We're Back!!!!

Hi Everyone,
We are finally back online, it turns out the one town in America that turns over a couple of billion a day is also one of the hardest places to get Internet access. Who would have known ?!?


The good news is we made it to Las Vegas safe and sound and as you can see by the above image we got to stay in one of the cooler themed hotels on the strip.

First impressions of Las Vegas were pretty positive, however after the initial glitz wore off I was a little dissapointed. Although there are a lot of stage shows to check out, there isn't really a lot to do in the daytime, especially when the weather is a little cooler than usual.
Personally I don't think I could have stayed much longer than we did.

On the upside Ally and I did manage to catch "The Phantom of The Opera" which I have to say is an amazing show!
We also had a look through the M&M and Coke Store. Who would have through
they could dedicate individual stores to both Ally and My favourite foods.


While in Vegas we also took a trip to the Grand Canyon.
Our trip included a quick stop off at Hoover Dam. This place is amazing especially when you take into account that it was the first (and only as far as I know) government project to finish ahead of time and under budget.


After we left Hoover Dam we then took a detour via the old Route 66, this road isn't in use as much as it use to be due to the Interstate 15 (I15) bypassing most of it.
During this detour we stoped off at a little town called Seligman. This is one of the towns that was almost destroyed due to most of the traffic bypassing it on the I15.
While here we met a guy named Angel, who managed to put Seligman back on the map as a tourist destination.
I think this is also where Pixar got some inspiration for "Cars"


After Seligman we made our way to the Grand Canyon, WHAT A HOLE!!!!! (excuse the pun).
This place is simply amazing, and to be honest no matter how many photo's we take we could never do it justice.

While there Ally and I made our way around the south rim of the canyon, this was nice little 2.2 mile walk (about 3.5 Kms). Of course most of this was spent snapping pictures at every turn.
All in all this turned out to be about a 15 hour day from the time we were picked up to the time we were dropped back to our hotel, so we took it easy that night and tried to catch up on some sleep


For our final day in Vegas, Ally and I decided to stroll around and take some photos. This was supposed to be a pretty uneventful day so imagine my surpise when I bumped into David Prowse
(for those weaker in the force this is the guy who was inside the Darth Vader suit in Star Wars Episode IV, V, VI) In comparisson to some other celebs I've met over time this guy was awsome. He was more than happy to stop and have a chat and a photo.

Oh yeah he also had a small Imperial contingent close by in case the public got a little too excited ;o)


After Vegas Ally, Gloria and I made our way to Yosemite national park (Gloria Patrica Smith or GPS as she prefers to be known has been a great voice of reason through out our driving trip).
Yosemite has some of the most amazing scenery I have ever sene anywhere especially when covered in snow.


After crashing for a night in the Yosemite View Lodge Ally and I took some time to explore the park. This was Ally's first encounter with snow so we also spent a bit of time engaging in some snowball warfare, then made our way to San Francisco.
Tomorrow we plan to head to Alcatraz, assuming I don't get on Ally's neves too much I should be back tomorrow for another post, until then we hope you are all keeping well and enjoy these pics.