Places – The Haiarts' Adventure

Las Vegas, NV

We had 4 nights in Las Vegas with Mat. We found a “resort” style hotel on Groupon a few km from the strip.

Vegas, wow. Everything about Vegas is a show. Our first dinner out was at a casino called The Orleans had an exterior facade made up to look like the wrought iron balconies of NOLA. We had one of the best meals of the trip at their Japanese/Chinese restaurant. That night Mat and I went out to the strip to take it all in.

“We’re close let’s walk”. What an ordeal! Especially given the hotel had a free shuttle! We set off and took 20 minutes to get to The Orleans. Then another 20 minutes to get a to a freeway which Mat was convinced we couldn’t dart across (he was right). Thank God we had some road rockets to keep us hydrated. I finally tried a White Claw. It was revolting. It tastes like the Jolly Rancher you’d offer your younger sibling. We finally made it to the MGM! We blew a bit of money and headed home.

The next morning we received our SECOND noise complaint! The first one was around 7pm because I was wrestling with Moose, sort of fair but still well before the hotel’s ‘quiet hours’. The second one was at 9am because Ollie was falling on his bottom. Security knocked on our door and asked if I could make the kids be quiet. I said ‘No’. Tough shit. I went down to the reception and asked to be moved to the ground floor. It was a massive hassle but in the end worth it to protect the precious ears of people who came to Vegas for peace and quiet!

Later we drove to the Hoover Dam. Truely an engineering masterpiece. We drove over the damn and did the power plant tour. They don’t allow kids on the dam tour unfortunately. We spent close to 3 hours on the tour and walking around. If you’re ever in the area I’d highly recommend going.

That night Mat and I took the shuttle into town and had a much better experience. We saw the volcano at the Mirage, the fountain show at the Bellagio and lost a bit more money playing roulette and blackjack. Turns out none of my lucky numbers came through!

The third day we all drove down to the strip and walked around. Parking at Treasure Island was free. We saw the pirate ships outside Treasure Island. We went to Cesar’s Palace and saw the fountains and the Fall of Atlantis animatronic show, completed with fire shooting swords. We walked all the way down the MGM New York New York casino. Inside their food court was made out like the Big Apple, plus a roller coaster. Again, everything was just over the top and incredibly entertaining. Moose even snagged a photo with the show girls.

The 3rd night Mat treated the three of us to One, the Cirque de Soleil Michael Jackson show. First we hit up some casinos and lost a bit more money. Hanika gambled big on EVEN/BLACK and won! Even this couldn’t entice to play more hands. We had a quick dinner at Guy Fieri’s restaurant then off to the show. It was my first Cirque show and I was blown away. Much fewer contortionists that I had expected but an amazing array of dancing, arial stunts and light shows. Given all the accusations about MJ I was actually surprised a company that big could produce a show based on his life/music. Still, it was an incredible show! That night Mat and I both got sick, we presumed from a Flavour Town burger. It’s only thing we both ate that Hanika didn’t.

The likely offending burger. Would I eat it again? Probably.

The last day we went in search of the elusive “old” strip. Turns out it was nowhere near where we were staying! It was easily enough to get to and we scored free parking again. It certainly felt different from the famous strip. Lots of neon lights, a lot more out door performers/buskers, cheaper tables and cheaper hotels. We didn’t stop to gamble here.

That night Mat and I headed back to the Orleans to try our hand. After being down $100 each I had enough drinks to decided taking out another $400 was a good idea. And it was! We played blackjack at what became a very lively table. I’m not quick on the maths so I was doubling my bets on 14! Worked out well. So did doubling down on 13! In the end we left being up a couple of hundred each for the night, so only down a couple of hundred for the weekend. I’ve spent more had less fun in other cities.

Mat suckered me into a 530am airport run and the rest of us drove to Wofford Heights on the way to Sequoia National Park.

Kanab, UT (Zion/Bryce NP)

We had 4 nights in Kanab, UT. We chose Kanab due to it’s proximity to Zion, Bryce and Grande Escalante.

The drive out of Williams was great, plowed roads and no ice. We stopped via Flagstaff to finally get some snow gear. The local Walmart and Target were out but we found a ski shop that had secondhand gear! $45 and the kids were finally decked out, a bit late but better than never!

Our first full day in Kanab went to Zion National Park. On the way we stopped off at the Coral Dunes to do a bit of sledding on the snow. Ollie was a bit unsure and Moose was hesitant so we didn’t spend too long sledding.

Zion was amazing! We drove through the park and the Mile Long tunnel. Many of the walks were closed due to recent mudslides. We did the Riverside Walk to the Narrows. It offered a gentle climb along side a creek which was flowing with recent snow melt. Moose offered a bit of resistant but otherwise did very well. Ollie was content riding in the Ergo Baby Air Mesh 360 (definitely a product plug).

The following day we drove to Bryce National Park. Another spectacular park. The sled again came to rescue. Because of it were able to walk along several view points. Having the kids in snow pants made a huge difference to their comfort. They weren’t stuck with wet and cold bums from the snow falling into the sled. The view points had excellent fences to prevent the kids from falling down which left us with a bit of time to take pictures. Off the trail there were many smaller paths leading down valleys and over mounds. I went part way down a snow covered goat trail for some more shots. It’s somewhere I’d love to come back with older kids and do some serious hiking. There was snow everywhere still but it was 6 degrees and wonderfully sunny. I still don’t know why everyone in the same party needs to take the same picture, each with a camera and a phone. At least we have no shortage of pictures! I will say, the processor on the iPhone 8 yields some amazing pictures, especially in low light. And it’s panoramic feature is flawless. More on that in another post.

Our last day in Kanab called for rain so we did a short local hike over the town. We came almost face to face with a buck which Moose thought was pretty cool.

Dad left us in Kanab and headed back to Phoenix and we continued onto Las Vegas to meet up with my brother Mat.

Williams, AZ (Grand Canyon NP)

We had 3 nights in Williams as our “Gateway to the Grand Canyon”, as the sign says on entering the town.

The first day in Williams was a write off. There was a fresh foot of snow. Despite the plows already in full force the roads look treacherous. Dad and I headed out to see how bad they were in the 2WD van, complete with all season tires. It took 50m to stop doing 30kph… not idea for highway driving. A sage lady at the hotel said “I’ll go another day, the Canyon will be there tomorrow”. Wise words from a woman whose advanced age precluded me from being able to say the same about her. Instead we drove around town looking for appropriate snow gear. Luckily we found some boots for the boys and some Wellington boots for Hanika.

We bundled everyone up as best we could and headed for the shops on foot. In addition to the boots we bought a sled to pull the boys around in. I had visions of a leisurely stroll through fresh snow… wrong. Within a block both boys were tossed off by the narrowly shovelled sidewalks! We made it another block before we found a cafe. On the way back the wind picked up and was blowing ice crystals around. Poor Moose was being battered. Defeated, we headed back to the room to play Monopoly.

It was Thanksgiving that day so we went out for dinner at the local Mexican restaurant. They happened to be serving a ham and turkey dinner. We got both boy a plate off the kids menu. At less than half the price of the adult dish we figured it would fill them nicely. I won’t lie, it was the size of the adult meal! Lucky for us we had some Tupperware in the car so we ended up with tomorrow’s lunch at a fraction of the cost!

Over the day and second night a few more inches of snow fell. The road conditions were reported as good. I must admit, for what I consider a pretty remote part of America the plows were great. The roads were in excellent condition apart from scattered slush. The slowest part of the drive as getting INTO the park! I missed the turn off for prepaid vehicles so we were stuck in the slow moving line.

We unpacked everyone from the van and onto the sled and started walking around the South Rim. I’m not sure what it looks like in summer but the Grand Canyon is beautiful in winter. The size of the canyon can’t be overstated. I’ve never seen anything like it. We managed a bit of a walk with the sled before the boys got too cold and we had to turn back. Everyone looked jealous of our setup, especially the poor parents trying to push strollers and wagons through snow! One downside was that snow was piling into the sled and the boys only had sweatpants on.

We had one last dinner at a classic Route 66 diner before setting off the next day for Kanab, UT.

Phoenix, AZ

We had one night in Phoenix to pick up my dad. Simple, right? We got some good deals on Groupon for a hotel near the airport.

We did a big drive from Joshua Tree and finally made it to Phoenix in the afternoon. We checked in and… no Pappy. Odd since his flight was due 2 hours ago.

I checked the flights, all on time. No message from him that he had any problems making his connection. Must be the long line up at the rental car office due to Thanksgiving. I tried calling just to check, no answer. He must be signing the documents as we speak. We checked into our room and waiting.

An hour later, 3 hours after his arrival, a call from Dad. Where was the hotel? Someone had sent him on a wild goose chase looking for an exit on the interstate that didn’t exist. He made it to south and west Phoenix but not to the hotel. A few simple instructions on how to get from 25th to 75th street sorted everything out. If only the GPS he brought from Canada wasn’t filled with European maps from our Italy trip 5 years ago. And if only he splurged on a data package and could use Google Maps. Alas.

We went out for a lovely dinner at a trendy restaurant. It advertised an “anti inflammatory” menu. Regardless, the food was delicious and I think I countered the health kicks with the few beers I drank.

Hanika noticed a weather alert on her phone which said a massive storm was coming and would close down the interstate up to the Grand Canyon (our intended destination)! We’ve not been great at keeping up with the world. We don’t listen to the local radio stations because we have Spotify and we don’t watch TV because we’re masochists.

The more we looked, the more nervous I became. They were calling for 2 feet of snow in the Grand Canyon. What to do? We could stay in Phoenix where it would rain, forgo a night or two in Williams and relax. Or we could haul up the next morning and hold up in Williams (think The Shining). The hotel owner assured me they wouldn’t lose power. A quick google showed that the town had a few basic ammenities and that we were unlikely to starve. One slight issue was our lack of snow gear. The kids had jackets, but no gloves, boots or snow pants!

We waited until the next morning to make our decision. The forecast called for snow only in the afternoon so Hanika made the executive decision to push on. We stopped via Walmart but couldn’t find anything for the kids! The drive up was fine apart from a bit of sleet past 4000ft of elevation. We effortlessly checked into our hotel as the snow fell.

Joshua Tree NP, CA

The scenery was certainly taking on a different appearance now – we had left the coast behind us and were heading into the desert. We were met with long straight highways through rocky plains, along with plenty of scrub and rocky mountains. We arrived in Twenty Nine Palms – a small town just outside Joshua National Park, and pulled up to our hotel. The reception was decked out as a Western-style hotel but our accommodation was a lovely self contained unit complete with a dog turd under the bed (quickly dealt with) and an organ piano – Moose was in heaven and played it every opportunity he got. We dropped off our things at the hotel and headed straight for the park for a quick visit before the sun went down. We bought an annual pass at the entrance which then allowed us free entry into a number of other national parks – including the Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce – all of which would come in useful over the next few weeks. But for now, back to the hotel for dinner.

In the morning we headed back to the park in search of the Cholla Cactus Garden walking trail. After the 30 minute drive there, we didn’t make it out of the carpark before Moose got a splinter on the wooden hand rail. Despite our best efforts with the first aid kit in the car, we couldn’t get it out and so turned around and went back to the hotel. It came out easily with a proper pair of tweezers and some well timed distraction. Here was when the weather stopped going our way….a dust storm blew in with strong winds and very poor visibility. That ruled out going back to the park that day and we hunkered down in the hotel….where the power went out…

Before and during the sandstorm, taken from the end of our street.

The next morning the power had returned and the storm had cleared so we headed back to the park. This time we were in search of Arch Rock trail. After some dubious signage and a false start in the wrong direction, we found Arch Rock and were blown away by the rock formations. Moose was really excited and did a fantastic job climbing and jumping around on the rocks. After Arch Rock we hopped back in the car and headed on to Skull Rock, for some more climbing. After this we raced down to Keys View lookout before the sun went down. We arrived, dealt with an impressive nappy blowout, then rugged up and braved the 5 degree, windy weather to get some photos then retreat back to the warmth of the car to defrost our fingers and head back to the hotel.

The next morning we set off to Phoenix to meet up with Seb’s dad who would be joining us for the next two weeks of our trip.

LA/Venice Beach, CA

We had varying expectations for LA after accounts from others of it being little more than a big dirty city. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. We stayed in Venice Beach, and while the apartment we were in was larger only than our hotel room in New York, but at twice the price per square foot, the location was spot on. We were one block from the beach and spent a day walking along the Venice Boardwalk in the sunshine, past all the touristy shops and stalls, beachside skate parks, beach volleyball courts and outdoor gyms. I headed one way down the boardwalk and walked all the way to Santa Monica pier, while Seb and the boys walked the other way and were entertained by a silent disco on the beach.

Another highlight was walking through the Venice Canals, just a few blocks from our AirBnb. The houses there were very impressive, and although the canals themselves don’t go anywhere, it certainly felt like a sanctuary from the surrounding hustle and bustle. We also managed to find a lovely cafe a couple of blocks away that did great coffee….owned by Australians of course.

For our other day we headed into Hollywood, walked along the walk of fame and snapped some photos of the Hollywood sign. (An overall terrible experience with streets lined with crap souvenir shops -Seb)

Next, we headed east towards Joshua Tree National Park.

Santa Barbara, CA

Santa Barbara was another nice little stop off on the way down to LA. The main highlight here was the MOXI Children’s Museum – another museum we got free entry into courtesy of the reciprocal membership from the Montreal Science Museum. I have to say it is an absolutely wonderful museum and Moose had a ball. There are lots of interactive exhibits based around sounds, light and physical movement. Moose’s favourite part was building and re-building a car and sending it down a race track to see how he could make it go as fast as possible. We finished off on the rooftop looking through infrared binoculars at the traffic and train going past below, and even managed to catch the sunset.

Next stop: LA.

San Simeon, CA

San Simeon is a small coastal town just south of Big Sur State Park. We stayed in a Motel 6 which was nothing to write home about but far from the worst place we’ve stayed (we’re still debating about which place that was…). The main attraction in this little town is the light house, so we went along and had a lovely tour of the little patch of state park that it sits on and learnt about the local wildlife and the history of the lighthouse itself.

It was also Ollie’s first birthday, so to celebrate we treated ourselves to dinner at a nice restaurant where both children refused to eat most of what we’d ordered, so Seb and I hurriedly ate our meals and we retreated to out motel before the kids got too disruptive. We sat around the eski (cooler/chilli bin) to sing happy birthday to our little man, whose best effort at blowing out his candle was to try to burn himself on the flame and then spit at it. He did it with a big grin on his beautiful happy face though and that’s all that mattered.

Onward to Santa Barbara….

San Francisco, CA

After spending the last two months in the eastern United States, we repacked all our bags, dug out our winter gear, bid farewell to the Chrysler van and set off on a plane (or rather, two) for California. First stop on the west coast was San Francisco and after landing in the evening, we picked up our new Dodge minivan (the cheaper-in-every-way version of the sweet ride we’d had on the east coast) and headed off to our AirBnb and bundled ourselves into bed.

The following day we took the train to the Embarcadero area. We stopped to grab a coffee – Seb was very excited to buy his coffee from a street stall that had a robot that made your coffee. Turns out a coffee machine makes your coffee then a robot arm picks up the cup and hands it to you. Quite entertaining to watch but unfortunately tasted like garbage. Nevertheless we continued to wander around downtown and walked along the waterfront, past the piers to Fisherman’s Wharf. The Wharf was very touristy but entertaining for the kids and we found a carousel for Moose to ride and then went to see the sea lions at pier 39.

The next day we went to Golden Gate Park – we came across an amateur game of baseball then found a playground for the kids to wear themselves out on. On the way home we visited the Golden Gate Bridge for a few photos.

Monday was time to leave and start driving down the coast towards LA, but not before we forgot one of our bags at the AirBnb and had to turn back to retrieve it. Second time lucky and we were back on the road. We took the coastal highway and enjoyed the stunning views through Big Sur and of the pacific on our drive down to San Simeon – the coast and the landscape reminded us a lot of the South Australian coast.

Orlando, FL (Disney)

Warning, this is long!

No trip to the US is complete without visiting Disney! We spent 5 nights in Orlando to finish the East Coast leg of the trip.

We had a long drive from Key Largo to Orlando. We checked into our AirBnB and awaited the arrival of Eric and Jenn and their two kids.

The first full day together we had pancakes for breakfast then lounged around the pool. The unit was part of a gated holiday community. It had a community centre with an arcade, movie theatre, pool and hot tub. The kids had a blast running around the pool. That afternoon Eric decided to indulge in the local culture and hit up the gun range complete with free popcorn.

Neither of us are gunsmiths my any stretch. We rocked up wearing thongs (flip flops) completely lost. “So how does it this work?”. Turns out you pay money and then pick a gun from a shelf, buy ammo and shoot! Quite simple. Except you get more instructions getting onto a ride in Disney! They literally pointed to the trigger and said pull this down range. Multiple times we had to ask for help and were met with a disappointing sigh. In their defence, we forgot/didn’t know how to turn off the safety. We shot a 9mm Glock, a semi automatic rifle and shotgun, a full automatic rifle and a 6 shooter. We also got some sweet booties.

The next day was Disney World. This was mine and Hanika’s first time. Thank goodness we had Jenn and Eric to lead the way with their combined 15 visits!

Everything was planned out. We knew which rides we’d hit up first, how we’d effectively use our Fast Passes. Flawless.

We changed accommodation and dropped our bags at the Animal Kingdom Resort and hopped on the shuttle to the Magic Kingdom park. We arrived 45 mins later than anticipated and that’s when the wheels fell off! Already the wait for rides was over an hour. Thank God we had Jenn to navigate the park and make the most of our time.

We had a jam packed day. We managed to catch a mid day parade, do some rides and watch some shows. Moose wasn’t a huge fan of any ride that was remotely fast/scary but he was happy enough to sit out. One of the highlights for me was the shows. They’re only about 20 minutes long, in a large theatre, minimum line ups, air conditioned and filled with comfy seats! They offered a reprieve from the heat and screaming kids.

In the middle of the day we got our hotel rooms texted to us. We were miles apart! We thought that mattered (it didn’t), so Eric called up and asked if they could change us. Thank God he did, they ended up right next door with a room upgrade! Disney really does do anything they can to make your stay happy. Ask, they’ll do it.

Unfortunately Disney closed the Magic Kingdom at 6pm on our day. They were hosting a Christmas Party which mean we got kicked out unless we spent another $100 EACH. Not even a restaurant reservation would keep us in the park. We headed to the Rainforest Cafe for an immersive meal compete with fish tanks and animatronic gorillas.

https://youtu.be/zGdcSZoOT7s

The next morning we woke to the sight of giraffes and zebras from our balcony. I enthusiastically woke up Moose who begged me to let him sleep! Since when is a 4 year old a teenager?? So much for investment in a safari view room.

We ate a delicious buffet, no alcohol for $100 USD for 3 people! All those websites that say Disney has reasonably priced food must be eating stadium hotdogs. Jesus. Saying that, it was delicious apart from the subpar filtered coffee.

Our second Disney day was spent at Hollywood Studios. Again, a delayed start due to the Haiarts’ meant missing our first preferences. The park is divided into two major areas; Toy Story and Star Wars. The Toy Story world is filled with rides and regular character appearances. We didn’t make it onto the Slinky Dog roller coaster because the line had ballooned to >75 mins by the time we entered the park! We say the Indian Jones special effects who which was incredible. Another chance to sit down but this time with explosions! We also managed a Frozen show, a Cars show and Eric, Jenn and I rode the Rockin’ Roller coaster. It launches you 0-90kpm in 2.8 seconds! The whole thing is somehow inside, dark and ludicrous. Do it.

I dragged everyone to Star Wars Galaxy Edge after. As a huge fan it was mind blowing. A totally immersive experience despite the fact it’s not complete. People were being randomly arrested by circulating Storm Troopers. Unfortunately we had the WORST food of the entire trip there. I misread “Turkey Jerky” as jerked turkey. We spent 2 months in Jamaica and loved jerked chicken. Sure, I thought, a new bird but same great taste right? False. It was literally jerky (dried, seasoned) turkey skin. It looked like a withered ball sac. It tasted no better. Still, the $15 extragalactical cocktail made up for it. But seriously, the whole thing was amazing. The attention to detail was “out of this world”. I was like a kid in a candy store. I even considered buying Star Wars Christmas ornaments. The grand finale of the night was riding the “Smuggler’s Run” ride in the Millennium Falcon. I’d read review on how the ride worked but they left a lot of details out to keen an element of surprise. I’ll do the same… It was great fun with any of the “roles” being interactive and undoubtably fun. Worth Eric and Jenn doing the line up so we could to the parent swap.

We retired back to the resort and the kids did a bit of animal viewing. They set up night vision goggles and with them Moose swore he could all of them. There was one cow..

The next day we enjoyed another overpriced buffet and the Johannson’s left us. We checked out and into another timeshare type community, much smaller and without any sort of country club feel. We were treated to a visit by the Thurling’s who are also doing a North American tour with their young children. We had a lazy day by the pool and a few bevies. It was great to catch up with people who understood the trials and tribulations of travelling with family. They went off to Mexico and we flew off to San Francisco.