Frisco

Hi all,
the last few days we have been in San Francisco. By far the best city of the trip so far! We have been having a great time. Its a really big city packed into a small area, so there is heaps to do and see but its also really easy to get around and you can walk almost everywhere.

The first day was spent checking out Haight Ashbury. This was the centre of the hippy movement in the 60's and is Haight St is still full of cool shops and bars and allot of weird folks that might even still believe its the 60's.
The houses here are all terrace houses and are really cool.
There are even some victorian style places left.

There is also a ton of art and stuff to see, there are little galleries everywhere and the graffitti is also quite cool.

This was on the footpath,



Yesterday we spent some time at Fishermans warf. Its really just a touristy area on the water. But they have great views of Alcatraz and the golden gate Bridge. They also have these guys.


Its also home to the worlds most bendy street. Lombard St
Its really cold and windy here, the wind blows right off the water and its freezing.
Today we hit Alcatraz and the golden gate bridge. Alcatraz is amazing, its only 2km from the city but the water is so cold the swim would kill you. The current is also really strong.


Its really cool to see the cells and how small they are.
Ahem.......
There have been a few escape attemps, the only ones that are unaccounted for escaped through this hole.
We were also lucky that they had a former inmate there today signing copies of his book. We brought one and he put his prisoner number in it for us.

We also went over the golden gate bridge today.


There is a great view of the city from the other side.

We really loved it here and its a shame that we are leaving tommorrow. We are headed back to LA for the last few days in America. What wacky hijinks will we get up to. Who knows?

The Grand Canyon

On Friday we hit the grand canyon for the day. Its about a 3 hour bus ride from Vegas.
But you get to stop at Hoover dam along the way. Its pretty massive.
This is the damned side its called Lake Mead. Its been so dry recently, that white line is the old watermark.

This is the other side. Its deep.
Those white towers are where they filmed star wars

I liked this sign


We drove into Arizona and stopped at Dolan springs, which is the biggest hole I have ever seen. There is no water to any of the houses, they have to get it trucked in from a spring.


The town only has about 5000 people and 2 small shops, but the have 9 churchs.

When we finally arrived at the canyon we went to 2 different spots, the first was eagle rock. you can see why from the photo.
The view is amazing


This is also where the clear skywalk is, its an amazing thing to do, but unfortunately they don't let you take your camera on with you. They take some photos of you out there and then charge you $30 a pop. The floor is made of glass, its a really strange experience. If you look at the photo above its about 5Km to the river down there, and its about 100m wide.

The Gualapi indians own this part of the canyon and there are all kinds of Indian displays.
The second spot we went to was amazing. Its called Guano point because they used to mine Bat crap there. It was amazing eating lunch on the edge of the canyon.




Click on the pictures to make them larger, the place was amazing! I would recomend everyone go if they are headed to the states. Its just amazing, my camera could never do it justice.

Anyways we have been in san francisco for a day now. Been mostly around the Haight area. Its really cool. More photos in the next post.

Vegas part 2

We also visited the old part of vegas that you see in the old movies. Its called fremont street and all the casinos are small and close together. There are so many lights its like daylight all night long.


This street is covered by the world largest TV, which has a big show every hour. We saw a queen one.
I was excited
We also took a video

It was all really cool, everyone just drinks in the street and its like a party down there. You can buy a drink in one casino and walk out and into another with the same drink. Its also home to the poker wall of world champions.
I think they are saving that spot in the right hand corner for me.
Everywhere you go down the vegas strip there are mexicans giving out business cards. They are the guys dressed in yellow or orange. You walk past and they give you a stack.

They arn't normal cards though, they are all for strippers.
I gambled a little over the couple of days and was only down about $40 by then end, so I guess I did alright. They give you free drinks while your gambling so i would have got my money's worth anyway. I also learned that you have to look money!

Las Vegas Baby

Hi everyone,
we just got back from 4 nights in vegas! What a weird place, it was great to visit but after a few nights there your glad to leave. All we did was eat and drink!

The casinos are massive and each one is themed and have different things to see inside.

This is the fountain show at Bellagio its set to music and goes for about 15 minutes
It feels like a world tour when you walk down the strip. You can visit Egypt (Luxor)
New York
Paris
and rome.

There are also other things inside the casinos, MGM Grand has Lions

Mandalay Bay has an aquarium

And Flamingos has........
It was also good to catch up with Peter McErlean there
We have set a rule for the rest of the trip, No more Buffets! We are in San Fran today and its the mexican holiday of Cinco De Mayo this weekend so everyone is partying Mexican style. We are going to some festival today to have a little look. I'll post more vegas and grand canyon pics in the next installment of HD Abroad