We started the morning early in Las Vegas at 6:00am…well, kinda. When you’re still brain is still on Eastern Time, 6am PST (9 EST) isn’t so hard to do. Even after a late night in Vegas.

From there we did the rent-a-car scramble. We didn’t reserve one, because we had not really planned on going to the Grand Canyon until about 2pm the day before. Between the hours of 8 – 9am I walked to rent a car agencies in: Treasure Island, Mirage, Venetian and the Palazzo. At this point I decided to check online. Apparently the entire Las Vegas area (including the airport) was fresh out of cars. Eventually we headed off the strip, and found a car 10 miles away. It was a pickup truck, but came with unlimited miles. It’ll do.

We left at 10:30am and got there some time 5 or 6 hours later – we decided to head for the larger south rim instead of the (smaller) slice on the west end that’s only a few hours out of Vegas. We got to drive across the Hoover Dam, and experience all kinds of different exciting climates. Well, as exciting as it is to see trees after spending 3 hours driving through dirt and little plant..bush things.

Anyways, this has been by far the coolest location I’ve had a chance to shoot at – here are a few photos from the day:

The view out of our 33rd story room overlooking the strip at Treasure Island – Vegas Tip: If you’d like a better room, pull out a $20 as you ask about any possible free upgrades. They’ll usually find you something.

I’m off to Washington DC/Virginia and Philadelphia this week for some corporate work. Hopefully I have a few spare minutes to check out the White House and other sights!

Here’s a few shots from the first part of our journey:

I caught this neat little shot of a sea gull near the San Francisco Bay

From there we headed over to the Golden Gate Bridge, which was pretty golden under the clouds and sun.

Another quick shot of the bridge.

The next morning we headed even closer. We stayed at The Wharf, so it was a little bit of a drive out there.

From there we headed on our way out of town – but first we found..well, my street.

(cell phone photo)

Oh, we found the house they used on the show Full House. 1709 Broderick St, San Francisco CA. They have painted the door though.

After a quick drive past Steiner St (Looking for the Mrs Doubtfire house – as well as the park the Full House crew has their picnic in during the opening credits) we were on our way to Reedley (Near Fresno) for a cute backyard wedding.

Kate did make-up, and things were ready to go.

It was hot – I have no idea how the So Cal photographers can work in pants and long sleeve shirts all day.

Becky and Chris

Here’s Julie coming down the aisle, she’s the maid of honor, and the one that really helped get me out to California for her sisters wedding. Thanks so much!

These kids are so cute.

Chris pulled Becky around in a little red wagon for a little bit, then we went back to the hotel.

At 4am the next morning, Kate and I headed for Las Vegas.

We stayed at New York New York, and had a suite overlooking the MGM Grand.

It was quite the suite – 700 square feet, complete with surround sound, and clover shaped jacuzzi. We went down to the pool for a bit, wandered the strip, and went in various stores. Kate found some expensive items she liked, but would never purchase. Jimmy Choo shoes, Chanel dresses, diamonds at Tiffany’s, various items at D&G, Dior – and her new favorite store of all time: Betty Page – http://www.bettiepageclothing.com/ I saw the Betty Page store a few weeks ago when I was in Vegas, and texted her to tell her that I found her new favorite store. This was confirmed. (It’s in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood for those interested)

The next morning we left Las Vegas, and headed back towards the coast – Los Angeles.

The drive isn’t so bad, and we stopped at In and Out on the way through Barstow. I like Barstow, everyone seems to be small-town-nice, even if they can tell from your pale skin that you’re a Canadian.

The Malibu Coast

The Malibu Coast photo turned 90 degrees to include Kate & our car

We stopped at the Santa Monica pier and got some ice cream. It melted fast. I do not have a picture of this ice cream, so you’ll have to take my word for it.

We drove up a fun little hill towards Thousand Oaks, complete with hairpin corners, and half mile cliffs if you go too far off the side of the road. It was a lot of a fun.

We came back down, and eventually headed towards the airport.

LAX.

Then we took the red eye home.

The end.

Here’s a few photos from the day:

Happy to say that UW leaves their lecture halls open all the time. So we took advantage.

Alright. So on Monday I’m off to Las Vegas, for a few photos at Showest (cinema industry tradeshow), and a drive from Vegas, to L.A. to Malibu and back. I should bring back lots of photos. Looks like next Sunday, I’ll also be heading to New York City to photograph Grand Central Stations BMW exhibit. And April 21st, it’s back to Vegas for NAB (Broadcasting, media, entertainment and communications tradeshow) Should be a fun month.

It’s not that I’ve been lazy – quite the opposite in fact. I’ve just been too busy looking after clients / family / friends to keep everyone updated.  So here is part one of what I’ve been up to since November.

Las Vegas, NV.

The Luxor was our home for a few days. Fun facts about the Luxor:
1. The elevators are actually inclinators that go up on ~60 degree angles. You never really know which way you’re going to get pulled in, fun stuff.
2. There is a Starbucks as soon as you get off the inclinator.
3. Carrot Top was everywhere.

So this is my second attempt to get this photo. Sadly this time, I was on the the side opposite to the Strip upon landing. This photo was taken during the decent (well, actually downwind on the circuit if you’re a fellow pilot)

There’s a couple of these kicking around in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas is pretty fake. Plastic grass, palm trees, etc. That said, these are real, legit, palm trees.

Not sure about these ones.

Paris.

You get some crazy reflections through the windows of a pyramid.

Las Vegas City Center…still under construction. It’s mammoth.

Street side escalators are pretty much the norm.

Flight out.

That’s all for now. I’ll update this more frequently. Promise.

I’ll be launching a brand new commercial website in the near future, I just need to find some time to get it all up and going.

Kitchener Wedding Photographer