NFL Draft Day

Send more money! Riley was given a day off with a motel room to himself, the NFL draft on TV and a fridge full of pizza leftover from last night's food fest he got to stay in the room while we went out at 9.30 for a trip to a factory outlet. Maybe it's the warm desert air or the fact the we are just idiots. but our credit card took some big punishment today. We went in at 10.30, came up for air at 2.30 and then headed back home. They we took a detour, looking for a shop, found a golf shop and one golf club later, Mark was happy as a Riley with a pizza made from chocolate. We searched for some material shops but they were either not there or the wrong sort of material. We got back around 5.30 and went out for our evening pig out, which was finished off by a visit to an ice cream shop. Oh, did I tell you that I ate chocolate for lunch. In the words of Jeremy my innie is turning to an outie. The motel does have a gym so we rode some bikes, lifted weights and went for a swim in the heated pool. I am now lying on bed and shaking with extreme pain.

A Really Big Ditch

A not too early start, frosted flakes for breakfast (things are really going downhill) and we went exploring the Grand Canyon. We walked, looked, drove, walked, looked until we ran out of Canyon and then the navigator pointed us in some direction and that's where we went. Mountains covered with snow paled in siginificance to the beauty of the Grand Canyon (that was a beautiful sentence wasn't it?). Off to Scottsdale we drove, arriving around 5pm. We then headed off to possibly the greatest restaurant in the world, Oregano's, with pizza as big as really big pizza. Or maybe as big as the Grand Canyon (see how I linked the two). Huge soda and a giant pizza cookie with 3 scoops of ice cream. Jeremy, Mark and Annette shared 1 dessert and Riley had 1 to himself. We don't think he will ever be able to face chocolate again. How will we finish the night? Ah, never ending sport on TV.

Leaving Las Vegas

Did you know that in AC/DC's Highway to Hell, the last words Bon Scott says are Nanoo Nanoo. That is according to the radio DJ. That really confused us. Anyway, up early and off to where else but the All You Can Eat breakfast buffet. Well, being in a casino I saw their all you can eat buffet and raised them a "I can eat twice as much as all you can eat buffet". I won.

We then headed off on our next all day drive with a quick stop at Hoover Dam. Then with about an 1/8th of a tank we hit the road. As everybody fell asleep, I found out that a little light on the dashboard says Low Fuel. Picture yourself on a dark desert highway with cool wind in your hair. Oh sorry I just drifted off on another tangent. Anyway the highway was long, we had a long way to go but we made it with only fumes left in the tank. We drove and drove and drove etc. until we got to our cabins in the Grand Canyon National Park. We unloaded, washed 4 pairs of undies (it's been a long time since the last laundry) and headed for the Canyon. Another walk it seemed. And then from the distance comes a free shuttle bus and drops us exactly at the canyon. We looked around, took photos and looked like your typical tourist family. As the sun set, the wind picked up and it was freezing. Luckily most of the male members of the family have inbuilt air conditioning in their pants to keep them warm. Off to dinner and we all only had single servings before heading back on a dark road to our cabins. This was when tragedy struck. The TV wouldn't work. The cable is out! No basketball playoffs and we would have to communicate with each other. It looks like I drew the short straw. Jeremy and his hammer-like elbow are in my bed tonight. Riley is going to sleep in a bed. Most nights he grabs some quilts and sleeps on the floor. He says he likes it but who knows. PS. He has finished his science assignment. Bad news - now we get to start Geography. It's about the Georges River. We may just substitute the Colorado River for Geroges from our brochures and take a chance. I really miss TV.

Just Drive She Said

What turned out to be the longest drive ever started at 8am and wend on and on. 550 miles is a long way. We stopped for greasy KFC (that would come back to haunt) and then went slightly berserk at a Reebok Outlet 40 miles from Las Vegas. In Vegas we went searching for a chocolate factory, nearly ran out of gas (petrol we might call it) in a monster traffic jam, went searching for a cheap buffet dinner (the further we walked the more expensive they got) and eventually ate dinner at 10pm. Riley was real impressed. We got to sleep after midnight (if we had turned into pumpkins it would have been the first vegetable we had seen in weeks) and - you guessed it - had another early morning start. Out at 8am and straight into a Vegas traffic jam, we headed for Death Valley. We had hoped to do it yesterday but the roads were dangerous and closed. We entered Death Valley at 74 degrees and it go up to 93 degrees. Those older generation reading this will understand these figures. It's a very strange place, with salt flats , and rock formations similar to the moon. Oh didn't I tell you, the navigator has me driving so many miles that yesterday we actually did drive past the moon on the way to Vegas. We got back around 5pm and headed to the Adventure Dome but didn't go on any rides. From there I have just four words. All You Can Eat Buffet. Oh the pain. Those big fat Americans have nothing on a ravenous Krause family. Pity the poor people who got in our way on the way to the dessert bar. As we read on the side of the road, "Dessert is not a treat, it's a necessity". Speaking of chocolate, did you know that the energy in one piece of chocolate is the equivalent of the energy it takes to eat another piece. Annette has been eating so much chocolate that she has decided to go on the twelve steps programme. She is now never more than 12 steps from a piece of chocolate. Later we went to the casino and Jeremy wasted money in the kiddies gambling arera (he won a mini pillow) while the grown ups put a whole dollar in the slots. As usual I am now writing this at 11pm while watching sport on tv. Right now Jeremy is standing in the middle of the room, dancing and singing Waterloo. Oh I forgot that we (without Riley) saw a circus show with 2 jugglers. What made it interesting is that they juggled themselves.

Blog no 5

(look below for blogs added in quick succession). Today was a big day for the boys as we were set free and let wander on our own. Annette headed off to an art exhibition, Annie Liebovitz. Jeremy tells me this which automatically qualifies him for a $2 fine. We looked for some sports shop, never found it and bought chocolates to ease our depression. The afternoon came and we all hopped on a bus and went to the Golden Gate bridge. Its actual colour is International Orange but that just wouldn't fit into any of the songs about San Francisco. We went back to the cable cars and caught it to the end of the line and back. An early morning bus the next day to the Hertz rent a car office and Mark hit the streets of San Francisco (a Quinn Martin production). Back to our motel, packed the car (it's a Chevy HHR, similar to a PT Cruiser - type that into Google). Getting out of San Francisco was an experience - I think we ran only one red light on the way to the Bay Bridge where we started our long trip to Yosemite National park. When we got there, we then hit the windey roads with sheer death defying drops at the side. Some of the roads were closed but we pushed on to see "nature" all over the place. Riley loves looking at nature. This took the rest of the day. We couldn't do some of the walks (yay!) and mountain lions had been seen in the area. Anyway we got back, stuffed ourselves stupid for dinner and prepared for yet another early morning start.

The Golden Gate

We landed in San Francisco, grabbed our ever-growing luggage and waddled into the first taxi we could find. In a prelude to Disneyland, the driver proceeded to put his foot down and sometimes stay in the same lane. We checked into the Super 8 and then couldn't get to sleep because our body clocks are wrong again. Woke up at 8.30 and headed off to a day of walking up and down giant hills, giant stair and giant shopping centres. We visited Union Square, Chinatown, Little Italy and walked up Lombard St (the really crooked one) and then visited Coit Tower (insert your own anal humour here). After a very late dinner we got back around 11pm and did what any traveller would do - put on Sports Center. It's Saturday and yet another early morning wake up call. A quick bowl of Fruit Loops and it was off to the bus to Pier 39 where we joined the boat to Alcatraz. Alcatraz was great. We then explored Pier 39 which has tons of food shops, especially of the chocolate variety. I bought the 49ers jacket that I didn't 17 years ago. It's made of pig suede, in my current form Jeremy reckons that when I wear it I will make the complete pig. I guess when you look at today's lunch (peanut butter chocolate cups) he isn't far off. On the . On the way out Jeremy shouted, "there's Tommy Lee!". For some reason, this is not the first time this holiday that he has said this. On this occasion he was right. For those of you not familiar with Tommy Lee, type in tattoos, rock star, Pamela Anderson and even Tommy Lee into Google. We were close enough that he could spit on us. That's how we know, because he did spit on us. Back home for a quick nap and then out to dinner, which the kids enjoyed - the firsts just keep happening. The dinner was at Mona Lisa (Italian restaurant, including pizza) and still nice after 17 years.

Did you miss us?

I hate my body clock. Today (after the 4th night) with the alarm set for 6.30am I woke up at 6.17am. Aaargh! That's my Sydney wake up time. Quick to dress, a few pieces of toast and it was off to the airport for our flight back to Oahu. Before we left, me and Riley (me is Mark by the way) decided we would check on the age-old question of which way the water goes down the sink in the northern hemisphere. We just couldn't remember what the outcome of that Simpsons episode was. Anyway we wanted to check if it was clockwise or anti-clockwise. We turned on the tap, watched the water and then realised that we had a problem. Our room only had a digital clock - we'll try again later. A quick 40 minute flight was followed by around 3 and a half hours waiting for our flight to San Francisco. Everybody is almost 100% with Annette almost there. We sent you blog no 2 and then went hunting for food. Annette had the big salad, Mark spicy chicken (I'm putting my stomach through a test drive) and the evil 2 had Burger King. I'm a little worried about Riley as he may be pregnant as he's eating for 2. Writing this we are 36,000 feet in the air, playing gameboys, reading about which golf clubs to waste my money on and watching the movie. Wait a minute, the headphones cost $5.00 and I'm sure this wasn't an approved budgetary item. Oh well, I guess for all the suffering she has and will put up with we can afford it. I must admit, I'm still a little confused. When we arrived they said Aloha, and when we left they said Aloha. What is it, one of those words that has two meanings or something? Anyway, Aloha, or is it Aloha? I'll let you know. More blogs on the way - we're in the most advanced country in the world and it's impossible to find Internet that works.

Report No 2 (how appropriate)

An early wake up call and it was off to our complimentary continental breakfast (one of the muffins looked at Jeremy and said "You're looking very nice today sir!". Jeremy said "what was that all about?". Well, they are complimentary muffins!) - mini muffins, toast, juice and hot chocolate. Controversy again "where are the promised donuts?" the evil two moaned. They ate toast and muffins and survived. We then headed off to the volcano National Park. There were warning signs along the way stressing the dangers of high levels of sulphur dioxide in the air. Annette couldn't see any problems after sharing a motel room with the same levels of gas for the past 3 nights. We saw, in the words of Annette, lots of lava stuff, steam vents and other volcanic stuff. Much to Riley 's joy we went on numerous nature walks. We spent around 4 hours in the park before driving about 40 miles (divide by 8 and multiply by 5, or the other way around for kilometres) to the place where the lava flow meets the ocean. I have just been informed that we also walked through a lava tube. Some stupid American woman wearing thongs (signs are all over the place warning that shoes should always be worn) jumped up in the air to get her picture taken, landed and fell in a puddle.

Mark is just starting to look at food again, Annette can't, Jeremy will eat when you tell him to and Riley, as usual, wants to know what's for dinner at 9.25am.

Well that's about it for the Big Island. Keanu Reeves has just won the football match and the Dodgers are leading the Pirates 8-1 in the bottom of the 8th. After the game we're not sure whether to switch on to the curling or lacrosse channel. So many choices.

ps. back to Day 1, we caught a stretch limousine taxi from the airport - Jeremy's highlight of the holiday before today's free sample of chocolate macamadamia nuts.

The Holiday begins

There were some big upsets on the Krause family tour of the USA. Jeremy started out as a clear cut favourite in "who is going to lose their temper first". Twenty minutes after check in, and the favourite came round the bend for a clear cut win. The complaint? "I don't want plain chips as they're too salty!". The second event and the daily double/trifecta competition was "Who would be sick first". After three days, this event has already been decided. Once again the favourite came home strong and in only just over an hour Riley had filled up his barf bag in what is a new family record.

Day 2 saw a second place come in with Mark coming down with some disgusting stomach bug which has shown that there are some advantages to American-style toilets. It's now 6.03pm on Day 3 and it seems that Annette is just about to come in 3rd. The first two days were spent on Oahu where we made some ridiculously long walk up the edge of a volcanic crater. In the words of Dr Smith "Oh, the pain!". Worse was yet to come - the afternoon was spent shopping. In the mall, nobody can hear you scream. More shocking events were soon to occur. Jeremy went to a smorgasbord and ate something. He isn't adopted after all!

An early morning wake up call on Day 3 and here we are on the Big Island. We ate Maccas for lunch and the good news is that it still hasn't made an encore appearance. A one hour drive on the wrong side of the road to see some waterfalls and then we checked into our accommodation. For the last 5 hours Mark has slept, and Riley has done some of his Science assignment. Two people wanted to eat and the others couldn't face food. Oh well, even in a different time zone, tomorrow is another day. Aloha everyone!

* Dr Smith's name used courtesy of Lost in Space and Billy Mumy Enterprises.