We've made it!! 5,000 miles and 5 weeks later we're on the west coast!

We went to The Grand Canyon about a week ago now - it was amazing, we just sat and stared at it for ages. It's hard to describe just how big it is. The really wierd thing is that you travel across a flat desert 7,000 ft above sea level to get to it

The altitude meant that arriving in Laughlin, Nevada later that day was a real shock - it was 106!! Laughlin is a smaller version of Las Vegas and was recommended by a local in Amarillo. We stayed in a casino hotel, our first night was $20 - the cheapest we've had so far! It was so hot during the day that we couldn't go outside - Amanda managed a hour or so by the pool just before it wentdark, I went to the cinema!

On our second night we watched a dodgy rock cover band that played till 1am - many strange sights in there! Old men with very young girls, etc, etc.

We then headed straight up to Vegas to the Treasure Island hotel - a great recomendation (thanks Dil and Laura). The hotel was lovely - we had a great room, no upgrade but we got free champagne!

We loved the strip - we saw Cirque du Soleil in our hotel - brilliant. I won $37 off the free play they gave us so we left Vegas up on the gambling!!

The Bellagio fountains danced to one of our hymns (Lord of the Dance) when we watched them - which was very romantic

We also got the most fantasticly tacky souvenir - the Paris hotel has a giant balloon outside it and you can buy cocktails served in a ceramic version of it!

We also watched the TI Sirens show - thankfully it was free because it was rubbish!

We got to bed at 12:30 before leaving at 5am to get to Disneyland that day (a 5 hour drive)! Disneyland was fun but we felt a little disappointed. As adults there aren't many rides to go on but they save themselves with the magical parade at the end of the day

The following day (Wednesday 1st Oct) we set off on out trip up Highway 1. We stopped off at Manhatten Beach for a lovely breakfast before visiting Venice Beach (rough!), Muscle Beach (very odd!) and Santa Monica (very posh!) before leaving LA

The journey along the Big Sur is amazing - the view is as incredible as the sudden fog is surprising. Stopping off at Hearst Castle was worthwhile. It's where the original Rupert Murdoch entertained Hollywood stars in an amazing mansion. It's a mish mash off various european architectural influences

We then carried on to Carmel & Monteray Bay where we saw sea lions sitting in the dock - the change in temperature is surprising as it's now turned very cool

We arrived in San Fransisco on Friday and did a cable car journey around town - Carl hung off the side of it fearing for his life! Then we did a night tour of Alcatraz - very spooky!

We've spent today driving the 400 miles back to LA. We'll be doing a bit of sightseeing as well as hopefully catching up with Matt & Charlie before leaving for Hawaii on Monday - where hopefully life will get a little slower!

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