Steve's Holiday in America - 2001

 

I could barely believe it! Not only had I somehow won a place on a game show, but on Saturday 29 April 2000, I actually fluked it to win a two week holiday to the USA on "The National Lottery - Winning Lines".

There's the proof! Anyway, just over a year later, in June 2001, my brother Andrew and I set off from Gatwick, bound for Las Vegas, where I can proudly say, I made a net profit of about $3 on the slot machines! 

Clearly, I didn't spend all my time gambling, and whilst in Las Vegas, we took a couple of trips to nearby attractions. Firstly, Hoover Dam is only about 50km away, and is one of the most impressive structures I've ever seen. The Colorado River provides electricity for millions of people in the USA and Mexico, and this is just one of the dams built across the river for that purpose.

Secondly, we visited the Grand Canyon, and although the weather wasn't that great, eventually the mist cleared and we got a pretty good view of the area.

So then it was off in our little convertible Firebird to Los Angeles, to stay, where else, but Beverly Hills! We had barely arrived, and guess who turned up in our hotel for some "charity" event or other?

 

Yep! Its Michael Douglas. Unfortunately, Catherine wasn't with him that night, but we did see her on Letterman the following night - its not quite the same! Michael's dad, Kirk Douglas was also at the event. Anyway, on to the rest of LA, and where else to start, other than Hollywood!

 Universal Studios was probably the best attraction in LA, but whilst in the city, a visit to the Baywatch location of Malibu was a must.

And when in America, where else to go at night, other than the baseball; in our case, it was the Edison International Stadium to see the Anaheim Angels against the Texas Rangers.

It was then a monumental drive up the coast to San Francisco, a beautiful city, except to drive around due to all the hills and tramways! Here is a view of it from Alcatraz, whilst I was making my escape.

On one particular day, we drove to Yosemite National Park, and here is El Capitan, one of the very striking mountains that can be seen whilst driving around this national park.

This page wouldn't be complete without a picture of me with "the wheels"!

 


Finally

It was amazing to think that this all came about due to a chance phone call to try and get on a game show, when I had one barmy week back in April 2000. This trip gave me my 7th continent - although my girlfriend Shivaun reckons that my counting Dubai airport as Asia is a bit dubious! I reckon its perfectly valid! Send me a  email at steve@tijou.co.uk if you want to know any more.


This site was last updated 2 December 2001.

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