Reset search
West CoastWest Coast
SatelliteEdit route

West Coast

April 2019
We are off on a cross country journey to California, Nevada and Arizona. The last three driving states in our 50. We will finish with Hawaii and Alaska. Read more
  • 43footprints
  • 1countries
  • 16days
  • 256photos
  • 0videos
  • 7.7kkilometers
  • 3.7kkilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • TravelerWest Coast
    Day 9

    Fremont Street

    April 20, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    After breakfast, we took the kids to “seedy” Fremont Street. I think they were hoping this wasn’t the “real Vegas” after seeing two 90 year old men wearing nothing but a fig leaf. Eww. A sight to never unsee. Oh and a 250 pound, leg less “retired stripper down on her luck” (that’s what her sign said) wearing a full mask and pasties. Hmmm. Sight to never unsee. Why do these people humiliate themselves? It gets worse at night so we will be avoiding later today. It really is pretty tame in the AM. Family friendly? We were in and out like the burger joint.

    We dropped Stone off at home because he has a dog, Jack, now that needs attention and Stone hurt his ankle a week ago and can’t walk as far as we can. We are going to tackle the strip. We stayed at a Fairfield Inn just off the strip because it was three times as much money and not enough room for all of us to stay on the strip. We are only here for one full day and two nights and it didn’t make sense with the way we are traveling. We are planning to be out of the room most of the time anyway. We have a suite and a shuttle to the strip so it works great. We also have a place to park our van which tends to be a problem at bigger hotels.    Read more

  • TravelerWest Coast
    Day 9

    Mandalay Bay

    April 20, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    We hopped the shuttle to Mandalay Bay. We took the kids to see the shark encounter which they enjoyed. We worked our way from one casino to the next. The kids liked it here better. Much cleaner and more kid friendly. We had lunch in Excalibur which we expected to be a greaseball lunch but it ended up being really good. The hardest thing about these trips, and I say it every time, is the food and eating out. We start to feel unhealthy even though we try to eat at decent restaurants.Read more

  • TravelerWest Coast
    Day 9

    Las Vegas Strip

    April 20, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    After lunch, we went to New York New York so Paul and Ben could ride the rollercoaster. Paul said it took some time off his life. It was a little rough and jerky. But fun. We worked our way through Park MGM to Aria to catch a shuttle back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner.Read more

  • TravelerWest Coast
    Day 9

    Venetian Hotel

    April 20, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    We shuttled back to Aria and Ubered to the other end of the strip to the Venetian to meet Stone for dinner. I love the Venetian. Why? Because I love Italy. My homeland. Not really but I pretend. I love the Piazza in the middle with shops and restaurants and a sky that looks like you are outside.. We had dinner there at Mercato Della Pescheria. We had a delicious meal. We filled the table, again, with crispy calamari in Calabrian chili aioli, sautéed mussels in white wine pomodoro sauce, Italian meatballs, Tuscany board of meats and cheeses, Fettuccine Bolonese, a Mediterranean Seabass and a Mediterranean Seafood Risotto. We all shared everything. I also got my favorite, an Aeperol Spritz. Delicious meal, great ambiance and family time. Great to spend time with Uncle Stone, too. Stone had to get back to his dog and rest his foot.Read more

  • TravelerWest Coast
    Day 9

    Vegas strip

    April 20, 2019 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    We set off to explore some more places. The kids liked the Bellagio Fountains. Everyone was exhausted and had enough of the late night crowds. Now we are all in bed. Easter mass in the AM. This will be the second Easter mass Paul and I have done here in Vegas. The first one was terrible. It was the dullest priest. We are going to a different church, I think. Then we are having brunch with Stone again at one of his recommended restaurants. Such a great day.

    goodnight.    Read more

  • TravelerWest Coast
    Day 10

    Roman Catholic shrine of the most holy

    April 21, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Weather: sunny and 80s and gorgeous (Vegas), 60s and beautiful (Williams)

    States: Nevada and Arizona

    Cities: Las Vegas and Williams

    Miles: 230

    Hours: 3 hrs 15 min

    Sites: Hoover Dam

    Restaurant: at Excalibur,

    Hotel/Home: Lovely Little Log Cabin in Williams VRBO #1083110

    Movies:

    Audible: Resisting Happiness (get you thinking book- has a religious base- it is good)

    Easter Sunday was perfect. We Packed up our room, grabbed a bite for breakfast and headed to mass on the Strip or behind the Strip, Roman Catholic Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer. That is a mouthful. We arrived early obviously because it is Easter and we are in tourist land and in Vegas. Three bad combinations for arriving to church late. Those who only go on holy days, those who go on vacation and those in Vegas who danced with the devil the night before and are trying to Holy Redeem themselves. Those were the ones sleeping off a hangover in the back. It was a large church. It filled up. It was an ok mass. Nothing special.    Read more

  • TravelerWest Coast
    Day 10

    Esthers restaurant Las Vegas

    April 21, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    After mass, we headed to pick up Stone for brunch at another breakfast restaurant he likes in the Art district called Esther’s.

    Again, it was a trendy cute local restaurant with delicious food. All homemade bread, egg dishes, these to-die-for baked and fried red skin potatoes, pancakes, french toast and the likes.. We ate well in Vegas considering we thought that would be the worst city for food of them all. We said our goodbyes to Stone and headed toward Williams, Arizona via the Hoover Dam.Read more

  • TravelerWest Coast
    Day 10

    Hoover Dam

    April 21, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    We said our goodbyes to Stone and headed toward Williams, Arizona via the Hoover Dam.

    I think the Hoover dam is cool. I am not one who needs the full internal tour dissecting the inner working of this monumental site but I do like seeing it. We got pulled over at the security check point to have our van opened up for inspection. Underwear falling out, smells wafting out and wrappers swirling out as the side doors open. I think they just wanted to see what the van looked like inside. If he had any intention of inspecting the car, it was a fleeting one after he looked inside. That would have been an all day job.

    We drove across the dam to a lot on the far side so we could walk on to the dam. The kids were not fully embracing this field trip nonetheless, I think they enjoyed seeing it. We got our “I’m in Nevada.” “I’m in Arizona.’ pictures. The two clocks on the dam were pointless to show a time zone difference because Arizona doesn’t participate in the clock change. Party poopers.    Read more

  • TravelerWest Coast
    Day 10

    Williams AZ

    April 21, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    We didn’t spend much time at Hoover Dam before moving on to Williams where we rented a house/cabin for a few days. We plan to see the Grand Canyon and go to Sedona on another day.

    We drove through Willams, a little town founded in 1881. You can see the history in between the Safeway and the chain hotels though it is well preserved and looks like a little old town. The Safeway had everything you need. We loaded up on groceries and headed for the house outside of town. It is fairly secluded with a few homes dotted in the trees. We opened a large green cattle gate and drove up a long road driveway into the trees and found a cute little modern log cabin that looked just like the pictures. The inside is just as cute. We got unloaded before dark and started a chicken kabob dinner. Ahhh. Time to relax. Sort of. Oh yeah, since they were little, we have always hid jellybeans around the house. We didn’t do it at the hotel but i did it when we got back to the house. The kids still ask for them. So I obliged and hid them in the loft. It is still a mad scramble but now they tackle each other. They have fun.

    What a great trip we are having.    Read more

  • TravelerWest Coast
    Day 11

    Williams AZ

    April 22, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Weather: 60s and beautiful

    States: Arizona

    Cities: Williams, Flagstaff

    Miles: 220

    Hours: 3 hrs 30 min (driving there, through, and back)

    Sites: Grand Canyon

    Restaurant:

    Hotel/Home: Lovely Little Log Cabin in Williams VRBO #1083110

    Movies:

    Audible: Resisting Happiness (get you thinking book- has a religious base- it is good)

    I am writing a day behind if you have not already figured that out. Once our days get busy and we aren’t driving, I lose writing time. Yesterday was our first full day in Williams at our cabin. It is really a lovely cabin. It has everything thing we need. I woke up before everyone, made my coffee and toast and sat out on the deck in the sun to write, have my coffee and enjoy the warm sun. Matthew is always my early riser so he came out with hot chocolate and sat with me. Eventually, everyone woke up. Paul made blueberry pancakes and bacon and everyone ate outside.

    I will say that these trips are not always perfect or don’t always go as planned (but most of the time they do, strangely). We were having some communication issues between us causing some friction. Teen angst. Parental ‘nagging”. Misunderstandings. So, last night before bed we ended up in a pow-wow to air our issues. We passed the peace pipe. Tears were shed. Somehow, Paul got his mail order Phd in psychology and was able to mediate the whole discussion. It needed to happen. That is what these trips are great for. Being in close quarters is a recipe for some aggravations but it gives us the opportunity to work them out and realize nobody has bad intentions. We are trying to teach them how to be good adults and they are trying to become those adults on their own. They have to fly and we have to let them. It ended well. Funny that a lot of it revolved around Elizabeth and I but we are never closer than on these trips. I always say that I love these trips because she hangs with me the whole time and holds my arm or hand everywhere we go. I love that. I am so proud of who these kids are becoming.    Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English