Full Circle - DC & B

We are almost home...!! How fast has this year gone by?!! Well on this our final leg home we came via a short few days in Fiji, a fortnight in Hawaii, then our roadtrip in California and lastly finishing off in Las Vegas to blow the last few dollars before heading home to the fair emerald Isle once more, oh begora, we are getting the aran jumpers ready!!

Fiji was beautiful but unfortunately the weather Gods not on our side and it rained most of the time we were there so we didn't get to island hop at all but we recharged there after the craziness of New Zealand! The resort put on rainy day activities so I carved two pendants from a coconut, did some basket weaving, coconut bowling too and we visited a local school, so we were kept entertained! Very creative with the coconuts the Fijians and little fact for you, annually most tourists are killed in Fiji by falling coconuts- so a lethal weapon too!

We had a super time in Hawaii, and had enough time to get to three of the islands. We got to do some hikes there which were beautiful and we also did a trek in the Volcanoes National Park where you trek across a hardened lava lake which was really interesting and is still emitting steam. We also saw an active volcano and watched lava poring into the sea which was pretty incredible. The 'Big Island' is gaining land every year because of it. The snorkelling in Hawaii was excellent, with gorgeous fish and lots of sea turtles so we got lucky and swam with them for a second time this year. The final highlight of Hawaii was seeing Pierce Brosnan cycling along the road with his two boys, oh the glamour!!

Our California trip began in San Francisco. It's a great cityand we did all the touristy things- a trip to Alcatraz, visited Pier 39 with it's resident sea lions, saw 'Haight and Ashbury' streets, where the whole 'summer of love ' began and still has a real hippy vibe and of course went across the Golden Gate Bridge. Then we picked up our very snazzy convertible for our roadtrip down to San Diego! We had to change our route slightly because of forest fires but it worked out fine and we cruised along down through California, stopping off at various towns for a night or two.

L.A. was where we stopped for a few nights and boy is it one crazy town with a sprawl of freeways and mayhem. We weren't too enamoured by the city because it is so difficult to get around but that said we still managed to have a good time! Brían had a friend there, Alan so we met up with him and went to a 4th of July party with all these actor surfer "dudes", in true LA style! We cycled from Santa Monica to Venice Beach another day and met all the very very strange characters who hang out there… good fun! We also went down Rodeo Drive and window shopped!! Then we bought one of those map of the stars home's and went stalking for a while in Beverly Hills;) Our final morning in L.A we got a studio tour of 'Warner Bros.' which was class, seeing all the sets and costumes. No trip to LA would be complete without walking down Hollywood Blvd and seeing the walk of fame and also that famous sign- so 'tick' all done!

San Diego by comparison to LA was so lovely and relaxed, we had a really nice few days there. One night we went over the Mexican border to visit Tijuana and indeed it was spot the 'gringo' the second we crossed over the border but we'd a good night there! Next and final stop was Las Vegas and what a crazy city it is….! The strip is exactly as you imagine it to be, flashing neon with casinos literally everywhere you look and they are enormous, especially Caesars Palace and the Bellagio. They are built purposefully confusing to keep you inside and they give you free drinks if you're gambling so you don't even have to get off your seat, oh they are shrewd! We managed to break even anyway so happy days :). While in Vegas we went to see the Beatles 'Love' Cirque du Soleil show and it was absolutely fantastic.

Think that's a full update on the last leg of our trip, so get the Barrys tea and bars of real Cadbury chocolate ready for me (oh how I've missed them!) and a nice pint of Guinness for Brían óg woohoo!!