Holiday brave.

Las Vegas. It is the tiny pimple that sits on the unblemished face of American destinations. A small, angry spot that cannot be left alone and must be played with. Squeezed and scratched until the overwhelming excitement, dirt and funk erupt. In the minds eye, it looks like the eyesore that cannot be ignored. The choice looms. Leave it, deny it is even there. Or squeeze it and feel the messy relief from the build up, the desire to press down and see what is under the surface.
It spills out in a rush. The dirt that is trapped and clogged. The unglamourous glamour of hopeful showgirls lining the streets, vying for attention. They are on the lowest rung of the Las Vegas entertainers ladder. Handing out flyers to crowds, thinking this is not what I came here for. My big break is coming.
On the top rung, the celebrities sitting enthroned in their gilded casino theaters. The names and faces of those who are deemed the town A-listers, who draw crowds and book sold out shows even after years of performing in the same place. And of course, with their same obscure yet formidable hits. Songs that make us remember life events even though they were twenty years ago. Didn’t that go quick? But it feels like it was just yesterday.
Gilt. Shame. Ecstasy. Relief. Should I have gone there? Was it appropriate to expose a young family to the rock and roll of a city that pours out the inappropriate and crazy. Visceral with the bacterial infection of intoxicated, lewd, crude, loud and brash people.
As they say, time heals all wounds. The pimple is popped. Relief is coming. Wholesome healing, moving forward with a liberal dab of face cream civility in the City of Angels.
Today brings no words, just dream type inspiration at 3am while waiting for the alarm to go off.

Rocking the G.C.

Whoa! The Grand Canyon was…grand! I had to pinch myself to check I really was there. Yes, I was and I’ve got photo evidence to prove it.

Another stunning road trip from Pheonix, with a little desert and a lot of pine forests. It took just under 4 hours to drive from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon. There were plenty of places to take breaks and the scenery was just so amazing. Most of the highways, even in the desert are at least double lanes, in good condition and with mobile phone coverage. Even on top of the cliffs people were skyping with family and friends, giving everyone a chance to take in the views.The weather was also very alpine and was a lot cooler because of the elevation. Temperatures in the twenties and breezy being up high, means we need to hold onto our hats.
We spent one full day at the Grand Canyon. You could spend longer there and go hiking down into the basin or along the rim up top. But it’s not practical or realistic to expect a four year old to hike and so we opt for a jeep tour with a guide in the morning and then a very short walk near some cliffs around the grand canyon village area in the afternoon.
We have a really knowledgable tour guide who explains about the formations, the flora and fauna, the native people and their ties to the land. It’s a little pricey, but we got a lot out of it. You can just buy a pass into the national park and drive around to all the lookouts. There are some people who even bike ride along the roads, which in my opinion is just crazy dangerous, as they are single lane roads shared with shuttle buses, tour buses and any other tourist cars and camper vans.
There’s a watchtower that you can go to which has authentic Indian art and carvings and more lovely views of the canyons. The canyons themselves are just so majestic and large. It is hard to get perception of the length and depth of the formations, even how far you travel to reach the lookouts. It’s not until you do a straight 45 minute return journey to get out of the park that you realise that it’s actually a really long way around.

The tour guide tells us it snows in the canyon. The park still stays open and you can see it covered all in white. Can you imagine what that must look like!
And I am happy because I get a chance to have a photo taken with Smokey Bear. I have a Smokey Bear singlet but it was too cold to wear it!

And of course, my boys, being boys, felt the need to throw rocks off the cliff top. Dylan was fascinated with how far up we were, “If you fall off, it would take three hours to reach the bottom”. And I guess it was a really good example of how distorted your perception really does get being around these looming and far reaching formations.

Today brings no words, just another tick off the bucket list! Grand Canyon – done!

Phoenix rising.

What can I say? Phoenix, Arizona is beautiful. It’s hot, as expected for a desert region, but the scenery and city itself is stunning. It’s a dry heat similar to Canberra and a little more comfortable then humid Maryland. Phoenix is a real mix – a city, in a desert, with mountains and rocks, but also green with lush vegetation, cactus and fauna everywhere. The boys and I have enjoyed spotting little jack rabbits, hummingbirds and doves all over the hotel grounds.

It was a rocky start to getting here. Our plane had been overbooked and they could not get us four seats. So we had to forego our direct flight and instead hopped on a plane that went north to Buffalo (we got to see Niagara Falls again) and then across to Las Vegas and then a second flight down to Phoenix. They did reimburse us $1300 and $60 in lunch vouchers, but to be honest we would have preferred our direct flight and none of the stress. The boys were so good through the whole process and it was a long day, factoring in time zone changes and delays. We were all exhausted by the time we got to our hotel after midnight.

We had always planned to stay in a resort in Phoenix to unwind a little. Our week leading up to leaving was packed with goodbyes and parties. I knew that our body clocks were going to be out and I wanted to stay somewhere that we could relax by a pool. We chose a place that was family friendly, with lovely views and lush vegetation. We spent our time swimming, checking out the local shops and art gallery district. There was plenty of hip bars and restaurants with mist sprays to cool everything down. It’s a really nice part of town to cruise around, particularly if you’ve hired a big cowboy truck to see the sights! We have a Chevie Tahoe with Texas plates and it’s taken a bit to get used to. Hamish calls it our monster truck!

The next day we rolled out to cowboy town! Tombstone is something that I’ve always wanted to do while we were over here. Dylan loves the Lone Ranger and he considers it to be one of his favourite movies. I have fond memories of watching cowboy movies with my dad and I wish we could’ve taken him when he was visiting. Tombstone is a three hour drive from Phoenix and it sounds ridiculous to do as a day trip, but we are early risers so it works for us. And to be honest the desert views are so interesting that it it is not by any stretch a boring trip. We let the boys play their games and whenever we tell them to look out the window, the views always have them yelling out appreciatively “woooow, awesome” and other similar comments.

Tombstone has the original courthouse and there’s a great little museum in there explaining some of the history and people who lived in the town. A short stroll up the road and you have a main street complete with old style saloons and shops, cowboys and shoot outs. I was expecting it to be busier than it was for summer holidays, so it was nice to be able to walk around without large crowds. Hamish lost his cap on one of the flights over and we got him a red straw cowboy hat which he wore around town getting many a greeting from the cowboys when they strutted past. They would have matched his red cowboy boots perfectly but we had to send them back to Australia as they didn’t fit in the luggage.

On our drive home we stop off at the Pima Air and Space Museum which has big hangars and open spaces full of aircraft. Its really hands on and you can touch the planes, there’s plenty of old military aircraft to see and Fletch and Dylan run around in the 40+ degrees heat taking photos of any and everything they can. They only had 45 minutes as it’s the end of the day and they were starting to close up various parts. Hamish and I watched them from the air conditioned cafe eating icecream and cold beverages. The frenzied excitement even from a distance could be seen in their body language.

Our last day in Phoenix we went to the zoo. We really wanted to see what a desert zoo had to offer and it did not disappoint. Now the summer hours are different to accommodate for the hot weather. So it opens at 7am and closes at 2pm. Believe me, it’s so hot by then that it’s kind of a good excuse to leave and we did see some amazing animals. My favourite was the road runners and mandrills, Dylan liked the little desert mice and Hamish liked the gila monsters and owls. Just amazing and only ten minutes ways from where we were staying.

I have nothing but good things to say about our Phoenix stay and can recommend it as it’s such a different part of America to see and experience.

Today brings no words, just a glimpse of cowboys, desert and outback America.

Passports and pants.

Fletch went to get dressed this morning and realised that he hadn’t packed any shorts. He had packed some clothes, then ran off to do another task and by the time he got back to packing, well all the closet had been cleared out and sent off in the removal truck.

But it got me wondering what else we’d forgotten. I asked if he had the passports because everything else we can manage but we can’t do much without that tiny, but very important book. I remembered seeing them lying around while getting our suitcases ready so I knew they must be with us somewhere. I went through my suitcase and found three. At this stage I was not too worried, as Fletch sometimes carries his separately. So I asked him where his was and he has a meltdown, thinking it’s been left in his work bag (which is now also in the uplift transporting back to Australia). I recheck my bag and luckily there it is, it had made it’s way into another part of the bag.

Suddenly, forgetting pants doesn’t seem that bad! Plus, we are staying in a hotel across the road from some factory outlets, so it’s a fixable and fashionable solution. But that is the nature of this last week.

Chaotic and crazy, running from one task or engagement to the next. The boys have been feeling a lot of emotions – the fun of parties and friends but at the same time sadness at leaving. The day the removalists arrived they were moody and sullen, bickering and cranky at each other and the world. Their behaviour was quite out of character for my mostly easy going kids. There’s been lots of help and support from wonderful friends and from the bottom of our hearts we thank you. Good times and memories – one of the great outcomes of traveling and living abroad.

Pizza and lobster with friends

Little Aussie jumping joeys!

A swim with friends at a man made artesian well.

Buddies.

Poolside goodbyes

Today brings no words, just a few new pairs of pants for someone.

Coming to an end.

It is getting down to our last two weeks here in the neighborhood. It’s all feeling a little sad and extremely busy. We have a ton of farewells to attend. The kids are winding up school, so there are lots of school events and early school finishes. Hamish will have a preschool graduation ceremony, a little pretentious but very cute. (And why not celebrate, he’s worked super hard this year). Throw in a few birthday parties, baseball playoffs, removalists, cleaning and inspections…it’s jam packed, and quite overwhelming. So I am putting my head down and just dealing with whatever comes up on my calendar, one day at a time.

This weekend Dylan got to march on the Orioles baseball field with his little league team. It was absolute madness as we turned up and tried to look for our team in a sea of kids dressed in very similar team uniforms. They were expecting a turnout of 1500 people to march and it took forever to get them all through for their ten minute walk of fame. Dylan loved it. He got to high five a lot of Orioles players and then afterwards we all sat together up very high on the third tier to watch the game. We have never sat in the ‘nose bleeders’ before. But for eight dollars a ticket, you get a really good birds eye view and if the game is a really bad one (which this one was), you don’t really feel so bad about leaving early.

When we first arrived here we would not have entertained the meer thought of sitting in a sunny, hot and humid stadium. I still prefer a little afternoon shade, but now, we can sit in the heat and as long as there’s ice-cream and cold drinks we are fine to sit through a whole game. Will Hamish sit there for three hours, sometimes longer? Yes. We usually have a hotdog lunch and then he takes a nap sprawled all over us like a cheetah in the sun. He wakes up refreshed and will happily relax, especially if there’s ice-cream around. The other thing is, they don’t tend to get bored because there is always something going on, there’ll be organ music winding up the crowd, favorite songs and anthems that are always played at particular innings, t-shirt throws and cameras forever zooming in on the crowd – we even made it onto the big TV screen this weekend!

Someone is pleased.

Hamish hangs out for high fives off everybody.

We are high up in the stands.

Ice cream time.

These are called “Dippin Dots”. Tiny little ice-cream balls. They aren’t that nice, but it’s in a cup = less mess.

The boys hanging out watching the game.

And that was our weekend. Today brings no words and sadly, almost the end of our baseball adventures.