Back to the States

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We were sad to leave Canada but excited to fly into Vegas! Our flight was pretty intense leaving Calgary as a snow storm blew in and the plane had to be de-iced before take off. And then as we were flying into Vegas we had to land in a sand storm. That was probably the bumpiest flight I've ever been on.

We arrived late at night and caught a cab to our accommodation at Polo Towers on the strip, then collapsed! We spent five days in Vegas which was mostly a rush of Arbonne, but we also got to see the famous Vegas sign and check out a few of the hotels along the strip. It's crazy that everyone can smoke indoors in Vegas. We went shopping and got some awesome bargains for clothes. We had some drinks in Caesers Palace and saw the water show at the Bellagio. We also got to take an awesome limo ride down the strip. It was pretty cool in Vegas but also dirty and sleezy. It was certainly an experience.

On our last day in Vegas we got a cab to the airport and picked up a hire car. We then went to Frys electronics and scored a gps for $29. We then headed east towards the Grand Canyon. We drove about 4 or 5 hours and then got a room in Williams. The next morning we were up early and headed north towards the South Rim. It only took an hour or so to get there. It was $25 to get into the National Park. Once there we walked to the viewing platform and wow! It was unreal. We all think of the Grand Canyon as big, but when you stand on the edge of it, you're just blown away. Absolutely phenoninal. We took some cool photos, goggled for a while and then it was time to keep going. We headed east through Arizona and then north up to Utah. The landscape was awesome. The monuments and canyons are really something. We stopped in a town near Moab for the night and then up early again to head to Denver.

We met some cool family members in Denver. My second cousin Natalie and her daughter Natasha. My other second cousin Claire and her husband Jim. We had a good week with everyone in Denver but unfortunately I got sick. A bad cough and then a cold which struck me for a good week. On the 26th we left Denever and drove 14 hours to my great aunt Jeans house in Missouri. We had a lovely couple of days at her house and recovered from our sickness, as Leah had caught what I had. On the 29th we had to head off again. We drove almost 15 hours before stopping for the night, and man that was a hard drive. I was so tired. On the 30th we had 6 hours to get to New York by 3pm to hand over the hire car. Oh boy that was a stressful drive. Heading in to New York was bloody stressful and I don't know how we managed to get to JFK airport on time lol. We did though and from there we caught a cab to our accommodation in Manhatten. I'm glad we did the drive across the states. It's something I have always wanted to do. It's a shame I was sick while doing the drive but I still saw some awesome sights. New York is going to be awesome, I'll update with more info once we explore!

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