3000 miles, 14 states, 2 countries & quality time with 1 sister...

[... what can I say... I'm a 'numbers' girl!]

It was great to explore more of America. I have a greater understanding of American history and a new appreciation for the various sub-cultures that exist across America.

My intrepid sister and I set off our road trip our road trip from Florida. While we had sketched out a draft itinary, we were flexible to take each day as it comes and drove to whatever caught our eye or where 'Maggie' (our trusty GPS) directed us. We covered plenty of ground, but here are some daily highlights:

Day 1: Rondevu with my sister at Miami airport, remembering how to drive on the right hand side and enjoying a coconut mojito on Miami Beach.
Day 2: First beach swim for the season at Miami Beach (glorious!) and an airboat ride along the Everglades. We met Lily (below) who is an 11 year cutie. We topped off the evening with a fabulous seafood dinner with a friend who lives nearby.

Day 3: We drove by NASA on Cape Canaveral as we headed to Savannah, Georgia. We had a horse-drawn carriage ride around the old town which has been popular for movie location shots, including the opening scene of Forrest Gump where the feather floats around the church and Forrest is sitting on the park bench with his box of chocolates. Following dinner, which included the local delicay of fried green tomatoes, we ventured on an ghost tour which highlighted some of Savannah’s more gruesome past.

Day 4: Driving through Atlanta, we stopped to visit Martin Luther King Jr's home & visitors centre. MLKjr was instrumental to the African-American civil rights movement in the 1950-60s. We then continued to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where we enjoyed the company & hospitality of our Southern friends, the Wright family. They'all live on Signal Mountain, which was used the Union Army to send fire signals across the valley in the American Civil War of the 1860s.

Day 5: We had a short drive up to Nashville to enjoy a Saturday evening with some local country music.

Day 6: We drove East to the Great Smokey Mountains, which is near the southern end point of the Appalachian Trail - a 2,000 mile walking trail which extends from Maine to Georgia. We admired a few of the local waterfalls as well, including: Looking Glass Falls, Sliding Rock and Moore Cove Falls.

Days 7 & 8: Drove to Washington DC and enjoyed wandering around the sites of capital, including walking along the Mall, a 2.5mile grass land which links the Lincoln Memorial to Congress. We also watched Obama being picked up in his helicopter from out the front of the White House while Michelle was entertaining the media & a bunch of kids on the front lawn.

Day 9: We had a long drive to Ohio. We did manage a wee stop along the way at a Pennsylvania winery which was a treat.

Day 10: We realised on the previous night that we had a spare day up our sleeves so, as you do, we decided to venture into Canada for lunch. We found a great little spot for coconut shrimp near Point Pelee National Park, which looks over Lake Erie. We eventually made it back into the US (Border control is always fun!) and had a balmy evening on Lake Michigan.

Day 11: We completed the last section of the road trip (well, for me anyway as Jen was heading onwards) and drove to Chicago. We went on an architecture cruise along the Chicago River and had some of the local specialty (ie. pizza) in the old part of town.

Day 12: On our final day together, we had more time to explore down town Chicago and took the train into town. It was Memorial weekend, so we watched the Memorial parade through town to pay respect to those who have participated in wars across the centuries. We were then entertained by the stars of Billy Elliott in a matinee performance and completed the afternoon wandering around the city's park.