JellyfishKing Travel

I have prepared my Google Photo Albums. Please take a look.

As I touched on before in a previous post, I have been greatly impressed by the sincerity, friendliness and of the American people.

People that know me well, know that I have quite a low opinion of Americans in general. This has come about from my limited contact with Americans. I don’t actually know many personally. Most of the Americans I have seen (excluding TV) have been when they’re on vacation in Australia, Philippines and other Asian countries. Loud, obnoxious and wearing Hawaiian shirts.

“Where I come from, they don’t like Americans much
They think they’re so loud, so tasteless and so out of touch”
– Joe Jackson (Forty years)

But after being in their country for the last three weeks, my opinion has changed. They are actually decent people – almost nice …haha actually most people we met were nice. Some went out of their way to help us, offering suggestions on where to go, where to eat, what to see. And I’m not talking about  people in the tourist industry. I’m talking about normal everyday people we bumped into in the street, in Uber ride-alongs and standing in queues.

So I must offer an apology…

To all Americans – I sincerely apologise for my unfounded, uneducated, ignorant opinions of you. I now have a much greater respect for you, your culture and country. I hope you’ll welcome me next time in the same warm manner as you welcomed me in this recent trip. When you visit Australia I promise not to mutter “dumb Yank” under my breath – except maybe if you’re from New York.

We’re back home in Perth now.

Wow, what a fantastic holiday!

America was everything I thought it would be and more.

My standout highlights were:

• Helicopter ride through the Grand Canyon
• Yosemite National Park
• Colorado Rockies
• Driving from LA to Las Vegas
• Seeing the famous landmarks such as: Hollywood sign, Golden Gate bridge, Las Vegas “strip”, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge and 9/11 ground zero.

It was also great catching up with some old friends. Zelle in Sacramento and Mike in Denver. This was an unexpected bonus. We were so lucky to have such good friends. Both families invited us into their homes and toured us around their part of America. Thank you so much to Zelle and Dave and Mike and Lara.

We’re definitely going back sometime. There’s still plenty of things to see:

• Yellowstone National Park
• Monument Valley
• Skiing in the Rockies
• Things I haven’t thought of yet

 

The last leg of our USA trip is New York.

I’ve heard a lot of great things about the Big Apple, but it’s got a lot to live up to compared to the other cities we’ve been too.

 

Let me start by saying that I have been greatly surprised by the politeness and friendliness by Americans in general. I will talk more about this in a later post. Californians in particular were courteous, friendly and always happy to have a chat. People in Las Vegas are all tourists in party mode – or in the service business – again all happy and nice. Then we hit New York – impatient, grumpy and rude. It doesn’t feel like we’re in the same country. I’m making generalisations of course, but that’s the vibe I get. Brooklyn seems to much friendlier than Manhattan.

But with that out of the way, New York is a great place. Lots to see and do. We only had five days here. We could have had another five days for sure – although Jane is getting homesick.

Our first two days were quite difficult. We had to navigate the subways and organise tickets for activities. Once we worked out the subways and what streets were what, we got a good feel for the city. We had a New York City Explorer pass that gave us access to 10 activities. Choosing those activities was quite difficult. First one was the “hop on hop off” bus tours. There were Five”loops”. Downtown, Uptown, Brooklyn, Bronx and ferry. We only had time for uptown, downtown and half the Brooklyn tour. They were all very long and packed full of information. Some of the streets were blocked because of a police shooting, which made the traffic worse than normal. There seems to be police, ambulance and fire engine sirens endlessly blaring. There are police everywhere, some carrying assault rifles.

Other activities were Liberty Cruise to see the famous lady; Top of the Rock observation deck; 9/11 tribute tour; Bike ride around Central Park.

 

 

We saw “Aladdin” on Broadway. Great show. James Monroe Iglehart as the Genie stole the show.

 

Today was the best day weather wise and we spent some time around the Brooklyn bridge. I took some photos of the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges – one of my “must dos”.

We did some shopping in Macy’s.

 

Our last night will be spent in Times Square to get one more look at the mesmerising lights.

 

After leaving Las Vegas we spent the weekend in the “Mile High” city of Denver. Nestled at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, it’s the capital city of Colorado.

The main reason we stopped there was to catch up with my old mate Mike. Mike and I worked together in the mid 80s at the Mines Department WA. Mike moved to Denver about six years ago.

Mike and his wife Lara graciously offered to let us stay in their lovely home for the weekend. What wonderful hosts they were. They picked us up from the airport and toured us around the city.

 

When we got back Lara cooked a fantastic meal of pork ribs and REAL vegetables. It’s strange to say, but the veges were a welcome sight after what seemed like an endless supply of pizza, burgers and burritos over the last two weeks. The meal was delicious, and was matched on the second night with a hearty lamb curry.  They introduced us to Moscow Mules too. I nice little cocktail made from vodka, lime and ginger beer. Apparently they have to be served in special copper mugs. We’re going to buy some in Macys in New York.

The other reason to visit Colorado was to see some snow. Mike had promised there’s be some snow on the mountains. I thought being close to summer there wouldn’t be much snow about – maybe a small patch we could play in for 10 minutes or so.

But how wrong I was! There was snow and plenty of it.

The Rockies are stunning.

One hour out of Denver and we’re 3500m above sea level. When we reached the Continental Divide marker at Loveland Pass it started actually snowing. It was magical. This was a first for Jane – she danced around the snow like a little girl.

It was strange to think on Friday we were standing in the middle of the desert in Arizona and on Sunday we’re on top on the Rocky Mountains while its snowing.

We  continued on to Keystone and Mt Evans. The scenery was spectacular. The road up to Mt Evans is the highest road in North America. It was still closed because of the snow.

We returned back to Denver for another Lara Barker home cooked meal and we toasted marshmallows and made s’mores on the back deck.

What a day. Thanks so much to Mike and Lara and their girls for inviting us. It really was a fantastic weekend.

I hope we can make it back there one day and maybe go skiing.

My thoughts on Las Vegas…

Its strange ; its unique ; its fun ; its tiring ; its full-on

There’s something in Vegas for everyone. The whole place is geared for entertainment. So whatever your pleasure, you can find it there … well except maybe a beach.

Some standout points:

• Casinos are all smokey. It can be hard to stand for a non-smoker
• Its hot outside.
• Everyone walks around drinking frozen cocktails or large cans of beer.
• All the girls seem to have big boobs
• Slot machines are everywhere – even in the airport
• Starbucks drinks are more expensive on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays

 

Las Vegas Monorail

Don’t bother with the Monorail. It doesn’t really get you anywhere interesting. It runs North – South up and down the back of the hotels on the East side of the strip. Good for some hotels – not that great for most.

MGM Grand hotel

We stayed at the MGM Grand hotel. Everything about the hotel is indeed grand.

It’s like a small city. Lots of restaurants, bars, shops, theaters and of a big casino. We often found ourselves lost. Trying to find the lift lobby or the exit was a challenge everyday. Quite often after a long day of walking the strip, we’d see the hotel entrance and think “we’re home, thank goodness we can rest.” No… it takes another ten minutes to get to our room!

One thing we didn’t like was the lack of roulette tables in the casino. Americans seem to love craps. The roulette tables that were there started at $10 minimum bets. I little pricey for us. We play a half mechanical / half computerised version, but the minimum bet was still $5. We found later a similar machine at the SLS casino that accepted a 25c minimum bet. We stayed there over an hour and got drunk on the free drinks.

The hotel was great. I would stay there again.

Penn & Teller

We saw the Penn & Teller show on Tuesday. That was awesome. See previous blog entry.

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon tour was the highlight of the holiday so far. See previous blog entry.

Pin up Burlesque

On our last night we went to see the Pin up Burlesque show at the Stratosphere theater.It was good without being spectacular.

It featured Playboy’s 2011 playmate of the year Claire Sinclair.

It consisted of some rockabilly songs with dancing from 4 girls and a guy. The Band and Singer were great. The singing numbers with dotted with Claire doing various strip teases showing most of her stunning body. It stopped short of being dirty though. She kept her g-string and pasties on. Still quite sexy though.

The meet and greet after the show was disappointing. The whole cast came out, but we were not allowed to take personal photos. We decided against the “meet”

 

Our last day in Vegas was the most memorable (so far).

We took a helicopter tour to the Grand Canyon. I have always dreamed to see it from an early age.

We were not disappointed – It’s simply breathtaking.

We booked the 3.5 hour trip with Sundance Helicopters. It wasn’t cheap at $450 USD ($600 AUD) each – but I just had to do it.

The tour included pick up from the hotel in a stretch limo (la de dah). Helicopter flight over Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, over and into the canyon itself. We landed on a ledge about half way up the canyon wall for 30 minutes photos and lunch. Then back on the helicopter back though the canyon and over to the “Valley of Fire“, with its red rock formations. Before going to the airport the pilot flew us down the Las Vegas  “strip”.

Check out the photos – they don’t it justice (even with my great photography skills).

Wednesday night we saw the Penn & Teller show at the Rio Hotel.

I’m a big fan – I’ve always wanted to see them live. They didn’t disappoint – it’s a great show.

We got there early and found our seats – about 10 rows back. There was a barrel and crate on the stage already. The guy doing the pre-show music invited everyone to come up onto the stage and inspect the items. We did that – they seemed solid with no obvious “trap doors”.

When the show started – Teller appeared from inside the crate!

I bought a souvenir cup with a “signature” cocktail called “liquid magic”. A green (very) sweet concoction. At $18 it was an extravagance.

The show went for an hour and a half. All great tricks and entertainment.

The finale was making an elephant disappear. It wasn’t really and elephant, it was a cow dressed up as an “Spotted Pygmy Elephant”. Impressive none the less.

 

The guys did a meet and greet after the show. We were lucky enough to have some photos with them.

I thoroughly recommend seeing this show when in Vegas.

Phew what a day!

Sacramento > San Francisco > Los Angeles > Las Vegas

We started in Sacramento at 4am and arrived in Las Vegas about 5pm.

We had to get up early for a 8.30am flight to LA. First we had to drive from Sacramento to San Francisco.

Thanks again to Zelle and Dave for getting us up early and driving the two hour journey. Then we caught the United Airlines flight to LA and arrived at 10am.

Then the excitement kicked up a gear. We picked up a Mustang Convertible for a  self drive to Las Vegas.

I was very nervous about driving. There was a number of firsts for me:

• First time hiring a car
• First time driving in another country
• First time driving a left hand drive
• First time driving a convertible

First we had to negotiate the LA freeways. Getting in the right lane for the exits was the key. I missed a few exits (blame navigator Jane). The GPS got us back on track though.

Once we left the busy freeways and got on the open road my confidence grew. I started changing lanes and overtaking the people driving non-convertible non-sports cars. Suckers!

I was surprised how fast people drive here. The speed limit for the freeways in 65mph (105kph). Most people were going faster than that. I was told to keep up with the traffic and found myself doing 80mph (129kph) most of the way. Once, when the traffic was clear, I pushed it and brought up the ton. 🙂

The landscape and climate changed quite considerably in the 420km trip. LA was quite cool and overcast. The landscape changed from urban to hills then to barren desert.

Thanks to Courtney Griffin from Flight Centre, Galleria for organising the car and hotel in Vegas.

I loved the trip. Driving was great fun. I was exhausted by the time we reached Vegas though. That didn’t stop us going out onto the “strip” that night.

More about Las Vegas later.

Sunday we (Dave) drove to Yosemite. A lifelong dream of mine fulfilled.

It’s simply stunning.

I don’t have many words to describe it. Just look at the photos

We were quite lucky with the weather. Even though it was a bit drizzly and cold the park was open and visibility was OK. We couldn’t see the half dome because it was in the clouds, but there was lots of water falls.

The three hour drive from Sacramento was good too. Lots of changing landscapes – from flat farm lands to steep and windy alpine roads.

What a fantastic day!