The Bog Trail

We weren’t the only ones begging for mercy in Washington DC.

There were thousands of Christians gathered in the National Mall praying for their country in these troubled times.

Even former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee was there and we heard his prayer …. then just kept walking.

The gods were definitely not smiling on us as we found ourselves running late for a tour of the Houses of Congress.

A poorly devised plan to squeeze the White House, Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument in before our alloted tour time left us puffing and panting, as we were forced to make a mad dash to the visitors entrance.

But a short cab ride, 500m sprint and a broken thong (flip-flop for our English friends) later, we were admiring the impressive rotunda of the Capitol building.

Towards the start of our trip we visited a beach on the shores of the Pacific on Canada’s west coast.

More than eight weeks later, we hit the Atlantic at Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina.

Thank god that beach of a van got us here.

Well, you do if you try to take an electrical device that doesn’t work into Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.

We had been set to launch ourselves into the world of NASA when Katie discovered the battery in her iPod was completely dead … if you can’t use it, you lose it.

But our mission was delayed only slightly before we set off on a trip into space – albeit in a shuttle simulator.

The flight into orbit wasn’t quite as long as the tour around the compound, which involved several bus trips to the Saturn 5 rocket exhibit, shuttle launch pads and the International Space Station centre.

Here’s a tip for anyone considering a trip to Disney World – do not go on this ride! Not unless you want a mind-numbing song stuck in your head for the rest of the day. [Video]

That and the ride is pretty lame, unless, of course, you’re four or 84.

Really, the only reason we went on this ride was because in an episode of Family Guy, Stewie is put to work on the attraction by the evil Disney people, but I digress.

The park, as we expected, was a zoo but we still managed to have a lot of fun.

We bought a park hopper pass, which meant we could visit all four parks – The Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot – on the same day.

We made it to three of the four, deciding to skip Epcot after watching an episode of The Simpsons in which Homer exclaims:

It’s even boring to fly over!

The Animal Kingdom’s Expedition Everest rollercoaster [video] was probably the highlight, but the park’s rapids ride and the Magic Kingdom’s Splash Mountain were a hit on a hot day.

Anyone who knows anything about golf, myself excluded, knows all about the infamous 17th at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Even the best in the world have not been immune to the treacherous 130-yard par 3 here at the home of golf’s unofficial fifth major, The Players championship.

The green sits in the middle of a lake and any mishit or ill-directed shot is in the drink.

Our caddie for the day said that more than 120,000 balls are retrieved from the pond each year.

Just watch how it’s meant to be done. [Video] (If you squint really hard just right of the flag you will see what I mean)

Savannah is the South you see in the movies – picture perfect with lovely architecture and sweeping oaks that drip with Spanish moss.

Apparently, the city survived destruction during America’s Civil War because General Sherman thought it too beautiful to burn. And we couldn’t agree more.

We spent our time wandering the tree-lined streets and squares, admiring the 18th and 19th century buildings, including Davenport and Mercer House.

Having been completely won over, I went in search of a copy of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, the John Berendt book (and now film) synonymous with the city.

Hollywood studios love Savannah’s scenery, and a number of films have been shot here, including Forrest Gump.

As the locals fondly recall, crew members thought the Spanish moss wonderful stuff and proceeded to have a snowball fight with it.

Turns out Spanish moss causes major skin irritation and production of the film had to be stopped for several weeks.

Kentucky is undoubtedly an equine paradise.

And it’s easy to see why many of the world’s leading breeding operations, such as Darley and Coolmore, choose to spend gazillions here with the aim of raising the Derby winner.

And a visit to Churchill Downs, where they run for the roses, did not cost Daniel a cent. The fact there were no races there that day is irrelevant.

Most of the major studs are located in the bluegrass country around Lexington. The city is also home to the picturesque racetrack and sales centre Keeneland.

Visitors to the Jack Daniel’s distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee will be sorely disappointed if they are hoping for free whiskey samples.

At the end of an hour-long tour, guests are invited to throw back a glass of lemonade.

The hard stuff is strictly off limits, as the distillery, ironically, is located in a dry county.

But then you can always sniff the whiskey vats, and are encouraged to do so.

According to the Beatles, money can’t buy you love. And apparently it couldn’t buy Elvis style either.

Anyone who has seen the jungle room or the media room at Graceland will know what we mean. (Mum and Dad, it puts the orange bench tops and brown cupboards in your old house to shame).

Ok, well maybe it was cool in the ’70s, but we wouldn’t know about that.

While in Memphis, we took a tour of the place where Elvis and the likes of Johnny Cash got their starts – Sun Studios – and visited the site of Martin Luther King’s assassination.

The Lorraine Motel where MLK was killed is now a civil rights museum, but it was closed the day we visited.

Deep in the southern swamplands of Louisiana, one fearless girl stood tall (well, as much as that is possible at 5ft 1in) and proved she was no chicken by feeding two deadly alligators. [Watch the video]

Her brother, on the other hand, needed to hold on to the handrail and had his stick bitten off – literally. [Watch the video]