Boston, Massachusetts

Our coaching has now finished and with about ten days spare before we fly to England we have taken the opportunity to borrow the 'A' Team van and see some of the parts of the country we would have otherwise missed.

The little snippets of the New England area we got (Newport and Roger Williams) suggested that it was perhaps a good idea to come back and have a look. On top of that we have some family friends living in Boston who had offered a bed to sleep in if we were ever in the area. With the promise of free accommodation and some beautiful surroundings we were hardly in a position to say no. So, we're now sitting in John and Travis's holiday home in Marion having spent the last two days walking and shopping our way around Boston.



















Boston was cool. It feels small in comparison to other cities we have been to but it might just be a case of it being so easy to get around. It is of course home to Harvard, Boston College, Tufts, MIT and a handful of other colleges so it is pretty user friendly for those who are too poor, lazy or drunk to use a car. We had a very brief wander around the Harvard Campus. It's slightly different to the Unitec campus......there are no public tours of the grounds at Unitec for a start.

The city itself has a couple of centres. The older part of the city is in the East and has a lot of very good old buildings. They are interspersed with a number of new buildings however. There is a real mixture of scale and material. Having said that, the older buildings are typically adapted and form an important part of the city. The Western centre has its fair share of older buildings too but there are far more newer buildings and developments.



















Tomorrow (Monday) we drive back to New Jersey and we are staying at a house near New York City until we leave. We have a lot to do with booking our European tour and generally setting ourselves up in England but we will be travelling into NYC as much as we can. We fly out on Friday (that's right, this week!) and will be in England for at least a week before we head to Europe. We're very much looking forward to catching up with our long lost friends and Sam is almost gagging for a "snakebite" at the local Walkabout pub.

We're really glad that a lot of you are checking out the site (it would make all this typing a great waste of time if no one was reading it). One of the down sides is that it's not so easy to hit "reply" and fill us in on your news. So, if you haven't been in touch for a while, drop us an e-mail and tell us what's happening. We've been keeping up to date on NZL news through websites but none of you have featured!

Catch you later from a safe and happy,

M+S

Architectural highlight (and total museum/gallery visits):
There were a number here! We got a tour through Liberty Jail which is being turned into a 4 star hotel (through Travis'office). The Institute for Contemporary Arts and Boston Library also ranked highly. Total museum and gallery visits = 3 (phew – I thought I might have forgotten how to do it!)














Shopping highlight (and total black strappy shoe purchases):
A new suitcase to carry all our shopping........
Total number of black strappy shoe purchases = 2 ...... well it's still one but only because Sam's newest pair of shoes don't have any straps.

Lessons learnt:
Driving 6 hours to get somewhere is nothing (as long as where you're going is worth going to).
New England is called New England because it's just like a new England.

Fear Factor:
1/10 We're slightly concerned that it might be OK to live somewhere like Boston.

Funniest moment:
It's always hard picking one out but a recent subway trip with a lady who was clearly hearing voices (and talking back to them) brought a smile to our faces when she came out with "I don't care if you are a doctor, the answer is still NO! Now go back to your wife".

Total number of Thai meals so far:
Still zero but we've decided it's a case of there being a lack of availability. The only place you can buy Thai is at a Japanese restaurant.

Wayzata, Minnesotta

Time for another update as we have just got back from another cross country trip. This time we headed to the mighty Mid West –Minnesota. It was another 24 hour drive but we are getting pretty good at entertaining ourselves. We considered ourselves lucky this time as we got to see some of the countryside along the way. Instead of there being huge tall trees lining the roads, there were corn fields, and corn fields...and more corn fields!

There were multiple highlights of the trip, but the biggies have to be the regatta results, the Mall of America and my birthday (bias I know). The kids did really well in the regatta placing 1st (woohoo), 5th, 9th, 10th and 11th. An excellent all around result!
















The MOA is the largest indoor mall in the US and has an amusement park in the middle of it. Mat definitely out shopped me –I think I am saving myself for the Top Shop in London! I am happy to report that there we no further purchases of black strappy shoes though :-)



















I celebrated my 28th birthday during the regatta. We spent 8 hours on the water that day, and then the team organised a cake complete with candles and they sang the appropriate birthday song for me too which was an awesome surprise. Mat and I then went out for dinner together –finally found a restaurant that would serve us alcohol! Our NZ Drivers Licenses just wouldn't cut it (even ON my birthday!).

We were fortunate to have the biggest architectural experience of the trip so far this past week when we headed to Falling Water. This is an amazing house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1930's. I think that I would kill this moment if I try to write more about it, so I will leave this part up to Mat (see the 'Architectural Highlight' section below).















So we now have another week in our house here in NJ before we have to move out. We are done with the coaching next Tuesday and will then pack up and head to Boston for the weekend, before stopping at Cape Cod on the way back to New Jersey where we will stay at the Williams house and make day trips into New York City. We then fly to London on August 10th to start a new chapter.

Will update the blog again in a week or so.

M+S

Architectural highlight (and total museum/gallery visits):
Fallingwater was pretty impressive. There is a full review at www.aaa.org.nz/story/453

If it wasn't for Fallingwater, the Mall of America was the highlight. It was hmmmm, yuck and yee haa! all at the same time

Total museum and gallery visits = 3

Shopping highlight (and total clothes purchases):
With two trips to the Mall of America, there were too many purchases to count.

Pairs of black strappy shoes = 1 (still)

Lessons learnt:
If you exit a motorway and do a 270 degree turn, you end up in the same place as if you did a 90 degree turn the other way! If someone could pass this onto the traffic engineers in Minnesota, it would be much easier to navigate around Minneapolis and we would be far less dizzy.

Fear Factor:
2/10 – bad motorway planning in Minneapolis and Chicago drivers.

Funniest moment:
Watching "Flight of the Conchords" on HBO (Free to download from iTunes by the way) and this little conversation.

Waitress: Would you like a drink?
Mat: Yes please, I'll have a Corona.
Waitress: Can I see your ID please?
Mat: SURE!'Here's my driver's licence.
Waitress: I'm sorry, we don't accept international IDs. Do you have your passport?
Mat: Hang on, you won't accept my driver's licence because it's from New Zealand but you'll accept my passport?
Waitress: Yeah, because it will be an American passport.
Mat: .................?!

Total number of Thai meals so far:
Total Thai count still 0

Bay Head, New Jersey

So, after a month of tripping around the country side we have been able to slow down a bit and base ourselves in Point Pleasant, New Jersey for the last week or so.

We are sailing out of a yacht club called Bayhead Yacht Cub which, funnily enough, sits at the head of a bay called Barnegat Bay. The bay is shallow and is landlocked with a thin strip of land separating it from the Atlantic. This area is pretty much populated in the summer by people coming to stay at their holiday houses. In the winter the place is apparently pretty empty. The houses aren’t your typical bach however. The bay is lined with beautiful houses that back onto the water front. Most houses have a wharf (or dock if you’re from the USA) where you keep your early 1900’s timber motor boat. Bicycles are the preferred mode of transport because it is so flat. Today we saw an opti sailor riding his bike with his lifejacket on, a centreboard thrown over one shoulder and a long roll of sails over the other.

Everyone seems to know everyone else. The two kiwis stick out a bit here and we’re pretty sure everyone knows who we are and that we have been introduced to everyone else. The only problem is that we can’t remember who we have been introduced to or what any of their names are.
The Atlantic coast is a bit strange as there are no islands to see (the UK is a bit far away) so it feels a bit foreign (which it is). We have been for a swim but it was the coldest swim we have had for a while. Barnegat Bay is nice and warm.... but then it’s more of a shallow puddle than it is a bay. The beach also has a boardwalk. It was described to us a “honky tonk” and we’d probably have to agree. Games, ferris-wheels and stuffed toys. It was fun but given that you have to pay to get onto the beach, can’t take any food with you and the exorbitant cost of food at the seaside shops, it’s probably not a place you need to spend much time at.

4th of July is of course a rather big holiday here. Simon and Andrea Cooke were here for a week or so and we took the opportunity to go with them to New York City and check out the fireworks. Yee Ha! Not much bigger than other fireworks we’ve seen but boy were they loud. The sound was amplified by the high rises behind us and you could feel your clothes shake. Apparently there were 3 million people watching those fireworks. Standing on a motorway over-bridge in the rain has never been so much fun. Nor has eating at a Japanese Restaurant before hand (with a few Cosmopolitans and Martinis).

We did have a quick adventure up to a college in Rhode Island (very near Newport) to check out a potential coaching job there. In the end we have opted to stick with Plan A and we will be heading to London early August.

The next trip is to Minnesota for the National Championships. It’s not treated as a very serious regatta but it will be a good opportunity for the sailors to put everything we have taught them together at one time. It also means a bunch of driving (20+ hours). We’re getting used to it now.

Here is a picure of most of the team that have been training in Bay Head this week. We had a mini regatta yesterday and presented the inaugural Barnegate Bay Trophy...the 'gold'plastic bucket complete with red spades! Now, just to make sure that we have mentioned them all, they are (from left to right) Margaret, Molly, Ellie, Bianca, Bernie and Sam the king of zinc.

We’ll be in touch when we get back from there.

M+S

Architectural highlight (and total museum/gallery visits):
Sailing Quest, a Herreshof design 20+ft boat around Barnegat Bay with Simon and Andrea. Some beautiful houses and a beautiful setting. Total museum and gallery visits = 2 (withdrawal symptoms have set in but NYC is on the horizon)

Shopping highlight (and total clothes purchases):
Mat bought a jacket and is desperate to wear it but given the temperatures around 30C° he hasn’t had much opportunity.
Total clothes purchases = This is starting to get difficult so we’re going to simplify it by counting pairs of black strappy shoes. Therefore the total is 1

Lessons learnt:
The college sailing scene is pretty cool her. Great resources and support. We don’t know how the students actually study though.

Fear Factor:
0/10 We keep getting told off for locking the car doors.

Funniest moment:
Buying a hamburger, cheeseburger, fries and drinks at a boardwalk cafe only to discover that it was going to cost us $20 and then finding out that the burgers were....well....meat and bread. There was DIY sauces though. "Tips for good service"....yeah right.

Total number of Thai meals so far:
1. We were right. Simon and Andrea turn up and we find ourselves eating some Thai. We’re pretty sure it’s their influence.

It’s Sam here and I dispute that the restaurant was Thai –note that earlier Mat mentioned the ‘Japanese’ restaurant!!! I didn’t have satay chicken or chicken with cashews so it wasn’t Thai! Total Thai count still 0

New Orleans, Louisianna

We have now been in the deep south for a week. The temperature has consistently been in the mid-30s , and that combined with massive humidity has made for one heck of a hot week! It is 30 degrees at 7am and 7pm! Hydration has been a major part of the week with constant trips to the supermarket to get cases of water. No one in the US drinks tap water, but when you can get 24 bottles for $6 we can understand why!

We are here for the National Youth Championships. All the kids have done extremely well just to be here as you have to submit a sailing resume to be selected to compete. Final results aren’t in yet but it has been a great experience for everyone.












We have been having some fun with the team teaching them some “Kiwi-isms”. They just crack up at words like singlet, togs, jandals, heaps, and we have taught them the ‘bags not’ move of putting your thumb on your forehead (another one that get s constant laugh!). We too have been practising our ‘American’ including the varying accents. We have decided that you should really spell New Orleans as Nu Oleins if you were to write it phonetically.

We managed to get into the French Quarter on Monday night. The Southern Yacht Club organised a dinner for all the competitors in a restaurant near Bourbon St. I then managed to find my way back there in the A-Team van yesterday but it was all a little disappointing. I can only assume that Bourbon St goes off at night, because during the day it was just full of hicks with missing teeth and homeless people. All the real estate is occupied by establishments such as the Hustler Club, or bars selling the local cocktail “The Hurricane” by the litre in fluro green plastic yard glasses!

There are not too many visible signs of Katrina in the French Quarter so the city must have done a great job to get the area back up and running again. However, the suburbs still offer some pretty sad sights. There are many many vacant damaged houses in every neighbourhood, most with visible high tide lines and spray paint from the rescue teams which include info on pets and a body count. There are a few houses with ‘trailers’ parked in front that families are living in. The hold up seems to be with the insurance companies paying out (surprised???).

M+S
















Architectural highlight (and total museum/gallery visits):

Near the yacht club there are a bunch of waterside ‘sheds/houses’ that have room to park your boat and a living area. A bit worse for wear following Katrina but nice.


Total museum and gallery visits = 2 (Rather stable. We must do something about that)





















Shopping highlight (and total clothes purchases):
There is a mall right across the street from the hotel and as I wasn’t allowed on the water what else is a girl expected to do!? I managed to just buy 3 singlets (to combat the heat) and a pair of shoes (and yes they are black and strappy!!!). The biggest purchase of the trip so far has been a pair of new sunglasses for Mat. The purchase process has been very long and has spanned multiple States. Glad we got there eventually!

Total clothes purchases = 8 (including one pair of black strappy shoes)

Lessons learnt:
When you order a Vodka, Lemonade and Lime, make sure you ask for Sprite instead of Lemonade or else you get REAL American Lemonade!!! Gross!!!!


It is very easy to run a regatta very badly.

Fear Factor:
3/10 The woman/staff member using the toilet with the door open in the Mississippi visitors centre or the guy trying to sell Mat not one, but two “brand new” laptops from the trunk of his car at the gas station in Alabama??? “Hey big guy!” Also, we’re kind of scared of hurricanes. Two years later and New Orleans is still in a pretty bad state.

Funniest moment:
After we had both hung out with Dave Perry (the guy responsible for the bowsprit issues in 1992 – on the Italian side) for a week, Mat was presented with two of his books for his help during a coaching clinic. Dave had personally signed both books “to Mat and Sarah”. He had been doing it all week but he’s such a nice guy we couldn’t bring ourselves to set him straight.

Total number of Thai meals so far:
till zero! Don’t think the locals know what Thai food is :-) Simon and Andrea are in Bay Head this week though so if we are ever to find a Thai restaurant, it will be this week!

Newport, Rhode Island

So we are sitting in the van at the moment with 3 boats of the trailer behind us. We are heading from Newport back to New Jersey and are in a traffic jam. Currently the onboard navigation unit tells us that our next move is to bear left in 110 miles (that’s how boring these road trips are). Apparently there has been an accident hence the stop/start traffic. Only 5 hours to go if there was no traffic! Did I mention that it is 7.30pm now?














We have had a great 4 days in Newport –the home of the America’s Cup. They even have a road and a pub named after it! The town is sailing mad –everyone has a crew shirt or cap on (quite cool really). We were here for a 3 day coaching clinic –kids from all over the New England area were here as well as coaches from the nearby colleges (Yale, Brown, MIT etc). We have had some interesting weather –massive temperature and wind changes, but happy to report that we are back in boardies and jandals today with some sunburn. Mat has just proved his new tan by taking his watch off –what a glow under there!!


We managed to find some time to take in the sights including a walk along a cliff top past all the world famous mansions. Some are still lived in today but most are now historic visitor sights. They are totally huge and normally only something you would see in a movie –make a cool wedding venue Kate and Zoe J Most of the sailing was done inside the harbour but we managed to find our way to a pretty cool surf beach on the southern coast. We were also lucky enough to go to a movie preview about the history of the America’s Cup that was produced by a world famous sailor and commentator –Gary Jobson. We were amongst the rich and the famous –past AC skippers and yacht designers. It was only at the end that we learned that everyone else had paid $75 to be there (all the kids and coaches from the clinic got to go free) but we felt quite cool in our boardies and jandals!


We will hopefully get back to our house in Bay Head (NJ) tonight in time to re-group tomorrow and then head on the mother of all road trips to New Orleans on Tuesday (it takes 20 hours without taking stops!).

M+S

Architectural highlight (and total museum/gallery visits):
The mansions! Some BIG houses built in a beautiful spot by some of USA’s rich and famous.
Total museum and gallery visits = 2 (still)

Shopping highlight (and total clothes purchases):
Sam’s canary yellow Newport cap and buy one get one free shorts!
Total clothes purchases = 4-1 for the loss of a fag neck jumper (sorry Itchy!) =3

Lessons learnt:
The US has some good sailing coaches (but their coaching style is quite different), and the coffee here is crap!

Fear Factor:
1/10 Peanut Butter and Cheese!
So far we have come across the following food items available in a peanut butter flavour: biscuits (cookies), cereal, fudge, ice cream, and muesli bars. You could probably also get any of these in a cheese flavour!

Funniest moment:
Using some local lingo mainly from our friend Molly! If you are winning a race you “own” it, and if you get hit on the head by the boom, you got “wailed” (thanks VC). A close second was watching the main sail fall down on a boat just after the start of the transatlantic race - I think you'd be asking to get off the boat.

Total number of Thai meals so far:
Still zero! (although we drove past a Thai restaurant each day of the way to the yacht club). If we did have Thai, it would probably have included cheese and peanut butter.

King's Point, Long Island, NY

So, in order to volunteer to help US Sailing at a regatta later this month first we had to pay to attend a four day, learn to coach, US sailing course. This was held on the US Merchant Marine College. An impressive campus right on the water’s edge near a small town.

Hyped up as an intense 40hr course, it was far from it. There was a lot of fill and delay. We reckon we could have done it in two days. Anyway, it was a nice way to meet a few sailors/instructors and get to know Sam Williams and Bernie Rosler (two of our team members) a bit better. Charlotte Williams came along as well as she is instructing at a local club over the summer. Charlotte was in the team I was involved with last time I was here so it was nice to catch up with her.

The town and hotel were great and we got to go and see Ocean’s Thirteen (which was quite good). Needless to say, the quality of the hotel room made up for the hostel in San Fran.















The four days were pretty tiring and we’re now back in Summit and might go down to Bay Head tonight. If not we will go down there tomorrow and set ourselves up in our accommodation for the summer. On Wednesday we drive to Newport, Rhode Island (the home of the America’s Cup for 140+ years) for a sailing clinic. Apparently the town is sailing crazy so we’re looking forward to it.

We’ll be back on line after that to update everyone.

M+S (please note the matching uniforms again)

Architectural highlight (and total museum/gallery visits):
The USMMA campus. Quite well done and a nice place to be. Sailing/boating facilities we would all dream of (and the 20+ students were pretty much the only ones there).
Total museum and gallery visits = 2 (still)

Shopping highlight (and total clothes purchases):
Oceans Thirteen tickets. Same price as NZL but money well spent.
Total clothes purchases = 0 (still)

Lessons learnt:
Dark chocolate M+M’s aren’t as good as they sound. That’s right, four days of learning and that little fact is pretty much the only thing that will stay with us.

Fear Factor:
2/10 Other than driving a very large ‘car’ on the right hand side of the road through some pretty average roading systems relying on a GPS navigation unit , it would be pretty hard to get into trouble in Great Neck.

Funniest moment:
After four days of ‘learning’ to coach, Sam was asked if she wanted to take the course that would let her teach other instructors! Sam was the teacher’s pet by the way.

Total number of Thai meals so far:
Still zero! (although we came close)

San Francisco

Well here we are in San Francisco. We arrived safe and sound after an average flight. No issues at immigration but our fingerprints and photos are now permanently on record.

It’s a pretty city but it doesn’t really have a centre. It’s spread out over the hills and has lots of little quarters. Cable cars are a godsend for getting from A to B (ding-ding!). Fisherman’s Wharf is the sort of small scaled touristy streets that you might be looking for.

The first half day was spent familiarising ourselves with the city and getting some fresh air, yesterday was museums, China Town, Lombard St (the crookedest street) and lots of walking. Today we cycled over the Golden Gate Bridge and down to Sausalito. Very pretty and quite a good ride. We caught the ferry home though... It’s been blowing like stink since we got here.

We’re off to the East Coast tomorrow and straight up to our learn to coach course the day after! We plan to post something here after each city/town we visit so stay tuned and we hope you enjoy the photos. In the mean time, here’s a quick summary of what we’ve been up to.

M+S

Architectural highlight (and total museum/gallery visits):
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art by Mario Botta. Very PoMo and perhaps showing its age but a good gallery space. A close second would be the villas here (so many bay windows). Missed Herzog and DeMeuron’s new building (too far out of town).

Total museum and gallery visits = 2

Shopping highlight (and total clothes purchases):
The prices. One dress spotted at Niemen Marcus was US$14,000. We didn’t buy one. There are so many black strappy shoes and yet none of them seem to be quite right.

Total clothes purchases = 0

Lessons learnt:
Never trust the photos that hostels put on their websites. They don’t show the fact that you’re down the end of a grotty alleyway past the knock shop.

Fear Factor:
7/10 We haven’t got much to compare it with yet but there are dodgy parts of town and some desperate looking people. Otherwise the locals have been really friendly.

Funniest moment:
The guy who hides behind some broken off branches down near Fisherman’s Wharf and scares people walking by. No matter how many times he does it, it’s still funny.

Close runners up are sitting in a 350+ seat movie theatre with 12 other people watching Shrek the Third and running into Rob the 420 sailor from Wellington (from the young ones for those who know them) riding a bike over the Golden Gate Bridge.

Total number of Thai meals so far:
Zero!