Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: United States

  • Random Post – My September 2022 Trip to the United States

    Random Post – My September 2022 Trip to the United States

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    Anyway, I have been absolutely inundated by people wanting to know my itinerary for my trip to the United States in a few weeks. By inundated, I mean a figure higher than zero and lower than three.

    I had planned to include Las Vegas, where I always seem to end up for a few days, and Portland, which I’ve never visited and is a centre for craft beer. Unfortunately, it’s too expensive and fiddly to get across to the west coast, when my flights are to the east coast. That’ll have to be a treat for next year now….

    This has left me instead with a visit to New York for a few days, before going to Richmond on the train, giving me a chance to visit Williamsburg and Jamestown for some colonial history. Then some faffing about (ie, I haven’t worked out an affordable way of doing this bit yet) to get to Charlotte for a flight to Chicago. Then it’ll be down to Carbondale, after at least two visits to Goose Island in Chicago, by train and then a couple of days later another train to Jacksonville. Then I’ll be going back to New Orleans, as I want to visit the National World War Two museum which I didn’t get chance to before. Then the train to Birmingham, for my first visit to Alabama, before a ridiculous 24.5 hour train journey back to Newark for my flight back.

    What could possibly go wrong?

  • United States – How Exciting

    United States – How Exciting

    I took this photo in Boston (the ones in the United States, not in Lincolnshire) in 2014, a reminder that it’s a country that spends a lot on flags….

    Anyway, as pretty much every friend of mine knows as I’ve excitedly been telling everyone all evening, I’ve booked a month’s trip to the United States in 2022, flying with my favourite airline, British Airways. An unusual routing for me of Gatwick North to Tampa, but I probably won’t spend much time in Florida. I’ve got to get to Oregon, there are craft beer bars aplenty for me to explore there…..

    Perhaps this won’t go ahead given the health situation, but I can dream. Came to just over £250 return, excellent value, especially as I paid a chunk of that with my remaining BA flight vouchers from previous flights I’d had to cancel. Very excited to be back in the land of dreams, God willing. Only a few weeks until my trip to Poland, so lots to look forwards to…..

    And yes, I know very few people will be at all interested in this, but I’m very excited anyway, I’ve missed the United States.

  • United States – Nevada – Las Vegas – Paradise Buffet

    Located in the Fremont Casino is the all you can eat food option that is Paradise Buffet. These photos are from when I was there in January 2017, although the prices don’t seem to have changed much since then, it works out at around €8 not including the tip. This includes unlimited soft drinks, which are replaced at the table by the server at a formidable pace and always before I’d finished the previous one.

    There are eight counters of different foods of various kinds and the choices do seem a little endless…..

    And in no particular order, the photos of what I decided to eat during this visit. The tacos were one of my favourite elements, the desserts are slightly, well, unhealthy, but they looked so tempting. There’s technically a 90-minute limit in the restaurant, but during my two or three visits there they’ve never enforced that.

  • United States – Nevada – Las Vegas – White Castle

    When I visited White Castle in January 2017 they had been open for a couple of years in this prominent Las Vegas strip location. But their move here was significant, it’s not a west coast company and this was their first opening in a new state for nearly 60 years.

    I like White Castle and their products, they’re also one of the pioneering fast food companies in the United States and were crucial in the evolution of the hamburger. They sell sliders with customers getting four in a standard meal, along with the crinkle cut fries. Looking at the current prices across the United States, customers can get 20 sliders for $10, something which sounds tempting even as I type this….

    The usual United States policy of unlimited refills applies here to sodas.

    And the food, with everything being served in its own cardboard protective packaging, which isn’t perhaps ideal for the environment. The buns and burgers are quite soft, but the onion adds a little texture and the meat is flavoursome. The crinkle cut fries, which the restaurant proudly announces have been served like this for nearly 100 years, are crispy and appropriately salted (for my tastes anyway). The environment is clean and comfortable and there’s a reasonable amount of seating.

    The service was exceptional, with the staff members being engaging and friendly. I remember the server introducing herself, a ridiculous level of engagement for a fast food restaurant when compared even to mid level casual dining restaurants in the UK. Service was fast paced and I’m now making myself miss White Castle…..

  • United States – Missouri – St. Louis – One Day Three Nations

    Three Flags Day was when on 9 and 10 March 1804 Spain gave Louisiana to France, who then gave the entire territory to the United States. What became known as the Louisiana Purchase took place in St. Louis. The Spanish flag was taken down on 9 March, the French flag flew for one day and then the US flag was raised. Very symbolic.

    Above is the site of the ceremony to mark the near doubling of United States territory. It was certainly an incredible piece of negotiation, the intention had been to acquire New Orleans from the French for around $10 million and instead they got 530 million acres for $15 million. Bargain.

  • United States – Missouri – St. Louis – Gateway Arch

    I didn’t get chance to visit the observation deck as it was closed during the time that I was in St. Louis, but this is the tallest arch in the world and the structure with the most stainless steel. The arch was built between 1963 and 1965 but the whole structure looks much more modern to me, so there must have been a lot of innovation involved with the whole project.

    The arch is so large it isn’t the easiest to take photos off…. It stands 192 metres tall, which is only around 40 metres shorter than Canary Wharf. As well as being 192 metres tall, it’s also 192 metres wide, otherwise I guess it might fall down…..

    The arch and the Old Cathedral, the oldest building remaining on the waterfront.

    The arch in the morning as the sun was rising.

  • United States – Missouri – St. Louis – St. Louis Zoo

    Unfortunately the mists of time have rather made me forget much of this visit to St. Louis Zoo from two years ago, but judging by the number of photos I clearly had a marvellous time. I do recall it not being particularly busy during my visit in January 2017, but it was a clean environment.

    Anyway, what do exist are a lot of photos, and here are some of them…..

  • United States – Missouri – St. Louis – Boathouse

    Between my visits to St. Louis Zoo and the Missouri History museum I decided that an interesting food option was the Boathouse restaurant. The zoo, museum and restaurant, amongst much else, are all located within the Forest Park which is towards the west of the city.

    Visiting in January inevitably meant that there wasn’t a chance to sit outside in the warm gazing over the lake, but instead it meant sitting inside near to the fire.

    And here is the wood burning fire….

    The food was fish and chips, and as usual the Americans do this rather well. The meal is, or at least was since I was there back in 2017, one of the specialities of the restaurant and although the presentation isn’t particularly noteworthy, it tasted of a decent quality. There was a crispiness to the batter and the portion size of tartare sauce was sufficiently generous.

    The reviews of this location on-line are a bit mixed, although it’s towards the better end of reviews overall for the city, but it was a warm and comfortable place to stay for a while. Service was attentive and polite, with the restaurant being busier than I had expected in January.