Day 15 - Lake Tahoe to San Francisco

Lake Tahoe

Slept in a little, had breakfast at the hotel. No new snow overnight so roads open which is good - means we can get out. Went for a walk to the lake, it was very very beautiful scenery. Looks like they have had heaps of snow over winter, still very thick on roofs and along edges of roads. Thought about going up gondola to top of mountain but decided that the view was just as beautiful from the bottom and we wouldn't have to queue with all the skiers to go up the Heavenly lift.

Jane & Sean



Drove to Sacramento (capital of California), looked like a very pretty city. The St.Patricks day parade was just starting in the city centre so we could not drive right through. Amazingly enough it has a port which surprised us as it is inland from San Francisco, but the waterways run all the way from the coast up to there. There are orange trees lining the streets, laden with fruit - wonderful :-)



Fancy a swim??

 Drove to San Francisco, first sighting of the Golden Gate Bridge sent a shiver down my spine. I am very excited to visit San Francisco, it is the city I most wanted to see. Found our hotel, it is an Eco friendly boutique hotel right on the edge of China Town and very close to Union Square. Really needed to do one more load of laundry to finish off the last week so went up the street and sorted that out.

Back for shower and change then decided to have dinner in China Town. Walked through, just like most other China Towns, heaps of shops selling cheap Chinese knock off's - got a couple of tee shirts for $1.88 each!!.


The Bay Bridge



China Town

  Really nice dinner then walked back to hotel for a quiet and some what early night. Tomorrow we have a free morning for some sight seeing then we are playing golf at the Olympic Club (where the US Open is being played next year) at 2pm. Then we have 2 days to look at all the sights - Lombard St, Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge etc...
Just for those who might be thinking about earthquakes and Tsunamis - the warnings are still current for here, but we are on the 6th floor at the top of a big hill so an earthquake might hurt us but we should be up too high for a tsunami :-)

Day 14 - Travel to Lake Tahoe

As much as I enjoyed Vegas I can honestly say that I was happy to leave that horrible smokey smell inside all the hotels and head for the beautiful clean air (and non-smoking laws) back in California. Nevada has different laws and encourage smokers to light up inside so that they stay and gamble for longer, consequently everyone who does not smoke has to also breathe in the awful fumes (apologies to any smokers reading this).

Death Valley

Anyway, back to the story ..... Left Vegas about 8:30am and headed north towards Lake Tahoe. We took the scenic route through Death Valley which was very barren and dry. The road trip was quite easy as there was little traffic and the roads were excellent. Didn't really feel like we were in the car all day as the scenery changes so fast and we had a few stops along the way.
Once we went through Death Valley the scenery turned to snow covered mountains and was very pretty. Arrived at our hotel about 6pm so could not see too much of the lake today - saving that for tomorrow.


Hotel swimming pool

 Rugged up into the coat, scarf, beanie and gloves - about zero degrees now - and walked up the street to find a restaurant for dinner. Found an Applebee's- same place we had dinner in Palm Springs so we knew the food was good. Nice meal then walked back to the hotel. Watching the very sad news about Japan on the BBC news which gives a much more realistic view of what has happened than the US news stations!!.
Tomorrow we will look around Lake Tahoe in the morning then head off to San Francisco via Sacramento - only about 3.5hrs drive.

Day 13 - Golf at Wolf Creek - AWESOME!

Wolf Creek



1st Hole

 Up and on the road by 9am for a 90 min drive to a town called Mesquite, which is right on the border of Arizona. We played golf at Wolf Creek and I can honestly say it was the most amazing golf course I have ever played. The fairways were bright thick lush green grass that were cut into the mountains of the desert - very hard to describe, lots of water hazards and bunkers - the whole experience was absolutely awesome.



Green fairways set in the desert

 We played with 2 guys, Steve and Dave. Steve was from San Francisco and Dave from Denver. Really nice guys. Neither one of them played very well though!. We were told by the starter that the round would take at least 5 hours - lots of mountains to go up and down and lots of lost balls into the desert. It actually took 5 hours and 55 mins, which was very slow by golfing standards, but it did not matter because the views were so spectacular, and it did not feel that long.


A green set into the mountain


Weather was excellent, sunny 27 degrees and no wind - which the locals said was very unusual. I played quite well on such a difficult course, no balls lost in the desert although I did loose 2 in the water!. I finished with 29 points.
 Sean played ok too but it is much harder for him to score well with his low handicap and he had 2 unlucky breaks near the end, in fact his ball hit the pin on the 18th green and ricochet back 30 feet across the green!. He finished with 24 points.


Interesting bunkers



Jane & Sean at Wolf Creek



Had a nice drink with our playing partners afterwards then drove back to Vegas.

Still one more thing I wanted to see and that was the Fremont Street covered walkway that was a giant TV screen - arrived just in time to see a show, very clever. Back to hotel, into New York, New York for a nice dinner then up to our room for a shower and early night.

Paris



The Venetian



Fremont Street

It is now 11pm so must get to sleep. Heading up to Lake Tahoe tomorrow, going the scenic route along the edge of Yosemite National Park, should see lots of snow and some very pretty scenery.

Day 12 - Grand Canyon + more Vegas



Hoover Dam

 AMAZING and truly beautiful - the Grand Canyon.
Woke early after a short sleep! Quick breakfast then pick-up by Helicopter people at 8:20am. Short 5 min drive to airport, checked in and boarded our helicopter for a trip to the Grand Canyon. Dave was our pilot.

Took off and had a great view of Vegas straight away, then headed out for our 45 min flight to the canyon. Flew over Hoover Dam and all 3 basin lakes that make up the Mead river system. Pilot gave us good commentary on the way.

It is very hard to describe in words what you can see from up there, the different rock formations and colours are absolutely breathtaking. We flew over the south rim with the glass walkway that goes out over the canyon, then we headed down into the canyon to land.



Jane - Grand Canyon



Had a photo shoot and a nice picnic that was packed into little baskets for us, but we soon had to make tracks back to Vegas so took off again for home.

Sean and I paid extra to have the front sets in the helicopter so we had the most amazing views all around. He took us back a slightly different way so that we could see more scenery - again it was beautiful.



Grand Canyon



Jane & Sean with helicopter

 Coming back into Vegas he started at the bottom end and we flew all the way up the edge then turned and got a great view of the whole strip - awesome! Back to our hotel by 12md, time to


Grand Canyon

 spend the afternoon doing some more sightseeing. To do the trip we did this morning by road would take about 6 hours each way, plus viewing time etc.., so for us it was great to fly in and out in half a day to maximize time spent trying to see it all :-)

Came back to the hotel to recharge camera battery then went to look at Tropicana, Wynn and Venetian. I loved the Venetian - does not just depict scenes from Venice but also Florence and Rome. Brought back fond memories of seeing the real thing in Italy a number of years ago.



Bellagio fountain



Back to hotel again for a shower and change. Had dinner in a restaurant in Paris and then went to see Cirque Du Soleil - O at Bellagio. I don't think enjoyed it as much as the Beatles one called Love. A lot of it was set in water which made it different from the others, but still an enjoyable evening was had :-)

It is nearly our customary bedtime of 1am so going to bed now. Tomorrow golf at Wolf Creek - about 90 mins drive from here but it comes highly recommended. Just about Vegas'd out now, looking forward to Lake Tahoe on Friday.

The Strip - Las Vegas

Day 11 - Las Vegas - Golf at Red Rock

Up early after a short but deep sleep. Had buffet breakfast then headed off to play golf at Red Rock Golf Club. It was about 15 mins from Vegas, up in the hills a little.

Red Rock Golf Club

Played with a couple from Canada, Sandee and Terry. They were good company and she played pretty well. Nice course, set in amongst some really big 6 bedroom million $$$ mansions. Course was well maintained and had some interesting holes.



You can see the strip in the distance



It was very windy this morning and also very cold, down into single figures overnight but sunny and warm during the day. The Canadians had shorts and golf sandles on! - I had shirt, jumper, vest and wind cheater, and I was still cold early on!. I suppose when you come from -20-30 celcius, this was warm!

Sean played well on the front 9 with 17 points, I struggled on the front, still a bit tired and sore, only making 9 points. On the back nine though I came good and had 23 points!! - total 32. Sean went off the boil on the back and only had 13 - total for him 30 points.


Red Rock GC


Headed off to one of the outlet centers (again - I can hear you all groaning!). We know the shops very well now and can zip in and out looking for exactly what we need. Both got more golf gear - I have managed to get 6 pairs of 3/4 pants for golf that actually fit. Enough of the outlets now I think!



Jane at Red Rock



Got tickets for a show called Jubilee - it is Las Vegas show girls, and some of them were topless - needless to say this show was Sean's choice :-) Something a bit different from what we have seen up to now. Back to the hotel for a shower and little rest first.



The Luxor



Went and saw the fountains at Bellagio, had dinner at Planet Hollywood then went to the 10:30pm show which was quite good. Costumes were amazing, some costing $25,000 each!

It is now 1am again, so time for bed. Tomorrow we are doing a helicopter trip from just off the strip out to the Grand Canyon, via the Hoover Dam and we fly down into the canyon for lunch. On the way back we are supposed to fly right over the strip - should be a good view :-)

Day 10 - Las Vegas



Our hotel - Excalibur

 Up and had breakfast before heading off to drive to Las Vegas. The NASCAR races were on in Vegas over the weekend, which is one of the reasons we chose to go midweek, but about 3 hours out of Vegas we started seeing loads of RV's, most of which were towing 4 wheel drives, all heading south. Must have seen well over 150 of them, plus all the semi's loaded with the Nascar team cars - glad we were going in the opposite direction.



New York New York

 

The Strip - Las Vegas



Arrived about 2:30pm and checked into our hotel, Excalibur. They have just renovated some of the rooms which is why we chose this one, and very nice it is too. Went for a walk through New York, New York, Luxor, Mandalay Bay and MGM, then came back for a shower and to get ready for the show at Mirage - Cirque Du Soleil - Love (this is the Beatles one). There are 4-5 Cirque shows playing in Vegas and we saw advertising for a new one called Iris which is coming soon. Had a nice meal at Mirage first, pear, blue cheese and walnut pizza, then went to the 9:30pm session of the show which was excellent.

We are seeing another Cirque on Wednesday night - "O", so looking forward to it all ready. Walked back up the strip via Caesars Palace and now it is time for bed - early golf start tomorrow and my knees are VERY painful :-)


The Cosmopolitan

 Walked through a great hotel called Cosmopolitan - has curtains of crystals throughout, very classy - lots of bling!!

Day 9 - Golf at PGA West Stadium Course

Bit of a sleep in this morning. Leisurely breakfast then headed out to play golf at one of the best courses here in Palm Springs. They have the final qualifying for the tour school here each year, so it is designed to be difficult.



PGA West - Stadium Course



We played with 2 guys from Chicago called Rick and John. They were here for a long weekend of golf. Not sure if they were friends, work colleagues or what?? John was a terrible golfer, must have lost 20 balls at least. Rick was quite good early on but he fell off the pace as the round went on.



PGA West

 The course was AMAZING. It was links style so very undulating fairways. The fairways were like carpet, the grass was so thick and lush. The rough is still dormant after winter so it looks brown but is supposed to look like that. Everything was immaculate. They give you large cups of iced water and you can refill them all the way round. The 17th hole is the signature hole - with an island green (which all 4 of us managed to hit!).


Sean at PGA West



Tricky bunkers

Sean and I both played pretty well. I was very pleased with my game on such a hard course. We both had a 4 pointer and I made a par on the 17th which was exciting. Sean finished with 30 points and I had 28. Does not sound high, but as I previously stated this was a very difficult course designed for the Pro's, so I was happy. It is the 4th harder course in the USA and as I play off a handicap of 27 and Sean plays off 8 it was a good day :-).
It was quite expensive to play there, but well worth it. We had a drink and snack in the bar afterwards and bought some PGA West items from the Pro shop - had to get in some shopping :-)

Perfect fairways!!



17th Green



Back to the hotel for a shower then headed out to dinner. We went to an area that was recommended to us by our waiter the other night. It was called the "River" and it had loads of restaurants and a cinema complex etc. Had dinner at California Bistro. As we walked in I saw Lleyton Hewitt eating his dinner with Bec, 3 children and 2 friends. I saw Bec in the ladies loo while Mia was going to the toilet and said hello!.

There is a huge tennis tournament starting here at Indian Wells tomorrow. Quite a lot of big names are playing including Federer. We can see the tennis centre from our hotel as it is just across the road, but we are leaving tomorrow to go to Las Vegas so will miss all the "fun". We are not big tennis fans anyway so we are not too upset! - much rather be having fun in Vegas :-).



Indian Wells Tennis Centre

  Back in hotel now, will have a quiet night before our 4-5 hour drive tomorrow