Day One

Got up early and rushed around a lot making sure we had everything. Doubled checked most things. And doubled checked again. Taxi arrived bang on 7.30am. I say taxi, it was a Peugeot 206 with taxi written on the side. Squeezed our stuff and ourselves into it and headed for Totnes. Got there early. Sat and waited.

Train arrived eventually. Got on in First Class and went to our seats. There were others available that were better so we sat in them instead. Ann chatted to a Plymouthian couple who were heading to London for the first time. They were in their fifties. Enough said.

Made use of the free drinks trolley on the occasions the person running it didn't completely ignore us. Enter the carriage, serve the people on the other side of the aisle from us and then just bugger off. Always helpful.

Stole some sugar from the trolley when it was parked up unattended. Coincided with some sort of alarm going off loudly.

We got to Reading on time and broke the rules by taking the suitcases up the escalator despite the warnings that it was hazardous. Made our way straight on to the Railair coach.

Uneventful journey to Heathrow. Got off at Terminal 3 and checked our luggage.  Beat security despite Ann trying to smuggle an entire bottle of clear liquid airside.

Ate food and waited for the gate to be announced. It was. We went there. Sat and waited. Ann suddenly piped up with 'Isn't that Goldie Hawn?'  It was.

Got the Hawn

We got on the plane before Goldie. It appeared as though she had to be last on. Presumably so she didn't have to mix with the scum.

Made our way to our seats. Sat. Flew. Landed in Denver, Colorado. Not much to report except for the nice tea just before we touched down.

Cream

And that I only watched one film which is very unusual for a nine hour flight.  Spent most of the time battling this.

Cryptic

Didn't do too badly. Having got off we then had to queue for immigration. It was a new system to what we have been used to. We queued for what seemed like an age before we got to use a computer to do it ourselves. It printed a receipt which you then had to take downstairs and queue some more. Then you gave your receipt and passport to a bloke and then he made Ann do all the finger printing and photo taking (we had just done upstairs) again. Fab system.

Anyway, we were allowed in and then set about catching the bus to the car hire place. Didn't take long. We were greeted by an eleven year old boy who did our booking. Ann felt he looked crestfallen when we didn't take out the CDW. Presume he gets commission if he cons us. He took us to the car. He seemed unsure about how it worked.

We loaded our stuff, plugged in the sat nav, tried to work out how to drive it and then set off.

Unit

Travelled through the middle of Denver and reached our destination of the Holiday Inn Express in Golden.

Checked in, collected our post and headed to our room. Decided we couldn't be bothered to go and eat having had at least four meals in the day. Bought some Sun chips and drinks in the lobby and sat and ate in the room.

Ann watched some Harry Potter and is now asleep. This is a return to the norm of trips 1 and 2. Trip 3 must have been an anomaly when she was awake each night.

The thunderstorm raging outside may wake her but I doubt it. It is now 9.40pm here which is 4.40am to us. I am tired and will now attempt to sleep. Have to be ready for the big day tomorrow.....Everton playing in the Europa League!

Day Twenty Nine/Thirty

As said in the previous blog, we had to check out by midday, but then had to wait until 4pm to drop the car off. The airport was less than five miles away so we didn't need to travel anywhere. Also we had to drop the car back with no fuel, so we had run it right down.

This meant we had to kill four hours but couldn't really drive anywhere. To make matters worse, although it wasn't too hot, it was very sticky weather which meant standing outside was an issue. We obviously didn't want to get hot and sweaty before boarding the aeroplane.

So what to do?

Well, first of all we stayed in the room right up to the 12pm check out. Then we loaded the car and checked out. We strolled across the road to take some pictures of downtown San Diego's skyline.

Classy

Unfortunately this made us hot, which was not good. Our plan just to find somewhere to sit about for some time took a dent, so we had to rethink.

Plan was changed to find somewhere with air con to sit around, but not too far away.

Used the sat nav to find a Starbucks. Drove there, went in, bought drinks, realised it was the smallest Starbucks ever and that every seat was taken. Had to sit outside. Bugger. Got hot again. This wasn't going well.

Next we needed to get a couple of things from a supermarket, so found the nearest, drove there. Good news was it had plenty of space and air con. Even better was there was an even smaller Starbucks within it and no customers. Bought more drinks and sat down. Stayed there for a while. Went and looked in another shop, before deciding to leave.

Next we went to a Subway and had lunch, managed to make it last about an hour. By this time it was 3.30pm, so we then headed to the car rental drop off near the airport which took about ten minutes.

Had to leave the car. Final mileage was 4335. Said goodbye and caught the bus to the airport.

Baggage drop was opened at 4.45pm, we arrived at 4pm. More time to kill so we sat and drank everything we had left knowing we wouldn't be able to take it airside. Turns out we had a lot of fluid. I had to drink most of it. We also chatted to a couple from Hastings who were also waiting.

There is only one BA flight out of San Diego each day, so only two desks. It didn't take us long to get through and then through security.

Then we had another three and a half hours to kill. Managed to do so.

Got on plane, it was busy. Took off just a smidgeon late. Watched lots of films and TV. Didn't sleep, didn't feel like sleeping.

Soon enough, nine hours or so, we touched down at Heathrow. We used our new e-passports to breeze through passport control. Our bags came out early and then as we got to the Reading Rail Air Link stop, a coach pulled up. Got on, went straight to Reading.

More time to kill, an hour and a half. Went to Costa.

Then went to platform, got on train. It was the exact opposite of our train journey four weeks ago. Barely anyone in first class. Pretty much had the free refreshment cart to myself. Got back to Totnes a couple of minutes early. Mum and Dad picked us up and dropped us home.

Ate mash potato as usual.

Now writing this at 11.45pm. Have been up for 32 hours. Remarkably Ann is still awake. Not sure what she's been on this trip. Normally she is always asleep, this trip she's always been awake.

States visited this trip - 18

Total states visited - Ann 44, Richard 43

Total miles driven over three trips - 12,400

Day Twenty Eight

We only had one activity planned for today, so the only decision was what time to go. In the end we left at midday and arrived just before 1pm at http://www.sdzsafaripark.org/

First up, we needed to eat as we hadn't had breakfast. We went in the first café place we saw within the park and ended up sharing a burger and chips for brunch. The seating was outside and it was 102F, so we soon got quite warm. We had a safari booked at 5pm, so we decided to wander around the rest of the park before that. First up we saw this.

The Eye of the Tiger

Luckily there were lots of mist machines creating cooling areas as we got very hot walking just short distances. We made sure we drank a lot as we were sweating skips not buckets. It hit 108F/42C by late 4pm.

Next we happened upon a show which happens once a day. A cheetah running 100m in 5 seconds. Here it is.

We then headed up to see the gorillas. There were lots, this is one.

King Kong

 Saw this near it.


Simples

By now, we didn't have long until our safari trip, so we headed into the air con luxury of the gift shop. We cooled right down knowing we were going to be stuck out for sometime.

Then it was time to check in for the trip. We got in the caravan (Think jeep with a bigger open back) and away we went. It was a two hour trip amongst the animals in the open plain type area. Our host seemed to be Seth Rogen. He told us about the animals. He was thinner than I expected.

We saw lots of animals out and about and took a lot of photos and videos. Here are the highlights.

I nose you

 

Mrs Simba

Nellie

We also had the chance to feed giraffes and rhinos.

It was a fabulous afternoon with the highlight being feeding the giraffe. By the time our safari had finished it was 7pm and the park was closing.

We started the journey back to San Diego thinking what a great way to finish the holiday. We were hot, we were sweaty but it didn't matter.

We stopped at Denny's near the hotel for dinner. For once the service was good.

We then went to 7-11 to get some more drinks to replenish our fluid levels.

Now trying to work out what we will do tomorrow after we have checked out. Need to be at the airport at 4pm to return the car, but hotel check out is 12pm, so four hours to kill.

Giraffes fed - 1

Lion Watch - High

States Visited - 18

Day Twenty Seven

Had a really lazy morning. We headed out for brunch at about 12pm. Went here, http://www.pointbreakcafe.com/.

Food was ok, service was dreadful.

Next we headed to the beach, specifically the beach on Coronado Island. Mainly as Ann wanted to see the Hotel del Coronado.

Hotel

It was the setting for 'Some like it Hot' and it was hot. Very hot. And the sea was full of sting rays, so we didn't stay long. Lifeguards kept telling people to do the stingray shuffle in the water. Basically slide your foot, don't step to avoid treading on the stingrays.

The traffic was very heavy going and coming back, so it was 5pm by the time we got to the hotel. We cooled off for a while.

We then set off for an evening at http://www.belmontpark.com/

We ate pizza and had a look around. We saw a mini golf course, so we had to have a game.

Scores were:

Roffe - 53
Knightley - 51

Have to mention that Ann got two holes in one.

We then decided to get some ice cream. Whilst queuing we saw everyone else's and got worried. They were the biggest ice creams ever. I got the smallest possible cone and Ann got a bowl.

Look at the size of my hand!

It took 25 minutes, but I got there in the end. Ann never made it through her bowl. We then headed back home.

Now watching Wild Hogs and I happen to be in my Del Fuegos t-shirt I got in Madrid.

States Visited - 18

Day Twenty Six

First up, forgot to mention that we saw a roadrunner yesterday when we were driving. Meep meep.

Had breakfast in the hotel in Yuma. The quietest breakfast ever as the hotel seemed to be the Mary Celeste. Eventually some other people did turn up.

Headed back to the room to kill time as check out was 11am and we only had a three hour journey and check in was 4pm.

Spent time Skyping Ermington, before we packed up and left.

Saw Mexico. My phoned welcomed me to the country even though we didn't actually go there. Entered California. Drove up some small mountains and then back down the other side.

Arrived in San Diego at 2pm, so decided to see if we could check in early. We could, so we did http://www.halfmooninn.com/

Unfortunately our room isn't quite like the ones pictured. Our Tropical view is a wall. The room has no main light either and therefore is quite dark.

Went out for dinner here http://www.cohnrestaurants.com/corvettediner. It has a 50s vibe as in the décor, the music and the staff all are dressed up.

Happy days

It was slightly surreal. When the waitress, Tracy Turnblad, came to take our order she threw a load of straws at us. Later on they all started dancing.

We left and sat out by the waterfront watching planes take off from the airport, knowing it would be us on Monday.

Eventually we headed back to the dungeon.

States Visited - 18

Day Twenty Five

Grabbed some breakfast and took it back to our room to eat. Packed up and headed out. Fuelled up and started the journey south west to Yuma.

The only incident of note was the unfortunate death of a chipmunk which decided to run into our front tyre when we were travelling at 75 mph. I hoped that it had missed us but when I looked in the wing mirror, I saw the two halves of it flying through the air.

For lunch we stopped at a rest stop and ate a packed lunch we made using the leftovers from last night. Saw this.

Don't get this at Gordano or Taunton Deane

Arrived at the hotel in Yuma at about 4pm. The temperature was 113°F or 45°C. We sat in the room for a while. Skyped Paul and Helen.

We then went out for a swim. It hadn't cooled down at all. The water in the pool was boiling hot as well. Spent a fair time swimming before going back inside to air conditioning.

Hot tub

Headed out to Penny's diner for tea. I drank two milkshakes.

Yum

Felt like I was going to explode. Went back to the hotel to die. It was still 107°F/42°C at 9pm.

Last proper drive tomorrow ending at San Diego. It is cooler there.

States Visited - 17

Day Twenty Four

Before I start, here is the view from our room as promised.

Red Rock

Got up late. Missed breakfast at the hotel, although the reports are it isn't that great anyway. Instead we headed out for breakfast at the Red Planet Diner. It is a sci-fi themed place, hence the name.

It was out of this world

It looks like it is owned and run by men. It lacks that bit of finesse that having any woman involved in any capacity would bring. Food was ok, staff were pleasant enough.

We headed back and then went for a wander around Sedona. It became apparent very quicker that there are only two types of place here, restaurants or places selling tat. Not much else of any note. Lots of places offered psychic readings and the like. What a load of absolute bollocks. Really is a tourist trap.

After getting bored of looking at the same old bloody thing we went back to the hotel. We had decided to keep today as a low key day, so we went for a swim in the hotel's outdoor pool.

Cool Pool

It was lovely, the sun was out, the water was just the right temperature. We stayed out for quite a while, before retiring.

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching TV as the sun had gone in. Went out later to get some food from the best Safeway in the world. Now watching some film in Japanese.

States Visited - 17