DebH

Geo: 34.0113, -118.492 Sadly, our last day in the US. We all went for a very long walk right down to Venice Beach, and then continued on to stroll around the Venice Canals, which we had missed out on last time. We returned to Santa Monica Pier and ate Italian food at Al Mare and had a final few drinks before returning to the hotel to pack.We had a late checkout so we were able to watch another sunset by the fire pits, while enjoying burgers and wine before our taxi to LAX for the long flight home.Many thanks to S & J, and their boys for sharing this with us. It was an amazing holiday!... read more

Geo: 34.0533, -118.245 After another delicious breakfast, we caught a cab to Universal Studios. Again, we had been before, but it is good fun and we all enjoyed our day. After returning to the hotel we walked around Hollywood Boulevard a bit more, had a look at the Chinese Theatre and finished up with yummy steaks at The Grill on Hollywood and drinks in some of the Roosevelt's amazing bars.... read more

Geo: 34.0533, -118.245We had our last Prestige Lounge breakfast, and then caught a cab to the airport for our Southwest flight to LA.As always Southwest were fantastic. Flight was on time and we landed at Bob Hope airport and caught our prebooked private shuttle to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. We all got checked into our rooms. I didn't like our view – a high school and a car park, so called reception and got changed to a much better room on a higher floor with a view of Hollywood Boulevard and the Chinese Theatre out one way and the Hollywood Sign the other.Here is my review of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel: https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowUserReviews-g32655-d77274-r364288007-The_Hollywood_Roosevelt-Los_Angeles_California.htmlWe walked around the corner to Mel's Diner for reuben sandwhiches – cheesy... read more

Geo: 36.0846, -115.172Today was the major reason for our visit to Las Vegas. We had booked on Maverick Tour's Grand Canyon trip, which involved picking us up from our hotel and transferring us to Henderson Airport for a light plane flight to the South Rim of the Canyon.We were all picked up on time and very early, and transferred to the very small terminal at Henderson. After all of us being carefully weighed which is not so pleasant, we boarded our very, very small plane. At this point I was petrified! Once the plane took off however, the views were spectacular. We were even lucky enough to fly over the Hoover Dam. Once we reached cruising altitude, we were encouraged to move around and even all invited one by one into the cockpit to take amazing ... read more

Geo: 38.8921, -77.0241Today was a fabulous day as I finally ticked off something from my bucket list. Since I was young I have always wanted to see pandas. The Chinese pandas toured our home, Melbourne, many years ago, but the queues were hours long to see them and I was seven months pregnant, so we missed out. We then visited Berlin a couple of years ago and I planned to see them there, but sadly they both passed away shortly before our visit. This time we were going to see them at the Smithsonian Washington Zoo.I hadn't even realised that the exhibit had been closed up until three days before our visit due to the birth of a baby panda – I would have been devastated to miss out again, but all was well. We caught ... read more