The much loved Disneyland Monorail has been a part of the themepark since its opening in 1959. Over the years it has had several facelifts and model changes but it is still one of the parks biggest attractions.  The monorail is used to transport guests around the park and to the shopping and entertainment area of Downtown Disney and the Disneyland Hotel.  The monorail offers spectacular views of the Disneyland park as it follows its snake like route around Tomorrowland and the Matterhorn and across the Submarine Lagoon of the Nemo ride.

The Reno Arch is an iconic landmark along Virginia Street in Reno, Nevada and is as iconic as the “Welcome to Las Vegas’ sign of its big brother up the road. The original arch dates back to 1927 when it was built to celebrate the copletion of the Lincon and Victory Highways. The slogan “the Biggest Little City in the World” was actually a slogan from a winning competition and it was put on the arch in 1929. After some complaining the slogan was later removed but more complaining saw it return. There have been quiet a few versions of it over the years and the one standing today dates back to 1987.  The sign has had a few facelifts since then including new LED bulbs and is still one of the most photographed icons in Reno.

Back in February on 1969 The city of Everett made history as the first Boeing 747 to fly. This aircraft was the first flying prototype to what would become one of the most successful aircraft in history with over 1400 of them sold over the last 40 odd years in various variants. The aircraft now lives back in Seattle only miles from where she was built in Everett. The plane is part of the wonderful collection that makes up the Museum of Flight at King County Airport just south of Seattle. The old girl is looking a bit tired and weary these days but the future looks bright although it may be a little time off. The Museum of Flight plan to build a new annex where a restored City of Everett will take centre stage regaining her former glory. Currently the Jumbo is parked in a lot open to the public with a 707 US Air force 1 Presidential Plane and Supersonic Concorde close by.

The Space Needle in Seattle is one of the world’s most recognisable towers and was built for the World Fair in 1962. Like the Eiffel Tower which was built for the Paris fair it was only meant to be a temporary structure but the people liked it so much it stayed. Standing at 184 feet the tower isn’t huge on today’s standards but is still a much loved icon of this Washington city.  The trip to the top takes about 43 seconds and when there you will see some spectacular views over Seattle and the bay, it’s a great place to start your trip to Seattle as you get your bearings. On a nice clear day you can see as far as Mt Rainer and the Cascade Mountains.  For a special evening in Seattle why not try revolving restaurant which offers not only tasty food but magnificent night views of Seattle.

Last year the Canadian city of Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympic Games and had a pretty impressive Olympic  Cauldron which held the flame. Ten metre high flame was made of steel and glass resembled huge ice pillars. After the games the city decided to put the beautiful sculpture on display in the city for all to see as a legacy of a fine Winter Olympics.    The cauldron has been installed in downtown Vancouver at Jack Poole Plaza not far from the convention centre and international cruise liner terminal, so it is in very easy reach of tourists wanting a photo.

No aliens have not landed in San Francisco, but someone passing the bayfront along The Embarcadero might think otherwise. Standing at 40 foot the Raygun Gothic Rocketship is a pretty impressive piece of artwork on display in the bay city. 

Some say the Raygun Gothic Rocketship (RGR) is an 80 year old vessel that has a duty of scientific discovery and exploration. Reports say she has crash-landed on the frozen seas of Mars, gathered specimens from every last one of the 400 volcanoes of Io and charted the caves of Mongo. While others might try and diffuse the myth by saying shiny silver retro themed rocket ship is the work of dozens of bay area artists, but we like the earlier.  Hope they brought back some cheese from the moon! Read the rest of this entry »

Portland in Oregon USA has an amazing Saturday market for anyone visiting this great city. It holds the record of the longest continuous running outdoor market in the USA, starting in 1974/ It is jam packed with some great arts and crafts, there’s clothing, jewellery, sculptures painting you name it. The market features plenty of great music and performance art too. The market is located on SW Ankeny St + Naito Parkway and around the Ankeny Plaza. IT. The market runs from the 1st weekend in March til Christmas, on both Saturday and Sunday. Don’t forget to try the food too, there are some very tasty offerings at the food vendors, and look out for the beer tents where you can taste some of Portland’s delicious microbrew beer- it is amazing. We tried the IPA from the Rogue Brewhouse and couldn’t stop at one.

Most people think Reno in Nevada USA is all one arm bandits and giant buffets, well you are pretty well right but there are some very good attractions in and around this “Biggest Little City in the World”. One fantastic attraction that any car lover should visit is the National Automobile Museum which is located right in the heart of the city.  The museum was originally founded to display the dozens of amazing cars owned by Bill Harrah of the Harrah’s hotel and casino chain.  The museum has some pretty cool stuff, there’s one of Elvis’s tanks, a gold plated DeLorean as seen in the photo, cars from John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and even Al Jolson. But it’s not the celebrity cars which are the most fascinating, it is the breath of the collection. There are over 100 years of history with plenty of cars you just won’t see anywhere else.  The museum also has a great collection of period costumes and artefacts and there is some great memorabilia and artwork.   There are four main halls all themed and good gift shop which has a whole range of great products.

for more information: http://automuseum.org

When you think of trams in the beautiful US Pacific city of San Francisco you think of the old cable cars that head up and down the steep streets. Well there is another very unique tram travelling the streets of San Francisco, the Tram or Street Car as they are known. The cars returned to the streets of San Francisco in 1979 and have now grown to quiet a fleet. Many of the street cars have come from cities around the US where they are no longer in use. Some have even come from overseas including Melbourne Australia, Kobe and Hiroshima in Japan and Blackpool in the UK. After painstaking restoration, and painting usually in the original city’s colours the trams have been returned to service.

Darwin’s Parliament House is home to the Northern Territory Legislature and is one of the city’s more striking pieces of architecture. Opening in August of 1994 this building has been designed to suit Darwin’s tropical and sometimes harsh environment. The huge facade screens up to 8-% of the direct sunlight to the interior of the building and specially selected interior features including Tasmanian timbers and special fittings also help keep the building suitable for the many office workers and ‘most importantly’ the politicians. The building is open for self guided tours most days and there are guided tours certain times of the year. School tours are very popular and are a great way for the young to understand how and why the parliament operates. The building overlooks the beautiful Darwin Harbor and is located on land which was once occupied by the Larrakia Aboriginal People. To the west of the parliamentary building is Speaker’s Green which is a very popular place for weddings in Darwin. Just about every weekend you will see newly weds having their photographs taken or taking part in their ceremony. Towards the southern end of the green you will find Government House which amazingly survived both the bombing of Darwin in World War II and the horrific Cyclone Tracy of Christmas Day 1974. The lush gardens and tropical architecture make this one of the jewels of Darwin.

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