LA- Home......

Jet lag!! Don't you just love it... I seem to be the only one suffering the effects, while the kids have bounced back into Aussie time no bother! Ah, the joys of youth.. I think having had my new filling removed and temporarily replaced less than 24 hrs of arriving has not helped..

The bags are now unpacked, the house in a shambles and the 2750 photos and videos uploaded to the computer. Where was I 3 days ago?? Almost like a distant memory.. What I do know is that the The Mann Clan has just had the most amazing holiday that we will remember for a lifetime. The kids have been happily playing computer games since coming home, but have been recounting stories and adventures to anyone willing to listen. The sideshow night is bound to be 'BIG'..

After a relaxing last day in LA, hanging out on Venice Beach and Santa Monica, we headed to LAX for our 15 hour flight home. Great that it was an all night flight, as the kids managed to sleep for most of it.  It was a kind of bittersweet end to the trip, as halfway through the flight the flight attendants called for medical assistance, to which I attended.

Unfortunately a lovely elderly lady, making a last visit to Australia to see family and friends, collapsed and despite best efforts, we were unable to revive her. It was a very quiet and calm scenario and the Virgin Staff were great, professional and very supportive. I've been with a few people when they have passed, but never when at 38000 feet. For that hour, I felt privileged to have been a small part of her life. 

As they say life goes on, and we arrived back home, kids super excited to see Cooper and him super excited to see them. As always, so lovely to sleep in ones own bed after time away!!

Thank you to everyone for sharing in our adventure and I will post a selection of photos very soon.

Xxx

Las Vegas

Vegas is made up of lots of things lets just list a few

1. Casinos 

2. Hotels

3. Casinos

4. Hotels on top of casinos

5. A casino

6. Probably a another casino

7. And a whole lot of slot machines

See you can pretty much sum up the whole of Las Vegas with all of those things (and a few more casinos) any way to be honest there are a lot of theme parks it sounds a bit weird but it's true I have no idea why because all I care about is getting my self in the theme parks rather than caring about why their there I mean who does, I do (cough Emma cough) and by the way if you think you can go on any ride and not get scared or not think it is exciting (cough Felix cough) then you have not been to Vegas (or Disneyland) and if you think could still not get scared you and I have nothing to talk about if not then your my best friend (sorry Sofia) and you can come over to mine and have a cup of tea (I'm at 34 holiday inn Los Angeles California so see you then!) Any way that brings us to the end of the show I'm Nicholas mann on Mann Clan USA see you next time.

P.s see that red line that's a roller coaster folks and yes that is a real building the roller coaster goes   all the way around the building.

PP.s yes I did go on it and I do have prof it on our digital camera.

PPP.s oh by the way I went on it alone.

Vegas-LA

Vegas was all and more than I expected. It certainly lives up to its reputation and could almost be described as a ' unique kind of beautiful'. Probably was the biggest eye opener for the kids as they had a constant barrage of people selling, sprinkling and enticing them to watch. 

Lets just say we have bought splat balls, fuzzy's and other side show alley 'trinkets' only to have them disintegrate moments later!! The casinos are quite unbelievable and of the ones we saw, favs were The Luxor and The Paris. For grandeur and absolute over the top extravagance, would have to be The Bellagio. The water show to music, amazing!! 

Took the kids up the Eiffel Tower, and even at half the height of the real one, was still mighty impressive and gave great views of Vegas and the surrounding desert lands.

Stayed in the RV park at Circus Circus and after 2 nights, had to say bye to our faithful travelling home and checked into the hotel for one more night. Was strange to be out of the van and still miss her. 

We also managed to visit The Hoover Dam and joined in the tour which took us 54 storeys down and under it. Mighty impressive, especially considering it was built in the 30's!! Incredibly impressive and very high!

Picked up our rental car yesterday and headed back to LA. of course we had to fit in some 'retail' therapy and managed to find some great bargains.. Lets say our feet will all be happy...

Life in an RV..

 As we come to the end of our RV adventure, thought we'd post a few insights into what it's been like as the life of an RV'er...

Firstly the positives:

Being able to do number 1's and number 2's any time driving or not

Taking up 2 parking spaces at Walmart and parking lengthways when needed

Easy access to the fridge!

Being able to dump the holding tank when full( smell whilst driving quite toxic)!!

Never having to pack and unpack at each new location

Exhaust fan in toilet

Being able to sit at the table doing things.

Sleeping in comfort whilst driving

New neighbors each location

Negatives:

Too much toilet paper in the holding tank

Having kids!!!

Forgetting to close curtains when getting dressed or having a shower

The MESS!

Too much freedom whilst driving( everyone needs the toilet every 10 mins)

Full RV parks

Waking in the cold

Very close to neighbors 

In all, the RV experience has been fantastic. Stu has loved driving her around the country side and despite the 'gas' she consumed, almost 50% cheaper than fuel at home, so quite reasonable. This country is geared to RV's and in all a great experience and well worth it. 

    

The Grand Canyon- Part 2, Arizona

As we drive away from this natural wonder and head towards Sin City, I'm trying to think of what I liked best about our Grand Canyon experience. Truly, I don't think I can. Every time you view this wonder, whether from an east or west vantage point, sunrise or sunset, it's all truly magical. This morning, standing with hundreds of people waiting for the sun to make its first appearance for the day from the east, then watching the light flood through the canyon- awesome. But then watching the sun dip below the horizon as the full moon rose above the canyon-almost religious. The sandy color of the Colorado River, tiny in distance, awe inspiring in the knowledge that its power caused the canyons incredible rock formation. Californian Condors- incredibly rare, enormous, silently gliding along the air thermals created by the canyons height. Trying to imagine that we were standing 7000 feet above the canyon floor and that to reach the north rim, 10 miles across from us, takes 5 hours by car!!

Watching the kids faces as they spotted yet another bull elk or deer, squirrels darting amongst their feet and even into the wheel hubs of the RV. This was a true natural escape and I think for all of us a change in thought processes regarding nature and how small we are really are. 

Whilst on our adventure the kids became fully fledged " Junior Ranges" and had to pledge an oath in front of one of the rangers to receive their badges and certificates. They had to spend the day filling out a journal and answering various questions relating to their age. Quite a bit of that time had to be spent in quiet reflection somewhere along the rim and all of them were surprised with what this enabled them to 'see, hear and feel'.. 

This aspect of our journey has bought us all closer and Stu and I can feel a 'shift' within our family unit and within ourselves. For each of us, a greater appreciation of this wonderful planet earth and just how important it is for us to travel, to understand and appreciate just how lucky we all really are

...

The Grand Canyon- Part 1, Arizona

I wasn't prepared. Seriously, I don't think anyone can be prepared for the sheer awesomeness that is this place. All day I have been feeling quite emotional, kind of like when I sailed past the shores of Gallipoli. Not quite sure how to describe it, but humble could be a more simplistic way of interpreting my feelings. 

I've always heard about the "light" and how the canyon changes as the day progresses. It's just so true. How can a chasm of rock be so beautiful. All day the kids kept asking if its all just a picture. It'ssurprisingly  quiet, despite the volumes of people around, everyone seems content to just look. Words are quite inadequate when faced with the scale of this place.

Everything here is incredibly well run and I guess when you have 5 million plus visitors a year, it's a well oiled machine. Shuttle buses get you around from point to point on the south rim and everything is very accessible. It's fun watching people arriving back after trekking for days and they all are so jubilant and exhilarated after their adventures. I admire them all as the tracks are impressively steep to say the least

. 

From many of the vantage points you can see the Colorado River meandering through the bottom of the chasm, rapids just visible as ripples in the water. Amazing to think that that river is the cause of the canyon. 6 million years in the making, and its all visible in the rock layers. 

As well as the awe inspiring views, we have seen plenty of squirrels, elk, deer, Californian Condors and a wide variety of plants. Everything is surprisingly green from lots of recent rain and is a very different landscape from the Mohave Desert we travelled yesterday. Also much much cooler.

As we are now staying in the GC RV village, we will be up early for sunrise over Mather Point. Tomorrow will  see us exploring more vantage points and a short 3 mile return hike down part of the canyon. We are attending a couple of ranger talks during the day, as well as one in the evening. Will listen out for the coyotes tonight as well as the bobcats that live in the area. Hopefully no bears come knocking on our RV door!!!

Driving to the Grand Canyon!!!!!!

Driving to the Grand Canyon was AMAZING!!!!!! Lets just list some of the amazing things on the way.

1. desert

2. more desert

3. nothingness 

4. more nothingness 

5. some more desert and nothingness 

6. you guessed it more desert and nothingness 

As you can see it very "entertaining" and "exciting" and we could have never got board on a trip that was 8 hours long with just desert and nothingness to look at and to make the trip less "boring" we couldn't use any electronics which we probably wouldn't use with all that desert and nothingness to look at, no! we could never get board on a trip like that :)

Nicholas mann