Another day, and unfortunately one day closer to my going home. It’s a great holiday - it’s been some time since I had more than 1 week off work, and I’m loving every moment of it.

We went out to a place in Manitou Springs today called Miramont Castle. It’s a large house with a view of the mountains, and it’s advertised as being decorated in 7 different decor styles. It’s a bit unusual, to be honest, and the three of us came away feeling like it was a bit of a folly style sight. I also had a very unusual experience in there - the woman at the front desk realised I was English, and told me to come back to the front desk once we’d seen the house. I did, and she presented me with a signed A4 piece of paper with a very colourful picture of a fairy beside a pool, with a fish holding a coin in its mouth. She told me to ‘look at the stars above the fairy’s head’ and to ‘notice the fish in the pool’. Apparently it’s about a book she’s written, something like ‘The seven tooth fairies’. I was more than a little bemused.

This evening, we went out for a meal with Stacey, a friend who lives here I visited for 2 weeks back in June 2002. It was great to see her again, even if it was only for a short time. We went to a Japanese sushi and grill place, where the chef cooked our meals at a grill at the table. Entertainment and food - we left extremely full after miso soup, salad, rice, shrimp, steak and chicken.

I also went to a sushi place in Augusta, called Matsu Sige. It was the first sushi restaurant I’d ever been to, and I had traditional sushi there - the Matsu Sige special, and futo maki (avocado, egg, unagi). Very adventurous for me, and absolutely delicious.

The next 2 days - my last here in America - are dependent upon the weather. It started snowing earlier this evening, and is settling well. I’m very excited about it, given we barely have any snow in Sheffield any more, but too much snow will put a halt to any more sightseeing. We’ll see how things are in the morning - more snow is forecast for Wednesday all day.

After catching up on much needed sleep, Richard and I went out today to do some sightseeing. Pikes Peak was our first stop. I last went up there when I visited a friend here in Colorado Springs back in June 2002. We got all the way to the summit that time, but due to high winds, we could only go 13 miles up the 19 mile trail today. As it turned out, that was far enough to appreciate the views, and also far enough to realise that it was bloody freezing, and 11,450 feet was quite enough, never mind the other 3,000 feet to the summit. Besides, by the time we got to the Glen Cove rest stop at the 13 mile marker, I’d started to feel the altitude, and was a bit light-headed. We had a drink and a snack before heading down again, and I got plenty of photos.

We went from Pikes Peak to the Cave of the Winds just down the road. I’d never been there before, and I’ve enjoyed the few cave systems I’ve been in before. This one wasn’t a disappointment, and as well as taking more photos, I managed to get myself terribly dusty crawling through an (optional) narrow passage that turned out to have a packed dust floor rather than a stone floor. I was brushing red dust off my trousers for the next couple of hours.

There’s plans for more sightseeing later in the week, with Garden of the Gods, Seven Falls, Manitou Springs and Miramont Castle, weather permitting - it’s forecast to snow on Wednesday.

Arrived safely in Colorado Springs after far too much travelling for one day. Showered off the ickiness of travel, time to relax.

In misty morning Chicago, waiting at O’Hare for my connecting flight down to Colorado Springs. It doesn’t leave for another 2hrs, 20 mins, so I have some time to kill. Flying into Chicago was great - we flew over Lake Michigan (huge) and the downtown city (tall, clustered skyscrapers). I’m flying back through here on my way home, and have 6 or so hours to kill on my layover, so I may well head into the city and check it out briefly.

Apparently, O’Hare is the world’s busiest airport - Atlanta took over the title from Chicago in 2005, but then Chicago got it back in 2006. Even at this early hour, I can believe it. It’s packed. It deals with up to 2,700 flights per day, and they’re planning on expanding it to over 3,800. On the not so positive side, it accounts for over one sixth of the USA’s total flight cancellations. According to the departures board, my flight is still okay. I hope it stays that way!

Still tired, but not as wiped out as I thought I would be. It’ll likely hit me before I get to Colorado Springs.

It’s 5.25am, and I’m at Atlanta airport waiting for my flight to Chicago to be called. The planned trip yesterday to Stone Mountain and subsequent Atlanta hotel stay never happened (ill health), so the upshot was that Vicki and I had to drive out to Atlanta this morning, leaving Sam and Jeremy’s place at a little after 2am. Given that I had to be up at 1am, we decided not to go to bed at all. I’m probably going to regret that. A lot. I kind of dozed in the car for a bit on the drive down here, but I’m sure I’ll be suffering at O’Hare. I’m due to get into Colorado at 11.30am local time - so in 8 hours, taking into account the time difference (another 2 hours).

My flight starts boarding in just under 30 minutes, so I’m going to grab a drink and a muffin from the Starbucks down the hall, and try to resemble the living.

Having a great time over here. Been here a week now, and I’m about to move from South Carolina into Georgia. On Sunday morning I’ll be flying out to Colorado.

So, thus far I’ve been out to visit Sam’s mum, where we also met her 6 week old daschund puppy, Hildie. We spent Thanksgiving Day at Jeremy’s mum’s place and had Thanksgiving dinner with her and Jeremy’s sisters, Jessica and Amber. Jess’s cat, a longhaired black called Morticia, sat on my lap for ages, and made me miss Dorrie (though I’ve been assed by my housemate that she’s perfectly ok).

I’ve been reminded once again just how much I love the South.
We drove through Alleluia Community, Georgia, an ‘alternative society’ of the kind that tithes to the Church, lives where they tell you to live, all that. Crazy, of course, but what I loved was their billboard - ‘CALL 1-800-YES-LORD’.

The food here is gorgeous, and we’ve visited Waffle House on more than one occasion (hash browns Southern style, waffles, cheese ‘n eggs, raisin toast…).

I’ve learnt about the redneck-originating mud-boggin’, which I would never have believed could be an actual, competitive sport - “a form of off-road motorsport in which the goal is to drive a vehicle through a pit of mud of a set length” - and even has a national organisation. That led me straight to the Redneck Olympics, something else which actually exists. Events include the Hubcap Hurl, Horseshoe Throw, Mudpit Belly Flop, and Lawn Mower Racing. Honestly, you can’t make this stuff up.

We’ve also done plenty of roleplaying, which is always great fun and often absolutely hilarious. One liners are a matter of course, and whilst it’s a case of ‘you had to be there’, rest assured that Sam, Scott, Jeremy and I were all in pain from laughing so hard last night.

There’ll be more updates later, but for now I have to pack up my suitcase again ready for tomorrow’s flight - Atlanta to Colorado via Chicago. I’m just hoping the flight isn’t as bad as my last trip to Colorado, when we flew over the mountains and experienced turbulence that had me stagger out of the plane onto the tarmac.

It’s been far, far too long since I last updated this, and as I’m off on holiday tomorrow - typing this from the hotel down in London - I figure I’d better say a few things!

The past couple of weeks have been pretty busy. I’ve been getting used to Dorrie, the new kitten. She’s growing amazingly fast, and has had her initial vaccinations. She’s an ideal weight according to the vet, and is completely de-fleaed and de-wormed. However, she’s now going through a stage where she only has one speed setting - hyper. I’m really hoping it’s just a brief stage, because cute as she is, there’s only so much high-speed kitten I can handle!

I went to a roleplay gaming weekend at the end of October up here in Sheffield, called Furnace. It was a massive success, enough so that another has been planned for mid October next year. I got to catch up on long-missed gaming, and a great outcome was the set up of an RP group here. We’re kicking off at the start of December, and I’m really looking forward to it becoming a regular thing.

Work has been incredibly busy, which is usual at this time of year. For some reason, I was given approval for the next two weeks off work. I’m not knocking it. By the time I get back, we’ll have moved offices. No more red brick, ivy clad building. A shame.

Holiday wise, I’m off to America (again). I’ll be spending a week with friends in South Carolina, and then a week with friends in Colorado who recently emigrated over there from Sheffield. I have to be up at some hideous hour to catch my flight, but I reckon that’s a small price to pay for two care free weeks.

Expect updates on the photoblog, although there may be a short hiatus until I’m there and settled (i.e. over the jetlag).