mybigadventures.com

Got up particularly late today - not surprising given our late nights! Took quite a long time to get ourselves organised and out. I felt quite hungry so we went into Starbucks - I’ve possibly forgotten to mention the number of Starbucks here - there are three within the actual hotel! Very nearly a Starbucks on every corner! This particular franchise had a limited supply of goods - Ben ended up with a bottle of orange juice and I got a turkey sandwich -  a little overfilled where the turkey was concerned but okay, if expensive. Sat in the corridor for a bit - sounds weird, but it seems to be the only place to access the free Wi-Fi in this so-called ‘luxury’ hotel. Checked bank accounts and totted up the money so far, and I e-mailed mum and dad as we haven’t been able to chat on Skype for a while. Not the comfiest place in the world to sit however, so kept it brief.

Then went in search of some ice cream - some quite elusive ice-cream, as it turned out! On Sunday, we had seen a Haagen-Daaz counter (Ben’s favourite chocolate ice-cream brand) and we wanted to get some. We thought it was in the Disney Palace, so checked literally every corner, in search of it. Had a go on the slot machines en route, but otherwise spent a good hour searching! Were on the verge of giving up in Disney Palace, and we were about to go next door to the New York New York hotel - when lo and behold, there it was! Success! To celebrate our achievement, we both had ice-cream - Ben had his favourite Belgian chocolate and I had peanut butter and chocolate. Well worth it! Sat and ate them in the very small seating area, before moving on.

Went across the pedestrian walkway to the MGM Grand hotel, one of the bigger and more well-known resorts. Have been struck by how much more interesting the other hotels are than ours; this one, for no apparent reason, had a rainforest-themed restaurant as you went in - I guess it adds a slightly unique touch. We went down into the casino and managed to win some money on the roulette machine. Result.

From there, we went back to the Disney Palace, to try our luck on the machines there, but had only limited success, with a bit more failure. So, decided to head back to our hotel and the trusty blackjack machines. Lost a little, but then seemed to pick up, doubling our money on roulette. I also accidentally bet $10 on one hand of blackjack, but it came through, virtually trebling our money!! Amazing! Cashed out and left it there. Went to the hotel’s public house, the same place we went to on Sunday, but this time with a two-for-one voucher, so the prices of the drinks didn’t make us wince quite so much!

From there, went to dinner. We had decided to go to Buca Di Bepo, an Italian restaurant, mainly because Ben liked the name. We had to wait about 10 min per table, but it wasn’t bad. It was designed for families - the dishes were designed to be shared rather than ordered separately, so we took the plunge and ordered an appetiser to share and then a main. Our bruschetta starter came with a large bowl of tomato and mozzarella topping, enough for the 12 pieces of bread that came with it. We then had a huge chunk of lasagne - rather dominated by ricotta cheese so it wasn’t quite what we had hoped for. Needless to say, we didn’t eat it all! It was okay in terms of price, but the portions were too big! We decided to call it a night after this, as we’d have a long drive tomorrow. Grand Canyon!

We got up much later than we had planned today, so put on some clothes and headed straight down for breakfast at Starbucks again. I had a chocolatine and Dani had a bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich. We both had tea, although they got it wrong and gave us Earl Grey. Nevermind! Made full use of the table in Starbucks to catch up on the journal and write a number of postcards while we had breakfast. After breakfast, we had showers, dressed and had a chat to Dani’s parents on Skype, although the connection wasn’t great and we kept missing words and the video kept breaking up. We didn’t end up leaving the hotel until gone one o’clock!

We headed out to the valet service at the front of the hotel to get the car. Yesterday, when parking, we were stopped by an attendant who told us the car park was full, so they were valet-parking the cars, because that way, they could block cars in. So if we wanted to park, they would have to park for us and take the keys. We were a little tentative handing them over and by morning, I was feeling quite concerned about the whole thing. Nevertheless, one of the valet attendants brought the car up to the front of the hotel without any problems.

So, eventually we were off. We decided to head over to the Griffith Park Observatory and, later, to drive through Chinatown. The journey there was as eventful as ever, with the Sat Nav defeating us with its confusing list of commands to turn left or right, but either too early or too late. We ended up getting stuck in a one-way system, which took us a long way out of our way and completely confused the SatNav, which couldn’t decide which road we were on. Eventually, we got there, despite said SatNav and the poor/non-existent signage for the most part. The main car park was full for the observatory, so we ended up parking along the road at the bottom of the hill. We had a bit of a panic about whether we were allowed to park where we had, as there was a traffic cone near by, and we eventually decided to move and park in another space across the road. By the time we were done faffing about, another car came along and parked in the space we had just moved from. Oh well, these things happen! Our new space was more convenient - facing the right way and in the shade.

Set off for the observatory - we assumed it was upwards, but, as usual, there were no signs! Went up quite a steep path (!) - it was like being at Yosemite again! But, it was quite short and when we got to the top, the views were amazing. Walked on a bit further, to the top of the trail and a viewpoint, where there were well-positioned benches to see LA, the mountains and the Hollywood sign. We sat on one bench for a while and then moved on to the next, looking at the different views. It was very peaceful. I spotted a lizard and then Ben took lots of photos of it - it stayed in one small area, catching flies. We did try to get Bruggers in a picture with the lizard, but it clearly found Bruggers very intimidating, as it kept running off! Bruggers just wanted to be friends :-(

Having spent a good while at the viewpoint, we moved on towards the observatory. The views were stunning - we spent the the afternoon and early evening just looking and wandering around. There was an obelisk, to Galileo, I think, which we sat on for a while, before Ben spotted about three hummingbirds darting around. He took lots of photos - they came very close, sucking the nectar from the flowers next it us. There were so pretty - a shimmering green with bright pink under their beaks. Had a little panic with the camera, as all the photos seem to disappear - but it turned out that they’d simply gone into a new folder. Panic over!

We decided to get something to eat and drink from the cafe, which had a private seating area overlooking the view. We had some crisps, coke, and a Cobb salad to share. The salad included chicken, bacon bits, tomatoes, beans, blue cheese and, of course, salad leaves and a vinaigrette dressing. We ate, drank, and enjoyed the view. Afterwards, we had a look in the shop. It was a little disappointing; there wasn’t very much that was specific to the park. We did, however, buy a few postcards and a badge (sew-on). We then continued to have a look around the observatory. There was some interesting information inside and again nice views from the top. It got late surprisingly quickly and when we next looked, it had gone 6:30 PM. We had noticed that the telescope would open at 7 PM, so we decided to hang around and have a look. After a short queue, we looked through the telescope at Venus, which appeared as a bright white circle. We also looked through a telescope on the front lawn, at the sun, through a special filter. Dani couldn’t see anything, but I saw the bright orange bottom edge. The sun was setting by this time, so we stuck around to take a few photos of the sunset and then some night photos of LA. It was still hazy and, although it looks beautiful with a pinky-purple sky, it looked quite gloomy in the photos. But, well worth seeing all the same!

We then decided to head back and immediately set off in the wrong direction! Went all the way down the hill to realise it was the wrong way. It was fairly dark and with minimal street-lighting so it was very easy to go astray. Found our way back thankfully, after a panicky moment. Used the car bleeper to locate the car - very useful - and headed back. It was very easy journey back - the best yet! Parked in the hotel car park again and went up to the room. Dithered about tea and ended up ordering a takeaway pizza from a local place (about $30). Ate about 11:30 PM - late, but it would have been too late to go to a restaurant. Turned in a little earlier than last night.

Got up and showered and went down to the Avis car rental desk at the hotel lobby, for about 9 AM. We filled in the paperwork, a little unhappy about having to sign for the car before checking it. We asked about GPS systems, but they had none. We also asked about putting Dani on, as an additional driver, but for a cost of $11 a day, we decided against it. Before fetching our stuff from the room, we went out to check the car. It wasn’t quite as nice as the previous one, but still very big. Despite our efforts, we couldn’t work out how to move the drivers seat back, so we went back in and, again, stood in a queue at the Avis desk again, for help. The man behind the desk wanted us to try again, but I said that I wanted someone to come and look with me. Whilst I waited, Dani went to get us some teas from Starbucks, and then went back to the room to make sure we were all packed and ready to go, as checkout was 11 AM and, despite our early start, it was already getting on for 10:30 AM.

It turned out that the seat movement was electronic and controlled by a small switch on the side of the seat. I also asked about the parking brake whilst the Avis man was there, but I was told that we wouldn’t need to use it. Satisfied, I went back to the room, where we drank tea and gathered our things. Dani had filled out the express checkout envelope, so we wouldn’t need to queue again downstairs.

We spent quite a while waiting with all of our things in the Spa and Lobby area, trying to get on the Internet to get directions, but they seem to have turned off the Wi-Fi. A little disgruntled, we queued for the concierge desk for answers. Unable to help otherwise, she printed out directions for us and we were eventually able to get on our way.

The car was longer than the previous one and the boot easily accommodated all of our stuff. Despite limited directions, the journey out of Vegas was quite straightforward. We stopped at the Hoover Dam after only about 40 minutes into the journey. We decided against the tour, as it was very hot and already lunchtime, so thought we might do it on the way back. Instead, we paid the $7 to park and walked across the dam, taking photos and occasionally stopping in the shade. It is quite a magnificent structure. We saw people walking along another bridge, way above the dam, and thought we might do this on the way back. We stopped for a drink at the snack bar which was relatively cheap ($4) and came in a souvenir plastic cup. We were there for about an hour, stopping in the gift shop to buy a few bits before setting off again.

After about another 40 minutes, we stopped for lunch, as time was marching on. We went to KFC and had a two-piece chicken meal each, which came with a sort of scone that they call a biscuit? We also went in Walmart, which was at the same services, where we bought two large bottles of water for about $0.84 each, and Coke for just over a dollar a bottle. We also bought a USB car charger that we thought might be useful, for about $14.

Got back on the road and drove most of the way. The roads were pretty clear and the journey itself was straightforward. Not many cars on the roads, and the roads were decent, with quick speed limits. So we zoomed on! We stopped for some petrol about an hour outside Grand Canyon. Had a momentary panic when we realise that we didn’t know for sure if the car took diesel or unleaded, but asked a woman inside, who said it would be standard (unleaded gas)

We headed on, through the Kaibab (or kebab, as we called it) and towards the Grand Canyon National Park. As we were driving, Ben saw a red-headed, vulture-like bird, which we later found out was a Condor. So, an awesome spot!

Found our way to Maswick Lodge really easily! It was like a little village, with a main house and large houses around it. Check-in was easy and efficient and we were directed towards ‘Mesquite’, where we found a really decent two-double bedroom, with bathroom and balcony! Luxury! We dumped our stuff and lay for a while. Temperatures here are much more bearable, though still warm and considering we are still in a desert, it is all really green. We had a look at the map and guide that we are given on arrival to the National Park (like Yosemite, there was an entrance fee of $25). We were particularly looking forward to seeing a hump-back chump (a kind of fish) just because of the awesome name!

Headed over to the main house to find some food. Looked in the gift shop, as it was also there, and found some really nice things. Bought a poster of the National Park and some postcards, and also a couple of sew-on badges and a magnet for Audrey. Dithered at some attractive tiles that there were decorated with images/symbols of the park and also of the Native American Indian history. They were really colourful and we were really tempted - will think about them!

Went through into the cafeteria. It’s a main eating area, with different sections to choose from, from all-day breakfasts to full dinners. We weren’t that hungry after our late lunch, so opted for a cup of chilli each, with chopped onions and cheese - which seems to be what they accompany their chilli with. With a bottle of beer each, it was surprisingly filling and quite spicy, and for a bargain price of about $4 each! After we’d eaten, we stopped at the information desk to try to get a grip on what to do tomorrow. Noticed that they offered both sunrise and sunset tours of the Grand Canyon for $21 per person. After consulting a map, we decided to do it ourselves, using the park’s shuttle buses to get there. Not really knowing distances and timings, we estimated leaving about 4:30 AM - either brave or foolish - not sure which!

With this in mind, we headed to our room, however got sidetracked by the amazing night sky - so many stars! The lights in Grand Canyon are restricted to help get a better view of the sky, and for environmental reasons. Took some photos using the gorilla pod and a very slow shutter - they were blurred due to the movement of the earth, but still show an immense sky! Headed off to bed, feeling pretty pleased with the visit so far!