Las Vegas & Tijuana

You know how when anybody talks about Las Vegas and they go "oh, it's not that big" well, they're full of crap. It's freakin huge. Including all the buildings..



That's the Luxor. It's large inside and also hollow and lots of gambin' goin' on. We went to all the big casino's, which is a lot of them over a very large amount of land. Everything is bright and flashy..



That there is the "New York New York" casino (The lion is actually the massive gold lion from the MGM Grand which I have to say, is very grand) with a roller coaster and the manhatten skyline turned into a hotel. In "Caesers Palace" there is a mall half as long as Northlands and the entire roof is painted like the sky and it's like it's day time, when outside, it's night! It had me fooled for a short while! We didn't actually gamble all that much at all, and everything we did, we lost. I think I know the secret to the casino's success.. We stayed at Hooters which was very convientently placed and we could walk to the strip in 5 minutes and we also saw a very vegas-style show "Folies Bergere" which was great and very flamboyant..

Earlier today we went to Tijuana, we drove from Las Vegas to San Diego and then walked over but I don't like Tijuana all that much at all, very very dirty and the solicitation was beyond comfortable. That place scares me more than it should, maybe I'm just a wuss or maybe it was because they saw my (relatively) rich white person a mile away and thought $$$ but anyway, not my cup of tea. Maybe other parts (I sure hope so for their sake) of Mexico is nicer..
- Andrew

On our way over to Vegas we took a detour through the desert. I really liked it, it was so hot and in the middle we found an old train station that they had turned into a museum. It was full of Joshua trees that only grow in that region and aren't really trees at all but yukkas



When we got to Vegas Andrew got us lost and I got mad but it turned out pretty easy to find the main strip. There are hundreds of people there, all feeding money into every hole they can find, its amazing. I liked the Lions at the MGM, they reminded me of a huge biscuit. The tamers were playing ball with them and they did the thing that she does with her back legs when she gets a ball.



We're off to Universal Studios tomorrow! Love ya'll
-Alice

Disneyland

You know how when anybody talks about Disneyland and they go "oh, it's not that big" well, they're full of crap. It's freakin huge. And full of people. Oh my goodness. We had to get up at 5.30am and get on the freeway and we ended up on one massive freeways 8 lanes wide, in one direction but I drove like a pro and we got there at 7.30 and got tickets just in time to get in. We went on some rides and they were so good, really long and the quality is just so good. Space Mountain is an indoor roller coaster with lights. I also enjoyed the psychedelic flavours of the Winnie the Pooh ride which was bright and colourful and was pooh bears "honey" induced dream-state.. Very interesting, I'll leave some other things up to Alice so I don't take everything..
- Andrew




Well Andrew is right he does drive like a pro, but only with me directing him I might add. Disneyland was completely different to how I remember it. You have to have a strategy or else be prepared to stand in queues ALL day. The longest we waited was an hour and a half for space mountain, it was worth it. They had the chilli peppers playing with bright flashing lights and holograms while you ride the rollercoaster. We blitzed Indiania Jones, Pirates and the Haunted mansion early, wow!!! Amazing holograms and spooky flying things galore. I just wish I could get Andrew to smile in a photo........


Oh no, they shrunk me


And then made me HUGE


And at the end of the day we cruised away on the happiest cruise in the world.

Los Angeles, CA

Arrived here yesterday in sunny LA. We picked up our car after a line up at the car rental place!! Andrew drives pretty well and with the help of map quest we found our way to Marsha's. That night we went out for tea to what Marsha calls a 'hole in the wall' restaurant (good food, av atmosphere) and ALL the staff there sang me happy birthday and gave me a flan with a candle. The food was yummy and Andrew got REALLY full. After that we went into Hollywood and had a look at the Chinese Theatre. That was amazing with all the lights. There were heaps of scary dressed up people there though, I held very close to Andrew.
Today we drove to Venice Beach and had a look around. Nice place, some weird people there though. We gave 75 cents to a guy for making up a poem for us, it didn't really have much to do with us so prob the same one he tells everyone.
On the way back we tried to go to Union Station but mapquest.com lead us up the garden path twice so we came home and bought up large at Target instead.
Tomorrow we're off to Disneyland and then Vegas baby on Tues. We miss you all heaps!!!
Alice



You know how when anybody talks about LA and they go "oh, it's not that big" well, they're full of crap. LA is so freaking huge. It takes literally an hour of 70mph driving to get from the Airport to where we are. And the freeways are insane, they drain you quite a bit too because you're forever changing lanes at high speeds in wrong-hand-drive cars but at least I've got a master co-pilot because my directional skills suck so the team effort works pretty well, just a shame the internet directions we printed off don't always......
Venice Beach is pretty cool, it's kinda how you imagine LA beach's to be like but even more so, the culture diversity here is crazy too, not quite 98% white like ole' christchurch... And down hollywood boulevard was kinda crazy, lights and stretch hummers and bling and bang and people dressing up as darth vader for $$ and massive everything... It really is a big bag of neon lights on top of some pretty scummy buildings though, it's so blatantly tourist and dirty... It's also the spot where Borat meets back up with his director, I felt pretty special then..

- Andrew

Me in Breckenridge...


Alice, just turned 25..


Muscle Beach, there were some crazy posers for real..


Just a scene of Venice Beach

No more work!!

I have finally finished my slog of 5 nights!! It all seems a bit of a blur, I was so tired by the end. On my last three nights we had a party, first one with Helen T, next one with Anna and the crew and the last one was the biggest. We had a HUGE tea trolley with cheese, dips and chocolate. The night went pretty quick and I am glad that the lactulose and charcoal days are gone. I will miss everyone alot. I wrote this poem for them

Working in the ICU
Patients many, nurses few

Doctor in bed one wants some ABs
While bedspace five hides the keys

With 10 turns to do the float's job is never done
When the beep goes off to an arrest she will run

Watch out on Tues, tubes will go
And strumming on the ward round makes it very slow

Geoff loves to show us his machine
We know the Infusrite helps us to wean

Listen up- dont give Gent
And with APC the budget's spent

Beware if the unit is smelling foul
Its Joyce again and her love for the bowel

Helen's baking keeps us full
And Hilmar with his chocolate too

Germaine keeps us on our toes
And with her help our knowledge grows

A pregnancy epidemic happens now and then
We dont know who, we dont know when

Thanks Helen for your work on the roster
Ensuring us a normal life to foster

Nikki grants our holiday wish
Though she knows we will be surely missed

We will never know the difference we've made
To the grieving widow who's worst fear is displayed

When a loving husband's heart is breaking
We gently guide him through the news he has taken

Dont stop doing the precious work that you do
You all deserve a payrise and a medal too

Thankyou all- you are an amazing group
It is sadness I feel as I fly the coup

Breckenridge, Colorado

So, I'm in Breckenridge, Colorado, and it's cold. It's really ncie and fun though. It's like 3 km in the sky, so the air is mighty thin, helps me get "fit" though!

It snowed the other day and it was like a foot deep, and it was pretty fun, it's 0 humidity, so while it's cold, it's never really miserable. I missed all the -20 weather and these days it's around 2 degrees so that's pretty managable. Also, Americans HATE to be uncomfortable, so it's always warm inside.

And the food. I tried to take some photos but I can't upload them here but the food is amazing in it's extremities. It's also ridiculous what Americans have to be reminded about too. I saw an ad for a car, and the guy drove off a jetty into the water and at the bottom of the screen "do not attempt" but I guess it's because they love to sue over here.

I had a terrible plane trip, because I hate flying, maybe I need to drink more water, I'm not sure really. In America I got pulled over into a seperate customs office to get interrogated, because they thought it was dodgy I was travelling without my wife. Typical American hardass enforcers though. They took me through and I asked why I was in there and they'd say "just wait there" and they wouldn't help me out at all until they actually talked to me, they love to intimidate with their black uniforms and bolbous abdominal regions.

LA airport was crazy, instantly someone gave me a hardcover hari krishna book, and then I got a quarter pounder at the airport (how could I not?) and was served by a sassy mexican girl that sounded like rosi perez (? from white men can't jump) and then found the way to my other terminal, and managed to not buy burger king from the two burger kings on the walk from the start of terminal 4 to gate whatever-it-was.

I got picked up by Tim and his girlfriend Christine (thanks!!!!) and driven to Breckenridge, about an hour away.


I'm going to go to Denver on Thursday I think, get into a backpackers and explore the city, and then on Saturday at 6 am I've got a flight back to LA to meet Alice, and I honestly can't wait! I've missed her so much in the last week, well, half week, but it seems like so long!

We're going out for $2 wings tonight in a different city I think, it should be fun. And tasty. Oh, and the microwave pizzas here are the very best, they also contain approximately 120% of your daily recommended dosage of fat so I share them.....

Oh and did I mention I hate tax? Think that $0.99 burger is actually going to cost $0.99? You'd better think again buddy. And it means I end up with the worst change in my pocket because everything ends up costing $x.43 or something and it's a pain in the ass, but then again, if you're being served, you just round up to the next dollar or so as a tip, they're actually pretty trusting here, you really do just leave the money on the table and leave and they grab it later. Pretty cool really.

Americans are pretty friendly, but I will admit, not very smart.. Not really arrogant though, although I am in Colorado and not LA so maybe I'll experience something different.

Anyway, time to go buy some toilet paper and some lunch for tomorrow from the city-mart supermarket.

Goodbyes

The fun thing about going away is all the nice goodbye do's you have before you go. So far we've had a great time
Having Indian with Douglas and Raewyn
Having Pizza with Kris, Sam, Paula, Cam and Jane
Having beers with the boys from Cutting Edge (Andrew's work)
Having lazy afternoon drinks with Rach
Having prayers and mud cake with the bible study crew
Signing papers and saying goodbyes to our awesome lawyers
Late night coffee with Sarah and her boys
Cheese with Tina and baby Adelin

We look forward to
An Indian extravaganza with the Browns
Teppanyaki with the Birses
Book club yummies with the nursing girls
Cornish pasties after work with Sue
Hanging out with Mike, Katrina and all the many Sampson children

Perhaps we could delay the trip and just keep having goodbye do's..................

not long

I'm off on the 22nd, today is the 10th.
I think the only thing left to finalise is the insurance. We decided to pre-book a place in Amsterdam, as it's expensive and popular (why?)
1 week of work left. 6 1/2 years at my job, I can't believe I'm finally finishing, wow it's amazing!