29 September Land Ahoy!

29 September Land Ahoy!

We woke up in the harbour at Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii. We stood for about an hour waiting for Border protection to clear us. There was great chaos and confusion with the US queue and the alien queue. Some pugnacious little old asshole with what we thought might have been a New York accent had shoved his way into what turned out to be the alien queue and was trading abuse with a pair of much larger Canadians. He was yelling out that he wasn’t going to miss the tour he had paid $500 for and telling them to “OK just beat me”, which would have been tempting for many of us. This eventually degenerated into mild shoving. He then allowed himself to be steered into the US queue, where he proceeded to start yelling out for what we presumed was his (lucky) wife . . not. “Irene!” “Irene!” I called out “Adrienne”, which was hugely funny for the Rocky fans, and a few of the others started singing some song about a lovely lady named Irene. Eventually the lovers were reunited and they shambled off. (The first 'ugly American' we have seen onboard.)

J had plenty of time to catch her volcano tour and I spent the day idly eating, watching movies and winning the morning and afternoon trivia (luggage labels anyone?) I did wander down the pier and found a wifi café. There was no news from anybody at home, least of all the Lottery Commission L although there were a lot of lovely grandchild pictures, including a beautiful smiley picture of Michaela sitting up by herself. I found Amanda on facebook and chatted while she gave Joshua his 6am feed. Also posted 6 days of blog.

J writes:  While we expected to be late leaving on the tours because of the queues at Immigration, it wasn’t that bad and we were called for our bus about 10 minutes late.  It took quite some time to load up the coaches and 2 false starts early on.  The tour leader/driver for the day John was a fountain of knowledge on all subjects and we were schooled the whole day long.  We stopped at a Macadamia farm *yawn* and then an orchid garden which has some divine specimens.  One even smelt like chocolate.  Then to the crater rim which was just gently smoking away.  Jagger Museum was hands on and interesting. 

 

 Next stop was the Visitor Centre where I watched a 20 minute film on Hawaii.  Then a drive past yet another view of the crater before reaching the Thurston lava tube.  This is situated on a lower flank of the volcano in a tee tree forest.  Beautiful bird song as you traverse the path and steps.  The tunnel is long and damp with an uneven floor surface.  You exit up a short set of steps that was a natural sky light in the tunnel.  Pretty cool actually. 

 Entrance

 Middle

 End

 

 Back to Hilo and the nearby Rainbow Waterfall for a 1quick photo opportunity and back to the ship about 5.30pm.  There was some rain but we managed to avoid getting wet.  Lucky us.  Ship sailed at 6pm.

 Falls

 This lovely group was on our bus.  We always knew which bus to get on.  Just follow the orange shirts.

 

The lunch desserts were so delicious and so chocolate-enriched that I saved half of each of the portions and put it in the room fridge for J when she returned. Just as well because she didn't get any lunch today.

We had buffet dinner out on the terrace again and watched the sail away.  Another perfect holiday memory. We wandered into the music quiz, which we all did as a group and shared the download vouchers, which we will have to redeem before we leave the US. We then lingered in the nightclub (and it was at least 8.30 by then!) watching karaoke. I got sucked into doing Sweet Caroline, which strikes some perverse chord in my imagination while we are doing the standing stretches in tai chi (something to do with “hands reaching out” and the instructor being Caroline). Fuelled with fame, I Iater did the banana boat song (Dayo!) to a room full of African Americans, who didn’t seem to mind. J went up and sang with a few others and, as usual, was shaking her bits and grooving with the backing singers.

The 11pm sailpast of the volcano was a bit of a non-event. J had been told during her tour that the lava flow had stopped 2 weeks ago, so all we saw was a dull glow. But it was nice to be out there. We were right in close to the shore break and there were flying fish skittering across our wake. We returned to the cabin to our nightly gift of chocolate from the cabin steward and the wonderful news that the negotiation with the cruise company had turned out very favourably, which made us most happy.

23-28 September Cruisin' On Down

23 September Sailing Away/Tijuana Taxi

Some nervous moments yesterday. Back in 09 we spent 6 days in Hong Kong before catching a ship to Singapore. Somehow we miscounted and came very very close to waving the ship goodbye from the Kowloon foreshore. Some subliminal scars may linger. The unexpected sight of Solstice in port yesterday reactivated repressed memories and we had to go and check that they were not about to escape us.

Arriving home a few hours later . . we found Steph on Facebook, who greeted us with . . . “what are you doing there? . . the kitchen calendar says you are sailing today”. Aaaaargh palpitations. Quite right, but it is still Yesterday here (Gen Y: google “International Date Line”).

One of the Taiwanese at dinner last night said wages down here might be lower than elsewhere in the USA because the Mexicans are prepared to work below normal wages if they are illegal immigrants. Maybe?

We had a final visit to plunder $1 Toblerones from the local supermarket. Almost immediately a bus stopped at our toes and the lady driver said she was going half way to the cruise terminal. She declined a fare. We easily found our way down, checked in the bags and quickly signed in ourselves. They gave us tickets for bus 40 and some time later called for people with tickets 1 and 2. Oooh dear this could take some time. They plodded slowly along to 9 and then suddenly called 36! That seemed to be too good to be true but they followed on 37 38 39 and 40. We headed off down to the border at Tijuana and then through the Mexican countryside, mostly down the coast.

 The double fences between Mexico and USA.  San Diego Bay in the distance.

 Tijuana

 Ensenda Mexico.  Biggest flag we have ever seen.

 Huge scavenging seagulls.  We are lucky ours are a little smaller.

 

It was very much like Peru – a very pretty mountainous coast with some lovely winding parts high above the sea. Elsewhere fairly flat or rolling hills. But totally arid. Many coastal developments, mostly in the early land sales stages. After about 2 hours we reached Ensenada and pulled into the port. We had been given forms to fill in and they were collected but we didn’t pass through immigration (or US emigration).

They left us sitting in the (fortunately air-conditioned) bus for about half an hour before we passed through a shed with Xray machines where we and our hand luggage were scanned. They missed the vegetable knife – J reckons it was tucking it in behind the fridge magnets? There were still 6 buses waiting and we heard that others had sat there for 90 minutes. It took a long time for the luggage to be delivered to our cabin.

We have gone for an inside cabin, which happens to be right up the front. Might be a bit rough up there? We started by cancelling our freestyle dining allocation and signing up for the first dinner setting. Then we hit the lunch buffet (in a restrained manner) and pecked judiciously at 2 of the delicious chocolate desserts (each). My final assignment for the day was non-trivial and slightly challenging but I unexpectedly reaped the benefit of my tiny residual Sethefrican eccent, which was spotted by the supervisor behind the Guest Relations desk. It may take a few days for the outcome but, cautiously, the signs are good.

We could have conducted the spa and gym tour by now, but we followed one of the therapists around for a refresher and to qualify for the free treatment draw which will be held in 2 days. Up to the top deck (and we discovered the 16^th which I had missed) for the view round Ensenada Bay and the seals in the harbour.

5.15 was the emergency drill then it was time for dinner, still with no luggage in our room L We were part of a table for 10 with 8 Americans. We sat next to a very affable older couple from Tampa Florida. He reminded me of Will Farrell.

The music quiz at 8pm was titled The British Invasion, so we cunningly teamed up with the 3 girls with recognisably English teeth. Sure enough, we won and scored a couple of music download cards. By then, I was over-excited and left J to watch the evening show, which on the first night usually consists of the on-board singers and dancers plus the guitarists and jazz trios etc who will be in the bars and lounges. Speciality acts will come later.

We cast off at midnight and were aware that the boat was rocking on a gentle swell. We better toughen up because it will be quite disconcerting when the seas get up. Last time we were this far forward we managed to get relocated AND to a balcony suite, just in time for the glacier viewing the following day and the Inward Passage. But that was on a ship that was nowhere near as full as this one is.

24 September Baby Let Me Take You On A  - Sea Cruise

We were up at the stretch class at 7.30. Very packed as always on Day 1. Running straight into the Ab session with the same young blonde Sethefrican who was aboard in February. She remembered me, which may or may not be a good thing. A different class but it hit the spot. J went straight into Zumba next to the pool while I started laundry duties.

We joined a family of 4 from San Diego for the morning trivia and managed 14, 1 behind the winners. A couple of tricky questions, like who was the murderer Clarice Starling was chasing . . sorry no it wasn’t Hannibal Lector.

We wanted to make time for relaxing on this trip and found a quiet spot overlooking the water with the daily news sheets from Aus, UK and SE Asia. Back to the buffet for curry and green salad. Ok and maybe a furtive nibble at the sugar free chocolate mousse and the chocolate imperial. And just a taste of the orange chocolate.

J took off for the line dance class and we met up again for the music trivia. By the way, Clarice was chasing Buffalo Bill, with help from Hannibal. Sneaky huh? And the Greek god of sleep wasn’t Morpheus. Hypnos. Grrrr.

Afternoon music trivia promised much, delivered little but was enjoyable. That familiar feeling of mentally running through a song waiting for a title to jump out at you. No it isn’t called “tonight’s gonna be a good night”.

Nap time before the big afternoon cumulative trivia, where we maintained our policy of scoring one behind the leaders. Who IS the 6^th character in Cluedo?

We decided to turn out for formal dinner, for fear of missing out on lobster, which they didn’t serve anyway. The evening show was Ghostlight, a tribute to generations of musicals. The singers were quite strong and the dancers ok.

The weather was not bad but we had a big roll running all day. Some quite ill people moving around and presumably many more in their cabins. We kept busy and moving and were not much affected. The Captain said the sea will flatten a bit tomorrow afternoon and then stay down.

25^th September Taking It Easy

We were awake early and made it to all the morning exercises. J managed to get through Zumba and Hawaiian dancing as well. One behind during the morning trivia (as usual) – we sat and watched as our teammates answered a string of US questions. There was also a world flag quiz and we again failed to recognise Bolivia, but I forgive myself because this time I wasn’t wearing their football shirt with the emblem.

As per plan, we made time for vegging out in the comfy chairs. Nothing to see out here but it is soothing and we should try and do it at home as well. We qualified for the Captain’s Club cocktail party after lunch, which was very pleasant -  we sat looking out to sea while we were plied with Cosmopolitans and delicious snacks by a passing parade of waiters. One friendly fellow from Jamaica pretty much adopted us and ran a Cosmo shuttle service.

We grabbed the Cruise Director and asked about the AFL final on Saturday – he says the satellite coverage won’t get it L. And at 75c/minute we won’t be queuing to follow it on internet. They will print a news sheet the next morning and we will be docked in Hilo Hawaii and can go ashore and catch up on that and all the other news.

This ensured that we went to afternoon trivia very relaxed. In short, we finished one off the pace and we don’t know whether yesterday’s winners were ahead of us again. Either way, we were very happy with the way the team performed – most of all, the chemistry was very good and we had fun.

We ducked dinner and snacked on sushi and whatever in the buffet instead. The only thing we missed was the exotic desserts in the dining room. They held the draw for the free spa treatments but just for once we didn’t get lucky. In between the hoo-haa about ObamaCare, we heard on the news that the minimum wage in California is significantly below $10/hr.

We dropped in on the comedian and found it was one we had seen years ago – probably back in 07. He was very funny and, as he put it, “works clean”. We get an extra hour’s sleep tonight J

26 September And the Beat Goes On

The usual routine . . the usual meals . . the usual scores. We keep finishing one behind the top team but it isn’t always the same team. We scored some sun time and napped in the comfy furniture in the solarium and got back into the gym before dinner. J took in a movie in the cinema. 2 extra women had turned up at dinner the day before and in the confusion we now had 2 extra. Just as well we were there because they served huge lamb shanks. The evening pianist was interesting without being hugely entertaining.

27 September Top Of The World

As above -2 solid hours gym/zumba, 14 out of 15 in the brainwarmer quiz but lost the tiebreaker guess. AFL final tonight.

4pm – They are showing us equal top of the cumulative trivia. The “kids” (mid-20s) slept through and we fell back 1 point to the team of oldies with one middle aged redhead. They actually asked the dread question that had been raised in chat within our team – Jim thinks Johannesburg is the Southernmost capital and was unconvinced that it is Wellington. J had the pencil and basically said – sorry trust us on this. On the other hand, he thought the densest bone was the jawbone, which turned out to be correct. We were all surprised to find how big and thick a giraffe’s heart has to be (to pump blood up its neck). One session to go.

We had the Select Club cocktails afterwards and fell foul of apple martinis that were basically straight vodka with 2 drops of green dye. The said middle-aged redhead came and sat near us, which allowed us to elicit that she and her husband were staying on until Sydney but it seemed their team was getting off. Hmmmm?  We ended up at dinner where there were seats for everybody. The Grand Marnier soufflés were very good.

We got into the Millionaire show but they had run out of handsets already so we decided to watch anyway. As it happened, the kind couple behind us shared theirs and we managed to come 3^rd out of 100, narrowly missing out on Tshirts. We gave up on the juggler and headed to bed.

28 September The Agony and the Ecstasy

We woke at 6, by which time it was midnight in Perth and the footie would be over already. We watched a sports channel that was spooling scores across the bottom but no mention of AFL.

J had a sore back so we ditched the gym and just did some Tai Chi/Stretching in a nook on 14^th floor. We then scored an hour in one of the tented double hammocks near the pool. Very nice. Morning trivia . . what do you want to know? Second again. No there aren’t just 2 teams. Maybe 12 or so.

I should just mention that the session began with the announcement that an Aussie question was imminent. The next leg of the cruise will be laden with Aussies but we are still thin on the ground (deck actually). Our team radiated smugness at having 2 of us and we all watched expectantly as he asked how many states were included in the Commonwealth in 1901. Our trusty True Blue Aussie scribe immediately wrote down 5. I just absent-mindedly did the maths and was curious whether perhaps Tasmania had not been a state in those days? Say no more. The “kids” were there and Jim was red hot so it portends well for the critical final afternoon session.

The news sheets are out, proclaiming the tragic news from Melbourne. The Dockers deserved to win their first Premiership and it would have been nice if they did. Having said that . . . well, we can look forward to a few more years of taunting their fans’ bare trophy cupboard.

We took lunch out on the terrace at the back today, watching the Pacific pass by. We actually saw our first ship today.

We had to miss the special Aussie/NZ drinks at the stern bar to get to the final quiz session. The questions were very hard and we only managed 9/16. The answers came from all around the team and Jim reinforced his morning performance with some good answers. Evidently the other teams were not cheering much and we were not really astonished to find that we had rebounded from being 1 point down and snatched victory by a single point. True to form, we came second on the day but the team that won had started 2 behind us.

So yet another triumph in cumulative trivia. Warren and I were in the team that came from behind to win on the same ship back in February. We just scored a handsome booty package of a gold medal, Celebrity T shirt, lanyard and a metal water bottle. Each. Place your orders now.

And so to the 2^nd and final formal dinner – yes there is lobster on the menu.

22 September 13 Midway

22 September Midway

An easy start this morning.  We met a guy from Meadow Springs Mandurah at breakfast this morning.  Small world ain’t it.

We slowly strolled off towards the water front, tracking our way through the historic Gaslight District.  This has some very nice buildings from the 1920/30’s and is very trendy with restaurants and nightlife.  Found a very relaxed shopping strip in really nice buildings on the water front.  Wandered around the bay to the Midway Museum and were surprised to see the Celebrity Solstice there.  Then walked a little further and discovered that the Celebrity Millenium was also there. 

 Solstice

 

We backtracked and went aboard the huge WW2 aircraft carrier USS Midway. ($19 adult &16 senior. Price includes audio guide).  We spent 2 hours here going through crew quarters & areas, the hangar deck and the top deck both of which displayed aircraft.  There were also ex-military men explaining launch and landing processes.  It was very interesting. Despite the cavernous areas for housing aircraft, equipment and supplies, the crew quarters were very cramped and confined. The carrier would have sailed with up to 4500 men.

 Midway

 Bunks 3 high.  12 men in this small area.

 A likely suspect

 

Interestingly, the ship carried 133 planes during WW2 but by the 1960s it had only about 30 planes with much greater complexity and payload. Thereafter, helicopters became increasingly important.

 Take off area.  The top deck       covers 4  acres.

 A Scottish piper right at the front of the ship.  There had been a veteran's ceremony.

 

We sat on the grass by the water and watched the world go by, snacked on a shrimp (prawn) taco while we watched a couple of police deal with one of a group of homeless “veterans?”. Had a stroll through a huge supermarket/delicatessen, admiring the selection of produce and the cheap prices. We pay far too much for food in Aus!!

Back at the hotel, we found that the hot dog party had been set back an hour but we had a good time chatting with some young Asian travellers. So many enterprising and resourceful young people going around the world.

J: My overall impression of San Diego is that it is clean and friendly and well worth spending a few days here.

21 September Ho(s)tel California

21 September Ho(s)tel California

4am Go Dockers! Into the Grand Final next week.

The hostel provides brekky, including DIY waffles. Tonight they lay on free beer for an hour and tomorrow its free hot dogs.

We headed down to the supermarket for the makings of lunch. Their trolleys have inbuilt sensors that will lock the wheels if you take them out of the carpark! How wild is that? And they sell ham with slivers of cheese built into it, for the perennially lazy. On the way back, we noticed that, when you press the button to summon the pedestrian crossing light, a voice tells you which street you are crossing.

We are heading to the zoo this morning and, bearing in mind what happened in LA, we chose the smaller hot dog buns which will fit into trouser pockets without arousing curiosity or prurience.

Belated observations about Vegas – firstly it stinks in places. We kept getting quite strong whiffs of sulphur – not as strong as Rotorua in NZ but enough to dissuade you from sitting down anywhere near. Secondly, whichever hotel you go into, the reception, restrooms, restaurants and embedded fast food outlets are all surrounded by gaming tables and one-armed bandits. They mean to make it as hard as possible to do anything but gamble. And the smell of smoke is overpowering. Yep . . . Vegas stinks.

J has quickly got right back into the hostel scene – we are strategically placed next to the shower room and there were a few hunks wandering the corridors in their jocks this morning, which did not escape her attention. I think she aspires to re-enacting her triumphant experience in Rio, sharing a dorm with three (count them . . three) Brazilian waiters. No shortage of Hispanics around here.

This morning we walked up through Balboa Park to the zoo. The flight path into San Diego comes in from the East right over the top of the park, at which point the clearance must be no more than 50 metres – 2 plane lengths maybe. Plane after plane came in right over our heads, almost gliding and dropping very fast as soon as they were over the crest. Seconds later we could hear their engines go into reverse after they had landed.  This park is huge and full of museums of various types which are housed in Spanish inspired buildings. Very pretty.

 Flag at half mast for the latest US massacre.

 

J writes:  It cost us $39 each to get into the zoo which is supposed to be one of the best in the world.  We got there about 11am and headed straight to the zoo bus which took us around the park for 45 minutes giving an overview of what they do and seeing many of the animals.  An easy way to see the zoo, get a general feel of the layout and some interesting information.  We then headed up one of the paths to see the Polar Bears.  They have 3 of them in a quite lovely sized habitat.  They believe the female may be pregnant.  We wandered for a while then Chris had had too much excitement and he headed to the entry/exit area to wait for me.  I raced around aviaries and cages seeing a big variety of animals, some I had never heard of let alone seen.  When I got back to the entrance an hour or so later a staff member approached me and said that she had spoken to my husband and that he had left about 5 minutes ago to head downtown. HUH!  It was only 2pm and I scampered out of the zoo and raced along through the park hoping to catch up with him.  Which I eventually did when he got to a point in the park where he did not know which way to go and stopped briefly.  I then had to lie down on the grass until my back stopped hurting.

 Tiger

 Baby giraffe.  Cute

 Finally a bear.  Grizzly

Vegetarian Polar bear.  They were eating carrots and lettice

 2 Gorillas

Barbirusa (pig-deer) :  Never seen or heard of this animal from Indonesia before

 Jaguar

 Dingo .... right?

 hmmmm... never heard of this but the dingo did come from New Guinea

 Chinese leopard

 Bactrian camel

 

We then headed towards the waterfront through a rather deserted city. We found the maritime museum which has the ‘oldest active sailing ship in the world the Star of India.  There are a couple of submarines and various ships/ferries etc.  Further along we passed the Cruise Terminal where we have to be in 2 days’ time in order to be bussed across the border into Mexico and board Celebrity Solstice. Then there is the towering USS Midway.  We were going to go aboard but decided to sit on the grass and have a drink first to rest our weary bodies.  Then realised it was 4pm and the ship closed at 5pm which may not give us enough time to explore it properly.  So we shall head back there tomorrow.

 

We wended our weary way back to the hostel and had nanna naps. Skyped with Steph and Alyssa, went out for a $5 teriyaki footlong Sub. How can they do it? Well, they were advertising for Managers -$10/hour 55 hours a week!! That makes $32,500 a year including overtime. It is a 24 hour operation so that might be nights and weekends too. Town is full of LA Dodgers fans who have swamped the local Padres supporters. The pubs are full of people celebrating and watching the UFC cage fighting.

20th Sept 13 On The Road Again

20 September On the Road Again

0300 Have the Hawthorn/Cats final spooling on radio. What an amazing game. Just need the Dockers to win tomorrow then it’s the Grand Final next week (which they will surely screen on the ship with so many Aussies aboard?).

Interestingly, we both caught ourselves glancing at the driver of a car waiting at an intersection to see if they were poised to move forward. Seeing that she was looking sideways and not watching the lights, we stepped forward, only to realise a moment later that she wasn’t the driver. Her husband sitting next to her was the driver. Similarly, last year in Europe I found myself going to get in the driver’s seat of taxis.

I whiled away half an hour watching a craps game yesterday. I started with some idea of the basic concept that the tosser (or whatever they call him) has to keep rolling until he either craps out or reproduces the number he first rolled. But I was taken aback by the way the single player managed heaps of chips all over the table, which seemed to stay there or get moved or earn or lose him money for what seemed like minutes at a time before the table cleared. The chips were of different colours and values and he was constantly changing larger chips for smaller ones. He had 5 staff busily managing the chips and passing him the dice. After some time, he threw a cloth over his chips and walked away. All quite baffling and nothing at all like the relatively simple roulette.

We checked out and took a taxi back to the greyhound station. Our bus/coach was a grubby old thing without Greyhound markings. No wifi, no power plug, narrow seats. Eeeew. The other one was an express service but, oddly, takes the same time as the non-express buses.

The trip took 8 hours and disappointed us that we did not catch a glimpse of Disneyland when we passed through Anaheim. It was just starting to get gloomy and there was a mist or smog all around LA.

We have seen a lot of places that are linked to TV shows and movies.  Today we went through Orange County (The OC), in LA we had South Park and Beverley Hills (90210) and there have been plenty of others.

We reached San Diego at 8pm and hopped in a waiting taxi with a Somali driver who struggled to close the boot (trunk) and didn’t know where the address was. But he managed to get us there for less than $6 and we got ourselves checked in and issued with fresh sheets and towels. We have a small basic bedroom in a hostel with shared bathroom, and it costs more than our very nice $46 a night room in Vegas. Will do though – and there is plenty to do in San Diego over the next 2 days. Dockers game from 3-6 tomorrow morning.

19th Sept 13 Come Fly With(out) Me

19 September Come Fly With(out) Me

(C) My late mother’s birthday 94 years ago. J’s battery of alarms started ringing at 7.30, ensuring that she was downstairs with all the necessaries to be picked up at 8.20. We were 2 minutes early and found the Maverick Airways shuttle waiting. Hmmm will Iceman be flying?

I took off for a walk around a couple of the blocks behind the Strip. Something like an hour later I made it back, having circumnavigated one huge block and seen nothing at all. Certainly no shops. Oooh well.

Noticed the tv ads – lots promoting those rip-off funeral insurance schemes. We get them too “no medical tests required”. They all feature middle aged daughters chatting to their ageing mums about how good it is to have insurance, and they end up with big hugs going “Hey lets make the call now”. Eeeew gross. The message seems to be “Its ok to tell the old bag she must pay for her own funeral”. Also, implicitly, “dudes don’t talk about such stuff”.

The other TV ads which amuse are for different medicines.  They go through the whole range of side effects from the minor ones of rash, drowsiness to stroke and death.  By the time they have finished listing all of them, you have to wonder if the drug is any good for you at all.

Also noticed ads in the LA subway – its easy to become a father but really tough to be a good one. Only saw them with photos of young black or Hispanic men and the message was in English and Spanish.

Janine’s day:  The shuttle bus called at 2 hotels collecting other guests and we drove 20 minutes to the airport where we were checked in and weighed.  The 10am flight departed at about 10.20 with the 14 of us aboard.  The flight was 40 minutes and I was on the wrong side of the plane as we flew over Hoover Dam and Lake Mead.  We crossed the Colorado River several times and the colours & patterns of the mountains & valleys was interesting. I got glimpses of the good stuff through the window on the opposite side of the plane.  It got bumpy as we descended and we landed safely.  Onto the bus and off we went into the park at 11.30am.

 

We were dropped at Mather Point and the views were breathtaking.  As I wandered along the rim path I opened a muesli bar and was immediately confronted by a cute squirrel.  The day was beautiful and the views spectacular.  After 1 hour and 20 minutes (which went surprisingly quickly) we met back at the bus who then backtracked a bit to show us some elk which has appeared alongside the huge, very full carpark.

 Cute huh!

 Selfie just to prove I am there.

 

 He was beautiful

 

 

We then drove the short distance to Bright Angel Viewpoint.  I sat on a wall in the shade with the Canyon view spread before me and opened my lunch box.  Only to be confronted straight away by a squirrel who scrambled up onto the wall.  So I stood up and ate my lunch while the tourists took photos of my new friend.  We all tried to warn the Japanese tourist who put his finger out to the squirrel, he didn't listen and he was bitten on the finger.  Hmmmm rabies.  I could see people walking on the trail way down below my vantage point.  I walked along the pathway in both directions and walked a small part of the actual trail before time was once again up and we headed back to the bus.  Back to the airport and onto the plane.  This time I was on the right side of the plane and got to see the canyon and all the other ‘points of interest’ from the air.

 My lunch time picnic spot overlooking the trail

 My lunch companion

 Canyon from air

 Lake Mead with Hoover Dam

 and a close up