The flying Phoenix

Today we drove east towards the city of Phoenix. It was a long drive, around six or seven hours, so when we arrived it was about five o’clock. We were greeted by Courtney, who got us settled into our rooms. And what a nice house it was too! You can’t go very wrong staying in a million dollar house set on the edge of a beautiful golf course in the baking dessert.

By the time we got settled, had some pizza and beer and a little swim in the pool the show had really begun… the heat of the day had produced huge storm clouds to the south and an incredible lightning storm soon commenced. Trust it to start raining in the dessert the day the Scottish boys arrive eh!! A couple of Coyotes ran across the course just in front of where we were sitting, adding to the whole dessert experience.

The lightning was fantastic; I managed to get a few shots of it, but nothing that really does it justice. After the storm settled we headed out with the girls: Courtney, Amber and Kaley for a few drinks in town. We headed to a nice bar where everyone was dancing on the tables, so we felt right at home!

When we got back, it was late and we were all steemin… so naturally we all decided to jump into the pool with our clothes on! Our first day in the dessert was pretty mental!

As you can see the journey was long and tretcherous

The long, hot and winding road to the dessert

They'll tow anything over here!

What's that on yonder horizon!?

Ouch, that's gotta hurt

We decided to get out of the pool around this point!

Quality

Shad warming up on the dance floor

Shad teaching Amber the routine

Universal Scottish Soldiers

Ok, we’ve been in California for a few days, seen the sun, the sand, the beautiful people, the stars… so what next? Time for some fun! It was time to go to Universal Studios and run around like kids all day, which is exactly what we did.

We managed to get there pretty early and luckily it wasn’t a very busy day, which meant the longest we had to cue for a ride was about 30 mins. Most of the rides we got on in around 15 minutes. This meant that we managed to get around everything we wanted to see in the park, which was really impressive. Highlights include Shrek 4D, Backdraft and the Studio tour, which was a 40 minute tour of the Film studios, sets and special effects.

After all of this we were in need of a bit of a sit down, so it was a good thing that they had the new Superman movie on at the IMAX cinema! The film included four special scenes that were filmed in 3D, top marks all round!

And what better way to finish off the day than a dip in the Jacuzzi with some beer! We love LA : )

A small wood where Holly grows

What do you have to see when you're in LA? Hollywood of course! We drove out this morning to check the place out. We visited the famous Chinese Theatre where all the stars have signed their names in concrete and the pavement of stars with the names of any actor or character ever worth mentioning – and guess who was there (see below)? The place was rather nice, and hot of course. Next stop was Mel's Diner for some lunch. The diner was kitted out 50's style to good effect and the milk shakes are pretty good too.

Other than that it has to be said that Hollywood soon loses it's appeal when you take a walk further down it streets. It has a kind of Blackpool feel about it, like it was made for an era gone by and is dying out a bit. There are all the usual crappy tourist shops selling t-shirts and movie memorabilia and more than it's fair share of sex shops. We spoke to a couple of people whilst having something to eat a little later who agreed that the town had seen better times, but informed us that it's a lot better than it used to be. Apparently Glam Rock didn't do the place much good!!

While walking the street just outside the Chinese Theatre we were offered tickets to the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (who's Scottish by the way) so who could refuse!! We kept ourselves busy by driving round the Hollywood hills before heading to CBS studios for the show which is filmed in front of a live audience of about 100 people. The show involved one hell of a lot of clapping and cheering, but Craig was pretty funny and even gave a shout out to the Scottish lads in the audience (that's us!). We are fast becoming TV legends!

After destroying our hands and voice boxes we headed back to take Tim, Angela and the kids out for dinner. We went to a local steak house called Black Angus where we ate until our stomachs wept. All goooood!

The famous Chinese Theatre

That well known sign you all love

We couldn't resist another mention of wee Phil

The graffiti here's a wee bit better than in Denny

Legend

Having lunch in Mel's Diner - Quality

Welcome to the city of Angels

After the humidity and rain of New York, our arrival in Los Angeles came with a welcome blast of dry heat. But before our arrival we must mention the flight on the way. The Qantas flight from New York was half empty so we had the chance to lounge around at our pleasure, lying over four seats each for most of the journey. If that wasn't good enough we had our own games, videos and music to keep us happy. Lots of fun.

Anyway, we arrived in LA and were picked up by Tim and Angela Vermilion who have gladly provided us with accommodation while here. They stay in a lovely house in Torrance, which is just south of LA. They have two kids Anna and Megan, who kept us all busy while there! It was really good to be so far from home, yet have a lot of the same home comforts. Once we got settled in it was time to hire a car and get out and about.

Our first taste of California was a drive down to Santa Monica Beach. It was a good 35 degrees when we got there, but the breeze coming in off the Pacific Ocean helped to keep us comfortable. The beach was huge, with loads of people lying out in the sun, or funnily enough, playing on the swings. There seems to be a big craze over here for 'Big boy's play areas' which include swings, monkey bars and climbing ropes. These are always occupied by a group of self adoring muscle men which we chose to avoid. We wouldn't want to give them a showing up after all.

We spent most of the day milling around the beach front then down through the shops before going for some dinner (and yes, some rather large pints).

Our first taste of a real Californian beach

Dolphins jumping just off the coast

They also have Seagulls in the US (wow!)

Look.. it's just like Blackpool pier!

Gez and Shad playing it cool on the beach

A scene from Miami Vice

Time for some pints...

With Mr Tumnus

Sunset in LA

Isn't it purty

Day 4 - This city rocks!

We managed to get up fairly early this morning as last night was not too heavy. Today, we did it all! Our last full day in the Big Apple calls for a big day, so we pulled out all the stops to see as much of the city as we could. It was a bit of a rainy one again as New York seems to be getting a bit of a damp patch at the moment, but at least it made us feel at home.

Central Station was our first stop (notice you can't see any trains!)

We bought rooftop bus tour tickets for a better view of the city... and got rather wet!

This cheered us up tho. It looks a lot like Rosies in Falkirk*

Times Square is just as impressive during the day

Thar she blows

Funky building down town

Next stop... Liberty Island

The view of the city skyline was amazing

The view on the boat was pretty hilarious!

This made us smile a lot

Hiiiyyaaa!!

And I thought Americans were large... that's one BIG french girl

If you look closely you can even make out her nose hairs

The boys

I have to admit, that's one nice flag

Next stop... Ellis Island (stupid!)

Here we met Tiny Tim and Little Bob

And some stupid Scottish lads

"Whit ur ye tryin tae sae likes!!"

The two islands were pretty cool, and the view across the water towards Manhattan was spectacular. Ellis Island used to be the first port of call for hundreds of thousands of immigrants wishing to live in New York or the United States. You could see for many people this was about as much history they could find in this country. New York has such a wide mix of cultures, and all of them would have relatives who passed through these gates.

Next stop was the World Trade Center site.

One thing you notice about New York is that it really is a city that never sleeps, never stops and makes one hell of a lot of noise! You're ears are constantly being bombarded with people talking and shouting, horns blasting, trucks passing, sirens and street vendors. This made the visit to the World Trade Center site all the more poignant. The place was near silent, with people staring out into the rubble full of emotion. It's quite an emotional place and one of real historical influence on our lives. Pretty heavy stuff.

After our lap of the city we headed back to the hotel to dry off as we were pretty drenched. We decided to have a last view over the city by going to the Top of the Rock, The Rockerfeller Center. This offered uncomparable views over Manhattan and it's millions of people. A great way to finnish our sight seeing of NYC.

The rooftop view let us see the real spectacle of the Empire State Building

The city has so many interesting buildings, not just really tall ones

The clouds were just above our heads providing an ominous, surreal sky

This could have been something out of a Batman movie

Keeping with the surreal theme

Don't worry, the building wasn't moving from side to side, just us!

After a marathon Taxi journey right around the city looking for somewhere 'busy' on a Sunday night in New York we ended up in the same place we were before, Off the Wagon. We were pretty surprised of the lack of people out on a Sunday. I suppose some of us have to work eh...

Some friendly locals

*Are you kidding me!?