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Old 24 Sep 12, 01:26 AM  
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chelseyleigh
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See you on the West Coast Walt...Sept 1st Death Valley

Me - Chelsey (20)
DBF - Ryan (20) (21 in a matter weeks after vegas)
Mum - Nikki (40 something)
Dad - Paul (40 something)
Jack F - Brother (17)
Jack C - Brothers friend (17)
New Addition - Sally - The Sat Nav

Saturday September 1st (Labour day weekend!)

So today was the day we left Vegas, I gotta say as much as I loved seeing Vegas and was very happy I got the opportunity to visit it I was glad to be moving on. This is gonna make me sound like a very old young person but Vegas just wasn't my thing and I wouldn't of wanted to spend more than 3 days there.

Breakfast this morning was planned to be the MGM grand buffet but none of us were feeling overly hungry and didn't like the thought of ridiculous ammounts of food staring back at us. So we decided to give Rainforest cafe breakfast a go! Yes even though we visited last night for dinner, you will soon come to learn it was a good job we decided to return!

I decided to give the Tonga toast a go to see if it could give Kona Cafes a run for its money! AS IF! it a was literally just french toast with cinnamon sugar and cut up fruit and syrup on top! Definately not worth of the title tonga toast!

So it came to paying the bill and this is where i get back to explaining why it was a good job we returned! My dad gets his wallet out to pay and I notice him quietly removing all of his cards frantically but at the same time trying to stop my mum noticing. I immediatley realised what had happened, if you haven't guessed it already, yes he lost the holiday credit card AGAIN!

Back tracking where he last used it he realised it was here at rainforest cafe for dinner! So he ran over to the manager to explain the situtation and ask if the waitress had seen a card left on our table last night!

Well we were all left at the table anxiously waiting for the answer at the same time trying to work out how he managed to loose the card AGAIN!

5 worrying minutes later he returned and... THATS IT THE CARD WAS GONE AND THIS TRIP REPORT IS OVER!

..Only kidding the lovely waitress handed it in but that was definately the last time my dad was carrying that card around! Absolutely nightmare! Rainforest cafe were really great about it and the manager gave us his number and explained that his staff are very trustworthy and he doubts that anything would of happened but obviously we were right next to a casino so if he noticed any transactions that wern't him to ring up!

Anyway with the bill finally paid for and the card firmly out of my dads reach we made our way to our next port of call!

Now today was basically spent traveling to our destination that night - Mammoth Lakes, but we made sure to make a few interesting stops along the way!

First up was a must do Vegas point (IMO)







Luckily there was no queue or anything and it was pretty quiet!

Next up was another famous Vegas sign, my mum had nostalgic memories of this sign from when she visited as a kid so off down to Fremont Street to see..



Next up was something a little less cultural and more up my end... our first outlets! Vegas Premium outlets! Now the main point of this journey was for my dad to find some trainers but come on ive gotta have a look around!

We pulled up around 10 and could already tell it was going to be a very busy day at the shops! (could be something to do with a little thing called labour day weekend sales!) Took us about 15mins to actaully get parked but eventually we were in! We decided to have a stratergy to this shopping trip as we all wanted to look in seperate areas but didn't wanna spend hours here so I left the guys in the Nike shop and headed off to American Apparel. But whilst getting lost trying to find it I came across a disney store! Disney outlets! Hell yeahh!

My mum had been umming and aahing over buying herself a Woody in disney but decided not to in the end but with this outlet selling them for $20 she couldn't say no! So i gave her a ring to tell her the good news and she said they were just trying on some shoes and would be over in about 15mins. Just enough time for me to pop to American Apparel! Unfortunately this store wern't all that but i did pick up some bits that i actually needed as apose to just wanted, some undies! Managed to get 3 bras for $24 pretty good deal if you ask me! As i was leaving American Apparel I found Ryan in Addidas buying some $15 trainers! But the queue was EPIC! So I left him there and arranged to meet him in the Disney store.

The others were waiting at the disney store and my mum certainly had more than just a woody doll in her basket! Not sure if i mentioned earlier but my mum has a childminding buisness and she took this opportunity to buy all her kids christmas pressies and any upcoming birthday pressies, and thats a lot of pressies! It wasn't even an issue of money at this point cause everything was so bloody cheap in this outlet but we was more worried about how the hell we was gonna fit these massive bulky toys in our case along with all the new clothes aswel! About an hour and a half later armed with 3 massive disney bags we headed back to the car and were back on our way!

Our next destination along the way was Death Valley but that was going to be atleast 2 hours away and I was starting to feel very thirsty and in need of a refreshing smoothie and everyone else was feeling quite peckish so we made a stop at a good old McDonalds! All the fattys in the car got massive meals (aint got a clue how after the breakfast!) but i just went for a mango&bannana smoothie and it was very nice and refreshing!

Back on track to DeathValley!



We made it there by about 3pm and the boys discovered this sign as a great place for...planking?!



Oh we did get some funny looks from passing drivers! You could really start to feel the heat here!

I was really starting to need the loo but the only nearby loo looks something like this...





Yes that is a bucket with a deep black hole leading into the dessert...with flies coming out of it...and maggots...

Absolutely disgusting... But i knew that we were at the begginging of one of the USs largeset national parks and all the toilets were gonna be like this for miles!



So i sucked it up and well...hovered! Come on I am not sitting on that! The boys all used it and didn't see the big deal, but come on they can stand up and well see if anything emerged from the hole! Anyway enough toilet talk! We moved on deeper into dessert, I was shocked to see that there were actaully little villages with old school cars that looked like they hadn't been driven in about 10years, picture Texas chainsaw masacare with tumbleweeds for effect! Very Odd! We stopped a few times a long the way but it took us in total about 3 hours to drive through Death Valley. It was an absolutely amazing place, the veiws were breathtaking, the winding mountain edge roads did get a bit worrying in our monster truck but it was all fun and games!











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Old 24 Sep 12, 01:26 AM  
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chelseyleigh
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We had a couple of hours the other side of Death Valley until we reached Mammoth Lakes. Pretty uneventful couple of hours but we did get to see some lovely american towns and some beautiful mountain scenary on the road up to the resort. We reach Juniper Springs resort by 8pm and checked straight in as it was getting late and we all wanted a nice bit of grub!









We noticed a lovely little village just 2 mins from the hotel and was reccomended a pizzeria there by reception so decided to check it out. The place was called Giovanis and the little village was adorable! This is a ski resort so everything was made up like wooden cabins, you really could imagine you was in switzerland! its mad how varied California is! This place was incredible and i could imagine it is absolutely beautiful at christmas time ( Yes i have looked up prices and its about 4 times as much! )





This retaurant was awesome, had a real nice cosy, family feel! We ordered some garlic bread and salad for starters, the garlic bread came with a marinara sauce and was absolutely delish! Me and Ryan shared a large bbq chicken pizza and it was one of the best pizzas ive eaten! We definately didn't finish it all and no one else finished theres so we boxed it up and saved it for lunch tomorrow, mm cold pizza! They even did a mammoth sized pizza and we couldn't even make it through half of a large! Would highly reccomend this place if anyone is in the area, my mum got a pasta instead which they did a large variety of so it wasn't just pizza!

At the hotel we were staying in a 2 bedroom suite that had a double sofa bed in the lounge, so we decided instead of heading out for breakfast we would grab some cereals and croissants from the supermarket and spend breakfast in our lovely hotel! Also meant I got to try the amazing american cereal, Captain crunch! Yum! It was very chilly up in the mountains and what with us being in a ski resort we felt some hot cocoa and marshmellows were required to drink back in the room! So stocked up on breakfast and cocoa goods we headed back to the hotel.

As we were driving round to our part of the hotel we noticed a family of deer pull up right next to us! It was amazing! Unfortuantly it was too dark to get any photos but it was incrediable how tame the animals were, all 3 came right up to the car and wern't fazed at all by us! Very Lovely!

Back to the room by 11pm we decided seen as we didn't have a chance to look around earlier that we would have a wonder. The hotel was lovely and really would make a picturesque winter location. We messed about a little in the gym and probally burned about one slice of pizza between us and then headed back to the room for hot cocoa, marshmellows and cookies in bed infront of the tv! Yes me and ryan were left with the sofa bed! Nevermind it was only one night!

So we settled down for bed around half past midnight but I just couldn't get comfy, I felt very stuffy but every time i took the covers of me i felt freezing! Hate those nights! Anyway it got to about 2am and I was slowly starting to doze of. Well that was until Ryan scared the absolutely sh** out of me by suddenly out of no where jumping up and screaming at the top of his lungs 'THERES A MAN IN THE ROOM A MAN, OVER THERE IN THE KITCHEN! ' I was trying to calm him down saying it was just a dream but he just kept shouting over me! I dunno how know one woke up! Eventualy he calmed down and was pretty shook up, still certain he saw a man standing at the end of our bed wearing a balaclava! And then he went striaght back to sleep! Leaving me in a pitch black room in the middle of the mountains, the curtains were open and we were on the bottom floor so I just kept thinking anyone could walk right onto our balcony and smash those windows, I was so shook up after that there was absolutely no chance of me sleeping now! I even considered turning into a kid again and crawling into bed with my mum and dad! So all night I sat there tucked under the covers, boiling hot but refusing to move the covers incase the boogie man got me and making sure to not shut my eyes at all! So yeah thanks for that Ryan, thanks very much!

Tomorrow...Yosemite
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Edited at 01:29 AM.
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Old 24 Sep 12, 07:49 AM  
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Pussycat Doll
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Brilliant day, fantastic scenery, I love Death Valley for a couple of chilling days affter vegas! Pussycat
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Old 24 Sep 12, 11:25 AM  
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chelseyleigh
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Originally Posted by Pussycat Doll View Post
Brilliant day, fantastic scenery, I love Death Valley for a couple of chilling days affter vegas! Pussycat
yeah it was mad to go from the bright lights of vegas to those beautiful winding vas dessert roads!
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Old 24 Sep 12, 11:45 AM  
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Stunning scenery, even worth having to use that hideous toilet! Lovely resort at the end of that long drive and your pizza sounds fab!
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Old 24 Sep 12, 12:47 PM  
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chelseyleigh
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Originally Posted by ppodangel View Post
Stunning scenery, even worth having to use that hideous toilet! Lovely resort at the end of that long drive and your pizza sounds fab!
haha well i think it was worth it!
was a beautiful resort!
thanks for reading!
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Old 24 Sep 12, 05:39 PM  
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Loving your trip report so far! If you don't mind me asking who did you use to book your hotels and flights? I am just starting to look into these things now as we are planning to go in September next year. There are just so many options to choose from!
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Old 24 Sep 12, 05:44 PM  
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chelseyleigh
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Originally Posted by loo-eez View Post
Loving your trip report so far! If you don't mind me asking who did you use to book your hotels and flights? I am just starting to look into these things now as we are planning to go in September next year. There are just so many options to choose from!
we booked our flights through british airways, but ended up flying out with there sister airline aimerican airlines, it just so happened that they worked out the cheapest at the time but we just constantly literally every hour until we found a flight price we were happy with, as for hotels we booked through a variety of sites, sometimes hotwire, sometimes expedia sometimes direct through the hotel website, whatever worked out cheapest really!
if you need any advice i would be happy to help!
thanks for reading!
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Old 24 Sep 12, 06:55 PM  
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Wow, what amazing scenery, also really love the photos of you all at the Vegas sign

I'm afraid to say I have done something similar to Ryan on several occasions to my poor DH, must be so scary for the other person
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Old 24 Sep 12, 07:29 PM  
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chelseyleigh
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Originally Posted by orlandosgr8 View Post
Wow, what amazing scenery, also really love the photos of you all at the Vegas sign

I'm afraid to say I have done something similar to Ryan on several occasions to my poor DH, must be so scary for the other person

haha! well i wouldn't of minded if i was at home but being in a random hotel up in the mountains freaked me out proper!
thanks for reading!
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