Category: USA

We’re here! Landed at 1pm yesterday and Kit met us (on time!) from LAX. We’ve checked into the Seashore Motel (we rate it 7/10) and had a tasty dinner last night on 3rd Street (corner of Santa Monica Boulevard) – think it was called Tavola… 3 courses for $25 and they were all delicious and enormous (we rate it 8/10)! Mooched round the shops for a bit, then headed home for an early night. Today we’ve been to Venice beach, as the weather forecast had got it totally wrong (they’d predicted rain) and the sun was blazing. Walked all along…

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Yesterday we went to Six Flags Magic Mountain which was loads of fun :o) We were there for over 8 hours and still didn’t have time to try all the rides! X2 was our favourite ride (we rate 9 out of 10 – it was over too quickly!) and worth the almost 2 hour queue! Here’s a virtual ride on X2 to give you some idea of what it’s like. What you can’t tell from this video is that they played Metallica right into your ears through speakers in the head rest and there were huge jets of fire on…

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We’ve been on the road for a couple of days, heading up Highway 1 to San Francisco… We stayed in Monterey on Thursday night and played mini-golf (US for crazy golf) – 18 holes in black light with all the obstacles and balls glowing up in the dark. I started well (beginners luck/fluke), but then Ise got a couple of hole-in-ones and rapidly over-took me and Kit to win 7 under par! Yesterday we stopped off at Santa Cruz (a little seaside town, where the Lost Boys was filmed) and had a wander around the amusement park. It was so…

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We’re staying at the Golden Gate hotel (we rate it 10 out of 10!), which has a resident cat called Pip (she popped into our room this morning through the window to say hello) and a dog called Cookie – both very cute and friendly. The manager/host Hellim recommended a Chinese restaurant (The House of NanKing) to us on our first night and it was packed with locals and the food was delicious (we would have rated it 10 out of 10, but they put sugar in the jasmine tea, so it gets a 9 out of 10 from us)……

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On Sunday we took a wander round SoMa (South of Market St) and ate some scrummy Moroccan food in Yerba Buena gardens before taking the Streetcar up the “Embarkadero” to Fisherman’s Wharf where we caught the ferry to Alcatraz. We did the audio tour, where you walk around with a headset on and listen to ex-prisoners and guards talking about life on The Rock. We learnt all about the escape attempts and had a demonstration of the “Sounds of the Slammer” – the cell doors opening and shutting, which is really loud and a bit scary (prisoners trying to leave…

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From San Francisco we went up to the giant Redwoods, which were awesome (not in an American accent!) – so tall and dead straight. We drove through a tree – random! It was so peaceful wandering through the forest and the air is incredibly clean – I can almost(!) see why people want to camp up there… After that we went down to Yosemite and spent a day in the park (we wanted to stay overnight, but all the hotels and cabins in the park were fully booked) – maybe we’ll go back in an RV with the kids one…

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Well they don’t call it Death Valley for nothing! It was 115 degrees F (that’s 46 degrees C) as we drove across and they won’t let you have the air con on for the whole way. We drank 2.5 gallons of water between us on the way across this… We’ve been in Vegas for 2 nights now (actually halfway through the 3rd, it’s 2.30am here!) and I have to say I’m not entirely sure what all the fuss is about… It’s a bit too loud, vulgar and money-grabbing for me. Having said that, I did enjoy the Big Shot ride…

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Vegas has grown on me a little – largely due to our stay at the Bellagio (thank you Georgie and Charlie!), which is just fabulous. I’ve been making full use of all the toiletries, Ise has had a professional shave at the barbers, we’ve been enjoying cocktails round the pool and some fabulous food, not to mention the view of the fountains from our bedroom window..! Kit’s gone home now, having done very well on the roulette table! Even I managed to win about $75 last night and quit while I was ahead. Last night we had an amazing dinner…

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On Thursday we left Vegas and went to Lake Mead (the man-made lake created by the Hoover Dam). We thought we’d hire a boat and mess about on the lake for a bit in the sunshine, then stay the night there. Unfortunately, as soon as we got out on the lake, the sun went in. We still had fun though, as it was about 90 degrees. However, on the way back into the Marina (at 35mph), the Gool drove the boat through some shallow water (he’d seen the warning marker on the rocks, but not the small one further out…

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