Death Valley

We left Vegas after stopping back in at an outlet store so that Tony could buy a new bag as he now has too much stuff to fit into the bags we had already bought. - He will argue that I have bought all the stuff, but mine still fits in the same bags so you tell me who the shopaholic is!

We headed on out to Death Valley, took a wrong turn, turned around and were on track again - A little slip in the GPS (my boyfriend). Once we got there, it was exactly like the National geographic show I had watched on it, except in real life, there are heaps of tourists and long drop toilets.

The salt plains were very cool and the valley itself was so barren. The temperature has dropped here and it is abnormally cold for this time of year, so we were not hit with the sweltering heat ( I guess that is a bonus? but normally a part of the whole experience)

The valley is 282 feet below sea level, you can camp in the Valley but in summer it can get up to 57 degrees Celsius (134 degrees Fahrenheit) So I'm thinking camping is not the best idea in the world in the middle of summer.

We left death valley and headed for a small town called Beatty to stay the night. They still allow smoking inside here, so we had a really hard time finding somewhere to eat, and had to put up with the mild stench of cigarettes.



Off to Yosemite now...

The Grand Canyon!

First thing this morning we headed off to the Grand Canyon. wow, that's all I can say. Yes Megan was right, it is just a big hole in the ground, but it is an awesome hole.




We headed back to Vegas after that, and stayed at the Excalibur a castle themed hotel at the other end of the strip to the Riviera. We walked around the southern end of the Strip, went to the Luxor and the MGM casino's and shopped at the M&M store and the Coca cola store - Look out for our funky new salt and pepper shakers!

A little bit more gambling finished off the night. Shattered, we headed off to bed.

Get your kicks on route 66

Yesterday we drove down to Flagstaff as the first part of our Grand Canyon tour. We went via the Hoover dam, which was a really interesting experience. They are upgrading the road at the moment, and that means building a straight one right through the middle, so we got to see how they build a really large bridge!


Today we headed out on the historic route 66 to see the sights.

We started at the Petrified Forest, which is a forest full of wood that has been petrified over millions of years, and now look like crystals. the landscape was amazing and the painted sand was the most spectacular thing i had seen all day :)

Next we headed onto the Canyon de Chelly, which is a canyon (if you hadn't of guessed) which is pretty big, but not as big as the Grand Canyon.

We drove the wrong way around the canyon, so although we got to see some cool sights, it did not take us in the direction we required so we had to turn around and come back! whoops.

Onwards to Monument Valley.... we drove through Monument Valley at the end of a very long day.
But what an amazing place. The scenery we had had all day was so varying and amazing. what both me a Tony could not believe was how much of America is not inhabited. There are so many people crammed into the city's that you would think that there was not enough space for everyone, but when you get out into the country, you realise that there is plenty of space, miles and miles of it in fact! America is a huge country, that is one thing we have learnt on this trip!.

We headed back to Flagstaff tired and aware that we had driven something like 500 miles (anyone feel a song coming on?) for a pint of Cider and an early night

Vegas Baby!

We arrived in Vegas to discover you can gamble at the airport... how cool is that, there were slot machines everywhere!

The strip is not far from the airport so after a quick taxi ride we were at our splendid hotel, the Riviera. This hotel is a little uptown from the main part of the strip, so we had a little bit of a walk to get down there. Interestingly though there is heaps of construction going on at the moment so there are huge vacant lots where building is just starting on new billion dollar resorts... so much for a recession!

We spent the night at a Cir du Soleil show called "Mystere" to celebrate our one year anniversary. the show was amazing, and we both enjoyed it thoroughly.

We walked down the strip to see the volcano and dancing fountains (all the usual sights you look for in a new town!) we found the fountains but not the volcano.... I thought that was rather weird! The next day our cab driver told us that the volcano caught on fire and was being rebuilt, hence the reason we couldn't find it. I felt a little ripped off that we had missed out on this icon, but I got over it quickly!

We spent the last couple of hours of our huge day/night playing the 1c slot machines. We didn't win any money, but I guess you have to bet big to win big!

Viva Las Vegas!

Chicago (Like the Musical)

We arrived in Chicago to be meet by my cousin Gavin - Man it was nice to be met by someone! We went straight out to Rockford which is West of Chicago city where they live.

We spent a day chilling out in Rockford doing washing, catching up on sleep and meeting the cats. (Mingo and Mija) Nicky and Gavin had just come off a night shift so this worked well for them as well!

Friday was Wisconsin day. We drove up to Wisconsin (Because we could) to a town called Beloit, and then onto Janesville, we walked around the rotary gardens and enjoyed seeing Fall coming to life with the changing of the trees.

Saturday was Shopping day, We started off at Best buy, moved onto Linen and things, then onto the big one, Super wall mart. It was pretty cool to walk through such a big store, Tony's biggest thing was that there was a McDonald's inside! After this we headed onto Sam's club, and then finished off with Kohls. It was a really interesting experience going to some of the normal shopping stores in America and understanding the concepts of Bulk buying. Tony managed to get a years worth of Antihistamines for a ridiculously low amount of money. We managed to restrain ourselves somewhat and although it looked like we bought a load of crap we didn't really!

On Saturday night we headed out to hear a Treasure Hunter Bob Marx speak about some of his experiences. He was amazing, this guy has done deals with the Mob, been sued, had his Lawyers knocked off, been kicked out of 22 countries, and Knighted in 3. His stories were completely incomprehensible to a girl from Wellington, this guy used to drink with the Rat pack, the original one! Madness!

On Sunday we headed up to a place called The House on the rock . This could possibly be the weirdest place i had ever been! This guy Alex Jordan, built this house into a rock face, and then filled it with a whole pile of weird stuff. The coolest being these mechanical bands. He has whole orchestra's set up mechanically to play all sorts of different tunes. It is so weird but really cool at the same time!

Monday was our day in Chicago city. We headed into millennium park where we looked at all of the Water fountains and of course the famous Bean. We jumped on a bus tour and spent the next few hours listening to a guy tell us all about Chicago... a really easy way of hearing about it all! we went up the Sears tower to the 103rd floor. Man was the view amazing! We also went up the Hancock building to the 96th floor for cocktails at sunset. Afterwards, we headed to Greek town for dinner. We made it home just after midnight, thoroughly exhausted! but content with a fantastic day in the Windy city (Yep apparently it is meant to be windy to, but i don't think it has anything on Wellington!)

Today we are heading off to Las Vegas. We have had an awesome time here in Chicago, so thanks Nicky and Gavin, we really appreciate the hospitality you have shown us and i have really enjoyed getting to know my cousins again, (including Jacqui in New York!)

NY to Miami part 2

The next day we were up at the crack of dawn, and down to the beach for a walk and a swim. It was so lovely and warm!

We headed into Tampa to meet up with the guys from Wufoo. They started a company that helps you create online forms, it was really interesting speaking to a group of guys around the same age as me, who have created a company from scratch and are very successful. It was more interesting hearing about there experiences and thoughts and how they are really similar to the things I believe about doing business. Thanks for your time guys it was much appreciated!

We headed from Tampa back down to Miami, via an outlet mall (not on purpose!) and ended up taking the longest, straightest road ever! We eventually arrived early evening and could only manage a quiet dinner and then bed!

The next morning was a really early one, up at 4.30 to get to the airport for a 6.40 flight! We had an extra bag now, so it was much easier to pack! The worst thing in the world is arguing with a lady at United Airlines at 5am over whether I should be charged for our bags or not. Apparently the machine is never wrong, except when it is wrong! I was not a happy camper... especially when we where tagged for extra secuirty, again!

Anyway... off to Chicago

NY to Miami

The last four days we have spent in Florida. We flew into Miami and then drove to to Cocoa beach (by Merritt Island) then over to Clear water beach, just outside of Tampa, before heading back to Miami to fly to Chicago.

Our drive to Cocoa beach was interesting as it was my first time driving on the wrong side of the road in America. It started pissing down with rain about 10 minutes in whilst we were driving down a 7 lane highway. The rain was so hard that i could only just see the car in front of me... so a rather interesting start to the whole experience.

We left the rain about half an hour later and discovered we were on a very long straight road. Man it can get boring driving such large distances on such straight roads.

We made it to Cocoa beach without to much hassle... my navigator was pretty good (Don't tell him i said that though or he will get a big head!) we checked into our hotel, went for a walk on the beach and then off for dinner. the next day we got up and headed off to the Kennedy space centre for a good look around.

We went on a space launch simulator, had a look at the Explorer shuttle, read a lot about space missions, and generally learnt about space. We even learnt that Cochlear implants where made by NASA, (check out my friends website) The only problem was that although it was a lovely morning, about 40 minutes after we got there the heavens opened, and i mean opened! Tony and myself got so wet it was not funny! I ended up having to drive to Orlando with a singlet on and Tony was topless. if was very funny though.... it did mean that we left a little earlier than we wanted to, and we didn't go on any of the bus rides to the other sites, but we just had to much else to do!

We stopped at another outlet mall on the way to Tampa.... and i discovered that Tony really does have a shopping demon... i had to drag him out of some of the stores, and nearly resorted to taking away his credit card.... some good purchases where made though, especially the second bag for tony so that he could get all of his purchases home!

We finally made it to Tampa around 7.40, just after the sun had set. It was a little disappointing as it was one of those places in the world where the sun sets into the sea, and the sunsets are amazing. Tony got some photo's as we where driving, but it was not quite the same as being able to see it myself properly and not having to concentrate on the road. but i guess you can't have everything!
Clear water beach was amazing... it was beautifully looked after, and the ocean was very swimmable. We found a motel to stay in and then headed out for dinner. On the recommendation of the motel owner, we headed to Frenchy's rockaway Grill which was right on the water front and served us the most amazing Fish ever!

To be continued....