A very long and pretty amazing day.

The overnight train was fun, but not that much sleep was had. We were awake at 4:30am so we could depart at our brief stop. Boy was it a shock to step out of the train, I'd say the temp was around -10. We were concerned about the 4 hour wait for the train to the canyon, but the railway hotel lobby was lovely. Big comfy leather couches, a big open fire and a well stocked breakfast cafe. Jack fell asleep, while the rest of us dozed or read. Williams where we stopped is where they filmed the Polar Express Christmas movie. It's a big thing and they have polar express evening train rides through the Christmas season. Anyway we were on board the train and off to the Grand Canyon at 10am. The ride was lots of fun, with music entertainment and our own carriage tour guide. We arrived in time for lunch and spent the afternoon walking around the rim of the canyon and going 'wow' many times as we peered over the edge. Got into our room as the sun went down, we are staying on the edge of the canyon with a great view. Tonight a storm is due to arrive and there is a 100% chance of snow tomorrow, apparently something that doesn't happen here very often. We are due to train out tomorrow afternoon, next stop Flagstaff, just an overnighter on our way to Santa Fe, no big New Years celebrations planned as we have to catch the train at 5:40am on New Year's Day!

Overnight train journey ahead

Another lazy start today, our San Diego hotel was quite flash and we had great sleeps there. They had an outdoor staking rink downtown so that was our morning destination. Three of us went on the ice and after a couple of shaky laps those lessons from 40 years ago came back to me! Then it was off to the station and back to LA. The station in LA is huge and very old, feels a bit like being in a church. The most exciting part of the day was getting on the train, The Southwest Chief bound for Chicago, but we get off at Williams at 4:50am and wait for 4 hours to get the connecting train to the Grand Canyon! We are in a sleeper car, Tim and I upstairs and Grant and Jack down. Boys are very excited as they have pull down bunks to sleep in, won't have trouble getting them to bed tonight! The next part of our adventure begins!

Exploring San Diego

The boys and I enjoyed a lovely sleep in this morning while Grant, who always wakes early, headed off to explore the area. He returned with news of the best donut shop in California being just two blocks away, so guess what we had for breakfast. We walked down to the bay which is just 15 - 20 mins from our hotel and spent most of the day exploring the Midway Museum, it is on an aircraft carrier. It was huge and there was so much to see. One of the best features were the men who gave talks all around the ship, we learnt in detail how the planes took off and landed, quite a feat given the size of the runway. The whole carrier was like a mini-city, even had a post office. When we had had our full of aircraft we walked along the waterfront, it was quite beautiful as the sun was setting. Tonight I'm getting the washing done as we spend tomorrow night night on the train en route to Grand Canyon. Have been checking the temperatures and I think we may be in sub zero conditions for the rest of the trip, time to bring out the winter woollies and snow boots. 

We are now in San Diego

It was another early morning, so we could catch the train at 8:30. The hotel  shuttled us to the station which was very close and arranged for a special train shuttle to deliver us and all our gear to the train ... Real service! It was very relaxing travelling down to San Diego, I think we have made a good choice in using trains to travel. We got here just before midday. Our room wasn't ready so we had a quick lunch and then headed off to San Diego Zoo. Like all attractions, it was packed this time of year. The only thing we missed out on at the zoo was the pandas, as the queue to see them was over an hour long, however we got to see so much. The highlight was the orangatangs, Tim's favourite animal, he took heaps of photos. The funny moment of the day was when mother monkey lifted baby monkey's tail to check that his bottom was clean! Had a yummy tea at a local restaurant, we are staying downtown ... Grànt had a walk around after tea and was pretty impressed. Our hotel is very impressive, it's an old bank and our room is very spacious. We have just had discussions on tomorrow's plan and decided that we will give Legoland a miss, as it is targeted at younger age group, quite expensive and would require significant travel. Will probably visit the USS Midway Museum which is located in an aircraft carrier, has very good reviews. It's getting colder here needing an extra layer. Soon we will be plunging ourselves into very cold temperatures, just two days left on the coast.

Our day in LA

We were on the shuttle at 9 this morning, on our way to Universal Studios. Thousands of other people had the same plan. It had changed a lot since we were last there 22 years ago! Once again Christmas decorations were everywhere, as was Christmas music. We went on several 4D 'rides' which made you feel like they were personally targeted at you, our favourite was the Dispicable Me adventure. The adrenalin moment of the day was on the Jurasic Park ride where we plummeted 84ft down a waterfall. The disappointment of the day was missing out on the Tranformers ride, because it had to close. We also loved the studio tour where we got attacked by King Kong, experienced an earthquake (memories triggered) and drove down Wisteria Lane from 'Desparate Housewives' amongst other things. We thanked Grant often as we got to skip queues or get return passes which meant we didn't  have to wait in line.  By 6pm we were ready to head back downtown to our hotel, three days of theme parks all with capacity crowds was quite enough. We found a nice pizza and salad place for tea and walked around a couple of blocks, in the opposite direction to the homeless people sleeping on the street. That's something that has been a bit of an eye-opener, especially for the boys. Tomorrow we are on the train at 8:30am, this time heading for San Diego. Looks like it has been really warm back home, starting to get chillier here. 

Two days of Christmas fun!

We are waiting at the train station in Anaheim, about to start the rail part of our holiday. Have had a fabulous two days at Disneyland and California Adventure Park. Got heaps of great rides in on Christmas Eve, mostly due to the quick entry passes we got after grant was 'rescued' from a ride that broke down, by the Disney Fire Dept! Our favourite Disney ride was space mountain followed by lots of others! Had a great view of the Christmas parade, very beautiful and slick. Today it was California Adventure Park, Jack was very keen on the California Scream roller coaster, rode it twice with his father, while Tim and I took a pass. We also really loved the Soaring over California, a flight simulator. Big crowds today, but we chose the right park, as Disneyland was so packed, they even stopped letting people in. Tim is thrilled with his ewok backpack present, Jack is yet to choose his. Americans just love their pets, we shared a park shuttle with a family who had brought their cat to Disneyland in a buggy! Tomorrow is universal studios, looking forward to it , but also looking forward to a more restful day on the 27th.

Car ride done and we survived!

It was off to the outlet mall this morning. We were blown away by the size of the place, really needed a whole day there, though that would have been more expensive. We got snow boots and goggles for the boys, some shoes and clothes, bit of a spend up really, so many bargains! Then we hit the freeway and the sluggish traffic, what should have taken an hour, took almost 3! Anyway, we got here, sorted our train tickets and returned the car. We have changed plans slightly and will stay here 2 days, then head to LA late Christmas day. Boys very excited about Disneyland, we'll brave the Christmas day crowds too. A big merry Christmas to you all for tomorrow, we are a day behind you. May be a couple of days before we have the chance to blog again as will be very late tomorrow night. Love to everyone xxxx

Morro Bay to Santa Barbara

Today if was off to Hearst Castle. This castle was developed by William Hearst at the start of last century and took 28 years to complete. It is stunning. The only downer was that there were no wheelchair accessible tours today. So after the movie and museum visit, Grant read his book while the three of us went up to the castle for a look around. Inside, the castle was decorated for Chirstmas and was quite beautiful. After a late lunch we hit the road again, this time for Santa Barbara. We are finding the architecture really interesting, San Fransisco was quite Victorian and down this way it is much more Spanish. There is a pool at our hotel tonight, which the boys want to try out, so it will be an early dip before we take off in the morning. It is much milder here. Destination for tomorrow is Anaheim. Great to see comments from Chiara, Grandma, Pa and Jenny ... We love hearing from you. Xxx

On the road south...

Started the day with a ride on the tram for the boys and I, while Grant went off in search of coffee; tram the only form of transport in San Fran that is not accessible. Then it was into the car and heading south on the Pacific Coastal Highway. Not one u-turn required today, we are getting the driving and navigating sorted! The journey was spectacular, a bit like the Kiakoura road, but on a much grander scale and lots of high up driving by cliffs. We stopped at Monterey to visit the aquarium, sea-life like we had never seen in NZ or Australian aquariums. We had to do a high speed tour, as the trip south to Morro Bay was the best bit of the road and we wanted to get most of it done before dark. It gets dark here at 5pm! The aquarium and the drive were both fabulous. To top off a great day, we ate dinner at a local Mexican place, the best food and the cheapest so far. I decided that if Dad ever did this trip, he would need to go in a bus or let someone else drive, as his eyes would be drawn from the road to the view too often and it is a long, steep and rocky way down to the ocean from the edge of the road. Tomorrow we will be able to have a slower start, then we are off to visit a castle before continuing the drive south.