damo & dalbs: memphis to philadelphia

10 September - 30 September, 2014

Hey there!

Can you believe we made it? Seriously. I can't. We drove 5 different cars, from San Fran to New York, over a 7 week period, covering approximately 12,000 km's. Yep, that's not a typo. 12,000 km's. So, below are the highlights from the last section of the trip - Memphis to Philly.

The highlight

• Memphis had music and soul. This is of course the birth place of Elvis. Whilst relatively quiet in Memphis, we did see some good live music and received a culture lesson, visiting the Martin Luther King museum (the place where he was assassinated) and experiencing a serious amount of rain. So much so that the city flooded, people were evacuated, and emergency services were enacted. 
• Nashville (or Nash-Vegas as the locals call it) was incredible! We managed to sneak our way into a food and wine event, and really enjoyed the nightlife which is absolutely bustling. We also took some time out to go shooting at a proper shooting range, which was brilliant! 
• Atlanta followed where we took a tour of the CNN headquarters and enjoyed the Jimmy Carter museum (an ex president of the USA). We also found another W hotel to enjoy their facilities. 
• After Atlanta, we traveled down to Weeki Wachee. Back to nature. Kayaking with manatee's and enjoying rope swings. We also let off some fireworks, which we could only do in the solitude of night out in the bush. Turns out fireworks are somewhat illegal in Florida, despite the neighbouring states being ok with it.. good to know for next time! 
• Miami followed with beach time (despite the occasional rain), more W hotel action - in fact we went every day and made friends with the staff. We also enjoyed the nightlife with incredible bars as we joined a bar hopping adventure. This somewhat contradicted our healthy cooking and exercise, but hey, it's all about balance right? Here's also where we left the car. The end of the roadtrip. 
• Then it was time for the boat. The cruise. To the Bahamas. A 4 night cruise which included visiting small islands, swimming, and even a dancing contest (where Dalbs came a very respectable 2nd, I came 3rd and the winner was a lovely elderly gentleman who could move like a 20 year old!). The cruise was really a highlight. Dalbs' bag was lost and after a small complaint from us, we were treated like royalty, including a free bottle of wine each night and an invitation to dine in their premium steak restaurant (most restaurants the food was free except their premium steakhouse which cost to get into and was always full). Yep, we were Australian royalty! 
• We then took a flight to Baltimore, hired another car, and drove to Washington, checking out the Pentagon along the way. Washington was great! So many monuments, beautiful weather, manicured lawns, clean and safe. A surprisingly fun time! 
• After just one day in Washington, we took the bus to Philly where it is always sunny! With a slight issue in our accommodation (including police being called and surrounding Dalbs as he tried to get into the airbnb apartment. A resident called the cops as we couldn't find the place and someone thought we looked dodgy. And the accom ended up being disgusting so we moved the next day anyway), we quite enjoyed Philly, and even more enjoyed a traditional Philly steak and cheese sanga!  
• Philly then took us to New York for the end of the roadtrip. 

The Summary

Weather: Still quite warm, but a little more rain in Florida. 
Surf: Nope, however we enjoyed the ocean which we hadn't see for a while! 
Food: So much cooking! Plus on the cruise, we ate, ate and ate some more. Mmmmm.  

Beverages: Next question...

People: So many incredible people, everyone has just been hospitable and a ball! 
Accommodation: Airbnb with the cheeky W hotels visits. We had a couple of motels along the way, and of course the cruise, with a porthole window. 
Budget: We calculated the trip came to about budget, perhaps slightly over. Which is a surprise! 
Overall: Incredible! The entire trip was an absolute ball! 

Next stop, catching up with the beautiful Kath in New York city!!! 

Memphis, Tennessee

About half way through and still holding up ok! 

The Civil Rights Museum, with a replica of the bus that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on. This museum is in the hotel where Martin Luther King was shot. 

Sun Records where Elvis recorded a lot of his songs. They also have jackets for sale. This was a size small... seriously??

Nashville, Tennessee

Stumbled across these guns just lying around...

We shot for an hour, what a rush! 

I was trying to make a smiley face... All the shots in the circle are Dalbs', everything else was mine. I need more practice. 

Love a good lawn! 

We managed to get free tickets (just by standing outside looking sad) to a sold out Wine festival where they shut down an entire bridge to host the tents. And we got to keep the glasses! 

This is a cool concept, basically you have to escape from a themed room within an hour, solving riddles, finding clues, and working with strangers. We tried to pull off a "heist" with these guys. Whilst we failed, we were assured we were close...! 

Continuing our healthy eating with vegetable stir fry's. Every Friday we would make a stir fry. We called it Stir Fri-day. 

Atlanta, Georgia

Flying high at the Colosseum replica in Atlanta. 

We checked out the CNN global offices where we also climbed the world's tallest free standing escalator. 

This is in the Jimmy Carter museum, where they have a replica of the oval office. You are strictly not allowed to enter. We thought strictly was more of suggestion, or rough guideline. So, Dalbs being the ninja that he is, covertly hopped over the barricade to sneak a cheeky photo. We didn't happen to see the motion detectors and hidden cameras, that sounded a massive alarm and lock down of the museum! The best part was watching Dalbs try and convince the security guard that he didn't actually step over the barricade, only to hear a voice from the guards' walkie talkie "we've got footage, he definitely stepped across." Oops! 

Pretending to be a cool president.

Weekie Wachee, Florida

Improvised kitchen in the hotel. We used the iron to toast the bread, the coffee maker to saute the mushrooms, and the microwave to poach the eggs...

Tadaa! Not bad eh? 

We took a 9km kayak through the national park, which of course ended in a competitive race to the finish line! 

We interrupted the serenity with giggling and screaming while playing on a rope swing we found

Poor Dalbs was a little too tall, which resulted in most attempts ungracefully hitting the water rather than flying through the air... but 10 points for persistence! He also somehow managed to punch himself in the face. Don't ask me how. 

It was the quiet season, so there was no one around! 

Except for these guys. Three (mating) Manatees! 

Who can resist discount fireworks?? Certainly not us! 

Miami, Florida

The final leg of the roadtrip. What an incredible experience! And, we're still smiling and not hating each other!

Whilst the SUV took us over 5,000 miles in 96 hours of driving, in total we made it 12,000 km's, 5 cars, buses, boats, horses, planes, trolleys, trams, taxi's, a helicopter, skateboard, bikes, an electric buggy, and one time Dalbs gave me a piggy back ride. 

Coming into Miami, where the weather is warm and the sun is shining! 

We took a Tesla P85 for a test drive to see what $150k in electric car can do. Turns out it's pretty quick!  

We also enjoyed our time at the W hotels with their private beaches, luxurious pools, and friendly staff. 

 The Bahamas

The Bahamas! That's our small boat in the background. Holding 2,000 people. 

An insight into the food we enjoyed. So much food! 

The Bahamas is a very colourful and hot place. Some days we'd go to built up places whilst others we'd relax on small islands. Ahhh.  

Plenty of kicking back and relaxing time. 

This is the boat, with pools, jacuzzi's, basketball courts, gym, sauna, golf nets, arcade games, bars, restaurants and everything else you can imagine.  

We were lucky enough to get an upgrade to a window room

Freeport was our first stop which included wandering through the streets and swimming in crystal clear seas. 

Also included jumping for joy! 

This is where we found ourselves every morning. The only place on the ship that made proper coffee. They were actually pretty good too! 

Our special dinner, by invite of the head of guest services, including wine, steak and whatever we wanted. All because Dalbs made a complaint his bag was missing. We forgot to tell customer service the likely reason it was missing was because we had fireworks and booze stashed inside, and security had probably quarantined it... however we found it in the end (excluding said fireworks and booze) with a nice letter from security. 

  Washington, DC

Mr Abraham Lincoln, who apparently is also a vampire slayer? 

Practicing my levitation as the masses walk on by, past the reflection pool. 

Adalbert on Albert.

  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

A proper philly cheese steak sanga. Mmmmm. 

What an amazing trip. We had an incredible time, saw some unique places, met some fantastic people, and experienced the best America has. Once in a lifetime experience and I couldn't have done it without Dalbs. We made a great team!