Thanks for starting a new thread Kwaussie, love reading your reports. We had nice weather in Boston, hope it improves for you.

Way to be the trooper for your son. While the Air and Space is my favorite museum in DC - I know what you mean about getting to the stage of being "museumed out".

For future reference - if you didn't get to the Museum of Natural history in DC (I haven't finished your DC report(s) yet) - they have the biggest bull elephant I have ever seen greeting you just inside the entrance. Think Teddy Roosevelt provided it from his African Safaris? http://dc.about.com/od/photosofmuseums/ig/NMNH/rotunda.htm

Now in NYC - they have huge dinosaurs at their American Natural History Museum (West side of the Park) - and also a great IMAX for a trip through the universe, journey to the stars, etc. http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/space-shows/journey-to-the-stars/journey-to-the-stars

Here's the page for the NYC Natural History Museum permanent exhibits - which again - has some big dinasours, etc. http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions

http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions

This was of course featured in the first movie - Night at the Museum: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477347/

More nice TR! FYI, gh American Indian Museum in D.C. has a nice, albeit exensive, restaurant.

that 'gh' was supposed to be 'the'

Thanks for the new post Kwaussie. Those of us who have been following your trip really appreciate the faster load.

In Boston, do hit the north end for some really good Italian food.

If you can stand another museum, the Museum of Science is great, be sure to see the static electricity show there.

t

Thanks for starting a new thread, really enjoying your reports.

Taine and Geoff would enjoy the Adams houses and the Adams Mansion in my hometown, Quincy. You would likely need a car. Of course further south, Plimouth Plantation in Pymouth is an old standby and the replica of The Mayflower is close by. These places were favorites for my kids whenever we'd go back to Boston and Quincy for a visit. Of course, they're 52, 56 and 58 now! Boston is a great place to visit..full of history, great New England food, etc. Sorry to say, they've taken my name of of the Welcome to Quincy billboard, for some reason or other.

stu
Have fun.

Boston is the oldest place of civilisation that I have every visited and I love how you can 'feel' the history here. Because of the persistent rain we shelved the walking tour idea and bought tickets on the trolley. They have a winter special that gives us access to the trolley for all 3 days of our visit for the price of one so it turned out to be a good choice. Unlike the conch train in Key West, this one really does have lots of stops at different locations where you can hop off and explore for awhile and then jump back on. The driver's narration was excellent and we learnt a great deal about the city as we drove around.

Our first stop was the Quincy Market where we got a chance to sample the famous clam chowder. Eaten in a bread bowl it most definitely lived up to expectations. In fact all the food at the market looked so delicious it was hard to choose what to have. The market area is beautifully decorated for the holidays and it includes a shop with the biggest range of Christmas ornaments you can imagine. I've been buying a distinctive ornament in each city to take home for our tree next year but like the food court the choices here were so vast that I couldn't decide what to have. In the end I bought a fairly boring red sox baseball bauble because it was light!

Because we spent so long at the market we didn't have a lot of time to explore Boston Common but we'll try to fit this in again tomorrow. Geoff's fascination with squirrels was rekindled in Washington where we saw squirrels of many colours including a black one and a snowy white one and continued today with the colony in Boston Common who are clearly hand fed because they were very playful.

Having grown up with the TV show where 'everybody knows your name', a visit to 'Cheers' was a must do. We sat at the bar and had a handle of John Adams before jumping back on the trolley right outside the door.

We had our first real travel hiccup today. I had booked tickets on the Amtrak to NYC for Sophie tomorrow and us on Thursday. Luckily it occurred to me today to check the baggage policy because we discovered that there is NO checked baggage on this train and no way of getting our cases to NY. Yikes! Thankfully Amtrak were happy to fully refund me and we've rebooked tickets (including a spare one for the extra luggage) on a bus instead.

Tonight we met up with a Bostonian friend of Soph's for dinner. We went to the Cheesecake shop at Copley Square and had delicious salady, vegetably things.... and a wee bit of cheesecake.

Bookmarking

Still enjoying your journey . . .

The Amtrak train doesn't have "checked" baggage, but you ARE allowed to bring baggage--large suitcases even--as carry-on. Unless you are traveling with streamer trunks, I don't think you would have had a problem. How many suitcases do you have?

We took two big bags and a couple of carryon's on Amtrak on our last trip. You have to store it yourself in the baggage racks at the end of the carriage.

We may have been able to get away with our big bags but we're carrying two each now (plus carry on) so I wasn't game to risk it. Hopefully we'll be right on the bus with our extra seat. Once we get to New York we have 2 bags allowance on our other legs so we won't have to worry.

tower, I wish we'd had time to get down to Quincy but we were flat out just seeing the city itself. I would have liked to get to Salem too. Just more reasons to have to return one day

The rain abated today so we had a beautifully clear (albeit cold) view of the city today. The whole place reminds me so much of Dunedin, right down to its own, distinct accent. Our trolley driver this morning spent some time encouraging us to speak 'Baahhstonian' but I'm afraid I just can't get my tongue around those drawn out vaahhls. I could listen to it all day though. I asked a man for directions and was so entranced by his accent that I had no idea what he'd said!

We got off at Boston Common this morning to play with the squirrels again and check out some of the historic monuments in the park. On the spur of the moment (and to get out of the cold) we decided to visit the State House, home of the Massachusetts' parliament. I'm so glad we did. What a beautiful building with very friendly and approachable staff. The murals and stained glass windows throughout the great halls reflect the history of Boston, Massachusetts and indeed the United States through the American Revolution, the birth of Independence and the Civil War. We climbed the stairs right up to the golden dome and checked out both the Senate & the House of Reps.

A walk around the corner took us to the Granary Cemetery where the likes of Paul Revere, Mother Goose and Sam Adams are buried. So many old souls, right there in the middle of the city and residential buildings.

Taine was keen to visit the Tea Party Museum so that was our other stop for the day. We took part in a quaint re enactment and role play of the Tea Party, complete with a pretend tipping of tea into the harbour. The young man playing Sam Adams whipped us into a frenzy of rebellion complete with lots of 'hazars' and 'fies' and some foot stamping. We pretended to disguise ourselves with indian feathers and then boarded the ship to tip the tea. It was all informative and good fun and ended with a free sample of tea!

For dinner tonight we visited Whole Foods on our way home and bought ourselves a picnic of hot veggies & salad. This store is nowhere near as extensive as the one we visited in Austin but it's still big enough to provide lots of variety. Taine even scored some gingerbread corn chips for the bus tomorrow. I love the way even savoury foods become sweet treats in the U.S!

Boston is lovely but I'm not sure how people manage the Winter here. It was so cold today that even Geoff wore long sleeves and it was fully dark by 4.30pm. I can only imagine what it might be like in January and February.

Love your spirit - and did you take some pics wearing the raiding feathers?

Hope you have a scenic bus ride tomorrow.

Brava! Although I was born in Bahston, I've never been there as an adult. Great to read about it through your eyes.

TD...born in Quincy, but left for California in 1957, been here since. Two of my kids were born in Bahston...I lapse into the old Yankee accent anytime I'm around old friends or family...then it's "pahk the cah in the Hahvid yahd!" I'm an Emerson College and BU grad, my California grandaughter fell in love with Boston and with a student from Vermont. They both graduated from Emerson,too, and now live in Ventura, CA.

Go visit..it's a wonderful place to see through your adult eyes.

Kwaussie..I'm happy that you've had an enjoyable visit. Your "strian" accent mixed with the Bostonese must be hard to decipher!

Stu Tower

Kwaussie...in "strian", do you know what "Aye-tin" is? How about "egg-shna"..? From my days in "Stria"...

Hmmm, maybe a few more phonic clues Stu ??

My feet hurt!
We've been in Manhattan for just over 24 hours and in that time I think we've walked about 20 km.
When we think of downtown New York we think of it like the middle of any city but in fact this is a place of cities within cities. Manhattan is spread over 185 streets east to west and every one of those streets is a main street with some major, must see attraction! And that's just one of the boroughs of New York.

We left Washington yesterday at 11am for what was supposed to be a 4 hr bus trip. This actually turned out to be a very uncomfortable 6 hour torture but for $25 we weren't complaining. I was surprised how much open space there was between the two cities. In my mind the Eastern Seaboard has always been one long metropolis but in fact there are lots of woods and trees, right up to the edge of the city.
Our first real glimpse of New York city was the Yankee Stadium and then we crossed the bridge into Harlem. Whoah, just like the movies. And again, just like the movies, the neighborhood changed at the edge of Central Park to expensive apartments and coiffured dogs and their leash holders.

Our hotel ( the Affinia Dumont) is on 34th and Lexington, just a few streets away from The Empire State Building. We have a great view of the skyline of uptown Manhattan. Sophie met us at the bus station and thanks to her previous experience, we were able to master the subway fairly quickly. What an excellent method of moving people around the city. We bought a $29 weekly pass and we've already taken 10 subway rides! Our first stop last night was Times Square, the mecca of tourists and entrepreneurs looking to make money from the tourists. It's not so much a square as a street, full of lights and shops and buskers and more lights.We watched ourselves on the big screen for a bit and then went in search of food.Because the Affinia has kitchen facilities in each room we were able to grab some supplies from a local deli and make our own chicken salad.

This morning we ventured to the bottom of the island. Earlier this year our Drama class used the events of September 11 as the stimulus for their ensemble performance and as a result we had done a lot of research into the tragedy.Visiting the memorial was an important mecca for us. It is a truly somber and overwhelming experience to stand where those mighty towers once stood and fell. It was freezing and the water spray from the reflecting pools was cold but I felt obliged to read each and every one of the names on the edges of the pools.

I had booked tickets to climb the crown of the Statue of Liberty but both Liberty & Ellis Islands are closed due to storm damage from Sandy. Determined not to miss seeing Lady Liberty altogether and despite the biting wind and heavy swell we boarded the ferry from Battery Park. Risking hypothermia we managed to get some wind blown 'selfies' and a few decent photos of the statue and the Manhattan skyline before tottering off the gang plank and hurrying back to the warmth (and the weirdos) of the subway.

Tonight we ventured down to the Rockefeller Centre to look at the Christmas decorations and then to the biggest department store ever, Macys. Walking the streets of New York it's hard to believe there are so many people in the world, let alone in one city. Remarkably, a lot of them are Australians, particularly in our hotel. Amongst the accents of New York the Aussie drawl is instantly recognizable!

"Our first real glimpse of New York city was the Yankee Stadium and then we crossed the bridge into Harlem"

If your bus trip from Washington DC to NYC passed by Yankee Stadium, well that's some odd routing!

Be glad it only took 6 hours as Friday was a "gridlock alert" day and projected to be the busiest traffic day of the year.

Enjoy the rest of your stay here.

I think the OP miswrote--they began the day in Boston.

Ha ha, thanks ellen, we did indeed start our day in Boston. I'm so travel weary now that I'm forgetting which city I'm in!

Kwaussie - The black squirrels in DC aren't native but 18 of them were imported to Washington DC from Canada during Teddy Roosevelt's time in the early 1900s. They are more aggressive than the native gray ones and are migrating outward from the city and becoming more predominate in the populations. We live just outside of the city and 20 years ago a black squirrel was rare, now they are just part of the population.

Loved seeing the US thru your eyes. Thanks for the Trip Report.

excellent report from a Melbournian..now back to "strian"

egg-shner:...when it's very hot outside, turn on the egg-shner.

aye-tin: number between 17 and 19!

The folks at the Ford Motor Plant in Geelong taught be a bit of 'strian...and they couldn't understand my Bostonese very well (even though I've lived in California for 55 years)

stu...enjoy the Vegamite in DC! If you can find any!

Thanks for the info on the squirrels KensingtonGirl. We've become quite fascinated with them, especially the changing colours in different parts of the country.

Very nice 'strian tower- my vowels are a little 'duffrunt' from being married to a Kiwi for so long!

Today we went on a mecca of another type- the uptown NY shopping hub of Park Ave and 5th Ave.
Taine and I had a sleep in while Geoff went for a run in Central Park this morning so we were late starting our day. Old hands at the subway now, we caught a train to 59th St and started our window shopping at Bloomingdales. We had a brief look at some ridiculously over priced stuff (the scarf in the pic below was $250!) and stood on the sidewalk in a brief snow flurry. Hardly the stuff Christmas cards are made of but we can definitely say it snowed while we were here.

Next stop was the Yankee's supporter's shop and then into the queue to get into FAO Schwartz, largest toyshop in the world (apparently) and home to the giant floor piano. Yes, I did say queue, our first ever experience of lining up to get into a shop. I'm glad we don't have a toddler with us because the stuffed toys in FAO are just amazing. We followed the line of people through the store, briefly stopping to grab something for Taine's little Christmas stocking and then lined up to get OUT of the store as well.

We bypassed the Apple store ( who also had a queue), figuring we are already maxed out on iProducts. Following the trail of the fur coats, we popped in to Tiffany's, only to discover we didn't really like the look of their jewelry so we left without making a purchase Then it was on to the Trump Tower for a meeting with Don. He was a no show so we stopped for a Starbuck's and an ogle at the golden furnishings of the foyer.

On the way to the Rockefeller Centre we popped into Swatch (another present for Taine) and Lindt (presents for me). When we got to Rockefeller the queues reached a whole new dimension. The line for the Lego store went all the way round the block and when we eventually got in and out of the shop we found ourselves in a crush of human beings coming from four different directions. I reckon the entire population of Mortlake (where we live) would have been swamped by this mass of people on just one city intersection. Luckily, festive spirit is alive and well in NY, even in the crowds and queues and there was very little pushing or shoving. Everyone just shuffles along trying to keep hold of their own group until , just like car traffic jams, the side walk magically opens up and you can move forward.

After another journey on the subway and a brief respite back at the Dumont, we went next door for Chinese food. The food was ok but the restaurant was SO hot. This is something we've found really odd in the North. You have to be very rugged up to be outside but the insides of shops and restaurants are ridiculously warm. I find myself de robing at the entrance of every building and carting my gloves, beanie and coat around over my arm till it's time to leave.

To walk off dinner we went down 5th Ave to Macys who are open continuously for 48 hrs before Christmas. There were thousands of people in the store, many of them carrying dozens of red bags. It's commercialism gone crazy. Despite traipsing up and down all 8 floors we found nothing we wanted to buy. I think we are shopped out!

Do you think we all should write to The Donald and bring him to task for missing you at the towers?

Still enjoying your trip, thanks.

kwaussie, a friend of mine in NYC says that in order to see the windows without all the crowds, they take a nap then go out in the middle of the night!

I admit that there were just too many people for me the last time I was there at Christmas. I admire you for braving the crowds.

Kwaussie, this TR is so much fun to read. I do think people tend to make neighborhoods no matter how large the city. I expect, also, that people get a somewhat skewed view of America if all they see is NYC! Most normal of us wouldn't stand in line to get into a store either. LOL

More soon, please!

emalloy, I think you should. So rude of him to be out when we'd called especially to see him!

This morning we got up while the kids were still in bed and hit the street early to look for extra luggage. As opposed to every hour of the day from noon till midnight, the shops were quite empty at 9am. It was great! We found some terribly cheap roller duffle bags (thanks Fodorites for this suggestion) and a KMart with a tiny little tree for our hotel room.

With the tree, complete with $2 LED lights, installed and decorated with the baubles we have collected on our travels, everyone was feeling much more festive as we jumped on the subway and made our way down to Chelsea. Away from Downtown, New York is quite lovely. The architecture is varied and fascinating and there's room to walk on the pavement. I could live here.

We walked the Highline, a disused railway become parkland. This is a magnificent recycling of land with great views of the city and a lovely, Sunday walk feel to it. It's definitely on my NY 'must do' list. We had a yummy lunch at the Crumbcake cafe and then walked to the Flatiron building. Although it was cold, the sun was shining and there was no wind today; New York at its finest.

Despite my pedometer saying we'd already walked 20,000 steps, after a short shower break we headed back downtown to the Radio City Music Hall for the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. And spectacular it was. Lots of high kicking and a tapped version of the 12 days of Christmas. Singing with feet! Santa took us on a 3D trip around the world and a little girl learnt about Christmas through a video game. WT?

On the way home we stopped at Bryant Park for hot chocolate, wandered the market stalls and watched the ice skating. Have I mentioned before that this whole trip feels like a dream? Never more than this evening.

Nice to hear you have a little Christmas tree/cheer set up in the room. Great stuff that.

We are heading up to my cousin's - 30 minutes away - for a Xmas day brunch - and they will have it nicely decorated for their 3 year old twins and other relatives who have come into town, plus they are serving three types of Quiche - along with the traditional Christmas ham, etc. My wife is taking her great Banana Bread and my sister is bringing ??. Oh yes - some fairly good Champagne.

Have always wanted to get over to the Highline and walk it - but just haven't yet.

Hope you get to wonder around Greenwich Village, my favorite area. Very easy to get to on the subway (Union Square - or along 6th Ave - Bleeker St (by Washington Square - another great place to walk around) - wherever - http://tinyurl.com/btowj4c, and walk around some.

There is a fabled Chocolate store - where the chocolate is not cheap - but at least they make a very good cup of hot chocolate at the counter - and they have a dining area. It's just south of Union Square at 841 Broadway - called Max Brenner: http://www.maxbrenner.com/

But there are other upscale chocolate shops in the Big Apple. see http://nymag.com/nymetro/urban/strategist/everything/chocolate/10186/ and http://gonyc.about.com/od/shopping/tp/best_chocolate.htm

And also hope you get over to the Natural History Museum - on the West side of the Park, where as you know - they made the first Night at the Museum movie. Here is the children's book it was based on - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_at_the_Museum and the movie itself: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477347/

Always love catching the rerun on TV, as well as the sequel at the Smithsonian - with the ever lovely Amy Adams, who stars in Leap Year - which would be good "research" for your future trip to Ireland/Europe. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1216492/ Leap Year starts at my favorite Irish village - Dingle - on the Dingle Peninsula.

And if you need a Pizza "fix" - some of the best pies are in the Village.

I like the old/authentic places such as Joe's and John's - and others along Bleeker Street - and then of course, there is the "original" Lombardi's . http://www.joespizzanyc.com/ and http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/3/30929/restaurant/West-Village/Johns-Pizzeria-New-York and http://www.firstpizza.com/

Some also like the more upscale Keste: http://www.kestepizzeria.com/home.html

But the best Margherita I had was a few blocks over in the East Village area - at Motorino's. They had a big pie and salad special for lunch - and I took half of it home - and my sister was visiting with a friend - in Greenwich Village - and they enjoyed the other half. . http://motorinopizza.com/

They are all good truth be told.

You report is interesting but I think you're a little confused about areas and directions.

In Manhattan MIDTOWN is 59th St down to 34th St (or 23rd St if you prefer). From 50th Street to to about 110th -125th St is the upper east or west side - north of that is Harlen, then various areas of upper Manhattan.

Downtown is a bunch of different areas below 34th - or 23 rd St) including Chelsea, SoHo, East Village, Greenwich Village, Financial District, Government Center and the Battery.

And the higher the number of the street the further north you are. Manhattan runs north and south - sort of - it's very narrow from east to west.

And yes, there are a lot of people. About 9 million in the city itself but about 25 million if you include the residential suburbs. And yes, the megalopolis from Boston down to DC is about 60 million people - but there are a lot of areas of open/farming land even so - it's a BIG country.

Sorry - there is a lot of BAD pizza in New York. Not ghastly like Domino's or something - but really not good. We have 2 or 3 favorite places - since we find many don;t use the best ingredients (best oil, freshest cheeses, etc).

Tom, we were hoping to get pizza today but never got round to it. I am captivated by Godiva chocolate stores. Brenner is good but we have them in Melbourne as well.

You're right NYtraveler, I'm completely confused about areas and directions! South feels north to me and when I go right I feel like I'm going left. When I referred to downtown I was meaning the middle of the busy part of Midtown rather than Downtown as in the area and direction opposite to Uptown!

The Central Park we see on the movies is inevitably the scene of a grisly murder or a kidnapping. I didn't see any dead bodies this morning, just acres of beautiful parkland set against the towering background of Manhattan. While Geoff ran 10 miles around the perimeter and Sophie ran a few of the internal tracks, I admired the scenery and Taine played mountain climber on the rocky outcrops near the skating rink. It would take days to explore the park properly, I just felt privileged to have experienced the tip of it.

Whilst doing some last minute Christmas shopping on the way back to the Dumont, we experienced some Julia Robert's style 'Pretty Woman' shop attendance. Sophie has had her heart set on a Michael Kors watch and we've been looking at different styles over the last few days. We went to Bloomingdales because it was close to the subway but the attendants weren't at all interested in us. Despite standing expectantly at their counter for several minutes, they continued with their personal conversation and completely ignored us. Clearly our sporting attire and un-made up faces flagged us as unlikely buyers! We've actually experienced this phenomenon a few times in New York. Luckily we've also experienced the opposite and so to buy the watch we traveled all the way to Union Square to a shop where the assistant had been very helpful earlier in the week.

We made a lunch time pit stop to Skype Jaime & Xavier at home in Aus on their Christmas Day morning. It's the first time I've been away from any of my kids at Christmas so that feels a bit strange & I'm certainly missing our own special seasonal rituals, however this is a Christmas that none of us will forget! The time difference is such an odd thing but at least I understand now how Santa manages to get all around the world. It's a very long time between midnight in NZ & Aus and the time he finally gets to New York!

This afternoon we went downtown and across town on the subway to get to Brooklyn. It was too early for pizza so we just walked our way back to Manhattan. The views from the bridge are to die for. There was lots of cloud today so everything was shrouded in grey but nevertheless the harbour and the skyline were amazing. Tourists on the bridge do have to be careful to remember that one lane is for bicycles. I nearly got collected a couple of times when I wandered over to take a photo.

We called back through Union Square to get the aforementioned watch and to pick up some supplies from Wholefoods. What a crush! Just like in Australia it seems everyone is buying enough to survive a holocaust when in fact most of the shops are only closed for a day and in NYC a lot of them will still be open tomorrow. In the end we grabbed some salad and then topped up with Christmas beer and pretzels at the Duane Reade drug store across from the hotel.

As I type, we're watching snowflakes drift past our window on the 36th floor. I don't think it will be a white Christmas but it's enough snowy stuff to get us excited! I was hoping to get to a midnight church service tonight but I don't think Taine's going to make it. The stress of wondering whether Santa does hotel visits has completely worn him out.

Hope you have a White Christmas after all and poor Taine: Hope Santa finds him.

And LOL: I will make you a great deal on the Brooklyn Bridge. That's one of the oldest scams/sayings of all - selling a tourist the Bridge or a "share" of it.

About 15? years ago - I actually drove across it on a Sat night (not by design - I was returning from Providence, Rhode Island - to see my niece at Brown U) - and fortunately - the traffic was moving just fine, and I was albe to reach the Hilton Millenium (next to the then Twin Towers) with no problemo.

And if you have an obnoxious clerk in a store - just make yourself known (verbally) - or go back to where they appreciated your business - as you did.

For NY Traveler: I know from other posts you have high standards - so perhaps you could share your Pizza recommendations with us?

And keep up the great adventure reports, pleez.

For NY Traveler: What I meant when I said about the Pizzas "there are all good" was about the ones I noted in Greenwich Village - (which I should have more clearly specified).

As noted - my favorite - made in an authentic/specially built brick oven - old Napoli/Firenze Italian style - with San Marzano Tomatoes http://www.pizzainyourbackyard.com/recipes/best-pizza-sauce-san-marzano-tomatoes/ in the sauce, topped with fresh "Buffalo" Mozzarella - and fresh basil - artistically arranged on the pie - was at Motorino's, in the East Village. http://motorinopizza.com/

Don't worry, Kwaussie, no one expects you to be direction savvy--you're just visiting. I always got turned around in Savannah Georgia. Often the water is to the south but that wasn't the case there.

I'm annoyed on your behalf about the poor service at Bloomies. As a white-haired person, I am often ignored. Once I timed it--20 minutes before someone finally did acknowledge me with a "Did you need help?"--well of course I needed help--I demanded a supervisor and suggested they change their ways. I never returned to see if my rant worked.

The high line is a "to do" for me also. Very much enjoying your TR. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Fodorites!

Luckily Santa was able to find us this morning, even though we're a long way from home. We've had fun over the last few weeks finding 'small' presents to fit in our travel and we had lots of fun unwrapping them this morning. My Pandora bracelet is now a testament to our trip with charms reflecting each of the cities we've visited We also stuck with our tradition of bacon and eggs for breakfast, even though cooking them created havoc with the smoke detector and meant someone had to continually wave a towel in front of it while Geoff kept cooking!

Around lunchtime we wandered down to the subway with no real plans in mind but to spend the day wandering the city. With most of the shops shut the streets were much quieter, a very strange phenomenon indeed. The quiet ended at the Rockefeller Centre. We thought we might do the Top of the Rock but so did every other tourist in the city! The queues were much longer than normal. Likewise in Central Park where I think Christmas Day might be the busiest day of the year. As for Times Square and the M & M shop...complete chaos.

The homeless are hard to ignore in New York. It's so sad to see so many people doing it tough, especially in the cold weather. Taine has been particularly affected by the cardboard pleas for help and so today he decided to cash a few days of his spending money into dollar bills and we let him give away as many as he wanted. I know it's not possible to donate to every beggar in the city but it felt so much better than our usual head down, walk fast approach and it was gratifying to see so many people being genuinely appreciative of his little presents.

We had delicious salad and pasta at Fresh & Co for lunch and pretty ordinary turkey burgers at the Tick Tock diner tonight. I'm pining for some pork crackling and plum pudding so maybe we'll have a post Christmas feast when we get home.We met some other Aussies on the train going uptown and coincidentally we ran into them again on the train home. Then we found out they are staying at the same hotel as us. It really is a small world.

Tonight we had pre booked tickets to the movie of 'Les Miserables'. After doing the production with our school kids a few years ago, this musical has been one of our favourites so we were really looking forward to the movie. We certainly weren't disappointed. It was stupendously wonderful.

"To love another person is to see the face of God"

It was the perfect way to end Christmas Day.

Glad you enjoyed it 0 it's one of the few days the city is quiet.

But you're mistaken about Central Park - it's way busier every weekend in the summer than what you saw on Christmas Day.

As for giving dollars to the homeless - obviusly you can do whatever you want. But you should know that there are shelters that many of the homeless won't stay in, partly due to not wanting to follow specific rules and partly since many of them are mentally ill - off their prescribed meds and self-medicating with alcohol and street drugs. There are one or two in my area that I will give food to (tell them to go to the deli and get a sandwich on me, arranged in advance) but I never give cash since it usually goes to cigarettes, booze or drugs.

Really nice, Kwaussie.

Kwaussie,
I have LOVED reading all your trip reports. Even when things don't go your way, you make lemonade out of lemons.

Keep it up. You guys are still rolling very impressively.

As for the Homeless - my mom used to do the same thing as NYT. They were called Hobos back then - usually riding the rails into our small town in Southern Oregon - and looking for some sustenance before heading back out.

She would give them a sandwich or something to eat if they knocked on the door - but never any money - as they were usually buying a bottle of wine with it.

I worked with some guys/inmates from the city jail one summer during my college years - they got time off if they worked - and one of the guys actually worked hard at shoveling the gravel to patch up the streets. I was impressed as most of them were in pretty bad shape and were "resting" after about 20 minutes.

However - one evening - my buddies and I went to one of the local beer halls to shoot a couple games of pool - and he had been released that day - and he was in there - sitting at the bar - getting toasted. He was a nice enough guy really - but he even admitted - it was the "booze" that got him.

He said he left home (somewhere in the South) - hitting the road after his wife had accidentally burned down the house and killed their kids - but who knows for sure? They all have a good story, having developed their "con" over time - that's - when they coherent enough to tell it.

nytraveler, I know it's not really the busiest day of the year in Central Park. I was just making an aussie exaggeration
As for the homeless, usually I make my donations via the charity organisations but I figured that on Christmas Day I didn't really care what they spent Taine's dollars on. I have no idea what brings people to such a low point in their lives but everyone should have some joy during the holiday season.

Today was our last full day in NYC so we got up early to make the most of it. Geoff and Taine went to the Empire State Building at 8am and by doing so went straight to the top, no queues. I'm saving my vertigo risk days for the Grand Canyon so while they were there Sophie & I checked out the post Christmas sales opportunities on 34th street. Geoff reported back that the view from the top was every bit as spectacular as he had imagined it to be and the stories and photos of how the building was erected were pretty amazing.

Our big kids gave us a 'child free' lunch date at the Mandarine Oriental ,which also has great views of the city, as a christmas gift. While we were eating, Sophie took Taine to 'Build a Bear', a store where you create and outfit your own stuffed bear. It's a very clever, dolls for boys enterprise that he's been wanting to do since we first saw a shop in Texas. The end result was a very trendy looking camo colored bear in a leather jacket and sun glasses!

We chose the 3 course pre fixe menu for lunch and it was delicious, especially the well brewed pot of tea at the end. I was so excited to have a proper cup of tea that I had three cups full. While we were eating it started to snow. Snow is always exciting for us but unfortunately it meant we couldn't take our after lunch carriage ride around Central Park. Probably just as well because even though it looks so romantic on the movies, I'm sure my nose would have been frost bitten in minutes. As is often the case with snow, it wasn't white and fluffy, just cold and wet and it turned the sidewalk into a slushy skating pond!

We wandered around in Grand Central Station for a bit. This is truly beautiful building and a destination in itself and next time we're here I'll be sure to do the audio tour to learn more about its history. The terminal was really busy with people heading home after the holidays. We were hoping for a flash mob but no such luck.

The snow continued for a while and was much prettier from inside our hotel room as it settled on the buildings below. Then it became torrential rain so we scurried next door to the Barking Dog for dinner. It was a little bit of a melancholy occasion as we realised it would be our last dinner all together for awhile until Soph gets back to Australia. We've really enjoyed our two weeks together in the North East but tomorrow we leave Soph to couch surf here in NYC through New Year while we head westward on the last leg of our journey.

Kwaussie, I hope your flights out of NY aren't impacted by weather as it looks like much of the nation has delays this morning.

Keep the report going, thanks!

By the time we get to Phoenix, everyone will be sleeping. Our flight out of JFK tonight was delayed and our expected arrival in Phoenix is now midnight local time, 2am by our body clocks. A bit of a bummer since we have a car booked for yesterday! Also a bummer that Delta wouldn't honour our Webjet tickets which included two checked bags. In fact they wouldn't take any bags without us paying for them. One of the reasons we booked with Delta was that the quote included the bags so we're pretty unhappy about that! Given the age of the plane, the lack of in flight service and the chaos of their check in, we certainly wouldn't have chosen them otherwise....and you can be very sure we won't choose them ever again! One thing they do have is in air wifi (expensive of course), hence this blog post is being written in the air.

It took us ages to pack up our hotel room this morning. 8 days in NYC has allowed us to unpack and spread our stuff everywhere.With a late flight today we had the rest of the morning free to visit the Guggenheim and check out the Picasso exhibition. The queues to get in the door stretched as far around the corner as the ones for the toy store the other day but the wait was worth it. We took the free audio guides and I learnt more about Picasso in two hours than I have in a life time. What an interesting man! The exhibition winds it way up through the central rotunda area of the gallery and the circular nature of the display area lends itself beautifully to the ever changing and evolving work of Picasso throughout his long lifetime, during which he created more than 100 000 pieces of art!

After a final subway ride it was time to say goodbye to the city that never sleeps. We've had an amazing week here and there's no doubt we'll be back at some stage. I'd love to see Central Park in the Spring and there's a whole wealth of museums and boroughs that we didn't get to this time.

The stand outs (good and bad) for us in NYC;

The subway is an awesome way to get around the city. A weekly pass got us everywhere we wanted to go, all week for just $29. MYKI (the Melbourne transport system) is a disgrace by comparison (although I guess it's just a disgrace full stop!). Grand Central station is one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen.

Bagels. NY has real bagels, great big rounds of bready goodness, including ones full of grain.

Rude, disinterested service people. This was not always the case as we found lots of lovely, helpful people as well but in comparison to the South, New Yorkers (from our observation and short experience) are more abrupt and less friendly and counter service in retail outlets is incredibly slow.

Central Park. What a beautiful oasis in the middle of the city.

Dogs. In hotels, in restaurants, on planes!

Taxis. Those yellow cabs really are everywhere & they're cheap and easy to hail. Unfortunately, once they have a passenger in them they don't stop for pedestrians or emergency vehicles.

Pickles. Whole pickles are served with everything. This was of great pleasure to Geoff because he got mine & Sophie's as well.

High density housing. Brownstone apartment blocks that just go on and on as far as the eye can see.

Human traffic jams. Queues to get in and out of shops and museums.

The views. The Manhattan skyline is magnificent and for me, walking towards it over the Brooklyn Bridge was something I'll never forget.

Oh, and the snow. Watching it fall through our hotel window was pretty special

Lovely reporting! Thanks for all your efforts.

BTW, Wouldn't the window close?

bardo- the beauty of the window was that it did open! We opened it frequently to admire the view, wake ourselves up ....or watch the snow.

We finally arrived in Phoenix just before midnight last night and headed off optimistically to the rental car base. Geoff had rung the company yesterday to arrange a size upgrade to get us through the last leg of our trip from Phoenix to LA. They had told him the upgrade would be no problem and we should just organise it at the depot in Phoenix. No such luck. They had very few cars in the lot at all and nothing in the 'van' range that we were looking for. Eventually they found us a mid size SUV and a new charge for more than DOUBLE our original quote. Given that we'd already pre paid for our original car and it was midnight and we had no other option, we forked over the extra $850 , jammed our bags (which are looking a little worse for wear after yet another TSA check!) into the boot and checked in to the nearest La Quinta. It was a very expensive day!

A few hours sleep and our favourite 'brightside' breakfast helped us to be more philosophical about the financial frustrations of the previous day. The weather in Phoenix was a glorious. The sky is the same clear blue of the Waikato in NZ and today it was cloudless and windless. I think I expected to see desert in Phoenix but I'm not sure I understood that the whole city is desert and that desert is actually very beautiful. Taine has been hanging out to see a giant cactus and he wasn't disappointed. They are, literally, everywhere. As are the big red rocks that rise out of the desert plain like painted concrete sculptures. The colour palette is brown on brown and there is a noticeable lack of water sources. There are really no gardens to speak of except for succulents and the occasional splash of red bougainvillea. It is a unique environment and one that I have never seen the like of before.

We drove to the South Mountain park and were treated to spectacular views over the city. I was disappointed with my photos because they don't show the different depths and levels of colour and so the landscape looks bland. I wish I had a 3D camera! The drive up and down the mountain was straight out of Radiator Springs and 'Cars'.

Then we went to Papago Park and climbed the Hole in the Rock. This is one of the red sandstone rock formations that dot the city. An open cavern at the front of the rock is connected to the back via a large hole and so you can climb up the back and through the hole to sit in the cave chamber and look out over the city. Apparently the Hohokam who were early inhabitants of the area, used the sunlight patterns through the hole to judge time and seasons. Pretty cool. We stayed up there and watched the sun set over the city.

Shame about the extra costs - but as you know - that happens in travel sometimes.

If you get a chance and/or you are heading that way - the town of Sedona - a couple hours to the North - has some incredible Red Rock formations. It's on the way to the Grand Canyon if you are also taking in that natural wonder.

Gosh I hope you can work out a refund from the car company. Not a good way to keep customers.

Please keep this TR coming!

Enjoying part two of the trip report. I haven't been to Phoenix or Sedona so much beauty out west.

For the Delta airline mess, file a complaint right now with the airline and with your credit card company. Make sure to reference the free bags in your original purchase and how you had to pay at the gate.

A trip report that keeps on giving!!!

That is lousy that you got screwed by weather delays, Delta and car rental all in one day. Perhaps you could switch out to a better vehicle today before heading out.

Yes, If you go thru Sedona, stop at the Chapel for some amazing views. We enjoyed two visits taking the drive thru Jerome to the GCanyon.

I love that you gave to the homeless for Christmas. During the year, I will give to shelters, but hey, it's the holidays! Who am I to have an expensive bottle of red to go with my Christmas beast and deny a wino down on their luck bugger living on the streets, some walking money to buy a snort or two of whisky or wine? Children showing compassion and recognizing others down on their luck is priceless!!!

Happy Trails!

Sally, we were so cross we lodged a complaint with Delta while we were still at the airport (no response as yet!)
Tom- we're in Sedona tonight
Thanks dudette, so frustrating when companies give misleading advice but not unusual these days I'm afraid.
LG- exactly, who cares what they spent the money on if it bought a little sunshine to their Christmas. Taine has also been giving clip on koalas to people that he meets along the way. He bought them in bulk at the market before we came and he's had a lot of fun meeting people via these little gifts.

We're back up to four passengers today since Sophie decided to ditch her NYC, New Year's Eve plans and flew in to Phoenix last night to spend a few more days with us in Arizona This made packing our rental car an interesting but not insolvable problem. It's a good thing I'm married to a Maths teacher and the children are flexible!

Taine's early morning blood nose meant we got a good , early start to the day and we were on the road a little after 9am. It takes a while to get out of Phoenix but soon enough we were on the highway with desert scenery on either side. We made a pit stop to look at Montezuma's castle, an amazing series of houses built into the rock wall dating right back to 600AD. While Montezuma's is the best preserved of the multi storey dwellings , there is evidence of a whole vertical village in the cliff face along the creek. Amazing to think of people living in such a well organised society so long ago.

At the crossroads back to the highway we stopped at a roadside stall where a Navajo indian gentleman and his mum where making fry bread and selling jewelry. We bought one piece of fry bread out of interest, then 3 more out of appetite . It was delicious!

We reached our destination of Sedona not long after. I had read on Trip Advisor and Fodors about the beauty of the red rocks in this area but once again, seeing is believing and for about the millionth time during this journey, we were gob smacked. This cluster of huge, red monoliths rise up from the desert floor in a variety of shapes and sizes, lending themselves to names like Bell Rock, Pyramid Rock and Snoopy Rock. The place is also full of psychics and spiritual healers and new age book stores because of the number of vortexes (and I have checked that this is the correct plural spelling!) that supposedly exist within the rocks. The vortexes are places where the energy is right for meditation, prayer and healing. My family are skeptical but I intend to open my mind to finding a vortex tomorrow!

The rocks themselves are certainly magical to look at. As with so many of our experiences on this trip, they are simply breath taking. Each day we talk about our favourite scenes, places, adventures and each day we have to add something else to the list. The red rocks of Sedona are certainly right up there.

Sedona is one of my favorite places, so glad you are enjoying it! And isn't fry bread great? I think you are headed to the Grand Canyon as well. I believe you about to be gob-smacked again

Didn't "tune in" to any Vortexes while driving around the Sedona Red Rocks - but then again - I am a cynic and was mainly the driver/too preoccupied? - while my wife took advantages of the many photo ops.

And up on the Mesa by the airport is also great for viewing sunsets.

Not sure what the temps are there now - but a little drive up the canyon/north of town - is a place/swimming spot by the river where the local teens/college students like to cavort a bit. http://www.swimmingholes.org/az.html

Toucan- Sedona is just beautiful, I wish we'd had more time there.
Tom- Too cold for swimming but I took some great photos from the airport.

Yesterday our day started in the beautiful village of Oak Creek, eating breakfast as the sun rose over the red rocks.
After checking out all the formations the day before, we decided Bell Rock was a manageable hike before we set off for the Grand Canyon. It’s hard to describe the colour of the rocks, except to say they really are red! None of us felt the positive energy of the vortex but Taine fell over not far from the beginning of our climb and I wrenched my shoulder a but further along the track so we decided maybe we’d had a negative vortex effect! Geoff and Sophie climbed up to the top of the rounded part of the bell and we took some pretty spectacular photos.

We also visited the Cathedral in the Rock, a church built into the side of one of the cliffs. I lit some candles for my religious friends and took in a few more of the magnificent vista, then we jumped back in the car and headed of to Flagstaff. When we left Sedona Geoff was wearing his shorts and t shirt. Half way through Oak Canyon we started to notice patches of snow alongside the road and by the time we reached the top it was full on snowing and the countryside was white! Snow is such an exciting event for us Antipodeans so we stopped at a market on top of the ridge to play in it for awhile. Needless to say we all got very cold and wet and ripped off by the over priced souvenirs on sale there but it was fun.

Flagstaff was our lunch stop and provided some Christmas card views because the whole town was covered in thick snow. Realising that we had come very under prepared for snowy weather we stopped at Walmart but strangely we found no snow gear there so we stocked up on snacks and New Year's drinks and kept moving towards the Grand Canyon National Park. I had expected lots of winding roads like we have at home but we had already done our climbing through Oak Canyon and the road from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon was actually very straight and very flat, a bit like parts of the Desert Road in NZ.

We thought we'd left the snow behind us but as we reached the park entrance it started to fall again and when we reached the village it was quite heavy. After stowing our gear in our room at the Kachina Lodge we stepped outside for our first view of the world's most famous hole in the ground. And we didn't have to walk far. The GC lodges are literally on the rim, at some points just metres away. In fact on the path to Bright Angel Lodge I measured just 3 metres to the edge. And there is NO FENCE, just a straight drop hundreds of metres from the snow covered, icy path. Arrggghhhh. Last night there was lots of cloud in the canyon but this morning you can see all the way down. It is too real to be real.

As an acrophobic I knew I would struggle with living 'on the rim' but quite frankly I am terrified and for the first time on our whole trip, not really enjoying myself at all. Today Geoff and Sophie have gone to hike into the canyon itself and the mere thought of it has given me nightmares. I'm sure they will have a spectacular (albeit freezing) time and I wish I could take some part in the glory of the view but instead I will spend the day encouraging Taine to hold my hand while we take a less strenuous walk along the rim and maybe build a snowman.

TTT

kwaussie, we were at GC at Christmas time several years ago and it was spectacularly cold. I also found it a little disconcerting that it was so icy and little to keep one from going over the rim, but I don't have the fear of heights that you have. I'm so sorry that is making it so difficult for you

Guess it's no fun to be nervous about heights - but I thought there was still a bit of flat areas on the other side of most of the rim fences.

Hey - b4 going to bed - maybe you should tie a rope around your wrist - just in case you go sleepwalking?

Just kidding.

And as you have no doubt heard by now - the hike below the rim really isn't a steep one - at least for the first couple/three miles.

Anyhow - hope you can relax and enjoy the view. You might appreciate the IMAX movie by the park entrance.

Just wanted to let you know that I'm enjoying your trip report very much and wish you safe travels and a very happy new year!

Thanks kalo, it's nice to know we have other people coming along for the ride with us.
It is indeed spectacularly cold Toucan but there's no wind so it's quite manageable.
Tom, there is NO flat ground beyond some of the fences and in many places there is no fence. Taine's paper NYE hat blew off tonight and went straight to the Colorado River!

Geoff and Sophie had a beautiful day for their hike along the South Kaibab trail today. Some early snow cleared to a brilliantly sunny day with no wind. The photos they took on their iPhones are awesome but reiterate all the reasons I was so anxious about them going! Their base fitness stood them in good stead and they did the estimated 6 hour round trip in 4 and were back before I'd had time to start looking for them.

Taine got to make his snowman and then we took the shuttle to the village and had lunch at the Yavapai cafeteria. I thought we'd be adventurous and walk the next leg to the Info Centre but white, snowy trees all look remarkably similar and I managed to get us lost for awhile. The air is pretty thin up here and I was puffing by the time we found our way back to the market bus stop. The views from Mathers Point were lovely and they have a very sturdy fence along the rim there

We watched the last sunset of 2012 from the lodge area. The Grand Canyon is so immense it really is hard to believe it's real. The photos we took tonight look like we are standing against a fake background. I still can't get over how close the sheer drop into the canyon is from the lodge path. A couple of tourists asked me to take their photo on the path today and to my horror they backed all the way up until their heels were resting on the lip. I wanted to reach out and grab them back, just like I did with people who got too close to the edge of the subway platforms.

Tonight we ate dinner at the Bright Angel. It was delicious but as usual, far too much food. Unfortunately there were no deer lurking around the road like there were last night. We would have liked to stay outside and gaze at the bright stars in the canyon's unpolluted sky but at -15C it was just too cold so we retired to our room to try to stay awake till midnight.

Happy New Year everyone

Hope you have a good New Year's for the rest of the night - and restful sleep.

When we were last at the GC a couple of years ago - in the summer though - we saw two big Bull elk - each with 6x6 rack - just casually munching on the grass outside the Bright Angel Lodge. Hope you stopped by the entrance hall - at the El Tovar restaurant/lodge - where they have a number of impressive mounts.

And I'm just guessing you are not a candidate to seek out this glass floor - while en route to Las Vegas?

http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/skywalk.htm

Here some pics: http://tinyurl.com/b4bsmz5

Happy 2013!

Happy New Year! Thanks for continuing such an entertaining report!

tomsd - mocking someone not once but three times who suffers from a fear of heights and vertigo is not funny or cute

Sadly we didn't see any elk Tom but we did spot a few deer on our way back to our lodge I've been in El Tovar a couple of times but the hunting lodge decor isn't really my thing. It's so dark in there! If we'd had time we would have gone to the CG glass floor look out. Funnily enough I can cope with glass floors and flying and high hotel windows. It's the open air spaces that get me.

Don't worry LG, I'm afraid I get teased pretty mercilessly from my own family so I take it with a grain of salt. In fact I have to laugh at my own fear of heights (when I'm not crying!) because even I can see how ridiculous I must look when I'm herding other people away from the edges of things!

Yesterday was yet another example of the wonderful paradox that is America. We started the day in the vast tranquility of the Grand Canyon and finished it in the 24/7 bright lights and turmoil of Las Vegas.

The Canyon was magnificent yesterday, even tempting me to the edge to drink in a few more views before we packed up for our trip West. The isolation of the GC village means there is little choice in eateries so once again we had breakfast at the Bright Angel. The food there is adequate but the table service is soooo slow. Despite the restaurant being half empty we waited 20 minutes for anyone to take our order and another 20 before our coffee and breakfast arrived. By then it was really close to check out time so we had to bolt our food down and run. Not quite the leisurely pack up time we'd hoped for!

From the GC we drove to Williams and then we got off the Interstate and picked up the historic Route 66 to Kingman. Route 66 is a long, straight, mindless road of nothingness. The speed limit is 65 but you can understand how Lightning McQueen got caught speeding because there's no corners and virtually no other cars. The side of the road is littered with remnants of the Mother Road's heyday; abandoned gas stations and motels that gave us great insight into the inspiration for Radiator Springs. You also get another sense of the magnitude of the Grand Canyon. We'd been driving for 3 hours but we were still skirting the western rim.

From Kingman to Las Vegas the scenery changes again. With mountains in the near distance on either side, the desert prairie of the roadside is highlighted. Desert scrub and cacti cover the paddocks (I know they aren't called paddocks here but I don't know how else to describe them!). There are lots of signs advertising land for sale and clearly these offers are being taken up. There aren't many houses but lots of trailers and huts dotted among scrub.

We reached the Hoover Dam just on sunset and luckily with enough light left to appreciate this engineering wonder. The immensity of the structure is impossible to describe. It's a couple of miles just to drive down to the dam level. We were too late to take advantage of the information areas or guided tours but just in time to take a couple of photos and confuse ourselves with yet another time change as the dam sits on the state border. On the Hoover bridge pylons there are two clocks, one with Arizona time and one with Nevada time. We weren't quite sure which time zone we were in as we sat in the middle!

Driving into Vegas in the dark is just as you imagine it, a sea of twinkling lights in the desert. We booked a suite at the MGM Signature for $59 plus tax. The bathroom is bigger than most of the rooms we've stayed in till now and it includes valet parking and all the other perks of an expensive hotel but without the bill. If you want a cheap holiday (and don't intend to spend the change in the casino) then Vegas is clearly the place to be.

After dinner we put Sophie in a cab so she could go back to slumming it in the hostels while she spends her last couple of weeks touring California with a friend. We won't see her again till she gets back to Aus. Tonight we saw the 7 day weather forecast and realised we'll be home before the last day of it. Where has that time gone?

LOL - a true trooper - who takes things - properly in stride.

Keep up your great report - pleeeez. If you get back to the Dam - try to take the tour down into it. Remember - in places - it's four pitches long of concrete. They actually had to pour the concrete in cells, it's so massive.

And trust you have plenty of things on your list to see/do in Vegas but definitely get to the Bellagio fountains, and their Arboretum - the adjacent - largest chocolate fountain in the world, Jean Phillipe's wonder - http://www.bellagio.com/restaurants/jean-philippe.aspx - and - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-j4V5cX7lw - and if you want a treat - sit outdoors across the sreet at Paris' Cafe - Mon Ami Gambi - and watch the fountains.

Haven't been there for a year - but there is a free tram from Monte Carlo - which is across the Strip/Las Vegas Blvd - from MGM - stopping at Aria and ending at Bellagio - which is fun to ride.

There is also the pay tram on the MGM side which goes up to/by the Venetian? - which you might consider, but remember - all the big Casinos have free parking - and if you can learn to use the "back streets" - you can get around pretty easily- or drive earlier in the day when there is usually less traffic. Check the maps in the tourist mags.

Red Rock Canyon - about 20 minutes outside of Vegsas - is also a real treat. http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/lvfo/blm_programs/blm_special_areas/red_rock_nca.html

Las Vegas is a world of it's own. The casino complexes are so big that you can easily get lost in them. There are no clocks and the lighting is set to twilight all the time. In the shopping strip within Caesar's Palace, the roof is painted to look like the sky and the floor is imitation roadway. After a while you start to believe you are in a real street, until you decide to leave and then you can't figure out how on earth to get out of make believe world into the real world.

Each of the complexes is a replication of somewhere else, like Caesar's interpretation of Ancient Rome and New York, New York's faux Manhattan skyline. We made the mistake of buying day tickets on the monorail thinking that would be an easy way to see 'The Strip'. Unfortunately the monorail stations are set right at the back of the different complexes and to get to and fro the stations to the street you have to walk all the way through the casinos. This means maneuvering through the myriad of slot machines and gaming tables, then the hotel shops, up the stairs to the station and back down again at the next stop.

Remarkably,while children aren't actually allowed to play the slots, they can walk right up to and around them. The casinos have pushers and prams in the walkways right alongside the high rollers. Smoking at the tables is permitted and all the rooms are filled with the smell of whatever it is they use to try and disguise the smoke smell.

Anyway, we had fro yo for breakfast (as you do in Vegas and then set off to walk/monorail 'the strip'. We wandered through endless shopping malls and checked out all the fake stuff. The highlight of the day was the water show at the Bellagio. I put a few bucks through a slot machine just because I could, we bought some naff souvenirs because it seemed like we should and we ate something greasy on the way back to our lovely suite at the MGM where I tried to make peace with my aching feet in a lengthy spa bath.

I found the whole 'fake facade' of Vegas a bit offensive. Nothing is real there and the gross consumerism just made me feel a bit icky. I'm glad we saw the city but I'm pleased we were only there for 48 hours.

Today we drove to Anaheim. It's a long, boring drive through the Mojave Desert. Breakfast was at a stray casino not far out of Vegas at an all you could eat buffet for $6.99. It looked like one of those places where scary movies start. Crazy. No lunch required. There were people eating breakfast in their pyjamas and then moving straight to the tables.

The traffic coming into LA was the worst we've seen and after one car literally shaved our front bumper and then nearly tipped themselves over cutting lanes, we were white knuckled by the time we arrived at the Anabella, a hotel across from Disneyworld. The room was cheap enough but by the time we were slugged $14 a night for parking and $10 for wifi I was starting to wish I'd forked out for the friendliness of a Disney resort. This was exacerbated at dinner when I was told it was not possible for the chef to prepare a meal without garlic in it. Excuse me? I'm thinking we'll eat off premises for the rest of our stay!

We met a family from South Australia in the laundry. They're doing pretty much the same trip as us but in reverse order and this is their first stop. Jealousy overwhelmed me. It's 41C at home and windy. I'm not ready to go back to that yet

To satisfy Taine's obsession with 'Cars', Geoff's desire to see the 'real' Disneyworld and my insistence that there's lots of other things to see in L.A, tomorrow we're going to try and do both Disney parks in one day. Wish us luck!

I think you are right about Vegas, kwaussie. Although hub and I enjoyed Cirque du Soleil and just taking in the sights.

Good luck with Disney!