Day 27 - Yosemite National Park

We set-off around 6 am from our hotel on a bus tour to Yosemite.  After picking everyone up from their respective hotels, we went to the Gray Line office and checked in.  The trip to Yosemite started around 7:30.

Again, it was a magnificent day.  We certainly can't complain about the weather.  The trip took around 5 hours after a short break at a roadside family orchid (it was nice to see some fresh food).  

I think we underestimated today and the sheer enormity of the National park.  It would probably have been more enjoyable had we booked to stay overnight, but we didn't really realise that at the time.  It's a long way to go to only get 3 hours in the park. 

Once we got to the park we had a quick lunch and then caught a shuttle to the first attraction, El Capitan.  We spent about 20 minutes there and then got on the next shuttle where we (unfortunately) got stuck in a traffic jam in the park so we didn't really have anymore time to visit other attractions.  Luckily we did see some of the sights on our way into the park.  

We had to meet back at the bus at 3:45 so we did make it back with maybe 15 minutes to spare.

Next time, we will definitely look into staying overnight there.  There is so much to see and 3 hours doesn't really do it justice.  I have to admit though, we did decide to give some of the waterfalls a miss because after seeing Niagara Falls, we decided we'd only be disappointed.

It was another 5 hrs back to our hotel, luckily we were the first drop-off so we were both pretty pleased with that.  We did stop-off at Treasure Island on the way back to view San Francisco by night which was stunning, but unfortunately my camera let me down and the photos are awful.  Oh well, it's in my mind!

Day 26 - San Francisco

Today started with a fairly mediocre breakfast and the cranky waiter (or server as they like to call them) got $0 tip from us!

We went to DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse) that is 3 floors of shoes (probably 3 1/2 floors of ladies shoes).  Crazy, but the only shoes that I found that I wanted to buy were a size too small!  Anyway, Ian got a great pair for himself so that was good.

Day 25 - Las Vegas to San Francisco

San Francisco, the final stop on our 2016 tour of the USA and Canada.

Again, no major problems or delays and we arrived in San Francisco at around lunchtime.  It was a little cooler than Las Vegas but that was a nice relief really.

We did our last bathroom sink wash of some of our smalls and T-Shirts.  It was far too difficult to worry about washing jeans/shorts or anything larger.

We spent the afternoon wandering the shops with Macy's being high on our list.  Macy's offer a minimum of 10% discount if you don't live in the USA which is supposed to offset the tax, so that was reason enough for me.

Day 24 - Las Vegas

Last day in Las Vegas!  Although it's been great staying at a resort, if we were to come back again, we would stay well away from the big resorts and casinos.  You wouldn't believe the volume of people coming and going at all hours of the day.

The Bellagio is magnificent but it is expensive and you pay for every last thing.  We found out today that a $40 (+ tax) charge on our account was because Ian had pulled out a bottle of Congac from the fridge the first day we arrived.  We didn't drink it and he put it straight back but the whole minibar works on a sensor!  Nice one.  Anyway - they did reverse the charge but I do wonder how many people do the same and don't even notice.

We really just did a walk around today and picked-up any last minute things.  We had lunch at the Venetian in their mock-up of St Marks Square in Venice.

We got tickets to another Cirque show called O which is a water show done by the Cirque du Soleil.  It was fantastic and it was in the Bellagio so we didn't need to venture too far.

Off to San Francisco tomorrow for our final 4 nights.  We are both looking forward to our home comforts now.

Day 23 - Las Vegas

Oh to have a cuppa when I wake ... It that too hard to ask.  Apparently yes, in most US states.  Anyway, enough about my troubles.

Love last night was just as good as the last time but it has changed a little for the 10 year anniversary. I talked Ian into getting the remastered vynal of the soundrack, and then we had to work out how we'd get it home.  Mission accomplished today thankfully:)

Ian and I, after 26 days of living out of a suitcase have let all standards go.  We wear clothes multiple times and sometimes even sox.  Although we have done the occasional bathroom sink wash, we're now getting to the end of our trip so are throwing caution to the wind and it seems to work:)

Today was a walk around the south side of the strip and we also headed out to one of the shopping outlets, but I think I'm almost all shopped out (although you never know what San Francisco has in store).  Ian got some nice things though.

We did a bit of a tour of the Bellagio when we got back and there are sooooo many restaurants, cafes etc that we couldn't possibly visit all if we stayed here for a week.  We did however find a nice coffee and a cake and sat overlooking the pool.  There is really not much here that isn't impressive, other than having a drink or dinner overlooking the poker machines!!!

The Bellagio has impressive fountains that have various songs that they play to.  Last night we had dinner on a balcony overlooking the fountains.  The first song was Bruno Marc's (Ashy's favorite) and the second was Frank Sinatra's Fly me to the Moon.  Fantastic!!!  It is extremely impressive and not something you see that often, but we have seen it quite a few times now and feel happy to leave Las Vegas on Thursday.

Tomorrow, I'm looking for some kind of spa I think to finish off our time here in Vegas.

Day 22 - Las Vegas

Las Vegas - well, what can you say ... There are no rules here.  It's one of the only places I know of where drinking in public places is encouraged rather that frowned upon.  It's nothing to see people drinking or gambling (or both) at 8:30 in the morning.  Crazy place!

Had a lovely night with Graham and his mate last night and got back to our room around 10 (which really seemed like 1 AM to us).  Had a good sleep and we were ready for the day.

Mostly today we have spent walking through the many casino shopping centres and watching live shows that just seem to pop-up wherever you go.  We came across another scam here today whereby they offer $20 tickets to see Human Nature (an Australian Motown group).  We thought we'd like to see them here so went back to get more information about the tickets.  The catch was, to get the $20 tickets, you had to go out to one of their Time Share resorts, just outside of Las Vegas.  We've decided to see if we can find tickets of our own without having to be taken around to look at a property we will never invest in.

Heading out for an early dinner soon before we go and see Love again tonight. Really looking forward to that.

Day 21 - Toronto to Las Vegas

Our day today started early as our flight to Las Vegas was at 9:30 from Toronto so we got a taxi around 7 to the airport.  Thankfully we did because neither of us have been through so many checks, screens, queue's before in our life.  By the time we got through Security we had about $15 Canadian $  left and 40 mins to boarding.

So, we used our $15 wisely and got a coffee each and a muffin to share.  Of course, then they don't actually serve food so we had to pay for that on the flight also.   What we didn't realise was that you basically left Canada and went through Customs for the US before boarding the plane, which meant that we didn't have to do the Customs thing here (one small mercy).  By the time we got here (around 4.5 hr flight) we were done.  Then we got to the Bellagio and waited in a queue for 1/2 hr to check in.

This is no ordinary hotel.  It is pretty up-market and it seems everyone stays here, or maybe we just arrived with other flights.  Seemed pretty busy for a Sunday afternoon.  Anyway, thankfully our room was ready so we came straight up, freshened up a little and went out to find some lunch because we were pretty hungry!

We overlook the multiple pools that his hotel has (at least 7 or 8) and you almost need a packed lunch to get to our room.  Anyway, looking forward to just relaxing for a few days.

Graham and one of his friends are here for a couple of days so we're going to catch-up with them in another hr or so for a drink and some dinner I think.  

Ian and I have both agreed that the next week is a rest week, where we don't have to be anywhere, or feel like we have to do anything.  Looking forward to that:). I've only been here a few hours and I've already bought 2 pair of shoes:). So that's a good start I think