12-14 August 2008 (yes - time travel is possible if you are crossing the date line)
Packing and repacking to get everything right. I've become awesome at squishing suitcases down so you can do the zip up, it's almost an art form.
I discovered there was a lighter in one of the small pockets of a suitcase that I’d taken as carry on luggage when I flew to Las Vegas! They didn't mention anything when it went through on the scan. Maybe it was empty? It was a bit of a shock to find, but at least I didn't get accused of trying to blow up the plane earlier.
I'd foolishly insisted on wanting to try Taco Bell while I was in the US, so we stopped there for breakfast or lunch or something, on the way to the airport. I had a couple of soft tacos , and these weird, crispy, twisty, cinnamon things. They were made out of stuff a bit like Munchos, shaped a bit like twisty licorice with an x cross-section, about the size of my finger. Instead of being flavoured with spicy tomato, or cheese and onion powder, they were covered in cinnamon and sugar. It was a little strange, so I just had a couple to try and then didn't eat too many more.
After all the stories my friend had told me about how Taco Bell tasted good, but left you with a bad feeling afterwards, it was kind of amusing when both of us weren't Both Michelle and I felt unwell about 5/6 hours later. Nothing too bad, but both at the same time!
Our internal flight from Las Vegas to San Francisco was pretty bad. There was no snack offered at all, not even a boiled sweet, and even a cup of tea or coffee was $1. I think we flew with United Airlines. Fortunately it was only for an hour or so.
In San Francisco we had pizza for dinner, it was very good. We got chips and drinks as well and ended up being absolutely stuffed. Then we found our gate, and spent some time looking around in the shops nearby while waiting for the plane to start boarding.
I lost sight of my friend, so continued looking around for a bit and then went back outside the shop and sat down to watch for her to come back out. I eventually realised that some of the shops were joined, so then I had no idea where my friend was. I looked over the edge, down to out boarding gate but couldn't see her so I decided to go and sit down there anyway. She would be able to see me from the handrail and it was the most logical place to meet. I started reading and wasn't sitting there too long before she came and found me.
After the usual hanging around, we boarded the plane. My travel agent did a great job of getting us good seats. We were sitting in the left-hand section of the plane, in the centre by the wings. We were sitting in the second row back, so the row in front of us only had 2 people. It made it much easier to get out and go to the toilet, because the row was only 3 people wide so I could get past the person next to me without them having to get up too. Unfortunately I was a bad friend-passenger on this flight and kept forgetting to let my friend know when I got up to go to the bathroom. She was watching movies and didn't notice when left so missed the convenient time to also go.
One thing that was a little disappointing was the food. I was looking forward to having some NZ style food on the way home, but of course the plane had stocked at the American airport. I was a little bit sad not being able to have NZ coca-cola, but it was still ok. The lady who was sitting next to me got a gin and tonic when the flight attendant came around. One of those little plastic cups was put on her tray, and then filled about two-thirds with gin. Then she was given a small can of tonic water. She had a looong sleep later hehehe.
I managed to get a couple of hours sleep on the flight, which really helped the rest of the time. Watched TV episodes and movies the rest of the time, as per usual.
I've no idea if it's actually quieter if you aren't sitting right behind the engines, but I have found that wearing earplugs the whole time I'm in the plane is much better. Even when I'm watching the movies, I can hear them more clearly with the earplugs in. I've also noticed that I miss a lot of the quiet stuff like that - I first watched Whale Rider on this plane trip back. When I watched it at home over Christmas, there was all this whale song when she was underwater swimming with the whales. Who knew?
Yes, two days of travelling means a post twice as long!
I made the most of the time difference by having three breakfasts! On the international flight, at about 4am NZ time I had some pancake thing with cooked apple and raisins (meh). Then on the domestic flight at 8am I had the best breakfast ever! It was in a plastic bowl - blueberries at the bottom with yogurt, all covered in muesli! It was so tasty. Has anyone else noticed I'm all about the food?
Oh - and the third breakfast was good too. You see, I didn't really get much of a chance to try American doughnuts, and there just happened to be a doughnut shop at Auckland airport! So I bought a half dozen and shared them with my friend all the way back home!
A very satisfying end to a fantastic trip! Now to plan the next one...
Friday, 15 August 2008
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Hoover Dam
11 August 2008
Another lovely, hot Las Vegas day.
I watched some US football, argued over whether soccer or US football was called football first, got frustrated at how short the plays are (start-stop-start-stop-start) and asked lots of questions. All this was possible because they were just pre-season games so weren't that important. Otherwise I would have been constantly told to be quiet.
Once it was really hot we were driven to see the Hoover Dam. Thank goodness for air conditioning in cars, wearing a skirt and remembering to take my hat! Otherwise things would have been much more unpleasant.
On the way there (through the mostly barren, desert landscape, punctuated by houses of the rich-and-famous) we stopped at Lake Mead and had a paddle. I rolled my skirt up so I could wade in up to my knees. The water was so nice and warm, but thankfully cooler than the air. If there was no one else around I would have considered swimming in my underwear or something. If I ever go there again I might try to organise a night trip for skinny dipping (maybe - it sounds like it could be fun). The rocks get heated up so much during the day that I'm sure the water would stay warm for a long time, same as the air.
We eventually left the lake, had dry legs by the time we walked 20m to get back to the car, and headed on to the Hoover Dam.
Driving across the Hoover Dam takes you from Nevada on one side to Arizona on the other, with an time zone change of one hour. I haven't seen very many dams, so I'm afraid I wasn't properly impressed by it. It was pretty big though. I think it'd seem bigger if I were at the bottom looking up? Actually, it looks much bigger in the pictures than it did to me in real life.
Anyway, we parked the car in Arizona, over on the other side of the dam. So the car was in the Central timezone instead of Pacific time. It was a ...walk of some distance (I really have no idea anymore. I initially thought 10-15mins, but that might be a bit conservative) to get over the dam to the side with the visitors centre, but that was as long a walk as you'd want in the heat and sun. On the dam itself were two bathrooms, females' and males' separately. When we got to them we went inside for a deserved break - air conditioning again! Well, we really just stood outside the mens' looking dodgy and getting what little cool air we could.
Other people had bandannas they were wetting under the taps and then wearing to keep cool. I thought it was a great idea and wet my hat. My friend was very uncomfortable in the heat (doesn't like it) and didn't have any head covering so this part of the trip was even less pleasant for her.
Eventually we got to the visitors centre but didn't stop to look around. I spend too long looking at things in detail for other people's patience. We did get snacks at the little tuck-shop thing. That was the best iceblock of my life! Apart from being cold and refreshing, it was strawberry fruit flavoured and really seemed like it was made from frozen strawberry pulp - yum!
In honour of being from part of Down Under, I was taken out to one of the Outback restaurants for dinner (it really seems like every restaurant has a chain). The decor wasn't particularly impressive, but some of the menu items might have had amusingly Australian names. What I do remember is that I had a FANTASTIC steak. Ohhhh I think it was one of the best steaks of my life.
And I finally had a decent key lime pie! I'd been looking out to try it the whole time. I had a key lime cocktail (smelt nice, tasted very strong), a key lime cheese cake and a key lime fail-pie which was completely wrong and grainy and just disgusting. But this pie was great. Now I think about it, this may have been my best meal while in the States. Yum.
After dinner we headed out to the Venetian (Venice) which has the best ceiling-painted-like-clouds. It's quite impressive with the lighting, and you've just walked through a lot of hotel which is lit sort of dimly because most of the shops are shut. So then you walk out into this open area, well lit, blue sky with puffy clouds, buildings and a canal.
Yes, that's right. A canal. With walkways and shops down either side, bridges to get from one side to the other, and gondolas with singing gondoliers! A couple of years ago my friend's father and step-mom had their wedding there, in one of the gondolas!
Then we had dessert at Ghirardelli’s, which I think was one of the main reasons for going to the Venetian in the first place. (Have I mentioned before that all the hotels have parking buildings attached? They are all free to use because the owners want you to come in and you'll spend more money that way.)
Ghirardelli's is a gourmet chocolate company, so there were displays everywhere with all their different products. We were given a sample of the new peanut-butter-filled chocolate which was pretty tasty. Then we sat down and perused the dessert menu. So many icecream sundaes to pick from! We ended up sharing one between two and even then it was a struggle. Mmm they were so good. I can't actually remember what I ate anymore, I think it may have had banana?
Mmmm chocolate :D
Another lovely, hot Las Vegas day.
I watched some US football, argued over whether soccer or US football was called football first, got frustrated at how short the plays are (start-stop-start-stop-start) and asked lots of questions. All this was possible because they were just pre-season games so weren't that important. Otherwise I would have been constantly told to be quiet.
Once it was really hot we were driven to see the Hoover Dam. Thank goodness for air conditioning in cars, wearing a skirt and remembering to take my hat! Otherwise things would have been much more unpleasant.
On the way there (through the mostly barren, desert landscape, punctuated by houses of the rich-and-famous) we stopped at Lake Mead and had a paddle. I rolled my skirt up so I could wade in up to my knees. The water was so nice and warm, but thankfully cooler than the air. If there was no one else around I would have considered swimming in my underwear or something. If I ever go there again I might try to organise a night trip for skinny dipping (maybe - it sounds like it could be fun). The rocks get heated up so much during the day that I'm sure the water would stay warm for a long time, same as the air.
We eventually left the lake, had dry legs by the time we walked 20m to get back to the car, and headed on to the Hoover Dam.
Driving across the Hoover Dam takes you from Nevada on one side to Arizona on the other, with an time zone change of one hour. I haven't seen very many dams, so I'm afraid I wasn't properly impressed by it. It was pretty big though. I think it'd seem bigger if I were at the bottom looking up? Actually, it looks much bigger in the pictures than it did to me in real life.
Anyway, we parked the car in Arizona, over on the other side of the dam. So the car was in the Central timezone instead of Pacific time. It was a ...walk of some distance (I really have no idea anymore. I initially thought 10-15mins, but that might be a bit conservative) to get over the dam to the side with the visitors centre, but that was as long a walk as you'd want in the heat and sun. On the dam itself were two bathrooms, females' and males' separately. When we got to them we went inside for a deserved break - air conditioning again! Well, we really just stood outside the mens' looking dodgy and getting what little cool air we could.
Other people had bandannas they were wetting under the taps and then wearing to keep cool. I thought it was a great idea and wet my hat. My friend was very uncomfortable in the heat (doesn't like it) and didn't have any head covering so this part of the trip was even less pleasant for her.
Eventually we got to the visitors centre but didn't stop to look around. I spend too long looking at things in detail for other people's patience. We did get snacks at the little tuck-shop thing. That was the best iceblock of my life! Apart from being cold and refreshing, it was strawberry fruit flavoured and really seemed like it was made from frozen strawberry pulp - yum!
In honour of being from part of Down Under, I was taken out to one of the Outback restaurants for dinner (it really seems like every restaurant has a chain). The decor wasn't particularly impressive, but some of the menu items might have had amusingly Australian names. What I do remember is that I had a FANTASTIC steak. Ohhhh I think it was one of the best steaks of my life.
And I finally had a decent key lime pie! I'd been looking out to try it the whole time. I had a key lime cocktail (smelt nice, tasted very strong), a key lime cheese cake and a key lime fail-pie which was completely wrong and grainy and just disgusting. But this pie was great. Now I think about it, this may have been my best meal while in the States. Yum.
After dinner we headed out to the Venetian (Venice) which has the best ceiling-painted-like-clouds. It's quite impressive with the lighting, and you've just walked through a lot of hotel which is lit sort of dimly because most of the shops are shut. So then you walk out into this open area, well lit, blue sky with puffy clouds, buildings and a canal.
Yes, that's right. A canal. With walkways and shops down either side, bridges to get from one side to the other, and gondolas with singing gondoliers! A couple of years ago my friend's father and step-mom had their wedding there, in one of the gondolas!
Then we had dessert at Ghirardelli’s, which I think was one of the main reasons for going to the Venetian in the first place. (Have I mentioned before that all the hotels have parking buildings attached? They are all free to use because the owners want you to come in and you'll spend more money that way.)
Ghirardelli's is a gourmet chocolate company, so there were displays everywhere with all their different products. We were given a sample of the new peanut-butter-filled chocolate which was pretty tasty. Then we sat down and perused the dessert menu. So many icecream sundaes to pick from! We ended up sharing one between two and even then it was a struggle. Mmm they were so good. I can't actually remember what I ate anymore, I think it may have had banana?
Mmmm chocolate :D
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