From the top to the bottom....

Norbert dropped us off at Vancouver airport and when we checked in, the lady at the counter asked us if we had an ESTA (an electronic Visa)...Stu asked "who's ESTA?".....and I looked on in disbelief!! Feeling sorry for us (or maybe me!) she then gave us exit rows...to which Stuart asked "Will ESTA be sitting next to us?"!!!  The first leg was to Salt Lake City..(where we landed in March for the start of this adventure) and it was amazing to see it with all the snow gone..what a difference a few months makes.  We had a 40 min stopover, but the flight was 40 mins late so it was a mad dash from one end of the airport to the other which we got to as the first people were boarding.
We were heading to Charlotte in North Carolina and this is when I got to hear those lovely, strong southern accents.  It's amazing how people from the one country can have so many different accents.  I love it! Our plane landed around 11.30pm, as did 7 other planes, and when we went to pick up our luggage, there were renovations going on in the luggage section, so the entire 7 flights of people were fighting their way to a baggage terminal the size of a small kitchen!!!  Not fun! We caught a shuttle bus to the car rental place, and when the guy saw how much it was going to cost us to rent it for 42 days, he felt sorry for us, and dropped the price by $400.  We were very grateful, but we actually didn't think the price we were going to pay was too expensive.  By this stage it was around 1.30am, so we grabbed a burger from Macca's....$1 each!!!! YES, $1 each!!! and found a cheap hotel for the night...$48...with a king size bed, free wifi and breakfast!!!
The next morning we drove into Charlotte.....

then headed down into South Carolina....

We chose the scenic route, off the main Interstate, but were a little disappointed with the country we were seeing.  Not as scenic as we would have liked...however, we did come across this town...

Pickens is Jakeb's nickname from the boys (long story) so we laughed maturely at this...(Mum, I'll explain later!)

We stopped at a Thrift Shop in a small town, to look at number plates.  Stu asked the guy in the shop if he sold number plates, which he didn't, but a customer in the shop overheard him...asked which ones he wanted and said he had some at his house...so we followed him and sure enough he had Georgia and Sth Carolina plates.  We offered him money for them, which he refused and we were able to give him a spare Alaskan plate we had.  He was so nice and friendly to us, we couldn't believe it...we have only encountered really friendly people in the Carolina's...and they call me Ma'am.  I could get used that!
 We got to the Georgia border....by crossing a river, which was covered in low fog..

and then drove till midnight, stopping out of Savannah, Georgia at a hotel that was $36 a night....again free wifi and breakfast!!  How do they make their money?
The next morning we drove into Savannah and decided to do a hop on/off tram tour.

....it took us into downtown historic Savannah,

and despite the heat and humidity, it was a really enjoyable day.   Gorgeous old buildings that we did guided tours through...

 

and Stu, feeling a bit nostalgic, ventured back into the classroom....

The downtown area was divided into squares and each square had a park filled with huge, old trees, providing plenty of shade....and it was so pretty...

the highlight?  Driving past the park where this scene was filmed....."Life is like a box of chocolates.."

By late afternoon I was feeling hot and weary and we were on the tram, when we passed this statue which is along the waterfront....

I think the trolley driver was also hot and weary as he told the story of the statue to us, word for word and as soon as he finished his last sentence, he told the story again...word for word!  Sadly, I wasn't listening either times, but I think she is waving to all the boats that went past..."As the story goes, life at the remote cottage was lonely for Florence whose closest companion was her devoted collie. At an early age, she developed a close affinity with the passing ships and welcomed each one with a wave of her handkerchief. Sailors began returning her greeting by waving back or with a blast of the ship's horn. Eventually Florence started greeting the ships arriving in the dark by waving a lantern."
We were glad to get back into the airconditioned car and we made our way down to Florida,

where we stopped at the Visitor's Centre and they gave us free freshly squeezed orange juice...

We arrived at the condo late evening....it is a 2 storey condo...2 bedrooms/bathrooms upstairs and a kitchen/lounge/bathroom downstairs...air conditioned/wifi...everything we need.  It is a house exchange place and we have had great communication with the owner who has been very accommodating to our changing dates.  We're located next to a lovely beach

and the complex has 4 pools, so you can walk to the beach (2 mins) have a swim,

then jump in the pool

....very relaxing and easy.
Here is the view from the condo....

We went for a drive the next day and came across Canaveral National Park...just down the road from us. Again, it was so hot and humid...just like the Kimberley during wet season...but we did get to see a manatee (like dugong) and plenty of dolphin.

The stretch of National Park is 24 miles long.  This is the longest stretch of undeveloped coastline all the way down the east coast of the US! I find that an amazing statistic.
We had arranged to catch up with Kimberley friends, Donna and Paul who are travelling throughout the US.  Paul is the recipient of a Churchill Fellowship Scholarship and is over here on his year off doing his research.  Donna and Stuart are also Churchill Fellows, and the 3 of them are all school principals, so I call them the Fellowship of the Principals.  I'm feeling a little outnumbered here! Paul was Asha's boss at Derby DHS and Donna is Principal at Fitzroy Crossing DHS...one of Stu's old schools, and we met mid 1998, when Stu was Principal at Wangkatjungka RCS and Paul was Principal at Bayulu RCS.

So we were really thrilled that they were going to be in Florida at the same time as us and we had room for them to stay in the condo. It certainly seems a long way from Wangkatjungka/Bayulu days!!

Our first day with Donna and Paul was spent at Universal Studios....long queues (until we learnt about single riders)

great rides and larger than life backdrops....

Everything was bright and colorful...

and after getting there at 10am, we finally left at 9pm...a great day!

The next morning was our trip to the Kennedy Space Centre (NASA).  I had vivid memories of Stephanie's experience there...she hated it and was sending us the most boring photos I have ever seen

of what should have been quite an interesting off shore excursion from her cruise ship.  So I was prepared!
 Once you arrive,

you are taken on a bus tour of the facilities of NASA...where the space shuttles are built, launched, viewing platforms..etc etc (I don't remember too much of this as I slept through it)

but the main problem was I didn't understand the Californian accent of our bus driver.....seriously, we needed subtitles!! Then we visited the Apollo Centre which I found really informative, and especially the small reference to Carnarvon.

It was interesting and inspiring to me....I think Dad would have enjoyed it...

There was even the robot from Lost in Space...."Danger Will Robinson"...

There was a list of the Atlantis space flights and one of the crew's name was Michael Good.

Here's a bit of information about Mr Good...just for you Steph!!
"Space shuttle Atlantis launched on its final planned mission to deliver an Integrated Cargo Carrier and a Russian-built Mini Research Module to the International Space Station. STS-132 was the 32nd mission for Atlantis.
Three spacewalks were conducted while Atlantis was docked to the orbiting laboratory. During the first spacewalk Mission Specialists Garrett Reisman and Steve Bowen installed a spare antenna and a stowage platform. On the second spacewalk, Bowen and Mission Specialist Michael Good replaced batteries on the P6 Truss that store solar energy. Outside for the final spacewalk were Good and Reisman who replaced the last of the P6 Truss batteries and retrieved a power data grapple fixture for installation at a later date."
I wonder if he's related?
While we were there we watched this storm approaching....

 and then a few hours later on our way back to the condo this was how the water looked...

 

The next day we were off to Universal's Islands of Adventure....we spent 11 hours there..another hot, steamy day...but this time we bought the Fast Pass...an expensive investment, but it meant we avoided all the long queues..some waiting as long as 2 hrs for a 1 minute ride! 

It was a fun day and we made the most of our Fast Pass, revisiting our favourite rides 2 or 3 times! On a hot day, the water rides were the best....scary, but cool!

There was a kids section...Dr Seuss Land...which was gorgeous...and we went on a couple of rides there...taking a ride through the The Cat in the Hat, High in the Sky Seuss trolley train ride and the Caro-Seuss-el ...a merry go round of Seuss characters.

Toon Town....

Jurassic Park...

 Harry Potter Wizarding World..which was fantastic!

The simulated ride was amazing!  Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey uses KUKA robocoaster technology, which allows the seats to pivot while being held above the track by a robotic arm. The ride is  a scenic dark ride. The experience includes a flight around Hogwarts castle, an encounter with the Whomping Willow and a horde of Dementors and a Quidditch match. The ride drops, spins around, twists and turns, but does not turn upside down, though passengers sometimes lie flat on their backs.We LOVED it!  It took us into the world of Harry Potter.
Marvels Superhero World was great as well....

and I even took on this rollercoaster!!

 Here's a quick video of our day....Theme park shenanigans...
So it was another great day with Stu, Paul and Donna....but we were all ready for a day of rest on July 4.

A lazy day for our 2nd Independence Day in the US.  Last year we were in Chicago, with too many other people...hot, bothered and squished up against a fence with very limited visibility and a fireworks display that made sparklers out the back at Australind look good!  So this year we decided we weren't moving from the condo...no driving and no dealing with crowds. A great decision! Also we were getting a bit of weather from the tail of Hurricane Arthur that was travelling up the coast causing a bit of havoc.
During the day the clouds began to blacken, so we went down the beach to take a look...it was impressive...

By late afternoon the storm had all but disappeared so we made our way to the deck chairs to enjoy a quiet view of the ocean...

when not 5 metres from us a dad and his kids starting letting off fireworks!  It was like a war zone! They were going off EVERYWHERE...no safety requirements, no cleaning up afterwards!  Then as the sun started to go down, out came the big guns...ordinary, everyday people letting off HUGE fireworks, all the way along the beach as far as the eye could see! It was pretty spectacular and the 4 of us were gobsmacked that it was allowed to happen...but we were glad it did happen! 

There seemed to be no safety awareness, but as far as we could see, noone got hurt.  The fireworks went on for about 2 hrs, everyone was so well behaved, no drunken behaviour and come 10pm it was like nothing had happened...except for occasional fireworks going off on someones balcony!!

 Here's a link.....Fireworks US style...4th July
 The next day we went back to the US Astronaut Hall of Fame which was included in our Kennedy Space Centre ticket.  Again I found it really interesting...

and you can all rest assured...Space Travel is in safe hands with these two at the helm...despite Stuart getting his head stuck!!

They even managed to land the space shuttle...well kind of....not really...

On the way back to the condo we stopped at a canal to look at some manatee, which are very similar to dugong, but their closest living relative is the elephant...they're sometimes mistaken for mermaids...depending how long you have been at sea! Here they are in action....Manatee....Florida

Donna and Paul left the next morning...driving down to Miami, and catching a flight to Calgary.  We decided to take a drive to St Augustine...the oldest city in the US. We drove past Daytona Beach which apparently is where a famous car race is held....along the coast...

following the pelicans (which are not as pretty as our pelicans)

stopping in at National Monuments along the way...check out the gorgeous oak trees at one of the monuments.....

arriving at

and the first thing we saw was...

which is a fort on the edge of the city....

and a beautiful university called Flagley University, which was originally built as a hotel for the very, very rich and famous....and was very grand...

and we took a walk down historic St George Street...where it was sooo humid.....

which made this waterway so tempting!

We had another quiet day at the condo the following day...the big decisions being do we swim in the ocean....

or the pool...

we chose both!  Another big decision we had to make was which chair to sit in...so many choices....

he chose this one....

and pinching ourselves that we were actually here...enjoying this accommodation....for FREE!!

So this is our last house exchange...we wouldn't have been able to afford travelling for this length of time if we didn't do it, and that was a lot of work done by Stuart to get these places. So it has been so worth it!  All these places I never dreamed I would ever get to see...next adventure starts tomorrow.....3 weeks driving through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado....leaving the US on August 2nd...so we still have a few more number plates to get, to add to the collection....