Thursday 12 May 2011

leaving LA

the hollywood sign
poser!

santa monica beach

santa monica pier end of route 66 marker

the pier

view from colorado ave looking west


Thursday 5th May 2011.


txt to come!!

Thursday 5 May 2011

off to LA

Wednesday 4th May 2011.

Today consisted of a 450km drive from Vegas to LA. By the time we checked out of the Luxor and got some gas it had gone 11.00am. We travelled for a couple of hours before stopping at Baker CA and got some A&W, Mmm yummy root beer! Arrived at our hotel at about 5.00pm and checked in, we are actually keeping this room for the day on Thursday as well so after our day looking around LA we can come back have showers etc and get ready for our flight. We don't leave LA until after 10.00pm. Had our final trip to Applebees for dinner, we had to drive 27kms to get there but it was worth it. Its hard to believe that 3 weeks is almost over. See you all soon, the next and final post will be from home!

chris angel and fremont st

chris angel 'believe'
fremont st experience

light display at fremont st

12 million LED's

tribute to queen

bronte and cassidy on fremont st

fremont east


Tuesday 3rd May 2011.

Today was our last day in Vegas and we had planned a couple of things that we really wanted to do. First off in the morning I went to the box office and got Chris Angel tickets for the 7.00pm show, he was performing at the Luxor. I wanted to hit another outlet shopping area and go to the Reebok store. There are some running shoes that I wanted to get which would be cheaper than at home, and yes they were about $50 cheaper!! Bronte also bought a couple of pairs of shoes as did Cassidy. Bronte got some Shape Up Sketchers and Cassidy got some really cool gold Nike high tops. Just had a bit of a look around the shops until we headed back for Chris Angel. The show was really good, the illusions were spectacular. Some of the things that he did on stage left you wondering how the hell they did that, I guess that is magic!

After the show it was then on to the old style Vegas at Fremont Street. Fremont Street has a lot of the old style neon lighting which make it very different to today's strip with screens and strobes etc. The Fremont experience also includes the largest screen in the world displaying pictures to music which is actually the canopy you stand under. The canopy is 27 metres high at the top and 460 metres long containing 12 million LED's making it the largest screen in the world. The music was Queen and it is quite amazing to see the screen in action. We also grabbed something to eat at Hennessey's Tavern and sat out the front just watching the people go by. It was then one last trip down the strip to take in the lights and the action as we headed back to the Luxor. Tomorrow we drive back to LA where will spend Thursday looking around Venice Beach and the surrounds before flying home later in the day.

Tuesday 3 May 2011

bronte's birthday in las vegas

the strip from the stratosphere
on top of the stratosphere
bronte and cassidy on insanity
starting to get faster

the sign

caesars palace

bellagio

us at bellagio fountain

the fountain show

paris casino



Monday 2nd May 2011.

Well today is Bronte's birthday and we are going to take it easy. Started off with a sleep in and then a trip to Walmart. We wanted to have Quiznos for lunch and it took us about half an hour to find one. Once we did the food was awesome, we had not had Quiznos this trip at all yet. We then headed for the Stratosphere and paid to go up to the observation level. Cassidy and Bronte also paid for a ride on Insanity which is an arm that hangs out over the side of the tower which is over 900 feet from the ground and then it spins around putting you at a 70 degree tilt. We took a few photos from the top of the tower as you get the best view of Downtown LV and the strip. We then went south to some of the outlet shopping stores not too far from the airport. Had a walk around there for a while and bought a pair of Crocs for Rosalie. We also purchased a ticket to a restaurant called Embers which is at Imperial Palace. We paid $3 each to get 50% off the prices of all main meals. The food was really good. We then went out onto the strip and watched the Bellagio fountain for 3 or 4 times and had a bit of a walk around, by that time it was time to head back to the motel.

Tomorrow we are going to take it easy as well and probably go to some more shops. We are also planning on seeing Chris Angel the illusionist, he is showing at the Luxor and as we are staying here we can get cheap tickets.

kingman and hoover dam

powerhouse visitor centre
train at kingman
massive cactus at kingman

main road through kingman

at the new bridge over the hoover dam

view of the hoover dam from the new bridge

looking down from on top of the dam

looking back at the bridge from the hoover dam

lake mead lookout

inside the venetian

treasure island nightly show

the luxor by night


Sunday 1st May 2011.

Today saw us up and about with only just over 100km to drive to Las Vegas. The first thing we wanted to do was check out the Powerhouse Museum at Kingman before leaving. It was meant to be a tribute to Route 66 and worth a look. We also has a look at an old train that was placed in the centre of town which was pretty cool too. At the train park they had some areas to look at with memorials etc. Some of the gardens were very cool as well. There were some massive cacti growing there as well, I guess they have the perfect weather for growing cactus.

We followed the main highway on until we reached the Hoover Dam. The dam was a whole lot different to visit as the new roads works to bypass the dam were complete. They have been constructing a massive bridge to span the canyon over the last 4 years or so and it's finally complete. You can now park the car and walk out onto the bridge giving you a view of the dam. The bridge is so high above the Colorado River, 260 metres actually. When you walk out to the middle and look down it is almost breath taking! We then drove down to the dam and across it which is where the road use to go. You now can not drive any further on then about a kilometre and you have to turn around to head back towards Vegas.

So after that we headed to our motel, The Luxor and checked in. It was then out and down the strip for a look around. We drove down to Treasure Island and parked, we came out onto the strip and had a look at the Venetian. I caught up with my brother who is here on a work trip as well. We ended up watching the Treasure Island show and then all grabbing some dinner from inside Treasure Island. We then dropped Chris back to his motel just near the airport before heading back to the Luxor. While on the roof of the car park we took some photos of the pyramid and lights that are on it. The light trail from the point is amazing as it goes so high!

Tomorrow we are going to look around Vegas and it's Bronte's birthday. No plans yet for the birthday but we will take it easy and relax a little over the next couple of days.

Sunday 1 May 2011

route 66

route 66
williams az an old route 66 town

following the 66!

not like the massive highways

at hackberry general store

lots of old cars at hackberry

lots of memorabilia

more old cars

the general store, nice corvette


Saturday 30th April 2011.

Today was just a nice two or three hour drive from Flagstaff to Kingman. Our first stop was Williams which is a town that route 66 passed through up until October 13th 1984, this was the last town to be bypassed from the old 'mother road.' They have got lots of shops that make tribute to the famous route and it was nice to just have walk around. From there we travelled along the I40 until we reached exit 139. From there we turned off and followed the original longest remaining section of the 66. It was a piece of road about 150km long which also gave you views of the older sections of the route visible on the sides of the road. Some of the realignments from the 1920's and 30's left sections which are now on private property with bitumen still visible.

We continued on to the Hackberry General store where we stopped for a drink. The owner of the store has a red Corvette parked in the front which belonged to his father. The corvette is still driven everyday and the guys father was the second owner.

Arrived at Kingman in good time and checked into the motel. We now are only about 200kms from Las Vegas. We are going to check out the Route 66 museum at Kingman and the Hoover Dam along the way.

grand canyon

grand canyon
view from desert view watchtower
one of the many lookouts


beautiful view of the canyon

on the edge

view point at hermets rest

the sun slowly setting

3 crows flying over the canyon


Friday 29th April 2011.

Today we left Page and had a two hour drive to the Grand Canyon. We were going to arrive on the eastern entrance and follow the rim road all the way through to the Grand Canyon Village. It took us a few hours from Desert View until we reached the visitor centre. There were a number of stops along the way to take photos and take in the amazing views of the canyon.

Once at the visitor centre we had a bit of a look around and then worked out what bus we needed to catch. To see all the vantage points west of the village you had to catch buses that stopped off at all of the lookouts. We caught the red bus to Hermets Rest which was as far west as it went. From there we caught the bus back to the visitor centre stopping at a number of lookouts along the route.

The day had just vanished, we had been at the canyon all day and it was now 6.30pm. We had a short drive, about 1.5 hours to Flagstaff which is where we booked our next night.

The Grand Canyon is just amazing, it's had to believe that the widest part of the canyon is close to 30km wide while you are standing there looking across the vast space.

Tomorrow we head to Kingman and we will travel the longest part of the remaining Route 66.

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