Grand Tetons National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone...

Hiya all,

All is well here, I am at Yellowstone now!!!

We have done a lot of driving since leaving San Francisco on the first day, we went to Yosemite first of all which was simply amazing. Spent two nights there and did an brilliant hike right up the mountain near Yosemite Falls, this was well worth it as managed to swim in the pools just before the waterfall, it was safe!!!

Then yesterday we left Yosemite and the land of big sequolia trees to cover a few states!!! We did a major amount of driving - 590 miles to be exact - and went through Nevada and Idaho from California. Then today we have come up to Montana to see Yellowstone for the next four or so days. Haven't seen much yet as only just arrived but campsite seems very good and also the new tour group are really nice too: We again have a international mix of people, one person from Japan, one Swedish, five English (again), one from New Zealand, one from Germany, a few from France - all good!! Tour leader is really cool too...

Craters of the Moon National Park

The Harley Davidson at Yosemite

Pics of San Francisco

Sunset at Golden Gate



San Francisco trams



The business district

San Francisco II

Hello all,

Well after spending five nights in San Francisco I have become quite used to San Francisco, it is a really nice place and it is extremely easy to walk around, which is exactly what I have been doing!!!

I have spent a couple of mornings catching up on sleep and saving my energy for my second tour which begins tomorrow, I can barely believe that tomorrow I will be back in the van as well as camping again, but with a whole new group, it should be interesting!!

I hope that it is similar to the last tour where we did quite a few activities during the day and then gathered around the campfire (or beachfire) for a few beers in the evening, it was great!! I really enjoyed my last tour and the group was really good too, so if the new group is anything like the last one it should be great fun.

Since my last entry on Wednesday when I visited Alcatraz I had a bit of a day off on Thursday apart from looking around Union Square a bit and then visiting the Museum of Modern Art in the evening. I managed to see a few works of Picasso, James Rosenquist, Roy Lichtenstein, Marilyn Minter and Andy Warhol which took me back a bit to A-Level Art!! I also saw the famous urinal that R. Mutt provided for a art contest in 1917!! That was the beginning of modern art... but I won't bore you any longer!!!!

On Friday I walked all the way to the Golden Gate bridge again as it was such a clear day and sure enough the bridge was not obscured by fog this time. I ended up staying until sunset and I got some good photos (I hope!) and made my way back to the hostel. I ended up going to the nearby Irish pub with a couple of other people from the hostel and had a couple of pints of Guinness, lovely stuff!!

Yesterday I went to Colt Tower which provided some excellent views of the whole of San Francisco from the high rise buildings of the financial district to Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge. This was probably the best place I have been to in San Francisco as the views were amazing. I actually got someone to take a picture of me at the top (something I do often!) and ended up talking to the family who were from Miami, they were interested to know where I was travelling etc...

Then later as I walked all the way back to my hostel downtown, I bumped into them again near Union Square and they were all dressed up ready to go out to a theatre and I had only just made it back to town!!! They couldn't believe I had walked back all that way!! Some people, I couldn't believe they had the luxury of going out to a theatre and staying in the best hotel in San Francisco!!!

When I got back to the hostel I went out to a nearby Sports Bar with my Swedish roommate and he was telling me that on his confirmation form from the hostel it says "Martin Andersson, (his address) and Switzerland". Apparently when he tells an American he is from Sweden they say "Ah, so you are Swiss"!!!!!! My German roommate says that maybe when America goes to war with Sweden, they will finally know where Sweden is!!!! Terrible jokes!!!!

So today my plan is to catch up on my emails as much as I can before beginning my tour tomorrow. I am really looking forward to it as I will be visiting some amazing National Parks such as Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and others, as well as seeing some cities such as Las Vegas, San Diego and Los Angeles. It should be an amazing trip and I will hope to keep in touch as much as I can.

Speak soon guys and keep those emails coming!!

Love Adrian

Travelling tip of the day

When in a major city like San Francisco, you should never have to pay to use the internet, best thing to do is either locate a public library for free guest access or alternatively you can go to an Apple store like I have (and 50 other travellers!) and use the internet for as long as you want!!

Great marketing and remember, you learnt it here...

San Francisco

I am in San Francisco now having arrived yesterday, the city is quite European and it is really quite easy to walk around, even though it is very hilly here!!!

I tried to book some tickets yesterday to go to Alcatraz but the tickets had sold out until Sunday. The alternative was to turn up at 8.30am this morning and see if there were any available, so woke up at the crack of dawn and made my way across town, luckily it paid off!!

So I managed to get a ticket for around lunchtime and thus I had some time on my hands. So spent the morning walking all the way along the marina up to the Golden Gate bridge which took a little while but it really was worth it. The higher part of the bridge was obscured by fog but it made for a more interesting photo!!

The visit to Alcatraz was also really good, doesn't feel like a nice place but then I don't think it is meant to!! I know some of you thought I would be there for a more lengthly stay, but luckily for me it was just a flying visit (even though security is so great I couldn't fly out of there even if I tried, it is just a figure of speech!).

Will hope to see some more areas of San Francisco today so will let you know how that goes. I am hoping to put a few photographs from my Canadian tour on this website soon... I'll keep you posted.

End of the first tour

Well after an epic 21 days we finally made it back to Seattle and completed our tour. We were able to stretch out the tour slightly longer by going out for a meal with those who were staying in Seattle that night. In fact, I am shortly meeting up with a few of the group members for lunch in Seattle, and that sadly will be the final goodbye.

My hostel in Seattle is simply terrific!!! I had a free continental breakfast this morning and towels are also provided, sheer luxury!!!! I arrived at the hostel around 11pm last night and everyone was pretty much asleep in the room!!! So was able to get a decent night's sleep with the comfort of a nice, soft mattress and fresh linen!!

Seattle is quite a big city with many high rise buildings, the Space Needle is not as big as the CN Tower in Toronto but still good nonetheless!!

Tomorrow I am flying to San Francisco rather than taking a bus, which would take 20 hours! So instead the 2 hour flight should get me there around 2pm. I am staying in a hostel there again which is run by the same company as here in Seattle so hopefully I will have the same treatment!! It is quite central so will let you know how it all goes, looking forward to it, speak soon...

Victoria, capital of British Columbia

Quick note, thanks for all the messages this week, it has been a special week as I spent my birthday on the beach!!!!! We travelled from Vancouver in the early hours of the morning and caught the ferry to Vancouver Island. I was woken up by the tour group, someone pulling my legs out of the tent and the chorus of "happy birthday" at 6.07am!!!!!

I had a card from Charles which I had kept in my bag all this time!!! That was great as well as a nice card from the group, lovely surprise.

Our campsite was North of the island on the Pacific Rim, a gorgeous part of the island and located pretty much on the beach!!! This was a real treat for my birthday as it was also the first time I had been on a beach properly on my tour. We spent the evening on the beach until the early hours and there was a beautiful sun set and stars were clearly visible.

I also marked out a mini football pitch in the sand and then we had a couple of international football games, even when it began getting dark!!! It was great, then everyone surprised me with candles on chocolate cupcakes!!! I had actually bought my own cupcake earlier in the day and everyone was disappointed as they had already bought them for me!!!! So that was nice.

We went whale watching the day after my birthday and saw a few Gray whales as well as a Bald Eagle and some big Sea Lions!!! So had a good week. Today is our last day on the trek and we are at Victoria now in the South part of the Island. We will be going out for a final meal together tonight and tomorrow we are getting the ferry across to Seattle. I will hope to send a longer email from there.

Well I have had a super week seeing some great places as well as celebrating both my birthday and my graduation results which was a surprise as I worked so hard for a 2:1 that the extra work paid off. I never expected the first which made it even more special for me.

So a great end to the tour, we have had a great time and will catch the ferry tomorrow to Seattle. I will then spend two nights there in a hostel and another person on the tour will be there for those two nights too so that will be nice for me. Then I will fly to San Francisco on the 19th and stay there for 5 nights before beginning my second tour!!!! I will hope to be in touch, please check my website anyway in the meantime...

My birthday in Canada - on the beach!!!!

A few nights out - my graduation night!!

In Whistler, the night before I found out my result!



The next night, celebrating in Vancouver, my graduation night!

Buffalo ranch, Whistler and Vancouver

We travelled from Whistler to Vancouver today having spent two nights in Whistler on Saturday and Sunday. Whistler is a trendy ski resort and so everything was quite expensive but it is a beautiful place to be and we had a fun night-out on the first night but we were rained out on the second after watching a slide show of all the photos so far on the tour on the tour guide's laptop!! Some good photos for sure!!!

Before that we didn't end up doing the overnight canoe trip due to wet weather near the area of Clearwater so stayed at the Buffalo Ranch on Friday as well as Thursday and instead just did a day trip on the lake. This was great as the buffalo ranch was a surprise to the group upon arrival as we were expecting to pitch up our tents again, but instead we had a cabin with precious mattresses for the guys and one for the girls, pure luxury!!! The trip on the lake was fantastic and we did around 16-20km, finishing off at the ranch for a second night of bison burgers and I had a mighty 3 burgers, it was great; albeit stomach bursting!!!!!

The family that run the ranch were really nice and let me use the phone to call the UK on Thursday after the trek group heard about the bombings in London, which was terrible news. Charlie was fine luckily, he actually found out the seriousness of the situation on his way to work whilst walking pass some of the hit areas. My Mum was also in London that day which I was surprised to hear and so I was very glad to hear that she was fine too. Horrible stuff, check out my brother's website to hear more about it... the link is http://thescribblerCHJ.blogspot.com/

The Cory Pass - Banff

1st Class Honours

After waiting over the weekend to finally use a computer with internet to find out my degree results I discovered that was awarded FIRST CLASS HONOURS in BA (Hons) Marketing!!!!!!!!

When I first clicked onto the University website and discovered my results I have to say a brief moment of emotion overcame me - here I was thousands of miles from home in scenic Whistler, Canada, and I could not believe the words that read in front of me...

"The examining board agreed on 8/07/05 your award of First Degree Honours."

That was all that was stated after four years of academic study in the first and second year followed by a placement in industry with Uniq Prepared Foods (a multinational food company). The fourth and final year presented a return to academic study and that brief statement which concluded my course meant so much to me that it was quite incredible.

I checked the same website again and typed my username and password in again, checking the name and award as well as probably pitching myself several times over, utterly indescrible.

So I rang home and managed to get in touch with Granddad after no answer at home and later on that Sunday I spoke to Dad and told him what I had received but wanted to check the letter that was to arrive in England on the Monday.

By that time I was in Vancouver and had arranged to phone Dad at 11am from there (7pm UK time) after he had got back from work. Dad went through everything I had got and the exam results were really quite impressive as well as my dissertation result which really enabled me to get a first. It was an amazing phone call, there I was using a public phone overlooking the gorgeous Vancouver harbour watching seaplanes landing in the harbour with Dad at home with the most important letter in my life in his hands!!!!

I was so happy it was unbelievable, such a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders and more importantly all that hard work had finally paid off. I had spent numerous weekends in the library, woke up early and worked until late not to get a first but in the view that I wanted to work as hard as I could so that I had no regrets and do the best that I could. So after receiving a first I cannot really complain!!!

Thus, I have chosen these two pictures to summarise my time at University and both were taken on the epic Cory Pass hike in Banff, Canada (see above photos). Only five members of the tour group actually did the hike and as you can imagine it was a great relief to finally reach the summit after three hours hiking purely uphill to the extent that sometimes it felt as if my heart was ready to jump off the cliff and leave me to it!!!

Truly amazing.

The 47 km bike ride - Jasper

This bike ride was crazy, a few of us decided to race it, which wasn't the best idea(!) I managed to get back first but only just! Man, I could barely feel my legs by the end!!!

Jasper part II

Just a quick one as managed to come back into Jasper today, went on a smaller hike than expected today as the upper hike was closed due to wet weather and the need to protect the alpine flowers. So I have an hour or so to spare so thought I would come on the internet!!

I have just been to a photo shop to ask them to put a few of my best pictures so far onto a CD so I could send them via the internet, so hope that you got the attachments and that the files are not too big for you. Let me know if you receive them or not.

The attachments are just some of the photos from New York and Toronto (picture of me at Niagara Falls and fireworks at Niagara Falls) the rest were taken in New York - the Coca Cola van on 33rd street with the Empire State building in the background. The pigeon on top of the Empire State Building as well as some other New York skyline shots such as the Chrystler building with a shadow of an eagle in front (this was taken outside Grand Central Terminal).

I'll send all the photos home soon so that you can have a look then, this will be after I develop some more film perhaps in San Francisco where I have more time to put the photos in for three days to save some money.

All is well, our tour guide is meeting us at 4.30pm at Jasper after dropping us off briefly in town. We have an overnight canoe trip to look forward to tomorrow so an early start I think. My results will be released either on the 8th or 9th on the internet, so will let you know, I will hope to access internet on the 9th July in Whistler to find out then. It may be that the letter arrives at home before then, but I'll let you know whether to open it for me or not by the 9th July.

I am very surprised about Britain winning the Olympic bid, I am struggling to keep up with any news from the UK at the moment!!!! I hope that the money for the Olympics is put to good use as it may cost the British taxpayer!!

Okay, hope you have managed to access the photos okay, there are plenty more to see!!!

News from Jasper

Well another quick one unfortunately, glad to hear from everyone, including Granddad, Dad, Mum and Charles. All is well here, I am now very tired!!!!!!!!!! I have had a very busy week since I did the Cory Pass in Banff (remember - that killer 13k walk with an elevation of 900 metres!!!) well the day after we hiked up near Lake Louise which is beautiful with a clear blue colour, this was around a 4 hour hike (12km), with an elevation of 300-400metres or so, going pass some very nice lakes indeed.

Then, the next day (yesterday) we packed up our tent in Lake Louise (only stayed there one night after Banff) and moved on to the Trans-Canada Highway, which is described as the most beautiful road in the world (no trucks allowed as it goes through two national parks). Many of us on the trek kept our eyes peeled for the elusive grizzly bear but we didn't see much apart from some mountain goats. On our way to Jasper on this highway we stopped off at Athabasca Glacier, which was amazing. Most tourists got a special bus along the side of the glacier to the top, but we used a tour guide who took us over the glacier. It was a real experience and I learnt a lot, so that was the activity of the day. We walked around 4km up and then 4km back. The whole glacier is around 6km in length so we saw a lot. A lot of water run off, small crevaces, bore holes, the tour guide was excellent and told us a lot.

In fact, the glacier is one of several in the area which stems from the Columbia Icefield, which is massive and we could not see it from the ground. It is also the hydrological apex of North America, as the glaciers around it are the source of many major rivers in America and Canada. The glaciers also explain the blue colour found in the lakes which is the result of silt from the glacier which runs into the rivers and lakes. So it explained or summed up many of the lakes such as Lake Louise or Peyto Lake (the bluest lake in Canada) that I have seen as well as rivers such as the Hudson River in New York, so a great experience!!!!

Then we set up camp after that and went out for a meal and a few drinks, our first so far since most of our meals are cooked on camp, we've had a few mexican and bbq's so far!!!! Lots of food to go around. Yesterday we saw our fifth bear, again from the van and today I have seen a lot of elk for the first time, Canada is like a zoo!!!

Well today we had an epic bike ride from up in the Rockies down to the town of Jasper. We hired bikes from Jasper and loaded them onto the top of our tour van, then our tour guide kept on driving for some time, we were begging him to stop and let us off!!!! But he drove to the normal stop at a nice lake and so we rode all the way back, this was a crazy 47kilometres. I led the way, all the way!!!! A few of the girls on the tour gave me a run for my money though!!!

It took us around 3 hours with some hills to tackle, some flat parts and some nice downhill spots. Now I can feel it in my legs right up to my eyes!!! We need a good sleep tonight, it was quite cold on our last night in Banff. I was lying there in my sleeping bag and could not muster courage to get out of my sleeping bag to find some more clothes!!! Then Lake Louise was also quite cold and last night at Jasper was not too bad, a little better!!

The hot springs at Banff for our final night was good, we stayed in for around 2 hours (recommended maxium time was 20 minutes!!!) it was more like an outdoor swimming pool but it was good fun and soothed all those aches and pains!!!! We have been getting around 6 hours sleep a night, we wake up just before 7am most days, especially if we have an activity planned or if we need to pack up camp again!!!!! It is all great fun though.

Okay, glad that Chess is looking after her kittens very well (six I can't believe it). Dad hope your relocation is going well and Mum hope all is well with you too. Edwin I imagine is happy with having the kittens around!! I will send him a postcard in the next few days. Charles, hope work is going well in London, sounds very good and nice to keep in touch with a few of the old Vee-TV guys. I have had half an hour to check emails and write this, not too bad, now going to meet my group to head back to camp after an exhausting few days!!!!!!! I set up my tent on a few pine cones yesterday that I could feel right through my thin 1cm so-called mattress!!! I don't think I'll even care tonight!!!

Having a great one, feels like a long time since I was in England, so many stories to tell, been taking lots of pictures so will hope to show you all some soon. Take care, and let me know how things are going.

Goal of the season

Whilst in Banff I discovered that I had won the goal of the season award as voted by my fellow teammates at UWE Dynamos in Bristol. This goal was scored from outside the box in the closing minutes of the game when we were only winning 1-0 and needed another goal to close the game.

So I popped up on the edge of the box running to receive a bobbing pass, Rooney style, and simply hit the ball as hard as I could... the ball looped up and over everyone and went straight into the corner of the goal leaving the goalkeeper stranded in midair!!!! Glorious!!!!

Thanks lads, and well done Simon for winning player of the season, richly deserved!!

In BANFF - THE HEART OF THE ROCKIES!!!!

Okay, haven't spoken to you in a week now!!! The tour group is pretty good, I get on well with everyone and we have lots of laughs!!! We have two couples, one Dutch one English (from Oxford University!!), two older German guys, one Irish lady, one German girl, one Scottish girl, one Welsh/English girl, one English girl, one American girl, and me!!! Lots of days hiking and then spending evening next to camp fire!!

I'll try and be brief as not got long until meet the group to go to the hot springs for two hours!!!! I need a good soak as me and 4 others in the group, including the tour guide hiked the most difficult hike in Banff!!! 910m elevation which took 3 hours right to the top, I have some great pictures, then around 2.5 hours to get down on the other side. It was around 13k. The whole group did a hike a couple of days ago called Yoho Pass and today's hike was called the Cory Pass.

We went to Seattle on the first day of the tour instead of the last, as someone was late due to late flight, and then headed through the Cascade Mountains. The next day we went over the border to the Rockies, starting at Golden near Yoho. We saw our first bear on the way!!!!!!!!!!!

We saw the bear just off the highway and from the safety of the van! It was a young black bear but still pretty big! The bear was more bothered about eating flowers luckily, and so we were able to take some great pictures. We have now seen 4 altogether now, all from the van!!!!! I saw the second one which no one else did!!! White water rafting was amazing at Golden, but the water was very cold!! The rapids were class 3 and 4 and some were pretty scary!!! Know gods why I took up the option of going for a swim in it!

That same day I did my first ever Paraglide from a peak at Golden at around 9pm, it was fantastic, around 4,000 feet decent, and I was able to control the paraglide too!!!! I did a few circles with gorgeous sunset over the valley. It was great. Check the photos out...

Good to hear from everyone, glad Chess had her kittens finally!!!!! I have just found out I won goal of the season with 10 votes!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay must go now, will hope to send longer email very soon with more info. Been taking lots of pictures and all is well, really enjoying it and the food is great!!!

Canadian Parks West tour

Stop-off on sea to sky highway.



The guys' cabin, Buffalo Ranch

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Athabasca Glacier walk



The guys on tour, at Lake Louise (holding tour guide!)



Lake Louise group photo