Home at Last!

Home at Last!

15 countries, 5 continents, 39 flights, 124 beds, 2 mountains, 24 islands, 1 major illness, several weird creatures eaten, god knows how many gallons of alcohol consumed and roughly 61,387 miles covered by plane, train, automobile, tuk tuk, moto, canoe and one very faithful little camper van!

SeaWorld, Busch Gardens & Miami

And another!


The view from our balcony in Miami.


Weeeeeeeeeeeee!


The awesome Sheikra ride at Busch Gardens, Tampa Bay.


Who wants their tummy rubbed?!!


Shamu does the 'Free Willy' special!


Shamu gets ready to soak the crowd of shrieking children
(and Japanese tourists!!)


King penguins lording it up in their artificially created snow dome.


Dolphin acrobatics at the SeaWorld Aquarium.


No, not a large floating blob but a very rare and placid manatee
(also known as propeller-fodder, hence the rarity!!)


Chris tries out the cowgirl look!


The dolphins at the underwater viewing area in Dolphin Cove.


Ben feeding Flipper at SeaWorld!


Flamingos in the pink (har har!) at SeaWorld, Orlando.
Late January 2007.

Vancouver & Whistler

Canadian lake views as we returned to the USA.


Action man! Ben after a hard day's boarding.

One of the many gondolas taking skiers and boarders
up Blackcomb and Whistler mountain.

Around Whistler village.

Linda and Chris looking trolleyed before even going out on
Chris's birthday! Too much champagne!!!

The view from our apartment in Whistler village,
complete with balcony, heated pool and covered hot tub!!!

Our team in full flight with 'musher' Matt at the controls!

Chris takes the controls while Ben enjoys the ride!!

Mush, mush! Dog sledding around Whistler's back country,
Chris's birthday, 18th January 2007.

Well, it had been a while so here's Chris cuddling
something cute and furry, other than Ben!!!

View from the apartment windows.

Where we stayed with Linda and Stephen in Whistler.

Giddyup Rudolph!
Sleigh ride round the ski field, Grouse Mountain.

Chris posing by the cable car atop Grouse Mountain.

Views of Vancouver and the Burrard Inlet from Grouse Mountain.

Canadian wood carving up on Grouse Mountain.
Vancouver, Mid January 2007.

I still don't know what this shop was selling
but the sign certainly made you stop and look!

Canadian entrepreneur 'Gassy Jack' after whom Gastown,
the oldest part of Vancouver, was named.

Seattle

Up on the Space Needle one day during a rather strong gale!


See, the first Starbucks store! Told you!


The very first (of MILLIONS) Starbucks at the market with its original

(and apparently rather risque) saucy mermaid logo!!


The famous Pike Place Market, location for 'Sleepless in Seattle'

and if you're really lucky they might throw a fish at you!


The Space Needle at night, all 605 feet of it!
(and yes, it does look like a flying saucer on the top there!)


Ben and Jimi compare riffs on Broadway, Seattle!


Continuing on with 'Dead Celeb Day'! The graves of superstar Bruce Lee
and his son Brandon. Mystery still surrounds both their deaths.
Lakeside Cemetery, Seattle.


Kurt's Park next door, where fans pay their respects.


The house in which troubled Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain
took his own life in 1994, Lake Washington, Seattle.


Deep below Seattle's streets!


Amazing Underground Seattle Tour where in

the late 19th century they rebuilt the city a whole storey

above the original and left the old buildings below!

Full of freakish fun!
Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe! Waterfront, Seattle.

Fabulous friends! Tim, Christina, Chris, Ben and Troll!
The Fremont troll under the Aurora Bridge, Seattle.

An incredible interactive working guitar sculpture made up of
500 instuments! The EMP, Seattle.

The fabulous EMP: Experience Music Project and Sci Fi Museum,
Seattle, early January 2007.

Seattle's famous landmark The Space Needle.
Built for the 1961 World's Fair and seen on Frasier's credits each week!

New York, New York!

The ball drops!!! Times Square, New York, Midnight!!

Ben and Chris, Times Square, about 11.00pm New Year's Eve.

The distinctive Art Deco Chrysler Building, New York.

Ground Zero. The former site of the World Trade Centre
and now the building site of the future Freedom Tower.


A survivor of 9/11
The Icon of Hope in Battery Park.


Lady Liberty!


The fantastic bird's eye view from above!


Going up?!
Helicopter tour over Manhattan.


The city's first skyscraper
the Flatiron building.


Sign on the right reads:
please do not touch, lick, stroke or mount the exhibits!


The ubiquitous yellow cabs of New York city.


The Naked Cowboy struts his stuff on the streets
of New York!

The Chrysler Building, Manhattan.


Downtown Manhattan as seen from the obs deck.


The view of the Chrysler Building from the

Empire State Building's obs deck.

The Empire State Building at night in
Christmas colours!


Enjoying cocktails in Times Square.


Chris outside the Christmas tree of Macy's,
the biggest department store in the world!


The Apollo Theatre pays respect to one its
greatest performers James Brown, days after his death.


Times Square, as seen from our tour bus, getting
ready for all the excitement on New Year's Eve.

The Dakota Building where John Lennon
lived and died in 1980.

Check out the view from our room!
Empire State Building, New York, end December 2006.

Chicago and New Orleans

Pere Noel takes a load off after a busy few days!!!


That mulled wine makes another appearance!


Some of the light displays at the Celebration in the Oaks,
New Orleans City Park.


Some proper street jazz in Jackson Square, French Quarter.


St Louis Cathedral and General Andrew Jackson
in the Square that takes his name.


With our favourite barman John at our New Orleans hotel.


Christmas Day in our suite!


Bourbon Street getting going at night.


One of the oldest bars in the USA (and one of Chris's favourites)
Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, French Quarter.


It would be rude not to get drunk on a street with a name like this!


For all your hexing and hoodoo needs!


A fine example of the French Quarter's ornate galleries.


Look like anyone you know???? Which one are you???


Oooo! Spooky goings on in the Voodoo Museum!


Voodoo John and his very friendly little albino python at the

Voodoo Museum, French Quarter, New Orleans.
(That's Marie in the painting)


One of the grander family tombs.


The much visited tomb of the most famous Voodoo Queen ever -

Marie Laveau. (That's Chris next to it not some scary apparition!)


The 'brick oven' style tombs of the not so affluent.


The famous above ground cemetery St Louis Number One,
New Orleans.


The space shuttle's external fuel tank, NASA, New Orleans.
Big isn't it?!


Spot the wildlife??? No we couldn't either!!!


Turtle makes like a tree to avoid capture!


On the bayou!


Crikey! A little swamp alligator in the Louisiana Bayou,
Honey Island swamp, New Orleans, Mid December 2006.


Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs and Elwood Blues!!


The view of downtown from the Sears' Tower.
1454 feet high!


An apt production!


Some of the classic art deco architecture of downtown Chicago.

Christingle Market, supplier to Ben and Chris of much mulled wine!
Daley Plaza, Chicago.

Route 66 - Part 2!

The End! 2448 miles later!! Chicago, Illinois, Mid December 2006.


The Gemini Giant at the Launching Pad Drive-In,

Wilmington, IL.


It wouldn't be Route 66 without some neon!


Tall Paul, the hot dog giant, Atlanta, IL.
D'ya see the size of his sausage?!!!


We don't know what this is but we like it!
Somewhere, Illinois!


Chris rubbing Abe's nose for luck at the Lincoln Memorial Tomb,
Springfield, Illinios.


Abraham Lincoln's old house, Springfield, Illinois.


The old Soulsby Shell Station, Mount Olive, Illinois.


Another Jack Rabbit, this time at Henry's Rabbit Ranch,

Staunton, Illinois.


You can get Route 66 anything and everything!


The bizarre (and frankly dangerous!) Chain of Rocks Bridge,

St. Louis, Missouri, complete with 22 degree bend!


The Gateway Arch, St. Louis.
630 feet high!


Ben laps up some of Famous Ted Drewes Frozen Custard,
St. Louis, Missouri.


The famous Route 66 institution, the Munger Moss motel,
Lebanon, Missouri.


You just can't get the staff nowadays!


The endearingly sweet but now retired Blue Whale amusement park,
Catoosa, Oklahoma.


Elk City, Oklahoma.


'The Blob' plays at the 66 Drive-In.


Cool 1970's Corvette in 66 Diner,
National Route 66 Museum, Elk City, Oklahoma.


The Devil's Rope (barbed wire!) Museum, McLean, Texas.
Go figure!


The Leaning Tower of Texas, Groom.


Ben doing his Peter Kay impression!
"Is this the way to Amarillo...?!"


How could you resist?!


The famous Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo, Texas.


Old 66! The Midpoint Cafe, Adrian, Texas.


The halfway point! Adrian, Texas.


Route 66 Auto Museum, Santa Rosa, New Mexico.


One of the many kitsch vintage motel signs that line Route 66.


The Satellite Cafe, Albuquerque, New Mexico.


Route 66 Casino plays homage to the (now defunct)
Twin Arrows Trading Post, an old Route 66 landmark.


The Continental Divide in New Mexico where the
rain from the west drains to the Pacific and the east to the Atlantic.


Dinos at the Rock Shop, Holbrook, AZ.


"Have you stayed in a wigwam lately?".
The fabulously kitsch Wigwam Motel, Holbrook, Arizona.


The Jack Rabbit himself!


The famous Jack Rabbit trading post billboard,
Joseph City, Arizona.

A hitchhiker we picked up east of Winslow.

The Meteor City trading post, Winslow, Arizona.

Grand Canyon Detour!

Airplane flight over the Grand Canyon, December 2006.

Route 66 - Part 1!

Route 66 saviour Angel Delgadillo shows off his handiwork
on Ben's head! Smooth as a baby's bottom!


World famous Angel Delgadillo's barber shop, Seligman.


Ben gets friendly with the locals in Seligman, Arizona!


Original log jail in Arizona, somewhere!


Ahh, the open road!


Lost climbers in the Grand Canyon Caverns!!


Rexy outside the Grand Canyon Caverns near Seligman on Route 66.


Very sexy! Yes, the car, not Chris!
1956 Corvette outside the Hackberry General Store.


The retro 50's diner inside the Hackberry General Store.
Er..we don't know the skinny broad on the left!


Big head, somewhere on Route 66!


'Fill you up, sir?!!!'
Powerhouse Route 66 museum, Kingman, Arizona.


Nosy little 'burro' (Spanish for donkey) who snotted on our window!
Oatman, Arizona.


Inside the Bagdad Cafe with brainy Bob!
(He's the little hairy one in the middle!)


The famous Bagdad Cafe (from the movie of the same name! Their spelling!)
Newberry Springs, CA.


First Route 66 museum, Victorville, CA.


The old way to get gas at The Summit Inn!


The Summit Inn on the Cajon Pass, Oak Hills, California.


Roadtrip!!!


Ben outside the 'everything 66' store!


Have guidebook, will travel!
Ready to roadtrip! 2448 miles to go!


The start (though we had to borrow Chicago's start sign as
some idiot had crashed into LA's and burnt it up!)


Santa Monica pier, the offical start/end point for Route 66.


The famous Santa Monica carousel for all you
Paul Newman/'The Sting' fans!


Santa Monica Pier, LA.

Santa Monica beach, Los Angeles, early December 2006.

West Coast California

Beware low flying planes in San Diego!

A zonkey?! No, just a painted up donkey!
Tijuana, early December 2006.

Main street, Tijuana, Mexico.

Beautiful baby gorilla with mum!

Hippo at the hippodrome!

Life's hard for Gao Gao the male panda bear!

Polar bears with their very own specially made snow!

Giraffe. Obviously!

The armour plated white rhino.

San Diego's wolf in fine voice!

Flamingos strut their stuff at San Diego zoo.

The Pacific Highway on our way south!

Close up Half Dome from the Mirror Lake.
(Not much water at that time of year though!)

Half Dome from Ahwahnee meadow.


A friendly stag we met on one of the nature trails.


The impressive landmark of Half Dome inside Yosemite.



The view from Tunnel lookout over the Yosemite valley.


Pretty Christmas card views inside Yosemite.


The stunning national park Yosemite.


Lake Tahoe.


On the shore of beautiful Lake Tahoe.


Reno! The sign says it all!


Ok, you get it, it was snowing - a lot!


The arty shot of the blizzard!!


Such a change in weather!
The blizzard en route to Reno, end November 2006.

The usual pose! You know to expect it by now!

The Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco Bay.

One of the huge cables that supports the famous
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco.

The huge Christmas tree in Union Square,
Downtown San Fran.


Thanksgiving in San Francisco with Stuart, Suzy, Annabelle
and Jade (and some bonus small kid!)


The famous cable cars.


Those famous Streets of San Francisco!



Sea lions chilling at Pier 39!

They came to escape the 1989 earthquake and never left!

'The Rock'
The eerie old prison also known as Alcatraz.
San Francisco bay, Late November 2006.

Vegas Baby!

The awesome Hoover Dam on the Colorado river
outside of Vegas.


The incredible pyramid and sphinx of the Luxor hotel!


No, we didn't go inside!
The famous Little White Chapel, Las Vegas.


All 1149 ft of the Strat!

The view of the strip from up on the Stratosphere.
1149 feet high!


Ben and Chris outside the huge, new Wynn casino.


The famous Flamingo, an old Rat Pack haunt.


The very elegant Paris!


The very swanky Bellagio.


New York, New York!


Another 'world's largest'
This time: bronze sculpture- The MGM lion: 45 Feet high,
nearly 100,000 pounds!!!


Many, many miles of M&M's!


'The Strip',
Las Vegas, November 2006.


Chris with the first of many frozen daiquiries!
(See that blurring? That is how you see after a few! Even the camera was drunk!)
The Egyptian themed Luxor hotel, Vegas.

Ben sizes up the world's largest Hawaiian shirt!


The incredible 'Grand Canal' at the Venetian.


Swimming time for the tiger at the
Mirage, Las Vegas, November 2006.



Nice puddy tat!
Siegfried and Roy's old hangout, the Mirage, Las Vegas.

Vegas Baby!
Remember, What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!!


Ooooh, how exciting! The world's largest thermometer! Baker, California.
A whopping 134 feet tall to mark the highest ever temperature in the
USA of 134 degrees fahrenheit in Death Valley, 1913!

LA LA Land

Santa overseeing the Christmas decorations in LA!


Where's Wally? (Chris!)
Can you spot the non-famous person in the picture?!


Headline news: T-Rex eats Ripley's!
Ripley's Believe It Or Not, LA!


The Governator himself!!


Grauman's Chinese Theatre, home of the red carpet premieres
on Hollywood Boulevard, LA.


"Here's Johnny!"
Okay it's Jack but if you've seen The Shining you know what we mean!


The famous blonde bombshell on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.


And again in skeletal form.


Big and furry woolly mammoth.


The real thing - in skeletal form at least!

Magestic looking sabre-toothed cats having a scrap
at the LaBrea tar pits in LA.

Poor mummy mammoth stuck in the LaBrea Tar Pits,
Los Angeles, Novemeber 2006.


And if you look really close you can just about make Mumsy
out in the top left hand window! Looks like she's lost some weight!!!


Need a place to stay? I've heard Mother really likes it?!!!


See, we told you!


SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAARKKKKKKK!


Now everybody knows it's not safe to go back in the water!


Er..Ben gets eaten by Jaws!


Chris gives Jaws a cuddle!


The Hard Rock Cafe's gigantic neon guitar.
Universal Studios, Mid November 2006.


Ben gets grabbed by Spinosaurus at Jurassic Park!

Serious stunts in Waterworld as everything goes up in flames!
No problem, plenty of water!!!

Chris gets mean on the Harley as she's chased by a Terminator!
Check out the attitude, huh?!!

Aaaaghhh! The cascading waters of a Mexican flood!!
Not really, don't panic! Just more Universal magic!

Showing off our our funky and very attractive Shrek 4D glasses!


Ready for a day of childish fun!
Universal Studios, LA.


Think Pamela Anderson, think David Hasselhoff!
That's right, think Baywatch!
Venice Beach, LA, November 2006.


As if we were famous!!
We had to get our mugs in here somewhere!

The world famous iconic Hollywood sign,
Los Angeles, Mid November 2006.

The Amazon and Lima

The wild man of the jungle!!!
Ben sporting his first (and hopefully last!) ever beard (since removed!)!


















The monkey and the condor.
The impressive Nazca lines as seen from above.

Judy from the jungle!
This lovely lady saved us from school children in the Amazon and
introduced us to salsa!

Ben and Chris proving they don't have two left feet (each!)
at a Cuban Salsa lesson in Lima.

The Larco Mar at Miraflores in Lima at dusk.

The Plaza Mayor in Lima.
Early November 2006.



The varied lotions and potions of the local Iquitos market.



Ben and Chris doing the tourist thing around Iquitos.


More sloth - complete with Beatles haircut circa 1963!


Ben gives cuddles to a young little woolly monkey!



'He's a bit grumpy!'
Ben holding on tight to the potentially lethal
and lawsuit-inducing rainbow boa!!


Smile for the camera!
Chris stuggling under the weight of the stinky snake!



What a whopper!
Yes, the snake!! This is a ten foot, bloody heavy yellow anaconda!
Los Boas.


Ben and one of the rescued sloths from Los Boas,
near Iquitos, end October 2006.



Ben and Chris and (short!) guide Segundo.



One of the local families from one of the small river communities.



The big tapir we found wandering around Ceiba Tops one night.
He was twice the size of little Nelly and drank water from the bottle!



'Juane', a local dish of rice, chicken and eggs cooked in banana leaves.
Looks delicious doesn't it?!


The gang at Indiana! Our guide Segundo (far left) took us here to meet
his friends and buy them all very cheap beer!


Chris posing reluctantly at the splendid Ceiba Tops pool and waterfall!



'Look at me ma!'
It's not just us humans who smile for the camera!


A young and very cheeky howler monkey.



A shy black and white saki monkey.



Woolly monkeys getting fed.



"Ingles" the uakari monkey and the
bane of Ben's time at the Monkey Island!!



This was our taxi to Ceiba Tops luxury lodge!
If you think it looks low in the water with just the driver imagine it with
5 more passengers plus luggage!


Heavy lifting at the small village of Indiana's quayside!


A local Ribereno 'thatcher' plaiting palm leaves for roofing.


A huge cloud of butterflies attracted to a salt lick on the river bank.


We weren't kidding! They're not called giant for nothing!


The giant Victoria Regia water lilies at a black oxbow lake.


A baby caiman (named Dandy of all things!) rescued from the cooking
pot of a local family by a couple of Explorama guides.


Ben being 'cleansed' by the local shaman at the ReNuPeRu botanical
gardens near the Explornapo lodge.


The lovely Charlie! Biggest capybara ever!
Explornapo Lodge.


Gigantic elephant ear palm leaves at the
Amazon Conservatory for Tropical Studies (ACTS)


Hey, it's a rainforest! It rains!!
(Attractive plastic ponchos, huh?!)



The view over the Amazon rainforest in the early misty morning.
(Taken from the Canopy Walkway's highest point.)


One of the bridges of the Canopy Walkway.
Up to 115 feet high above the forest!


One of the beautiful margrove streams off of the Amazon
where we went piranha fishing again.


A very large (about the size of a girl's hand) and very hairy
yellow-legged tarantula near our lodge on a night walk.


One of the troupe of cheeky tamarin monkeys
who played near the lodge.


A beautiful and tiny (about 2 inches long) Poison Arrow frog in the
leaf litter on the jungle floor.

Us having a go with varied results!
No children or animals were harmed in the making though!

The Yagua men showing their skill with their hand crafted blow guns.

The Yaguas perform a traditional dance in native dress.

A traditional meeting house of the Yagua Indians
north of the Explorama lodge in the Amazon.

Fried up piranha for dinner that night!