Homecoming II Return Trip
01-02-2011, 04:36 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Homecoming II Return Trip
OK, better late than never, but I did promise.
Here’s the link to the Outbound thread, for reference.
Outbound Homecoming Trip Log
The Sunday after Homecoming, Virginija and I spent the afternoon with my aunt, who lives in Malibu, then spent the night with Virginija’s brother and family in Santa Monica.
The next morning (Monday), we headed out towards Las Vegas. Fearing heavy traffic, we left fairly early, but encountered no traffic to speak of.
Once away from LA, the scenery became pretty boring:
Final approach into Nevada:
Here’s the link to the Outbound thread, for reference.
Outbound Homecoming Trip Log
The Sunday after Homecoming, Virginija and I spent the afternoon with my aunt, who lives in Malibu, then spent the night with Virginija’s brother and family in Santa Monica.
The next morning (Monday), we headed out towards Las Vegas. Fearing heavy traffic, we left fairly early, but encountered no traffic to speak of.
Once away from LA, the scenery became pretty boring:
Final approach into Nevada:
01-02-2011, 04:37 PM
#2
Thread Starter
We made it to Vegas in plenty of time, so we first headed for our hotel (Bally’s) to clean up and unpack the car. We needed to make space for Anika’s bags and decide how we would get her to the hotel. This was one of those few times when a back seat would certainly have helped!
After picking up Anika from the airport (none the worse for ear, and it seems she charmed the flight crew pretty well) we spent a couple hours wandering around Vegas, seeing the fountains at the Bellagio.
Anika had her own camera (my old one):
After picking up Anika from the airport (none the worse for ear, and it seems she charmed the flight crew pretty well) we spent a couple hours wandering around Vegas, seeing the fountains at the Bellagio.
Anika had her own camera (my old one):
01-02-2011, 04:37 PM
#3
Thread Starter
As 5pm was approaching, we headed over to Planet Hollywood. I had tickets to the BeatleShow concert (that’s why Anika is wearing one of her Beatles t-shirts), and we wanted to get there early.
Waiting outside the theater:
There was a ‘warm-up’ act – Anika got chosen along with another kid to play Guitar Hero to some Beatles tunes. After a while, with some coaching, she got into it. She got a free t-shirt out of it too!
I should have taken more pictures during the concert – I don’t think they would have stopped me, because Anika ended up on stage twice! The first time, the 2 ‘doo-wop’ girls were asked to pick out the biggest Beatles fan in the audience – I think Anika, in the front row, distinguished herself by singing along to every song they played, and of course, the t-shirt didn’t hurt, nor did being cute.
She played tambourine on “Got to Get You Into My Life”, and got to keep the tambourine!
The second time, John (well, the guy playing him) wanted to ask the ‘girl who played the tambourine’ to take a bow, but Anika took that as an invitation to come up on stage again. She took the microphone, and her comments about her loving the Beatles since she was two years old, and how she’s wanted to see them “her whole life” left John at a loss for words; when she went back to her seat he said “I forgot what I’m supposed to say now!”
The show was really good – their goal was to recreate the experience of a Beatles concert, and I would guess they did a good job (never having been to one myself). They started out with an Ed Sullivan impersonator (who was very good) and the Beatles as they were on his show, slowly moving through some costume changes until the hippy look at the end. John did a nice tribute to John Lennon – he played ‘Imagine’ while wearing the trademark white suit, and seemed to get quite emotional about it.
After the show, they were available for autographs – the tambourine was already signed, but they signed the t-shirt that she got outside the theater.
When I introduced myself as her father, John said “Good Job!”
Waiting outside the theater:
There was a ‘warm-up’ act – Anika got chosen along with another kid to play Guitar Hero to some Beatles tunes. After a while, with some coaching, she got into it. She got a free t-shirt out of it too!
I should have taken more pictures during the concert – I don’t think they would have stopped me, because Anika ended up on stage twice! The first time, the 2 ‘doo-wop’ girls were asked to pick out the biggest Beatles fan in the audience – I think Anika, in the front row, distinguished herself by singing along to every song they played, and of course, the t-shirt didn’t hurt, nor did being cute.
She played tambourine on “Got to Get You Into My Life”, and got to keep the tambourine!
The second time, John (well, the guy playing him) wanted to ask the ‘girl who played the tambourine’ to take a bow, but Anika took that as an invitation to come up on stage again. She took the microphone, and her comments about her loving the Beatles since she was two years old, and how she’s wanted to see them “her whole life” left John at a loss for words; when she went back to her seat he said “I forgot what I’m supposed to say now!”
The show was really good – their goal was to recreate the experience of a Beatles concert, and I would guess they did a good job (never having been to one myself). They started out with an Ed Sullivan impersonator (who was very good) and the Beatles as they were on his show, slowly moving through some costume changes until the hippy look at the end. John did a nice tribute to John Lennon – he played ‘Imagine’ while wearing the trademark white suit, and seemed to get quite emotional about it.
After the show, they were available for autographs – the tambourine was already signed, but they signed the t-shirt that she got outside the theater.
When I introduced myself as her father, John said “Good Job!”
01-02-2011, 04:37 PM
#4
Thread Starter
Anika with her prize:
We went to dinner after that: Mmmmm…..
Then we went back to the street to see the Lights! I think Anika was starting to get giddy from lack of sleep – a 3 hours time difference and a very long and exciting day were taking their toll!
One of the ladies of Cirque du Soleil:
If there’s a horse, Anika needs to get her picture taken with it:
We headed back to the hotel to get Virginija to the airport and Anika to sleep:
We made it to the airport on time, and straight back to the hotel and to bed. I’m sure Anika slept soundly!
We went to dinner after that: Mmmmm…..
Then we went back to the street to see the Lights! I think Anika was starting to get giddy from lack of sleep – a 3 hours time difference and a very long and exciting day were taking their toll!
One of the ladies of Cirque du Soleil:
If there’s a horse, Anika needs to get her picture taken with it:
We headed back to the hotel to get Virginija to the airport and Anika to sleep:
We made it to the airport on time, and straight back to the hotel and to bed. I’m sure Anika slept soundly!
01-02-2011, 04:38 PM
#5
Thread Starter
Day Two:
We got up at a reasonable hour, considering the late night and my poor, jet-lagged Anika, and got on the road as quickly as we could – lots of ground to cover today!
Goodbye to Las Vegas!
Not too far away, we start to notice the increasing concentration of electrical lines:
We must be getting near Hoover Dam!
The approach gives you a great view of the new bridge. We were pretty lucky to be visiting when we did – by November all car traffic was rerouted to the bridge – no more driving over the dam.
On the other side:
There’s a good view from there, though:
The jet lag is catching up with her again…..
We got up at a reasonable hour, considering the late night and my poor, jet-lagged Anika, and got on the road as quickly as we could – lots of ground to cover today!
Goodbye to Las Vegas!
Not too far away, we start to notice the increasing concentration of electrical lines:
We must be getting near Hoover Dam!
The approach gives you a great view of the new bridge. We were pretty lucky to be visiting when we did – by November all car traffic was rerouted to the bridge – no more driving over the dam.
On the other side:
There’s a good view from there, though:
The jet lag is catching up with her again…..
01-02-2011, 04:38 PM
#6
Thread Starter
Next stop, Grand Canyon:
Typical 8 year old – surrounded by all this grandeur, what did she focus on most of the time?
Similarly, as we hiked down the Bright Angel Trail, looking at rocks was more interesting:
Lots of beautiful scenery, even if she didn’t really seem to be looking at it much!
Stopping to speak with Mom!
The Bright Angel Trail:
Typical 8 year old – surrounded by all this grandeur, what did she focus on most of the time?
Similarly, as we hiked down the Bright Angel Trail, looking at rocks was more interesting:
Lots of beautiful scenery, even if she didn’t really seem to be looking at it much!
Stopping to speak with Mom!
The Bright Angel Trail:
01-02-2011, 04:38 PM
#7
Thread Starter
I asked Anika to trek ahead so that I could get a picture of her just at the point where the trail goes around a corner. Here she is approaching the corner. I was planning to have her turn around and pose for a nice shot.
Gregarious kid that she is, she started chatting with some hikers.
Now she’s getting her picture taken with them!
“OK, I have to go now. My dad is trying to get a picture of me.”
“OK, Dad, as soon as these people leave, I'll be ready.”
Got my shot!
My daughter, then ham. (You’ll see stuff like this a lot)
Gregarious kid that she is, she started chatting with some hikers.
Now she’s getting her picture taken with them!
“OK, I have to go now. My dad is trying to get a picture of me.”
“OK, Dad, as soon as these people leave, I'll be ready.”
Got my shot!
My daughter, then ham. (You’ll see stuff like this a lot)
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01-02-2011, 04:39 PM
#8
Thread Starter
I think she started to warm to the idea of this great big hole in the ground. The scenery started making a real impression by this point.
Towards evening, we headed east out of the Canyon area.
Anika spent a lot of the drive time reading. Here she is with “Peter Pan”. She read it twice in the first 3 days.
After dark, we kept going until we got to Kayenta, Arizona – just south of Monument Valley.
Zzzzzzzzzz……..
Towards evening, we headed east out of the Canyon area.
Anika spent a lot of the drive time reading. Here she is with “Peter Pan”. She read it twice in the first 3 days.
After dark, we kept going until we got to Kayenta, Arizona – just south of Monument Valley.
Zzzzzzzzzz……..
01-02-2011, 04:53 PM
#9
Jonas, thanks for posting this reminder of your cross-country trip to HCII. It appears that you and I both stopped at the same rest area as we entered Colorado from the east! You sure saw a lot more sights than I did when I was going to NSXPO in Las Vegas!
Here's the Welcome to Colorado stop that we both made:
That was one desolate stretch of road, wasn't it!
PS: Neat Vegas pics!!!
Here's the Welcome to Colorado stop that we both made:
That was one desolate stretch of road, wasn't it!
PS: Neat Vegas pics!!!
01-02-2011, 05:09 PM
#10
Thank you so much Jonas for getting to this. It's a kick in my ass to finish up the Spring Fling photos from May 2010!
