Finally decided to leave the gorgeous state of California. What a blast we had…..but time to move on. We drove out of California into the cit of Las Vegas and the state of Nevada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We watched the topography change quite significantly as we tootled along. We were going to see the bright lights of a city that never sleeps…..and catch up with some friends we made when we stayed in Ste St Marie on the Canadian border.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You may remember our blog on Joan and Bill and their four Collie dogs. They ran the KOA there, but were on their annual holiday and were coming to Vegas for the KOA Conference and a Airforce reunion for Bill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We arranged to meet Joan and Bill the next evening. After chilling a little, doing routine chores (like washing!!!), we planned our trip into town for the next day. They say that when people come to Las Vegas, 13% of people admit that they’re coming to Vegas to gamble, whilst 80% of people end up gambling. We can safely say that we were the minority who did not gamble, but I guess we had 7 good reasons not to!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were following a map which showed where all of the hotels were, but when we actually drove the main street, we were surprised to see 4 lanes of traffic. We went to the new part of Vegas and parked at the Mandalay Hotel where we started our “tour” of all the hotels in Las Vegas. Each hotel had something special about it (eg: the Mandalay had a shark aquarium and the Cirus Circus had circus acts perform every 40 minutes.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked through very ornate rooms, lots of art features, many casinos and lots of money to be made and lost!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were hotels like New York New York that had a roller coaster running through it. There were cartoon characters every where and hotels modelled on themes from other cities around America.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Statue of Liberty rose grand and spendid just like in New York. We even saw one made out of jellybeans!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the kids’ favourite hotels was MGM Grand where the cafe was a jungle and creatures moved and rain even fell. Of course, Trev loved the aquariums! As usual it was funny to watch Chayse cover his ears when the crocodile growled (if there’s such a thing!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We visited this hotel because it had real lions inside. Of course, you could see the main lions, but if you wanted a photo with the cubs, well, that you’d have to pay for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We saw wierd and whacky people all over the place (and that didn’t include our children!) It certainly kept us entertained seeing them all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We met another lovely couple when we stopped at Denny’s for some lunch. Louise and Gary took us under their wing and showed us the sights of Las Vegas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Their son had been one of the engineers on the project when building the plush shopping centre, so they gave us the background of some of the beautiful attractions inside the centre. Makes looking through places so much more interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kids took to Louise and Gary like they were the kid’s grandparents (must be missing both sets of their own). We were grateful for the extra pair of hands and the places they took us that we would not have seen otherwise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We even went on a monorail that took us between hotels the fast way. But our breath was taken away by the amazing creations in the Bellagio Hotel where everything was sculpted with flowers and plants. Truly a sight to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outside the Bellagio, we watched the water fountain show. Las Vegas looked very different at night and had an exciting atmosphere about it. The kids were mesmorised by all of the lights of the city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We said our goodbyes to Louise and Gary, only to return the following night with our other friends Joan and Bill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went out to Ci Ci’s Pizza place which was great value for money, then headed to the old Las Vegas Strip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apparently to entice people back there, the council had poured a huge amount of money into building a huge dome over the street and at 8pm every night, a spectacular light show is beamed inside the dome for all to enjoy. They even had Zip lines down the middle where people can whiz past and finish up in the centre of everything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed watching all the people in costume (or hiding their eyes from people in costume!) The kids were certainly shown a different life, that’s for sure! There were artists, singers, performers and more making this evening a very unique experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was lovely to have Joan and Bill show us around (them in their zippy little Smart car and us in our 31 foot RV!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we arrived back in the RV Park, we bade our farewells as we weren’t sure when we’d be leaving and Joan and Bill still had appointments themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As it turned out, we stayed another night as we wanted to have a look down Las Vegas Boulevard where we hadn’t got to yet. So into the city we went again, parked at Treasure Island and walked through the rest of the hotels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Circus Circus had circus acts, but we only stayed for one. After seeing everything we came to see in the city, we found some of the shopping Outlets (yes, we have a teenage daughter!) and did a spot of shopping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Las Vegas holds many attractions, but we were pining a little for some good ol’ country fresh air. So the next blog takes us out of Nevada and into Arizona…..home to the Grand Canyon.

The map below shows where we are right now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last of our package tours was the Zoo Safari Park. Unlike a normal zoo, this adventure park was home to thousands of animals roaming together on the vast, open plains similar to Africa and Asia. Trev’s folks would have loved the way the park had their own African trading post at Nairobi Village.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we arrived, we could pick the type of safari we wanted to do. Obviously they varied in prices, so a family our size settled on the walking safari and later took a tour. Our boys were keen to do the rolling safari which involved seeing the park on an “off-road” segway. They had height and age restrictions on that one, so we’ll have to save that for another day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The park was divided into areas like Condor Ridge, Gorilla Forest, Elephant Valley etc. We followed our map and explored the park starting at the Safari Base Camp. Amber has taken on the challenge of writing about some of our experiences at the Safari park. I hope you enjoy her account.

If you want to see some African animals, head on down to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park where you can ride on tour buses, cars, trucks, hot air balloons and more.

One of my favourite things was the petting zoo where you can pet baby goats and feed them. (I was the one that found the petting zoo on the map).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We all loved the animals like tigers, elephants, giraffes, birds, rhinos, warthogs and more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were things we didn’t go on too like zip lines, safari carts, behind the scenes cart and hot air balloons, but what we did see was great.

The African elephants that were at the park had 14 in the herd, which is the biggest herd in America. One of the baby elephants was very funny because he would try to push the other elephants away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we went to see the gorillas, two of them were sleeping. One of them was watching us out of the corner of his eye and the other one had his back to us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the gorillas we went to the jungle gym to play for about 10 minutes. It was fun. After that we went on the Safari walk that leads to tiger territory, unfortunately the tigers were hiding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last thing we did was go on a tour tram that went around the border of the Safari Park letting us see all the amazing animals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog.

By Amber.

When we were on the tour around the Safari, we had the opportunity to give the kids an impromptu first hand Sex Ed lesson.

As the Tour Guide said, they were very pleased to see this type of activity because it meant perhaps another little bambino in the future.

You may have aready heard Trev’s joke on Facebook when we were here.

At the San Diego Safari Park, we spotted two huge rhinos making out. The kids were fascinated!! Flynn asked, “Why does the female have a bigger horn than the male?” I said, “She’s hornier than him!” (Big laugh from Trev)

Then Amber asked, “What’s hornier mean?”

We wandered through the last of the attractions before hitting the Gift Stores as we were leaving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made our way to Escondido RV Resort where we celebrated Chayse’s birthday the following day (shown in a previous blog). It was a lovely campground and we enjoyed all the facilities they had to offer, including a pool and a games room. Then we headed off to a new city in a new state…….Las Vegas, Nevada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After leaving Hollywood behind us and heading south to San Diego, we found what the kids considered a very cool campsite. I won’t repeat what Flynn has to say about the RV Park, but the fact that there were other kids may have something to do with his great impressions of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flynn’s Blog

I think this is the best RV Park we’ve been to.There’s so much to do. When we arrived Jai and I discovered the skate park and the big games arcade. Just behind the arcade we found a table tennis table and the Go Bingo. Man! I was starting to get along with this campground.

When Jai and I were at the skate park, we met four boys named Hunter, Patrick, Alex and Grant. They were trying to shuffle but they couldn’t, so Jai and I showed them how. The next day I met this other boy called Yann. He could speak French. He liked Pokemon, so we both played our DS with our Pokemon games. At nighttime, we played a table tennis tournament and I won. I received a whole lot of lollies and a cheeseburger meal. When we left the Camp ground after a few days, I felt so bored because I missed my new friends.

By Flynn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The RV park, Campland on the Bay (near Mission Bay) was in fact very close to Seaworld.

Within minutes of arriving at Sea World, we found ourselves getting another picture with a cartoon character, a Penguin. We could fill an album with the number of “Character” shots we have taken over the last 5 months. But I guess that’s what you do when you have kids!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made our way first to Mission Bay 4-D theatre where we watched a humorous tale of a hapless pirate crew and its wacky captain. The funniest bit for me was right at the end when the pirate spurted water out of his mouth (and being 4-D, there seemed to be a hose aimed right at Trevor and of course, he copped the lot).

 

 

 

 

 

 

As there were different shows at different times, we bounced around the park making sure we got to each show in time. The next one we saw was “The Story of Shamu”. Basically this was a behind the scenes look at killer whales, then we watched a presentation learning more about these top predators of the sea. Apparently a handler was killed a few years back by one of the killer whales and it made headlines around America. Fortunately, no such mishap this time, instead a fantastic presentation put on by the whales.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We raced over to see “Sea Lions Live”. This was a very funny show as it was run by the comedy duo Clyde and Seamore, Op Otter and their stagehand buddy, Biff. They performed their own wacky versions of popular TV shows, movies and music. In most of the shows, there were “zones” – dry zones and wet zones. Believe me when I say, you did not want to be in the wet zone (unless it was in the middle of summer and you could don a bikini!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kids will be kids and it wasn’t long before they found the Sesame Street Bay of Play. I’m sure most of it was aimed at younger children, but it’s amazing how the older ones somehow managed to have as much fun as their younger siblings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next port of call was “Blue Horizons” at the Dolphin Stadium. Here, dolphins, birds and pilot whales took the main character, Marina on a truly wondrous journey. She was guided by Delphis, the dolphin spirit of the sea, and Aurora, the bird spirit of the sky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found this show very colourful and clever, with its acrobatics and strength displayed by the cast members and animal trainers. I remember thinking that some of these performers could enter the Olympics as divers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The acrobatic skills of the dolphins matched that of their human counterparts and was really spectacular to watch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From a water show to a more land based one….”Pet’s Rule!” This show was very well choreographed as the animals ranging from dogs to cats to birds to ducks to pigs entertained us with their antics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We particularly loved the design of the set and the kids were able to meet some of the animals backstage after the show. Funnily enough, our kids were drawn to the kangaroo (which we were informed, was not from Australia!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From pets to side show alley. Whilst eating lunch our kids observed one of the side attractions where you had to climb up a ladder without falling off. After watching the guy who ran it manage to climb the ladder successfully many, many times, they decided to give it a go. Needless to say, his prizes were safe, and we breathed a sigh of relief because if they had won, we had no idea where we’d put the prizes in the RV!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The older kids had fun on the Riptide Rescue whilst Trev went to the Freshwater Aquarium.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Shark Encounter was pretty awesome, although we reckon Hillary’s Marina in WA rivals this one.

From Shark encounters to the “Wild Arctic”, we came face to face with polar bears, beluga whales and walruses. The enclosures were very well done and in some parts, very chilly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trev had an encounter with Penguins and he almost felt like he was on the set of Happy Feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was heaps more to do at this wonderful place, but as with most things, our time had run out. What we did see and experience though was enough to add to our great memories of our time in the USA. So until our next blog where we visit the San Diego Wildlife Safari Park, have fun and stay safe.

We made the decision to venture into Hollywood via the public transport system as we really didn’t think we’d find any parking for our RV. Two buses and one train ride into Hollywood Blvd from our RV Park and we arrived in the heart of Hollywood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first port of call was the famous Walk of Fame.  Apparently we had missed out on seeing the singer Shakira by a few hours. When a “star” gets their own star in the pavement, they have to be present and it becomes a big media event. Nevertheless, we had fun walking along the path, recognising stars both present and from days gone by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had also heard that if you stop and get your photo taken with some of the “characters” roaming the streets, that they expect a tip afterwards….so our intrepid “undercover” photographer (Kaitlin) took shots when she could.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped near the Chinese Theatre where there was to be a big Gala affair. Whilst we couldn’t look in, we did place our hands on the concrete next to it where there are nearly handprints and footprints of movie stars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously being very “green” to city life, we must have been sitting ducks for the salespeople selling tickets to go on a Starline Tour. I allowed myself to be talked into the tour around the city for our whole family going to places like Beverley Hills and Hollywood. We were shown the hotspots and paired with an enthusiastic and outgoing professional guide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a pretty cool tour with the Tour Guide giving the kids signs to hold up, like “Are you a Super Star?” and “Have you seen Justin Beiber?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were taken past places that we recognised from movies and we managed to catch a glimpse of the famous “Hollywood” sign.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was good to have someone tell you the history of the place and point out the houses that the stars live in. I have only included some of the ones I remember.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Akaisha wasn’t overly impressed with the tour and spent most of her time comfy, warm and asleep! We were grateful the Tour Guide had blankets as it cooled down very suddenly as we entered late afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were treated to an array of probably useless facts, like the place where River Phoenix overdosed and Brittany Spears favourite Cafe. But you know…..it’s all in keeping with the hype of Hollywood!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed driving around Beverley Hills, especially looking at some of the cool cars on the road. We couldn’t believe the prices of some of the houses, considering that they look very ordinary from where we were sitting. Apparently, the higher the house is built on the hillside, the higher the price tag!

The closest we got to seeing any live stars was watching Al Pacine walk across his lounge room window……..and wait for it..he was on the phone! We did feel a little like stalkers (but we were in good company, with about three Starline buses rocking up to gawk at a star’s house.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally we drove up Rodeo Drive where we saw the likes of Gucci, Prada, Bijan and Harry Winston Jewelers.We even saw the Wiltshire hotel featured in “Pretty Woman”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ended our tour and by this stage were absolutely starving……….so went to a cheap and convenient location…….McDonalds, and had our dinner there. A little more sightseeing before heading back to the Underground to catch a train back to the outer suburbs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kids befriended a guy selling leather bracelets and he gave Flynn one for free. So, 6 bracelets later and $18 poorer, we went to await our bus home. The first bus was easy. The second proved more difficult as we weren’t very adept at reading the LA timetable. After waiting for about 30 minutes with hungry, cold and very tired kids, a guy eventually told us that we had missed the last bus for the evening.

Sooooooooooo…… two taxis were called and bed that night never felt so good!

Next blog….San Diego, here we come!……………….

Now that we had Disneyland out of the way, we still had three more attractions to see, one in LA and the other two in San Diego. Trev has written about our adventures at Universal Studios in LA, California. Hope you enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We set the alarm clock to get up really early. Why?

Because were off to Hollywood’s famous Universal Studios Theme Park! Now this wasn’t going to be an easy thing to do. Universal Studios was located on the other side of LA, and LA has over 15 000 000 people (count those zeros!) and almost everyone of those people has a car and they were all off to work at 6.30am when we wanted to drive the freeways to Hollywood! The kids stayed asleep whilst I drove for two hours (who needs the big theme park thrill rides when you have LA’s freeways!)

We arrived early. So early in fact, that we were the only vehicle lined up at the parking lot waiting for the gates to open. That was OK as it gave us time to wake the kids up and have breakfast before the crowd came.

Universal Studios was a magic place. A little like Disneyland (not quite as magical, but very interesting to be able to learn all about the movie industry… and it all came with fantastic experiences and rides).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Firstly we checked out Shrek. This was a 4D experience where we don 3D glasses and sit in water squirting chairs that jump all over the place. The kids loved it, especially when Shrek farted into the fire breathing Dragons face. You could actually smell the real sulphur smell of his fart!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We raced around meeting and having our photos taken with all sorts of movie characters – from Curious George to The Simpsons. The Donkey, from Shrek, was the funniest as he joked about our big family and told us “he” knows when to stop having waffles! When The Mummy came along and held his hand out to Chayse for a high five, Chayse was terrified and hid behind my leg!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jai, Kaitlin and I decided to enter the House of Horror. This was a spooky old house with deep dark tunnels and gloomy frightening rooms. Brave Jai took the lead through all the cobwebs and haunted noises and he passed on by the scary moving creatures about us (he new they were fake!), then all of a sudden this disgusting creature (a very real one) lept out of the darkness and attacked him! This frightened the living daylights out of him (and us!). From then onwards Jai and Kaitlin huddled together for safety and held onto the back of my shirt. We continued through the maze of tunnels and were bombarded, attacked, chased, grabbed at by all kinds of creatures, monsters and body parts from the Chainsaw Massacre to Frankenstein. All real humans, I think, in costume. We were sure glad to get out the other side!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped to watch the Animals in Movies. Here dogs, farm animals, orang-utans and other animals demonstrated their tricks that they do on the movies. The animals that performed were actual animal movie stars from some of the latest movies. (don’t ask me which ones!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flynn, Jai, Kaitlin and I jumped on a Universal tram tour of all the movie sets. The guided tour took us into the actual sets of classic movies such as “Jaws” with its huge mechanical shark and “Back to the Future” with its time machine car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sets are always being remodelled for current movies such as recent filming of “The Mummy”. Whilst we were there, they were filming “Desperate Housewives”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tram also took us into some wild movie experience sets. We entered a set which erupted into a very realistic massive terrifying earthquake. The whole place erupted with fire, crashing buildings, smashing trains and tidal waves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All controlled bycomputers and giant mechanical robots. We were all very shaken! We also entered King Kongs domain. He was living in a jungle full of carnivorous dinosaurs (this was actually a huge 360 foot tunnel imax … the biggest 4D imax in the world). As our tram entered this tunnel, King Kong went mad! All hell broke loose as he fought the massive dinosaurs. There was will noisy action all around us and our tram was knocked about, smashed by dinosaurs, jumped on by King Kong, then thrown down a cliff. The experience seemed so real and we all thought we were going to die! Now there was a lot more that happened on this tour, but I’ll save telling you that another day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were all entertained by the special effects team who showed us how they create the illusions that we see in the movies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The highlight of the day was seeing the Water World. This was a huge movie set, where the hit motion picture was brought to life. It looked like something from a Mad Max movie. We sat there laughing at the audience being wet by the actors who were firing up everyone up for the show by throwing buckets of water at them. The show began and had us sitting on the edges of our seat the whole time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were massive explosions, real crashing planes, machine guns, jet skis, boats and falling dead people! In the end the hero got the girl and saved the world! After the performance, we were able to meet with the actors, who had all acted in real movies and shows on TV.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jai, Kit Chayse and I braved The Simpsons experience. This was a simulator, where you sit strapped into a chair that jumps all over the place as you watch Bart and his family going on one wild ride at a theme park… all in 4D. It really felt like you were on a rollercoaster ride with Bart. To my surprise Chayse watched the whole thing and didn’t cover his eyes once!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jai and I jumped on The Mummy experience. Now this was a real rollercoaster that took us through an array of dark tunnels with monsters jumping out screaming all over the place. Most of it was in complete blackness! We were both a little pale when we climbed off the ride, although that didn’t stop Jai jumping back on for a second go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I donned a raincoat for my final experience of the day. It was Jurassic Park. I couldn’t convince anyone else to come with me. They were all petrified of the 84 foot vertical drop on a rubber raft. I must admit, I was not feeling overly confident about it either (but you know when you tell everyone that they are chicken, you just have to do the ride to prove that you are the tough guy!). So on I went past all the wild life sized moving robotic dinosaurs and into a flooded warehouse where an enraged T-Rex toppled cars on top of me and tried to eat me. Then suddenly the raft dropped down through a waterfall and over the vertical drop. Wow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were so many things to see and do, we didn’t even get around to them all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we knew it, our time was up. But I speak for all when I say, the day was awesome!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another day done and more in store with our next blog. If you like reading about the gossip about stars in magazines, then you’ll enjoy the next place we visit in Hollywood. Until then………