All good things must come to an end?

I think it might be about time to let you know the 'end' of the story as we've almost been back in the UK two weeks and have just about finished the whirlwind of seeing all our friends etc and settled into a new job (Ben) and a familiar university (me).

The state park in Pennsylvania was pleasant enough, but we had quickly walked ALL of the trails within it and were left stumped for something to do. As we were soon to be leaving our car (sob) we sorted out our kit and donated the trusty coolbox that had travelled all the way from California to a family in a nearby camping spot, as well as our other various bits and bobs we had collected on our way but would no longer be necessary. It was a sad moment as this handful of possessions had been carefully chosen and looked after at every turn, and this signalled the closing in of the final leg of the journey.

Being relaxed and rested after the holiday, I don't really want to go into the fury of returning the car in Baltimore. Suffice it to say we left the Alamo office with two bills: one for over $1000 (which we didn't pay) and one for around $200 (which was where my powers of bargaining - as well as my patience - ran out).

Baltimore was, contrary to popular opinion it seems, rather pleasant. Having never watched an episode of The Wire I couldn't tell you how the city is portrayed, but judging by the responses we had on facebook regarding our whereabouts I think it might be the setting of a crime drama??! There is a beautiful harbour which has a fantastic mexican restaurant called Chipotle (for all English readers: this isn't pronounced how you might think...) - oh, and the national aquarium of course. I also managed to drag Ben into a few vintage shops, which I could get away with after the numerous guitar shops we'd been into on the trip! Thanks to Melissa and her housemate Cherie (sp?) for putting us up!

Off to New York on a bus . Yep, public transport in the USA. $13 for a 2 hour bus ride with extra leg room, wifi and leather seating? Not what we were expecting at all! Having negotiated the New York streets and found ourselves a cab, we showed up at our hotel, East Village Bed and Coffee. Now, I don't know if you've ever been to New York, but I'm sure you have an impression of the city; maybe there are some must-see sites, or some shops you are just dying to visit; maybe you have always dreamt of scaling the Empire State Building, or chilling out in Central Park? Well, first on our list was... a haircut. We were in desperate need by this point. That done, we headed out to some local bars with a schoolfriend of Ben's and his girlfriend, Ollie and Shyla. Ever heard of a sake bomb? Google it. We did 3 and then stumbled home.

The next day was my birthday. What is a girl to do in NYC on her birthday? Visit the Sadowsky workshop, of course! We had a beautiful walk over the Manhattan bridge trying to out-do each other on photo-taking, me with my new PINK camera Ben had got me for my birthday, and Ben with his skills. Damn those skills. The workshop was pretty cool, although very well hidden, and Ben tried out a few basses and pedals, bought what he'd come for and met the man himself: Roger Sadowsky. Another incredible walk over the Brooklyn bridge took us to Wall Street and Ground Zero, where we had a quiet lunch and considered the total devastation caused 8 years ago and its impact around the world today. There is an worthwhile display of the events of 9/11 in a store nearby, as well as details on the reconstruction of the site. It was humbling to be there having seen the twin towers only 11 months before the atrocity in 2001 and feel for ourselves the atmosphere of the area.

The free shuttle ferry to Staten Island gives great views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty, and was another photo-taking opportunity. We then took the subway to Times Square before heading back to a brilliant surprise engineered by Rain and Sach of a bottle of Champagne on ice in our room. Thanks, guys! Best birthday surprise ever! Ollie and Shy showed us some cool bars and a gorgeous tapas restaurant, and then came with us to see a friend of a friend's gig in the Lower East Side. All in all, it was a pretty cool birthday.

We started the next day at Grand Central Station, where we bumped into a friend I had made in Kabul (random!) and then took a tour of the New York Public Library, walked to Central Park and the Natural History Museum and met up with Ollie and Shy for afternoon wine and antipasti. In the evening we went for breathtaking views of the city at night from atop the Empire State Building and said our goodbyes to the city and our friends.

Heading out to Cape Cod we hired another car for a couple of days, and escaped city life in favour of camping for one last time. It was a good side trip, with sunshine, beach walks and some seafood. We were feeling the looming flight home and the open space seemed to relieve us from the impending inevitability of the return.

One of the highlights of the trip was the Regina Spektor concert in Boston, which just blew me away. That girl has some serious talent, and the live show was a spectacle of one small person just filling not only the stage, but the entire venue, with her unmissable vocal and instrumental experiments. In fact, it was so good I have tickets for the London show in December too and I recommend you all to find out when she's in your town. Do it! Of course, we also walked the well-beaten path of the freedom trail outlining the places of interest in the struggle for American independence and giving a good overview of the city of Boston in general. I had remembered this route painted on the ground from a childhood visit to the US, and was very happy to be re-tracing those steps indeed. On our last day we headed to Harvard and took a tour around the University, discovering some of its quirks and learning the history of the institution. Of course, what sticks in my mind in the fact that women couldn't graduate from Harvard until as late as 1999, but I'm sure Ben's top story from the tour would be that it's the second richest private institution in the world; second, that is, to the Catholic Church. From Harvard, we went to Quincy Market for a 'last supper' of lobster, and from there we headed to the airport, unbelieving that this adventure had come to end so quickly, but excited for all the adventures to come on the other side of the Atlantic.

Thanks for reading the blog. I hope you've enjoyed it. I've tried to give a flavour of both the landscape and activities, as well as our feelings and impressions along the way. The US is a vast, diverse and inspirational place and maybe, just maybe, I've encouraged you to explore part of it for yourself. I couldn't recommend it more highly.