Thankfully we didn’t witness anything more sinister on the train, than great scenery, especially Connecticut ❤️, hugged the coast for a way and saw lovely coastal towns , once again beautiful colours on the trees. Mystic looked like a place to revisit. We didn’t partake of much from the dining car, just ☕️ coffee. Started at Back Bay in Boston , we are almost at New Rochelle, NY 🗽
So I slept really well last night after all my driving, ready to start the day. We found a local cafe called Thornton’s, that was full of locals, so we figured it would be ok. It was 😊 Katherine had Eggs Benedict and salmon. I had fresh grapefruit and granola. The granola was great but not as great as my friend Kevin’s homemade Granola 👍
Then we hopped on a Hop on Hop off Trolley bus tour. Great way to see many parts of the city and hear a ton of interesting history facts.
Saw the outside of the famous Fenway Park, interesting fact, built in 1912 so no car parks built and so impossible to park on game day so local petrol stations close up the pumps and make more money as a parking lot , around $5500 per game.
Some beautiful old parts of Boston really do look English. An area called Charles st (Antique Row) was stunning !
We passed over many bridges on the Charles river. The stories were amazing……Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, The battle of Bunker Hill, and of course the Boston Tea Party.
We also saw a lovely memorial to the Holocaust.
Of a more recent nature we saw the Boston Marathon Finish line which used to be removed after the race, but since the Bombing in 2013, they leave the Finish line painted on the road. Very sad.
We passed the Converse factory. Apparently you can pop in and order a personalised pair!! Anything you want on them, pets pictures, own picture, favourite food, Shame we didn’t have time 😢
Chilled out this afternoon, heading to dinner shortly , bye for now guys ❤️
PS a couple these photos are not ours as we didn’t get clear ones from the window of the trolley 😝
Sadly we left Buffalo today and had to say Au Revoir to one of my oldest friends 😢 Sis and I had a long drive ahead : Buffalo to Boston , approx 440 miles 😬 The colours on the trees alongside the I90 East, were incredible, so golden, Orange, red and everything in between, absolutely stunning all the way. Photos do NOT do them justice ….
Our stop to eat was at Crazy Otto’s Empire Diner in a small town called Herkima. We chose this one because of our good friend Otto 😉. We went over a couple really cute bridges in Berkshire 
As the photos show , the weather turned pretty shitty, coffee helped
The Adirondacks and Catskills were either side of us.
We arrived in Boston , dropped the rental off and after dropping the luggage off (all excess of it as well) went to “Cheers” bar for dinner, where everyone knows my name
While walking back to the hotel, found ourselves on the edge of a huge anti Trump march , mostly students but chanting and marching to show their disappointment.
Thanks for reading 💤
Well we woke up in the town of Buffalo , had coffee and cereal and hit the road. We drove with Elaine to the lovely town of East Aurora. Had brunch at a cafe called Taste , very eclectic, instead of numbers , we got celebrity names , I was given my fave … Ellen 😊❤️ There were board games to play while you await your choice of food. Very cool 👍
Elaine then took us to Vidlers, the original 5 and Dime. Don’t know if she realised how much we would love it 😝searching all the amazing aisles of stuff , finding all sorts of required items! Found some old retro stuff among new treasures, had to drag ourselves away. Totally recommend if you are near this area ever 😁
Had a drink so we missed the peak hour traffic, before we headed back to Elaine’s. Elaine introduced us to the game “Apples to Apples” after dinner , very cool game 😊
Breakfast, the most important meal of the day !! Today we went to Yolk, once again a fabulous breakfast 🍳. Eggs, in case the name didn’t give it away, with toast and fresh 🍉 fruit. I must also mention that we have always had really friendly service in Chicago, not only at eating places, also in stores, the hotel and the train ticket office.
We picked up the next Rental on our list , this one was twice the size of the Fiat but still only a Mazda 3 lol. We headed out of Chicago , sad to say goodbye , had such a great weekend , as did that whole city with the Cubs winning the World Series, and the Rugby going on too.
We hit the I 90 and followed that for hours and hours , stopping more than once to stretch and to hydrate. We passed through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania. The autumn ( fall ) colours were beautiful! Lots of farms and barns and silos and TONS of trucks on the road. Passed through lots of toll booths and I just didn’t get the knack of pulling up close on the left so had to practically climb out the window to get my ticket , 😂.
I drove all the way and towards the end of the journey, wondered if I still had a right leg!! Had my Spotify playlist going and didn’t repeat one song in 10 1/2 hours. We hit our destination of Buffalo, New York, and before we got to Elaine’s house, stopped off and picked up Buffalo wings with Blue Cheese dip …..demolished them in no time. What a long day , goodnight💤
So….. we wandered down to Navy Pier,
decided to have dinner at a Famous Sports Bar/Restaurant named after a famous Baseball commentator, Harry Carey.
Great atmosphere and of course the obligatory photos of celebrities lining the walls. Alcohol was ordered first and then the appetiser arrived, warmed Spinach and Artichoke dip with Corn Chips ….OMG 😋 !! Could have done that twice over. My main course was a chopped BLT salad with blue 🧀 cheese, also delicious. Didn’t do dessert, watching the figure, so we wandered further down the pier to view the wheel at night ,
it was beautiful. Walked back to the hotel, stopping at the D4 Irish 🍀 pub to celebrate John’s home country’s historic win. Another awesome night in the Windy City over .
FridayDrove to John Wayne Airport for our flight to Chicago. Would totally recommend this Airport for domestic flights instead of LAX. Not so manic and much friendlier.
We flew American and despite my chocs for the crew, they were very average. One guy working on a day off, so he could be with his fiancé on her first day.
Nice airplane though , new 737-800
Landed in ORD, 4 ish hours later. Met up with John , he arrived from NY only minutes before us.
The Taxi ride took ages due cubs parade in town , they won the World Series.
Checked in, Dropped our stuff and headed out. We walked and explores and ate at Quartinos for dinner , great food , great service. Italian inspired buy choices for everyone as they were smallish servings , you could order a few and share 😊
We stopped off at “Pops for Champagne” on the way home. Friday night in town atmosphere , so fun but noisy 😜
Found an interactive display/ “tackle the all blacks” so practiced our tackling for the next day.
Wandered back , lobby was like a being in NZ , “black”everywhere 🏉
Few more drinks, couple too many !!and bed💤
Game Day
Tried to get into a breakfast cafe called “Wildberry ” looong wait so went for a wander and found “Toni ” French cafe. , was Lovely, very French.
Back to the hotel , All Blacks gear on and on the way to the field , found “the Bean”, seen it in movies 🎥 and now we were there !
Then we were off , walked through Millenium Park , beautiful colours on the trees 🌲 🌳, to Soldier Field along with the throngs , great atmosphere of green and black.
The stadium was absolutely amazing, had a beer, and a corn dog AND a hot dog 😊 , Thanks to John, we had great seats , loved the whole thing except the loss. 😢
The Irish fans were amazing and it was great to share it with my Irish friend John.
Sadly our hello West Auckland sign didn’t make it to the screen.
The atmosphere walking back to town was something special , Irish fans saying hi to All Blacks fans and thanking them for the game. Sorry the video is sideways lol
Dinner was at the famous “Giordanos” for Chicago Deep Dish pizza.
I even had a chance to kiss the mighty All Black captain ❤️❤️
This was a day to remember for sure, great to share with my beautiful sister and two of my friends of 30 years , John and Elaine.
Sunday
Heading out the hotel, turned around thinking it was my friend John behind me and came face to face with Aaron Cruden , woohoo, smiles said hi and he said hi back 😉
Wildberry for breakfast , still a 1 hr 30 m wait, so we put our name down , grabbed a take out coffee and sat in the sun in Millenium Park awaiting our turn. The wait was worth it, pancakes and fresh berries were delicious.
Breakfast done, more coffee consumed and we were off …..got the Loop train and also the subway , destination: “360 Chicago” observation deck, magnificent views and a special attraction called “Tilt” , you’ll have to google it 😝
Wandered back to the hotel along Michigan avenue , window shopping at all the high end stores , dreaming lol.
Planning on dinner at Naval Pier, so will let you know …..
Kids for a day ……. Main Street was decked out for Christmas and looked glorious 🎄
First ride of the morning was The Matterhorn Bobsleds in Fantasyland ……. had to wait for an engineer to sign it off ( sound familiar crew? ) then she was all go 😊 and we careened around that Matterhorn , screaming appropriately 😝
Next up a safe wander through Alice’s teacups and Sleeping Beauty ‘s castle. Then Peter flew us over London (Pan that is)……before we joined Pinocchio and Snow White on their adventures.
We passed the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and saw “15 minute wait time” so we were all over that !! Johnny Depp has definately improved the ride ❤️ The French Market in New Orleans square was our lunch choice, a Caesar Salad that hit the spot🍴
Then off for a massive wait ( but well worthwhile) for the Halloween meets Christmas Edition of the Haunted House 🏡 , was scarily awesome 👻
Indiana Jones was up next and Wow! Thanks Indie . We saw Tarzan and Jane at home in their treehouse , didn’t stay long 😜
Headed back to the future and boarded the monorail to Downtown Disney and fitted in some retail therapy 💵💰💴💳
No visit to Disneyland would be complete without Space Mountain , even if its renamed Hyperspace Mountain!!
A wander back through glittering Main Street and a photo op with the star of the place ……. M.I.C.K.E.Y M.O.U.S.E
Now …… a soak in the Jacuzzi ( what’s wrong with spa pool Americans ? )
Night x
Space Waitress' Travels on Earth 