mybigadventures.com

I got up to the alarm, while Ben ignored it. I went down to Starbucks to get breakfast - they were particularly busy, so I had to amend our order. We had tea and I had a yoghurt granola pot and Ben had a classic sausage sandwich. While drinking our tea, Ben had a bit of a chat with Audrey on Skype and I got ourselves organised to leave.

We headed down to check out, posting our postcards on the way, at about 11:15 AM. Checked out, paying $125 (for parking). In the garage, we had to get a valet to move the car blocking us in, and then we were off!

On the way out of LA, we stopped to get petrol at the 7-Eleven and we also got some drinks and chocolate chip cookies for the journey. About 90 minutes in, we stopped at an out-of-town shopping centre for lunch. There was a Walmart, which we went in as we wanted to compare the prices. It was quite an odd place - food seemed to be very minimal - it clearly prioritised other items, from fishing rods to TVs. We had a look at the Lego - a bit disappointed to see the Lego set we had bought for less, but nevermind. We were going to buy some more, but decided against it. Bought some other bits and then went to the in-store McDonald’s for lunch. We were served by a teenager who seemed new, and consequently the service was a little slow… Ben had a Big Mac meal and I had a bacon cheeseburger. The regular size came with large drinks by UK standards, and, it has to be said, most of the other customers were quite large... We had to wait for our number to come up to get our food - slightly unusual for ‘fast-food’! Took our food out to the car to eat as the actual McDonald’s was a bit quiet and depressing.

Got back on the road again and almost immediately got stuck in a huge traffic jam. The SatNav kept telling us the road ahead was closed and suggested a diversion that would take an additional three hours. Despite this, we persevered on the original route and stayed in the slow moving traffic for about an hour before we hit the cause of the delay. There were a number of fire engines and helicopters carrying water, that seemed to be dealing with a smouldering hill. Traffic gradually picked up speed again and we cracked on for another hour, stopping for a break at another McDonald’s before we tackled the desert stretch. It was already very hot, so we had an ice-cream each (an Oreo McFlurry) and enjoyed the air conditioning in McDonald’s.

Set off again, planning on diverting off the interstate to go up Death Valley Road for a bit, to see the ‘infinite road’ (the road that seems to go nowhere!). However, about 30 minutes on from leaving McDonald’s - having gone in the wrong direction for a junction - we slowed to a stop. We were on a dual carriageway, with no alternative route, as we were going through the Mojave Desert. We crawled for over an hour, covering about 10 miles. It was nearly 6 PM and we still had about 170 miles to go. It was quite frustrating, not to mention hot. We had to keep turning the air conditioning off to prevent overheating. But we did manage to take some fun photos of Bruggers ‘driving’ the car. Eventually, we got going. Even once we got going, cars kept weaving in and out, which kept slowing everyone down, so we didn’t get up to speed for ages. We decided against going up Death Valley as we were already much later than planned.

The final stretch seemed very long, but we finally saw the lights of Vegas emerging. Followed the signs to the car rental return, which was so easy! Remarkable, in fact. ‘Checked in’ with the car rental, as it were, got our stuff and left, with a little receipt. Got into a taxi, and $17 later we were at our hotel.

Joined the substantial queue at check-in, but didn’t have to wait too long. We were disappointed to not be staying in the pyramid itself, as it is on a first-come, first-served basis. We instead got an ‘upgrade’ to the tower; a few extra feet and a bath. Whilst checking in, we tried to reserve a pyramid room for the night after Grand Canyon, and although the receptionist put us down for it, it is not guaranteed. Headed up to the room and dumped our stuff, a little underwhelmed. We have to pay $18 a day for services - which we can’t really use, as the Internet is wired. We went downstairs to get something to eat, heading to the food court. We had chicken and chips and then had a wander around the casino. We won a few dollars on blackjack and had a drink in the bar. We were appalled to find our 2 pints of lager cost nearly $20!! A little staggered, we decided to venture out, to explore some of the Strip. We walked through to the adjoining Excalibur hotel and casino, which looks a lot like a Disney Palace. We had a go on some fruit machines and roulette with mixed success. Went to bed about 2 AM, a few dollars down, I think.

We had planned to get up early but ended up sleeping in a bit, getting out just after 10. We had decided to explore some of the history of Philadelphia today starting with the Liberty Bell. Philadelhia was the first capital of the United States before it was moved to Washington in 1800, so there are some of the original buildings from the time that it served as capital city. After visiting the bell, we went to the vistor center to get tickets for Independance Hall. You have timed tickets to get in and fortunately we able to get tickets for entry just 20 minutes later. 

We had a short tour though Independence Hall which is where both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were signed. From here we joined a queue to enter Congress Hall, which is where the US Congress met when Philadelphia was the capital. When we came out, it did start to rain a bit so we made use of the Niagra Ponchos to keep us dry. Having explored the main site, we decided to look around the local area where there are few other historic buidings including the first and second bank. We started in the Washington Park, where there is the tomb of the unknown soldier before heading out onto Chesnut street to get some lunch from Knead Bagels, a bagel shop. We shared a BLT and a Egg and Ham bagel before continuing to explore. There was a film crew and lots of equipment and cast around on Chesnut street so we stuck around for a bit to have a look, apparently it was for a new TV show.

Walking on, we ended up in an 18th century garden, stopping to take a few pictures we heard a bird cry nearby and saw a brilliant red Cardinal. Whilst taking pictures, we both managed to get bitten a lot - joy! Out the corner of my eye I saw a bird with a much larger wing span fly overhead and seemingly land in the trees across the road in the gardens of a church. We headed out to take a look, but couldn't see anything and then moments later as we were about to leave, a Cooper Hawk landed on a low branch right infront of us, with a mouse that it had just caught. Spent quite a while taking photos before moving on again. Walking off the historical mile, we decided to head for some ships Dani had spotted on the map, the USS Olympia and SS Becuna (submarine).

Arriving at the dockyard, we found that we could go on both the USS Olympia steam ship and the USS Becuna submarine for $10 each, it was really quiet so we headed on exploring the submarine first. It was amazing inside, and we spent quite a long time working through the submarine as we were the only people on board. It's only the second time we've been on a submarine with the last time being at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, this time we saw much more of the submarine looking at living quarters, the engine room and the tornado tubes amongst other things. The USS Olympia was also impressive set over 5 floors including the top deck, we were able to explore 3 of the floors again seeing the more generous living quarters afforded by a bigger ship. 

Leaving the dockyard, we headed back towards the Independence hall visitor center to have a look in the shop and stop for a drink. The weather had also picked up a bit from the morning so I took the oppportunity to get some additional photos of the Independence Mall and surrounding area. As we were getting ready to head off, a gentleman saw me taking photos and suggested we look inside the Bourse Building which is to the side of the Independence Mall. As we were close by, we decided to take a look. The building dates back to the end of the 19th century and inside it is an artisian food and shopping market providing a range of dining options. The architecture is amazing with the centre portion of the building open all the way to the skylights at the top, it really was quite an impressive sight. Whilst there we stopped for a snack, Dani had a sticky bun parfait and I had an enourmous chocolate icecream - amazing!

Back at the hotel, I decided to take the camera out to get a night shot of the council building which is down the road from the hotel. We stopped just outside the hotel on the way to get some tea, managing to get the photo I was after first time!

We decided to take a short break in Durham this week between results days at school having last been about 9 years ago for a wedding. We managed to get a late deal on lastminute.com and have ended up staying at the same hotel, the Radisson Blu, just a short walk from the city centre. The weather was fine yesterday, a little cloudy and a light shower but fairly warm for wandering about. We visted the Cathedral which is undergoing some repair work on the main tower at the moment. It is pretty spectacular inside, but no photography allowed I'm afriad so you'll just have to visit it yourselves. Inside the cathedral there is a coffee shop where we stopped for some cake and tea and inside the cathedral shop there is a huge replica of the cathedral itself made out of Lego - its fabulous!

We also managed to get on a tour of the castle which is used as student accomodation during term time. In addition to staying in the main castle two students get to live in the gatehouse which looks pretty awesome. The tour was interesting taking in the ancient Norman Chapel and then a more modern tudor chapel before walking through a gallery and down the black stairs to the great hall. We realised when we arrived in the great hall, that this was the venue for Luke and Helen's wedding 9 years ago, it's a really nice venue with the bar in the undercroft below. 

Today we visited Beamish which is only about 20 minutes drive from where we're staying. I visited a long time ago, but Dani had never been. It was probably one of the busiest places we've visited this holiday, with quite a long queue to get in. The tickets were £19 each but last a year so hopefully we'll find a chance to revisit for free. For those who haven't been, Beamish is an open air museum representing life in Britain in the 1820s, 1900s and 1940s. It's a huge site with period buildings, vehicles and machinery.

The majority of the buildings have been deconstructed brick by brick to be transported from their original locations to there new home at Beamish. Amongst the very impressive exhibits is the 1900s town with a range of shops including a bakery, grocers, and bank and a masonic lodge. You can walk around the site or catch any of the period vehicles including trams and buses. Despite leaving at closing time we still hadn't made it all the way around and still have the train station and farm to see, maybe next time!