Second Honeymoon

Day12 Driving to Oakhurst (Yosemite National Park)

grahams_on_tour — Thu, 3 Sep 2009 11:02:00 GMT

We had a very early start, left the Grand canyon at 5am. After a stop back at the Car Hire place to swap cars (first one had busted fuel gauge) we hit the road again around 11am. Vegas is about 4 1/2hr drive from the Grand Canyon. We decided to go through Death Valley, the hottest place on earth and they were not kidding, it was 110F at the bottom. Just a big valley of nothing, but there was a hotel there, I have no idea as to why someone would want to stay there in the first place...

After many more hours driving we got to Tioga Pass, the east side of Yosemite Park, only a couple more hours to Oakhurst or so we thought..another national park fee and we were on our way. Yosemite is awesome, tall pine forests and winding roads and winding roads and of course some more winding roads. Simona said it reminded her of where she grew up in Romania. It was a very picturesque place. We stopped at a couple of view points, with the idea that we would return tomorrow. We finally got out of the park around 7pm and into our motel by 8:30pm.

So after a 15hr drive, you can imagine how buggered we were...went to sleep very easily that night.

Day 11 Driving to the Grand Canyon

grahams_on_tour — Thu, 3 Sep 2009 10:53:00 GMT

What a day!

The Grand Canyon is awesome! Everyone should see it at least once. Don't have to raft down it like we did, but just see it..it's mind blowing. Yeah I know, pretty big talk for a hole in the ground, but it is impressive. We even managed to get some pics of a rainbow over it. I can't imagine that it rains too much out here, but it did today and just enough to produce a rainbow.

We spent the night in the local bar and I have a new favourite entree', jalopeno poppers..Deep fried jalopenos filled with cream cheese!! Sensational stuff..

A couple of beers and some chatter with fellow tourists, we headed off to bed as we have a huge drive tomorrow, due to my bad planning..but that's in tomorrows story..

Day 10 Our Last Day in Vegas

grahams_on_tour — Thu, 3 Sep 2009 10:49:00 GMT

Today started off like any other day, complimentary breakfast at the hotel and then off down to the strip for knick knacks and final photo oppurtunities. We planned to go to the Stratosphere to ride the thrill rides, but the weather was crap and was much better suited to walking. So we walked the strip again and this time managed to get some decent pictures of the Bellagio fountain.

Back to the hotel a little after 8 so that we can pack and get ready for an early start tomorrow to drive to the Grand Canyon.

Day 9 In Vegas, Nothing Day

grahams_on_tour — Thu, 3 Sep 2009 10:45:00 GMT

That's right, it's Saturday, it's bloody hot and today we have decided to do nothing, just sit by the pool and take it easy. So that's pretty much all we did..we didn't even go down to the strip, actually we we didn't even leave the hotel..it was a great day actually, no stress, nothing to worry about at all..

Day 8 Touring the Strip

grahams_on_tour — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 06:47:00 GMT

Our day started a bit later than normal with our big day rafting taking it's toll on us.

We wandered down to the Paris Casino for a higly recommended breakfast. The buffet line was huge so we opted for a more traditional cafe. Which costs about the same with a higher quality of food.

After breakfast we started walking and walking and walking..It is bloody hot here and the sun really beats down hard on the strip. I'm guessing it was floating around the 40C mark again today. A lot of Casinos are interlinked so walking on the strip can be minimised, problem being walking through the gaming lounges Simona can hear her favourite slot from at least 50m away..she even hums the music whilst walking along.

We visited (in no particular order) Paris, The Venetian, Flamingos, The Palazzo, Bellagio, Monte Carlo, New York New York, Excalibur and The Luxor. The gondolas at the Venetian are great and it would have to be my favourite casino for looks and quality of shops. Plus you can get the best coffee in Vegas there, real Italian coffee, not cheap yankee coffee that seems to be everywhere else, even the starbucks don't cut it for quality or taste.

At the Luxor we saw Criss Angel with our cheap time share tickets, I was so looking forward to a great show, but was bitterly disappointed. The show is in conjunction with Circue De Solei (or however you spell it) with a lot of dancing and not much extreme magic. All in all, Criss was a part of the show for only 30-40% of it. All I can say is that I'm glad we didn't pay top dollar for the tickets. A really big let down. After the show we experienced our first Vegas buffet and yes, what everyone says is true, they are huge!! We went to the MGM as our hotel shuttle bus drops off and picks up there.

So another day ends in Vegas...they are predicting storms this weekend

Day 7 White Water Rafting Down the Colorado

grahams_on_tour — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 06:22:00 GMT

Bloody early start today, picked up from the hotel at 4:50am on the dot!

We were last to be picked up by the tour and joined 6 others for our big adventure. On the bus were a family of 3 from Liverpool UK, 2 Brothers from the US a single Italian girl from Milan and ourselves. A great mix of people and we all got along great. After a 2.5-3hr informative bus ride we left our tour guide and joined a big yellow school bus and other rafters for a one hour bumpy, dusty ride down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

At the bottom we were divided into groups and lucky for us, we all managed to get onto the same raft. Rafting in the Colorado differs from WW rafting in Aus because the rafts are bigger and powered by 75hp outboard motors driven by traditional American Indians(Hualapai). Our guide was great, very informative. I was one of the last to get onto the raft so I had the front..yes, the wettest, roughest seat on the raft. Simona felt brave and changed the seat with me but to her luck she got the biggest rapids that put her on the bottom of the boat. Good thing she didn't find the bottom of the river instead. She looked like a soaked goose with her city makeup. The temp in the canyon was roughly 44C and the water was about 5C. So when the first wave goes over the raft, you really feel it. The rapids last until lunchtime (approx 3hrs) and then after lunch it's smooth motoring at a leisurely pace for another 2hrs through the Grand Canyon to where we meet the Helicopters. We waited about 5mins for our helicopter ride back up to the top of canyon. The whole helicopter ride took about 10mins and was awesome, being a small helicopter with glass all around, we could see for miles and miles.

Our tour guide was there to meet us with his air con bus and I must say I was glad it wasn't the school bus again. A couple stops along the way and we were back at our hotel before dark. A great day, one that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

Highly recommended and a great way to see the Grand Canyon from a very different angle.

Day 6 Second Day in Vegas

grahams_on_tour — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 06:04:00 GMT

Well, where to start with Day 2 in Vegas?..

Last night we were suckered into cheap show tickets to see Criss Angel, the Mind Freak Magician. If you don't know who he his, check him our on youtube.com. Some really incredible stunts, his most popular is the mobile phone being slammed into an empty beer bottle!

Anyway, long story short. We were told that all we had to do was go and check out this new hotel being built and then tell all our friends about it etc etc...I payed the $50 (tickets normally start at over $100 each)and booked our time for 1pm today.

When we arrived for the 'tour' we found out it was bloody time share! Anyway we had already paid and I really wanted to see Criss Angel. So we went along for the tour and free lunch. Sat through the presentation, laughed and clapped along with it all, our representative was an older woman who just loooooved the whole idea of timeshare. After the free dinner we were shown the 2 bedroom condo and then whisked away for the hard sell. We sat through the whole charade and then when asking questions like can we paint it the colour we want?, can we change things? etc etc..she started getting mean and really trying to push the sale. I thought it was funny, especially when a manager came over and the prices just got smaller and smaller! When we finally said no, the manager up and left without saying goodbye, thank you, kiss my arse or anything. We were escorted from the 'signing area' by a very pissed off woman who even tried laying a guilt trip on us by saying that this job puts food on her table and it's her choice to do it...I laughed out loud and said that she should choose her career path more wisely. With a quick 'have a good life' she turned and was gone!. But we still had to collect our free tickets which meant going through two more people asking why we didn't buy, what can they do better etc...I was very candid and told them exactly what I though about their techniques of entrapment and shitty salespeople when the offer is declined. We got our tickets and then boarded the bus to hear the same stories from all the other couples that declined. The ones that signed were given a limo ride...anyway, more friends were made and the trip was a laugh a minute..

We had an early night that night as we had to get up early for our rafting adventure tomorrow..

Day 5 First Day in Vegas

grahams_on_tour — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 05:47:00 GMT

Our first real day in Vegas started with dropping the Hire Car back, what an experience that was. The phone number I was given was a fax and funnily enough, so was the fax number I was given. What originally was going to be a 15min job, turned into well over an hour. No directions at all to find where to drop the car off, all I knew was the Casino name. So after asking many different Valets, Security Staff and just general casino staff I finally found where I had to be with 5mins to spare. Only to be told by the hire car people, that I could have kept the car all day as she didn't believe in charging late fees!!

So back to the hotel to pick up Simona and take a cab to an even bigger shopping outet mall. To spend the next 6hrs or so, needless to say Sebastian is going to look the trendiest and he is not going to give a damn about it, to him it's just more clothes to get covered in paint and dirt!

So after long day shopping we hit the Casinos! Starting with New York New York where we went on the rollercoaster! Which was insane and awesome all mixed into one hell of a ride! Mexican Dinner at the Luxor which was great and a few dollars into Simonas new favourite game, Hot Shots Progressive!. Where she won enough money to pay for the taxi home.

Day 4 The Drive to Vegas

grahams_on_tour — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 05:27:00 GMT

After being dropped off at the car rental place by our same friendly limo driver, we picked up our hire car. A bright red Dodge Charger! For me it was slightly nerve racking to be sat and driving on the opposite of what I am used to. Simona however felt at home as in Romania they drive on the right hand side as well. After about 15mins I was getting the hang of it. Thank God for Sat Nav is all I can say when driving in and around LA. After only one wrong turn we were finally on the freeway out of LA and on our way to Vegas!

It is exactly what everyone told us, desert with not much to see at all. We stopped at a huge shopping outlet late in the afternoon and hit the designer shops for a couple of hours. On the road again and just on dark we drove over the rise and in the distance saw the lights of the strip. The most powerfull light beaming straight up from the top of the Luxor Pyramid. Seen from miles and miles!

Our hotel is not on the strip, so after we checked in (and yes once again 'Free Upgrade') we decided to go for a food run with a diversion onto the strip. When in Vegas, you have to drive the stip. Which was a HUGE mistake!! Because of the heat, all roadworks are done during the night. For those who know Vegas, it took over an hour to get from Mandalay Bay to the Bellagio (approx 1km). Four lanes into two and then into one! It was quicker to walk! We took a wrong turn and ended up driving right into the Bellagio Valet drop off area amongst the stretch limos and Hummers, oops!

We called it quits and headed back to our room, the traffic was only crap in one direction so we were back in our room in 10mins.

What an introduction to Vegas! Tomorrow we will walk..

Day 3 Still in Hollywood

grahams_on_tour — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:22:00 GMT

Well our 3rd day in the USA started late as usual, the beds are extremely comfortable here. First thing was shopping for some breakfast, bloody self serve checkouts, I will never get the hang of them.

The rest of the day was relaxing by the pool with whiskey, wine and beer. Shared between us of course, not all three..

Sunday night was a night spent in at the magic castle restuarant and magic shows. It was a great night, best steaks ever and the shows were great. From up close, slight of hand card tricks to juggling and swords through the neck it was a great night out and highly recommended.

Even got to meet and have a drink at the bar with James Worthy of LA Lakers NBA fame. Really nice guy. So we can chalk that one up as a definate celeb spotting..

Made it back to the hotel around midnight to get ready for our drive to Vegas tomorrow.

Adrian and Simona

Day 2 Sight Seeing in Hollywood

grahams_on_tour — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:41:00 GMT

Day 2

After eventually waking up too late for breakfast and with the sun and almost clears skies of LA above us, we wandered down to Hollywood Boulevard just after lunch. (2mins or 1 Block away in Yankee Speak).

The Premiere of some kids movie called Shorts cause havoc up and down the boulevard with roads and footpaths shut and people everywhere wanting to take pics of some child stars.

We did the walk of fame, admiring the plentyful Stars i'm still sure we missed a few. There are just too many to mention, but we have taken note of the more memorible ones. We saw Michael Jackson twice, even though he died a month or so ago, but hey, this is Hollywood, anything can happen.

The tourist trap that is the Big Red Open Top Bus was next on our agenda, we finally tracked it down and boarded. Saw half of Hollywood and Beverly Hills. With a trip down Rodeo Drive. Simona wants go back there tomorrow for a little bit of shopping to buy a pen or hanky.

We changed tourist buses and then headed down to Santa Monica for a look at the beach. Many pics later and an almost broken down bus, we made it back to Hollywood. The Hollywood sign, Paramount and CBS Studios rounded off our afternoon..

So it was back to our hotel for some more whiskey and beers by the pool as the sun went down on our first real day in LA.

P.S. Simona is 90% sure she saw Eva Longoria speed past in a Porsche, so does that count as a celebrity spotting?

Day 1 Getting to the States

grahams_on_tour — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:32:00 GMT

G'day G'day, Well we finally got here and all is well. We missed the train from Broadmeadow by 3mins (I was chatting in the office whilst Simona was buying tickets, my fault completely with that one). Anyway, caught the next train and was in Sydney in plenty of time.

The flight for all of you who are yet to do it is looong, 13hrs long. Needless to say we were both knackered with not being able to sleep. Once through customs etc our limo driver was there to meet us (Took us a little bit to find him as he had Grahm on his sign), he was great and we can highly recommend being picked up from the airport after such a long haul (That's less than 8% for the Palaris people). The hotel is great, Free Upgrade are the two best words one could hear on arrival. Whiskey and beers by the pool were the order for the evening, be it only a short one as we were in bed by 9pm....Our journey to the states was complete!

Getting Ready and Counting Down

grahams_on_tour — Sun, 9 Aug 2009 11:20:00 GMT

G'day Everyone,

We have decided to take a leaf out of Steve Lehane's book and compile a travel journal for our trip away as well. This being the first day of setting up the site and packing etc. We are all excited about the trip, just a bugger that there is commissioning between now and when we leave on Friday..

Will keep you posted.

Adrian and Simona

The Grahams