vegas

Sunday 2nd November 2014

Today was a rest and relax day.  I went to the spa in the morning and once finished we went and got some lunch.  Just had a bit of a drive around Vegas taking it all in.

Monday 3rd November 2014

Once again I started the day with a visit to the spa.  After that we walked through to Mandalay Bay resort to meet James.  James works for Luxor and I meet him last year while we were staying here.  I wanted to catch up with him and we had organised to meet at Johnny Rockets for lunch.  It was good to catch up with him even if it was just for one hour.

We then walked all the way down the strip to the High Roller, which is the tallest observation wheel in the world.  It stands at 168 metres, 550 feet tall and gives an awesome view over the strip and right out to the desert and mountains.

After the High Roller we went to the Linq which has the Auto Collection in it.  This was the old Imperial Palace which has been done up and renamed.  The cars here were very nice and most of them for sale.

It was then a long walk back to the Luxor south along the strip taking in the Bellagio Fountain on the way.

high roller

capsules

almost half way up

accommodation for last night in vegas

can just make out pyramid (luxor)

almost at the top

awesome view

ta da

greg the high roller

me being stupid

presidential car

kool kombie

very nice station wagon

greg on the strip

bellagio

fountain begins

north along the strip

south along the strip

our favourite place, luxor

snoqualmi falls and vegas bound

Saturday 1st November 2014

Today we had a bit of a slow start after a late night for Halloween.  Once up we were spoilt with a home cooked breakfast before we went for a drive to Snoqualmie Falls which was about an hour away.  The falls were really nice and there was a ton of water going over.  So much water that the spray coming from the falls made it really hard to get good photos.

token sign shot

very misty falls

down stream

not so much mist

so much mist and spray

with all my friends

Once we headed back to the house we had to pack up our gear and then head off to the airport.  There was a couple of things that we wanted to get and then we drove past the Museum Of Flight to see if we could have a look at the first 747 on the inside.  Last week when we visited we only looked through the fence at the planes.  This time we only had about 40 minutes until we had to be at the airport so we paid up and went in and basically just looked at the 747.  It was so cool inside and it is amazing how big a plane is without seats and walls etc on the inside.  From there we raced to the airport, dropped the Prius back and went to the lounge.

747 ra001

inside ra001 747

looking over the wings

inside concorde

concorde

The flight to Vegas was only about 2 hour which got us in about 10.00 p.m.

Picked up our rental car, a black Nissan Altima and went and got some dinner.  After dinner we drove to the Luxor and checked in.  That was it for the day, it was time for a rest!

halloween

Friday 31st October 2014

Today we got to tour the Microsoft Campus where Em works.  The place was amazing and even more so with it being Halloween.  It was just like being at a massive Uni but instead of students it's just workers.  Today the workers had brought friends and family with them to enjoy the festivities.  They have it set up like a town.  It's full of shops and eateries for just about everything you can imagine.  We had lunch there and then went into a part which is like a museum of the history of Microsoft as well as having all the new technology available to play with.

We then went for a drive to Bellevue and had a walk around a shopping centre for a bit before going back to get ready.

Had Thai for dinner and then went to Cabaret Macabre at the Columbia Theater.  Lots of people dressed up for Halloween and the atmosphere was pretty awesome.  Had a great night and got home by just after 1.00 am.

Tomorrow night we head to Vegas.  We only have 5 nights left now before the trip is at an end :-(

at microsoft in the museum

canada

fall leaves in the city

sculptures near beach

being crazy

english bay

view from stanley park to english bay

stanley park

beautiful sunset

more fall leaves

walking trail

siwash rock

siwash rock

lion gate bridge

vancouver harbour

city view from our room

Wednesday 29th and Thursday 30th October 2014

Wednesday we drove from Seattle to Vancouver.  Its only about 250km but you have to cross the border so it takes about 3 hours to get there.  We had booked the Empire Landmark in Downtown which is 42 floors high and has a revolving restaurant at the top.  We checked in, parked the car and then we walked through downtown a little and headed towards Stanley Park.

Made our way to the walking path and started to walk the lap of the park.  The view out to the harbour was awesome with the ships just sitting out there.  We kind of over estimated how far we could walk in the time we had before dark.  We made it to the Lions Gate Bridge and it was already 2.5 hours in and now it was getting dark.  We were only a bit over half way around.  So the final part of the walk was through the centre of Stanley Park in the pitch black.  It really wasn't that bad but it was hard to tell if we were going the right way.  Made it back to the city and found a nice restaurant for dinner.

Thursday morning we checked out and left the car in the car park and had a nice walk around downtown Vancouver.  Went down along the waters edge and looked at the Olympic Flame and digital orca.  The city was beautiful but it was drizzling rain and we were getting wet.

Made our way back to the car and then went for a drive through Stanley Park and over the Lions Gate Bridge.  Went and did a little shopping before making our way back to Seattle.  It poured rain the whole way back.

We had a dinner scheduled with Toby and Misty Peterson from DMC Northwest at Isushi in Issaquah at 7.00pm.  It was a great night to meet Misty and talk a little about other things rather than fixing my DeLorean.  We really enjoyed the night and it was good to spend some quality time with such nice people.

Tomorrow is Halloween and we are going out to a local hall which has several bands playing.  Looking forward to experiencing Halloween in the USA!! 

street view from our room

at the harbour

olympic cauldron

digital orca

beautiful fall leaves

very pretty city