Viva Las Vegas & Welcome to Hollywood!

Where were we?! Oh yes, the bright lights and colourful billboards of Las Vegas. It was late in the evening by the time we arrived in Vegas and I admit that we were all starting to feel very tired and me, a tad cranky. It was incredibly warm out and everywhere was busy but we finally made it to our hotel and got checked in. Upon seeing our rooms we were all pretty much set and didn't want to leave the hotel...ever!!! :p Our beds were like giant clouds and if it wasn't for the fact that we were all hungry and had planned on staying up till after midnight to welcome Jenny's 21st birthday, no doubt we would have all dived under the covers and drifted off happily into the land of nod. Alas, that was not to be, we were in Vegas after all, we had to go out and experience all that it had to offer. So we got dressed up and headed for the crazy, buzzing atmosphere that was the world outside of our hotel. It was jam packed with people everywhere you turned, people having a great time, carrying drinks, gambling, dressed to the nines. We found solitude in a restaurant across the street and enjoyed chatting and laughing while attempting to eat our rather tasty food without falling asleep! :p

I have to be honest, after having only been in Vegas a few hours, I was not interested, I wanted to curl up in the giant fluffy bed in the hotel room with a good book! I don't mean to sound like a spoil sport and I am aware that me being overly tired and cranky is not the right recipe for my first experience in Las Vegas, but I just wasn't feeling it. We walked up and down the streets for a while, avoiding the people passing out cards with naked women on them (that's a whole other blog, so we won't get into that now) (but just quickly, my Dad is happily married to the most beautiful women on the planet, try and pass him a silly card like that and me in my cranky state gets offended, there were guys clearly holding hands happily with wives/girlfriends and people would try and put these cards in their hands, I was rather irritated about the whole concept but I'll stop there.) (I felt like Miranda Hart... "Rude" :p ) we watched the volcano erupt and walked through some of the casinos, then made our way back to the hotel. After getting a little crabby with each other (sorry Jen :p) we managed to keep our eyes open long enough to do a few of the slot machines as Jen turned 21. Jen went on to winning $2.80 before calling it a night! :p

My favourite parts of Vegas were visiting Counts Kustoms, check them out here: http://www.countskustoms.com/ Dad watches the show and wanted to go and have a look. It made me happy as it reminded me of when we used to go to car shows with Dad growing up and I've missed that a lot lately, I also loved seeing the kick ass cars that they had, it's amazing how talented people are! And going to see Jersey Boys at the Paris Theatre. Jen chose that for her birthday evening and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. We love that era and knew most of the songs, thanks to Mum and Dad's taste in music and The Overtones! :) Ooh and also the I <3 Burger place we went to for lunch one day...delicious! :) The last morning as we were leaving our hotel we decided to give the Roulette table a shot, Jen had a number Mum had told her to bet on and we thought we couldn't really leave without trying it. Needless to say we didn't win and it confirmed that the 4 of us didn't really fit in Vegas. I'm not knocking it and don't want to sound like I'm saying it's awful, as when my husband went with his friend they had an absolute blast, I think for me though it's just not my thing. Vegas is one big party and if you are up for partying and gambling then I'm pretty certain you will have an awesome and amazing time, as it has plenty of cool things to offer. If you're not a big party animal and are not one for gambling then it might not really be for you.

From Vegas it was onto Los Angeles California, which was the final stop of Route 66. We were on The Mother Road on and off as before, passing a few cool looking diners that were closed, plenty of train tracks, ooh and even a real life actual tumbleweed. We passed the Barstow Bottle Ranch too and then finally stopped and had a late lunch at the Outpost Café, another tick in our Route 66 book. (Travel Route 66- Jim Hinckley)

The last leg of Route 66 into San Bernardino through to Santa Monica was a long one, I think it's actually the longest stretch of Route 66 you can drive without it being interrupted, in addition to it being the most modern too. Shops and restaurants filled either side, along with stop light after stop light. It took us a fair while to find our hotel and get through all the traffic. We had been to California 7 years prior with our Dad, another Dad and daughters trip, and we all loved it and were very excited about being back, but after a little Starbucks snack, we were ready to hit the hay and take it all on in the morning when our eyes weren't so bleary! :)

Day 6 (for me) started with a hunt for the original End Of Route 66 sign. Kelly had read in her book that it was around a park somewhere, so we wandered the streets for a while and even asked at a gas station but to no avail. We decided that we would just head to the pier and finish our Route 66 journey at the spot they now had there. We ventured down third street promenade, which was exactly how we all remembered it, and nipped in and out of stores taking in the beautiful sunshine as we made our way to the mall we were so fond of 7 years ago, as it had a Sanrio store! :) The mall however had completely changed and was now open and bustling with people, new shops and cafe's and restaurants. It was pretty cool to see as when we were last there it had nothing and it was sad to think that it would just become a ghost town (mall). The Sanrio store was still there but not what it used to be, it was now part of a frozen yoghurt shop and just contained a few items, we still managed to pick up a few things! :p We had lunch at a yummy place called The Curious Palette http://www.thecuriouspalate.com/ before making our way to Santa Monica pier. :) It didn't feel like our trip was completed until we saw the sign, for Dad, Jen and Kelly it had been 14 days since they stood at the beginning of Route 66 and they had become quite attached to the historic road. It's a trip that we have been discussing for about 5 years, so to stand their with our Dad and to think of all the memories we had made along the way was incredibly special! :)

Thank you for the awesome shirts Meme! :) <3

That afternoon was very exciting as we visited Sprinkles Cupcakes, a place Kelly and I have wanted to see for ages now. It wasn't too busy, although we didn't get to use the ATM as they were restocking it, but we got to try their Cinnamon cupcake, Carrot cake cupcake and Vanilla cupcake, very nice. The evening was spent in Hollywood as we went to see our sister (in law) Ashley at Hooters. Little side note, Ashley is incredible, absolutely amazing. She is one of the hardest working people I know, with so much enthusiasm and determination to dream big. She goes after what she wants and is simply inspirational. It was awesome catching up with her and getting to hug her, she moved to LA on her own with no family or friends out there, so being able to give her hugs was just the best! :)

I like LA! :) This has been a bit of a long post today so I hope you are still with me, one more installment of Route 66 coming in the next few days and I think that should do it. I can't wait to get stuck into the last two days as they were beyond awesome and I have lots of fun things to share! :)

Please feel free to share your adventures and trips or favourite holiday spots with me in the comments below as I would love to read about them! :)

Have a great day!

Love