The wonder of Wal-Mart
Trip Start
Jun 29, 2010
1
13
650
Trip End
Apr 07, 2012
Where I stayed
Franconia, New Hampshire
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Again another very clean place which has been a constant in the States wherever we have been.
We were happy to find that parking is free on a Sunday for both meters and the main car parks, bonus!
We started by walking across town to Battery Park. Whilst in reality it was only a small and fairly un-impressive park but it had an amazing view across the river and we could see why the various guide books had suggested to give it a whirl, shame we were not here at sunset!
Shopping in the town was quite good as there was a large pedestrian area with lots of choice. As we headed down the street we noticed a large amount of model cows everywhere, we still cannot work out why but we did take full adcnatage of their presence and managed to create some interesting pictures! Chris showing how they should be milked could have got him arrested in other towns!
Needless to say that we were attracted to all the shops we could not afford and also the Ben and Jerry's Store (yes you heard us right) dedicated to making those amazing ice creams even better. We did not partake this time but promised to pick one up at the next available opportunity!
In a few days we pick up our bus tour around the States and have had a shopping list of extra items we may need.
We and had a good look around for clothes that we think we can get away with sweating in (as we think there will be a lot of sweating on a bus with 30 other people) and are hoping that we get to wash more than twice a week! In the end we bought some cheap shorts and tee’s (we call them T-Shirts). America is not as cheap as we remember from previous trips but we did find the odd bargain after looking hard, very hard!!
For days we had been trying to find a Wal-Mart, the store that we both remember as being the best of the best! Luckily as we were walking Chris spotted a bus heading towards the local Wal-Mart, finally we had found one!!
We made a mental note that we would head there on the way out of Burlington. Firstly we had to head back to collect our bags from the hotel and were drawn back to partake in the outstanding salad bar lunch from the Windjammer around the corner!
The waitress welcomed us back and probably suffered some déjà-vu as we ordered almost the same meals and we had practically the same clothes on as the previous day!! How we laughed!
After driving round in circles we finally managed to find the Wal-Mart which was hidden well back behind a huge retail park just off the Interstate. As we headed in we had such high expectations which were soon dashed!
They did have a good collection of clothes and generally did cater for so many needs but we got the feeling that what was once a huge gap between the US and UK has now been narrowed as UK shops have expanded.
Chris being very disappointed that they did not have a good enough selection of guns on show!! We did manage to buy some T-shirts with US maps on the front (well when in Rome...!) as most Americans do seem to buy a Tee wherever they go, even in the pub.
We then headed South on our 2 hour drive into the heart of New Hampshire leaving Vermont behind us, destination Franconia and the White Mountain National Range...
