Time to head back to the big city after a wonderful few days soaking up the warm fresh air of Yosemite National Park. Our next stop is San Francisco which was a 4 hour drive from our hotel at Fish Camp. This was my second trip to San Fran but there was a big 27 year gap in between each visit so it was time to rediscover the city again.
We decided to stay down at Fisherman’s Wharf on this trip as we were in town for 4th of July celebrations and this meant we would be near the fireworks over the bay. Our hotel was called the Zephyr Hotel and was quite a hip and happening place in a fabulous location right across the road from Pier 39 and all the touristy things on the Bay. They had some amazing games and entertainment for the kids on the ground floor however it was however the smallest room we encountered on our trip which meant for an interesting 4 days living like sardines in a can!! The room was clean and had an amazing view straight out to Alcatraz but the size was just not great for a family of 5. We had even emailed numerous times before we left Australia confirming that we wanted a particular room that was a little larger but this of course was not noted on anything.
As we had 4 days in San Francisco we decided that the best way to get around and see the city would be to do the hop on hop off double decker bus! There were plenty of bus sightseeing companies to chose from and they are a great way to get some history of the city. We picked City Sightseeing and to be honest we think this particular company was the one that seemed to have the least number of buses. Once we were on board all was great but the minute you get off to explore an area you would at times be left waiting well over an hour or two before the next bus would turn up. My advice would be to ask people waiting at the bus stops if they were finding the busses regular before you decide which tour company to go with!
San Fran is a big and interesting city with so much to see – we probably could have easily driven to everywhere but we were unsure of exactly what do see and do first and we didn’t want the hassle of parking which seemed to be expensive (parking in out hotel cost us $55 a night!) so I am glad we did the bus tour so we could see all the places of interest. One thing is for sure of SF though – the weather! It was COLD! After the high temperatures we had for the previous two weeks the drop down to 17 degrees while in SF was a shock to the system! We were told that the one item that the tourist shops sell more of in the city are sweat shirts and jackets – they certainly are not good at summer but I guess that is what adds to the charm!
My favourite things to see and do in San Francisco were:-
The Golden Gate Bridge
A walk and lunch in the Haight District
An afternoon at Sausalito
The morning on Alcatraz Island
Visiting the Painted Ladies and other Full House sites
Lunch in Chinatown
Shopping in Union Square
A vist to Lombard St
Here are some of my favourite photos from our time in San Francisco
After 3 fantastic days we started our long journey to Yosemite National Park – definitely my favourite of the scenic parts from our trip.
After spending the morning making the most of our Las Vegas pad, which included time at the pool and some lunch we finally departed at around 1.30pm – quite late for the fact that we had a long drive ahead – longer than we had predicted!
The drive from Vegas to our hotel which was just on the outskirts of Yosemite National Park in a place called Fish Camp took us 8 hours, so with a petrol and food stop along the way it meant we arrived at our hotel at 10pm – a big big day! Our hotel was Tenaya Lodge and we had a deluxe room with 2 queen beds and a roll away. The room was like your traditional style room so really only room to walk around the beds but was it was a really lovely hotel that I would recommend. They had a couple of restaurants and a little snack shop, 2 pools (indoor and outdoor) and loads of extra things for the kids to do. We did archery one day but there were also mountain bikes for hire and a rock climbing wall.
After a good nights sleep we were up bright and early the next morning for day one of our trip into the park! Yosemite National Park is a huge place and the drive from the main entrance to the main floor of the park is a good hour. The drive is beautiful though and we saw a number of deer on the way!
The first major tourist stop while driving in is called Tunnel View. After traveling through a long tunnel you arrive to some magical scenery and your first glimpse at the postcard perfect Yosemite!
June was a brilliant time to visit as all the waterfalls are still in full flow! By September most have dried up until after the winter. Some proved to be a welcome relief after hiking to the bottom and being sprayed by the cool water! Once in the main part of the park we stopped regularly in the car to see the scenery. The road is easy to travel along with plenty of places to stop. We did a few hikes and and had lunch in one of the cafe’s The other cool thing we did see was a bear! He was just wandering through the forest – the rangers were close by keep tabs on him so he didn’t come near the tourists!
Here are some of my favourite photos from day 1
On day 2 we took a different drive into the park. This time we headed to Glacier Point where we could view everything from up above! Again this was spectacular and so worth the trip. The drive was not as long as day one and the walk once in was short and easy.
On our final day as we left the park we headed to an area that had the giant sequoia trees. The size of these trees is really incredible. We did a bush walk on a marked trail that gave the age and history of the giant trees which was fascinating. I must say our time in this part of California was one of my favourites and a must if you there in summer or spring. We had three nights at Tenaya lodge and for our family this was perfect!
Time for the bright lights and scorching heat of Las Vegas – one of our favourite stops on our trip!
So our journey began after leaving the Grand Canyon on a Sunday morning. It happened to be Indiana’s birthday this day as well so we had a quick present giving ceremony in our room before we hit the road. We headed straight out of Tusayan back down the highway we first arrived on and made our first stop for breakfast at the town of Williams which is a great traditional spot on Route 66 – lots of old time nostalgia to look at which I thought was very cool!
We then continued back along the freeway to visit the Hoover Dam. The temperatures once again were scorching and in the high 40’s so we our visit was short but just enough to see the amazing engineering feat that the dam is. To get a sense of how high the water needed to be to open the dam gates was quite impressive and again to see the layers of the earth and marvel at just how long it has taken to create what we now see.
After a few more hours driving we arrived in the hustling and bustling Las Vegas and headed straight to our hotel, The Cosmopolitan which was right in the centre of The Las Vegas Boulevarde Strip.
From the very moment you arrive you get the sense of glitz and glam – the kids were suitably impressed to say the least. We arrived right on 4pm which proved to make life busier as this is check in time for all guests! I failed to read the notes our travel agent had made on our itinerary saying that we had special lounge check-in which would get us around the crowds so we lined up with what seemed to be hundreds of other people and an hour later we made it to the check in desk (will not forget to check the itinerary again!).
The size and number of guests that these hotels accomodate is quite amazing but we were pretty excited with the room we were given which was a 2 bedroom suite on the 54th floor (there are 60 floors in total) with sweeping views of the entire city. Out one side we were looking over the Bellagio Hotel and it’s beautiful fountain. In another direction we looked to the Sands Hotel and the mountains surrounding Las Vegas and to the other side we could see the hotels and airport on the other end of the strip – yes our suite was that big that it took up the entire end of the building! Spoilt indeed – we kind of didn’t want to leave and go back to sharing one room.
The added bonuses that came with the room were also pretty good – a $100 spa credit plus a choice of complimentary daily buffet breakfast for two or a $75 daily room service credit! I used the spa voucher and put it towards a fantastic massage – the massage was $160 (plus that tip – oh that tip which I still don’t understand!!!) but it was pretty special and an experience in itself! We used our $75 room service credit to order lunch for all of us each day.
The weather was around 44 degrees each day during our stay so we made the most of using this time to relax by the pool each morning before heading back to the room for our special room service lunch – we did feel like we were living the life!
One afternoon we took a trip to the Vegas North outlet shopping centre. I wasn’t that impressed as we have great shopping here in Australia now so there was not a lot that we couldn’t get here and the prices were not really that great for what is essentially old stock. Our dollar is not super fantastic at the moment so really we weren’t gaining much. We did pick up some clothes for the kids and a few other things that caught our eye but nothing to write home about!
We had 3 nights in Vegas and each was spent a little different. Our first evening was Indi’s birthday so we stayed in our hotel and had dinner at Holsteins at the The Cosmopolitan – they made her feel extra special and went out of their way to help us celebrate her birthday – such fun and a great meal for all of us! On our second night we went for a walk along the strip to look a the other hotels and shops – it was still so hot and with the distance between each hotel being a reasonable walk we probably didn’t achieve that much but we still had fun. The highlight of the evening was a visit to the Tiffany Store where the staff treated the girls beautifully and offered to show them and allow them to try on lots of jewellery. We didn’t purchase this time but I am sure it has planted a seed!
On our last evening we went to a show that I had booked prior to leaving Australia. Our choice was Cirque Du Soleil’s “O” which was just out of this world! I would highly recommend it to anyone – we were all mesmerised. Having never been to a Cirque performance before, the excitement of seeing this one in Vegas was wonderful!
The other highlight of our time in Vegas was how the hotel spoilt our birthday girl by delivering the most impressive birthday cake to our room. As I have spent many years in the party industry I know how much time and effort, not to mention cost goes into creating these beautiful cakes, so when they delivered one to us free of charge I was gob smacked – so special!
We had a wonderful few days in Vegas and used it as some down time after a really busy week and a half of sightseeing, walking and driving. It gave us a refresh for the next part of our journey and the luxury of the hotel made it just that much more special!
As always here is our short movie of all we got up to in Las Vegas.
Our third stop on our great American Adventure was the amazing Grand Canyon – another totally incredible place that is a must see! This was my second trip to the Grand Canyon and it is still as awe inspiring the second time around as the first.
After a very long drive from Anaheim (7 and three quarter hours!) we arrived at our hotel in Tusayan at around 5.30 in the afternoon. The drive from Anaheim was an easy one (although it is easy for me to say that as I was not driving – but it was straight forward) that pretty much took you straight out through the dessert. We had a brief stop for petrol and to use the bathroom at a pretty small town called Needles during the afternoon but we didn’t stop anywhere for food as we had purchased snacks and things to eat in the car before we left Anaheim. The temperature at our pit stop was 45 degrees so our refuelling was a quick one! The town of Tusayan is just outside the entrance to Grand Canyon National Park but so close that within 15 minutes we were on the south rim!
I was really keen to see sunset at the Canyon so after checking in to our hotel (more details on our hotel are below) we had a very quick dinner in their restaurant and made it into the park by 7.30pm to watch a beautiful sunset around 8pm. Entry into the park is US$30 per car for a 7 day permit. As you can see from the few photos of the family below the colours over the grand canyon at sunset are spectacular and so different to how it looks in the heat of the day. I am so pleased we headed in to the park for sunset to watch the colours change over the canyon and also get a small taste of our day ahead.
After a good nights sleep we grabbed a quick breakfast at a small local coffee shop in Tusayan called RP’s – their coffee was “ok” and they had breakfast options that suited the kids – always a bonus! We then took the 15 minute drive back to the south rim where we parked in the visitors centre car park. There was loads of parking in the park so we were pleased that we drove in and didn’t take the shuttle that the signs outside the park recommend! It meant we were free to come and go as we needed and could take our mini esky full of bottled water.
Once in the park we then did a really big walk along the rim. We started at Mather Point just near the visitors centre and walked to Bright Angel Lodge at Village. There was a great geology museum to visit along the way where we could learn about the history of the canyon and of course the view changed as we walked! It was not at all a difficult walk as it was flat and along a path but the weather was warm (we were there at the end of June) and into the 30’s so we were pleased we had loads of water to keep us hydrated. The distance we walked was about 3.5km which is not far but with kids, hot weather, the geology centre and a nice view to keep stopping to check out it took us a few hours.
After our walk we then caught the shuttle bus back to the main car park at the Visitors Centre – this was a quick 10 minute bus trip that stopped at various places to get us back to where we started. Once back at our starting point we decided to take a drive to Dessert View which was 35 km in the other direction. The drive was great – easy and of course picturesque with the canyon to one side and the dessert to the other. You could stop all along this drive at the numerous viewing spots that were not overcrowded. At Dessert View we visited the watch tower and found a different perspective of the canyon that was just as amazing!
Our drive from Dessert View back to Tusayan was approximately an hour heading back on the same road we had arrived on – easy and picturesque (you can see some of it in the video below). We had a fantastic trip to the Canyon – I know there is a lot more you can do like go hiking into the canyon or ride a donkey or even fly over in a helicopter but a simple walk and a drive was perfect for us travelling with kids!
We stayed at the Grand Hotel in Tusayan and it was great. We were in a standard room which included two queen beds and a rollaway. Rooms like this are always tight when travelling with 5 but we weren’t in the room that often so for this part of our trip it was fine! The hotel had a good restaurant and an indoor pool (which we didn’t use). We just stayed the two nights which is not long after a big trip to get here but we didn’t feel like we needed any more time at the Grand Canyon. On our last evening we had Mexican dinner at Sophie’s in Tusayan – it was delicious and I would definitely recommend it. Tusayan is not big and pretty much just has 8 or so hotels, a few restaurants, petrol stations and tourist shops – you can’t get lost and it is so close to the canyon that it is the perfect place to stay being a little cheaper than the hotels on the rim!
As always please let me know if you want any more information about visiting the Grand Canyon.
A very big highlight of our recent trip to the US was our time at Disneyland. We all know it is the happiest place on earth and honestly you can’t help but just be consumed by the Disney atmosphere while you are there – we went into the bubble and didn’t reappear for a few days. Every person who has asked the kids what was the best part of our trip has had the same response! DISNEYLAND!
In my previous post I talked about our time in LA and Santa Monica (you can read about it here) so our trip to Disneyland begins after we had been in the US for 4 nights. The drive to Anaheim took an hour but that was mainly because there is so much traffic on those freeways! With our trusty GPS (who we named Monica seeing as she began our journey for us in Santa Monica) the drive was simple and easy and we arrived at our hotel at 4pm in the afternoon. The hotel we stayed at was the Paradise Pier which is one of the three Disney hotels. We decided on this one mainly because we just wanted to save a little on accomodation and it was the cheapest of the three. We definitely were not disappointed that we went this way as our room was big enough and close enough so we had no complaints. We parked our car in the on site parking area and that was the last we saw of her until we left Disneyland – we definitely just immersed ourself in Disneyland which I had not predicted us doing. I did expect we might try and find a supermarket close by and get some snacks or go elsewhere to eat but we didn’t. We ate all our meals within the Disney precinct and to my surprise we were able to find a few decent things to eat.
Our room at the hotel was called a Standard room so it had 2 queen beds and a day bed which converted to a single bed. The room was the biggest of our standards rooms during our entire trip with there being plenty of room between all the beds so we didn’t not feel at all cramped – I suspect from looking at the photos on the hotel website that we may have lucked out and received one of the bigger standard rooms. The hotel is a little older than the Grand Californian which is next door but it was clean and comfortable which was all we needed seeing as most of our time we were in the Park. We didn’t even go to the pool as we were so busy in the park and when we came back for a rest we didn’t want to go anywhere else.
After check in we decided to head straight into the park. We had a 4 day hopper pass and we didn’t want to wait any time. Originally I had only planned on getting a 3 day pass and not heading into the park on the day we arrived but I am really glad we went with 4 days as it allowed us to take a little more time each day. I was also really pleased that we opted for the hopper pass over the standard pass that only allows you entry into one park per day. The last time I was in Disneyland was 27 years ago and there was only the original “Disneyland Park” back then so I couldn’t imagine why you would want to visit both Disneyland and California Adventure land in one day but we did. The closest entrance to our hotel was also through California Adventure Land so it made it very convenient to be able to walk through there when we needed to. It really gave us a lot of flexibility with where we wanted to eat and which shows to watch so if you can I would go with a park hopper pass.
We had a wonderful first evening at Disneyland that really helped us to get our bearings and to get on loads of rides without too many queues. It had been an incredibly hot day with temperatures around 40 degrees so we think this meant a lot of people left earlier to escape the heat as on day 2 the crowds seemed bigger. We decided to head into the Disneyland park first and knocked over a few of the big well known rides like HyperSpace Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Buzz Lightyear, Indiana Jones Adventure, the Haunted Mansion. Queues for rides also dropped down once the parades started so our strategy for continuing on the rides really meant we got to do these rides much quicker than usual!
Day two was an early start with us being at the gates to Disneyland at 6.40am (yes I know!!) ready to hit the rides. By staying at a Disney resort you get early entry into the park at 7am (everyone else can enter at 8am) and from everything I had read you want to make the most of it! The early arrival still didn’t save us from the queues as the crowd was ready and waiting when we arrived but it was great to be able to get in and get going early before the heat of the day. We spent the morning and some of the afternoon in the park before heading back to our room for a little rest before hitting the pavement again for the evening. Each evening there is an amazing parade in the park followed by fireworks and if you want to get a front row seat you need to have your spot saved well before the event. It was around 7pm when we noticed people starting to sit along the parade route and the parade doesn’t start until 8.45pm! We followed suit and found a spot and made friends with our neighbours which was fun. During the almost 2 hour wait I would take one of the girls and find a ride with a short line so that we kept them amused which worked well. It was a long night though as the parade finished at 9.30pm and then the fireworks started finishing at 9.50pm. Both the parade and the fireworks were amazing – I would have to say the fireworks combined with the soundtrack and the setting was the best I have ever seen – truly amazing and something I will remember for ever!
Day three was similar to day two but this time we were in California Adventure Land for the majority of the day. Again it was an early start by me (the others slept in a little longer but I was determined to be hard core!!). We went to the World of Colour night time performance on day three and once again it was spectacular. Yes we needed to get our spot early – for a 9pm show we had to start lining up for our spot at 7pm but so worth it.
On our final day at Disneyland we started by going to have breakfast with Mickey and his friends in our hotel. We booked this before we went away and while I was a little reluctant before the event (it cost us approx AUD$300 for the breakfast) it was a huge highlight for the girls. We were celebrating Indi’s birthday while away so they really did make a big deal of it with badges, a special cake and a sing along. The three girls loved having cuddles and photos with all of the characters and while the food was nothing to write home about the experience itself was wonderful.
After breakfast we headed back to the park splitting our day between both Disneyland and DCA. We attempted to go on the rides we had not yet made it to and go back to our favourites one last time. The ride that we went on most was California Scream in DCA – it was Sofia and Indi’s favourite and the queues were never more than 15 minutes. My other favourite was Soaring Around the World which was also in DCA- huge queues if you didn’t make the most of the fast pass system (more about that soon!)
So a few other tips – learn about and make the most of the fast pass system! The fast pass system allows you to jump the queue on a number of the really popular rides within both parks. Sounds simple but some planning is required if you want to get the most out of it! My first tip is get a fast pass for the busiest ride the minute you enter the park. The system does not allow you to get another fast pass for a different ride until you have used your first fast pass so you need to work out what is most popular and get that pass early! If you wait too long to get your fast pass you may find that your return time to use your pass is well into the afternoon or even the evening so you cannot even attempt to get another fast pass for another ride until after this – that could potentially waste you 4-5 hours where you have to join the regular queue on every other ride. Some of the rides are so popular that they run out of fast passes – this seemed to happen a lot on the rides in DCA like Soarin and Radiator Springs Racers so grab them early! It doesn’t take long to work the system out once you are there but it is definitely worth having a plan. Our plan worked well and it also meant I did a lot more walking than hubby and the kids as I was the fast pass runner! The minute we used one fast pass I would take everyones park ticket and go straight to get a fast pass for another popular ride while the others went to queue for something different that had a short wait time. There are 8 rides in each park that use the fast pass system and they cut our wait times from 2 hours to 10 minutes – so worth it!!
There are two shows that require a fast pass for entry and you need to get your fast pass early – before 10am – they only have a certain number of fast pass tickets they allocate and once they are gone that is it for the day. The shows are both in DCA – World of Colour and Frozen. We didn’t get to see Frozen but World of Colour is a must.
Another tip when fast pass hunting is to make sure that everyone in your party has entered the park for the day – I made the mistake on day 3 of taking everyones ticket and heading into the park at 7am to grab a fast pass for all us. Sadly as my ticket was the only one that had scanned through at the gate it meant that I could only get a fast pass for me! Bonus for me – annoying for the others (that will teach them for wanting extra sleep!)
Favourite food in the park! Our favourite place to eat was in DCA at Pacific Wharf. We found a great asian option in Lucky Fortune Cookery – highly recommend the teriyaki chicken which was a great size serving and delicious. Chicken, veggies and rice – ticked all the boxes for all of us! If you are looking for a nice sit down table service restaurant our pick was Naples Ristorante which was in Downtown Disney. Two other great options were both in DCA – Smokejumpers Grill and Fidler Fifer and Practical Cafe for coffee. Starbucks coffee was located in both parks and downtown Disney but warning if you want coffee before entering the park you need to go early as the queues were out the door!
Photo’s – as you can see by my photos in this pass I am appearing in them! This is because we decided to do a Disney Photo Pass. As I am always the photographer I tend to not be in many shots so I decided that I was not going to take my big heavy camera with me to the park but leave it up to the many photographers they have available to capture our time! So pleased I did as not only do we have lots of great family photos around the park but there is also a picture of us on a number of the rides – those fun pictures where you are screaming on a rollercoaster pictures! Great memories to have! I used my iPhone to capture quick shots here and there and of course to film snippets of our 4 days so I could create the mini movie below!
So there you have our time in Disneyland – the best and most exhausting 4 days! I collapsed into bed at around 8pm on day 4 – my step counter told me I had done 75,000 steps over our few days – I certainly felt it as well! Please feel free to ask any more questions in the comments if you want more info and I will add more info over time if I remember important tidbits!
After a good nights sleep we grabbed a quick breakfast at a small local coffee shop in Tusayan called RP’s – their coffee was “ok” and they had breakfast options that suited the kids – always a bonus! We then took the 15 minute drive back to the south rim where we parked in the visitors centre car park. There was loads of parking in the park so we were pleased that we drove in and didn’t take the shuttle that the signs outside the park recommend! It meant we were free to come and go as we needed and could take our mini esky full of bottled water.
