Ashleigh on the ‘Walk of Fame’ outside the Chinese Theatre, LA – August 2011

Ashleigh recently visited the US, enjoy reading about her adventures below…

First stop New York! And I must say it was worth every minute of the 23 odd hours of trains, planes and automobiles it took to get there. We spent 5 nights at Affinia 50 which was a very clean and
comfortable property located in Midtown Manhattan. With so much to do and see we jumped right in to action starting with the 48 hour ‘Hop on Hop off’ bus pass, a definite must I’d say, it’s a great way to get your bearings in such a big bustling city and also a convenient way to get around rather than catching taxi’s or the subway everywhere. We ticked all the musts of the list, The
Empire State Building, SOHO (unbelievable shopaholics!), Greenwich Village, the Statue of Liberty, Harlem, Brooklyn and of course Central Park just to name a few. My biggest highlights were the view of the Manhattan night sky from the Empire State Building observation deck and taking a bike ride around the very beautiful and surprisingly tranquil Central Park in the pouring rain.

After 5 short days in the city that never sleeps we jumped on a bus and made the short (2 hour) trip to America’s first city Philadelphia for a whirlwind city tour of where it all started (and to visit some family). We zipped past the Liberty Bell, the Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art which is probably more commonly known as the ‘Rocky stairs’, ate Philly Cheese Steak (which I’m not convinced ontained anything that could legally be classified as cheese in Australia and walked around the beautiful Valley Green which is the biggest urban park in the States.

Our next stop was Sin City. Vegas was just as tacky and wonderful as expected. We stayed at the magical Venetian; the only place I have ever stayed with 2 T.V’s in the room and 1 in the bathroom (just in case you can’t bear to take 20 minutes out of your hectic T.V watching schedule to take a shower!) Not being much of a gambler I was a little unsure how I would fill my 3 nights in Las Vegas, but never fear I found I could fill an entire day shopping at the outlets, another day checking out the breath takingly over the top (but largely very beautiful) hotels along the strip and last but certainly not least a day touring the spectacular Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is a must for everyone’s bucket list. The sheer size of it is dumb founding. We took a scenic flight to the West Rim then a helicopter to the canyon floor, this is not the cheapest way to see this world wonder but if you can afford to splash out a little on one part of your trip these views can’t be beaten.

It was then time to hop on another plane and head to San Francisco. To quote a very famous author ‘The coldest winter I have ever spent was a summer in San Francisco’ so cold, especially after being caught in the heatwave on the east coast. The weather aside San Francisco is a great city. Fisherman’s Warf is a buzzing area full of pubs, restaurants; all sorts of street performers and of course the world famous clam chowder. We did all the major touristy things The Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz (which generally books out a week in advance so make sure you pre book), we took a ride in a cable car, drove through Alamo Square (which some of you may know from the start of Full House) and had some lunch in the Castro. The city has a more relaxed vibe than any of the other cities we visited, there’s also a lot of beautiful food which makes for a nice change and the colourful town houses are beautiful.

After 3 nights in San Francisco we were back at the airport and on our way to L.A. We had 2 nights in L.A to end our trip. We stayed at the Historic Hollywood Roosevelt which I loved! What a great place to stay if you want to be in the action. And we were lucky enough to have a room overlooking the walk of fame. L.A is such a sprawling city that we decided to hire a car so we could see everything, it was a little nerve racking at times but if you’re brave enough to give it a go I would definitely recommend it. After 3 jam packed days of eating and shopping at the Grove and Farmers Market,
walking around Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach, trying to get a decent photo of the Hollywood sign, finding out who’s hands and feet are the same size mine and running around Universal Studio’s like a headless chook (never believe anyone who says you can do this in 3 hours, they’re lying!) it was time for the long trek home.

What a wonderful adventure, I would go back in a heartbeat.