TravelStream™ news feed for member marion222 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/marion222 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 07 Dec 2008 04:40:47 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marion222/1/1225820820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marion222/1/1225820820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marion222/1/1225820820/tpod.html Sun, 07 Dec 2008 04:40:47 -0500 West Coast USA

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London, England, United Kingdom

Richard was at work today so we set off around 4.00p.m. after work and he drove us down to Heathrow. As the flight from Heathrow meant checking in at 6.00 we stopped the night before at the Thistle hotel at Heathrow.  We had a triple room which meant a comfortable double bed for us and a small uncomfortable put me up bed for Richard!.  He was not impressed but at least he had the Simpsons to watch.
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Banbury, England, United Kingdom

Back on the Virgin plane, we looked through the list of films and had to watch 'What Happens in Vegas' and 21 which was all about card counting in Vegas which were both good and brought back memories. I then went to sleep for the rest of the flight but I think Russ and Richard stayed awake and watched more films. We arrived back at Heathrow on time and caught the Hoppa Bus back to the Thistle Hotel, all was going well until we got into Richard's Audi and the reliable Audi wouldn't start. After a visit from the AA man we got on our way and arrived safely back at home at around 9.00 in the evening  Looking forward to the next adventure.
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Los Angeles, California, United States

An early start to a whole day travelling back to Los Angeles airport. We left Las Vegas and travelled across the desert, we went through Baker and saw the largest thermometer in the world http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2893 and then lots more desert, we stopped for lunch at a outlet mall in the middle of nowhere and Richard bought new trainers.  Had our final ( and nicest) burger at 'In 'n' Out burger'  and I had a root beer (which is an aquired taste but I loved it) and then made our way onto Los Angeles to the airport.  We arrived in good time to have a good look at the shops and get sweets etc to take back to work and once we got through the security!! we were ready to hit the shops so it was a great disappointment to find just a few food outlets and a couple of shops so work had to have Reeses peanut butter cup (thy were lovely)The plane left on time at 8.55 in the evening.
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Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Richard was keen to see the Hoover Dam so we booked up for a half day trip with the Pink Jeep Company. This took us to the top of the dam and then down inside to see the workings. It was a real feat of engineering and I didn't realise that it was built in the Great Depression. Richard was really interested so we were glad we made the trip.  We arrived back around 12.00 and spent the rest of the day in Las Vegas, we got a $5 all day bus pass and headed onto the strip.  We went into the Venitian Hotel to see the Gondolers
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Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

A late start 10.00am and a short drive across the desert to Las Vegas. Our hotel is the Sahara at the end of the strip near the Stratosphere.  We had a walk around our end of the strip and saw some of the tacky wedding chapels with their hire dresses, plastic flowers and scruffy limos, we saw Circus Circus where Frank and Mary used to take Myra when she was small.  It has a circus act preforming every 1/2 hour and is made just for children. We were undecided whether to take the evening tour of Vegas by night but were glad we did. We sent first to Freemont Street where we went into the Golden Nugget Casino to see the amazing swimming pool.  It had a large fish tank in the centre with sharks swimming around and the tube slide from the swimming pool goes right through the fish tank, we then saw the Golden Nugget in its case and went outside where the whole street has a canopy over it and they show a film show the length of the street, with lots of Harleys and a 'Born to be Wild' soundtrack.  Rich was fascinated with a street artist painting with aerosols in seconds and brought home a picture.We then got back on the coach and into Vegas proper, we saw the beautiful glass flower ceiling and the giant chocolate fountain, and the amazing dancing fountains in the lake at the Bellargio. We had a walk to see the Venician Hotel with its gondalas  New York New York, MGM Grand, and to take pictures of the other casinos.When we arrived back around 10.00 we decided to go up the Stratosphere to get a good view of Las Vegas at night and Richard encouraged me to buy ride tickets for all the three rides on the roof. We went up the 109 floors in a superfast lift at 22mph and in seconds we were on the observation deck. Rich was eager to go on the rides so we went on what I thought would be the tamest ride called 'Big Shot' This is what it say about the ride  If you ever wanted to know exactly what if feels like to be an astronaut, then this is your chance! On the Stratosphere's Big Shot, you'll take off so fast, you'll actually feel like the rocket itself. The Big Shot whisks you 160 feet in the air in an astounding 2.5 seconds. Get a feel of weightlessness as 4 Gs of force literally lift you off your seat. You'll then drop to shocking one negative G. The initial free-fall drop is so intense, most riders are too shocked to express their emotions immediately.We then went on 'Insanity' and were disturbed to notice that although you were spinning 1,000 feet over Las Vegas there were no shoulder harnesses just a bar across your waist but we went on anyway. Scary but great fun.The final ride was X Scream where the carraige goes over the edge and then stops, after the other rides this was the tamest and it was the one I was most scared of!
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Laughlin, Nevada, United States

Early start for the long journey to the Grand Canyon, en route it got very dark and cloudy and then began to snow. When we reached airport it was still cloudy and dark and we all had a feeling that we wouldn't be able to fly but the reason we couldn't fly turned out to be turbulance in the Canyon.  and so we decided to start down on the Bright Angel trail that take you down to the bottom of the Canyon, The weather by now was sunny and warm.  We were amazed that it was easy walking and me and Rich carried on down for about 1/2 hour and had a scary encounter with a goat.As we were unable to fly in the helecopter we went to the IMax Cinema to watch a film of the Grand Canyon. A bit disapointing that we couldn't fly but a wonderful experience.On the way back we called into the small village called Seligman on the original Route 66 and went into 'Angels' barbers shop. He has been responsible for putting Route 66 back on the map and he came into the shop very pleased that he had been on Blue Peter on British TV
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Laughlin, Nevada, United States

Left Anaheim early in the morning en route to Laughlin in Nevada and stopped for a quick stop on a remaining part of route 66 the as Sandy the courier lives in Palm Springs we went there for a visit en route.  She told us how Palm Springs had been sacred Indain land and was taken by the white man, but when the indians were educated one went to college, studied law and sued the US Government for taking the indians land, so Palm Springs was divided into squares and every other square was given back to the indians.  Today you can see built up squares and next to them squares of untouched land.  We had a walk around Palm Springs and it rained! very unusual there.  We went to the most unEnglish 'English pub'and were greeted by american football supporters in all their gear watching the game around the bar and Harley Davidson riders sitting outside with their bikes sporting the stars and stripes!
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Anaheim, California, United States

A day free today to visit Universal Studio, which is around 45 miles away, through the traffic of LA.  Had a very chatty bus driver and Rich had to sit in the front with him and endure lots of questions 'Why you on holiday with your parents, haven't you got any mates?' Finally managed to ring dad on his birthday so I was relieved that I finally got through.Universal Studios looked great fun and we decided to go into the Haunted House, I was terrified, lots of dark corridors and mirrors with mummies, ghosts and other horrors ready to jump out and chase you at every turn I did lots of screaming and was glad to get out (but I enjoyed it afterwards) We watched the Terminator show, which was spectacular, and went on the Simpsons ride with all the kids. It was brilliant and should be wasted on the kids. We then had the studio tour which took us around the various sets, from wild west towns, to the Physco Motel, to the Jaws set, Wisteria Avenue from Desperate Housewives and the full size set from War of the Worlds.We finally watched a water show from the film Waterworld, which was a real spectacle. We stayed in the studios until it got dark and until the park closed at 6.00p.m then we had pancakes at Universal City Walk next to the studio
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Pismo Beach, California, United States

An early start from San Francisco took us down the coast, we made a quick stop at San Juan Bautisa, a state historic park which is directly on the San Andreas faultline, There is a mission and lots of the old buildings with a real small town atmosphere, there were lots of schoolchildren around as coming here is part of their 4th grade history lessons. We all really enjoyed this stop very much.We carried on down the coast to 17 mile drive at Pebble Beach. This was an unspoilt area of coastline, with lots of birds and wildlife and some very very grand and expensive houses, Onto Carmel by the Sea (where Clint Eastwood had been mayor) which is a very upmarket town with no street names or numbers just the names of the exclusive houses. We had our lunch stop at Monteray which is a famous old fishing town, with many of the old buildings still standing.Our hotel for the night was the Shore Cliff Lodge at Pismo beach and all the rooms had a view out to sea. It was a wonderful hotel and we wished we had more time here to explore the beach. Me and Richard could not resist a dip in the heated outdoor pool under the stars this evening.
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Anaheim, California, United States

Sad to leave Pismo beach, because in the daylight it is even more beautiful than at night.  The cliffs around the hotel and covered in pelicans and the beach looks golden and unspoilt.  Today we have a breakfast included and then begin the journey down to Anaheim, stopping in Santa Barbara firstly at the mission and then into the town for lunch. We went to the top of the city hall for a great view of the city down to the beach.  I really wanted to see the beach and kept nagging about walking down to the sea, but Russell and Rich weren't keen so I had to make do with seeing it from afar, but when we got back to the coach, Segio drove us down to the beach for a quick 20 minute photo stop so we got to see the beach afterall.  According to our itinerary we were only to have a glipse of 'tinseltown' but luckely Sandy gave us two hours to explore Hollywood so we got the chance to see the footprints and handprints outside the Chinese Theatre, take the pictures of the 'Hollywood' sign, and stroll down Hollywood Boulevard.  Then onto Anaheim for two nights.
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