Category: 2016 USA

Sitting now at LAX we got here way ahead of time and now just need to sit for a few hours waiting for the flight. The last couple of days were uneventful, it was great to wind down a bit on the Queen Mary. The hotel itself was a bit tired and a bit run down, but it was fine, the sense of old school grandeur was brilliant. Before we Read more…

The end of Route 66 is on a Pier on the Pacific Ocean. We left Hollywood and cruised down to Santa Monica to see the end of Route 66 and to kill some time before heading through town to Long Beach. From Santa Monica it’s down to Long Beach and the two final nights of our holiday on the Queen Mary. Tomorrow a last shop around Long Beach and a Read more…

We went to Universal Studios today, the main reason was to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and do the studio tour. The recreation of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts were fantastic. And true to format the merchandising was spot on. Later on we did the studio tour which was a bit of a 3D ride as well. The set were pretty impressive. Universal is a live production site so there Read more…

So we left Barstow tonight for the final leg to Los Angeles. Just outside a town called Helendale is the reasonably well known Bottle Tree Ranch it is a fascinating place to see there has been so much work put into it. From the it was onto Los Angeles. It took easily 90 minutes to drive through LA to our hotel. The hotel itself is called Mama Shelter and is Read more…

Leaving Las Vegas today we went back a bit to check out the Hoover Dam. It was spectacular we spent about an hour there and walked across the top of the dam, but it was nudging 40 C and was getting really hot, so we curtailed the visit would’ve liked to have learned more about the Dam though.  Onwards to Needles and California.

Las Vegas, we’re still undecided on. The strip is full on and we’ve now done the casino/resort thing I’m not sure we’d do it again.  We went to a smaller hotel off the strip today when beginning the Mob tour and this seemed more like what we’d be interested in for future visits.   We have been staying in the Flamingo casino and resort. This was one of the original Read more…

We arrived in Vegas yesterday and it’s taken me untill now to write this blog post. I think it was sensory overload and I didn’t want to let that get in the way of what i thought of the place, now I’ve been here 24 hours I feel I can say more.   Vegas is crazy it’s fast, it’s harsh, it’s completely over the top and superficial but there’s something about Read more…

There was really nothing to report on yesterday. The drive back down from monument valley was long but uneventful a great deal of the trip was covering areas we’d already seen.    We ended the day in Kingman AZ in which I thought would be another run down tired motel, but I was wrong. This motel  (best western) had air conditioning that was quiet and efficient a rarity it seems Read more…

Sunrise over monument valley this morning, such a beautiful place.

On our way up to monument valley from flagstaff today we stopped off at Cameron trading post as this is Navajo Nation there are a lot of crafts to tempt people with. We bought some gifts.   After Cameron it was up to Page and quick 2km hike to the Horseshoe Bend. So you get to stand as close to the edge as you dare to get the entire river in.  Read more…

Wow!, neither words nor pictures can describe the Grand Canyon sufficiently. Today Mandy and myself took a 50 minute helicopter ride over the canyon. It was breathtaking. In the afternoon we took the Pink Jeep tour this was also fantastic we had a tour to ourselves and our guide (Ted) was brilliant, a credit to his company. an’t believe you can walk out to the edge and take photo’s. The Read more…

Today was a  semi relaxed day with not much planned. In other words shopping trip to a mall. Had a shop recommended to me by Samantha so we went and had a look inside, bought a couple of things too. m the mall we went up to a place called Bearinzona, no it really was called that, it’s a wildlife park close to Williams AZ. I don’t really have the Read more…

We backtracked a bit today to the petrified forest it was very impressive. From the petrified forest it was back to heading west again. Stopped off at Winslow Arizona for the obligatory photo and a root beer at the diner. From Winslow it was onto the meteor crater. Was pretty impressive for a big hole. Onto Flagstaff and our base camp for 3 days we have a 2 bedroom cabin Read more…

Left Alburquerque this morning but not before doing a drive by of a couple of breaking bad areas. First off was Walter Whites house though couldn’t take a photo as there was someone sat watching us.  Apparently people keep driving by and throwing pizzas on her roof. Next was the car wash. Mandy was glad to get out here as the town feels like the show. Leaving Albuquerque we headed Read more…

Another great day, started out in Santa Fe, did a touristy tour around the historic plaza and have to say it is a wonderful place to visit, so many cool buildings the architecture was amazing. From Santa Fe we travelled up to Los Alamos where the atomic bomb was built by a whole group of scientists brought to this location in 1942 as part of the Manhatten project. From Los Read more…