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Viva Las Vegas

10 May , 2011 1 Comment Image Post

After leaving Flagstaff and driving endlessly across what was a rather green looking desert (recent rainfall had transformed it), we arrived at the Hoover Dam which straddles the border between Nevada and Arizona, and also two different time zones (except in Daylight Savings Time).

We carried on through Boulder City into Las Vegas and after some hectic city driving and several wrong turns we arrived at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino and had our car valet parked. When we checked in we were upgraded free of charge to one of the larger luxury rooms with a view of the strip which was nice.

Las Vegas is an amazingly wonderful and daunting place, and I think one of the best ways I’ve heard it described is that it is like Disneyland for adults, and it couldn’t be closer to the mark. Everything is over sized and larger than life. We went into an M&M’s store which had over 4 large floors of merchandise dedicated to the chocolate candy’s!

We decided when we arrived to purchase a Buffet of Buffets wristband for $49.99 each which would give us 24 hours access to 7 buffet restaurants on the strip which turned out to be very worthwhile as we had dinner, breakfast, lunch and dinner which would of cost us $120 each which I would highly recommend anyone visiting Vegas does as things are quite pricey here.

On our second night we checked into the New York New York where we had booked the Marquis Suite which included a lounge area and hot tub for less then the price of a basic hotel room back home, with a view of the roller coaster which snakes in and out of the casino.

We did gamble a little bit of money, but only on the slot machines. I put $1 in and instantly won $10! I continued to lose and then win, but $20 later (this was my limit) I had lost more than I won and called it quits, the house always wins after all.

Tomorrow we are heading to the ‘City of Angels’ Los Angeles and staying in Hollywood for 2 nights.

P.S. While it wad very tempting, we didn’t elope to one of the many chapels scattered around the city!

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Cheddar gorge eat your heart out!

08 May , 2011 1 Comment Image Post

Today we visited… you guessed it! The Grand Canyon.

After a drive down the longest straightest road yet, we arrived at the Grand Canyon National Park. As we walked over to the rim of the Canyon I noticed the large amount of Japanese tourists, previously we haven’t really seen many tourists that weren’t amercian as Route 66 isn’t a massively popular trip for Europeans it turns out. When we first looked out over the canyon I couldn’t believe how vast it is, pictures just can’t show the sheer size and depth. In places it is over a mile from the rim of the Canyon to the Colorado River which flows through it’s centre.

The river itself is barely visible due to the steep sides of the canyon walls which hide it in all but one small spot. One thing that struck me was that it almost didn’t look real, like a painting, until I looked over the edge and saw the massive drop below me!

After we had taken in the sights and snapped lots of pictures we decided to stop off in a wildlife park called Bearizonia which is basically like Longleat but with more exotic animals including Black Bears, baby ones at that.

Tomorrow we head to Las Vegas via Peach Springs which is technically our last Route 66 stop (ignore my post from yesterday!) and is also the inspiration for Radiator Springs from the Disney Pixar movie cars, which as you may already know was our inspiration for booking this trip in the first place!

See you in Vegas!

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Get off your horse and drink your milk

07 May , 2011 1 Comment Image Post

For those of you who have never seen a Western, the title of this blog is a famous quote by John Wayne, and reflects the last 2 days of our trip which have been crossing the desert through Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

After we left Amarillo we passed through Albuquerque and stopped off for our first Taco Bell. I can honestly say I’m not massively fussed about the Tacos, but the Quesadillas and Burritos are amazing and I can only hope that they continue to expand across the UK from the 2 locations they have at the moment. I love the city of Albuquerque, its modern and retro at the same time and the city has clearly spent a lot of time and money ensuring its beauty is top notch. Everything is decorated with traditional Mexican artwork and even the bus stops have neon signs on them (Google Albuquerque Rapid Ride).

We stopped over for one night in Tucumcari, New Mexico which is a small town that was once a thriving stopover for weary travellers, but since the Interstate opened a lot of its businesses disappeared. One that remains is the Blue Swallow Motel run by Terri and Bill, it is one of the more famous icons along the Mother Road which at night is completely illuminated in blue, red and green neons.

We arrived in Holbrook Arizona which is a small town that is literally in the middle of nowhere with nothing but desert through to the horizon. The next day we setup off for two side trips, and I found out that it is possible to stall an automatic car!

Our first side trip was to the Petrified Forest National Park which is a forest of trees that have been turned into rock (but they still look like tree trunks) all within the amazing setting which is the painted desert (see the latest pictures on the flickr feed). The second side trip was to Meteor Crater, a giant hole in the middle of the desert caused by a meteorite impacting earth 50,000 years ago.

We have arrived at our final destination on Route 66 (excluding Santa Monica which we will be visiting in Los Angeles next week), as from Flagstaff Arizona which is our current locaiton, we will be heading to the Grand Canyon and onto Las Vegas missing out the California section of Historic Route 66.

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Happy Cinco de Mayo!

06 May , 2011 3 Comments Image Post

I thought I would give Matt the night off and have a go at writing my first ever blog. So instead of old petrol stations and railway bridges you can get an idea of the exciting things on Route 66 from my point of view!

Today we drove from Tucumcari, New Mexico to Holbrook, Arizona mainly on the I-40 because Mapquest said it would have taken 19 hours to drive the old Route 66!

Although we have spent most of the day on the interstate we have seen some exciting things, here are my highlights.

We saw three of those mini tornados that churn up all the dust and sand – Matt kept calling them dust devils? They’re quite exciting but we definitely don’t want to see any other kind of tornados!

Travelling through New Mexico into Arizona there are more and more “authentic Indian villages” which sound so exciting, until you get there and realise it’s a gift shop – not a wig wam in site! Anyway, we’ve visited a few of them now and I’ve become obsessed with moccasins! I’m still holding out hope of finding an authentic Indian Village though.

Arriving in Arizona we stopped off at the Arizona Visitor Welcome Centre, which was really nice. It’s located in the mountains (or mesa’s) with fantastic views, there are prairie dogs – they’re amazing and it has some more of those Indian gift shops (with wig wams!) but what stood out most for me was the sign “poisonous snakes and insects inhabit the area” no more flip flops for me!!

Today is Cinco de Mayo, Its an American holiday as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride. It was the perfect time to start the day in New Mexico. Happy Cinco de Mayo!

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