treo

A Sense Of Closure

A number of people have commented that our trip still hasn't officially ended, as our last post was from Rhode Island which, as you point out, is still more than a couple of hours from New York.

Well, the good news is we made it back; however I'm sure you already knew that :)

The last part of the journey was somewhat eventful - it began pouring rain and visibility was greatly reduced. A number of crazy drivers also appeared on the road, including one bus driver who decided it was time to move into my lane, despite the fact that I was already in it...

A number of hours driving through Rhode Island and Connecticut brought us to the New York state border. We were almost home! Everything went smoothly on the approach to NYC, until we reached the Triboro Bridge. In all the rain and darkness we missed the Manhattan exit and ended up in Queens.

We got ourselves back on track and finally arrived back home at around ten to Midnight. After moving our bags back into our apartment, we cruised the streets looking for a spare parking space. We were keeping the car for the week, as Mum & Dad were flying in for a visit later that week.

It came as no big surprise that street parking was just not available, and so we decided to use one of the many parking garages scattered across the city. I really don't know how people keep cars in the city and search for street parking on a regular basis!

We were home at last - what an adventure! 65 days and 17,500 miles later we had journeyed across the entire United States, visiting all 48 contiguous states as well as a quick trip into Mexico and Canada. It really was the adventure of a lifetime. I said to Liz as we arrived in New York City - "that was fun, lets do it again!". For some reason she wasn't up for that suggestion...

We're Almost Home...!

It's 8pm, we've just finished a nice Thai meal in Providence, Rhode Island & are about to head out for the last stretch of highway through Connecticut and back to New York.

It's been an amazing journey - one that we will remember forever.

It's been tremendous fun, & we have really enjoyed bringing you all with us along the way.

Looking forward to catching up with you all sometime soon - wherever you may be across the world...

MARK & LIZ

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Sent from my Treo

A Bit Of News...

Just a quick post to let everyone know that Liz & I are engaged!

We are in Montreal, and I proposed to her last night as we were strolling back to our hotel. Yes, I did go down on one knee, and yes Liz did cry :)

Indianapolis Grand Prix

We happened to arrive in Indianapolis on a Saturday, and were very excited to catch a few laps of the Grand Prix! It wasn't the Indy 500, but it was on the same speedway as that race.

We ended up staying in town overnight, as we had run into some more car troubles. Luckily they turned out to be minor, and we were on our way again the next morning.

Only In America!

Have you ever arrived at a service station and found you were just too tired to walk a few feet to make a call? That payphone next to the cashier just a little too far away to get to? No problem - just drive up, drop in your quarter and start talking!

During a quick stop at a service station to fill up the car, we had one of those "It could only happen in America moments"...

An Awesome Breakfast In St Louis

Our last stop in St Louis was spending the night at Kelly Tripp's place. Kelly is another friend from Reuters, who very kindly invited us to stay with him and his family. We took this photo in his backyard, with Kelly and his two children Garrett & Heidi.

Kelly cooked us an awesome breakfast and sent us on our way with a full & happy belly. Thanks a lot Kelly for having us over, and it was great to see you again, and to meet your wife Karen & your two kids :)

Dinner At Charlie Gitto's

After a quick stop to get changed, we went straight from the Arch to meet Tricia & Megan (some more of my friends from work), and their husbands Bill & Tony for dinner. I thought I'd really dress up for the occasion...

They took us to Charlie Gitto's - a really nice Italian place for dinner (Tricia had told me St Louis was famous for it's Italian food, and I can see why - it was delicious!).

Thanks Tricia and Megan for organising the dinner, we had a great time :) And Tricia, I'm glad we finally got to meet in person after all this time!

Gateway To The West

In the short time we had in St Louis, we managed to drop by their famous Arch, and travel to the top to see the view.

Due to the shape of the Arch, the elevator ride was more like riding the Ferris Wheel than an ordinary elevator.

I was very impressed with the Arch - it makes the St Louis skyline very distinct, and is a great piece of architecture. I could have happily photographed it all day, but sadly only had a short time there before heading over to dinner with some other Reuters friends.

Saying Hello In St Louis

Our next stop was St Louis to see some of my friends and colleagues from the Reuters office there.

We had planned on getting to the city in the early afternoon, but unfortunately we did not arrive until much later. Our delay was thanks to being stuck in some traffic for over two hours just outside Chicago (good old I-55)...

When we finally got to St Louis, I dropped into the office and saw a few people, including Connie Nuelle & Kerry Casey (pictured). I was really glad to see our St Louis office and say hello to everyone. I was never quite able to swing a trip there through work, so I was pleased I could include it as a stop on our great USA adventure.

Connie, thanks a lot for organising things in the short time we had (sorry we couldn't get there in time to enjoy a local brew with you), and providing us with the maps & directions so we could make it to the Arch on time :)

Dropping Into Chicago

I caught up with Dave Jaras (an old Ernst & Young buddy) and his fiancee Leslie when we dropped into Chicago for the afternoon.

We had some excellent hot wings and beer at their local pub Yak-Zies, where we met them after they won a game of softball in their local (friendly) competition.

It was really nice to see Dave & Leslie again. Thanks guys for making the time to see us :)

Say Cheese!

After leaving Minneapolis, we drove across the border into Wisconsin, on our way to Milwaukee.

Near the border, we stopped in at the tourist information centre to pick up a map of the area, and tried some absolutely delicious cups of milk (I found out at this point that Wisconsin is famous for it's dairy products, particularly cheese).

The information centre suggested we visit the nearby Cady Cheese factory. We dropped by to watch the cheese being produced, enjoyed a nice lunch of cheese & crackers and rounded out our meal with a nice chocolate cheese fudge for dessert :)

Shop Till Ya Drop

After watching the film Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, we headed over to the world famous Mall Of America - the largest mall under one roof in the United States.

This mall is so large, it has an amusement park in the middle of the shops, with TWO roller coasters!

After a number of hours browsing through the shops, we took a ride on one of the roller coasters before heading back to the motel.

My House, In The Middle Of My Street

Thanks to a map from my Dad, we managed to find the house that we lived in when I was a baby in Cambridge Minnesota.

The Bridge Of Madison County

Whilst driving through Iowa, we stopped at one of the (in)famous Madison County Bridges...

Not Your Ordinary State Capitol

In Lincoln, Nebraska we visited the capital building, which is known for it's unique design. Rather than being short and wide with a domed roof like most capitol buildings, this building is quite tall and slender. The distinctive shape has apparently earned it the name "The Penis of The Prairies", but I can't quite see why. Can you?

(Posted by Liz)

Bringing Things Up To Date

Ok, despite best intentions and efforts, this blog has really fallen
behind (no kidding).

We have tried to keep it up to date - but finding motels with internet
access has proven to be very difficult these last few weeks. Even when
we have found motels with access, it's either been slow, or we've ended
up in the only room where the internet is not working (this happened to
us just last night too).

So, we are going to start adding current posts, and also try and go back
to update the missing weeks as much as we can as we go along. Be sure
to keep scrolling down when you check out the site - hopefully some
earlier posts will have been added since you last looked.

So what's happened since Andy left? Not a lot to be honest. We
dropped him off at San Francisco airport on Wednesday night (8 June)
and headed back to our hotel. We found out later that Andy's plane had
engine troubles, and he ended up staying in San Francisco an extra
night!

The only things that have happened on the road these last few days is a
stop at the casino in Reno, and a visit this morning to the Mormon
Temple in Salt Lake City (which turned out to be more interesting than
I thought it would be). Other than that, it's been a lot of driving
along Interstate 80, with not a lot to see on the way. It is nice to have a break though after all the adventures we had whilst Andy was over here. It's ALWAYS an adventure when Andy's around!!!

Tomorrow we are heading out towards Lincoln, Nebraska. The next big
stop will be in Minneapolis, where we will be hitting the Mall Of
America, and seeing where Liz was born...

Touring San Francisco

There was lots of rain on Andy's last day in the USA, however that didn't stop us from getting out and seeing the sights - including the cable car museum, and going for a few more rides on the cable cars.

We also drove across town to have Andy's black and white photos developed. On the way back we saw this truck, with a license plate that really sums up San Francisco...

Andy's Last Night On The Great USA Roadtrip

The three of us enjoying some Fantas in our motel room in San Francisco before Andy had to fly back to Australia.

We had just returned from a baseball game and enjoyed a nightime cable car ride from one side of San Francisco to the other.

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Andy was really keen to see a baseball game whilst in the USA.

Liz had managed to get tickets to watch the San Francisco Giants play the Kansas City Royals at the Giants new stadium. Unfortunately for the Giants, the Royals beat them 7-1. It was the shortest game of baseball I've ever seen - all over within 2.5 hours.

We missed the first half hour as it took longer than expected to get into San Francisco, although we still had plenty of time to enjoy some awesome hotdogs and beer.

Are You Going To San Francisco?

After leaving the Redwood National Park, we continued on down the coast and onto Highway One. That road took us along the coast of Northern California and into San Francisco. It was a very winding road that seemed to go on forever, and we were all glad when we finally reached the Golden Gate Bridge and were on regular roads again...

Redwood National Park

Once we hit Northern California we detoured through Redwood National Park. Driving through, the trees looked awfully familiar, however it wasn't until Liz read about the forest in the guidebook did we realise it was the setting for the planet Endor - home of the Ewoks in Return Of The Jedi. We could easily picture seeing the speeder bikes racing amongst the trees... Or, in our case, our car driving through a tree...

A Walk Through Safari

Continuing down the coast, we stopped at another wildlife park. It was by far the most interesting one we visited on this trip. It was an interactive zoo, with many of the baby animals tame enough to touch. The zoo was made even better by the animal handler - Crystal. She was fantastic - a very friendly, easy going girl, who made the whole experience really fun. We saw plenty of young deer, a black bear cub, cougars, fox, ferret, and a bengal tiger. Be sure to ask Liz about the baboon named Crazy Larry...