West Coast California

Beware low flying planes in San Diego!

A zonkey?! No, just a painted up donkey!
Tijuana, early December 2006.

Main street, Tijuana, Mexico.

Beautiful baby gorilla with mum!

Hippo at the hippodrome!

Life's hard for Gao Gao the male panda bear!

Polar bears with their very own specially made snow!

Giraffe. Obviously!

The armour plated white rhino.

San Diego's wolf in fine voice!

Flamingos strut their stuff at San Diego zoo.

The Pacific Highway on our way south!

Close up Half Dome from the Mirror Lake.
(Not much water at that time of year though!)

Half Dome from Ahwahnee meadow.


A friendly stag we met on one of the nature trails.


The impressive landmark of Half Dome inside Yosemite.



The view from Tunnel lookout over the Yosemite valley.


Pretty Christmas card views inside Yosemite.


The stunning national park Yosemite.


Lake Tahoe.


On the shore of beautiful Lake Tahoe.


Reno! The sign says it all!


Ok, you get it, it was snowing - a lot!


The arty shot of the blizzard!!


Such a change in weather!
The blizzard en route to Reno, end November 2006.

The usual pose! You know to expect it by now!

The Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco Bay.

One of the huge cables that supports the famous
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco.

The huge Christmas tree in Union Square,
Downtown San Fran.


Thanksgiving in San Francisco with Stuart, Suzy, Annabelle
and Jade (and some bonus small kid!)


The famous cable cars.


Those famous Streets of San Francisco!



Sea lions chilling at Pier 39!

They came to escape the 1989 earthquake and never left!

'The Rock'
The eerie old prison also known as Alcatraz.
San Francisco bay, Late November 2006.

Vegas Baby!

The awesome Hoover Dam on the Colorado river
outside of Vegas.


The incredible pyramid and sphinx of the Luxor hotel!


No, we didn't go inside!
The famous Little White Chapel, Las Vegas.


All 1149 ft of the Strat!

The view of the strip from up on the Stratosphere.
1149 feet high!


Ben and Chris outside the huge, new Wynn casino.


The famous Flamingo, an old Rat Pack haunt.


The very elegant Paris!


The very swanky Bellagio.


New York, New York!


Another 'world's largest'
This time: bronze sculpture- The MGM lion: 45 Feet high,
nearly 100,000 pounds!!!


Many, many miles of M&M's!


'The Strip',
Las Vegas, November 2006.


Chris with the first of many frozen daiquiries!
(See that blurring? That is how you see after a few! Even the camera was drunk!)
The Egyptian themed Luxor hotel, Vegas.

Ben sizes up the world's largest Hawaiian shirt!


The incredible 'Grand Canal' at the Venetian.


Swimming time for the tiger at the
Mirage, Las Vegas, November 2006.



Nice puddy tat!
Siegfried and Roy's old hangout, the Mirage, Las Vegas.

Vegas Baby!
Remember, What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!!


Ooooh, how exciting! The world's largest thermometer! Baker, California.
A whopping 134 feet tall to mark the highest ever temperature in the
USA of 134 degrees fahrenheit in Death Valley, 1913!