I have just gone through the last of our photos from Las Vegas and found some of the foyer at The Venetian, hope you like them as much as we liked staying there. I have also included photos of Vicki's birthday card from me and some souvenirs, including Vicki's new Vegas Princess coffee cup. After a really nice light breakfast at our guesthouse we caught the "muni" to downtown San Francisco, the city bus network. Once again we were impressed with the efficiency and ease of use of the transport system in the states. There are so many lessons we could learn from the Americans including how to build roads and transport systems that simply work through to how to politely service customers and make them feel special. Macy's is another world in it's own world. ... read more

After our first experience of ordinary service, by American standards (normal service by Australian standard), at breakfast this morning we hopped in the car and headed to the desert. We drove out to the Valley of Fire and then on to Lake Mead. A round trip of around 160kms and more photo opportunities than poker machines in Vegas, nah that's impossible. Once again the roads were first class, even the windy scenic drive through the desert where the roads people have very carefully laid the roads over the natural countours of the desert were smooth as silk and the interstates are just so easy to drive on. In The Valley of Fire State Park we stopped at The Beehives, Visitors Centre, White Domes and Elephant Rock taking around 130 photos. I have been through and tried ... read more

Sadly we left the Grand Hotel at Tusayan on the South rim of the Grand Canyon this morning. We enjoyed the hotel nearly as much as the canyon itself. I have included a few photos of the lodge type hotel the Grand Hotel is. On the way we saw Smokey the Bear and made our way for one last visit to the Desert View Lookout on the North East end of the South rim. We arrived pretty early to an almost empty carpark, in a lot that would comfortably park 300 cars, and took a series of photos in near perfect light and under crystal clear blue skies, While Sammy the Squirrel was picking at lightening speed! Temperatures still hovering at or just above zero. The drive from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas is stunning. ... read more

After a fantastic dinner at the hotel's restaurant we settled in for the night and a great nights sleep. It rained a fair bit of the night and at times heavy enough to wake us up. After a hearty buffet breakfast Vicki and I drove up to the visitors centre. the first thing we noticed was how bloody cold it is outside. It was barely above zero and drizzling with rain. While at the visitors centre we were greeted with a very excited announcement from the rangers "we are having the first snow of the season". As Vicki had never seen snow before we neaded outside for a walk back to the car and it was bucketing down snow. It was now time to find out what this Grand Canyon thing is all about. Wow! What ... read more

Sitting at Maccas at LAX as I type this on the IPad. Security here is extreme to say the least, I did expect it but gee whiz are we glad we got here in plenty of time. Check in with Delta was easy, very friendly and courteous staff - quite impressive. Our first experience of US rain this morning as we drove through a heavy shower in the cab to LAX. Another extremely friendly cabby, probably the best on our trip so far. A very fast talking Mexican guy who really cracked us up. All that at 6am just what we needed to start our day. Vicki is meeting an old school friend in Vegas when we get there then we have our first solo road trip. A 5 hour journey to the Grand Canyon, Nevada ... read more