Category: North America

What a wonderful (White) Christmas break in Texas

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After a bit of a rocky start (Nan diagnosed with shingles not long after arriving) we have had a very restful and relaxing almost 3 weeks in Abilene Texas. Just as well as 13 days after arriving home we fly to South America as part of the MacWool

Wool growers tour to Chile and Argentina.  No time for jet lag as there are a couple trips in the car to far west in those 13 short days.

Back to the holiday, after things settle down with Nan, Mum Ian and Ian set of for a day in Fort Worth at the historic stockyard. Fort Worth is about 3 hours driving from Abilene so it was a pretty full day but we enjoy the history of this place.  Even the drive was good just to be on the road to somewhere.

Another highlight was a visit to Frontier Texas in Abilene, this was a very informative place and filled with loads of Texas history. Hard to believe that so many bison could be in one place and that man could almost wipe them out in such a short time. Although if the bison were still roaming in such numbers there would have been no grazing for cattle, can’t have everything

The weather in Texas had been so unseasonably warm for December we thought there was no hope of any of the white stuff, we were wrong.

Although not falling on Christmas Day it did snow a couple of days afterwards which was fun.  Two out our Three Christmas trips to Abilene there has been snow which is amazing as it doesn’t happen that often.

A little bit of the Marra in Texas

Christmas day was spent with family and the turkey was fantastic (Scott and Ian were in charge of the bird) while everyone else contributed to the rest of the great food we all got to share for Christmas dinner.

During our stay got to eat lots of BBQ (Sharon’s brisket is one of my favs) mexican this along with a fair few visits to Cracker Barrell we had our fill of delicious food. A highlight was BBQ at Hard 8 on our way to to the airport to fly home on New Years day.

A favourite of mine

With Leonie having a significant birthday between Christmas and New Year this was a perfect opportunity to have lunch as one of the best steakhouses in all of Texas (well my opinion anyway) – Perini Ranch (Grandma even got to meet founder Tom Perini whilst she was wandering the grounds)

It was wonderful that Leonie, Ian and their mum could be all in the same place for such celebration and given Nan is 88 now, not going to be too many more opportunities to have everyone at a significant family celebrations.

It was a great stay with family and worth it to see the snow and all

the effort that people go to to light up their homes, something is sometimes missing here.

The flight home was uneventful and a first for us we flew out of Dallas Love Field airport. This is a great little airport and we surprised as how good the facilities and service was, recommended.

Short post but as I mentioned the aim of the game was to catch up with family, rest and eat and we did all three very well.

Watch this space for the next installment – Chile here we come…

Christmas is Texas

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Itchy feet again…

On this day 6 years ago we were in San Diego heading off for a day at Sea World, today we board QF7 to fly to Dallas before a couple hours in the car to Abilene for Christmas.  Ian’s sister Leonie has lived in USA for many years with her husband Scott. This is one last opportunity for Ian Leonie and their mother(88 years and vows this is the last trip ) to spend Christmas day together. 

Love there is a direct Qantas flight to Dallas, anyone flying to the states should consider Dallas as their entry point, much nicer than LA and a good hub for onward flights.

A little about Abilene ~ thanks to wikipedia

Abilene is a city in Taylor and Jones counties in west central Texas. The population was 117,063 according to the 2010 census making it the twenty-seventh most populous city in the state of Texas. It is the principal city of the Abilene Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2011 estimated population of 166,416.[5] It is the county seat of Taylor County.[6]Dyess Air Force Base is located on the west side of the city.
Abilene is located off Interstate 20, between exits 279 on its western edge and 292 on the east. Abilene is 150 miles (240 km) west of Fort Worth, Texas. The city is looped by I-20 to the north, US 83/84 on the west, and Loop 322 to the east. A railroad divides the city down the center into north and south. The historic downtown area is on the north side of the railroad.
Established by cattlemen as a stock shipping point on the Texas and Pacific Railway in 1881, the city was named after Abilene, Kansas,[1][7] the original endpoint for the Chisholm Trail. 

A White Christmas

Although unlikely it does gets very cold and it is possible, what are the chances of striking it twice, the last Christmas we spent in Abilene was just that white. Fingers crossed!!!

We a planning a quiet break and staying close to home base most of the time so won’t be so many posts this trip, I will make up for that in late January when we head to South America, with a group woolgrowers and the MacWool team.




Let the magic begin…..

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After three flights, 28 hours travelling we collected the hire car and after a short drive we arrived at our hotel at 2am (Florida time) on Friday 3rd May.
 The boys were fantastic and didn’t complain once about all the travel, given they have never travelled more than a 3 or 4 hour stretch at any one time this was a real accomplishment. Most adults I know would struggle with this trip. Our hotel, the La Quinta Orlando near convention centre. This hotel has proved to be excellent located halfway between the airport and Disney World.

After sleeping in until about noon it was off to Cracker Barrel for a very late breakfast. Everyone agreed that Cracker Barrel was a good place to eat and everyone enjoyed their food. After breakfast it was off to DownTown Disney to get this disney adventure underway. We wandered around and checked out all the store, boys were fascinated with the Lego sculptures. It amazes me that this is my third trip here and still I find new stuff to do and see. We found a BBQ place nearby for dinner, it was okay but there are plenty of better places in States for BBQ but it did its job and filled a hole.

Magic Kingdom was our first park and this proved to be a ver long day as we stayed until the last parade and fireworks (watched these from the car-park, everyone exhausted) The bigger boys rode thunder mountain no less than fout times and said it got better each time, Jai went on a few smaller rides.

We had prime position for the afternoon parade and this up to its usual great standard. I found a table to watch the evening events and Jai sleep for a couple of hours while the boys go around the other rides and shared a cookies and cream ice-cream with Pop. I enjoyed the rest myself as we had walked miles around the park.  Hotdogs all round for dinner except for me I went with the mini corn dogs (Like mini dagwood dog without stick)

Another quieter day with lazy bekkie at Cracker Barrel before retuning to hotel for an afternoon around the pool. We decided on mini golf to finish off the day, fortunately there is a great course right behind the hotel. Pirate Cove proved to be a testing course with a lots of interesting pirate facts at each hole. A few hours fun had putting and laughing before a very good dinner at Tony Roma’s also located within walking distance from the hotel.

My favourite disney park was the next destination. We started our Animal Kingdom adventure with the Safari through the animal reserve, they boys loved this and the animals were all out and about as it was cooler and early in the morning. 

Jai was fascinated with the nile crocodiles and liked the elephants and giraffe’s who came right up to the jeep. After the safari concluded they boys set off to conquer everest for the first of five times while Jai Pop and I headed to the snakes and spiders area, Jai loves all these creepy crawlies. He picked out a safari suit to bring home to wear when he catches lizards at home, he had the shirt on most of the day. We met up again for the ‘It’s Tough to be a Bug’ 4D show, it was great as usual, they boys loved it especially when bugs all left the building… Jai finally plucked up his courage and did the dinosaur ride with the boys, it was a bit scary but he loved it.

  

As one day blurs with another today we went to Disney’s Blizzard Beach where there was lots of fun in the sun while the oldies rested up in the shade. After a minor dispute with Jai over wearing the life jacket. I won that round in record time and he was in the water having a ball within five minutes…and was overheard asking Pop if he could get a life jacket to take home as we were leaving the park. We decided to rough it for dinner on the way home so headed to the biggest and most unique Macdonald’s in the world (the sign said so). Burgers for everyone a few pics of a squirrel getting drive through (eating a chip in the car-park) and it was home to bed….phew. Surprisingly everyone is holding up well and the pace hasn’t slackened yet. Boys just had a Skype session with Sarah re-living and comparing their disney experiences  After getting a few tips from Sarah on the ‘must do’s’ for tomorrow’s park we signed of and they headed to bed. Jai has booked in a Skype session with Charlie tomorrow so he can tell him what rides he went on.

Off we go again…

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On Thursday 2 May we are heading off on another adventure. The purpose of this trip is to take Ian’s three grandsons to DisneyWorld in Florida. Kayden is 13, Blake 11 and Jai is 7 perfect ages for such an adventure. During the two 18 day trip we will visit the big apple, NYC and Las Vegas.

Trip Info so far:
18 days travel
Flying United Airlines all legs of trips (Avg ticket $1500) Booked through expedia.com.au
Staying LaQuinta Inn Florida ($60 per night) and New York ($130) Booked directly on LQ site

 

Niagara Falls and beyond

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Niagara Falls

On Saturday 18th August we set off to collect our second car from W34 St(near Penn Station) and drive to Buffalo NY.  Apart from needing to take a larger car (Kia Sorrento) due to no smaller cars being available getting out of Manhattan was relatively easy.

Within an hour the madness of NYC was well behind us and we were headed upstate New York. Sarah and Dan were spending their last few hours in NYC visiting ground zero before flying home. Charlie and Megs also left today for San Francisco before heading down to LA for their last week.

The day driving was pleasant it was nice to be out on the road again, we found a hotel in Rochester which would allow us to visit Niagara for the day and head towards Vermont. Hotels in the Niagara/Buffalo area are very expensive in the summer so we headed to Watertown for our next night.

Maple at Sugar Bush Farm

Niagara was just as beautiful and amazing as the last time I visited. Mum really enjoyed our day there with the Maid on the Mist ride under the falls being a highlight. After walking around the parklands and viewing both the American and the Horseshoe Falls we hit the road again. The weather was perfect for the visit not too hot and walking around the parks was pleasant.

Ben and Jerry’s  Ice-cream

After Watertown we headed further north to Plattsburgh NY were we overnighted before taking the ferry across to Burlington Vermont (VT) unfortunately we were too early for the fall colour but it was still very pretty and one can only imagine what the fall season would be like. After wandering around Burlington for a few hours we headed to Watertown to take the Ben and Jerry’s (Ice-cream Factory) tour which was okay and a good story. After the tour we checked in to our White River Junction hotel which near Sugar Bush Maple and Cheese Farm, we tried many cheeses and made purchases to bring home.

 It was a very pretty area and the farm was very authentic, and did not have the usual touristy shine to it. The drive is was worth the time in itself. One could imagine this place in winter with snow everywhere and the horses pulling the slay from tree to tree to collect the maple syrup.

After our tour we were Maine bound to experience all it had to offer. We drove up to Berlin Maine (ME) which is about 2 hours above Portland ME. After checking in we drove around to Penobscot Bay and took in the sights, dinner was at the best lobster place ever.

$17 for a great lobster dinner

We both had a whole lobster which set us back a whopping $17 each. Although probably not as good as our lobsters they were pretty close and the price is definitely right. After a restful night in our hotel overlooking the harbour we set off for Portland via the prettiest place in Maine, Camden. We booked a harbour tour of the Porland light Houses and a trolly tour of the district which included a visit to one the oldest still functioning light house. After yet another full lobster for dinner ($14 each this time) at XXXX we then set of in the evening for our hotel near the Kittery Outlet Mall where we planned to do our final shopping.

Camden Maine
Foggy Camden Maine

Our shopping done we headed to Boston where we planned to spend two days seeing the sights. We checked into the Bulfinch Hotel near TD Gardens in Boston. This was a great hotel and well within walking distance of everything that we needed including stop 4 of the ‘Old Town Trolley’ the hop on hop off tour which included a cruise around the Harbour.

We enjoyed both tours and got off at Stop 7 (near the Cheers Bar) and walked the freedom trail back to Quincy markets. Along the way we saw Mrs Mallard and her ducklings (the bronzes not the real ones), the swan boats and the frog pond (no frogs I am pleased to report).

The Floating Restaurent that saved
Portland Docks

The Boston common is a great place to spend time and there were many people spending time in the gardens playing sports, walking dogs and chasing children. All walked out we boarded our boat for a cruise around the harbour, this was made interesting by great guide who added good humour to his narration.

Oldest still operating Light House
Portland Maine

After the cruise it was time to head home neither of use were hungry so we picked up some bagels and coffee from Dunkin Donuts for a light dinner before turning exhausted from all the walking.

Bulfinch Hotel – Flatiron building
Our Hotel Boston

With only two nights before flying home and given that it was going to be a long flight(s) (including getting from NY to LA) then straight on (after 4 hour layover LA) to our long haul home we decided to spend the last two nights near JFK.

This gave me time to return the rental car and for us to reorganise all the bags to ensure they come in under the 23kg limit. This really turned out to be our only real rest day in the last month so it was certainly good to spend the day resting.

As I write this is our last night all the bags are packed and we are watch the hurricane (Isaac) in the Gulf on the weather channel. We will be in the clear by the time it sends heavy rain up the coast.

Tomorrow we wing our way home after a great trip that couldn’t have gone more smoothly for everyone. All other travellers are home and back at work and we look forward to joining them at home and catch our breath. This will be probably our last trip the USA for a while there is so much of the world left to see.

Mrs Mallard and her ducklings

Facts:
Car One Kia Forte 1280 Miles
Car Two Kia Sorrento 1800 miles
Fuel- Between 3.33g(South) to 4.09g(North)
Stayed in many hotels including La Quinta, Best Western, Comfort Inn and Holiday Inn Express – all less $100 per night booked on hotwire.com (most time great breakfast included)
No one in the United States drives at the speed limit

The are only 10 states left in the USA that I have not visited, they may have to wait awhile but I am determined to visit them in next few years.

Frog Pond Boston Common

Thanks for following our journey and all the positive feedback you have sent me.

Only frogs at the frog pond

Apologies for any grammatical and spelling errors. No time on the road to proof posts, I may go back one day and correct any errors.

A little further north and the Big Apple

Ange Bowman1 Comment
Sarah and my favourite
 Cracker Barrel breakfast

After the disney experience it was time for a whole new experience …driving. Obviously the 1000s of miles I have navigated while Ian has driven over here paid off. Driving on right felt as natural as driving at home it is funny how easily one can adapt when immersed in experiences. We set off from the Avis rental agency at the Hilton Hotel at downtown disney, all very smooth and within minutes we were on the interstate (I90) and headed north to Charleston South Carolina. We had a break at first Cracker Barrel we came across and my eggs in a basket were sensational and really hit the spot.

One of many stately homes Charelston

The drive was uneventful apart from driving through some of the heaviest rain I have ever seen when we were about 80 miles from Charleston, of course it was on the section of road that was two way traffic (used to that as that all we have at home) fortunately I was able stick to the tailgate of a semi ahead, if he made a mistake I was going to be making the same one as he was all I could see. Eventually the rain cleared and we found ourselves in Charleston at about 6pm just time to find a hotel and get some rest.

The following morning we headed into downtown to the Charleston City Markets to take a carriage ride around Charleston with Old South Carriage Tours. This was the best 90 minutes of the day we were able to hear about the history, the homes and Charleston in general. Charleston is a place certainly worthy of more time to explore, such a rich history but also a pretty place to visit.

After our tour and with more storms threatening we headed for our next over night stop at Dunn North Carolina, this was just a stopover so we didn’t explore further than to have dinner at the Brass Lantern Steak house this was good but as usual the serves are way too big, could have fed a family off my plate.

The next planned tour was the plantation of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Plantation near Charlotte North Carolina. This was an outstanding tour made even more special by our guide that took us through the house and provided us with so much information about this amazing man. This man was so forward thinking, an early adopter and in his words ‘a farmer’. He may have been;

  • Representative to House of Burgesses from Albemarle County – 1769-1776
  • Delegate to Continental Congress – 1775-1776 and 1783-1784
  • Appointed Minister to negotiate treaties with Barbary States and various European nations – 1784
  • Member of Virginia House of Delegates – 1776-1779
  • Governor of Virginia – 1779-1781
  • Minister Plenipotentiary to France – 1785-1789
  • US Secretary of State – September 26, 1789 – December 31, 1793
  • Vice President of the United States – March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801
  • President of the United States – March 4, 1801 – March 4, 1809

Not to mention writing Declaration of Independence but whenever asked for his occupation he always listed farmer.

We checked in to our hotel nearby with score of 2 for 2 on great tour to give us a snapshot of life in the south. 

Day four of our little road trip found us in the Amish district in Pennsylvania we took a little drive around the district, up and down the lanes and saw many of the Amish people going about their business. This is my third visit here and it gets prettier every time. We stayed in Lancaster and just a few yards down the road we booked for a tour of the farms, an Amish home and a couple of their Amish business run from farms.  The tour was very informative and provided a great insight to the lives of the Amish and how they assimilate with ‘the english’ the name Amish give to everyone that is not Amish. We made some purchases at the two businesses and really enjoyed the tour of the farm and the house, although seen one farm see them all. 

Now the last two hours of the drive into Newark to return the car, then catch train from Newark airport to Penn Station Manhattan.  The train ride was okay and Penn station is as always hot and crowed and confusing but never the less we found our way out grabbed a cab and were checked into the Chelsea Savoy on corner 23rd and 7th Ave by about 6pm. The kids had checked in earlier and had already been to Outback steak house (just up street) for lunch. We decided we too would go there for our dinner which was good. A good night sleep was in order. We made a leisurely start to the day headed to Macy’s just a few blocks away for a browse and then off to to pick up Hop on Hop off bus ticket, we decided to take the downtown loop for the rest of the day. This was okay although it kept raining on us and guide was less than informative. 

Day two we had tickets to a Yankees versus Texas Rangers baseball game at Yankee stadium. We were meeting up with others at the game. Before we headed to the game we spent the morning in Macy’s and generally wandering around.

At midday it was time to get the subway system worked out and get to the game. After one false start I now have the subway sort and it is definitely the best way to get around.

We arrived at Yankees Stadium 30 minutes after leaving our hotel. The stadium is unbelievable and we have nothing that compares to how well they handle big crowds. Food and drink and bathroom facilities are plentiful and there is little waiting at anytime.

The game was great and we had the best seats. Yes we had hotdogs, fries covered in cheese and ice-cream out of little baseball caps. The trip home was uneventful after we waited for about 20 minutes for the crowds to clear in the subway station. The subway trains are so clean they leave ours for dead. Our stations are cleaner but their carriages are spotless. There is a subway station on almost every corner block.

Our last day in New York we did the Brooklyn loop on our hop on hop off tour took a walk through central park and visited the underground Apple store. As everyone going separate ways Saturday we had dinner at a great BBQ place near our hotel Hill Country BBQ. Sarah and Dan heading home tomorrow, Charlie and Megan headed to San Francisco and LA before heading home in a few days. We on the other hand are embarking on another road trip to take in one of the main purposes of the trip taking mum to Niagara Falls.


Where the magic happens…. Disney

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Our time in Vegas had come to an end Chris and Sam headed back to Hawaii for a couple of days before heading home. Mum and I left for Orlando at 5pm after one last buffet lunch with Charlie and Megan at the Paris Paris.

Charlie, Megan, Sarah and Dan were due to fly overnight and arrive at 10am. We all met again at the Royal Caribbean Resort and were delight that we had been upgraded to a beach view room complete with hammocks (no time to try them and Charlie couldn’t get in it anyway). 
Sarah Dan mum and I headed out to Epcot around 3pm for a look at this park, the Disney World shuttle buses make getting around a breeze.  Mum and I walked as long as were could and decided to head home about 6pm before the rains came. Dan and Sare got soaked waiting to get their pictures taken with some character and came home looking like drowned rats.  After a short nap (well Charlie and Megs had a long nap) we decided to walk over to the main resort building for late dinner (9.30pm).  Everyone pretty tired by this time.  
Day 2 we set off to Magic Kingdom Park, mum and I decided to head out later in the day so we could stick it through to the end and the fireworks. We were able to get a really great viewing area for the Disney Character parade, although it was really hot at the time of the parade, thankfully it cooled down a bit later on. The others that had set off early to the park then went home in middle of the the day for sleeps. They all appeared back in time for the parade and the final show of the night. We located an excellent viewing area at about 5.30 pm and set up to wait it out until the fireworks the others joined us later and took advantage of the great spot we had secured.

It was decided (not sure who’s bright idea it was) to go to the Animal Kingdom park at opening at 9am so that we could do the animals safari ride while the animals were still active in the cooler hours. This was as great this time as it was last time. Everyone enjoyed this and we saw loads of animals. Then it was time to do the ‘ It tough to be a bug’ 3D show this too was every good as I remember and the first timers were surprised by the interactive parts of this attraction.

Mum and I then took in the Lion King show before heading home for a well earned rest. The other finished some of the rides and headed home via the water park where they swam for awhile.
Everyone getting pretty tired by this time but we were all keen for a steak dinner so we headed to Downtown Disney to locate a restaurent meal of some description, everyone done with burger, chicken strips and fries. After survy a couple of the information staff Sarah established that Paridso was the place to eat, this we did after a half hour wait for the table. The food was good and everyone enjoyed their meal. The salad dressing was a highlight although if you asked Charlie it would have been his filet mignon.
Day 4 saw Mum and I headed to the Hilton near Downtown Disney to collect our rental car and set to New York (more on that later).  The others had their final park to see which was the Universal Studios, this I think may have been their favourite park with Animal Kingdom a close second. All in all everyone enjoyed the Disney World experience but everyone looking forward easier days ahead with little or NO walking.


 Dan drove Sarah, Megs and Charlie to Miami where they checked into the Fontainebleau for the next few days of lots of relaxing and swimming planned before they fly to New York.

Flying in and the birthday dinner…

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Flying(Qantas) via Hawaii proved to be a good move, flight was over in no time at all, dinner after boarding then slept until breakfast time just before landing. We had a 3 hours stopover and after clearing customs we collected the bags checking them through for our next flight. Time for a coffee and bit of a walk around before we boarded for the next leg to Los Angeles, another uneventful flight apart for about half an hour of mild turbulence we landed at LAX at 9pm US time. I am starting to understand how LAX works now and we were able to locate the shuttle pickup area pretty quickly. Within an hour of landing we were in our hotel ordering a room service dinner.

Day two found us up early our flight to Las Vegas set to take off at 8.30am we calmly and without hassle made our way through checkin and security. We had breakfast before heading to our gate and boarded shortly after. We were seated next to a very nice Las Vegas preacher he was interesting and interested in Australia’s housing, economy and the cost fuel etc. He owned a modern six bedroom home in North Las Vegas worth half as much as our new unit.

Home for next 4 nights

After landing and a short cab ride we arrived at the Trump International hotel. Room 2623 was to be our home for the next few days and what a home it is!!

View from our room

We headed down to meet others arriving via limo at about 3pm. Sarah had a rough flight due to feeling miserable with a cold (made worse by everyone else sleeping so peacefully) but the others were ok (due to all the sleep, benefits of being shift-workers I guess)

Not an every day breakfast

We skipped dinner and turned in for an early night, decided in buffet breakfast at the Bellagio, I over indulged on the biscuits and gravy and the bacon. I love the bacon here and definitely no lunch needed.

We met Dan and Sarah and headed to the North Premium Outlet mall (suppose to be the best of the two $14 approx. cab ride). We made couple of purchase but Dan did very well after making do with no new clothes for ages so he could buy whole new wardrobe on this trip, he has made a good start on day one.

It reached 105F at 4.30pm with more on the way each day of our stay. Heat not worrying us even with the humidity due to evening thunderstorms threatening.

 

At 4pm Kim from Cake Designs delivered the cake I ordered before leaving Australia, it was perfect and Charlie was blown away.

The Birthday Dinner

The plan was to meet near Bellagio Buffet at 5pm, lucky for us Charlie had VIP status (This what happens when you book a penthouse apparently) which allowed us to use the express line (good thing as the other line snaked all around the casino) after being seat the eating began, just imagine every thing you like to eat and more, thats the Bellagio Buffet all for $36 per head. One word SENSATIONAL. The staff made a cake out of carrot cake slices and sang happy birthday for Charlie, he was embarrassed but every join in the fun.

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Facts and Figures:
Flight 1 – Qantas QF3 good flight great meals 9 hours 45 mins
Flight 2 – American AA2592 food for sale – chicken salad very good $10.00 free drinks. No checked baggage charge
Hotel 1 – Hacienda Hotel and Conference Centre, $80 with $26 for two rib dinners, free shuttle to and from airport – other eating places nearby and suits for stopovers- Suited our needs
Flight 3 – Southwest – only airline not to charge for checked bags
Hotel 2 – Trump International five star booked through hotwire.com average $99.00 per night. Plenty of Pluses and just one Minus they do charge a resort fee of $25 per day which includes wifi, pool and day spa access. (not sure if it is optional)

89 – the number of time Charlie was carded for ID.
45 – the number times the staff member wished him happy birthday and said “aren’t you lucky you came today” as if it wouldn’t be planned

He had a dream…..

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How is it? Sarah is the only one who
looks the same

A 14-year-old had a dream seven years ago to return to Las Vegas to celebrate his 21st birthday.

They acted the goat
for the whole trip

Who said dreams don’t come true if you keep dreaming. Here we sit waiting for our flight to the so long ago dreamed about celebration.

Charlie is a lot younger and
the parents a lot thinner
Charlie is lucky to have so many of his family and friends making the journey to celebrate his 21st.
To those at home they will not be forgotten with a Skype party to mark the occasion.

Sarah meets Jerry

The planning gets serious now….

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Mum and I are booked to leave Australia on the 1st August. We are flying Qantas via Hawaii (first visit for both  of us) although stopover time does not allow for any sight-seeing, it will be fun to fly in and out just the same.

All travellers in our party are arriving in Las Vegas on 2nd August ready to celebrate Charlie’s 21st birthday on the 3rd August.

With only 26 days before we leave I am starting to get bookings sorted at least for the couple main things. Disney World in florida booked and I will book the Vegas section of the trip later this week. We are staying at the Caribbean in DisneyWorld (kids wanted to stay here – we stayed there 7 years ago when we took them).