Where are Daddy and Papa now?

Thursday, 25 October 2012

Prickly plants

Daddy gets to grips with some plantlife...

Wednesday, 24 October 2012

We got up very early, packed the tent away and went for a long walk into the Grand Canyon.

The Colorado River is at the bottom of the canyon. The canyon is so big that it takes a full day to walk down to the river, and then another whole day to walk up again. So we went on a path which only goes halfway down into the canyon...

We did a bit of climbing...

And we saw the amazing views...

We got red dust all over our shoes and legs...

Then we got back on the road...

We left Arizona and entered Utah, which has lots of stripy cliffs shaped like old buildings...

Location:Grand Canyon, Arizona

Travelling through Arizona

This is a huge man made lake which collects water from the Colorado River and which eventually is used by people in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and parts of Mexico...

And this is the huge dam which stops all the water draining away.

The white rim around the edge is a layer of calcium (just like in the kettle!) which shows how high the water level can get.

Location:The Hoover Dam

Tuesday, 23 October 2012

Walkabout in Vegas

After going up the tall tower, we went for a walk along the main street in Las Vegas where there are some absolutely enormous hotels, and some of them have special things in them...

This one is pretending to be Venice in Italy, with a canal flowing through the middle of the hotel and people going for a ride on special boats called gondolas, which are pushed along by drivers with big sticks and stripey jumpers.

It was night time and totally dark outside, but the ceilings have been painted to make it look like a lovely sunny day...

Then we saw another hotel that had flamingos in the garden...

And another that was pretending to be Paris in France, with a large model of the Eiffel Tower..

Then we walked down a street where they had built a roof over the road that was like an enormous television and played fun music...

On our way back to the hotel we walked past lots of wedding chapels. In Nevada, some people just turn up and get married whenever they like.

This one is a drive-through wedding chapel - you don't even need to get out of your car!

Location:Las Vegas Blvd S,Las Vegas,United States

Monday, 22 October 2012

Las Vegas

Before breakfast we saw some Kenyan acrobats performing in the Circus...

Here's Daddy's breakfast...

And here are some sage words of advice about what NOT to order for breakfast in America...

There are lots and lots of fancy games machines in Las Vegas, but we didn't have a go on any of them.

We're not sure what was inside this lorry.

This is a special restaurant which only serves high-fat food.

This is a very high tower in Las Vegas...

And this is the view from the top of it!

Cheers!

Location:Las Vegas, Nevada

Walking in the desert

Our campsite was in an area called "Hole in the Wall"

We went on a clamber through some of the holes in the wall. Some were so steep that the Park Rangers had drilled some metal rings into the sides to help people climb around!

The holes in the rocks were made when a volcano exploded and the ash landed here, and melted together with small air bubbles in, which then grew bigger as rain and rivers wore them away.

It was another hot day in the desert... No clouds and lots of bright sunshine. No chance of a suntan though, we were both wearing hats, shirts and lots of suncream so that we wouldn't get sunburnt here. We are high up here (5,000 feet) and the air is very thin and dry, which made us very thirsty, so we had to drink lots of water...

After our hike around Barber's Peak, we jumped back in the car and then stopped by some funny looking rocks.

These rocks are called a "tor" and have been left behind in the desert as all the other rocks around them have been worn away by the wind and rain over millions of years.