Where we are. What we're doing. Where we're going.
Friday, September 08, 2006
Yosemite National Park
We're nearly at the end of our trip. En route back to San Francisco, we stopped off in Yosemite. It's hard not to be inspired by the park - it is simply amazing. Here are a couple of pics we snapped, including one of a snake swimming across a river (Andrew thought it could be an eel when taking the picture but on closer inspection Ash said it looked like a snake and a quick google search confirmed that all snakes can swim - they use the water surface tension to skim across the surface - so be careful in the water!).
On Saturday we went to see Celine Dion at "Caesars Palace". By the time we booked we could only get the second section "Orchestra" (i.e. Stalls). They were still great seats though and we had a great view of the (huge) stage.
The show was a real spectacle - Celine's voice was amazing. The only thing we thought was that the stage might have been just a little TOO big, and maybe she should have had more dancers. They seemed to spend a lot of the time standing around, but then they do have to do the show 5 times a week so maybe they shouldn't exert themselves TOO much.
The whole back of the stage was a massive (and we mean MASSIVE) screen. That really made the whole show work and blended pretty well with the real scenery.
Tonight (Monday) we went to "The Venetian" hotel to see Phantom of the Opera. This was a really good show too. There were lots of pyrotechnics, chandeliers falling towards the audience, and great singing. The picture above is from the internet though: I'm glad I didn't take my camera as at the end of the show, security turned up infront of us to 'take someone away' for taking pictures.
The rest of our time in Vegas, we have done some gambling (of course!), eating, shopping and sight-seeing. The Las Vegas Strip is pretty unique. We have never seen anything like it before. From the Paris hotel where we had a French food fix, with its Eiffel Tower, Rue de la Paix, and Cafe Ile Saint-Louis, to "New York, New York" with its Coney Island funfair and Roller Coaster... the Venetian Hotel with its indoor Canal and Gondolas... its really amazing.
We also visited the Star Trek Exhibition at the Las Vegas Hilton (which has the "biggest freestanding sign in the world" as Ash keeps reminding Andrew) which was pretty good. Expensive though. They have two rides (these may mean nothing to you unless you watch the shows) - a Klingon one where you get to "be on the Enterprise" and then take a flight simulator ride, and a Borg ride which is a 3D movie thing - quite good as well. We still have one more day here in which to try to see more. There is so much to see and do.
EDIT : We added this clip of Celine's show so you could see what the stage looked like etc
Large Crater, Grand Canyon, and Big Helicopter Tour
After we left San Diego, we spent a night in a great resort just north of Phoenix, Arizona. Our bungalo room had a patio, and just beyond it there were huge boulders all over the desert. Boulders bigger than houses! From there, we drove to the large impact crater between Flagstaff and Winslow. The crater is over 4,000 feet across, and 550 feet deep! Where is it?
The next day, we drove to the Grand Canyon. It was truly breathtaking, and made us feel quite insignificant! In this picture you can see the clouds casting shadows on the hillsides created by erosion. Where is it?
Our next location was Las Vegas, Nevada. From here, we took a helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon, and we landed in the canyon to have lunch. It was great to be "down there" to see the river up close, and look UP the canyon. It was our first helicopter flight and it was in itself exciting! On the flight back to Vegas, we snapped some pictures of the strip. You can see hotels like "New York, New York", "Paris, Las Vegas" (look for the Eiffel Tower) and the "MGM Grand" where we have just checked into.
Sea World was also great, with weird and wonderful fish in the aquarium and a chance to see Shamu in the Believe show (which was great, apart from the cringeworthy Anheuser Busch bit where they talked about "American heroes" and asked people from the U.S. armed forces (and those from the U.K. and other allies) to stand up and for everyone to applaud them).
