Only In America: catchup

We’re currently in Dallas* (I know I’ve missed quite a bit, I’ve been busy!) staying with Stu’s cousin Jonathan and his wife Lindsay, a great family.

*actually we're currently in Wichita. I wrote most of this while we stayed in Dallas with Stu's cousin and his wife however we drove up here yesterday and caught a proper football game! I digress.....*

Stu’s cousin came over here at 19 to go to university and now after being in the country 6 years is living like a king! He’s worked hard for it and had to scrape by for a while but its paid off. The bottom line seems to be this: If you’re willing to take the risk and work really hard there’s money to be made. America really does seem to be the “land of opportunity”!

I’ve missed out a few bits so I’ll try and recap. I’ve still got a bunch of pictures from earlier in the trip I want to stick up and comment on but for the time being I’ll try to get this as up to date as possible :P

Before I tell you about Las Vegas I need to tell you how we got there. While still in Hollywood (and hating it) we decided to take a quick trip to Malibu before heading inland again however caught loads of traffic on the way so it ended up taking 2 hours or so. From there we took a mountain road to get to the other side of LA which when we got to the halfway point (about an hour of driving in) was closed... We had to double back and try and make up time of the Interstates...

Heres some pics from hollywood and that seeing as I never graced it with any pictures in the previous posts mention:

We've seen loads of funny/cool plates since getting here but this is class

Beverly Hills

Near Malibu

A long exposure shot in death valley at midnight - thats the moon btw :P

Las Vegas! We got in to our trusty Econo Lodge that was actually on the strip and slept the first night and most of the next day. After lunch we took a drive to The Hoover Dam.

It was a marvel to look at but spoiled slightly by the sheer number of people there to see it, tourist attractions really cut both ways eh? For those who are interested it took something like 30 years from the Idea to it being finished, crazy stuff. We walked around for mabe an hour or so taking some pictures and then headed back to Vegas.

I cant remember now if it was that night or the following that we went to the main strip. I don’t think it was come to think about it but I’ve brought it up so I’ll tell you about that night anyway. Iain, who isn’t a gambling man, didn’t really fancy the strip so he dropped me and Stu off away at the other end where the Bellagio and MGM Grand were and drove back down to chill for the night. For the next few hours me and Stu made our way back down the strip taking a wander through the bigger casino’s.

An enourmous Sports Centre

Ahh the Bellagio

Stu actually made 20 bucks or so from the Bellagio and then decided to quit while he was ahead. We walked out of there with a $5 chip each thinking we were Oceans 14 and 15 :P. The fountains outside the Bellagio were really something special also.

Vegas was pretty fun even though I didn’t actually gamble. I can see why some people love it.

Next stop was Are 51, well as close to as possible ;). Basically Area 51 is Nellis airforce base and its situated no a dried out lake bed called Groom Lake. There was a road going past it so we wanted to get a picture of the sign just for the sake of it. After maybe an hour of driving from our hotel we bypassed an unmarked road that didn’t exist on the GPS or Map so naturally we decided to follow it :D We could see the road go into the distance and come to what appeared to be some mountains but couldn’t see where it went afterwards. We drove for 10 miles (no joke) on this straight dirt track and as we reached the mountains the road snaked through until we came to some signs and 2 land rovers parked atop a hill looking down at us… The signs basically said go no further and that photography wasn’t aloud, naturally…. You get the picture ;)

The sign!

After stretching our legs we got back in the car and drove to the main road again. By this point the car was completely covered (inside and out) in dust! And thus the Area 51 adventure was over.

The Aftermath

The Dust Trail

The dirt track was completey unmarked other than the bullet hole ridden Stop sign...

The Grand Canyon was our next port of call! As expected it was phenomenal. Hard to believe the entire thing was formed by running water. The pictures speak for themselves.

Disgrace - the only problem we have with america, charging people to see the natural parks etc :P

Meteor Crater! Basically 55,000 years ago a meteor smacked into the ground at some ridiculous speed (24,000mph or something) and left this huge crator. It was an incredible sight!

After the Meteor Crater we deaded to the VLA (very large array) in New Mexico . Again is was pretty impressive and I invite you to read up about it online.