Former Surrogate's Court, NYC. We spent the previous day adjusting to the jet lag (read: dumped stuff at hostel then went out drinking so as to have a solid sleep under our belts), this was our first full day out and about in New York. We'd just got the subway down and thought the station had been quite warm. Hah! Little did we know. We later had the misfortune (only once, thankfully) of being on a train where the air conditioning broke, and it isn't an experience I'd like to repeat in a hurry.

City hall. Closed to the public unfortunately, along with much of City Hall Park when we visited.

David and I at the top of the World Trade Center.

Federal Hall on Wall Street, once the US Customs House, now a museum. Wall Street is really narrow, an effect compounded by the tall towering buildings on either side of the street. The road surface (as with a lot of NYC roads) is in a terrible condition, it's heavily broken up and huge metal slabs are distributed around the roads to cover over the larger potholes. I presume it's not fixed purely because of the huge inconvenience of having to close down part of Wall Street, rather than for monetary reasons.

Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge. Quite unusual in that the pedestrian walkway is actually above the traffic crossing the bridge, rather than to the side of it.

See how we look quite cramped in this photo? Well, the Statue of Liberty crown is very small, the windows are very small, and the view is awful. It takes three hours or so to get to the crown, and during the summer they close it early on to stop people passing out from the heat. I was close to passing out in the queue myself, not through heat but dehydration and a nasty hangover from yesterday after drinking in Rudy's Bar and Grill all night. But I digress. The view from outside the statue on the observation decks, and the actual ferry itself, is far better.

Still, if we'd skipped it we'd have felt cheated, and I would have missed out on a triumphant game of I-spy while we queued.

The Manhattan skyline from the Staten Island ferry - we were on holiday during a heat wave, it was the hottest weather there for 25 years, it hit 103°F, four people died from the heat. We were staying in a hostel without air-conditioning, which was pretty gruesome. We were travelling back from the Richmond historical town on Staten Island where we'd almost literally melted in the heat and the breeze coming off the bay across the ferry was a godsend - not to mention the terrific view you got of Manhattan all for nothing (the Staten Island ferry is entirely free for passengers).

The imposing entrance to the Manhattan Bridge. You can just make out David in the foreground proudly modelling his newly acquired "Stone Cold Steve Austin" denim shorts. Have I mentioned how hot it was? We did actually have a barmaid greet us with "Hot enough for ya?" in Greenwich Village which was very gratifying. Drinking was a neccessary part of the holiday, cold drinks AND air conditioning - how couldn't you?

There's quite a nice piece here on the Manhattan Bridge which tends to get over-looked in favour of the nicer looking Brooklyn Bridge.

The subway. This would be the 1 train I think. My brother and I were waiting to get a train back to the hostel when I commented that I hadn't yet got a photo of the subway in New York, just as a train approached. So I quickly whipped out the camera and snapped at the train as the cab approached.

Now, being in a confined and dark place the camera flash lit up the station. David exclaimed "What are you doing!" and I had a vision of the driver crying "AIIEEE!" and throwing his arms in front of his face to protect himself from the blinding light and the train crashing off the rails as a result. Honestly, it was very funny afterwards.

Mount Si in Washington state, Dad and I standing in front of the Haystack, which is the last pinnacle on the hill. Mount Si is kind of strange, it's this huge isolated mountain jutting out of nowhere. It's a popular climb, a fairly strenous hike and was quite busy when we climbed it.

About two thirds of the way up Mount Si, looking towards the Cascades and over I-90. Look at pictures taken from Mount Si on the web and you'll see ones very similar to this one a lot. This is because the mountain is heavily covered in trees and this is the first point where there is a break in the trees and an opportunity to see the view.

View from the top of Mount Si (well, not quite the top, below the Haystack) looking out over North Bend I think.