BluePixel

Las Vegas.

OK, here's part two of my 2007 summer vacation.

Driving the Historic Route 66 was great, so it added a little extra time to our journey, but we weren't in a rush. We left Route 66 behind at a place called Rancho Cucamonga and picked up the Interstate, the I-15, that would take us all the way to Las Vegas across the Mojave Desert, a pretty uninspiring Interstate as Interstates go, but the desert scenery going past the window was pretty dramatic. Along the way we passed the town with the weirdest name that I've ever seen, Zzyxx, not even sure how you even pronounce it, Baker, which is the home of the Worlds Tallest Thermometer 

which when we stopped to take a look was showing 113^oF, our car was showing it was 115^oF. Baker is also the gateway to Death Valley which was NOT on our agenda this trip. We stopped off briefly at a place called Primm, just over the border into Nevada for a bite to eat at the Outlets there and to get lodging advice from the tourist information center, we then finally saw Vegas looming up on the horizon.

Now Las Vegas is the most peculiar place that I've ever, EVER visited. It's tacky, sleazy, expensive, crowded and unbelievably  hot. It was everything that I didn't want it to be. The whole Las Vegas strip appeared to be a building site which only helped in clogging the already choked roads with their massive cement trucks and huge dirt lorries 24/7. In the evenings walking the strip to see the attractions on offer was such hard work too, with the temperature still way up in the 90's most nights getting jostled and barged and having to queue to cross every road and battle to get into casinos and hotels was so tiring and no pleasure at all. Once inside the casinos the noise of the slot machines was bewildering, even mind numbing and the array of shops and outlets were seriously geared towards the super-rich with their top end brand names that you only normally see in glossy magazines in the hair dressers  that gently dissuaded you from even going inside to look. It was ghastly. Why on earth would anyone want to replicate Venice, Rome or even Paris for that matter anywhere else in the World, let alone go to such lengths to replicate it INSIDE of a hotel, and not to mention building a Pyramid, the New York Skyline, a Fairy Castle and even an erupting Volcano for Gods sake, it's just disgustingly ostentatious and horrendously pretentious.

We managed to get a good deal at the Sahara Hotel  & Casino, which with hindsight, isn't the best place to stay in Vegas as not only is it one of the older properties it's more than a little grubby and the service isn't that hot either, it was also at the top of the strip which is quite a way away from the center of the action. about 3 miles. If I ever return, not that I'm ever planning to, I'll book somewhere that's closer to the center of the main strip and maybe just off the strip a little where hotel prices are a little cheaper.

Wednesday we took a drive out to the Hoover Dam. This was truly amazing. How they built that dam without all the modern cranes and digging machinery that we have developed these days all the way back in the 30's, I'll never ever know. I think it's truly one of the Worlds Greatest structures. Harriet and I took the Dam Tour which drops you down 500ft into the solid granite rock and whisks you around the tunnels and into the turbine hall. Amazing. The young guy in the lift cheerily welcomed us as he shut the lift doors, saying that sadly he wouldn't be our tour guide today as he was just the Dam Lift guy !!! Well, it made Harriet and I laugh !!!  Apparently the concrete is STILL drying, even after all thee years. The water on the lake side was way down, about 150ft lower than normal, our guide adding that it would have to rain every day for two years to bring it back up to normal !! WOW that's a lot of rain !!

As we approached the Hoover Dam we saw a mountain goat struggling to keep it's footing on the steep rocky precipice near the side of road. The kids both watched horrified from the back window as he skidded down the mountain falling flat on his face onto the road and landing heavily on his knees. But he hopped to his feet, leaped the fence in a single bound and was gone !!!

Thursday was a special day for two reasons.

1. We retook our wedding vows with the king of rock & roll himself, Elvis Presley !! And....
2. As a 'honeymoon' treat we had booked to see The Cirque Du Soleil show LOVE at the Mirage hotel.

This HAS to be the best advert on TV at the moment.... it makes me smile anyway !!!

While in Las Vegas I happened upon a derivation of the infamous number of the beast, or 666.

A guy called François Blanc, apparently he established the first casino in Monte Carlo, made a deal with the devil for the secrets to playing roulette, the sum of all the numbers on the table, 1 to 36, being 666 !!!

You learn something new every day !!! 

OK, here's part 1 of BP's American Adventure.

We arrived into Los Angeles LAX dead on time and picked up the rental car, a Chevy Malibu, without a hitch, but the 30 mile trip to the hotel took us over 2 hours !!! The roads were just chocked bumper to bumper. Absolutely awful. The hotel, the Ramada Hollywood turned out to be in a great position, just two blocks North was Sunset Boulevard, a block further up was Hollywood Boulevard, while just two blocks South was Santa Monica Boulevard, all of which take you straight to the center of LA, iconic street names you hear so often in songs and movies, it was weird actually seeing them in the flesh.
Saturday morning we drove down Santa Monica Boulevard all the way to the Pacific and the Santa Monica State Beach, parking up right on the beach front. Walking down that beach feeling the warm sand between your toes and the Pacific washing around your ankles was amazing. And here I was, actually standing in the Pacific Ocean !!! WOW.We spent a while enjoying the warmth and soaking up the atmosphere before walking inland a short way to get some refreshment. We ended up at the Third Street Promenade which was bustling and lively and ate in one of the arcades while enjoying the ambience. We spent late afternoon at the The Getty Center which was amazing. Perched way up high on top of a mountain it commands outstanding views over LA. It's free to get in but you have to pay to use the car park, a miserly $8 was well worth it.We spent a pleasant couple of hours there getting to see some Manet's and Seurat's which neither of us had seen before.
Sunday first thing we drove to Jetrag, a vintage clothing outlet that does a "Everything For $1" sidewalk sale, we ALL picked up some bargains here, we then drove down Holywood Boulevard, checking out Graumanns Chinese Theatre, looking up the famous stars on the side walk and all the famous hand and footprints in the cement outside. We paused breifly for refreshment at the Disney Store soda shop before dashing off to drive through Beverly Hills, and to do Rodeo Drive, which was really naff and 100% precosious. I've never seen so many Lambourgini's and Bentleys parked up in one place before, it made Porches and BMW's look cheap at tacky !!!
Monday we had a late breakfast before hitting the road to for the drive to Las Vegas. Packed up and on the road we made a last minute decision just as we approached the Interstate, deciding to take the Historic Route 66 as far as we could before we hit the I-15 to Vegas. Yet another LA American icon !!! We drove through some lovely little towns like Pasadena, Sierra Madre, Covinia and even San Dimas on the way. It certainly beats driving down a boring Interstate anyday !!

All my vacation photo's can be viewed on Flickr

Hi folks, I'm back again. A little jet-lagged but otherwise refreshed from three weeks away in the good ol' US of A.

Los Angeles was amazing! Standing with my feet in the Pacific feeling the warm sand between my toes and the warm Californian sun on my pale English body was just great. A place I will make an effort to return to.

Las Vegas was 100% weird and initially I disliked it intensely, but by the end of the week I had kind of warmed to it a little bit. Not sure I'd go back though, maybe if I'd scooped the lottery I would !!!

As usual, two weeks in the North Georgia Mountains was beautiful and relaxing. Every day was sunny and with temperatures mostly high 90's and low 100's it was great to be able to wear just shorts and a t-shirt. Something I'm already missing now I'm back in dull and grey Blighty.

Once I've downloaded all my pic's and passed them by the board of censors I'll post some up for your enjoyment.

More later..... 

It's that time of year when I force myself to leave my desk and head West with my family to the good ol' US of A. This year is a little different tough. But only a little. Tomorrow we'll be flying to LA, this year with jolly ol' BA, where we'll be spending the weekend before driving across to Las Vegas on Monday. We'll spend the rest of the week in Vegas baking in the 40 degrees C desert heat, that's about 105 degrees F in English. And as it's our 25th wedding anniversary this year we're retaking our vows in the presence of the King.... ELVIS that is !!! We also want to see the Hoover Dam while we're there too. Then next Friday night it's a flight back to Atlanta and our villa in the North Georgia Mountains for two weeks of R&R.

So, I'll be seeing you guys again in about 35,520 minutes or so !!!!

Oh, keep the place tidy while I'm gone... feed the cat and water the plants and don't all run off to WordPress either while my backs turned !!!

I thought my area had escaped the wrath of the recent flooding, but it appears that it was a lot closer to home than I had feared. Entering Waitrose car park yesterday, I was greated by the sadest sight I think I've ever seen.

A Blue Whale.

It must have been caught up in the rising flood water, swept along by the fast rising current and is now left sadly stranded, beached unceremoniously and all alone in Waitrose car park !!!

My car is in for repair today, so I took the 'greener' route to work, letting the train take the strain. As I changed platforms, crossing the bridge to get a coffee for the 35 minute wait for my connection, I noticed this ceramic framing the entrance to the lift. I bet it barely gets noticed in the everyday hustle and bustle.

It's been a wee while since I last posted a blog here, although I have commented on a few especially on Flightys new allotment blog. But in my defence I've been a bit busy recently what with organising the logistics of my upcoming holiday to the USA, running my girls to and from their new jobs, coping with Mrs P's school inspection and general house maintainance and redecoration of Pixel Towers, blogging is a long way down the list of things to do unfortunately.

So, I've now booked my LA hotel, The Ramada Hollywood, with HUGE thanks from nikkipolani and her brother Andrew who so kindly helped me out here !! The previous choices I'd made a little closer to Beverly Hills and the Santa Monica Boulevard, were all ruled out due to three reasons, one... too darned expensive, two, my girls vetoed ANY hotel that didn't have a pool and three, some dates not being available!!! OK, with LA in the grips of a heatwave the girls pool veto MAY have been a good move. 

Hotels in Las Vegas are EXTORTIONATELY expensive, ie: several hundred dollars a night, so our plan is to stop at the Vegas tourist board place as we drive across the border into Nevada and see if we can pick up some on-the-spot bargains !!! Rumour has it that amazing bargains can be had at some of the BIGGER resort hotels this way. Fingers crossed. We have some back up contigency plans if this option fails though, so we won't be sleeping in the car with temperatures way up in the 40's !! [ that's about 105 deg/C]

The vacation car hire has been sorted out too. With a rather favourable exchange rate with the dollar, it'll work out cheaper than last year which is great. With a 7 day one-way hire in LA followed by a 24 day rental in Atlanta, car rental costs soon mount up once local taxes etc are all added up.

There was a bit of a balls-up with booking the flights, and as a result I've also had to arrange to fly home-alone leaving the family in our villa in the mountains in Helen for a further 10 days.

As a general warning to everyone, check, double check, double DOUBLE check and then TRIPLE check any dates on website booking forms before clicking [ACCEPT] as people like Opodo.co.uk DON'T give a toss about any mistakes. It's their word aganist yours and guess who's going to end up pay for it ??? That's right. YOU !!!

So at extra expense I'm flying with AirTran from Atlanta to New York La Guardia, catching a coach across New York with NY Port Autority to JFK airport before flying home with Virgin Atlantic. Arriving at 06:00 on Sunday morning I'll coach it down to Woking before catching a train home !!! Phew, some trip, but sadly I have no option as I have to return to work on the Monday !!

Daughter #2, H, has just started work at a brand new restaurant in Gunwharf Quays Portsmouth called Chiquito. They do great Mexican food at a reasonable price and goodly sized portions too !!! They had a pre-opening 'family and friends' evening on Friday night where the new staff could all practice their skills while we got a handsome 50% discount on the food as a thank-you. Needless to say I came away TOTALLY stuffed !!! I shared a Veggie Combo Platter with my Mother-in-law, followed by a Vegetable Wrap with fries, and a nice wedge of New York baked cheese cake with berries all washed down by a nice cup of coffee. YUMMY !!!!

All in all it's been a little busy around Pixel Towers... roll on my vacation, I think I've earned it !!!!