VIVA LAS VEGAS

Here we are in Las Vegas. This is part SIX of the trip.  Our drive started from Vancouver, Canada through Oregon, California, Arizona and now Nevada.  I’m not really a Vegas person and I was leaning toward skipping Vegas, but my husband said “you must see Vegas before you die!”   Honestly, there are many other places I would rather see before I’m six feet under.  Compromise is what it’s about, I wanted to see the Grand Canyon and he wanted to see Vegas.  So here we are – not really a place for children.  I’m not a gambler, but there were a few shows that would have been good to see.  Viva Elvis opened the night we arrived in Vegas, would love to see that show but not realistic with the boys.  We stayed at the Excalibur and paid something ridiculous as $30.00 for our room.  They didn’t make any money out of me because I’m not really a drinker, I don’t smoke, nor do I gamble!  My husband on the other hand likes to gamble and let’s just say that he turned our $30.00 room into a $300.00 room for the night!  That’s all I’m going to say because what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!  Here’s a few pics, we only stayed one night and now I can say I’ve seen Vegas before I die!

I was disappointed to see the large amount of garbage on the street – come on people you would not act like this in someone else’s home, why do you think you can act like that in some else’s city. I watched people walking down the strip with alcohol in a glass and smashing the glass against the wall – rude, rude, rude – show some respect!

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

After three days in Disneyland (can you say Mickey Mouse), my husband and I were ready for something different.  Before heading to California I pre-booked a 4 day pass to Disneyland and a one day pass to Universal Studios.   We lost one day because of car problems in San Francisco and our hotel reservations were up in Anaheim.  We decided to spend the day at Universal Studios and then head to Arizona and Nevada to see the Grand Canyon, good old Las Vegas and back to Anaheim for one day on our way back home.  I’ve never been to Universal Studios before and I had no expectations.  The studio is approximately 35 or 40 miles from Anaheim but it took us forever to get there – there’s never a quick or easy route when driving in LA.  So here we are at Universal Studios.  I really enjoyed the park, more than I thought I would.  We took the studio tour,  you can’t possibly go to Universal Studios without taking the tour.  There’s plenty to do in the park but we couldn’t do everything in one day, especially since we wanted to head back to our hotel before the traffic was out of control.  The Jurassic park ride looked awesome but my youngest did not want to go on it, said it looked to S-C-A-R-Y.  We opted out for the studio tours and Shrek 4- 3D.  We saw Shrek 4 – 3D first and it was very cool  – kids loved it.   The studio tours were a blast, I really enjoyed all the effects.  You can check all the fun below by double clicking on one of the pictures in the gallery:

While in California Park, I bought my youngest son the flight hat and goggles you see him wearing consistently throughout these pictures.  Donkey from Shrek, as seen here, was priceless.  He kept saying to my son – “What kind-a pilot are you, where’s your plane?”  “You can’t call yourself a pilot, you got no plane.”  Had my son in stitches as you can tell by this picture.

We saw plane crashes, a flash flood, old western town,Norman Bates, Whoville, Desperate Housewives, Jaws, Jurassic Park, exploding cars and so much more.   All very entertaining and worth the price tag.  My batteries died in my camera but we toured through some of the housing where the actors in the 50’s use to live while they were filming.  Old 50’s bungalows, actors were kept there during filming – during the era when the studio controlled every aspect of the actors lives.  Next post I bring you the Grand Canyon….

ROAD TRIP

 

My mother-in law has a cabin at East Gate in Manning Park, BC.  We decided to go skiing for five days during our Spring Break.  If you like to ski, this area has great conditions for skiing.   It’s a no frills ski resort, a place that offers beautiful scenery, great downhill skiing, great nordic or snowshoeing trails and enough nature to last you a lifetime.  If you are looking for lots of restaurants, pubs and bars then Whistler would be more appropriate.  There  is a lodge, one restaurant and a pub located at the resort.  There is one restaurant in the area and it’s a little hole in the wall.  East Gate Diner it’s called and the chef (Dave) makes fabulous food, in my opinion better than anything they serve at the lodge.   Dave and Melody know how to greet guests, make them feel like they are in a country kitchen and  serve some amazing grub.  Check out the link for hours and information.

We are lucky as we have a cabin where we can stay.  It’s a very rustic little cabin, but it’s a place you can hang your head after spending the day on the hill.  At one time there was no tv or computers, but in the last several years my mother-in-law has Satellite TV, dial-up connection for the computer and an extra TV upstairs so the boys can bring all of their games and gadgets.  Technology is good, but there was a time when we played board games or read for a past time, now we can watch all the latest shows.

 

Considering it was Spring Break, the weather was all over the map.  Most of the days were beautiful and sunny.  We had a blizzard one day that lasted 24 hours and more than three feet of snow fell.  Powder,powder and more powder we’re the conditions of the hills after that snowfall.

   

This family can’t go away without something happening, this time it was water.  The cabin is old and so is everything in it.  A friend of ours came up with us and he could hear from the well something not quite right.  He opened the hatch and found that a leak had sprung from one of the hoses.  He insisted if we didn’t fix it, the whole thing would blow.  Another friend of ours who has experience with all things water said to him to leave it as sometimes when you fix one thing it leads to another thing.   To make a long story short there was no one small enough to fit in the hole except for my youngest  son and me.  Our friend was talking about tying a rope around my son’s chest so he didn’t fall down this fifteen foot well.  No bloody way, so it was left to me – went down three times because just like the man said – we fixed one thing but ended up with more problems. At one point we ended up with no water and that was the third time I went down that hell hole to patch things up.  No, I’m not that inclined – I had men yelling instructions from the top and I managed to figure things out.  Pretty funny when you think about it – send the deaf chick down the hole and yell at her!

All in all it was good five days and as far as I know the water is still holding!

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