Well, it is to be my last day in the USA.  Very sad that the holiday has come to an end but also very happy to be going home.  I have had a great time but I'm ready for home.

After the big, exhausting day I had yesterday, I slept in for as long as I could get away with but had to be ready to check out by 11am.  I got up around 9:30 and finished packing everything and checking the weight of my luggage, etc.  Then I headed out for a walk to the nearest post office to buy some stamps and post all of my thank you cards.  I was back at the motel by 11am ready to check out.

Today was to be a strange day.  My flight from LA to home didn't leave until 11pm, my flight from Salt Lake City to LA didn't leave until nearly 6pm, but I had to check out of the motel by 11am.  What to do all day with all my luggage?  I decided I might as well wait at the airport as sit in the motel lobby with all of my luggage for hours.

The motel had a free airport shuttle which was due to leave at 11:45 so I decided just to go straight to the airport and check my luggage and have a lazy afternoon waiting for my flights.

I found a great checking agent who organised to check my luggage all the way through from Salt Lake City to Brisbane - even thought Delta and Qantas don't have an arrangement and I had booked the flights separately.  This sure saved me trouble at LA airport.

Once I was all checked in, I went through security to my gate.  I think I walked half way back to Wyoming before I got to my gate :)  But I wasn't in any hurry since I had hours to wait.  I had a nice lunch at a sit-down airport restaurant and watched some sports on TV.  I also tried to upload some photos and update my blog but it was the slowest internet connection I had ever experienced.

Surprisingly, I didn't get bored, I just enjoyed the time to rest and relax.

My flight left Salt Lake City around 20 minutes late but since I had a 5-hour stop over in LA, I still had nothing to be concerned about.  The flight was uneventful and we arrived into LA about 20 minutes late.  Because my luggage had been checked right through, all I had to do was get from the Delta terminal to the AA terminal for my Qantas flight.

At the AA terminal, there was no line up at the Qantas counter, so I picked up my Qantas boarding pass and went straight through security to the Qantas Club.  Alan, Denise, Michelle and Taila were to meet me here, so I made arrangements for them to get in once they had arrived.

In the Qantas Club, I had a drink and a bite to eat, Skyped Scott and updated a few days of the blog.  I caught up with the others when they arrived and it was nice to have some company.

We went down to our gate when the flight was called and had just enough time to do some duty free shopping before we needed to board the plane.  My seat on the plane was about 10 rows in front of the others but getting close to the back of the plane.  I had a good seat on the aisle and at the back of a section right next to the galley - a great spot as they wasn't many people around to disturb me.

I must have fallen straight to sleep, because I don't even remember taxiing from the gate or taking off.  The first thing I remember was being woken up to have the first meal - that was about 2 hours out of LA.  At 1am, I wasn't very hungry, but I forced myself to eat as much as I could and I put the crackers and  cheese and chocolate cake aside for later.  I immediately fell back to sleep and slept for another 4 or 5 hours.  By the time I woke up, the flight was more than half over, already.

I watched a great movie "Beneath Hill 60" which is an Australian-made film about the Australian Mining Corps who tunnelled under the German lines and set explosives.  This has to be the best Australian-made movie I have ever seen and would really encourage everyone to take the opportunity to see it. I even asked at the video store when I got home -- it gets released tomorrow -- GO SEE IT!!!

I spent the rest of the flight watching TV shows, napping and taking short walks around the cabin.  Before I knew it, they were bringing the breakfast meal which meant that we were less than 2 hours out of Brisbane.  So before long, we were descending and I was very excited to be getting so close to home.

It didn't take long to clear the flight once we had landed even though I was close to the back of the plane and when I came through immigration, there was no line up and I made it right through.

My luggage came through quite quickly and as I came through Customs, I had a few items to declare so they sent me straight to the line to have my luggage checked.  They just asked me a few questions about the items I was declaring and checked the food items I was carrying and they waved me right through.  Our flight had landed at 6:15am and I was cleared through Immigration and Customs by 7:05am so I phoned Scott to come and pick me up at the airport and I was home by 8am.

It is very nice to be home and especially great to be celebrating my birthday at home.

So here ends the epic adventures of Melanie's latest trip overseas!  Thanks everyone and stay safe.

After a day of rest yesterday, I decided to make the most out of my last full day in the USA and get in some real tourist time.  I headed out early in the morning and found a cute little book store and coffee shop where I had some breakfast, downloaded an iPhone App of a walking tour of Salt Lake City and mapped out my plan of attack.

The iPhone Apps that you can download are just amazing.  Not only do they give you a map of how to get around the city and a list of all of the points of interest, they also give you the history and details of each feature.  It's like a self-guided tour.

I visited Eagle Gate, Lion House and BeeHive House (the home of Bringham Young), Church Museum, the Planetarium, the Pioneer Museum, the Capitol Building and War Memorials, and some more sites around Temple Square.

I was walking for 3 1/2 hours straight, got quite a tan and really enjoyed the whole day. 

Back at my motel room that evening, I had a light salad for dinner and headed to bed at around 10pm

I spent most of the day in the motel room, today.  I had a lot of thankyou notes that I wanted to write before heading home and alot of paperwork to sort out and complete from Supreme Bethel.  I headed out for lunch and ended up just buying a salad and sandwich and bringing it back to the room so that I could keep working.  By about mid afternoon, I had achieved alot and was getting a bit stir crazy so I headed out for a walk.

My taxi driver yesterday had told me about a new shopping centre called the Gateway in the city.  It was the original train station for Salt Lake City which had been vacant for many years and then was completely refurbished for the 2002 Winter Olympics and has since become a shopping strip.  The taxi driver had suggested that I catch the light rail to get there from my motel but when I worked out that it was only about 6 blocks away, I decided to walk there.

I did some window shopping.  I also went into an Apple Store to look into buying an iPhone 4 but they don't sell them unlocked and I don't want a USA AT&T account.  I decided on dinner at the local sports bar and then headed back to the motel room to go to bed.  It was 8pm and still broad daylight!

The motel in Evanston included a free pancake breakfast so we got up early to get ready and get our free breakfast before we had to leave.\

We left Wyoming at 8:30 this morning to take the 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive from Evanston to Salt Lake City, Utah.  We wanted to make it to Grand Lodge in time for the midday tour.  The drive was nice and the scenery very similar to the scenery between Cheyenne and Evanston.

We arrived at our motel which is near the airport and about 20 minutes out of the city at about 10:30am.  We checked in and moved our luggage in and then headed into the city to go to the Grand Lodge, arriving at about 11:30 in the morning.

Driving through Salt Lake City it is clear to see that this is a very beautiful and clean city.  There was almost no traffic even at peak hour.  The streets are wide and leafy and it looks like a beautiful place to live.  Ian even made the comment that the whole city looks like a giant university campus.  It is also a very walkable city.

The tour of the Grand Lodge hall was very enjoyable.  A young freemason conducted the tour.  There were about a dozen of us doing the tour and we were the only ones who really knew anything about freemasonry.  The Grand Lodge hall was built at about the same time as the one in Queensland.  It is clear to see that it was once a majestic building but it really needs some maintenance.  We learned at the end of the tour that this was the first public tour that they had held.  They started public tours in the hope of promotion but also to make some money to assist with the maintenance of the building.

Instead of lunch, Rhonda and I decided on Fruit Shakes and Ian had a slice of pizza.  After the tour, we went for a walk about the city, looking at various points of interest including Temple Square, the Mormon Tabernacle and the City and County Building.  The Convention Centre Auditorium and the view from the hanging gardens on top were spectacular.

When it started getting late, we headed back to our motel and decided to walk up the road to Sizzler for dinner then we walked back home and headed to bed.

Up early again this morning to head off on the drive from Rock Springs to Evanston.  We arrived in Evanston at about 10am and I sent Richard a text message to let him know that we had made it.  He told us where to find the Grand Lodge Meetings that were taking place so after a drive around the beautiful little town of Evanston we headed over there.  Evanston is a quaint little village.  You can tell that it has had tough times but the council is now working heavily on beautification.  The Grand Lodge functions were being held in the Convention Centre which is old Railway buildings that they have completely renovated.  It was a beautiful environment.

We arrived and immediately ran into Charlyn who introduced us to the ladies and we stayed and chatted for a while.  Ian was invited to attend the meeting and although he was only wearing jeans and a polo shirt, this is apparently quite appropriate attire.  Even so, he still declined -- he had been attending business meetings for the passed 4 days :)

So after some social time with the ladies, we took another drive through town for a look around and headed to a Walmart to buy a few things that we needed.  Ian also needed a new bowtie because his had broken the week before but then we found out that the dress code is very informal - even for the Grand Lodge Installation.

We went back to the old Railroad building to join the men during their break for lunch.  They served us a meal that was sort of country camp-oven chicken.  Then the men headed in for the last couple of hours of their business meetings and we went back to our motel to change for the installation.

The Installation was held at 4pm.  Thankfully, we had been advised that the dress code is very informal.  Even so, we were still over-dressed.  The Installation was very quick and low-key.  Not at all like a Queensland Grand Lodge event.  We had also been told that dinner would be an informal event and given how over-dressed we were for the installation, we decided to head back to the motel to put on casual clothes for dinner.

Over dinner which was a roast meal, awards were presented to the outstanding Lodges and Masons of Wyoming.  They also have a tradition of "crowning" the Deputy Grand Masters who attend from other Jurisdictions.  Apparently it started years ago with a joke about the Deputies being the "ladies in waiting" so now it has become a long-held tradition and most Grand Masters officially deputise their Deputies to attend Wyoming just so they will have to participate.

We met the Deputy Grand Master of Utah and told him that we would be heading to Salt Lake City tomorrow and he told us that tours of their Grand Lodge are held everyday at midday and 2pm, so we determined to make sure we were there in time for the midday tour.

After dinner, we headed back to our motel room for a quiet drink and were later joined by Dave and Richard.  We had a few drinks with them and then said our goodbyes to them and headed to bed.

Time for a Road Trip!!!!!  Ian, Rhonda and I checked out this morning for our road trip to Wyoming to attend Richard's Grand Lodge Installation.  We hit the road quite early.  The car was packed high with all of our luggage - and by that I mean all of MY luggage :P)  But it was ok - it was only me in the back seat so what didn't fit in the boot went on the seat beside me.  We drove from Colorado Springs, Colorado to Rock Springs, Wyoming in one day.  I think that is about 6 hours of driving time, but we took out time stopping in Cheyenne to see the Frontier Days Museum and pulling off the highway a number of times to actually take a drive through some of the towns we would have otherwise just bypassed.

Some of the scenery that we passed through was absolutely spectacular.  We arrived in Rock Springs at around 6pm.  It was only another 2 hours from here to Evanston, Wyoming, our actual destination but we decided that a good night's sleep was in order.  We tried a few motels in Rock Springs before finding one that was a reasonable price as well as looked like somewhere reasonable to stay.  Once we had settled in the room, we headed out for a walk down the road to the nearby Appleby's for dinner then back to the motel to bed for the night.

There was a bit of a mix up with times this morning.  Many of us had booked to attend both the Farewell breakfast and the Royal Gorge Railroad tour, but we had been advised that the tour was to leave at 8am.  This meant making the decision between the breakfast and the tour.  Some chose the breakfast, I decided on the tour as it was my only chance to actually attend one of the Supreme Session tours.  I am so glad that I decided to do this.

Jennifer, Rebecca, Richard and Charlyn were also on this tour and when I climbed on the bus, there was a spare seat next to Chuck from Minnesota. I ended up spending most of the day with Chuck as a result.  The bus picked us up at the Crowne Plaza and took us up to the Royal Gorge.  We then took a 2 hour train ride -- 1 hour up into the Gorge and 1 hour back again.  The views of the Gorge from the train were spectacular but the best was yet to come.  These were the views from the bottom, inside the Gorge.  From the train, the bus took us up to the top of the Gorge where the views down into the Gorge were even more amazing.  Chuck and I had pizza for lunch with Jennifer and Rebecca.  Then Chuck and I decided to walk across the suspension bridge which spans the Gorge.  It is the highest suspension bridge in the world and the views were just breath-taking.  I had left my camera at home, but Chuck has come through and sent me the photos that he took so the photos from today are courtesy of Chuck.  THANKYOU!!!

From the suspension Bridge, Chuck and I walked alot in and around the stores and walking trails.  Some of the walking was very steep but we got to see parts that many people who just rode the trolley would not have gotten to see.  We then decided to ride the gondolla back across the Gorge and got to see some even more amazing views.

Then we decided to get in the queue (ha ha that word makes me laugh - most American's don't know what this word means, so for them -- we got in the line) for the steep descent railway but after about 1/2 hour of waiting we realised we wouldn't have time to do this before we needed to meet the bus, so Chuck and I jumped out of the line and headed to where we had to meet the bus and just rested for the last few minutes of the tour.

The bus ride back was very quiet -- we were all so exhausted that most of us got some good sleep on the way back.

Back at the motel, and we only had enough time to shower and change in order to be ready for the SGC installation.

The installation was LLOOONNGGGG and marked the end of Elaine's year as Supreme Guardian.  Congratulations and goodluck to Toni and Rick as your year begins! :)

We hung out in the lobby for a little while saying our goodbyes to everyone as most of us are leaving here tomorrow.  I can't believe that Supreme Session and my whole trip are almost over!

Had to be up early AGAIN this morning as the practice for the Supreme Bethel installation was scheduled for 9am.  But I also had a "date" with my old friend John Regner -- actually he owed me a meal for a favour I did for him lat year.  This meant that Richard and I missed the election of SGC Officers, but I was very pleased when we heard that Patty Reardon from Washington and Gary Semaniuk from Alberta were selected as the new Line Officers.  It was also pleasing to hear that Karen Willard and ??? were elected to be the new members of the Board of Trustees, making the Board entirely women!

The Supreme Bethel installation practice went well - Arielle and the girls really know what to do and can bring it all together by themselves.  We walked right through the installation and just needed a few practices of the closing formation and we were done.

After the practice, I went the the Past Grands luncheon but only stayed long enough to eat my meal.  Richard and I had to head over to the printer to pick up the programs for the Installation and then back for the SGC meeting to give my report.  I left the SGC meeting as soon as my report was given in order to plan for the Supreme Bethel installation.

The Supreme Bethel Installation went very well.  Thankfully Arielle was well and she conducted a great installation.  This was followed by the Coronation Ball which I attended but just for the first hour.  By now I am completely exhausted.  A couple of the Aussies and a few other friends came around to the room to catch up and it was into the morning before I was back in bed.

This morning was the earliest morning of them all.  The Supreme Bethel meeting was scheduled to start at 7am which meant that I was up at around 5am to make sure everything was prepared (and just because I was too nervous to sleep).

The meeting started just a couple of minutes late and Arielle did a great job of running the meeting.  At least until she fell ill and had to leave.  The meeting was closed admirably by the 2 Princesses in Arielle's absence.  I am glad to report that she is all recovered and that her illness was nothing longterm.  I am also pleased to announce that the new SBHQ will be Courtney from Delaware jurisdiction.  Courtney is a lovely young lady and will be an exceptional representative for the Order.

The drawing of Officers and Representatives went well and 3 of our girls (Erin, Jade and Krystal) were all drawn as SB Representatives.  A lovely Majority ceremony was performed for 3 Past SBHQ's, Jette, Jenna and Meghan.  And 3 very deserving Aussies were honoured with the Degree fo Royal Purple:  Sonya, Kaylene and Heather.  Congrats to the first ever DORPs in Australia :)

The SB meeting was followed by the Royalty luncheon.  Unfortunately I didn't get to attend this as I had much to do before the Installation, so I had a quick but enjoyable lunch with Grumpy, instead. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent making final preparations for the Supreme Bethel Installation and getting beautiful for the Miss International Pageant.

The MIJD Pageant was an amazing night.  I don't think I have been to a Pageant where the quality of entrants was so high and competitive.  Krystal did us very proud and looked absolutely beautiful.  It was a very exciting evening and especially exciting for the first ever Daughter from Brazil to be announced as the new Miss International! 

Tonight Job's Daughters truly became International with Aline's crowning as MIJD.  We have now had a Daughter from every Job's Daughters country fill the MIJD position.

I have gotten to know Aline very well over the past couple of years through Supreme Bethel and she is truly amazing and will be a great representative of our Order.  How fabulous for
Courtney and Arielle who will make a great team this year.

As always, Pageant was followed by alot of social time catching up with colleagues so it was well after midnight, once again, before I got to bed.

Well, today was the final day of Supreme Bethel registrations and I was extremely glad that we registerd another large group of girls.  Statistically, given the number of Daughters attending Supreme Session, the number who have registered for Supreme Bethel is high and the number who have registered for SBHQ is VERY high!

In the evening, Richard and I decided that we should drive to the Formal Opening Ceremony.  This way, if there were any emergencies or last minute work to do for Supreme Bethel, we would be able to slip away early.  Thankfully, there were no emergencies or issues and we were able to stay for the entire Formal Opening Ceremony.

This took the usual form of a Formal Opening ceremony except that there was no floor formation.  All Supreme Officers and Escorts sat on the East Line and instead of a floor formation, Elaine invited all active Job's Daughters to sit theatre style on the floor.  This gave the girls a great view of the cermony. 

The usual flag ceremony, bible ceremony and necrology ceremony were performed beautifully.  Especially the last 2 under the direction of Grumpy as Supreme Chaplain.

When the Formal Opening ceremony was over, we drove back to the motel and it was (once again) after midnight when we got to bed.

Another day of SB registrations for the entire day and once again I was up early to prepare for it.  The day of registrations went very well and we registered almost another 100 girls.

We closed again for the lunch break to attend the Supreme Bethel luncheon.  Arielle did a great job of hosting this.  The table centrepieces were made of candy and she had arranged who was to sit where.  It was a lovely lunch and really nice to spend some social time with the girls from this year's Supreme Bethel.

The main evening function for the gentlemen was the Masonic Men's meeting and dinner.  I attended the HIKE social dance and had a great time.  As the dance was ending, many of the men were arriving back from their meeting and commenting on what a great night they had had.  They had really enjoyed that the Aussie men had described how Ritual is performed in Australia.

Once again, it was very late when I got to bed.

Today was the first day of Supreme Bethel Registrations duties so this filled most of the day for me.  I really wanted to ensure that this went well and I couldn't sleep for worrying so I was up at 6am and had the registrations table all set up by 7am, even though it wasn't scheduled to open until 8am.  Even so, we processed a number of registrations for girls who were waiting for their tour buses to depart.

The first day's registrations went extremely well and I was very pleased that we registered over 100 girls in the first day.  We were even able to completely close down during the lunch break so that we could all attend the scheduled luncheons.

The evening event was the presentation of Performing Arts awards and performances by the day's winners.  This, naturally, included an encore by Taila and plenty of other amazing performances.  Once of the best was by Ashley A (one of my Supreme Bethel Girls) who acted out a monologue of a nurse from the Vietnam War.  It brought us all to tears and after the evening was over, I sought out Ron Biles to make sure that I could organise for him to meet Ashley.  He was very moved by her performance and had already spoken to her and told her how it had touched him.

I must admit that I spent most of the evening with the Virginia delegation rather than the Queensland groups.  It was really great to catch up with all of them.  The evening ended with a performance by Elaine, Ana and Arielle singing a medley of songs that represented their feelings from the past year.  It was very touching.

After some fun and social times with the Virginia delegation, it was once again very late before I got to bed.

OMG!  Supreme Session has really started -- Late nights and early mornings!  I hope I make it through :)

Up early this morning because the buses to the Worship Service at the Air Force Academy were due to leave at 9am.  Typical of Supreme Session, the bus ride to the Worship Service was heaps of fun. Most of the Aussies ended up on the same bus.  This gave me the opportunity to catch up with Keira and Jocelyn who had also arrived by now.  Also, typically, the Aussies made it known that we were present -- thanks to Coach for leading us off with a loud Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi cheer. :)

The chapel at the Air Force Academy is just awe inspiring.  It is absolutely huge and seats a couple of thousand.  It is an A-frame style building and completely glass so it catches the light everywhere and you can see clearly everything that is going on outside the church.  The service was very enjoyable also but the best part was watching all the girls when they saw all the boys in uniform :)

Many of us stayed after the worship service to attend "brunch" at the Officers' Mess.  This was AMAZING!!!!!  Their is no way that you could describe this meal as "brunch".  There was every kind of food you could imagine or ask for.  I particularly enjoyed some fresh seafood and tropical fruits and finished off with some melted chocolate fondue!  Yummy yummy!!!

We got back from the Air Force Academy (which is where Stargate is set for all those SciFi buffs like me) around mid afternoon and I had to head directly to the meeting of the Supreme Bethel Committee.  The meeting went well and it was lovely to meet the 2 new members of the committee, Charlotte from California and Peter from Michigan.

The meeting ended a little earlier than scheduled which gave me anough time to get back to my room and change for Elaine's reception.

This was a very casual affair kind of in the style of a talent quest with some of her favourite performers.  This, of course, included a couple of songs by our famous Taila which everyone enjoyed.  Taila was truly humbled when she received a standing ovation after her second performance!

I spent a little time catching up with the Aussie contingent after the reception and then headed to bed -- LATE... AGAIN!!!

Being my only opportunity for the next 8 days, I allowed myself to sleep in this morning and then joined the rest of the Aussie team for breakfast in the motel restaurant.  The funniest thing was seeing Michelle and Taila experience American cuisine for the first time.  Michelle was fascinated with the idea of waffles for breakfast.  I had to show her how to make them, but she just had to have one :)

After breakfast, I spent the morning reorganising and moving my stuff from the motel room I was vacating into the one that I was to move into.  The cleaning staff were really great - they cleaned the room I was to move into and unlocked the adjoining door so that I could move my gear from the old room to the new one conveniently and then they cleaned the old room.  They received a very large tip which they really deserved :)  It meant that I didn't have to check out of one room at 11am and wait until 3pm with all of my luggage to check into the new room.

In the afternoon, I had arranged to drive down to Denver to pick up Debi and Rhonda who were flying into from California.  Their flight arrived about 20 minutes after the Denver-Colorado Springs Shuttle and they would have had to wait 4-5 hours for the next one, so I was happy to drive to Denver to get them.  On the way, I experienced terrible traffic and thought that I would be late picking them up but in the end the timing worked perfectly - I was coming into Denver just as they were getting their luggage so they just waited for me at the curb and I picked them up without having to pay airport parking.

The traffic was still bad on the way back to Colorado Springs, so we didn't get in until after 4pm.  This menat that I was already late for the Flying W Ranch tour, so I organised to drop Debi and Rhonda off at the Crowne Plaza and then drive to the ranch to meet everyone.  In the end, I'm glad I did this.  The ranch was interesting, but it reminded me alot of Early Street and any other pioneer museum I have been to in the past.  So while it was a very pretty spot, it was not anything that I had not seen before.  I watched a native American (Indian) dance and demonstration and wandered through the old buildings and met up with all the Jobies on the way.

At dinner time (that's when the bell is rung) we headed down for our traditional campfire dinner.  This was a very enjoyable meal, served in tin plates straight from the camp oven.   But over dinner, I realised how much the late nights had been catching up with me, so I decided to head back to the motel once dinner was over and not stay for the show.  The Hoglund family from Maryland were also eager to go back to the motel early, so I gave them a lift back.

I went straight back to my motel room and settled into bed.  Due to the motel room mix up and now that I had a suite, Alan, Denise, Michelle and Taila bunked with me for this night.  I had had a nap but was awake when they came in so we chatted and caught up and they told me how much they enjoyed the dinner show.  Despite leaving the Ranch early and getting a nap in, it was still late when we finally headed to bed for the night.

Slept in a little this morning.  Elaine got up at 5am and Dan drover her to the bottom of Pikes Peak.  She has been planning for months on climbing Pikes Peak before Supreme Session starts.  It is a 12 mile steep ascent to the top of the mountain and usually takes around 6 hours.  When I woke up at 8am, I had already received 2 text messages from her updating on her status and she was making extremely good time.  As I had promised Dan that Sonya and I would go and pick her up at the peak, that meant that we needed to head out in a hurry to meet her at the top.  So Sonya and I had our showers and got ready and hit the road.  The drive up to Pikes Peak is very mountainous driving on mostly dirt roads with no guard rails.  Quite nerving at times.  As we approached the Peak, Sonya got very excited to be seeing snow for the first time in her life.  The views of Colorado Springs and the valley are absolutely magnificent.

We reached the top right on 11am and decided on a cup of coffee and donuts while we waited for Elaine.  Over coffee, we met some Army guys who had just done the climb and they said that they had seen Elaine and she was right behind them.  They were the first of their platoon to arrive at the Peak.  We eventually met up with her outside the coffee shop.  She had apparently arrived at about the same time as us but we had missed seeing each other inside.  So Elaine did the climb in just 5 1/2 hours and even beat most of the guys from the Army platoon!!!

On the way back down the mountain, we stopped to do some souvineer shopping.  I also pulled off to the side of the road at one point so that Sonya could get out and actually touch the snow.  She loved that and was just like a kid :)

By the time we got back to Dan's place, it was after lunchtime so I had a quick bite to eat.  Then I packed all my gear into my hire car and drove to the Crowne Plaza to check in for Supreme Session.  I arrived to find that they had a room for me but not the suite that I had originally booked.  No biggie - they put me in the adjoining room that Richard and Charlyn were due to book into the next day which meant that I will move into the suite next door tomorrow and Richard and Charlyn will move into my room when they get here.

I spent the rest of the afternoon organising all my stuff for Supreme Bethel and unpacking and hanging clothes as much as possible despite the room move tomorrow.

In the lobby, I met up with other Sessioners who had also arrived early.  I ran into Jeff and Dorothy Harper and was going to wait with them for Alan, Denise, Michelle and Taila to arrive but I needed to head over to the airport to pick up Arielle and Corinne.

On the way ato the airport, I received an invitation to Dan's place for a BBQ so when I picked up Arielle and Corinne I asked them if they felt like going to a BBQ or if they would like to checkin to the motel and settle.  They decided they were up for some social time, so we headed to Dan's instead of back to the motel.  The BBQ at Dan's was plenty of fun and I got to meet more of his family.  Jennifer, Rebecca, Coach, Elaine and Sonya were also there and we enjoyed some social time and great chats.

While I was gone, Alan, Denise, Michelle and Taila had arrived at the Crowne Plaza to discover that there was no room for them.  There had been some sort of mix up with their booking and the motel didn't think they were arriving until Monday.  They were able to get a room from Sunday but that left the 4 of them without a room for Friday and Saturday nights.  No biggie -- Aussies to the rescue!!!  Jeff and Dorothy had 2 Queen beds in their room so Alan and Denise bunked with them and I organised a rollaway bed for my room so that Michelle and Taila could bunk with me for the night.

We also arrived at the Crowne Plaza to find that Arielle and Corinne didn't have a room booked that night and that their room would only be available the next day.  Monica from Colorado came to the rescue for this one and put them up in her room for the night.

Also without a room for the night were Jennifer, Rebecca and Coach who were provided a room in a motel across the road until a room at the Crowne Plaza could become available for them.

Well that made for an interesting enough day, so when I got to bed (with Michelle and Taila) it was close to midnight and I was exhausted :)

By the time I got up this morning, Elaine had already gone for her run and Dan and Kim had left for work.  The morning was pretty much spent running errands and doing shopping for stuff for Supreme Session.

In the afternoon, Sonya, Elaine and I met Dan and Kim at a horse ranch where Dan had organised an afternoon horse ride through Garden of the Gods.  This was absolutely spectacular.  Garden of the Gods is just gorgeous and to go through it on horseback was amazing.  It was Sonya's first time on a horse, so she really enjoyed it but was pretty sore afterwards.

After our ride, we all went to dinner in Manitou to a restaurant in a building which used to be a Stage Coach station.  The food was great and the atmosphere and company even better.  Sonya even ate "Prairie Oysters" before she learned what they really are :)

After dinner, we took a drive through the mountains on the way home and saw some deer on the side of the road and some spectacular views.

Back at home, we headed to bed at an hour that wasn't too late at all.

Today was our last day in Boston.  We are both scheduled to leave this afternoon.  So we decided to go back into the city and actually walk the Heritage Trail right through. 

We got up earlier than usual this morning and had the free breakfast in the motel and headed back to the train station to take us into the city.

I had downloaded the Heritage Trail iPhone application which gave us directions and told us about all of the historical points of interest along the trail.  We started at Boston Common and worked our way along the trail until we ran out of time.

My flight was scheduled for around 2:45pm so we left the city a little before noon to head back to the motel and grab our gear.  Heather gave me a lift to the airport and dropped me at the curbside checkin before making the epic drive back to Quebec.  Curbside checkin was very fast and I was through security and at the gate within 30 minutes which gave me plenty of time to wait for my flight.

I had a direct flight to Denver which was pretty much on time and got me into Denver at around 5:30pm.  I had organised a hire car for a few days for convenience and caught the shuttle from the airport to the hire car pickup.  Picking up the hire car was a bit of an ordeal, but by 7pm I was on the road in a brand new Hyundai Elantra.  Very nice.

The drive from Denver to Colorado Springs took me nearly 2 hours which was little longer than it should be due to some traffic.  I stopped on the way at a Hungry Jacks for a quick feed.  I also phoned Elaine to let her know I was on my way.  She and Sonya had already arrived at Dan and Kim's place the day before.

I got to Dan and Kim's place at around 9pm.  They had just finished dinner so we sat around and chatted until quite late and then I went to bed.

Well, despite another late night last night, Heather and I decided to get up early to take a drive down to Cape Cod.  The history of the area and the beautiful beaches (so we had been told) were a real draw card, so we decided on the long drive instead of more sight-seeing in the city.

Our first stop was Plymouth, where the Mayflower Pilgrims settled.  This is a beautiful, historic, seaside village.  We visited Plymouth rock, the Mayflower II and many monuments.  The most spectacular monument was the Monument to the First Settlers which is out of town.   I really didn't expect it to be anything special, but it was spectacular - probably 3 or 4 stories high!  It's at the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere.  Plymouth also reminded me of Maleny or Montville - very artsy and eclectic.

We had lunch at a little seafood place right on the water which reminded me alot of Bagara, near Bundaberg.

From here, we drove down to the beaches at Cape Cod.  We had been told that there were very beautiful and the best in the country.  Heather and I both agree that we must be very spoiled for our beaches in Australia and the lakes in Manitoba because we, personally, were not that impressed.  But we did still enjoy our afternoon swimming and sunbaking.  It was the first time I got to swim in the Atlantic Ocean, so that was pretty cool!

As the sun started going down and getting a little cool, we took the long drive back to Boston.  It had been a long day and I had a gift card to Olive Garden (thanks Richard) so we decided to have a quiet dinner at Olive Garden right across the road from the motel.  Enjoyable Italian food and a couple of glasses of wine and we were ready for bed at a reasonable hour for a change.

The late nights for me and the big drive for Heather had done us both in so we both slept quite late this morning.  We decided to get up just before the free breakfast was due to end and headed down to grab something to eat.  Then we came back up to the room to shower and get ready for the day. 

We tossed up between doing a hop-on-hop-off bus tour or a duck tour.  Both are a great way to see the major points of interest of the city.  We eventually decided on the duck tour because it included the amphibious boat trip out into the harbour and back again.  We booked this on the internet and printed out the tickets and then headed back to the train station to catch a train back into the city.

We had a few hours to kill in the city before the duck tour started so we headed to the First Nation's church and the Library.  Both are amazing buildings - truly awe inspiring.

In the library we found the children's library where Heather had a good look through for inspiration and she found a copy of the book about the boston ducklings.  We also found a display on historical travel post cards from around the world including Australia. 

We had lunch and coffee in the city before we needed to catch the duck.  The duck tour was great fun and we got to see some of the key points of Boston.  The tour guide was very funny and made the tour extremely enjoyable. 

When the tour was over, we decided to walk back to some of the key points that had been pointed out.  This included Boston Common and the sculptures of the famous Boston ducklings.  The tour guide had also mentioned an old Boston building which used to be the city's prison but is now a hotel and night club.  So (of course) this is where we headed for dinner and evening drinks.  It was an amazing building which still holds much of the aura of an old prison with the modern fittings of a 5-star motel. 

After a few early evening drinks at this night club we headed back towards the city and decided to visit a place we had seen yesterday, called the |21st Amendment".  This is the amendment relating to prohibition so we had guessed that this was a bar and were desperate to have a look inside.  We really enjoyed our evening here.  It is a tiny, dark little bar with plenty of atmosphere.  Here we met a French guy and his Canadian friend and we stayed chatting with them for a while.  Heather really enjoyed their company and speaking to them both in fluent French.

It was about midnight again when we headed home to the motel room and back to bed.

As last night (or this morning) was a very late one and Heather wasn't due to arrive until midday, I decided to sleep in as long as I wanted to.  I ended up climbing out of bed at about 10am, had a shower and got ready and headed downstairs for the free motel breakfast before it ended.

As Heather wasn't due to arrive for a while, I decided to head over the road to a shopping centre to try to buy some new luggage.  The handle on my small green suitcase has been dodgey since I left Minnesota at the beginning of this trip and it finally broke off completely on the way to Boston.  It is still a perfectly good suitcase other than the fact that it has no handle.  But it will be alot more convenient to have a suitcase with a handle and I will probably need another suitcase to bring everything home with me from Supreme Session by the time I leave.  I looked in a number of shops looking for luggage and didn't find anything that I liked at a reasonable price.  I eventually found a nice case in a bed and bathroom store of all placed.  It is a collapsible duffle bag with wheels and extendable handle.  It is very light-weight and was a great price so I was very happy with my purchase.

I returned to the motel room and received a phone call from Heather saying that she had underestimated the drive from Quebec to Boston and that she would probably arrive somewhere between 1 and 2pm.  Since I had the extra time, I decided to repack.  The broken suitcase went inside the larger suitcase and anything that didn't fit in here went in the new duffle bag.

I had just finished repacking and sat down for a cold drink when I received a call from the front desk advising that Heather had arrived.  She came up to the room and settled in and we chatted for a little while.  As neither of us had eaten lunch, we headed out to a nearby Appleby's for a bite to eat at around 2pm.  We got back to the motel room at around 3pm and spent some time orienting ourselves and working out how to get into the city.  We discovered we are only 2 miles from a train station so decided to walk up to catch a train into the city.

Boston's train system is very much like New York's.  It is very easy to navigate and cheap but hot and humid, dirty and smelly.

We really didn't have any plans for what we were going to do when we got into the city. We didn't want to do the historic Freedom Trail until we had a full day to really enjoy it, but we did want to see the harbour, library and government buildings, so we just used my GPS system to tell us what was the next closest point of interest and we navigated ourselves around like this.  We walked all the way to the harbour, through a very expensive residential neighbourhood with gorgeous old English and European townhouses and architecture.  We passed the tavern where the series Cheers was recorded (only the outside of this tavern - the inside scenes were recorded in a tavern in the city). 

We zig-zagged our way around the city for hours just walking and talking and taking photos.  Boston is a very pretty city that is very walkable and perfect for people who enjoy the outdoors.  In the evening, we found ourselves back at the Irish bar where I had met Ainsley and Jason the night before.  We had another Guinness and sat watching the city go by for quite a while.  I don't even remember where we had dinner (or if we had dinner) but we caught a train back to the motel very late.  It was well after midnight again before I got to bed.