#PARENTS ON TOUR - GRAND CANYON EDITION

The Grand Canyon. I really don't think I'm going to be able to put into words just how majestic this place was. We had two days to explore it and the nearby town of Williams, but I feel like we could have spent weeks at the canyon and still not seen all there was to see. I have to admit it does look slightly fake at first, just because you can barely take in the sheer size and scale of it. 

The first day we were there we started off at the visitors centre of the South Rim and walked along the canyon rim trail. We didn't go as far as we had anticipated but there was a lot of stopping to take photos and the icy conditions made you a little more cautious, especially as there wasn't a lot between you and the edge of the canyon!  

Day two we did more of the Canyon, but from the other end of the South rim, so that we could see the Desert watchtower. Then we spent the rest of the day in Williams looking round the famous route 66 town. There wasn't a lot to do there as most of it was shut up for the winter so we didn't spend long there. We did eat (for the second time) at an amazing little Italian bistro which had a brewery attached. The food was insanely good. 

And of course no trip would be complete without a bear...

There you have it, the Grand Canyon in one blog post. If you ever get the chance to visit it you really should. It's breathtaking. 
H 

#PARENTS ON TOUR - HOOVER DAM EDITION

Whilst my parents were here we undertook a rather long road trip, about 7 hours to be precise. Our destination was the Grand Canyon in Arizona but on the way there we decided to take a detour via the Hoover Dam. The dam itself is built on the border between Nevada and Arizona so it was an excellent way to ensure Mum and Dad properly visited the two states. 

The Hoover Dam was built in the 1930s and is one of the largest concrete structures ever. As my Dad is a civil engineer by trade, and a rather big fan of concrete  we assumed this would be a good stop off. I was expecting him to be rather excited but to be somewhat underwhelmed myself as funnily enough I've never been that impressed by concrete! I couldn't have been more wrong. 

We arrived at the the dam having driven past Las Vegas and we drove over the top of the dam to park on the Arizona side.We then walked back across the dam so that we could see it from all sides and angles. 

Dad and Andrew decided to take a tour of the power plant, however Mum and I were not so sure about it as there were signs warning you not to go on the tour if you were worried about small spaces. Not wanting to chance it we had ice cream in the sun, whilst the boys went about their geekery!

I love those photos, they make me think of those government adverts where you see people in their work place talking about pensions or how the new working wage is helping them. Sorry, my brain thinks weirdly!

Once we had seen everything it was time to hit the road again for another 4ish hours until we arrived at our final destination; the Grand Canyon. 
H 

THE MUSEUM OF FLIGHT

So whilst in Seattle we got to go to The Museum of Flight; the largest private air museum in the world. This turned out to be a great decision as the weather was very changeable during the day so we managed to catch the aircraft outside (including the first jet powered 'Air Force One') in the dry before heading inside when the rain started.

The museum has a giant space section holding the shuttle trainer and a few re-entry capsules that were a little burnt on the outside. I can't believe how little room they had!
The museum, with a very interesting story, had restored the original Boeing company building called 'The Red Barn' which they bought from Seattle Port for $1!  This incredible building was filled out with fascinating early aviation exhibits on the beginnings of the aviation industry in America. The building itself was incredible and so airy and light, to help the drafters and engineers construct the earliest aircraft. I think its going to inspire me when I get round to building my own house one day.

Obviously I was also looking for seaplanes and flying boats and was not disappointed with the few dotted around the museum; yet more inspiration. We then looked at the WW1 exhibition with interesting stories and cool dioramas, with a great collection of planes from so many countries. Finally we ended up in the 'Great Gallery', a huge hall covered in a strong lattice ceiling that could hold the multiple aircraft hanging from it.

All in all a great aviation museum trip. Think Hannah now needs a break before the next plane museum but not too long a break!

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SEATTLE

So at the end of our epic train journey we reached our grand destination of Seattle. Andrew and I had never been there before but it was one of those places we wanted to visit so it was rather exciting to finally get there. My iPhone tells me that we walked over 21,000 steps the first day of exploring in Seattle so we definitely covered a lot of ground.

Our first port of call was Pike Place Market and in particular the first Starbucks. The market itself was actually much more impressive than the Starbucks. It turned out to be pretty crowded and busy. I'm definitely glad we came early on because it had a huge line down the street by midday. The market place was bustling but in a good way. We could buy just about anything there from art work to fish to dog toys to memorabilia to second hand books to flowers. There was so much to look at that we spent the rest of the morning wandering around. 

After lunch we went by monorail over to where the Space Needle was and spent some time at the park over there. It's a crazily retro building that really throws you because it just doesn't seem to fit the skyline. But it was definitely fun to see. We also went to the Olympic Sculpture park and walked along by the waterfront and piers.

As you can tell Andrew was rather excited by the monorail! He rather lost the plot during the ride on it. I wish I could say I was ashamed by his behaviour but I was rather enjoying the ride myself. Just not at his level. At all. Ever.

The next day we spent visiting Boeing's Museum of Flight and wandered round Seattle again seeing some of the areas again in more detail. Andrew has promised to write a blog post about the museum, but I wouldn't hold your breath. You know what he's like!

Overall though Seattle was amazing. We have so many photos from the place, which we would never be able to show you all, so I'll simply say just go visit if you can. It's amazing! 
H