2 Days in New Amsterdam

So, today was our last day in good 'ole New York, and we've seen and done so much that I couldn't possibly write it down in the... 13 minutes, 34 seconds I have left of my 2 dollars. So, in brief, Yesterday, we did the Statue of liberty, Ellis island and battery park, as well as Wall Street and Greenwich village, and today, we went north to Yankee stadium, then back south to East Village, walking back the 50-odd blocks to our hostel, taking in the sights. I've had great fun here, but I really feel as if I've only just scratched the surface of this huge city. I've gotta come back here.
Anyway, probably not much in terms of updates tomorrow, as I won't have much to report. Dad and I are flying out of NY at 8 tomorrow morning, arriving in LA at 11, then probably not doing too much for the rest of the day. The day after, our final day in the US, will be spent at the Getty museum in LA, as our flight out is late (11 PM). I'll arrive back home sometime (possibly quite late) on the 20th, and probably bring the blog totally up to speed on the 21st.
Until then, seey'all
Jono

NY, NY on the 14th of December

Big day, today, Dad and I got up early and walked through the snow-bound Central Park to Midtown NY to see the Rockerfeller centre, Times Square, Grand Central station, The chrysler building, radio city music hall, Trump tower and more.We took a subway uptown to the Guggenheim which, despite being covered on the outside due to repairs, was stunning, and visited the Russian art exhibition there. Another walk through the park brought us past Strawberry fields and the Belvedere castle to another Subway, which we caught downtown to the Flatiron building (which was also covered in scaffolding, just my luck), then walked all the way up to the tallest building in New York, The Empire State building. The view from the top was spectacular, and believe me, I took -lots- of photos. On the way back home, we visited the NY Public Library and Times Square again (much more impressive by night), grabbed some dinner then took a subway back home.
Tomorrow is downtown, including the statue of liberty and Ellis island.
Seey'all later
Jono.

Greetings from NY

Just a real brief post for y'all today.
Last night, We went to Fremont Street and The Stratosphere, where Hayley, Pip and I rode on the rollercoaster that goes around the outside of the building (see my previous post for some context to that comment. The stratosphere is over 1000 feet high). After Flying almost all day today (our flight went via Dallas-Fort Worth in Texas), Dad and I arrived in New York, took a subway ride into Manhattan and found our accomodation in time to take a walk and eat a slice of trademark NY giant pizza.
Tomorrow, we'll be exploring mid-town, including the Chrysler and Empire state buildings and Central park.
Will update tomorrow evening.

I'm at a Las...

To decide what I think of Vegas.
After 2 days (and more importantly, 2 nights) in this town... well, it's a crazy place.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. We arrived in Vegas around midday on the 10th, having begun the long drive North from the Grand Canyon at 7 in the morning. Part of that drive involved crossing Hoover Dam, one of the biggest dams in the world, and a really spectacular sight. The rest of the family seemed to think that it was ugly, but I dunno, I see a certain gritty, industrial charm to it.
Either way, we were soon out of the desert and in Viva Las Vegas. It's a very strange place by day, with the glitz and glamour fading and the sheetrock and styrofoam facade appearing all too obviously fake, but you still can't help but be impressed by the sheer scale and audacity of the things people will build.

We booked in at the massive Circus Circus hotel/casino/entertainment precinct/small city, and once the sun set, set out to see the famous Strip (Las Vegas Boulevard). And boy, did we see the Strip (excuse the blurryness of the night-time photos, holding still for 1/8th of a second is harder than you might think). New York New York, The Tropicana, Paris, The Bellagio, with it's amazing dancing fountains (water fountains go off synched to muscial pieces go off every 15 minutes), the giant coke bottle, the giant m&ms shop (including the wall of m&ms, with every colour you could imagine) and more and more and more. This is a big place, with big lights and big sounds and big everything. Returning to Circus Circus, we went up to the 'midway games' section of the casino, which includes arcade games, sideshows and half-hourly circus performances.

The next day was the 11th of December, Pip's birthday (and someone else's.... though I can't seem to remember who at the moment... oh well, can't be that important >_> <_<), Luxor (wow. Coolest casino interior ever), Mandalay Bay and Excalibur (Wow. Lamest medieval-themed casino ever).
After that, we went up to Fremont street, the original casino centre of Las Vegas, which is now covered over by a canopy which, at night, provides a spectacular sound and light show.
On the evening of the 11th, we went to the 'Greek Isles' casino to see a magic show for Pip's birthday. Heading back to Circus Circus, we had a buffet dinner then headed back to the Midway games again, where I won a monkey!

Anyway, today we're off to the Neon Graveyard, then the Stratosphere and Fremont street in the evening.
Dad and I leave for New York -very- early tomorrow morning, and as we're not taking the laptop with us, internet access may be very sporadic until I get back. So I'll try to get on whenever I can, And I'll keep writing and checking here and my email (hoping to hear from everyone about results sometime), then I'll do a big, final update when I get back home. Seey'all then!

I guess so...

I mean, it’s pretty… big.... and stuff.
Day 2 at the grand canyon, and, after a trip to the caravan park to do some laundry (now here’s a sign and a half), we went to take in some more spectacular views of the huge rocks a long way away (Didn’t I say the canyon was impossible to describe?). After flirting with death for an impressive photo opportunity, we travelled East along the south rim, past ancient Indian ruins and out to the Desert View tower, an historic viewing tower built in the 1930’s for tourists coming to the park. This was a whole new view of the canyon, including the freaking weird Mount Cedar. On the way back, we took a short walk down from the rim via the South Kaibab trail to the appropriately named ‘ooh ahh point’, truly a spectacular view, and well worth the rather steep climb on the way back. A highlight of the walk up was a close up view of a squirrel, which for some reason didn’t seem to be at all afraid of us at all. Driving back with a few stops for family photos, we packed up our stuff ready for an early start tomorrow. Vegas, here I come!

Editor's note: (That's me, for those of you who didn't get the subtle joke) The past 3 days don't have pictures yet, I know. it turns out that wireless in Vegas = not much better than wireless in the grand canyon. I've found a spot to publish these blogs, but right now I don't have the time to do the whole photo thing. I'll see what I can do in the next few days. Also, as Las Vegas is a night town (in fact, it's pretty ugly in the harsh light of the day), I'll be updating the previous day the morning after for the next few days.

There is no song about the Grand Canyon

I mean, I’m sure there is, but um, it’s probably some country number, and certainly nothing I’d be willing to admit to knowing.
Today, day 1 in the Grand Canyon, and I must say, we were all blown away by the sheer scale and majesty (Grandness) of this gigantic hole in the ground. Rising in the morning before the sun, we all went to the rim (luckily, only a short walk from our motel rooms) to watch the day break over one of the seven natural wonders of the world (Who decides that sorta thing, anyway?)
Anyway, it’s kinda impossible to describe the Grand Canyon (and I don’t really have time to try, the whole sitting in a dark van in a hotel parking lot thing again), so I’ll just give y’all a bunch of pictures (which also don’t really convey the scale of this thing either, but we took over 150 pictures today, so a figure a couple of them will be good). A couple of things first though. First of all, it was damn cold today. Minimum last night was 11 degrees Fahrenheit (that’s -11 celsius for those of y’all whose brains have been addled by the summer heat) and I reckon it didn’t get above freezing all day. Certainly, when we walked a short way down into the canyon, the frozen stream didn’t seem to suggest tropical temperatures. Also, we saw a whole bunch of wildlife today, including close up deer and ELK! Anyway, on with the spectacular canyon vistas!

oooh!
Ahh!
other appreciative sounding noises!
and so forth!

Get your kicks...

On Route 66… I know, all of my titles are the names of songs. What can I say, I’m unoriginal. Just a brief one for today, as I’m currently parked in a parking lot stealing a local hotel's wireless connection (again, this is becoming a habit of mine). but for most of the 7th, as we travelled from Barstow, California to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, we were on and off the famous cross-country highway most of the time. Beginning our trip early, we saw hundreds of jet streams from planes flying the East-West US route and set off into the desert. As we crossed the Mojave, we took a detour to the Kelso sand dunes where, despite the sun, it was a cool 56 degrees Fahrenheit (turns out deserts, while always dry, aren’t necessarily hot.). We also saw a real life coyote (It is there, look reaaaal close). Next stop was Needles, California, with its historic motels (we have probably a hundred photos of old neon hotel signs so far. And we haven’t even hit Vegas yet).
We continued through the desert into Arizona, then turned off the big I-40 highway to the real route 66, complete with tens of tacky souvenir shops, but also some authentic and old stops on the now largely disused highway, in various states of disrepair.
Eventually reaching the town of Williams in Arizona, we set off on the last stretch towards the Grand Canyon South rim with the setting sun, arriving just after dark.