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

Morro Bay to Barstow

Well it may have been a day in the RV and on the road, but still seen many cool things. Sad to leave 

Morro Bay, such a gorgeous working fishing village, picturesque, relaxed and a fantastic beach for swimming and surfing. The RV park was so nice and we spent the last night with a group of families camping opposite us, kids playing ball, riding bikes and the adults drinking beers and eating chili!! I think N, A and C were desperate for some other kid company and Alex threw the ball for a good 2 hrs or more!!

Left a beautiful fall day, fog had lifted and the Morro Rock was looking mighty spectacular. Poor Charlotte has been having visions of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions since arriving. Bloody boys and their big mouths!!!( she is a nervous nelly just like her mother!!)

We let Maggie the GPS lead the way and headed off through some gorgeous wineries and rolling Californian ranches. I never expected this state to be quite so beautiful. 

After that, we drove into the Mojave Desert and suddenly came across hundreds of aircraft! Realized it was an airline graveyard and something that we had seen on TV.. Just after that was Edwards Airforce Base and with it lots of mysterious looking structures on the hills surrounding it. Who knows what goes on in there!! No sign of the space shuttle!

We then got onto the desert road and before we knew it, came across hundreds upon hundreds of wind farms.. All sorts of sizes and covering thousands of acres.

Decided to cut the day short as we had stopped at Walmart for shopping and lunch, so only made it as far as Barstow. Halfway point between LA and Las Vegas. We are going a slightly longer route to The Grand Canyon, but was nice to stop, have a swim and a couple of beers. Very hot out here and have the air con on..

Should be in Tusayan tomorrow afternoon and then starts our Grand Canyon adventure!!

Luv to everyone xxxi

Canoeing and marguerites

Today is today but let's talk about yesterday because that is the only thing I want to talk about. Anyway,  the other day we went into town and there was a massive festival on that turned out it was the annual avocado and margurita festival. We went  in to have a look around all I can say is it was big, very big, very very big in fact it was very very very big so big that it made the sun look small. Well in this festival there was avocados here and avocados there. There was Marguerites for adults and marguerites for kids, there was a band playing and shops, so many shops we had lunch there and we started to look around. After about an hour of looking around we headed off but we saw a canoe hire place and Alex went crazy and started pleading with mum and dad to see if he could go out. So me alex and dad went down to see the price and it was $20 dollars a double and $10 dollars a single or $35 a triple so we decided me and Alex in a double and dad in a single, but the catch was me and Alex had to pay for the canoes. Well we got passed all the payment and we were out on the water. There was sea lions every were poking there heads out of the water and sun baking on the rocks, one even came up next to us no more than 5 meters away. It was amazing and the water was so clear so you could see them swimming in it. We canoed for about an hour when we had to come back. Alex was very happy. 

Nicholas mann 

 

Marin Bay(San Fran) to Monterey- Sep 11-13

Where to start when so much to tell!! Firstly some points I have noticed since arriving in the U.S:

1. Sarcasm is lost on them all!

2. Tipping provides great service and should be promoted in certain parts of Australia!( no names mentioned..)

3. Australia is far ahead in terms of services- Ambos,police, post..

4. Food is so cheap!! In fact Australia is SO expensive

5. Laundromats rock!($1-2) per load.

Seriously, we are having such a great time and our trip to Monterey, about 130 miles south of SF was well worth the journey. What a gorgeous place. Our RV park was located behind the Marina dunes and such a great spot to to sit and roast marshmallows by the fire. A really top RV site, exy but had a pool room with unlimited hot chocolates that the kids took great advantage of. We toured around Monterey and could not get over the sea lions everywhere. In fact ou could hear and smell them first!! 

Hundreds of them were around, under on the pier and all sleeping, fighting, scratching or barking! Very smelly and so many flies.. We then head thru the old Cannery Row, which is full of quaint shops, beautiful hotels and ice cream stores. Lots of boating merchandise. Home of the author, John Steineck and lots of old relics of the cannery days.

We reached the Aquarium and spent a wonderful 4 hours exploring this incredible facility. Not sure what was my favorite exhibit, but I think the Jellyfish exhibit was out of this world.

Kids loved all the touch pols, sea otters, penguins, live shows, giant kelp, and interactive research centre. Well well worth the trip. 

Headed back to the RV site and had early dinner and marshmallows my the fire. Decided to head off down the coast, so spent today driving thru the incredible towns of Carmel, Salinas and then the amazing Big Sur. was not prepared for the drive that awaited us. The scenery was reminiscent of Te Great Ocean Road, but I think more spectacular. The ocean fog surrounding the area, created an almost unreal feeling. Stu did a great job manoevouring the RV around the winding and steep roads and for 5 hours we stopped and started our ways down the coast.

Unfortunately both camer and video camera ran out of batteries, so photos are on iPhone!! The elephant seal colony that we came across just before Morro Bay were so beautiful and you can read Nichos blog for more details. 

So here we are at Morrow Bay for two nights, before heading inland to Arizona and the south rim of the Grand Canyon!! Xxxx

Elephant Seals

Today we were driving to Morro Bay, the next place we are staying in the RV when dad spots a beach and on the beach there were these things we didn't no what they were until we got closer and it looked like they were seals. We got closer and it turned out that they were seals Elephant to be precise,3 it looked like they were dead but there was people all around them on balconies looking down at the them so we pulled over (after lot of insisting by Alex) and saw that they were all sun bathing. It was a large pack migrating here, but the strange thing was there was no males in the group and we soon found out that all the males were still in Alaska still feeding and getting   fat. It was really exciting to see all these mammals on this beach.

Nicholas Mann

 

BBQ at Monterrey bay great RV site will watch the sun set tomorrow

September 11, 2013...

Strange feeling bring here on the anniversary of 9/11.. Have talked about it with the kids, but thankfully not to bothered. Time to just be kids and have fun.. 

Our time in SF has come to a close and we have just loved this city. Vibrant, colourful, eclectic, relaxed and über cool!! Maybe stu could get a transfer here!!

Had a wonderful day yesterday biking, walking, busing, traming and cable car riding! You should have seen the Mann Clan on its Sulkie.. Check our previous post and you can!

Tour guides on the buses were great, former activists, financiers, odd bods all of them. Seems the Financial crisis sent a lot of them into the number 1 economy earner, tourism! 

The history of SF from origins of a state of Mexico to the giant earthquakes of 1906 and 1989 was incredible. The incredible architecture, painted ladies and tiled murals, just amazing. 

Fishermans Wharf is so much fun and loved all the action. Clam chowder is yum as is everything 'food wise'..  Only seen one sea lion so far, hoping next stop Monteray will see more. 

Oh and the RV is great!! Just like being back on a boat. Very roomy and love having a toilet and shower!!

 

San Francisco Continued...photos

Breakfast art

Art work on the table at the Handley Union Square, Dad had the waffles.

San Francisco- Photos