Random Picture Special

I have a habit of taking random pictures whilst in charge of the camera. A result of these is many random pictures of Dave which I present here. This is a collection of all such pictures taken on the trip to date, some of which get a second showing here...

Dave, pictured here in Death Valley

Dave looking concerned in Boston

Dave looking a little pissed

Dave unhappy

Dave prepares for a night out (picture 1 of 2)

Dave prepares for a night out (picture 2 of 2)

Happy Dave

Content Dave

 

Dave looking pissed before the Grand Canyon helicopter ride

Dave with his fanny pack

Unfortunately Dave doesn't take as many random pictures as me, but here is one peach of myself from the archives

One more of me, pictured here with Head & Shoulders Old Spice

Everglades

Days 57 and 58 were spent travelling from LA to Florida over-night. Unfortunately for Dave, he was sat next to a 17 month old baby that proceeded to throw tantrums every few hours, the toddler's mother who threw up during the trip and had a child behind him who kicked his chair for part of the trip.  Fun times!

Day 59, our first full day in Florida, saw us we visit the Everglades, a tropical wetlands area in Southern Florida. The wetlands are in effect a river with grass in them - the fresh water is constantly flowing from Lake Okeechobee to the sea...

We visited an air boat tour company that had a small zoo of animals (turtles, snakes and alligators) and took an air boat tour over part of the Everglades. We started off with a small presentation showcasing the animals and were sat on some steel benches facing away from the swamp. I was a bit concerned when I looked back and saw a wild crocodile approaching from the swamp, which was not part of the attraction. Luckily for us he just wanted to bask in the sun rather than join in!!!

Zoo Area

Big Daddy, the biggest alligator on site in the zoo, with a length of 14 feet

Big Ben, this alligator was housed here after trying to attack a human in the wild

A snapping turtle, the jaws on this little turtle have amazing power!

Dave holding a 3 year old alligator, you'll also notice a wet patch on the t-shirt, this is sweat from the humidity, not a number 1 from the wee gator (pun un-indented).

Me holding the alligator, after a bit of persuasion from Dave

Airboat Tour

View from the start of the boat tour



Me and Dave in the air boat. You can see the driver in the background on the high chair along with the top of the giant fan. Matt did consider a mutiny at one point, being more commonly known as the captain although he didn't fancy walking the plank over these waters!!

The Everglades swamp area

An alligator in the wild as spotted from the boat tour.

Joshua Tree

The final stop on the second leg of our tour was at the Joshua Tree National Park, which was primarily picked due to its location between Phoenix and Los Angeles that broke the car journey up nicely.

"Lou Carpenter"

The hotel we stayed in was located in Palm Springs and it housed a look-a-like of Lou Carpenter off Australian soap Neighbours. Sadly our conversation with this gentlemen indicated he was not Australian, did not have a friend named Harold and was not now or at any stage in the recent past in a love triangle over a woman named Madge. However, he was an all round nice gent although a little on the talkative side...



Sadly we did not get a picture of this gentlemen, but he looked very much like this gent but with a little less hair on top...

 Joshua Tree National Park

The Joshua Tree National Park was set aside to preserve what is considered the best representations of the high Mojave Desert and the low Colorado Desert. The park was surprisingly cool (relatively) with temperatures of around 30 to 35 Celsius.  The Joshua Tree is home to many impressive rock formations...

Me in front of one of the more impressive formations

Dave in place of my in the above shot

A typical view of the Joshua Tree National Park, featuring one of the rock formations

Another rock formation

Another rock formation

Saddle Rock, one of the more impressive rock formations. This rock is particularly popular with rock climbers

Another nice formation

Dave atop of a fairly tall rock after displaying some "mountain goat" like climbing skills.

Another view of the rock formation

More rocks...

Dave accompanied by some rocks

Me accompanied by some other rocks

A further rock formation

...And Finally

We recorded 45C when travelling in to the national park - amongst the highest temperatures we experienced during the trip

And so part two (the South West corner) is over. The final part (Florida) awaits!

Phoenix

On our way back to Los Angeles for our flight onwards to Florida we spent a few days in Phoenix, the sixth most populous city in the USA, and the most populated state capital in the USA.

Phoenix Zoo

On our second day we visited Phoenix Zoo, the largest privately owned non-profit zoo in the United States.

The zoo is certainly impressive and contains a variety of animals and areas...

Coyote, a candid native to North America related to the grey wolf

African Warthog

Bobcat, a North American cat

This bad boy is part of the antelope family

 

The mountain lion, also known as Cougar, which is native to America

 

The Mexican Wolf, which is endangered in the wild

A close up of the Mexican Wolf

Two bald eagles

A giraffe, located in the Africa section of the zoo

The king of the jungle

The White Rhino, a huge animal

Another Warthog. Dave believes that their hairstyle is comparable to mine (i.e. spiked up)

Next up we have the petting zoo section (a requirement when with Dave)...

The petting zoo beckons Dave...

Dave gets involved with a goat

And another

And another

Dave takes on two here

Dave looks eagerly in on two more goats

Whilst Dave enjoys the petting element of these places, I enjoy taking pictures to give him ideas on future chin patch development by him. Here I showcase what I believe to be the 6 chin "looks" that he could look to showcase...

#1 - The wispy chin patch

#2 - The long thick chin patch

#3 - The two horned chin patch

#4 - The bushy chin patch

#5 - The all rounder of the chin patch world

#6 - The no chin patch. Clearly the inferior option based on the chin patch to non-chin patch ratio of the goats at the zoo, Dave take note!

Chase Field Baseball Stadium

On the first night we ate at a TGI Fridays located within the stadium of the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Phoenix based Baseball team.  The TGI's is located within the stadium and has some great views of the stadium...

The view of the stadium from the TGI Fridays

Another view of the stadium

Dave with the stadium behind him

Me with the stadium behind me



The stadium includes a dedication to Joe Black who was involved in the set-up of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 1998

Other Activities

Phoenix doesn't have a host of tourist attractions and so we visited the cinema and played bowling on the third day...

We went to see the Rock playing Hercules at the local IMAX - the film wasn't great, but "the rock" theme tune on You Tube is excellent!!!

We then went on to play 10 games of ten pin bowling in two hours

Dave had moments of brilliance, as displayed here in his very impressive score of 199 including an impressive 5 strikes in  row - take that bowling pins!

I was more consistent and could on occasion bring my the game, as can be seen by my turkey (3 strikes in a row here). Overall we tied in the bowling, winning 5 games each.. Matt however did get told off for bowling the ball too soon on his go and hitting the barrier on two occasions!!