Finally

we get a decent day - yay maybe summer is finally on the way. I was reading Ruth's blog earlier and saw she was going for a walk tonight. Aha I thought as I got ready to drop Ali off at his hockey game, so texted to see if she was still going. Bummer she was already home and settled in to watch Coronation Street - thanks for the updates Ruth, I am sure my walk wouldn't have been anywhere near as enlightening if it wasn't for them :-) Apparently some dude died - very interesting.

I managed to persuade Andy to go the doctor yesterday and get his arm x-rayed - this is the same one he has been walking round with in a brace for 3weeks now. Yep, it was broken and he is now in a temporary cast until they put on a waterproof one. He reckons the arm didn't hurt until he found out it was broken - huh, he can't have been listening to me telling him that for the past 3weeks!!

Where has this week gone?

We arrived back in the country last Sunday morning and I can't believe that a whole week has gone by already. The boys were so pleased to see us and us them too. Lots of cuddles and hugs and then onto the important stuff of ripping open the pressies. Tommy just loves his new light sabre - it lights up and makes noises whenever it is moved - very cool, and very noisy (silly parents!)
Nick's new jump helmet was just perfect and a real hit with him too. I think he wore it most of the day, and I am pretty sure he slept with it that night.

Ali getting stuck into ripping off the packaging on the jump skis.
He was wrapped with his loot and really looks the part now with the jumpsuit, sling and helmet as well.

Monday to Wednesday

We have slowed down a lot now as things catch up with us and we hear tales of things from home that don't make us particularly happy. Hey boys, you really do need to pull your weight for Nana and help her out with some decent behaviour. Keep things happy and you will be rewarded when we get home.

Monday we really just cruised and sorted out a few things that need to be done before we can export the truck. Tuesday we headed back to Palm Springs with a stop at Cabazon a huge outlet store shopping area. Lots of fun checking out and hunting for bargains. I managed to score myself a pair of True Religion jeans which are the funkiest things I have ever seen!
 Palm Springs is hugely windy and they have a heap of windmills to help generate electricity. Not that you can tell from this pic but as we drove in they were working overtime with lots of sand blowing everywhere.
 The view this morning from our hotel room - palm trees whereever you look. A very cool or warm day as we took a walk among the shops and then back to the hotel to relax by the pool.
 Andy took a drive to the local museum and I took the opportunity to have my nails done.
 A perfect day! Tomorrow we head back to Kathryn and Mike and start the packing up process. Really looking forward to coming home and seeing everyone again.

Hollywood Sign.

 After dinner Gary drives us all up to the top of Mulholland Drive from where there is a short walk to the Hollywood sign. Unfortunately the fog had descended on LA tonight and even though we standing a mere 50feet from the sign we couldn't see a thing or any of the lights from the city.
 We did get lots of pics though prove that we were there
 And that you aren't allowed to walk to the sign. An awesome night and so cool to put more faces to the names that we hear Kathryn talk about.

Dinner in Hollywood

Tonight we meet up with more friends of Kathryn and Mike and they take us all into Hollywood to go to Saddle Ranch on Sunset Boulevard which is where all the stars go to eat and play. An amazing restaurant where the staff obviously love going to work and do a fantastic job at keeping everyone happy - apart from Kathryn, who was mortified when the mariarchis serenaded her! Sooooo pleased it wasn't me!
 Check out this dessert - so much candy floss - or cotton candy as it is called here. I didn't see anyone I could accurately recognise although I am told that some dude from Lost was there. I could have sworn that Bill Gates sat at the table next to us and I am sure I saw K-Fed as we were driving out. All unconfirmed though and no-one else agreed with me so they must have been look alikes!
 Oh man, how sad is this, I definitely do not have the Hollywood smile! Kathryn and Karen have it perfected - keep your mouth shut Lynda!!!

Hoover Dam to Indio

 Leaving the dam we stopped for gas at Boulder City - Andy's newest favourite place. He ended up talking to everyone, including the dude who owned this rig and the normal 5 minute fill took 20minutes! I have a feeling we will return here.
 This road went straight for 17 miles with not one bend in it - a million ups and downs and bumps every time I tried to take a pic, but no corners.
 Finally after a 5hour drive at an average speed of 80miles an hour we arrived in Indio, just out of Palm Springs and met up with Gina and Phil, very good friends of Kathrn and Mike.
 We had an awesome night with these guys and shared lots of laughs and a whole heap of hospitality. I recall feeling distinctly tired the following day!

Hoover Dam

 Andy has been hanging out for seeing this place ever since seeing a programme about it on the Discovery channel. They are in the midst of building a new freeway to bypass the dam - man is that a feat of engineering in itself let alone the dam!
 We did an ever so sneaky stop and change of driver here so that Andy could take the pics and we could avoid the parking charges as we didn't really want to stop and do the tours.
 Looking down the dam and you still can't even see the bottom!
 Over the other side into Lake Mead and you can see how much the water level has dropped over the summer.

Vegas here we come!

 Hey Nick, this jacked up Hummer pic is just for you! We had decided to stay in Pahrump for the night because we liked the name and it made us laugh. Lots of other people thought that too because they were booked out.
 Bummer, we better drive that extra 60miles onto Vegas! Got the pic of the sign this time.
 The most comfortable beds ever in our room at the MGM Grand! Now were they really comfortable or were we just not disturbed in the night because we took one each!
 The MGM lion, just in case there is a bit much reflection and you can't work out what the pic is :-)

Death Vally to Nevada

 Check out the red rectangle up above the truck in this pic, that sign says 'Sea Level' - crazy huh?
 The obligatory tourist pic that needs a lot of work with photoshop which isn't on this computer!
 This little pond is all saltwater and tasted very salty, yeah I couldn't help it. Hence the reason for calling this area Badwater Basin.
 And finally we leave one desert for another one - Hello Nevada!

Death Valley

 Well this is the lowest point that this truck and these people are ever going to get too!
 The ruins of an old Borax mine we decided the weather was quite pleasant and a short "hike" was in order. By the time we finished we were rethinking the pleasant weather bit - yup it was hot!
 An empty carpark and a lonely black truck looked rather picturesque!
 Desert as far as the eye can see and probably even further!

Alabama Hills to Death Valley

 A dried up lake bed in the middle of nowhere on our way to Death Valley - I couldn't resist a bit of graffiti.
 Man check the size of these freakin birds - I think they are crows but I sure wasn't getting any closer to find out!
 Sea level - and normally we would be paddling right about - not a drop of water to be seen anywhere though - apart from my water bottle.
 This one is for the boys reminiscing about all the RV parks that we stayed at with very little facilities. Don't think any were as sparse as this one!

Alabama Hills

 This is the scene of many cowboy movies. We were talking to a guy at breakfast who had hiked to the top of Mt Whitney they day before - 14000 feet! - and he mentioned the glorious rock formations only 5miles away.
  We were hugely impressed spent quite a bit of time walking round exploring.
 Just loved this rock and it's strategically placed bush.
We were waiting for the cowboys or the indians to appear from behind a rock somewhere here, but it never happened.