4 visitors. 3 states. 2 months.

so thats where I've been.... Summer has hit, although it could be easily mistaken for some other season.. not summer... its incredible, it has hardly stopped raining... infact i read that in June it rained 4 out of every 5 days... lovely when its mixed with 95% humidity and yet I still found myself in my gumboots trudging to work.. yes you're right, gross... so I decided to leave for a bit... first port.. Seattle..

My first venture to the west coast (apart from the obligatory LA/SanFran airport visits) was to the rainy city for a Netball tournament...just to clarify, no I'm no pro who gets shipped around the country to play netball, not sure if I've explained it before but as Netball is not a sport known to Americans (infact when I tell them I play netball they more often then not think I'm saying nipple... story for another time) anyway as there aren't enough teams in the country to form a regular tournament, different teams around the country host tournament days and invite teams from other states... it ends up being a full on day of round robin type netball, usually a 9 - 6 affair, approx 8 games, and lots of sore muscles... but nonetheless a good opportunity to see the country! So back to Seattle... and my lovely king size bed at the Westin... we got a sweet deal in the heart of the city, so at least the night before the big day was a comfortable one.. so we played a lovely tournament, great teams, great competition, and through some technicality we actually won the biggest trophy of the day, all came away with medals...and followed the evening with a celebratory meal in downtown seattle... what was slated for a big night out ended with all of us falling asleep around the dinner table...

The next day a few of us stayed in the city to do some exploring... we went down to Pike Place for a nice brunch, saw the fish markets with men throwing fish around the place, visited the first ever Starbucks and then boarded the Ride the Duck Seattle tour. With quackers in hand we woke up the sleepy city blowing our duck horns as we checked out the sites with our crazy duck driver.. we passed the important sites, the outside of the Grey's Anatomy hospital, Seattle Grace, (its not really a hospital, just an office block... I know i was devastated too!!) and then some sporting grounds and thats about all i remember! The duck took a dip into the lake/river not sure what it was... and toured the houseboats which many Seattle folk choose to live in.. truly is a pretty seaside town,... we passed the Sleepless In Seattle houseboat ala Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks and then ventured back to dry land... We then ventured back to dry land, went up the space needle, thats the tallest structure in Seattle, and got a pretty view of the nice city. By the afternoon our muscles were cramping again so we found lovely seats outside an Irish pub and parked ourselves there in the afternoon sun until it was time for our red eye overnight flight home... I love that I have found this netball team... its truly a group of about 30 fantastic girls, i look forward every week to our training sessions, most are aussie/english or new zealand expats.. all on the same journey as I am, its great sharing stories, socialising together as well as keeping fit!

Next up was Miami, if you're into fishbowl margharita's, fake boobs, hot cars and rhinestones this place is for you. I headed down with Romy to escape the New York summer rain (think belinda carlisle :P We met up with Audrey down there, and for the first time ever I sat in the sun and did nothing! So unlike me... For 4 days straight I either sat by the pool or on the beach and did nothing! By day three yes I was getting a bit anxious, left the girls baking and headed to go for a bit of window shopping, I didnt buy anything, even though those rhinestone covered jeans, hats, singlets, belts and shoes were so appealing... every shop seemed to sell the same te-shirts saying 'Im in Miami Bitch', i'm still trying to understand it, i feel like there's a joke and I'm just not getting it... anyway the highlight of my walk was checking out amazing hotel after amazing hotel... they know how to build great pools in miami! the art deco buildings also rekindled my love of architecture.. to such an extent I have spent more then a few moments recently wanting to go back to school (...so american) and study architecture like i wanted to 1o years ago... still a dream, but maybe one day reality... who knows... anyway back to miami, our hotel, The Clevelander... before you book it, talk to me please! whilst it was fairly nice, and clean, there motto when you complained about noisy neighbours, was Well why don't you just join there party!' and whilst spending the night with Crystal and her 15 girlfriends celebrating her 25th was appealing, sleep was the preferred option... was a nice few days, and much needed beach/sea/fresh air break... recommend it to all... Florida is a state I can see myself visiting again and again...