TravelStream™ news feed for member franseninge on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/franseninge en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:48:09 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1216364400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1216364400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1216364400/tpod.html Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:48:09 -0400 West USA July 2008

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Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

18 and 19 July from Las Vegas - Atlanta - Amsterdam

25°C/77°F in the night to -35°C/-31°F in the afternoon to 17°C/62°F at night what is in the morning in Amsterdam

I have been awake every on the hour. That was not frequently because we were only given 3 hours of sleep. So at 03.00 I got up, dressed and silently started to pack our stuff. After 15 minutes I see a sign of life at Frans, so instead of waiting till the alarm clock wakes him at 03.30, I woke him up very carefully. When he remembered who and where he is, he took a shower. After he was also ready, we packed our last luggage and at 03.45 we checked out.

At Planet Hollywood you can choose to park your car yourself but you will have to walk a serious distance from the parking lot to the entrance.Another option is to have your car parked (valet parking) and we did choose for valet parking (free btw). We delivered our ticket and 10 minutes later our car was driven to the entrance. Our navigation system Tomtom was not entirely certainly of the route, so we followed the signs above the streets to McCarren airport.

Returning the car at Alamo's goes very fast and easy, so within no-time we are on our way to Delta airways by shuttle bus. Because yesterday online checking in unfortunately didn't succeed, we have been condemned to a waiting line of 30 minutes. At 06.00 we walk to our departure gate where we will leave from at 07.00. We haven't had breakfast yet, so we buy a sandwich on the way to the gate. Unfortunately there are not many chairs where you just can sit except for the chairs behind the slot machines.(Even on the airport they try to take your last money! ) This breakfast would have costs us $ 10 more on gambling, but we play even, no cash is lost and we have a seat to eat.

Between Las Vegas and Atlanta we lost 3 hours, so after 4 hours flying we didnt arrive at 11.00 but 14.00 o'clock on Atlanta airport. There we had 3 hours to spent before we go further. And of course Atlanta airport has shops and restaurants, so time went by fast and a little later than scheduled, at a quarter to six we took off for the second flight, from Atlanta to Amsterdam.

This flight of more than 7000 kilometers goes by in less than 8 hours, less than we had expected. Unfortunately also the food was less than expected. On our flight from Amsterdam to New York, more than two weeks ago, we were pleasantly surprised by the tasteful food, but at this flight the food is more plane-food as we remembered from flights with other companies.

The breakfast is completed with black fluid that causes tears in our eyes, remembering Starbucks! But the seats are once again fairly wide and comfortable and we can look at recent movies such as Bucketlist and Cloverfield. Between Atlanta and Amsterdam we are strongly building on our jetlag, the time-difference will be 9 hours.

At eight in the morning on the 19th of July we arrive in Amsterdam, in Atlanta it is still 2 o'clock in the middle of the night and in Las Vegas 23.00 on the 17th of July.

It is cold and wet in Amsterdam. Thereby the melancholic feeling of the end of this fantastic vacation takes over. We think back of the places we visited, thinking about the beautiful nature, the lively cities, eating steaks and fudge, drinking White Chocolate Mocha and White Zinfandel, the sun, the nice weather, all things which have contributed to a splendid memory. We drove to Dordrecht, our own town, and the coming days and weeks the cats, family, the neighbors/friends/colleague and everyone who will listen or read, we will annoy with our nostalgic stories.

Fortunately we do have pictures, video and now this blog too, to keep our memories alive.

We loved our vacation, we will return to this part of America and will enjoy all of its fantastic things again!


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Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

17 July, Las Vegas

Sunny 35°C/95°F in the morning to a little cloudy in the afternoon.

Really slept late, untill nine o'clock! We woke up on the day of our weddinganniversary and at 10.00 we line up for the breakfast buffet in PH. This buffet has been chosen last year as the best buffet of Las Vegas and it deserved that! There's a lot of choice and everything is very tasteful. Like already on so many occasions, I also have a discount coupon for this buffet and so we ate for $10 pp a lot of really good food.

After breakfast we went direction to Bally's to take the monorail, this time to the north. We get off at Las Vegas Hilton. As soon as you enter the hotel from the direction of the monorail, you know that you are at the Star Trek Experience. Everything on this location of the casino/hotel is dominated by Star Trek, also the gambling machines of this part of the casino. Again, for Star Trek we had discount coupons and these were good for a 20% discount on our tickets to access the museum, the 4D show Borg Encounter and the Klingon Ride. With 2 persons we paid $ 83 total incl. tax (without discount it was more than $100). It is quiet an amount, but really worth it! The people of the Hilton do more than just take you to your seat, they really make a little show of it. When you leave the 4D or the ride, of course you must enter a shop with all kinds of merchandise before you can leave the casino and Frans had his photo taken to let himself transform into an alien, they made a great print of it too !

After our Star Trek experience we went back to the monorail and get off at Harah's. From Harah's we walked through the Venetian and Treasure Island to the Fashion show Mall. It is a cruel sun and 35°C/95°F, so very warm, no wind. As we arrive at Fashion show Mall we start with an icecoffee, of course WCM at Starbucks.

In the Fashion show Mall are shops of the well-known chains such as Macy's, Neimann-Markus and also a lot of small shops but it does not have the charm of Union Square in San Francisco or the bargains of Premium Outlet stores in Las Vegas, so we walked through it without buying and we wouldn't visit it again if we were in Las Vegas.

We thought it was too warm to walk back to the monorail at Harah's so we took the 'Deuce' to our hotel. The Deuce is a kind of shuttle bus that costs $2 pp one way, it has stops in front of most of the hotels. Also for this you can take day tickets which is cheaper if you would use the this transport for several trips, but because we already have a day ticket for the monorail, this was just a one-time experience.

We freshen up in our hotel and went to the other side of the boulevard, to Tropicana. We made a trip this morning to the future with Star Trek, now we return to the past: April 1912. In Tropicana is an exhibition about the Titanic. For $ 30 pp we go back in time by visiting this impressive artifact exhibition. Not only are there real original object with their associated stories about the passengers but also a number of re-creations as the Grand Staircase and the wreck of the Titanic like it is still lying on the bottom of the North Atlantic. It places the objects in a particular mood.

After this remarkable experience we walk to the monorail at MGM but unfortunately we arrived 3 minutes too late. Our 24-uurs ticket has passed, so we took a walk on the boulevard back.
Because the breakfast buffet at PH was very good, we showed again a discount coupon and had dinner here. We were not disappointed, not at all! We were surprises by the variety of many different kitchens, American, asian, Italian and more and the quality is very good!




After dinner we reached a difficult point of the vacation; to pack our luggage together for the journey home! I was so glad that we had taken along an extra empty back pack and that we bought the extra trolley,we collected a lot of stuff during this holiday! I asked Frans to let me do the packing alone. Our room has view on the Bellagio fountains, so he finds it no problem and the next 1 ½ - 2 hours he nicely viewed shows from his lazy armchair. This was also the time that I needed to pack up everything! We have never had so much stuff before :D




After packing we went down to the casino, became A-member of the players club of Planet Hollywood and armed with a new pass we throw $ 20 in a slot machine. Planet Hollywood complete this with $10 more, but unfortunately it didn't lead to profit. At this moment we had lost 1 $ in this complete holiday, not a bad result considering that we had gambled in the major gambling city of the world!

Again we have had a great day. In our room we looked at the last fountain show of the day at Bellagio, which was also our last show of this vacation and at midnight we turned out the lights. We had about 3 ½ hour to sleep!

Driven with the car today: 0 mile, but walked for miles!!

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1218888000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1218888000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1218888000/tpod.html Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:14:43 -0400 West USA July 2008

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Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

16 July, from St. George to Las Vegas

Sunny 35°C/95°F in the morning and the same temperature but with 2 drops of rain in the afternoon.

Today a little more sleeping 'till half past eight. It is only a short ride today therefore we go direct on to the I15. We pass a time border again and at 10.00 o'clock we are already in Las Vegas.

First a coffee at Starbucks and then checking in at Planet Hollywood (PH). We go upstairs to examine our wonderful room. Really a beautiful room!. Bathroom has a separate space with toilet, separate shower space and a generous bad. The room has a Bruce Willis theme and has been funned up with things from his movie The Jackall. Both the bed and the TV are large. But the most beautiful item of the room is the view on the fountains of the Bellagio!

After we inspected our room we went to have lunch in PH and after this we continued to the shopping area, the onemileshops. Like when we were in Treasure Island we also received discount coupons in PH for both the restaurants as for the shops. We have to pick these up and after we did so, we left PH and walked on to the Las Vegas Boulevard, direction South.


We come along several small shops where they sell typical tourists "trash". Since some of my colleagues have become parents recently, I can buy here all kinds of baby t-shirts! In the Showcase Frans has to recover from all this shopping and that goes very well in a water massage. This thing looks like a sandwich maker closes you in, except for your head, with your clothes on, and as you are protected by a plastic shield, water jets give you the massage. It is really good for the mussels so energetic we continued our way to the near located M&M's World. Incredibly what you can get in the field of M&M's.

At MGM we have to take of course a look at the Lion habitat where two lionesses on age (around 9 years) let themselves half sleepy, pet by their attendants. The restaurants at MGM look very good to us. We take a 24 hours monorail ticket and return to our hotel for a little bit freshen up. The monorail stops at Bally's, from where it is only a small distance bit to PH. Freshened and dressed up we take the monorail back to MGM and enter at Blue Sea. It proves to be a restaurant of Michael Mina. Someone we don't know but who we won't forget either because he is probably the one who has something to do with the delicious food here. Everything is very good, tasteful, delicious, also the cheesecake parfait which I took as dessert, melts on my tongue and I won't forget this treat quickly !


With our bellies stuffed, we walk through Tropicana to Excalibur. The theme of this hotel/casino is kind of Merlin the wizard in the castle of Arthur, very nice, especially for children, a little less for us, therefore we go to something more adult like; New York, New York. Because my heart is after recent treatment not ready yet for the roller coaster we don't do the ride. Frans, who hasn't had heart problems, or any medical problems at all for that matter, actually was looking forward to do it but didn't want to leave me alone, so he was a little sad. But sadness can easily be taken away at Coyote Ugly, so we went for a Margarita.

With our cocktails we decide to do our first gambling attempts of this evening in this casino. We get in roughly with $20 but discovered already fast that our financial luck does not lie here.

We walked through the Monte Carlo and after that we tried our fortune at the Bellagio. First we went to see the beautiful flower garden of Bellagio. Here was, among other flowery things, a miniature of the hotel with the fountains that were actually working !. At the slot machines we learned very fast that this casino saves the financial luck for others.


In the meantime it has become midnight, officially it was the 17th of July and we had our one year wedding anniversary! After a hug and a kiss we went to our own hotel, Planet Hollywood for the last gambling attempt. We got to the conclusion that we will have to have it from love instead of money.
Somewhere round half past one this long day stopped.

From Saint George to Las Vegas only 130 miles.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1218801600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1218801600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1218801600/tpod.html Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:15:21 -0400 West USA July 2008

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Zion National Park, Utah, United States

15 July, from Page to Zion

30°C/86°F in Page to 35°C/95°F in Zion, sunny day till st. George, there cloudy

This morning a little later than usual, we stood up at 07.30. Everything packed and near the hotel we took a breakfast in a type of steakhouse of which I unfortunately forgot the name of. The ladies were very kind, the pancakes were nice, very large and above that not expensive. I didn't know how big they would be as I ordered, so optimistically I ordered two pancakes. The pancakes were served and turned out to be as large as the plate underneath them, they were also thick and tasty. I tried very hard but after one pancake I couldn't eat anymore. My husband is a good sport, so after he finished his own omelet, who wasn't childish either, he worked himself bravely through the second pancake! So with very full stomachs we went on our way.

At the end of Glen Canyon dam we briefly parked the car and took a walk across the dam. Less large than Hoover dam but still very impressive and moreover, a beautiful view on what you could call the gate of the Grand Canyon. When you stand on the dam, facing the Colorado river at your right you see the part what later becomes the South Rim and at the left what later will be called the North Rim.

Refueled in Wayweap Marina, from there we enjoy the view at Lake Powel, which is very beautiful especially because of its deep blue color. In Kanab we took a stop at Denny's wigwam & Curio (not to be mistaken by the restaurant chain Denny's). Since our luggage in a strange manner had increased in the previous weeks, we needed something to transport this extra luggage in. So we bought a nice trolley. But at Denny's they also sell homemade fudge! I first got to know about fudge at the outlet stores in Las Vegas and the fudge which we bought there, of course was already gone. With great difficultly we could restrict ourselves to choose 5 different tastes, but at least we had some supply again!

At half past twelve we arrived in Zion National park. We wonder ourselves again how it is possible that the different parks and areas in this part of the country, are so different. The rocks are differently of form and the colors are different and beautiful again! It was quiet, not many visitors, so we could park inside the park at the Visitors Center and from there take the shuttle further into the park. First we took a small lunch followed by a nice walk.





We made the walk to Lower Emerald Lake. This is an easy, short trail that took us about an hour in total. Unfortunately the melting water was less than in Yosemity therefore the water that came down from the rock was not really impressive, but it was a nice walk. The sun was shining and the temperature was high, so after the walk we cooled down with an ice cream. An enormous ice cream! Large, tasteful and cold! Relaxing under the trees, sitting in the grass, enjoying the view. After wards we viewed the park from the shuttle. There are still enough other possibilities for walks but we had a lack of energy and the places where the shuttle comes along, are also very beautiful. At Visitors Center we finally picked up the car and at half past four we drove out of the park.

An hour later we arrived we in Saint George at our Best Bestern hotel the Travel Inn on 316 E Saint George boulevard. Maybe we just were lucky but we feel that this hotel knows how it works. The lady at the reception is very kind and provides us with all kinds of information on diner possibilities. The room has been nicely decorated, not with standard hotel material but warm colors and modern, but warm material. The television is large and everything have been made excellent clean. Typically a hotel where you get more value for your money.

It appears that we passed again a time border today, therefore it is an hour later. We freshen up and drive up to the mountain to have dinner at Steakhouse Rococo. It lies near the airport on the edge of a mountain and the view is spectacular. Unfortunately, there was exactly that day a small problem with the alcohol license, therefore the steak we ordered had to be accompanied by water and Coca-Cola. Again unfortunately, the ordered baked mushrooms were not available, therefore the steak came dressed up with onions. The dessert was okay but for coffee we didn't want to take any risk and so we went to the nearest Starbucks.
The day concluded traditionally with looking photographs, video and drinking wine.

Beautiful ride of 157 miles.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1218715200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1218715200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1218715200/tpod.html Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:06:05 -0400 West USA July 2008

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Page, Arizona, United States

14 July, from Monument Valley to Page
3
0°C/86°F partly clouded in monument Valley to 35°C/95°F in sunny Page

We have slept late, till 08.00. At this hotel a warm breakfast is inclusive. This is for the first time that we experience that during this vacation. So far we have skipped all complimentary breakfast, but here they serve small omelets and little burgers, very good to eat.

At 09.00 we drive for a short while, approximately 20 minutes, before we arrive at Monument Valley. There are many tours offered in 4x4 cars, but we decide to drive the unpaved road ourselves. It is strange to drive here. This landscape is so familiar from movies and ads, the scenes, but driving between the mittens is so much more impressive and more beautiful. We drive the route and stop at places to enjoy the views and have our photographs taken. At one of these stops we get companionship of small mouse-like creatures. They are extremely busy and run from bush to bush, in the meantime jumping and hopping. They are so small and light that they can stand on the top of a little bush to look around if there is any danger threatening them. 2 and a half hour later we plough through loose sand and stones to leave Monument Valley and return to Kayenta.

There we made time for a lunch, a Mc-lunch to be specific and then continue with high speed to Page, at least according to the terms of officer J. Cirosen and he is right. We drove 72 where we only were allowed 65 mh. Frans, for all clarity, the driver at that moment, tried to talk a few miles of but the result remains the same: an official written warning for violating speed limits. Within the permitted speed limit we now drive the remaining miles to Page. Here we found the Antelope Canyons.


We can choose from a quiet walk through Upper Canyon or a wilder trip through Lower Canyon. Given our driving style we choose what suites us, the little more adventures Lower Canyon. We pay $ 26pp and disappear under the ground. Through a narrow gap in the ground we reach several stairs that lead further and further into the gap, it is really breathtaking beautiful! As we go deeper it becomes narrower. On some spots the sun reaches the floor and lights up the colors of the red/orange walls which are sharpened by water and wind. It is absolutely a wonderful spot that cannot be skipped when you are in the area ! About an hour and a half later we climb out of this slot canyon and continued further to Page.





In Page we visit a supermarket, we want to do some shopping like water and wine. At the entrance of this supermarket is a Starbucks where I ordered one cold and one hot WCM. Really pleasant and very kind people here; whatever I say, whatever I try, they let me just pay for 1 coffee, even though we really had two. We bought the water, took along some wine, vanilla coffee beans and vanilla creamer (unfortunately I haven't found vanilla coffee cream in the Netherlands) and went to our hotel.

It is a Best Western, Arizona Inn, but it is the least good Best Western hotel that we have seen so far. The rooms are clean and there is a bed, but that is everything there is to be said about it. Positive is that the washing and drying machines in this hotel don't have a line of people waiting for it! So in the time we took the shower, our shirts, socks and underwear get clean and dry. After this necessary non-vacation-like action it is time for diner.

The staff of our hotel recommended Ken's Steakhouse and they were very right to do so. The fillet mignon and after wards the cheesecake are delicious. Only the tipping system in America is still very strange to us. Unasked for, the bill was including a 18% tip and as a result of a counting error, the total amount of the food was also $15 too high....In our country the customer decides how much tip is given, depending on the provided service and quality of the food. But, fair is fair, the diner was very good and again,we had a lovely day.

Nice distance driven: 172 miles.

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Kayenta, Arizona, United States

13 July, from Grand Canyon to monument Valley

30°C/86°F partly clouded

We almost wake up around the same time every day, this morning at 06.30. At 07.00 we enjoy breakfast in our hotel. The quantity is approximately 1/3 of the breakfast of yesterday, quality is approximately ½. But the omelets aren't bad. We get our stuff packed together and then off to Grand Canyon Airport!

This is one of the things we were looking forward to for months. First we hang around in the shop, watch the instruction video and then finally we walk outside to the helicopters of Papillon. The 1st heli which stood ready for us, appeared not to be so ready after all, it has a defect, so we have to wait a little longer for a new helicopter. We are just glad that they found the defect while the heli still was on the ground, in the air it would have been less pleasant! The diet which I did before this vacation has unexpected side effects besides losing weight. I am the lightest of all the passengers and because of this I can sit in the front next to Steve, our pilot. This spot is really, really good! I can look outside on all sides; left, right, above and even at my feet is a window.

The first part of the flight is above land, forest and then suddenly the ground is gone ...... Then you fly in and through the Grand Canyon. We fly over both the South and North rim, we see the Colorado river in all kinds of colors under us,even some rafters can be spotted. The flight lasts approximately one hour and it is not to explain in words how nice and impressive this piece of nature is. After the flight we are excited and loaded with adrenaline. Not to calm down but just because we like it, we take coffee to recover and afterwards we drive into the national park Grand Canyon.



We drive approximately one hour within the official park entrances and make a couple of stops along the route, but the view from the helicopter remains ofcourse the most beautiful. Except for one stop just outside the official park. Of course this still is Grand Canyon but this stop is just some miles outside the paid area. It is more quietly here. At the small parking lot are a number of tables where Indians sell their goods, mainly jewels. After a small walk we suddenly found ourselves at an edge, 1000 feet above the canyon! No protective fens! My fear of altitude is knee-weakening but what an impressive view.








When we walked back to the car, Frans spots a snake. She is beautiful and warns us nicely to back off by sizzling with her tong. We let her win this fight (of course we let her; she looks like an Arizona rattlesnake!) and leave her alone.

Around a quarter to three we find ourselves in a teeny-weeny village, Cameron. Here we have lunch just before we follow highway 160 to Kayenta. It seems as if I write everywhere the same, but we experience this route again as beautiful! In the distance it rains and it thunders above the mountains. The colors in the air are strange. Around four we arrive at our hotel Hampton Inn but it proves to be that we crossed a time border somewhere today and here it is already five o'clock. It is no use to drive to Monument Valley now, the sky is cloudy and grey so we decide to make that visit tomorrow.

Freshened up at half past six we enter the small hotel's restaurant. The steaks in the hotel are okay but the cheesecake which we take as dessert is very delicious! For us new and unusual, is that this hotel is on Navajo ground and therefore no alcohol is served. They will have a reason for that so refreshing water joins the dinner. Somewhere after half past eight we take along a cup of coffee from the lobby up to our room. A nice shower, watching our photographs and video of the day and recovering quietly from a exciting day!

Much less than we have driven yesterday: 161 miles today

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1218542400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1218542400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1218542400/tpod.html Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:28:41 -0400 West USA July 2008

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Tusayan, Arizona, United States

12 July, from Las Vega$ to Grand Canyon

30°C/86°F sunny in the morning, later 30°C/86°F but clowdy with rain

About half past six we woke up and quietly packed our bags. At 07.00 we took the time to enjoy our breakfast of Treasure Island. It took us about an hour and then we were on the road again.

At half past nine we arrived at Hoover dam.It seemes not so large from a distance, but as we approached it, it got bigger and bigger and proved to be a impressive piece of work! For $7 we parked our car in the first parking we encountered. This turned out not to be necessary. If we had wanted to spent more time on Hoover dam, and for example had taken an excursion, it would be a good solution where the car wouldn't be in the sun, but as we just stopped for a short walk to the dam, we better had driven just at the real beginning of the dam where there is, on the left side, a small parking place for free. But seeing the dam itself is spectacular, therefore worth to park, either short or long. Especially the enormous altitude which you can feel in your nerves when you look down from the top. We walked around for half an hour before we drove further.




About half past eleven we came by a town called Kingsman. At this point we leave the highway and turn on to Route 66. Route 66 follows the same route as the highway but it is nevertheless a bit more nostalgic and a very nice route to drive. A nice spot on the route is a shop called Hackberry store, where we arrived after driving for about 15 minutes on Route 66. The shop is located in nowhere and is entirely filled with old carstuff and things beyond your imagination. Both in and outside, all kinds of memories from past times lie, hang or stand in the form of a car, photograph, clothing, all kinds of stuff that was once left behind by people we will never know. We took the time to look around and wanted to buy some icecoffee. My patience and expirationdate of the icecoffee were heavily put to the test because the customer before me and the lady of the shop took their time to share personal and no need to know rubbish about themselves with each other, other then this agravation, this shop is worth a visit!




We continued Route 66 and arrive at 15.00 in Tusayan. We checked in and because it is, however, warm but also very rainy weather with thunders over the canyon, we decide to relax a little in our room at the Quality Inn & Suites. We have a large room, but the bed which is supposed to be a king size, made itself small by looking like a queen size. To be sure I contact the reception if they are certain that this room has a king size bed. This bed has the size wich we have got used to as a Queen size, but according to the hotel it is really a king-size?!.

We go to the local steakhouse and must admit that although the steak is okay the ambiance is a little less. It is very busy, noisy and the tables appear very close to each other.

After eating we went to the Imax theatre beside the hotel. Here we watch for $12,50 pp the film about the Grand Canyon, and that was the money entirely worth, beautiful views of the Canyon packed into a tale about the discovery of the Canyon! Forget the tale and only enjoy the views!
At our room we watched a less impressive but nice film and close the day with a wine....or two ;-)

We drove a large distance today: 294 miles.

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Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

11 July, Las Vega$

Sunny 35°C/95°F

Today we have a complete day to spend in Vegas. We want to sleep a little bit more so it is already half pas eight as we wake up, we feel fresh and energetic. In the hotel we first have some breakfast. When we checked in yesterday, we received several discount coupons and these have proven to be real moneysavers.

In the Netherlands we had already got information about the premium outlet stores and we already had some discount coupons for shops here (become VIP member at www.premiumoutlet.com) so we thought it was a nice morning to spent shopping. That has succeeded very well! The dollar is low in compare to the euro and outlet in America means really outlet. The Levis jeans which in the Netherlands can cost € 80 or more, are here for sale at $ 30 (against rate of today €20). So we replaced our jeans! Also at Armani it was just too easy to succeed and there were a number of other shops with clothing, shoes and lingerie were we did good business. Something I didn't know yet, but what Frans already knew and what you can buy here is Fudge. Fudge is toffee like, caramel like stuff and delicious! Frans has bought a considerable piece where we can nibble of the coming days. The time has gone more rapidly than we expected and it was already four o'clock when we finally finish shopping and went back to the hotel.

Treasure Island has an excellent Steakhouse. It has a warm, beautiful ambiance and moreover the food is very, very good! With the diner comes also a piece of bread, especially this bread is very tasty and has bit of a wallnut flavour !

After diner we went to explore the Venetian. This is also such a beautiful hotel. Seeing the San Marco square, the Rialto bridge and the gondolas in the canals you could easily believe you are really in venice itself, there's also a nice food square. In this casino our luck began! I found a $5 bill.


After our visit to this beautifully reproduced piece of Italy we took a taxi to Fremont for the Fremont Street Experience, a lightshow build out of more than 12 million lightbulbs. We had hoped for the Queen show, but unfortunately we didn't saw that one. Next time we will look it up in advance on www.vegasexperience.com, where they publish the shows for that evening. One of the shows which we did saw was the American Pie and this one also brings a certain mood into the streets. This part of Las Vegas is very different from the strip. The live music, the show, the atmosphere is different. We killed the time between the shows in the casino. We did not intend to gamble a lot but we liked it just to play a little and so $1 became $ 80, not enough to quit working, but nevertheless fun to win.




From Fremont we took a taxi back to Treasure Island where we finished this day with a cocktail drink, frozen margarita's and pina colada. Nice closure of a beautifull day.

Nevertheless still 10 miles driven.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1218369600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1218369600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1218369600/tpod.html Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:56:24 -0400 West USA July 2008

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Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

10 July, from Death Valley to Las Vega$

30°C/86°F in the morning 53°C/128°F in the afternoon , sunny day

We set the alarm this morning at 05.00 so we could visit some places in Death Valley before it was getting to hot. We got our things together, checked out and drove away, continuing highway 190 to Badwater. At Furnace Creek we took the Badwater Road. Only yesterday morning we were at the highest point of America, mt Whitney, today at Badwater we find ourselves on the lowest point of this country. It is more a spring that dried out for the largest part. Because of this, its salt crystals create a strange landscape.

From Badwater we drove back to Furnace Creek and on the way we took a small d-tour, the one-way road through Artist Drive. This drive between hills shows rocks with a lot of different colors caused by the many sorts of minerals. Complete hills have different colors but also layers in the same hill have several colors. So one hill can exist from pink, red, orange, beige, yellow and green layers. The sun is rising from behind the hills of artist drive and it creates all kinds of weired and beautifull shadows all around us, we figured that Artist Drive will be even more beautiful by sunset. But we can see the colors very well and it is very beautiful.



Returned in Furnace Creek it was time for breakfast, so we lined up for the breakfast buffet. Without food we can still come very far, but without coffee we function less, so we took some cups of coffee before we continued to our next and last point within Death Valley, Zabriskie Point. Here you can define the view only as marvelous. Mountains, hills, colors, panoramas, it is all so very beautiful. Meanwhile it has become already very warm again so we decide to leave Death Valley and travel further to Las Vegas.

Our caffeine-level was still a little low so we made a stop at the mall in Pahrump witch of course has a Starbucks that is located in the entrance of a supermarket what we would call a type of mega mega mega XXL, Albert Hein (a large chain of supermarkets in the Netherlands), so after we had our coffee we took a walk in the grocery store. Incredibly how much different brands of the same product they offer here! So much choice.

After this experience, we drive further, to Las Vegas. At 13.00 we stand in line to check in at the Treasure Island hotel. Although it was still early, it was already possible to go to our room. Beautiful room, very nice view on the Strip direction south. We left our stuff behind and went to have lunch in the hotel. In the TV series House, we have heard House talk about the Reuben. We were not familiar with this, so Frans decided to try it. This sandwich with meat, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and dressing is indeed very tasteful!




After the lunch we walked to the neighbour, the Mirage and go into the Secret Garden for $15 pp. In spite of the name and the fact that the Mirage has a nude swimming pool, Secret Garden has nothing to do with this. It is a little garden, divided in two parts. In the first part a number of dolphins are swimming in several pools. Some trainers are telling things about the living en behavior of these beautiful animals. There is also a possibility to see them through a large window that is under water. The nicest dolphin is a dolphin which does not participate at the demonstration. She is playing solo in a separate swimming pool with two enormous toy balls and is very enthousiastic for playing. She throws the balls to the audience with the intention that the people throw the balls back to her, of course this is what happens and she is getting more and more excited. Because this is spontaneous action and very nice to see, she draws the biggest crowd !

In the second part of the garden are the animals who used to perform in the Siegfried and Roy show. S&R stopped with shows some years ago (a one-time show will be given in February 2009), but they still have the garden where their own tigers and lions enjoy their pension, and S&R still has room for new animals. So at this moment they have young tigers. Five cubs, 1 boy and 4 girls. They are all together in an enormous baby room. The attendant plays with them and they have so much toys, it would make many children jealous. The cubs are playing with, but mainly biting each other, they sleep, are fed and are cuddled. They behave exactly the same way our own cats do but a bit rougher!. We love to see it!

After we left the Mirage with a delicious yogurt ice-cream, we went on to our next stop: Ceasars Palace for the forum shops! In an environment like Atlantis with several fountains and statues it is wonderfull to shop. One of the fountains has a show every half hour were the statues come alive. This is nice but maybe even more worth to see is the aquarium what lies back to back with the fountain opposite to the cheesecake factory. The aquarium is not large but the fish inside however are, and they are beautiful!

Elton John is performing in Ceasars soon. Of course he will be there when we are not! but we visit the merchandise store dedicated to him. I put a boa around Frans and like a real bitch he takes place behind the red piano and played me the Song for Guy. It won't mean anything to anyone but to us it was a really funny, memorable moment.

Meanwhile it became seven o'clock and we decided we had to have something to eat. It is diner time so the restaurants are busy with waiting lines, but in the Paris where you really can imagine yourself in the world city in Europe, we find a little, less busy occasion where you can get a good salad. After dining we get ourselves a nice cappuccino in the Bellagio and went out to hang for the Bellagio fountains. We both like this very much and so we stay and hang for a few shows in which the fountains moves beautifully on music.




After a few shows our feet really protest from all that walking and standing and we decide to drag ourselves back to the hotel. During this walk we enjoyed the views of the buildings on the Strip, unreal!. At eleven we returned finally at our room and conclude this day tired with of course white Zinfandel.

Distance from Death Valley to Las Vegas: 190 miles.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1218283200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1218283200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/franseninge/1/1218283200/tpod.html Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:32:37 -0400 West USA July 2008

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Death Valley National Park, California, United States

July 9, from Bishop to Death Valley

Sunny 30°C/86°F-35°C/95°F in the morning and 53°C/128°F in the afternoon

We slept poorly! Frans was awake from 03.30 and I finished sleeping at 04.00. So we killed time by playing Nintendo, reading, watch television, till 05.45, a good time to call my brother. At his place it was 14.45 in the afternoon, so he was very awake too! Afterwards our morning routine and at 06.30 we walked in at Denny's. The biggest advantage of Denny's is, is that it is open 24 hours a day, so they always have a nice breakfast to serve and that is very pleasant when you're already awake for some time. Today I didn't think of calories or diets: pan cakes! Frans, who never thinks of any diet or whatsoever orders French toast with Bacon. After we left Denny's we stopped briefly at Starbucks for a WCM-to-go as we went further south.

We followed highway 395 to Lone Pine were we took a road to the right, direction mt Whitney. Before we made the trip up to the mountain, we just made another small trip to the right, concerning an unpaved road, through an area called Alabama Hills. This is a particular capricious piece rock landscape, really beautiful. There are a number of arches among one which as a result of looking through you should be able to see mt. Whitney. But first you have to take a walking route to this arch and at the moment we were there, this route which is not short and very sandy was also bading in the full sun. It was already 38°C/100°F and we know when to stop! That was at the beginning of the walking path to the arch, so we turned around, drove out the Alabama Hills and went on to drive up the mountain; on to Mt. Whitney.

At the top of the road called Whitney Portal we first buy a coffee at a little store of course. Near that store there is also a water, a kind of very little lake, filled with trout. Some people were fishing here, but that is of course no performance or good sport, with so much fish that can't go anywhere. Crossing the parking lot we came to a lovely waterfall. We tested it on temperature and it is very, very, very cold. But the air temperature here is very pleasant. We were told that 6 bears are living in the area, but we never saw one track of any of them. We stayed for an hour and then slowly returned down the mountain. The panoramas are again splendid. At half past eleven we continued on the 395, again further direction south.

When we pass Owens Lake on the right-hand side, we finally leave the 395. The word Lake is a bit strongly put, because most of the water is gone, leaving only salt behind. We drive on the 190 into Death Valley till the junction with the 136. Instead of driving further into Death Valley, we went North for only a few miles to a place called Keeler. At Keeler we turned right to continue on an unpaved road. We already drove unpaved roads before, like this morning at Alabama Hills without problems, so we didn't expect problems here. We wanted to drive into the mountains to Cerro Gordo to visit the same named ghost town. For clarity: unpaved! But this is much more unpaved as we expected. After 10 miles we apologize to our car, expressed our admiration for its performance but released it from a very hard drive by returning to the main road. It is really a nice route to drive but only by 4x4's !

At the bottom of the mountain we took the 190, Death Valley in to Stovepipe Wells were our hotel for the night is located. Meanwhile the outside air temperature is 53°C/128°F. As we got out of the car, we had the feeling that we were ambushed by a hundred blowdryers at maximum capacity. So we flee into our hotel room to cool down and also trying to catch up with some sleep we didn't enjoy last night. At half past five we took a brave attempt to run to the shop which was really nearby. This run took about less than 5 minutes, but we barely survived! You can feel the sun burn on all skin which isn't protected by clothes. At six o'clock we take the short route (2 minutes) to the saloon. This is a very nice bar with a jukebox and a pool table where we drink some wine while waiting 'till we can have dinner. At half past six we walk through a little corridor in the building and enter the restaurant where we both have a delicious steak. We've eaten these in a bit of high speed because we really want to see the sunset at the nearby Sand Dunes. At a quarter past seven we arrive at the Sand Dunes, which are only a few minutes drive from Stovepipe Wells.



We made our way through the sand to reach the dunes and this is, although it is extremely hot, very rewarding. Splendid colors and a superb sunset. The temperature has meanwhile fallen a bit to 50°C/122°F therefore it is still very warm! We took our time to enjoy this moment.
Back at the hotel we decided to cool down in the swimming pool. Strangely that a swimming pool with a temperature like a comfortable bath suddenly feels cool.... Unfortunately the cool feeling doesn't stay as we walked back to our room, because it is still 50 C outside, but the room is nicely cold, so after a shower we take our wine and fall in a welldeserved deep sleep.




Today we have driven 190 miles with the car.

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