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So here's the rundown on Zion which was checked out yesterday and today. The park is part of the Grand Staircase which is part of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Zion forms part of the top of the Grand Canyon system and has the Virgin River running through it.

Don't know how to describe Zion as it was quite spectacular. Definitely glad to have visited this park instead of Death Valley National Park (especially since Death Valley would have been > 40 degrees celsius!). You enter the canyon at the bottom which gives a awesome view of the canyon walls and its colours.

Due to limited parking there is a shuttle system in place that brings you up/down the canyon where you can get off and look around, join trails etc. There are also a number of different trails in the park and checked out 3 of them (easy/medium of course!) which was fun and provided different views.

Left the park/Springdale a bit before 12 noon today to head across to Page, Arizona. As an interesting note Arizona is on the same time zone as Utah but don't observe daylight saving so we jumped back in time. Page is pretty much a small town just of U.S. Route 89. There's a dam which also has a hydroelectric plant and some shops, motels and fast food joints.

Anyways as usual, here is the pretty pictures for todays blog..

Driving into Springdale, Utah

Bottom canyon view

Weeping Rock

View from accomodation at Driftwood Lodge - Springdale is pretty much at the entrance to the canyon

Next few are views from Emerald Pools trail

From a viewpoint along the shuttle route

Where I am still recovering from the fact that timezones were crossed without knowing it and have been operating one hour behind for the whole day! Strangely enough getting to Utah was driving through Nevada then a teeny bit of Arizona to plonk out at Utah on central time.

So checked out Zion National Park today (and more tomorrow), pics later as had to madly do laundry as confusion of timezones stuffed things up a little.

But for the rundown of Vegas which I pre-typed... (pics now added at the bottom)

Vegas as expected, had a complete lack of free internet. The hotel had a rate of $11.99 (USD) per day! This would have been the same at a number of hotels on The Strip as in Vegas it seems that two hotel groups own pretty much all the hotels.

Day 1
Left Anaheim early to avoid traffic and the heat driving out to Vegas. As we arrived in Vegas mid morning and we couldn't check in yet, we headed straight for one of the outlet malls. And here began the shopping expedition of the next 3 days (or part thereof)...

Checked into the hotel in the afternoon and then walked the strip north checking out the casinos. After dinner we tried to catch the Treasure Island show but the wind was to great and it got canned. So headed back south down the strip to take photos, check out more casinos and shopping some more. I think the length of the strip was underestimated and by the time bedtime came it was after 1am.

Day 2
Headed out to Red Rock Canyon this morning. It's a State Park with a one way trail through the canyon wth stop points to park and join trails, take photos etc. Didn't do any of the trails here as the weather was quite hot - around 40 degrees celisus each day! - so took photos and stuff. Red Rock was pretty awesome, and if there was more time would've been an awesome place for a sunrise/sunset. Along the way to Red Rock a Walmart superstore (even bigger) was spotted and this was visited on the way back along with another outlet mall.

This evening was the highlight night in Vegas - a feast at 'The Buffet' at the Bellagio then to watch O by Cirque du Soleil. The buffet was completely awesome, it was about $38 USD p/p as Fri/Sat nights cost more, but it was well worth. The tenderest roast turkey, lamb chops, prime rib you will have ever tasted, peeled prawns, smoked salmon, raw salmon/tuna, sushi, pre-opened crab leg not to mention the deserts and everything else! When compared to the prices of normal meals in Vegas, it wasn't that pricey as a decent meal seemed to cost $17-$30 USD. And once you added drinks you soon almost reach the cost of the buffet. So nice was it that will be heading back to it on the one night in Vegas before flying out to San Francisco.

Caught the Bellagio fountain show before heading to O. O was impressive and is to hard to detail here, but it was a water based show and it was worth it just for the setup alone. Imagine a stage, which is also a pool and the top moves as needed to make it just floor, shallow, deep. There was high diving, acrobatics, syncronised swimming, dancing, fire twirling...

Day 3
The laid back day in Vegas which still was quite full. Checked out some other casinos, shopped some more then tried to pack all the stuff bought. Forgot to mention that a second luggage was bought back on Day 1 in Vegas... Tried to catch Treasure Island again tonight, but a storm front overhead brought even stronger wind and it got canned again. Will try again next Fri night and if it doesn't happen it wasn't meant to be. Heard a man there tonight say last time he was in Vegas he tried 3 nights in a row and it got canned 'cos of the wind (pyrotechnics are used).

So all in all, Vegas is a pretty awesome place. The weather was crazy hot, but with shopping and all the tacky yet awesome casino experiences it was a place I really enjoyed.

And Mum (or anyone wondering)... the shopping rundown is something like:
2 pairs jeans, 2 pairs shoes, 3 jumpers, 2 polo shirts, 5 t-shirts, 1 pair shorts, all the stuff from Disneyland (tater, mug, Mickey stuff) and magnets (yep I remembered them). That said, not all the stuff is for myself...

Welcome to Las Vegas...

Paris casino/hotel

Fountains at the Bellagio

m&m's at m&m's world

Red Rock canyon - photos of the red portion of canyon on a different camera so this for now...

Reading note: Posting is a reverse of the last two days... (being typed during the commerical breaks of the first episode of Grey's Anatomy Season Five).

Today was a visit to the happiest place on earth - otherwise known as Disneyland. Considering I wasn't really thinking of going to Disneyland until a couple of months before leaving for holidays, I have to now say that it is awesome! And really could quite possibly be [one] of the happiest places on earth. And because Halloween is in about a month here, the park was decorated in a Halloween theme!

Going in September was really good as it wasn't really crowded at all. Covered all the major rides without waiting more than 15 minutes. By 12 noon (park opened 10am) had ridden (in order) Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones, Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain. And in the afternoon it wasn't too bad either. Fastpast-ed Indie ride and had to wait 30 min for Splash Mountain but that was it. Pretty much everything else (except for some reason the little kiddie rides like Dumbo) had a 5 minute wait time. Space Mountain though made me a bit dizzy and had to have a bit of a break after it - hot weather and no breakfast I think didn't work well.

The second time on Splash Mountain though was well worth the wait. The first time in the morning I barely got a splsh of water- actually I don't think anyone in the log did. But in the afternoon I managed to get the front of the log, and the log practically got flooded on every downhill bit. Like a wave of water coming over the front and by the end was totally soaked head to toe - a relief from the weather which was quite hot. Everyone in our log this time got soaked for some reason.

Oh and I had to get Mickey ears, as they had free embrodiary of your name, and where am I ever going to find my name on anything? So I was quite :-)

Some pictures:

Yesterday was driving out from Santa Monica to Anaheim time. Some car hire related issues to detail at a later stage, but the drive wasn't that bad really. LA traffic isn't too bad - it's pretty much like Sydney except with more lanes.

Dumped our gear the motel and as we had nothng planned checked out a shopping mall and a Walmart which is like a Big W and Woorlworths in one. And it has a pharmacy and Macca's and this was a small Walmart.

Anyways that's the main rundown for the last few days. Tomorrow brings Vegas, and apparently there is not much free Internet there (if any) as all the casinos charge for Internet 'cos they can. So am probably disappearing from the web for the next few days. Next update will probably be from Utah.

Well being a sucker for sunrises and sunsets I had to watch the sun set in the west over the Pacific Ocean.

Today was spent cruising the coast on bikes I don't know how the locals manage to ride bikes with cruiser bike style handlebars as I found then rather quite odd. Rode up through Venice and was intending to keep heading towards Dockweiler Beach/Park which is pretty much where LAX is. Gave up a bit after Venice though as the bike path ended and riding on the road wasn't that fun. Venice though was an oddity of sorts. Eccentric characters sprucing their wares and what not. Including the cardbox box 'Venice Park Wishing Well which proclaimes that it was to fund a pothead... Wanted to get a pic of it, but the owner of the sign had moved it before I got a chance.

Tomorrow brings the first day of driving. We might check out a shopping mall and a Walmart, as we think we've seen enough coast for the time being, and haven't really got anything planned. The day after is the supposed 'happiest place on earth' - Disneyland!

Okay so all the above didn't really occur at the same time, but they did happen. In a continuation of yesterday's happenings dinner was bought from this Japanese place on Hollywood Blvd. We wanted something reasonably healthy but not too expensive and it seemed like a decent enough place. And it was only $7 bucks. Now to see how much food this entailed I have to post a picture:

Lets say I was quite nicely full after eating not even half of it.

Then after dinner curiosity got the better of me, so people watching the Emmy's party ensued. It was kin of extremely odd as they had converted what was a parking lot on the street of the hostel into a party complete with red carpet and what not for the after party. There were news trucks from the major news channels parked in the street and all that stuff that goes with it. No photos though, as we had to watch from the other side of the street and small compact cameras don't hold up well taking photos at night in the street and that distance.

It was interesting to see that pretty much most of the arrivals chose to drive their own cars and get them valeted... Not sure what the drink driving rules are? There were what we think were a few paps there as they knew each other and at one point one asked another who he had rung. Anyways these guys knew who the celebs/stars (?) were... The only one noticeable to us was Lindsay Lohan. I'm pretty sure there were others though, as the pap guys pointed them out - the chick from The Sarah Connor Chronicles was one. A quick Google shows others rocked up during the night, but we gave up and retired to the hostel.

Today though it was time for new scenery and over to Santa Monica it was. We're staying a bit up from the pier - about a 20 min walk I think? - so after we dropped our stuff of it was time for a wander down to the pier area. It's very quiet at the moment 'cos I think it's low season, so when we rode the Pacific Wheel there wasn't that many people at all. Some wandering around the shops and my feet were pretty much dead. Thank goodnes for the Big Blue Bus. The one awesome thing about the buses here is it's a flat rate where ever. And so a ride on the Big Blue Bus was only 75 cents. Well worth the distance we would have had to walk.

Not seen in that particular order, but that's what was pretty uncovered today. Did the Runyon Canyon walk rather early (a bit after 7am) as it gets reasonably warm later in the day. Lots of dog walkers and lots of unusual looking dogs too. Walked the shorter loop up to the top and took a few photos looking down on LA. Was quite smoggy though, so tried to capture the Hollywood sign as best could. The photo below though was taken from a different point yesterday - it turned out slightly clearer.

Then it was on to Beverly Hills. That suburb has a totally different scenery - green grass, tree lined streets. For some reason or anther shops in the US don't open till 12 noon? At least in Beverly Hills they don't - so walked around Rodeo Drive and all the shops were closed. Can't say I could've afforded to shop at any of them though.

As a rather interesting note, the Emmy's are happening in Hollywood tonight Checked but it's being held downtown not on Hollywood Blvd so no star spotting to happen. Though across the road from the hostel there is some red carpet do that has been setup during the day. Looks setup now but lots of people in black doing things.

Anyways, for some photos...
View of the Hollywood Sign (taken somewhere on Hollywood Blvd)

Watch out for rattlesnakes in the canyon!

Beverly Hills palm tree shot

Tomorrow it's of to Santa Monica...

So am in Hollywood right now. Flight over was way long. Ironically there were personal entertainment screens but I didn't watch any of the shows/movies though. Been down Hollywood Blvd this evening and tomorrow will head out to see other parts. Most likely Runyon Canyon and onwards to Beverly Hills.

So thought I'd post an entry on the gadgets I'm lugging with me on my travels this time. I don't usually take this many gadgets, but since this trip is a little longer than usual and there's lots of flying, driving and free wireless there are now a number of additions.

1. Asus Eee PC - The first time I'm lugging a computer of sorts with me. I sort of bought this specifically for my trip (those in the know, this is the machine which in theory I made a profit from buying). It's approx 900 grams is small, light and has pretty much everything a laptop these days has. And it comes in black! It wasn't too hard of a choice to decide to bring this as this trip is going outside of Asia, and most places out of Asia have free wirless almost everywhere (exception being Australia). It's also got Skype so if we needed to make any calls we could just use it and comes with all the basic software for word processing, editing images, organsing your music player etc.
2. Apple iPod - Read a couple of articles about how some choose not to bring their MP3 players as they detract from everything else on their travels/experiences/etc. For me though my iPod is the gadget that lets me tune out, usually when I'm waiting at the airport for hours or on some bus/boat ride which turns out to be twice as long as it should be. Also I'll be using this as my backup hard drive to copy my photos to and what not.
3. Auto Kit for iPod w/ Dock Connector - Got a couple of road trips happening, so need this to transmit from the iPod.
4. Mobile phone - I suppose I don't really need this, but SMS is useful and as is the alarm clock feature.
5. SanDisk MicroMate Reader - This came with one of my SD cards I bought a couple of years ago. I like it because it's super small and it reads quite fast.
6. Canon Digital IXUS 60 - One's got to take photos when they're on holidays... Decent small/compact camera.

Of course the unfortunate part of lugging all the above is that you have to carry all the cables as well as power plug adaptors. The cables are the worst part though.

Not really related to gadgets, but definitely tech related, is Google Docs. Have used Google Docs for this trip to store what ever interesting info might help along the way. There is now a plugin which enables you to access and read/edit your documents offline and when you're online it will save/update as required.

Did a somewhat rough pack today as I really won't feel like packing during the week after I get home from work. Hasn't turned out too bad, first weigh of the bag was 5.8kgs. Since then have removed some stuff and added others. Packing is a somewhat fun exercise - having to think what will work well, wash easy, be okay? And the ultimate question of, 'Do I really need this?'... Going into Central Europe in mid-late October it's supposed to have average min/max day temps of about 4 - 13 degrees, which I think is a bit colder than Sydney's winter min/max averages. So had to pack some warm clothes since I consider winter in Sydney a bit cold sometimes.

In some somewhat exciting travel news for me, I found out the other day that the ice rink at the Rockefeller Center opens for 2008 before leaving for Europe. Which I'll now have to definitely go to that!

Well it's time to revive the blog as the trip looms ahead. Have started copying all my music to the computer to load up my iPod and deciding on playlists to make. With 5 weeks of traveling to happen anything and everything is going on. In shock horror Robbie Williams and the Spice Girls make the cut - there's only so much Snow Patrol and Stereophonics one can listen too unfortunately.

Anyways for those who may be following the blogging travels, bookmark this. It'll take you straight to the travelling tagged posts.