Rhod and Anna's World Adventure

No not the wrestler-come-movie star but Alcatraz Island Federal Penitentiary which is a long winded way of saying prison.

We were going to make the trip to Alcatraz with Simon. Unfortunately we forgot to book any tickets so when we got to San Francisco on Thanksgiving weekend there was not a ticket to be had until Sunday and Simon flew home on Saturday. Sorry Simon. If it's any consellation it rained while we were there.

Alcatraz sits on an island 1 and 1/4 miles from San Francisco and was home to Al Capone, Robert 'The birdman" Stroud and various other people whose names I have forgotten. It's location was ideal for punishing the inmates as it was close enough to the mainland for them to see and hear what was going on so they knew what they were missing out on. The prison was used to house dangerous criminals and those who had attempted to escape from other prisons. It was deemed escape proof as it was a dangerous swim through the currents and the cold water to get to the mainland. To ensure they didn't get used to cold water Alcatraz was the only US prison at the time where the inmates got hot showers!

We went on a tour of the island with a ranger to find out about the escape attempts. The favourite jump off point was out of the window of the factory and straight in to the water. Of all the attempts only 5 people were never recaptured. Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery are not included in that count although I believe they did escape in the film. I've not seen it.

In 1963 someone wise decided that punishing prisoners was not right and that they should focus on rehabilitating them. This party pooper closed Alcatraz and since then it has been occupied by native americans and has now become a national park and a prime tourist attraction.

Despite being ecstatic at the prospect of a holiday with my brother I must admit I was a little apprehensive about how we would cope together. It had been 11 years since our last family holiday and 9 years since we had lived in the same house! I'm sure he thought the same. However, I needn't have worried. We got on like a house on fire. I'm sure my mum won't believe us as she probably still vividly recalls those heated arguments we were so well known for in our teenage years! Luckily we are older and wiser now and I'm so grateful that he came out to see us. I can't wait for future holidays with him.

However, spending that much time together does teach you a lot about a person and here are a few things I have learnt about Simon from this trip...

• He uses an obscene amount of shower gel; one bottle apparently lasted him a mere 5 days.
• He has an intolerance of waiting for lights to turn green before he can cross the road, despite it being punishable by fine in the USA.
• Money is a burden to him, especially coins and you will often hear the sound of coins dropping into a bin as he discards them at an alarming rate.
• He developed an addiction to outlet mall shopping (well who wouldn't when clothes are about a third of the price they are at home.)
• Despite a love of taxis and a hatred of public transport, he proved he could manage the whole fortnight on buses and trams despite hating every minute.
• During the fortnight he developed an irrational craving for burgers.

So thank you Simon for providing us with much entertainment on our holiday.

Thursday was Thanksgiving in America. We were recently asked when we celebrated Thanksgiving in the UK. We tried to explain the harvest festival and putting tinned food in shoe boxes at school for the old people but we got some confused looks. We then explained that to our knowledge, even though history is not my strong point, there was not an event in the UK where some pilgrims thanked some natives for helping them get through the first year. Still it's not as silly a question as "When do you celebrate Independence day in the UK?" We replied with "Independence from who?" but what we should have said is "Any day when Will Smith saves the world!"

So we needed a Thanksgiving dinner but money is getting almost too tight to mention so we opted for the cheapest available in San Francisco; $15 in the italian restaurant. What could go wrong? Turkey, potatoes and spinach. When we got there there was a slight problem. There were no potatoes left so we got dry turkey, spinach and pasta penne in tomato sauce. I expect that we were the only people to have parmesan cheese with our Thanksgiving dinner. Needless to say it wasn't good but luckily we had been drinking and couldn't really taste it.

We are in Hollywood and as you can see from the picture the sun has been shining brightly. Or as brightly as it can through the smog.

So that we fit in with the Hollywood life we have ditched the RV and we are now cruising America in an SUV. Everyone over here has one and it is a pleasure to be able to drive around and contribute to LA's smog problem. To really fit in we would need to get one of those small novelty dogs, dress it up and carry it around in a small bag. Fortunately we have managed to resist.

We've been living the life a bit. Hollywood Boulevard to look at the stars and the people dressed up outside the Kodak and Chinese theatres. Rodeo Drive to look at people who have enough money to shop on Rodeo Drive. That's not us. We shop in outlet malls. Venice Beach to people watch including muscle beach and the roller skating, guitar playing sheikh. We even went to see the Borat film which I thought was very funny.

We didn't see anyone famous. We also turned down going on the Hollywood stars' homes tour. Driving around looking at big gates didn't seem like money well spent.

Living in an RV for a month was great but the night life was poor, actually make that non-existent! So when Simon arrived and we said goodbye to our RV, Rhod and I had to remind ourselves that we were not retired 70 year olds and LA's Sunset Boulevard was the perfect place to do that. Simon had done his homework before he came out to join us and knew of a club called Whisky a Go Go where rock bands who are just starting out play. Guns n Roses, Oasis and The Doors are just a few of the famous bands to have graced the stage. It's a tiny venue and they had a line up of about 7 bands that night. But that wasn't rock n roll enough for us so we headed across the road to Johnny Depp's club The Viper Room. Unfortunately the camp pirate was not there that night, in fact I doubt he has even been there since it was opened. The Viper Room is also infamous for being the place where River Phoenix collapsed and died from a drug overdose. We considered a re-enactment on leaving but decided that would be inappropriate. It had a similar setup to Whisky a Go Go but the bands we saw in The Viper Room were much better. Maybe we saw the future Oasis! So we spent the evening switching between clubs flashing our stamped wrists at the doormen and generally feeling pretty damn cool!

We have ticked off yet another sport in our round the world adventure. This time it's basketball. I thought I should explain as it is perhaps not clear from the attached photo what the game is.

I'm not normally super complimentary about US sport but basketball is good. It's an all action 48 mins with any time-outs or breaks livened up by the cheer leaders and many other exciting events such as bubble cam that picks people out in the crowd and distorts their faces. Very funny but I expect you have to see it to really appreciate it.

We watched the LA Lakers play the Toronto Raptors. The LA Lakers were led by probably the only current basketball player that any of us could name before the game, Kobe Bryant. Come to think of it he is probably the only basketball player we can name now.

The game ended LA 107 Toronto 100 which is very close. I did wonder why they bothered with the first 3 quarters of the game. They started the last quarter level on points and it was a whole lot more active than the previous 36 mins. That might explain why most of the seats are empty for the first quarter. People seem to be more focused on getting food and drink (not beer I would like to point out as it was an extortionate $10 a pint!) than watching the game. It still amazes me that 48 mins of sport can take over 2 hours to complete but I am getting used to it.

Man of the match was Kobe Bryant but it's not called man of the match over here it's called most valuable player. I don't know why this annoys me but it does. Maybe I'm just intolerant. It gets worse when the crowd, who for most of the game are silent apart from the sound of chewing and slurping, chant MVP...MVP...MVP every time the MVP touches the ball. Still it's better than USA...USA...USA.

We now need to hunt down some American Football to complete the set.

They didn't.

Do you like the funky settings on the new camera? We have no idea how to operate it really!

"Bright light city gonna set my soul, gonna set my soul on fire..."
Yes, our third and final guest has arrived...my brother Simon! Which picture does he look happier in? The one with his little sister who he hasn't seen for 8 and a half months or the one with some Las Vegas showgirls?

We have just spent a fantastic 4 days in Las Vegas. Some say it's tacky...and so do we! It's like a collection of different film sets have all converged on one street - a mini New York city, Venice, Rome, Paris and one with a full circus and fairground in it! Hotels and their casinos are the main attraction here and we have frantically been trying to visit them all. If you were to walk from one end of The Strip to another (which it looks perfectly possible to do) it would take about 2 hours! We have been to a cheesy cabaret show (hence the girls), gambled (badly), stuffed ourselves in the Hard Rock Cafe, seen lions that were close enough to touch through glass in the MGM Grand and drunk in most of the bars in hotels like Caesar's Palace, Mandalay Bay and the Bellagio. We were pretty sad to leave but necessary for the bank balance and our health. Simon is already planning a return and I'm sure we will be back.

After all the excitement of the last week, we were worried that the Grand Canyon would be a bit of a tourist trap and would take away from our enjoyment. Fortunately we were wrong. We spent 4 days in the park in our RV and had a great time.

It started on day 1 with a long drive into the park's North Rim, which is 1000 feet higher than the more accessible and more touristy South Rim. It was well worth it as we left before sunrise and got there with the Grand Canyon to ourselves! If you look closely in the first picture you can see me dwarfed by just one tiny section of the canyon. It was wonderful and no picture can really get across the sheer size of the canyon. It is a mile deep and the Colorado River appears like a piece of string running through it's 227 mile length!

Unfortunately even though the South Rim is a mere 10 miles across from the North Rim, it involves a 220 mile round trip. (Can't someone build a bridge across it?? So inconsiderate!) With the old faithful RV chugging along at a top speed of 65 mph we eventually arrived at sunset over on the other side. It was slightly disheartening to look over at where we had been standing that morning.

Even though the South Rim was a lot busier than the North Rim it has a lot more opportunities to hike down into the canyon. We spent 2 days hiking down and back out as one of the options (to camp down by the river at the bottom and climb back out the next day) we were unable to do. The campsite gets booked up 1 year in advance!!

Before we continue with the hiking info I need to tell you about a sad loss of a holiday companion. It's not another of my watches, it's much worse than that. We have broken the camera. Bad, I'm sure you will agree but worse when you consider it's not ours. Sorry Dad! I'm not one to point fingers but Anna assures me it fell from the shelf whilst she was charging it! Judging by the dent I suspect that she swung it around by the wire and smashed it repeatedly in to the floor! We have a liking for taking pictures so when we found out the issue just before we set off on our hike we had only one choice; an instant disposable camera. There is nothing quite as unsatisfying as the combined plastic and metallic twang of a disposable camera taking a picture but it was all we had for a couple of days.

So hiking. Unable to camp we resorted to 2 day hikes in to the canyon. The warning signs say not to hike from the rim to the river and back in a day. It's 9 miles one way and an elevation change of 5000 feet. We heeded those warings. On the first day we hiked the Bright Angel trail. 9.5 miles return with an elevation change of 3000 feet. It's funny hiking in to a canyon. Normally when you hike you do all the hard work (walking up hill) first, sit and enjoy the view then coast back down. Obviously not in the canyon. The pain comes at the end of the day and the steepest part of the trip is the last mile and a half out of the canyon.

Pleased with our performance on day one (we got in and out faster than it suggested, but then the guide is written for a country that doesn't normally walk anywhere) we decided to have another go the next day. We hit the Kaibab trail and hiked 3 miles to Skeleton Point 2000 feet in to the canyon. This was a much better view as it was further in to the canyon and was a very nice spot to stop and have a picnic overlooking the Colorado River before the 3 mile drag up hill to get out.

By day 3 all we could manage was walking the rim trail to the lookouts which is flat. Surprisingly the rim is a lot busier than the downhill/uphill trails. Fear not though the Americans are not walking. They hop off the shuttle bus, take some photos then jump back on for the 0.5 mile journey to the next lookout!


The Grand Canyon was alot better than I think either of us expected. We will hopefully go back one day and make a booking to hike down to the river and stay.

Good news. We have a new camea. Bad news. We have no idea how to work it. Don't worry. I'm not going to lower myself to reading the instructions!

Today is our 100th blog day. By way of celebration we thought we would give you all a little treat...

We have got engaged!!

It happened whilst we were hiking in a virtually deserted Bryce Canyon National Park. We had just walked down 500 feet to the bottom of the canyon. If it hadn't worked out well we would have had to climb 500 feet back out probably in silence.

But we don't need to worry about that as thankfully Anna said yes and we are both very pleased with ourselves!

Neither of us realised just how great a place this was until we got here and it was the perfect setting for an engagement. I imagine that Rhod couldn't resist me in my 8 month old hiking gear!

Don't worry, this isn't the way we've chosen to break the news to our families. We spent a frantic day yesterday phoning family members with our news. I had to wait until 'Have I Got News For You' had finished before I could speak to my Dad or abuse would have been hurled. I suggested via text that I would phone home at 10pm to be told not to worry as they would be at the theatre. I then had to send another 6000 mile text to find out what might be a good time! Thankfully we spoke to (nearly) everyone. My sister Sarah wins the prize for loudest and highest pitched squealing. At one point in the conversation with her I ceased to hear her but dogs came running at me from all directions! My brother wins the prize for being the hardest to contact and eventually had to find out by text message!

Enjoy the photos. Bryce Canyon is a pretty special place...

At the bottom of Bryce Canyon: (Obviously it is no longer deserted as someone thankfully arrived on the path and took a photo for us.)


Sunrise at Bryce Canyon National Park:

It's official. Rhod and I have entered the red... in more ways than one! The one that I'm going to bore you with is the red of the magnificent desert scenery of Southern Utah's national parks. The other sort of red is too depressing to talk about!

Capitol Reef National Park contains a 100 mile long 'wrinkle' in the Earth's crust called the Waterpocket Fold. As a result, there is some pretty spectacular scenery to be seen. We set off to hike to Cassidy Arch where outlaw Butch cassidy used to hide inbetween bank robberies. Unfortunately, we never got that far. We had failed to account for the hour's less sunlight and both of us had forgotten to bring any food for emergencies. I can think of a word that would describe us! We had a great time despite this and due to the time of the year had the whole park pretty much to ourselves.