Another fabulous day in Las Vegas. We woke late and managed to stumble downstairs by about noon time. We headed straight outdoors and north, in the direction of the stratosphere, a big complex which holds gambling tables and slot machines of course, but also an indoor mall selling cheaper clothes than further down the strip, cheap food and housing four very exciting amusement thrill rides.

I played my first slot machine, and found the experience less than inspiring, so moved on after I had waved my one dollar goodbye.

Wasting no further time we ascended the tower to the thrill rides. There were two rides on the lower deck, both hanging you precariously over the edge of the building with a long drop down, providing and excellent and terrifying view of Las Vegas, and the third ride was up the spindle on top of the building, called a sling shot. Spencer and I opted for this one and one of the other rides, and scared ourselves silly, screaming like small children!

The fourth ride was a free fall type thing down the entire side of the building, obviously with a controlled landing. It cost 100 dollars or more for the pleasure of riding this ride, so Spencer and I gave it a miss and happily took to solid ground once more.

As we had woken quite late and the rides had taken some time, we didnt have much time until we needed to get into the queue to pick up our tickets for the show that we had booked to see. We had chosen a show about Las Vegas and its history, being a cheaper option than many of the other shows that were all selling for around 100 dollars each, and seeing as Tom Jones was sold out.

We made our way down the strip, which was a very, very, very long way in the insane intense heat of Las Vegas. It took us a fair bit of time, and by the time we got to Planet Hollywood, where the theatre was, we had just enough time to collect our tickets, find a bar for a quick drink and then return to the theatre to queue up as it was first come first serve.

We got into the queue and were a bit concerned as to the kind of show we had booked ourselves to see as the average age of the crowd was about 68. But, I guess we were going to see a show at 7pm and all the young folk were still out partying at this time. Anyway, we eventually were let into the theatre and got pretty good seats quite near the front. The show started and I enjoyed myself from start to finish. The show was infact loosely based on the history of Vegas, but really a jolly good excuse to sing lots of great songs by Sonny and Cher, Tom Jones, Elvis, Elton John, Tina Turner and so on and so forth. There were sexy dancing girls wearing very little, they even did a Can Can which Spencer was very pleased about. I believe I was the most vociferous audience member, I have just been on a bit of a high since we stepped foot in Vegas yesterday. I was rewarded for my exuberance with a bit of Tom Jones hip gyration directed straight at me and a bit of a wink from the singer. That made my day I can tell you!!

I was inspired after the show to sing my song for Nevada, so see the bottom of this blog for my song of the day. Let me tell you that there is NOWHERE in Vegas that you can be alone (apart from say in my hotel room, or in a lift - but where would the fun be in that?) so I sang my song on the bridge between Planet Hollywood and the Bellagio side of the road. There were many people passing, but this is Vegas baby, everyone is mad here. I even got a small round of applause and a whistle - which you can hear on the video.

That done, we walked back towards our hotel. We have been very lucky to catch various shows just by happening to turn up at the right time. Yesterday we caught the Pirate ship show with the Sexy sirens outside Treasure Island, today we caught the INDOOR THUNDER STORM in the shopping mall, and on our way home we caught the fountain show set to music outside the Bellagio. It was very beautiful.

We made our way through the streets, passing the mexicans slapping their hands with business cards for prostitutes and trying to hand them out to every passer by. They have this little technique for slapping the card on their wrists or flicking the cards with their fingers so they make a noise and then make a swooshing passing gesture to you. Spencer amused me with his britishness offering a polite 'no thank you' every time we passed.

We stopped in a 7 Eleven so I could pick up some snacks for my trip tomorrow. It is currently about 1am and I am due to wake up in about four hours to catch a very early bus so that I can do my day in the Grand Canyon.

The 7 Eleven was just across the road from our hotel so we crossed and entered the casino, searching for a 5 dollar table to try our luck on the black jack. I exchanged 50 dollars for chips and saw my pile dwindle to just a few chips before my luck changed and before I knew it I had doubled my money. That was quite enough for me, so I changed up my chips and I had my very own black 100 dollar chip!

Spencer of course did even better than me and once he was finished and he collected his black chip as well as a couple of green ones and a few pink ones, we went in to exchange our tips back into cash.

I did a spot of souvenir buying and then headed upstairs to pack and get myself ready for a very long day with many hours in a coach tomorrow, with hopefully about 3 hours at the Grand Canyon. I am hoping it will be worth it, I will let you know after I get back to Newport.

Enjoy the photos and movie!

I have had an amazing couple of days! It started yesterday afternoon, Spencer rode his bicycle to the car hire place to pick up our rental car. After considering our options, hiring a car for an alleged 4 hour trip won out over the 6 hour trip with Greyhound and the 300 dollar flight per person which would only take an hour, but cost four times as much as the hire car.

He brought the car back to his apartment and we loaded it up with our cases and some nibbles for the journey and set off on our ROAD TRIP baby!!! I was so excited to be taking a road trip in the states and imagined wide open roads with hardly a car to be seen for miles. I was slightly mistaken in this imagining. In fact, the road was packed from Spencer's house all the way to Las Vegas. It took us an hour and a half to drive 32 miles, and the total journey was 300 miles long!!!! However, after that first hour and a half traffic did die down a bit, but we certainly were by no means alone on the road. The road was always busy. The whole journey took us 5 and a half hours in the end, and we kept ourselves entertained on the way with regular CD changes, a mixture of Punk, Indie and New Wave - a random selection from Spencer's CD collection. I had sneakily stolen his apparant joke gift that someone had given him and put it into the CD player before he could see what it was. His face as he heard the dulcet tones of Jessica Simpson wailing away to 'Angels' when he was expecting to hear something like the Sex Pistols was priceless.

Our hire car was quite snazzy and had a various buttons all over the place that looked interesting. We resisted the temptation of pushing them.... until we were about an hour away from Vegas. Then, the button with the red cross on it was just singing out to it and I was so curious as to what it would do.... so I pushed it... From out of nowhere we heard a ringing sound, and we both scrambled to try to push any button that might shut it off. Eventually after several rings we pushed some button that turned it off and all was calm again in the car and we giggled nervously wondering what on earth we had been ringing. We found out moments later when the nice gentleman at the other end of the emergency line called us back!!! We were looking all around us trying to figure out how on earth this man knew who we were and how he was calling us back. We considered not answering but the service automatically kicked in and he asked us - what is your emergency. I was so freaked out by the whole thing that I just covered my mouth in surprise and Spencer leaned in to explain - sorry, we pressed the wrong button. I have been banned from pressing any other buttons of which we are not sure of the function.

Shortly after that, and after four hours of bland desert landscapes, we passed the county line of California and entered Nevada. As soon as we entered the state of Nevada we saw a huge hotel casino and lots of flashing neon lights. The town that this hotel was in was tiny, total population of the town without tourists: 300 people. We drove on by and an hour later we were entering the craziness that is Las Vegas!

It was about 9pm when we arrived. We checked in and headed to our room, crossing the mezzanine level of fun on our way. A steward caught us as we were walking past and asked us if we had just checked in, advising that she had offers available to people who were just checking in today. We said yes, indeed we had just checked in, so she showed us to the counter and passed us to another steward. She took us through the whole spiel, keeping us there for about ten minutes before stating - you guys are married right? Spencer and I looked at each other and laughed - er, no, not actually. Oh, she said, but you live together, right? Er, no. she lives in England and I live in America. Oh, right, she said, well, in that case I cant help you. And that was it, we didnt hear a peep from her after that. So, we took our queue and from then on when someone offered us something for free we quickly let them know that we werent married so they could let us know if the offer was still valid or not.

We dumped our bags in our room and after our long trip we just about had enough energy to find something for eat for dinner and drink a jug of margaritas before turning in for the night in preparation for the next day.

We woke ourselves up at about 9.30 to give us time to get ready and downstairs for the 10.30 class on Black Jack. It was a very useful class which explained the odds to us and what we should be considering when placing our bets. After the black jack lesson I went to a deli to get some breakfast and saw Mr and Mrs Fat with their family of Fat kids ordering a foot long chilli dog with cheese each for breakfast. I havent seen as many fat people over here as I thought I would from everything that i have read, but sinve I have come here I have seen them all. I ordered my bagel and cup of tea, and Spencer and I sat there in awe as the Fat family ate their way through the chilli dog, and then went up to order a second!

At 11.30 it was time for our lesson in Roulette and 12.30 the lesson in Craps. Maybe we had had information overload, but we really couldnt understand the craps rules, and in a bit of a fuddle we decided to try to escape the insanity of Circus Circus, our hotel/casino and make it down the strip.

I have to mention that Circus Circus was absolutely packed. There are piles apon piles of people everywhere. Its like what I imagine Glastonbury would be like at festival time. People EVERYWHERE. And that was just our hotel/casino. And there are a thousand of them in the strip area, most of them even bigger and better that Circus Circus.

We left the hotel and found some space to ourselves. It seemed that we had hit the streets a bit earlier than most other people in Vegas.

We made our way slowly down the strip. This place bombards your senses. It is overwhelming, amazing, gaudy, classy, fun, exciting, embarrasing, the best place ever, the worst place ever!!

We stopped in places that I had heard of and read of and seen on TV, Ceasars Palace, Flamingo, MGM Grand, New York New York, Casino Royal, and places I didnt really know about, like the Venetian, Palazzo and so on, the list is endless.

We spent the first few hours just taking in the whole place, had a couple of drinks at a bar and played the electronic 25cents per hand version of Black Jack, to practice what we had learned this morning.

We had lunch in Planet Hollywood (although we didnt realise that is where we had been until later on as we were looking back to where we had come from) in their Chinese restaurant, and as we were leaving the music was so good I started dancing, and then got accosted by one of the stewards who started dancing a bit of salsa with me.

I was totally in the party mood by now and boogeyed my way down the street and accross the road as we headed to New York New York. It must be a thing in Las Vegas but many of the Casinos are named twice, rather than just the once.

Spencer wanted to have a drink at the Irish pub Nine Fine Irishmen, where we drank the worst pint of Guiness in our lives and I did a spot of Irish dancing, but Spencer couldnt work the camera properly so failed to get it on video. But, to make up for it, he let me go on the rollercoaster in New York New York. It was, as they say here, awsome!!!

Fighting a little to keep our lunches and beers in our stomachs after the loop de loops of the roller coaster, we carried on through New York New York and on to the Bellagio, full of designer label shops and extremely wealthy people. We felt very out of place so left there quite quickly and headed back across the street to the cheaper hotels in search of O'Shea's irish casino which seemed to be quite grubby and might have the 5 dollar tables that we fancied taking a bash at. There were no suitable tables in O'Shea's so we kept going. We walked past a sign for Karaoke and I was really in the mood for a bit of singing so we followed the signs for that. When we found the poor desolate Karaoke Bar it was empty, all the lights were off and nobody was home. Looks like the excitement of Karaoke pales in comparison to some good old fashioned gambling!

From the Karaoke bar we saw some signs to the main Casino room and entered Imperial Palace, where we found the tables that we were looking for. 5 dollar Black Jack tables. We hovered for a bit and then very nervously sat down at a table and changed 50 dollars each into chips. The first 5 to ten minutes of the game were quite nerve wracking. Spencer kept on checking with me to see if I was alright. Apparantly i was frowning quite a lot and not really looking like I was having much of a good time. It was time to put my lessons into practice and I felt the pressure heavily. We ordered a beer and after a couple of glugs of that I felt a bit better, and soon enough our first time nerves passed and we settled into the game like old pros. Spencer did a pretty good job of keeping track of what was going on. I was distracted from time to time by the various entertainment items that were going on around us. Spencer started stacking up his growing pile of chips and my pile started dwindling. We ordered a gin and tonic each, and my chips diminished to a small little pile of one. Spencer slipped me a couple of his chips and I built my pile up again only to lose it once again 20 minutes later. Once again Spencer helped me out, but the third time I lost all of my chips I was on my own, there would be no saving me this time. Despite a third G&T I kept my wits about me and won back enough chips to where i was finally ten dollars up on what I had bought in the first place, and Spencer was rocking along having doubled his money. I decided this was the time for us to take our chips and leave.

We exchanged our chips for cash and made our way back along the strip. By the time we got back to Circus Circus it was 1am and we had been going for more than 15 hours!! I think we managed to eek out as much as we could from Las Vegas today, although we have decided against going to a club. We have a huge list of things that we want to do tomorrow, so fingers crossed we get it all done!

After a day of recovery, Spencer took me to the train station early in the morning to catch the 7.58 service to Union Station in LA. I was to meet up with Ani from Cyprus as she has recently moved to LA. The train arrived just 10 minutes late and I boarded with a wave from Spencer and made my way to the top deck of the train. The ride was quite comfortable and I dozed gently as the train slowly made its way.

I arrived at around 10 past 9 and located the main entrance where I had agreed to meet Ani, and we found each other without any problems. We headed straight for the red line to take us to Hollywood and I bought a one way ticket.

In no time at all we had reached our destination, and we spent a few minutes looking at the Kodak theatre, where the Oscars are held every year, and the Chinese theatre next door. There was some filming going on in the front of the Chinese theatre, so we watched that for a bit. We were on the hunt for some bagels for breakfast when we walked past one of the tour guides offering a tour of the stars' homes. We bought a couple of tickets and headed off in the direction pointed out to us by the guide to find a cafe for breakfast. Stomachs filled with bagels and cream cheese we headed back to the meeting point for our tour.

The tour lasted about an hour and a half and took us around the extravagant mansions of Beverly Hills and Bel Air. I lost track of the number of houses that we saw and actually who they currently, or used to, belong to, but the tour also allowed us a 20 minute walk up and down Rodeo Drive, which was fun, with Ani and me stopping every so often to pose for trouristy pictures.

Our tour of the stars' homes came to and end and we wandered around the area, taking in the length of the Walk of Fame, where I was surprised to see that they have already earmarked a star for little old me, as they know I am going to be a big star someday soon. They did a mock up for me to see if I would be happy with it and I advised them that yes, that would do nicely please, and could I have my start near to Fred Astaire's please?

The celebrities were out in force, all clamouring to have their photographs with myself and Ani, two obviously extremely well known members of the Premiere Group. But Ani and I brushed off their requests, letting them know that we were far to busy and famous and popular to have our photos taken with them. Brad was quite upset about not being able to pose for a piccy with me, but his mate George consoled him and the went off with Angie for a drink in the Viper room to cheer themselves up.

Ani and I dodged and darted through the streets until we finally lost the now mob-like crowd of celebrity fans and found a small joint to have a plate of nachos in, before heading back on the metro to go to Ani's house in Pasadena.

It was a short walk from the train station to Ani's house, and once we were there I drank a glass of delicious lemonade and had a little nap on Ani's bed.

Soon enough Ani's husband came home from work, and Ani lent me a pair of sky scraper heel shoes and we went off for dinner. Dinner was at a Japanese Gyu Kaku restaurant where you grill your own food. We started off with a japanese beer, and a bit of banter with one of the rather friendly locals called Tony, and then we moved to our table where Ani and I ordered a bottle of hot Sake and Areck took care of the cooking of the food. The food was great, with the meats being marinated in delicious sauces and coming off the grill very tender and tasty. We took our time over dinner and filled ourselves almost to the brim on the all you can eat menu, but leaving just enough room for some 'smores'. Ani and Areck explained to me the concept of 'smores'. It stands for 'some more' as in, 'I want some more' because they are so tasty. They are melted marshmallows that you get a special fork to melt them with over the fire (the fork is extendable - very clever to avoid burnt fingers) and then placing the melted marshmallow in between to buiscuits (crackers in american) and a slice of chocolate (hersheys). I am not a fan of marshmallow or hersheys chocolate, but I thought it would only be proper to give it a go. I chickened out on the marshmallow melting and didnt get mine to the gooey golden consistency that the others did, but it did melt the chocolate to a certain extent and I got the overall idea.

I only had one bite though and set the rest down. Ani had been promising to take me to a place called 'cherry on top' for desert so I was kinda holding out for that anyway.

We left the restaurant and took the short car drive down to 'cherry on top'. Cherry on top is a great place wher you serve your own frozen yogurt into a cup (I had some taster pots so I could choose which flavour I wanted - I chose belgian chocolate) and then in the middle of the place was a huge table full of bits and pieces that you could add to your frozen yogurt. They had strawberries and blueberries, and raspberries and any berry you could imagine. Mango, pineapple, banana, peanuts, walnuts, any other kind of nut you could want, chocolate sprinkles, hundreds and thousands, sauces, cream..... anything your heart could desire. I chose a combo of strawberries, mango and nuts, and then went to pay for the yogurt, which is charged by weight. It was great, a delicious end to the evening meal.

We then went home and chilled in front of rubbish American TV - but we did get to see the amazing ten year old opera singer on America's got talent. If you havent you tubed it yet, you should, it is quite unbelievable!

Areck's family had kindly set up a sofa bed in one of the rooms for me, so I crawled in to bed and drifted off to sleep.

The next day Ani and I woke after all the working people of the house had left and pottered around the house eating breakfast and I had a lovely cup of tea.

We quickly showered and dressed and got in the car for a drive from Pasadena back to Newport. Ani had GPS on her phone and had a pretty good idea of how to get to Newport anyway so we got there after about an hour. We dropped off my things at Spencer's house and got directions from him on how to get to the Peninsula so we could have a bit of lunch. Unfortunately I mis-interpreted the information (we turned left where he had said to turn right) and we ended up going the wrong way. This didnt turn into a huge disaster though, as the direction we were actually headed was for Balboa island, which I had loved on our first trip there and was quite keen for Ani to see. We found a parking space quite easily and I took Ani on the walk through the island to get the ferry over to the Peninsula. Luckily it was warming up a little, although it was still fairly cool in the breeze. We walked all along the pier and had a delicious burger at Ruby's diner at the end of the pier.

Ani had to get back on the road to try to beat the end of work traffic, so we walked back to the ferry, and Ani dropped me off at Spencer's before heading home. It had been pretty cool to see my friend from Cyprus, who I had just seen four weeks before actually in Cyprus, and then spend a couple of days with her on the other side of the world!

Spencer finished off some work bits and pieces that he had and then we headed out again to go to the Orange County Performing Arts Center. We went to watch In the Heights, which is a fairly new broadway musical. The dancing was excellent and the singing was fabulous. The story line was a bit thin and slow moving, so that was a down side, but it was still a very enjoyable experience.

We headed back home and set the world to rights over a bottle of red wine, before heading for bed to get some sleep ready for our big day today to go to Las Vegas!!

My last day in Kansas was, in fact, spent in Missouri. After packing up all of my things and checking and double checking that I hadnt left any chargers in sockets or my toothbrush at the sink, we got in the car and headed to Kansas City.

Our first stop for the day was for a round of Golf. Drew and his friend were meeting up for a rare day of golf at a very nice course and I was in charge of driving the buggy and cheering (occasionally jeering) the boys on. The quality of golf that was played was not that that you might see on the television, but it was a very pleasant day indeed. We got to play with a lot of sand and water, and I had fun driving the buggy. I havent driven for around four weeks now and was always a little wary to do so anyway over here where they drive on the wrong side of the road. And, sure enough, I even managed to confuse some other buggy drivers who were coming towards me. I pulled over to let them past, but pulled over onto the left, and then, realising my mistake, veered wildly to the other side of the path. It was a near miss but no-one was hurt and it made a good excuse for the americans to have a lot of laughs and jibes at my expense.

We got to hole 14 and the golf, which had been pretty bad all day, got worse and worse (possibly affected by the number of beers that had been consumed along the way) and we decided it was time to give up and go and find our hotel. We were staying in a hotel in downtown Kansas City, near the Power and Light district, a fabulous open area surrounded on two level by different bars and clubs so that you can pick and chose the kind of music that you want to listen to, get a drink, take it outside with a friend so you can have chat and calm down, then choose another bar.

First we showered after a long day in the hot sun, and I put on the LBD that I had borrowed for the evening. One of the girls of the group happened to be the same size as me and even the same shoe size as me and she had no restrictions on the number of outfits that she could bring along in her bags as she could throw it all into the boot of her car. She had several dresses and shoes to chose from, so I got all dressed up for the first time in a month.

We got into a taxi and headed back to the Plaza area as there was reputedly one of the top ten steak houses in the whole of America there. However, on the way we realised that eating at a top ten restaurant would mean paying top ten prices, so instead we chose another near by italian restaurant that served steaks and pasta. We ordered our steaks, which were by no means top ten, but were very good, and finished it off with a nice bottle of Malbeck.

We had taken such a long time in getting ready and finding our restaurant that by the time we finished it was nearly midnight. The girl with the extensive wardrobe was turning 27 at midnight, so we went to a nearby irish pub to celebrate. The pub was packed and after a drink and many happy birthday congratulations we jumped into a taxi to head back to the Power and Light district.

The vibe at P&L is fantastic. Or should I say Awsome. There is music to suit every taste and we quickly found a piano duelling bar. The extremely talented musicians played every kind of song you could imagine with every one of them able to play the piano, drums, guitar, and even the saxophone! They were incredible and we had a wonderful time. The hours passed by and eventually we left the bar, had a quick dance in the communal area below and walked back to the hotel, stopping for a little bit of salsa dancing in a latin bar along the way.

The next day I woke lateish and went downstairs for an extremely dissapointing hotel breakfast, before repacking all of my stuff and heading off to the airport. Kansas City airport is possibly the smallest airport I have been to in a while, and Drew told me that it had once been a very busy international airport, but now only serviced regional airlines.

I boarded my flight with no fuss and headed off for John Wayne airport in Santa Ana - California, via Denver.

The trip passed with no problem at all, and I landed at the airport and took the short walk to collect my bag. My friend Spencer turned up just before my bag came onto the belt and we jumped in the car to head to his apartment. He lives in Newport, Orange County. His apartment is tiny (the whole thing is smaller than my living room) in a gated complex and he pays three times the price of the tennant living in my apartment! It is insane!

We dropped my bag off, and, with a wicked gleam in his eye, he announced that we were going to the peninsula - by BIKE!!! Spencer is a friend of a friend that I had met at Sarah's wedding in October and whose friendship I am thoroughly abusing by kipping on his couch for my trip to California. Before my arrival in the US we had exchanged various emails about what I liked to do with my time, Kayaking? Hiking? Swimming with sharks? I wrote back explaining that I enjoy eating and drinking very much, and while I tried to keep myself fit with the occasional jog along the sea front and bit of yoga now and then, I wasnt much of a sports person. Spencer read the email, deleted it and took no regard to what I had said. So, this is how I found myself on a bicycle for the first time since I was about 12, riding around the streets of Newport.

Each time we set off I wobbled my way, the front wheel veering dangerously from left to right until I had it under control. I was concentrating solely on staying upright on the bike, and vaguely looking around me at the traffic, but silently praying that nothing would be coming my way as I shot off into the middle of the road. Finally, thankfully, we arrived at the peninsula, and absolutely bustling place full of people enjoying the evening sun. We walked along the jetty, past all of the fishermen catching their dinner (we wondered how the fishing lines didnt get tangled up with each other) around the american diner at the end of the jetty and back to the bustling strip. We stopped in Blackies, the most unpretentious bar in the area, for a drink and chomped our way through a bag of peanuts. One white wine spritzer and a glass of dark beer later and it was time to ride the bike home. I boarded my bike and pushed off with gusto and before long we were home.

We walked back into the apartment and I noticed for the first time that there was no bed in the studio, and no sofa. Where, I asked Spencer, exactly will I be sleeping? Aha said he and tugged at the large mirror in between two cupboards on a unit at the side. Pulling the mirror down he revealed a bed!! Cool, I have only ever seen those in the movies! Spencer gallantly offered me the bed and he slept on a futon on the floor. Being a bit of an eco-warrior this is nothing new for Spencer, so I quickly drifted off into an undisturbed sleep.

The next morning we arose very early indeed - 7am!!! We had made a pact the night before to rise early and go for a morning run. I may not have explained the extent of my running abilities very well, because as we embarked on our run he explained to me that the whole course was 3 miles long!!!! We employed my technique of running for ten minutes, then walking for ten minutes, but it soon turned into running for 3 minutes and walking for ten minutes and shortly after that I gave up with the running totally and we just walked the rest of the way. The run/walk was very picturesque and I enjoyed gawping at all of the large houses along the way, and enjoying the view accross the national park and the ocean.

We arrived home, pleased with ourselves for being very active so early on a Sunday morning. we breakfasted on cereal, soya milk, strawberries and blue berries (Spencer is a vegan), and, rested and refreshed we got back on the bikes and headed down to the national park / water reserve to rent a couple of kayaks. Spencer gave me general instructions for handling the kayak and the paddle and off I went. I was rather pleased with myself that I didnt immediatley end up in the water and as we were cruising along I glanced over at Spencer. He seemed suspiciously calm and it wasnt costing him as much effort to move his kayak along. I asked him if he was used to going this slowly and he admitted that indeed, he was not! However, we had a great time, making our way slowly up the waterways and closer to the ocean. I was dumbstruck by the sheer size of some of the residences along the way, each with their own private jetties and magnificent yachts in berth. We rode past one old boat that a seal had claimed as a perfect resting spot, lounging on the deck in the sunshine. We had been paddling for about an hour, and I was concious of the fact that i would have to have some energy for the return journey, so I convinced Spencer to turn around and head back to the centre. On our return some other people in Kayaks came our way, and I tried to steer myself out of their path. I ended up close to one of the jetties, and in my wisdom decided to push against it with my paddle to try to launch myself off again. My grasp of physics is clearly not great, otherwise I might have been able to calculate that this would be an excellent way of sending me off balance. It was touch and go for a moment whether I would end up in the water or not, and thankfully I didnt. But my kayak did seem to be taking on an extraordinary amount of water. I was trying so hard to make the kayak go faster and digging my oars deeper into the water, and each time I raised an oar water would trickle down the handle and onto my hands, my face, my legs, my feet - everywhere.

When we finally made it back to the kayak centre, I was wet from head to toe and Spencer was dumbfounded about how I had managed to get so much water all over me. I squelched out of the kayak and rinsed it down, returning my oar and life jacket to their position. I squelched out to where our bikes were waiting for us, and painfully mounted it for the ride home. We made it home and I thankfully got into the shower to wash all of the sea water off me, and put my trainers, shorts and socks out onto the balcony to dry.

I was already tired. The night before coming to California had been a late one, and my first night had also been a late one, going to sleep at 1am and waking at 7 for our run. My legs hurt from the running, my bottom hurt from the uncomfortable bicyle and now my arms hurt from the kayaking. But, I was having an adventure in California, so, when Spencer suggested a trip on a whale watching boat I was very keen, although slighly worried that it might involve a bike ride to catch the boat. I was right, and after a spot of lunch we left the apartment once again on our bikes.

I still hadnt mastered the initial setting off stage on the bike and I was still a bit wobbly. It all went horribly wrong when we had to cross the road. Spencer looked right and left, the way was clear and off he went confidently, leaving me for dust. I couldnt tell if there was a car coming from behind me as it was on my deaf side, so couldnt hear anything. I could, however, see the car coming in front of me, so I tried to slow down, wobbled dangerously, couldnt find my feet to place on the floor and then, BANG! I fell smack on the pavement, banging my knee painfully, splayed out on the california tarmac. And what does every 12 year old do when they fall off their bike? Burst into tears of course! I folded my arms around myself and cried like a baby, from the pain, and the embarrassment! Spencer finally realised that I was not behind him and came back and found me on the pavement. I'm sure it took him all his strength not to laugh, and take a picture at the pathetic sight, but to his credit he didnt, and helped me to my feet and suggested that we might take the bikes home. I nodded tearfully and limped my way back to the apartment and greatfully left the bikes behind.

I perked up quite quickly, and we set off for the second time to go to see the whale watching. What Spencer didnt tell me, was that the walk to the harbour was about three miles long. We walked and walked and walked and my spirits started sinking further and further. I rallied a little when we walked accross the Island of Balboa, the most twee place I have ever seen. The houses looked the colour of candy floss and all of the shops sold expensive classy tat. Their was an air of extreme wealth about the place, it was a fascinating place to be. We got to the ferry, a tiny tub that could hold 3 cars and about 20 people. The line for the cars wound its way along the street, but we walked past them all and got on the ferry for the short 3 minute trip accross the harbour, costing just one dollar.

We then got to Balboa, another very beautiful place, with a 'fun area' full of arcades, carosels etc. Spencer told me that this was the birthplace of the frozen banana, so I thought it would be only proper to try one. I did, it was definately frozen, but covered in chocolate and chocolate sprinkles so I couldnt eat it all. The idea of frozen banana is a good one though, definately worth trying out all you guys in Cyprus!

We walked around the arcades for a bit then turned up at the shop to buy our tickets for the whale watching trip. The trip was actually sold out, but one guy was trying to sell on his tickets as his wife couldnt find any parking. I grudgingly admitted to myself that Spencer had made the right choice in walking rather than bringing the car, and we took two of the tickets that they guy was selling. We got onto the boat and headed off on our two and a half our journey. It was lovely on the boat and again we got a good look at the incredibly ostentatious dwellings along the harbour.

Before long we found a pod of Dolphins, who played cheekily with the boat and in the surrounding sea. I tried to take photographs, but it was very difficult. I managed to get one dodgy one, and a bit of film, and then switched the camera off so that I could just enjoy it.

We watched the dolphins for about ten minutes and then it was time to get going again, further out to try to find the whales. Eventually the captain announced that there were two whales ahead that they had seen. He described their location as we headed out there and I searched and searched to see what he had seen without any luck. He slowed the boat and explained that the whales had gone on a deep dive, and this could last about 15 minutes and we would just wait. We all held our breath in anticipation, some clowns started speaking like Dory in Finding Nemo, trying to entice the whales to come up for breath.

Finally, they did, and I was very relieved to see what everyone else was seeing. We saw two beautiful, enormous blue whales. I didn't even bother with my camera, I just watched these creatures in awe and amazement. I felt so lucky to be in that specific spot at that specific time and witnessing something so wonderful.

We were all extremely happy with what we had seen, and finally, regretfully, the captain announced that we had to turn back to shore. He had had to go quite far out to find the whales and we were running late for the return trip. No-body minded though and we gave him and the crew a round of applause as he turned the boat around and headed back.

Spencer and I headed inside for a drink, and I took the opportunity to finally have a hot dog. I was almost not going to have one when the barman advised me that they had run out of ketchup and announced that I wasnt sure if I wanted one as I wanted to have an authentic american experience hot dog. There was a busy body in the line next to me and he advised me that they dont put ketchup on their hot dogs anyway, just mustard and sweet pickle. So I said ok, and had my hot dog with mustard and sweet pickle. I had been right not to have eaten a hot dog all of this time. It wasnt that great, and just like any other hot dog I had ever eaten. But, at least I had had a hot dog in the states.

Eventually we made it back to dry land, and Spencer and I stopped in a very nice bar for a drink before the trip home. I had made Spencer promise that we could take a taxi home, and I was so tired already from such a long day and a bit touched by the sun that all I had was a water. He decided that we would have more luck finding a taxi on the Island of Balboa rather than on the peninsula so we got back on the ferry for our return trip. We decided to walk in the direction of home and stop a taxi on the way, but, of course, we could find no taxi to take us. We did pass one, but by that point Spencer said we were almost home anyway so we let it pass. He was lying. We walked for another half an hour, and by then I was in full wimpering mode. My knee hurts, my feet hurt, my thighs hurt, I need to go to the toilet and I have a stitch. We finally got home and I pulled the bed from it's hidy hole and collapsed on it greatfully. I dosed myself up with antihistamines as my sneezing had returned, and eventually climbed under the covers in a bid to warm up. I think I had a touch of sun stroke as I was shivering, sneezing, in pain and generally feeling very sorry for myself.

I had originally arranged to meet up with my friend Ani the next morning, but that would mean getting up in the morning at about 6 am in order to get a lift with Spencer on his way to work so that he could drop me off at the metro. I called Ani and postponed our meeting until Tuesday and declared that I would have a lie in.

I closed my eyes and fell asleep more quickly than I ever remember without the involvement of alcohol.

This morning I awoke at 12 o clock. I had to get up to go to the chemist to get some more antihistamines, so I dragged myself into the shower, gingerly washed my knee, which is now beginning to scab over, and limped accross the road. I bought my antihistamines, and lots of other lovely stuff that you just cant resist when you are in a pharmacy, a quick sandwich from subway and a chocolate bar to replenish my drained energy and then returned to the apartment.

I ate my sandwich on the balcony in the glorious sunshine, having moved my trainers into the sunshine as they were still a little wet from my adventures yesterday. I have had a lovely day recouperating in the sun and I am ready for a gentle adventure tonight, perhaps the cinema or something like that. But if Spencer suggests that we cycle or walk I might have to kill him. Watch this space!

I have certainly had a fun filled couple of days lately. Two days ago we planned for spending the day in Lane, a small town in Kansas with a population of about 300 people, and home town to Drew.

We woke fairly late and our first stop was to a sandwich place nearby for a bit of grub. We then drove the picturesque 30 minute drive over to Lane and stopped in the local bar, a warehouse looking building with no windows and the most un-bar like looking bar I have ever seen. If you had sent me by myself to find it I would have definately missed it.

On the way to Lane Drew was playing with a sat nav that a friend of his has lent him for the weekend. He punched in the address for his parent's house in Lane and then laughed himself silly every time the poor little sat nav told him to go in one particular direction and he cheekily went a different way to the suggested route, of course knowing the route to his parent's house like the back of his hand.

We had a couple of drinks in the bar in Lane, which I was advised is a 3,2,1 bar (or something like that). They only have a license to serve alcohol that containes 3% alcohol or less. I had an alcoholic lemonade, played some tunes on the juke box and people watched as the locals came and went.

After a while we made it up to Drew's parents, who live on a beautiful lake. We chatted for a bit and then headed down to the Lake for a swim. It was all very 'Dawson's Creek'. Very beautiful indeed and the water was literally as warm as bath water. I swam for about 15 minutes and then thought it might be fun to do my song for Kansas while swimming in the Lake! Please bear in mind that I had been swimming for 15 minutes already before singing, which might explain the slight shortness of breath! Please also bear in mind that I am in fact wearing a bikini - despite what it might look like in the movie!

I sang my song, then left the lake to sit on the pontoon for a bit in the sun. It was cooler than it had been for many days, and there were some greyish clouds in the sky and the rumor of a thunder storm.

We dried off and went up to the house to tidy ourselves up in time for dinner. As we walked up to the house, what did I see displayed proudly on the back of the house? One of the very same stars that I have seen on many houses here and wondered for days what the significance of them was. I had even told Drew that I was tempted to knock on someone's door to ask them. Drew's mother has had this star on her house for at least 5 years and he never even noticed. So we asked her, and she confirmed that it simply is for decoration.

Dinner was fabulous, a seafood crumble type thing, the recipe of which had apparantly been taken from a spy novel whose author was something of an amateur chef so wrote in minute detail the recipes of dinners that the star of the book would create. It was delicious and was followed with a lovely cup of tea (something that had been certainly lacking on my travels) and a blackberry cobbler.

Happy and full we left Drew's parents house and headed to the Elks - the local club that Drew is a member of. The average age of the patrons in the club was probably about 65 and they were all extremely generous in their round buying. It is very difficult for people under the age of 45 to buy a round in the club, as the seniors often beat you to it, being the ones of course that empty their drinks first. I was bombarded with drink after drink and finally left the bar very merry indeed.

The next day I woke feeling surprisingly chirpy considering how much wine I had consumed the previous night, and after a long chilled coffee on the front porch we jumped in the car and headed into Kansas City. We headed to the Nelson-Atkins museum, a fine looking museum with collections from all over the world, Egypt, China and also some Native American pieces too. I was looking at the dates of the articles in the cabinets and noticed that the time frame was referred to as BCE and CE, instead of what I know as BC and AD. I wondered if this was something new that had happened in terms of referring to dates. Recently I saw a program on TV called "Do you think you are smarter than a fifth grader" (roughly 10 year olds). I wondered if this was a new thing that if you asked a fifth grader they would know the answer to, but seeing as it has been many years since I was of fifth grade age, I was out of the loop.

So, I asked one of the staff members of the museum and found out that BCE stands for Before Common/Current Era and CE means Common/Current Era. They have marked the dates like this so as not to offend people who do not believe in the birth of Christ and therefore might be offended that things are dated to that event. Except, I thought after she had given me the explanation, although you might be changing the way you say it, the event that you are indeed referring to 'before' or 'current' is still the birth of Christ! What a load of politically correct nonsense!!

I didnt let it spoil my experience though, and very much enjoyed a bit of culture on my trip, until my tummy started letting me know that it was ready for a re-fill. So we popped into the car and drove five minutes to the Plaza area of Kansas city. It is very beautiful and full of boutiques, restaurants, street side cafe's and so on. It is said to have been built as a replica of Barcelona. We found a lovely italian restaurant that had a sunken patio and sat outside while listening to a band performing on the street. The food was excellent and the band was really good, much better than the sappy italian musak that the restaurant was piping out.

We had ordered spaghetti with a meat sauce, which we were advised came as a portion big enough for two. We both had plenty of pasta and there was still enough to take home for a snack at dinner time.

We headed back to the car and wearily wove our way home. We decided a chilled night on the porch was in order so sat in the cool of the evening drinking german beer and watching all the night creatures coming out to play. I tried to get a picture of the lightning bugs, but there were only one or two out, unlike on my first night here where there had been what seemed like hundreds, making the whole front garden light up. Some friends came over and we passed the evening away telling silly stories until it was finally time for bed.

I am starting to look slightly diseased. The american mosquitoes are happily sucking on my blood any chance that they can get and I have bites all up and down my legs and arms, hands, fingers, toes - you name it!

There is also something in the air today that I am extremely allergice to, so I went to Walgreens the Pharmacist today and walked out with my arms full of after bite, mosquito repellant and aftersun for my sunburn.

Two days ago was my first full day in Kansas and I had asked Drew if there was any possibility of going to a Baseball game. I was in luck as the Kansas Royals were in town playing the Baltimore Orioles so we headed up to Kansas City to watch the game. We got excellent tickets about 5 rows up from the field, right behind 3rd base. Drew was great at explaining to me what was going on, especially advising me to be very careful when someone hit the ball as we were directly in line for a number of foul balls that might come our way. In the end only one ball came in our direction but thankfully it sailed right over our heads.

The game was a lot of fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. Our seats were directly in the sunshine and it was quite a hot day. Every three innings or so we would go up onto the concourse to get a beer or some more cold water. We wanted to get a hot dog at some point also, but I was just far too hot, I didnt have an appetite.

The game lasts a while and there is plenty of entertainment to keep people going in between innings. One of the most popular games is when one of the mascots or publicity girls throws out free hot dogs. The kids go crazy for it, and sometimes not just the kids either! They also had a kiss cam, which would focus in on various couples around the stadium and they would oblige by kissing for the whole stadium to see.

The Kansas Royals apparently havent been doing too well recently, but we were very lucky and they won the game!

We drove the hour or so home and noticed our sun burn along the way. It had been a hot day, and we hadnt noticed just how red we were getting under the sun.

That night we walked down the street for a couple of blocks and ate in a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Drew's tennant also joined us for dinner and as we were eating I brought up a couple of things that I had noticed since I have been in the US.

Firstly, coins which are marked Nickel and Dime do not indicate their value in numerical terms. Of course I have heard of Nickels and Dimes, and I could figure out what a quarter dollar was, but I had no idea how much a nickel or a dime was worth. Most americans that I have pointed this out to have no idea that the value is not indicated on nickel and dime coins.

Secondly many of the houses in all of the states that I have been to have big red, blue or bronze stars on the outside of them. I asked some of Drew's friends yesterday what the stars mean and they told me that they were just decoration. I googled it today and it seems that the stars are 'Barn stars' and indeed have been used for quite a while to decorate barns and more recently houses, sometimes thought to be a bit of a good luck charm, like an upside down horse shoe.

The third thing that I have noticed is how proud everyone is to be american, and how easy it is to display this pride. Many people have a large american flag raised on a flagpole outside thier house, many businesses also display the american flags, and the american national anthem is sung at the beginning of every sporting activity.

We pondered these thougths while trying to finish off the enourmous plates of food we had been served, and eventually wound our way home.

The next day Drew took me to the town of Lawrence - a university town that has an impressive main street of shops and restaurants. We went to the Mad Greek for lunch, and I had Pasta. Wonderful beautiful pasta that I have not eaten for so many weeks. It made me very very happy indeed!

As we had arrived in Lawrence quite late it was rather too hot to fully explore the main street, so we thought we might save it for another day. Rather instead we headed over to Topeka, where Drew works, to join his colleagues for an after work drink. I have been lulled into forgetting to take my ID with me, as most people know Drew in this small town and dont question my age, but it did get questioned in the bar in Topeka. We managed to convince the landlady that I was older than 21 and I settled down with my Bud Lite to talk nonsense with Drew's friends. Eventually we finished our drinks with the younger group of friends and headed home where I quickly at the leftovers of the pasta that I had had for lunch and we took a quick stroll down the road to Drew's local private club to hang out with his older friends.

There was a group of men surrounding the bar betwen the ages of 60 and 80 and they were all clearly very good friends who passed thier time chatting, making fun of each other, and putting away drink after drink after drink. I drank my first drink quite quickly, getting carried away with the chatter and ordered my next drink which lasted me the rest of the night. I am only young and have not had the years and years of drinking practice that these old guys have had and simply could not keep up! I was feeling distinctly poorley on my way home and thought it might have something to do with having been too hot, or maybe too cold in the airconditioning, or maybe I didnt re-heat the pasta properly when I ate it. Of course, this morning I have admitted to myself that the poorley feeling was nothing to do with any of these things, and rather more to do with the fact that I had had a touch too much to drink!

Today was my third day in Kansas and both Drew and I were ready for a down day. I woke up late, headed quickly to the pharmacist to get some antihistamines and bug stuff. I took two antihistamines as soon as I got home and fairly quickly fell into a long morning doze.

We summoned up the energy to go to the Sandbar for something for lunch and then we came back home and I had yet another snooze. We are gearing up for a lazy evening in and getting our energy back fo another day of proper sight seeing tomorrow.

Day two in Georgia heralded a trip to the big city of Atlanta. We got up early so that we could arrive in good time in Atlanta, but that idea went out the window when we got a phone call on Skype from my sister and my niece and nephew. God bless the invention of Skype. It is lovely to not only be able to talk to everyone but actually see them too while we are chatting. It has meant that Viki has been able to talk to and see all of her old friends while I have been visiting them too.

We jumped into the truck, punched the address of the Coca Cola Museum into Maggie – the sat nav – and headed on our way.

The trip went by fairly quickly and we soon hit the Atlanta traffic. Maggie didn’t do too badly with the directions, but didnt really get us exactly to our destination. We drove around in the city trying to locate exactly where the museum was, at one point we drove the wrong way up a one way road and all of the city folks were beeping at us and flashing their lights at the stupid tourists going the wrong way. Some kindly paramedics pointed us in the right direction and we finally found a parking lot close to the places we wanted to visit.

Our first stop was the Coca Cola museum. Basically a huge advertisement for Coca Cola that attracts millions of people (including us) and that you have to pay for the privilege of seeing. I thought I was cheesy, but this place has levels of cheese that I have never before experienced. Our tour started with a little chat in the entrance hallway where the steward pointed out all of the old coca cola artifacts, including the syrup containers that would deliver just the right quantity of coca cola syrup into the glass before being topped up with soda water and stirred to produce the perfect coca cola. Next was the ‘hall of happiness’ which showed us a ten minute commercial about what happens when you put your coin into the slot of a coca cola dispenser. Cute, and very very cheesy.

We took our time walking around the museum, and had a lot of fun in the tasting room, tasting all the variations of coca cola products from around the world. I don’t think I have every drunk so much fizzy drink in such a short space of time.

Slightly bloated and on edge from all of the sugar we exited the museum (after declining to pay 25 dollars for the cheesy shot that had been taken of us at the entrance of the museum) and headed accross the lawn to the Aquarium.

Once again we hit the tourist trail found oursleves in queue apon queue. The aquarium had four different climate zones and had the appropriate fish and sealife in each zone. By the time we had finished all of the zones we were fairly hungry and I felt that it was definately beer o clock.

We left the aquarium and walked across to the Olypic park, which was full of people especially lots of chilren running in and out of the fountains getting soaking wet and cooling way down in the hot Georgian summer. We consulted the navigator to find restaurants in the local area, and promtly headed off in the wrong direction. It was really hot and a 10 minute walk the wrong direction stripped me of my usual chirpyness and revealed the grumpy whiney hungry and hot Veronica. Crystal recognized the signs and, as most of my friends do, tried to quickly find a restaurant to feed the grumpy Veronica so that happy Veronica would re-appear. We found a pizza place and I devoured my half of the Pizza and then sat sipping my second cooling beer as Crystal finished her pizza at a more human pace.

It was time to head back home, so we jumped in the car and drove the hour and a half back to Warner Robbins.

We were fairly tired from our long day so just had a couple of drinks with Luke before heading off to bed.

The next day was our down day and Crystal and I spent most of the morning trying to find accomodation for me in Florida. I got fed up of looking at the computer and all of the options just ended up confusing me, so we turned the computer off and headed out to the shops to gather ingredients for dinner.

Two more of our friends from our old group were travelling down from Prattville (!) Alabama to spend the weekend with us. They turned up early evening and it was time to fire up the outside stove and cook our dinner – a Low Country Boil. A Low Country Boil is made from putting some water in a pot with some crab stock, and adding various ingredients in order according to how long they take to cook. First off were the potatoes and onions, followed at various points with corn on the cob, prawns (shrimp in American) and crab legs. It didnt take long and we all enjoyed a couple of beers and catching up on 9 years of life while the boil boiled.

Eventually it was done and we tipped the contents of the pot onto a large platter and everyone helped themselves. It was delicious! Viki, please can you get the recipe from Crystal so that you can cook it for us one day?

After we had all filled ourselves with good food we headed off to a local ‘Irish’ pub for a spot of Karaoke, the right and traditional thing to do with our group. There was a long queue for the Karaoke and we amused ourselves with more chatter and a spot of people watching. Finally it was our turn and we sang the songs that we used to sing all those years ago, including my favourite version of You dont bring me Flowers.

Luke was ‘des’ so he drove us home and we finished off the night hanging out in the hot tub and talking a lot of nonsense – which is all we could manage after several beers and wisky and cokes. I stumbled off to bed at about 3 and tore myself out of bed again at about 10am so that I could shower and pack my things as I was leaving Georgia that day.

Luke had cooked up a good hearty breakfast, and we all tucked in. It was about 12 o clock by this point and we realised that no-one was in any condition to drive me to the airport, which had been the original plan. We came up with a plan ‘B’ and after some tearful goodbyes Luke drove me to Macon to catch the shuttle bus up to Atlanta Airport. We hit some traffic near Atlanta and I was slightly concerned about missing my flight, but we got there in time and I boarded my flight no problem

The flight was quick and I was soon landing in Kansas. The captain had announced after we had all boarded that some of the suitcases had to be left behind in Georgia as there wasnt enough space on the plane, but luckily my case was one of the cases that was included. I saw Drew straight away on disembarking from the plane and we took the quick walk to the car.

I got a little confused when Drew pointed out the sign saying ‘welcome to kansas’. Kansas City airport is actually in Missouri. The City crosses the state line so some of it is in Kansas, and some is in Missouri!

It was about an hour’s drive to the small town of Ottowa and once we got there we had time for a quick bite to eat at the local and a couple of beers before calling the town’s only taxi to take us off to a little concert that was being held in someone’s field in the middle of nowhere. The band was Clevermax and it was an old band that was quite popular in the 80s in this area, having something of a reunion. There were old classmates also taking the opportunity to have a reunion and we bumped into a few of Drew’s highschool pals who had travelled down from wherever they were for the occasion.

The concert was a lot of fun, and it was wierd for me to think that I was standing at a country concert in a field in the middle of nowhere in Kansas instead of at work or rehearsal in Cyprus. After a few hours we called the taxi again and she drove the 20 minutes out of town to come and pick us up and take us home after a quick nightcap at the local. I went to bed tired and excited at the thought of exploring more of this beautiful country the next day.