After dropping off our rental car we were driven to the airport by the grumpiest man alive. It was a few hours until our 12 hour flight so we lounged in a bar and consumed a few gin & tonics to help us sleep on the plane. Needless to say we were sad about leaving but excited about the heat of the desert, and excited about seeing Stu who would be the first familiar face we had seen for months.
After the longest flight of our trip so far we arrived and met Stu in the arrivals lounge, he had landed a few hours earlier and already picked up the rental car. Stu led us through the car park to a car which didn't look like the one I had seen when we researched cars to hire in America. It turns out that Stu is easily persuaded by little Chinese women behind counters, this one had told him to pay a little extra to get a white convertible Ford Mustang!! It screamed road trip and I was instantly happy for his oriental weakness. We crept out of L.A on one of its congested highways for a few hours until we turned off and headed east, towards Las Vegas. We stopped in a place called Barstow for a bite to eat and leg stretch. Stepping out of the air conditioned car the heat hit us like a wall, it was below 100F but was the warmest we had been since the orchard. It seemed like a good idea to drive the remaining few hundred miles with the roof down, I think we managed 50 or 60 miles. As we drove further from the coast and further into the desert the heat rose and rose until we couldn't take it any more, we stopped in hillbillyville and put the roof back up. Driving on we watched the temperature gauge rise and rise until it peaked at around 120F. It was late when we arrived at the New York New York hotel, we checked in and made our way to the suite we had booked. After freshening up we went down to see the hotel and grab some food...this is where it starts to get a bit hazy. We drank and gambled and stumbled around the other hotels near ours, when we got back to our room we wanted to see what the strip looked like at night, we drew back the curtains and were blinded by the sunlight glaring down on us. It was 7am!
We slept until midday. That day we explored the strip, had a huge buffet lunch in Bellagio's, went shopping in one of the outlet malls, walked along the Venetian canal, and saw the Bellagio fountain on our way back to the hotel. And then it happened again. To cut a long story short we met a tall man called Austin Powers, joined in a poker game I didn't understand (with someone else's money), watched Michael Jackson, lost Stu. We got back to the room at about 8am this time and had to check out at 11! At about 1pm we were woken up by some loud banging on our door... oops! We checked out and slept for a while in the car, then we went back into the hotel and slept in a restaurant in there. When we finally felt OK to drive we left, and headed towards the Grand Canyon, it was a 5 hour drive through some great countryside. It was dark when we arrived and we checked into the Bright Angel Lodge, it was rustic and the rooms were cosy, we went straight to bed and had a great nights sleep.
It was refreshing to have a normal nights sleep and wake up at a reasonable time. We ate a great cooked breakfast and decided the plan for the day. We stocked up on water and started walking, we walked the south rim trail for a good 10 miles. There is not much point describing the canyon itself because it's all been said before, but put simply everything that you've ever heard said about it is almost definitely true. When you see it for the first time it doesn't look real, the distances and depths involved are so far removed from everyday life that your brain struggles to comprehend them. At the end of the walk we came to a small hut that sold ice cream, we sat in the shade and watched a chipmunk skulking about while we cooled down. We got the shuttle bus back to the lodge and hopped in the Mustang as we headed to our next hotel, in Tusayan, just south of the Canyon.
We were woken up at 6am by a dog in the room next door barking. We got a Mcdonalds breakfast to make us feel better. It was good to get up so early as we had a monster drive to get to San Diego, 10 hours to go! Lauren and Stu shared the drive through the Mojave Desert, dust devils dotted the landscape and crossed the roads, one crossed right over us and shook the car, fortunately the roof was on. We stayed in a Holiday Inn Express which was surprisingly really nice. We went for dinner in the Gaslight District which was a few blocks of bustling restaurants and bars, we wandered around and sat down to eat in Fred's Mexican Cafe (I wonder how Mexican Fred is?). The food was amazing and we were well and truly stuffed. We went back to the hotel and Lauren thrashed us at Monopoly, an early-ish night was required as we had a big day at SeaWorld tomorrow. We had all been to a SeaWorld before but not for years, we chatted like three excited kids as we looked forward to seeing the animals. It was great and lived up to our expectations. Killer Whales, Walrus, Beluga Whales, Dolphins, Polar Bears and Manta Rays to name a few of the animals. The one let down was the quality of the shows, they had lost all of the education that they used to have and were now just a crappy circus show, the dancing trainers and irritating music really detracted from the animals and cheapened the whole place. It definitely isn't doing anything to educate Americans about conservation issues. We got very wet during the Killer Whale show so decided to get wetter and hit all the water rides. It was 8pm and getting dark by the time we left the park, all in all we had a great day.
We woke up early and got ready to drive up the coast to L.A, before we headed off we stopped at a beach in San Diego, Lauren dipped her feet in the ocean. The drive was a quick 2 hour one, when we got to LAX we parted ways with Stu, after a long flight and a lot of sleeping we landed in rainy England. Despite the weather we were excited to get off the plane and see everyone, typically our bags were some of the last on the carousel. We were greeted by a massive "Welcome Home" banner and lots of happy faces, we had all missed each other very much and it was great to be back to familiarity.
After the longest flight of our trip so far we arrived and met Stu in the arrivals lounge, he had landed a few hours earlier and already picked up the rental car. Stu led us through the car park to a car which didn't look like the one I had seen when we researched cars to hire in America. It turns out that Stu is easily persuaded by little Chinese women behind counters, this one had told him to pay a little extra to get a white convertible Ford Mustang!! It screamed road trip and I was instantly happy for his oriental weakness. We crept out of L.A on one of its congested highways for a few hours until we turned off and headed east, towards Las Vegas. We stopped in a place called Barstow for a bite to eat and leg stretch. Stepping out of the air conditioned car the heat hit us like a wall, it was below 100F but was the warmest we had been since the orchard. It seemed like a good idea to drive the remaining few hundred miles with the roof down, I think we managed 50 or 60 miles. As we drove further from the coast and further into the desert the heat rose and rose until we couldn't take it any more, we stopped in hillbillyville and put the roof back up. Driving on we watched the temperature gauge rise and rise until it peaked at around 120F. It was late when we arrived at the New York New York hotel, we checked in and made our way to the suite we had booked. After freshening up we went down to see the hotel and grab some food...this is where it starts to get a bit hazy. We drank and gambled and stumbled around the other hotels near ours, when we got back to our room we wanted to see what the strip looked like at night, we drew back the curtains and were blinded by the sunlight glaring down on us. It was 7am!
We slept until midday. That day we explored the strip, had a huge buffet lunch in Bellagio's, went shopping in one of the outlet malls, walked along the Venetian canal, and saw the Bellagio fountain on our way back to the hotel. And then it happened again. To cut a long story short we met a tall man called Austin Powers, joined in a poker game I didn't understand (with someone else's money), watched Michael Jackson, lost Stu. We got back to the room at about 8am this time and had to check out at 11! At about 1pm we were woken up by some loud banging on our door... oops! We checked out and slept for a while in the car, then we went back into the hotel and slept in a restaurant in there. When we finally felt OK to drive we left, and headed towards the Grand Canyon, it was a 5 hour drive through some great countryside. It was dark when we arrived and we checked into the Bright Angel Lodge, it was rustic and the rooms were cosy, we went straight to bed and had a great nights sleep.
It was refreshing to have a normal nights sleep and wake up at a reasonable time. We ate a great cooked breakfast and decided the plan for the day. We stocked up on water and started walking, we walked the south rim trail for a good 10 miles. There is not much point describing the canyon itself because it's all been said before, but put simply everything that you've ever heard said about it is almost definitely true. When you see it for the first time it doesn't look real, the distances and depths involved are so far removed from everyday life that your brain struggles to comprehend them. At the end of the walk we came to a small hut that sold ice cream, we sat in the shade and watched a chipmunk skulking about while we cooled down. We got the shuttle bus back to the lodge and hopped in the Mustang as we headed to our next hotel, in Tusayan, just south of the Canyon.
We were woken up at 6am by a dog in the room next door barking. We got a Mcdonalds breakfast to make us feel better. It was good to get up so early as we had a monster drive to get to San Diego, 10 hours to go! Lauren and Stu shared the drive through the Mojave Desert, dust devils dotted the landscape and crossed the roads, one crossed right over us and shook the car, fortunately the roof was on. We stayed in a Holiday Inn Express which was surprisingly really nice. We went for dinner in the Gaslight District which was a few blocks of bustling restaurants and bars, we wandered around and sat down to eat in Fred's Mexican Cafe (I wonder how Mexican Fred is?). The food was amazing and we were well and truly stuffed. We went back to the hotel and Lauren thrashed us at Monopoly, an early-ish night was required as we had a big day at SeaWorld tomorrow. We had all been to a SeaWorld before but not for years, we chatted like three excited kids as we looked forward to seeing the animals. It was great and lived up to our expectations. Killer Whales, Walrus, Beluga Whales, Dolphins, Polar Bears and Manta Rays to name a few of the animals. The one let down was the quality of the shows, they had lost all of the education that they used to have and were now just a crappy circus show, the dancing trainers and irritating music really detracted from the animals and cheapened the whole place. It definitely isn't doing anything to educate Americans about conservation issues. We got very wet during the Killer Whale show so decided to get wetter and hit all the water rides. It was 8pm and getting dark by the time we left the park, all in all we had a great day.
We woke up early and got ready to drive up the coast to L.A, before we headed off we stopped at a beach in San Diego, Lauren dipped her feet in the ocean. The drive was a quick 2 hour one, when we got to LAX we parted ways with Stu, after a long flight and a lot of sleeping we landed in rainy England. Despite the weather we were excited to get off the plane and see everyone, typically our bags were some of the last on the carousel. We were greeted by a massive "Welcome Home" banner and lots of happy faces, we had all missed each other very much and it was great to be back to familiarity.
