Las Vegas

What a wonderful, weird, happy place in the middle of the desert!  We drove from Arizona (Grand Canyon) to Nevada for about 200 miles.  We went back pass the Hoover Dam (sort of).  You could see the sky scrapers about 30 miles out.  It felt exciting even from there.  We drove down the Strip (N to S) before we found our hotel – The Belagio.  It is the one famous for the fountains out the front.  What we didn’t realise is that the fountain ‘show’ is every half an hour and it is synchronised to music. – Fabulous!

The place is packed with people wanting to have fun.  Think Blackpool, Temple Bar (Dublin), Brighton and all the other places where people go to ‘Just Have Fun’ and that is Vegas.  Obviously we were not out on the streets late enough to see the worse of the ‘fun’ so we quite enjoyed the throng and excitement around us.

We were there for 3 nights and went to 3 shows.  The first was Cirque do Soliel ‘O’. which was in the Belagio and was centred around a 25′ pool.  There was high diving, synchronised swimming, contortionists, acrobats and more.   What a spectacle!!  2nd night was at The Wynne – Showstoppers.  N’yeh.  it was full of show-stopping tunes, well sung but………   Final night was Million Dollar Quarter.  It told the true story of the night Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins all were in the Sun studios and sung together.  It was fab.  All the classics from each of them was sung individually,  Love me Tender, Walk the Line, Great Balls of Fire, See ya later Alligator etc.  and then a lot more.  Wonderful.  We ended up up and dancing at the end.

We also went for some great meals.  The Stratosphere is a very high restaurant the rotates around 360 degrees.  The photos below show the Stratosphere from the ground and The Strip from inside the restaurant.

The Stratosphere

The Strip

Of course there were the weird and wonderful.  We saw lots of Brides to Be, and Happy Couples after the event.  Check out one of the many 24 hour Wedding Parlours available.

Wedding Chapel

We also got some culture in the form of the Picasso exhibition in OUR HOTEL.  There were 48 exhibits from the great man and it was amazing!

Finally there was the gambling!  In every hotel you have to walk through the casino to get to your rooms, restaurants, restrooms etc.  We nervously surveyed our casino overtime we went through not really sure what was what (pathetic eh?).  So it wasn’t until our last night that we finally felt courageous enough to approach a roulette table (having questioned the croupier earlier in the day about what we needed to do !!!).   We cashed $100 for chips fully prepared to lose the lot.  I was armed with 4 lucky numbers for 4 of my boys (Josh, Jack, Connor & Leslie) and then we had our own.  Needless to say we had small wins and larger losses until we were down to our last $8.  I persuaded Mike to cash a further $12 dollars as the table was a $10 minimum bet.   We pretty much put it all on and around the # 17 (our birthdays) and guess what – yep, it won!  We walked away with $170.  Great fun.

So, after 3 days we were more than ready to leave but it was such a fun, exciting experience.  So glad we went.

We are now into countdown mode for our homeward journey.  We are off to San Deigo of 4 days to chill before returning the daily grind of Grenada!!!!

We are so lucky.

C&Mxx

 

 

Grand Canyon

Wow, wow, wow!   What an amazing place.  I cannot remember any sight – seeing that has moved me to tears – but this did!  The nearest experience we have had was the Pyramids.  It is the enormity and breath taking beauty of the place that is so gobsmacking.  Photos, let alone words cannot do it justice but here are a few of our attempts to capture the place.

The first day we went into the park and walked the south rim trail (about 6 miles).  It was so beautiful. We kept stopping for another photo (we took zillions!)  The distance from the south rim to the north rim is about 18 MILES, it is 1 MILE deep , the Colorado river runs through it for about 288 MILES and it is over 3,000,000,000 YEARS old!

The 2nd day we took a helicopter ride.  I didnt think I would see much as I would keep my eyes closed – but no, I managed.  Again, as we flew from pretty bland, flat forest to suddenly being over the canyon, it took our breaths away.  The place is AMAZING.  I urge you all to put it on your bucket list!

The approach

Boom – There it is!

Tomorrow is Las Vegas.  No doubt we will see more amazing sights, that may even make us cry, but not I fear from breath taking beauty. HaHa.

C&Mxx

Hoover Dam

How about that!  We had just crossed the State line into Nevada and we saw rain!!  Not that it lasted long and barely left a mark on the dry earth but it was rain!

Being a water engineer, it was almost like Mecca for Mike!  One of the most  amazing water engineering feats – ever!  So we did the big tour, saw the dam and lots of big, big em, things, that generate electricity and pipes and stuff and Mike was very happy 🙂

Tomorrow we set off for ANOTHER big site – The Grand Canyon!

C&Mxx

P.S Update on Hurricane Lisa and Seadog Dave.  They have returned to their home unscathed.  However, the fire is still raging but in a different direction.

Sequoia National Park

Another day, another National Park!  The thing about this park is that it has the largest tree IN THE WORLD!

General Sherman

Yep, that’s it.  Here is the blurb that explains why it’s NOT the tallest, NOT the widest but it IS the largest.  Its all about the volume.

Whilst there we saw these Buddhist monks trying to circle one of the other giant trees.  Not sure why but they had a lot of fun!

We stayed in a place called Three Rivers – one of said rivers ran right through the back of the property.  It was too hot though to sit outside and enjoy. However in the evening we went to one of the very few eateries Ol’ Buckeroo.  It was great.  Food was ‘in a basket’  and cooked in a mobile van but it was one of the best meals we have had.

The ambience was great too, sitting by the river – with water running in it LOL.

Tomorrow is a long drive to Hoover Dam!

C&Mxx

 

 

Yosemite sandwich with a Hurricane & Seadog filling!

Just to explain the title – we had two separate visits to Yosemite; 1st on the east side at Mammoth Lakes (3 days); 2nd on west side at Oakhurst (4 days); and in between we visited our sailing friends from Grenada, Hurricane Lisa! and SeaDog Dave!  who live in the mountains in ‘them thur parts’ for the weekend.

So after a very long, boring drive from Napa and a few mistakes, we ended up driving through Yosemite from the West Gate all the way across to the East Gate and then a further 30 miles to Mammoth (not the recommended route!)  Took us 8 long hours!

Mammoth Lakes is a ski resort in the winter and looks just like an alpine village, complete with gondolas and ski lifts.

We took the gondola to the very top of Mammoth Mountain and it was beautiful but very cold!!

The best views though were our visits to Yosemite – wow, what a wonderful place.   Neither of us have seen anything like it before.  It is beautiful.   Ill let the pictures tell their own story.

Unfortunately, California is experiencing a 4 YEAR DROUGHT!  This means that, not only is there very little water in the lakes and river (in fact Yosemite Falls was dry 😦  The waterfall in the photo above is lower down – Vernall), but also the risk of forest fires is extremely high.  On our 2nd day in the park we actually witnessed a fire that had only started 3 hours early.  Although sad, it was a fantastic sight to see.

There were helicopters and planes flying into it to assess and dump fire retardants etc.

Unfortunately they didnt manage to quell the fire and 2 days later this was the effect on the valley we were staying in 30 MILES AWAY!

So – the filling!  Hurricane Lisa and SeaDog Dave have a lovely cabin in the Stanilaus National Park in a town called Arnold.

We had a lovely couple of days with them as they showed us their neighbourhood which included – Forests with BIG trees:

Cowboy towns:

(That’s NOT Lisa and Dave!)

Flashy cars:

and lots of wine:

(That IS Lisa and Dave).

NB.  We were there last weekend and heard yesterday (Friday) that there is a huge fire blazing in their patch and they have been evacuated up the mountain.  (They are now at 9,000′ from 4000′).  We are keeping our fingers crossed that there cabin is not effected.  The fire is currently 100 sq miles – and spreading!!

 

 

Napa Valley

We left San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge.  This photo was taken on my ipad as we drove along.  I thought it was pretty good that, more by luck than judgement, I caught the two struts perfectly! (Also a good excuse to add another photo of The Bridge).  I was worried I might lose the ipad as the wind was immense as we went over the bridge.

We drove to the north of Napa Valley to Calistoga where our guest house was. Our stay at the “Luxe’ was fabulous.  The 2 owners, Brent and Chris, were wonderful hosts and treated everyone more like friends than paying guests.   Our breakfasts were a 4 course gourmet extravaganza without a slice of bread or sausage in sight!  and no repeats!!  (Typical example 1. small roulade of crepe, salmon, cream cheese and chives; 2. Lemon cream Danish; 3. Bowl of fresh fruit 4. Pancake, cream, ham, cheese topped with fried egg!!!!!)  Wow.  We were staying for 3 nights!!  They sent us of each day with a little goody bag with 2 bottles of water and 2 packets of snacks.  Then in the evening from 5- 7 they had a wine and cheese ‘get together’ on The Porch (and woe betide any one who was late!!).  The get together provided each group with a dome filled with charcuterie meats and cheese and gourmet crackers etc plus as much quality wine as you cared for – needless to say………   The snack bag and ‘Wine and Cheese’ were all complimentary.  They clearly do it for the love not money!  Lucky us.   It was great as all the guests got to know each other in a really friendly, relaxed atmosphere.  Also, the whole house was decorated beautifully and The Porch was an wonderful – real old style porch.  The photo doesn’t really capture the ambiance.  (Brent & Chris are on the right)

Napa is a beautiful valley full of vineyards.  We did several tastings – mmmmmm.  The 1st day we went by bike to 2 wineries.  It was lovely cycling through the vineyards.

The following day we hired a car to take us as we were planning a full days tasting but Mike was poorly with a cold so we only did one but it was great.

Each evening we went out for a fabulous meal (Brent & Chris’s suggestions)  For a small town it had really good restaurants.  All in all it was a wonderful few days – boozy, opulent, expensive and FUN!

Now we are heading eastwards (about 300 miles) for more healthy pursuits at Yosemite National Park. (just in time I think 🙂

C&Mxx

San Francisco

Wow, what a wonderful city.  Where to start?  The beginning I guess.

We arrived at our hotel in the financial district of Downtown. (American for the centre of the city!!)  Although the hotel was a chain (Omni) it was surprisingly unique.  The lobby was all dark wood panelling, high ceilings and lush carpets with a wide sweeping staircase down from street level.  Lovely.  The room was pretty standard though.  We handed over our car for ‘valet parking’ and they told us it was $55 PER DAY. (About £40) !!!  We explained that we would not want it for the 5 days we were there but no change.  Wow.  The only option was to take it to a public parking place and pay $ 40.  Oh well, we decided it was part of the price of staying in the heart of the city.

Downtown San Francisco

It was well worth it as all the main attractions were within easy reach of the hotel. Mike bought us a bus pass for 7 days so we could hop on and off whenever. Perfect.

Our 1st stop was Fisherman’s Wharf.  Somewhere I have always wanted to see.  It was not disappointing.  We went into the museum and read all about the development of the wharf and then we went aboard a number of historic ships, each with their own story to tell.  Then from the historic to the present we went to Pier 39 which is a really long pier full of shops and tourist attraction etc.  Another pier, another ice cream – had to be done.

Next day we went to THE BRIDGE.   Wow!  It is enormous.  Mike took this fantastic photo on another day when we were looking at from outside the bay. Look at the size of the bay – and that is only part of it.

Golden Gate Bridge above the clouds

Our bus tour took us over the bridge to Sausalito on the other side.  What a contrast to SF!  800,000 people in SF, 8,000 in Sausalito!  It was a beautiful shore side town – very classy.  And yes, ice cream.  Actually the biggest ice cream ever (Banana and Walnut – yummy)

Mike looking from Sausalito over the Bay.

The next day was Alcatraz!  We were surprised that it is not that far shore (about 1.25 miles)  but the water is sooooo cold straight in from the Pacific and the currents so treacherous that no escaping prisoner would make it – they think!  Watch ‘Escape from Alcatraz’.  It was a really interesting visit, we even went into the cells that Al Capone, The Birdman, Machine Gun Kelly etc actually occupied. Grim!!  The ferry ride over was lovely as we had wonderful sunshine and NO FOG most of the time we were there – unheard of!

Alcatraz!

The last day we took a tour of Golden Gate Park .  A huge park going from the city to the beach.  The Pacific ocean is a wonderful site but very, very cold.   it was a lovely sunny day in August but no-one was sunbathing let alone swimming.

We went to the Museum of Art in the park as it advertised a JMW Turner exhibition.  I was keen as I had recently done some studying that included Turner’s paintings.  Mind you, I wasn’t particularly hopeful of seeing any acual paintings as  I had been to the Turner Contemporary Art Museum in Margate with my mum in the summer hoping to see some fine examples of his work and hopefully the paintings that we had studied.   But No!  They had one small, poor example of Turner’s work on the 2nd floor corridor!!  So being half way across the world…  as I say, not hopeful.  I even asked the ticket seller if we would see any actual paintings.  She looked at me as if I was mad and said, yeeeessss!  Anyway, there were literally hundreds!!  Fantastic – and the ones I had been studying.  I was very happy.

The drive back took us through the Haight/Ashbury district which was the hippy hangout and where the ‘Summer of Love’ (1967) actually started.  Not so many hippies now but some of the shop fronts and wall paintings still have the original artwork.

So time to take our last cable car ride, take the flowers from our hair and leave our little of our hearts behind.

Cable Car 140 years old

Next stop – Napa Valley! Woohoo!!

C&Mxx

Just a quick note…..

….to say that we didn’t expect anyone to still read this blog as it is so long since we posted. When setting off on the U.S road trip we decided to resurect the blog so that when we are both in our dotage and cannot remember each other let alone all the wonderful things we have done then the blog might jog our memories -lol!

But we are very glad to have you along for the ride!

C&Mxx

Monterey

We left Santa Barbara on the A1 – Ocean Road. Miles and miles of beautiful ocean views, through Malibu, Ventura etc. All these places make me think of songs and films – they sound so familiar its great to actually see them. The weather was sunny and warm but we were going too fast for the roof down!

On the way we stopped at Hearst Castle. It is a large, amazing mansion built on a hill top by the news magnate William Randolph Hearst. It was a fantastic place full of an eclectic mix of antiquities, expensive art and furniture from across Europe (mainly the Mediterranean.) It certainly had a very mediterranean feel to it. (See photos).

Lounge in Hearst Castle

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From there we continued along the A1 Ocean Rd to Monterey. This is a famous fishing and sea life port. When we arrived the BBC were there filming the Big Blue. We saw Matthew ‘whats his face’ from ‘spring watch’. We went to the Aqurium that was fantastic. I particularly enjoyed the ‘Deep Reef’ bit. So many wonderful and colourful plants and coral let alone the sea life. Mike enjoyed the sea otters. They look so cute laying on their backs most of the time. We also went on a ‘whale watching’ boat trip. WOW! About 25 -30 hump back whales. Plus a lovely display from a pod of dolphins. Lovely.

Sea lions

Hump back

We also did the ’17 Mile loop’ which is a drive around the peninsula from Pebble Beach to Carmel. The weather was fab. We had a wonderful drive with several stops along the way. The photo is Pebble Beach.

Pebble Beach

A day at Carmel Beach. The shopping looked fab but we had little time to stop!!! Oh well.

Now we have put flowers in our hair and its off to San Francisco. WooHoo!

USA road trip

Mike and I have gone on a road trip  – woohoo!  6 weeks starting in LA and ending in LA.  We have hired a red convertible Mustang to get us around in style (see photo).  Mike is a happy man.

We (finally) arrived in our hotel at 2am on Sunday having left Grenada at 7am on Saturdy!  Too long a boring but needless to say we were very happy to get to,our hotel.  I was worried about Mike driving on the wrong side of the road at that time of night, but he did brilliantly.

After a late start next morning we went to Universal studios. We ended up doing the studio tour which was great but the heat was incredible 95* !  Next morning we found the Holly wood sign and then went to Santa Monica Beach for the afternoon.  Not so many weird and wonderful a as we expected but very nice stroll along the beach.  (Heard from our friends that we could no longer visit them – tomorrow for 3 nights – in Santa Barbara due to family emergency.  We found a hotel.  Fingers x’d)

Tuesday morning and we drove along the Ventura Highway, through Malibu, to Santa Barbara.  Beautiful.  Reminded us a lot of the Great Ocean Rd in Australia.  Our hotel in Santa Barbara was great.  Small boutique hotel a couple,of streets from the beach.  The most beautiful harbour, working fishing dock and dinner in Brophy Bros was fab.

Today the weather was cloudy and cold!!!!  Went shopping and then watched Mission Impossible 5.  Not what we expected but good anyway.  Tomorrow we head for Monteray!!!  Life is good. X

Mustang in Hollywood!