To The Grand Canyon And What Find On The Way

Today, we left the Golden Nugget and drove by some of the famous casinos that we had seen on TV, notably the Luxor, Treasure Island, MGM Grand, Bellagio, Circus Circus, New York New York, and more. It was interesting to see how enormous these places were!  From there, we headed back into the desert to work our way toward the Hoover Dam.

Much like many of the other things that we encountered on our trip, we were amazed by the enormity of the Hoover Dam. We wanted to hit this national landmark since we were going right by there on our way to the Grand Canyon. We drove around and were able to get a pretty good view of the water side (north side), but had to hike up to a bridge in order to see the south side. Alex and I made the trek up. Though it was hot, it was the type of thing that we didn’t want to miss. I really wanted to see both sides of the dams, and it was worth the hike.

One of the things that’s fun about a road trip is that you can just pull over and do whatever you find to do. Heading down the expressway, we decided to make a bathroom stop in a little town called Saligman. What we didn’t realize is that we were stumbling on what they called the “birthplace of Route 66.” The street was lined with shops, motels and restaurants that looked just like I would expect to see based on what I have seen in movies and heard from my older relatives about this famous route. We decided to take advantage of this step back in time and eat at the Roadkill Café. Kristi splurged on a buffalo burger, which was fun to try. The restaurant was full of stuffed animals, as one would expect, based on its name. They were really busy so it took quite a bit of time for us to eat there. After dinner and some pictures of the area, we were back on our way.

Once we were back on the road, we made our way to the Grand Canyon. On the way into the Grand Canyon National Park, we saw female elk in the wild. After going through the ranger station, we checked in at the registration desk for the Yavapai Lodge. Our room was small but comfortable and was stocked with eco-friendly products and a great view out the window of the woods between us and the Grand Canyon. We looked at the Visitor’s Guide and saw information about the sunset over the canyon and decided to check into that. We went to the Yavapai Geological Museum and overlook area, which was a good place to start our hike along the rim. We spent probably an hour and a half enjoying the breathtaking view, snapping pictures, and worrying about the many people who we thought were way too close to the edge of the canyon! It was beautiful to watch the color changes in the canyon as the sun lowered in the sky. We waited and watched the anticipated sunset time pass by and decided to head back to our room. It was then that we realized that we were somehow off by an hour, which we think might mean that Arizona doesn’t follow Daylight Savings Time. We drowned our sorrows over the missed sunset in pizza back in our hotel room.

When we were in town getting the pizza, we saw a commotion on the side of the road. It was a full-sized elk with huge antlers casually grazing right beside the busy road. He did not seem at all bothered by the many spectators, and I was able to get a number of good pictures. Seeing this wildlife, like seeing the bear, was a highlight of our trip! So, day eight was done in "grand" fashion.

A Day In Las Vegas - On The Slow Side

Though the road trip was continuing, we were going to stay in Las Vegas for the day and spend a second night at the Golden Nugget.  So, on day six, we woke up as early as we could get ourselves going to visit the Silver and Gold Pawn Shop, which is where the hit TV series Pawn Stars is filmed. This was something that both of the kids really wanted to do. It was a 15-minute walk from The Golden Nugget.  

The walk was very hot, even relatively early in the morning, but we were able to get right in to the store when we arrived. Kristi had read online that they may charge admission and that people had to wait outside in the hot Nevada sun for a long time to get in. We didn’t have to pay, and we did have to wait in the heat. It was really busy, but we still had a great time looking around. Alex bought a “Chum-Lee for President” t-shirt. I was interested in a couple of guns they had that were similar to a 25-20 that has been in my family for years and dates back to the early 1890s. Though they were different caliber, they had two hexagon barrel guns like ours from 1886 and 1887. The one that needed some work and was not in as good of shape was close to $1,000. This made me wonder what our 25-20 would be worth! Kristi looked at jewelry but wouldn’t let me buy her anything, especially not the 3.3 carat diamond ring that was $54,000. It makes me wonder why people had to sell these things, especially a ring like that! It was also interesting to see items in the shop that we had seen pawned or sold on the show. Alex was able to identify and explain to us about the “death clock,” the Lindbergh propeller, the mortar, and the Virtual Boy.

After that, we were all starving and decided to look for a place to eat. Nothing was open on our walk back down Fremont Street, so we ate at a restaurant in the Golden Nugget. The food was really expensive, but the portions were large. With our tummies full, we all decided to relax in our room during the hottest hours of the day. Kristi, Adri and I napped while Alex watched TV. This was especially nice after the long day of driving yesterday!

Once we got up, we all put on our bathing suits and headed down to the pool. The kids tried out the water slide that went through the shark tank and liked it. I did it, too! We went too fast to see the fish and sharks in the tank that the tube went through, but it was still fun. Kristi soaked up some sun and relaxed in a pool chair in the shallow end. It was insanely busy, but we all managed to have a really good time.

For dinner, we ate at Lillie’s Asian Cuisine. We sat in the part that was a Japanese steakhouse and had our food prepared in front of us. We always enjoy that type of thing and weren’t really up for much else. This allowed us to build in our entertainment with our dinner. 

After dinner, Adri had a chocolate craving, so Alex, Adri and I walked down Fremont Street to find some dessert. Along the way, we saw some things that surprised the kids, like street performers and dancers on tables. There were lights everywhere, and a lot of activity. They also saw what they claimed was the world’s biggest “big screen,” which is a canopy over at least a block of Fremont Street. There were advertisements, a show about video games of the 80s, and a constantly changing stream of lights and entertainment. We weren’t out there very late, but there was a lot to see on our short walk between the Golden Nugget and the Walgreens where we bought our chocolate.

It was a quick visit to Las Vegas, as it was with the rest of our stops on this trip, but we were able to hit some highlights while we were there.

From Forest To Dust To An Oasis Showered In Lights

We got up early to get to Sequoia National Park.  This plan had more to do with knowing we had a very long day of travel ahead than anything else.  But, it did work to our advantage.  As with Yosemite, Sequoia was very busy, but this time we were there early enough to get ahead of the big crowds.  We were able to stop when we wanted to and wander around.  We even had time to open the foam cooler we had bought and filled with sandwich fixin’s and other snacks.

The forest was amazing.  The Sequoias were so big the view of the forest was surreal.  It made us feel like we were on a movie set.  Adri said the trees reminded her of the Ents from the Fellowship of the Rings Trilogy.  That is Treebeard for those of you who might have read the book or seen the morning.

Our main destination was to get to “General Sherman.”  This Sequoia is considered the largest tree in the world by volume.  We saw many huge trees on our way there, but this one had a huge base.  The sequoias are very interesting because they grow so straight and so tall.  Apparently, their longevity has a lot to do with their bark.  It protects the tree against insects, fire, and disease.  These trees can have a base that is 30 feet in diameter.  Imagine this compared to how big one of your rooms is in your house!

On our way out of the park, we had an exciting thing happen: we saw a bear in the wild! He was just lumbering across the road, taking his time and minding his own business. None of us had ever seen a bear in the wild before, so this was just one more highlight on a truly breath-taking drive through the Sequoia National Park!  We tried to get a picture was it was hard to do because it was such a surprise to us.

From there, our next hotel was the historic Golden Nugget in Las Vegas.  If you look at a map, you will see what a long drive that is, and we were going to make it a little longer by avoiding the expressway and going through Death Valley. 

It was a long and very desolate ride to even get to Death Valley.  Just before we arrived at the park our thermometer read 116, and that was at 4:30 in the afternoon.  I wonder what it was earlier in the afternoon.  Death Valley, unlike the others, was not so crowded.  Actually, there were very few places to even stop along the road we were taking through.  It was just interesting to say we were there.  There were several places that were actually below sea level way out in the middle of nowhere.  We stopped at Furnace Creek, which was a resort oasis in the middle of rock, dust, and heat.  The kids picked up an ice cream bar, and off we went.

All of this drive was just interesting.  We saw things that we would not see anywhere else.  Traveling in such desolate areas was interesting.  We stopped a couple of times and stepped out into the heat.  It almost took your breath away.  I think it was good for the kids to see these places. It was an exciting surprise to see the lights of Vegas after driving for hours with virtually no signs of life. 

Golden Nugget, here we come.  Day five - done!

A Quick Visit To Yosemite

Our plan for day four was to go to Yosemite.  We headed out of Fresno and headed for the National Park.  It was a good drive to the park.  We were told that the national parks would be very busy this time of year.  It was very busy.  It was a long and winding road to get to the park, but once we got to the park entrance it was a stand still.  We finally got in and it was crazy.  We had two places that we wanted to see.  The park is huge, and we knew we were just going to pop in, see a little of the beauty and high tail it out.  I expected that we would just stop in a few places and snap some pictures.  What we found was that it was so crowded we couldn't even park.  We snapped some pictures from the car and worked our way to Yosemite Falls.  When we got there, there was no place to park at all.  We drove around and around trying to find a spot.  

Eventually, Kristi just stayed with the van and the kids and I walked to the base of the falls.  It was very beautiful, as was the rest of the park.  We took some pictures and the kids climbed on some rocks.  We couldn't be gone too long because Kristi was still just hanging in the van and trying to stay out of the way.  All we could do was get back in the van and travel out as we took in the scenery and snapped more pictures.  It was so busy that the time we spent in the park was a lot longer than we expected.  As a result, we were unable to visit Kings Canyon National Park.  We traveled to Tulare, CA, for the night.  Our next stop was to Sequoia National Park to the see the large Sequoias.  This was something Alex wanted to do.

It was a long drive to Tulare, but we got in a little earlier because we didn't hit Kings Canyon.  After so many hours in the car, the kids were excited to swim in the hotel pool when we arrived. I worked on our travel itinerary in the business center, while Kristi played judge to the kids’ pool competitions. We had planned to get to bed early, but we ended up having to revise our plans for Day 5. We were thankful that I met someone in the business center who told me more about the Sequoia National Park and helped us plan to get the most out of our quick visit there!  I didn't really know specifically to go to see the Sequoia Groves, especially the one that contained General Sherman.  


We usually plan things pretty thoroughly, but it seemed like time passed so fast after our late release from school.  We tried to plan more and more details as we could, but we started at the beginning of our trip and worked back.  I ran out of time to research Kings Canyon and Sequoia.  As a result, we drove farther south than we would have had to.  We could have stayed in Fresno again instead of Tulare, which would have saved us about forty-five minutes of travel and given us a little more down time.  I don't think it ended up adding much to the length of the next day, but it did mean that we could have driven through Kings Canyon on the way to the Sequoia Grove. It still bugs me, but there was nothing we could do by the time we figured it out.  We did decide that we would start out earlier than planned the next morning.  We wanted to get to Las Vegas via Death Valley!  

A Tale of Two Excursions: Venice Beach and Beverly Hills

 Day three started with a quick drive-by shooting of the studio we had been at the night before.  We were able to snap a couple of pictures outside, but I wanted a picture of the studio’s main entrance.  From there we headed to the famous Venice Beach.  The kids asked us what was so cool about Venice Beach.  All we could say is, “Wait and you will see!” 

We didn’t plan to spend a lot of time at Venice Beach, but we wanted to dip our toes in the Pacific Ocean and see the craziness that has made Venice Beach famous.  The first thing that caught our eye was a skateboarding park.  There was quite a variety of people in the skate park, from 5-year-olds to 50-year-olds!  It looked like broken bones waiting to happen.  There were some with helmets and pads, but most were just hanging loose.

From there, we walked the strip full of street vendors and street performers.  Oh, there were lots and lots of “medical” marijuana clinics.  There must have been a lot of sick people at the beach that day because there were several people “taking their medicine!”  The kids were able to see all sorts of people. 

We were able to walk through the sand and dip our toes in the ocean.  It was freezing!  I love the Caribbean water, but it makes everything else way too cold.  Before we left Venice beach, Adri was struck by all of the skateboarders.  She found a skateboard shop and decided she needed a souvenir from Venice Beach.  To make this purchase more meaningful, she bought a plain board and had a street-vendor (artist) paint a design on the bottom that said “Venice Beach.”

We left Venice Beach and headed to Beverly Hills.  We planned to go to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch.  We figured that would be the only thing we could afford in Beverly Hills.  We were going to walk the streets a little and see some homes.  It was one of the things that you want to say you have done, since you see it on TV.  The kids saw some fancy cars (Buggattis, Rolls Royces, etc.), huge gated houses, and stores they would never see near home.  Kristi and I were there five years ago.  What I noticed was that there were fewer fancy cars and fewer people who looked like the “richy-rich” we saw last time.  There looked like more tourist than locals.

It was finally time to get out of the LA area and head to the national parks and fewer people.  But, trying to get out of the city was a giant pain.  The traffic was very busy.  One of the busiest highways was under construction.  We went bumper to bumper, detoured, and slowly moved on.  I normally don’t mind heavy traffic and driving on busy expressways and streets, but I had had my fill of traffic!  I was ready to get out of that area.

We had a relatively long drive to get to Fresno for our next nighty-night! 

Who Is The Most Excited Studio Audience Member?

This post is the second part of Day 2.  As was mentioned in the last post, we went back to the hotel to wait for our "report time" to get into the studio audience.  The taping was scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m., but we were supposed to be there at 4:00 to wait outside the studio.  There were absolutely no cameras or any other devices that could take a picture allowed.  The studio was on the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Gower.  It looked like a regular office building from the outside.  There is no guarantee that you will get in when you reserve your tickets, and there are limited seats in the studio.  There were only about 100 seats.  Some were taken by people who knew those who worked on the set.  We received an email as we were traveling that told us it didn't look good for getting in.  There were going to be very few seats available.  We emailed back to see if it was even worth our time to come stand outside the studio.  They responded right away and told us we would be put on the Audiences Unlimited list, which should ensure that we would get in. Audiences Unlimited is the company that we booked free tickets through via the Internet ahead of time.

The wait was not too bad.  Once we were able to enter the studio complex, it was very interestijng.  There was a labyrinth of exterior corridors.  There were several different studios within the complex.  The complex probably took up a block.  The studio that we were going to be in was very small.  We were all surprised how small it was.  They have what looked like two by four and plywood risers on which they set up chairs.  Oh, it looked like they had stapled some carpet on the plywood.  If you looked up, you could just see very old wooden beams.  It reminded me of an old barn.  On the concrete floor were three sets. By the way, the show was "A Pair of Kings".  This is a Disney XD show.  I didn't know if I had seen it or not, but once I saw the set, I realized that I had seen it.

They had two emcee-type people to work with the crowd as the cast and crew worked through their takes.  Our job was to laugh!  They explained that it is easier for the cast if there is a live audience reaction.  The emcees explained what was going to happen and gave some directions to us, while entertaining us in between takes.  They wanted the crowd loose and ready to laugh.  They asked, "Who is the most excited person in the audience?"  Kristi jumped up and screamed her excitement and was dubbed the most excited audience member the rest of the night.  They interacted with the crowd all night.  We all just became known as "Michigan."  We all took home small prizes to remember the experience.

Another interesting thing was that they provided a slice of pizza and a small water to everyone.  They passed out a stack of paper towel sheets and told us to take one and pass them on.  After that, they started a large box of pizza at one end of the aisle and told us to take a piece and pass on the box.  I thought, "Are you kidding me?"  But, that was what we did!

It was very interesting to see the director, the camera people, all of the assistants, the equipment, and of course, the actors: Mitchell Musso, Ryan Ocho, Kelsey Chou, and Doc Shaw.  Three of the four stayed after to sign autographs. Apparently Mitchell Musso had to leave right after the recording.  It was interesting to see the actors when they made a mistake and had to start over and how quickly the director would tell them where to restart.  There were times when they would do a scene, listen to the crowd reaction, and then try it again with a little tweak to see if there was a better reaction.

All in all, it was very cool.  Our second day was done!

Hollywood: Some Things You Just Have to Say You Have Done

We used the time change to our advantage on day two.  We knew our bodies would be used to waking up three hours earlier than our clocks.  So, we planned to get up and on the road by 8:00 AM.   After all, we are on vacation.  Our first stop was the Hollywood sign.  We were able to punch it into the Garmin and head out.  While en route to the sign, Kristi noticed a comment on her Facebook from Tim Fulkerson indicating that we should go to Griffith Observatory to see the Hollywood sign.  We didn't actually make it there, but we did stumble onto a Griffith Park from which we were able to see the sign pretty well.
After a short time of walking some dusty trails, seeing the sign, taking some pictures, and checking out some close-ups with the binoculars, we were ready for our next adventure - Hollywood Blvd. and the Walk of Fame.  Our first stop on Hollywood Blvd. was Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.

We were able to find public parking near our destination on a side street.  We took the escalator up from the parking garage and found we were at the entrance to the Kodak Theater.  This was just a short walk from Madame Tussauds.  We had read that it was good to get to the wax museum shortly after it opened.  We planned to arrive at 10:00 and we were darn close.  Madame Tussauds had some amazing wax figures.  There is something about the eyes.  There was a wax figure of Anthony Hopkins portraying Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lamb where they had you stand almost nose to nose.  Wow, that was creepy!  We were able to meet some interesting people while we were there.  After all it was Hollywood.  Kristi has such a natural beauty that Mary Hart was sure she was a star and started to interview her.

We also met Beyonce Knowles.  As soon she saw me she wanted to dance.  How could I say "no" to Beyonce?










Funny man, Alex, was able to meet funny man, Jim Carey, to exchange some jokes!  And Adri was able to go a little one-on-one with Kobe Bryant.

There were lots of people to meet and lots of pictures.  There were way too many pictures to put in the blog. If you want to see all of the stars, we will have to schedule a time to roll out the red carpet and pop some corn!

After we left Madame Tussauds, we walked Hollywood Blvd., and found some of our favorite stars.  All of that walking sure increases the appetite.  After about half-way through, we just had to stop at the Hollywood Hard Rock Cafe for lunch.

This was just half of our day.  We wandered and watched.  We saw the wax figures, the "Walk of Fame", the Kodak Theater, the Hollywood Hard Rock, and the Chinese theater with all of the hand and footprints.  Kristi was able to get us tickets to be in a studio audience, and we knew that would require a bit of wait time. So, we decided to find the studio to which we were supposed to report and then went to our hotel to get all of our stuff in before we headed to the studio.  We were told it could take about three hours, and it wasn't going to start until 6:00.  We took advantage of some down time at the hotel until we had to leave for the studio.  But, I will leave that experience for another post!