On my way to Fiji

It is around 3pm LA time and soon I will be on my way to the Los Angeles airport, waving goodbye to North America after 11 weeks since starting my trip in New York. It has been a really good trip so far and I am looking forward to the second half of my trip, should be great, and Fiji is next!!

I have enjoyed my time in America and Canada but I am looking forward to moving on and checking out Fiji as well as New Zealand and Australia. One of the most difficult things about travelling is eating well, and in America I have found it really difficult, such is America's fascination with the burger; from Burger King and McDonalds to Jack in a Box and aptly named "Fatburger". They do love their burgers indeed!

The hostel in Los Angeles is probably one of the best hostels I have stayed out so far, you'll be pleased to know that they have mixed dorm rooms - great! They even had a movie room, a few courtyards, but the kitchen was limited to say the least - just a microwave and a toaster!! I did have a couple of jacket potatoes with tuna and sweetcorn, nice and cheap but I found a really nice Greek restaurant around the corner and had Fellafel with houmous etc (twice!), this reminded me of "Fellafel King" in Bristol, but it was better (if that is at all possible)!!!

Went out a couple of times to Sunset Strip where the celebrities go, including Viper Rooms, and don't think I saw anyone famous, but everyone was acting like they were!!! It was interesting and it is worth mentioning that a lot of people in LA are waiting to get "discovered" by Hollywood, from the shuttle driver at the hostel to John Pierre from Beligium. He is 36 year old man who has given up his full-time job to pursue his dream for at least two years, he is not an actor by trade, nor is he famous in Beligium. I don't get it, just a dream I think!!!

I am disillusioned with the whole idea of becoming famous, and I don't think I would really want to be famous, it is not all fame and glory but so much of LA seems to be based on this premise. The best bit about Los Angeles is the beaches, I have spent two days on the Santa Monica "Baywatch" beach and got a photo near the lifeguard hut!!! The lifeguard (a she, with very white teeth) saw me and my friend and invited us up to the lookout point on the hut! Very Baywatch indeed, she even let me have the red float for a photograph!!!

So in a way looking forward to moving on and finding a sense of normality as well as sampling the Fijian cuisine, no burgers please!!!!!!

End of the second tour...

So now I have completed my second tour, I am very tired after a busy month (especially after a late final night!!) - all in all, we notched up just over 5,000 miles in the van, but it was all worth it, we travelled through quite a few states in the end, covering California, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and back through California coming up the coast from San Diego.

In the last few days we have been lucky enough to drive along the Big Sur coastline in California, this is a great drive, high cliff roads and great ocean views all the way, I think I've got some good photos!!! Before that we were in Los Angeles and we had the pleasure of staying in Malibu, albeit in a tent!!!! We saw the hollywood sign, the cafe where Brad Pitt worked dressed up as a chicken, the walk of fame (which wasn't that glamorous), Beverly Hills, and to round it off we were invited to be in the audience for the Late, Late Show, this was quite good as we saw interviews with 3 relatively famous people, including the "mother" from the hit Desperate Housewives, shame it wasn't one of the prettier ones!!! So that was interesting and a nice way to see how hollywood works.

Before Los Angeles, we stayed in San Diego for two nights and I managed to get my first dose of surfing in (aside from bodysurfing in Canada - without a board!) and it was deemed to be a great success as I stayed on the board for a lot longer than my first experience, so confidence is high, will keep trying!!

Okay, continuing in reverse order... Las Vegas gave us a dose of a tourist/gambling trap with a lot of marketing activity, bright lights and showbiz! This is quite the opposite to what we had been used to for 3 weeks visiting merely national parks, with no advertising or marketing experienced whatsoever!! I did enjoy my time there especially as the city is located in the desert but no one seems to care, sprinklers everywhere, even a jacuzzi in our hotel rooms which was a relief from shared campsite showers!!! We saw a few free shows, lions, tigers and we had a massive buffet, USA style in the Luxor/ Egyptian casino!! No one could believe it when I went up for a third time and again had a whole new meal, this I have promised myself not to do again!!!! I ate so much, it was painful!!!

So last time I left you was in Zion National Park, I have found it difficult to find internet ever since so hence my long entry!!!! I really enjoyed Zion and the hikes we did there, would definitely like to go again. But more so, I would love to go to Grand Canyon again which was my next desination. This place is unbelievable!!!!!

Firstly, the park is massive, the canyon is massive, not a mere mile-deep canyon but width wise, it contains many small(er) canyons (which are still massive) leading into the main canyon. The hike I did there with 3 other group members was one of the best hikes I have done so far, 12 miles in all and every part of the hike was amazing. We started off really early at 4am, catching the shuttle from the campsite straight to the canyon rim, we then saw a brilliant sunrise which made the early wake up call worth it!!!

After that we set off on our hike taking it quite seriously as the temperatures in the Grand Canyon can be extremely hot (there are 2 deaths a week in the Grand Canyon - mainly be people not prepared), luckily it was not a particularly hot day and so it was only around 80.f. But it did feel strange to begin the hike so early in the morning cool breeze to walking down the trail and suddenly it was like we had walked into a warm room, that was a incredible difference in temperature. There was water all the way along the trail which made things a lot easier and so we made sure we were hydrated as well as having regular snacks. The greatest thing about the hike was the fact that we could see the trail lead all the way to Plateau Point a good 6 miles down, it zigzagged all the way down the canyon and when we finally made it to the point it was incredible. It is not possible to hike down to the river in one day, but by getting to the point we had a closer view of the muddy Colorado river below, it was fantastic and I have got some postcard photos from there!!!

Okay, so end of my second tour, I have one night in San Francisco before going to Los Angeles tomorrow for seven nights then Fiji!!!!!! Will hope to put another entry on the website this week. Hope everyone is well....

Beverly Hills

Walk of Fame!

Santa Barbara

Rumble down the canyon

Well I haven't posted any stories for a while on the site, so I thought I would take the opportunity to tell you about the rumble down the canyon... it was pretty scary! Probably why I haven't told anyone yet, took a while, even to just talk about it!

When we stayed at the Grand Canyon, the weather was really quite good for most of the time, but in the afternoon at around 2pm time and in typical monsoon fashion, storm clouds would cover the area. On our second night at the Grand Canyon, the storm clouds returned in the evening with great effect, and indeed, I wasn't staying in a hotel.

I remember the storm calming down before I went to sleep, but then a few hours later it returned. Vivid and bright lightning lit up the flimsy tent... followed by the loudest natural sound I have ever heard, ever.

Thus thunder and lightning had hit the Grand Canyon again, but loader and bigger than ever before.

I remember quickly counting the gaps between the flashing light and the tremendous roar with my shaking, panic-ridden fingers, luckily it wasn't too near, but it was getting closer, with every gap between the flash and the thunder being recorded with great haste.

The bright strobe type flashes were not so bad, it was the thunder or the rumble down the canyon that had the greatest effect. The thunder seemed to be absorbed by the canyon itself, with several tremendous echoes rebounding back from the canyon.

The worst thing was being in a tent, with its structure being held up by unfortunate metal poles, not the best thing to be near in a thunderstorm!! I remember trying to do everything possible to stay away from the poles as well as my tent buddy with little success, but there was really nothing I could do!

I merely just lied there on the ground, listening to the rain trickle down the metal poles, as if just to tease me further. And after a few hours of hoping for the best, the greatest storm I have ever encounted, with the misfortune of being in the tent during the process, finally passed at long last.

Thank god!

Same day sunrise and sunset over Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon Hike

Zion Landing Hike

Zion national park

Well, get your maps out as now I am at Zion in Utah, again an amazing place after seeing Bryce Canyon in Utah yesterday with hoodoo rock formations - that was simply brilliant.

Before that and after Moab, Utah, where we saw the magnificent Arches - we stayed at a cowboy ranch for two nights (friday and saturday) on our way to south Utah. This made it hard to get access to phones etc as it was in the middle of nowhere!!! So couldn't phone home and join in the celebrations which was a shame but the ranch was very nice, quiet and extremely peaceful - well it would be as it is run by Mormons (though you wouldn't have guessed)!!!

It was nice staying at the ranch and we weren't in cabins but in the house itself with a balcony and view across to the valley. So we had mattresses etc - glorious, even a darts board and I lost twice going round the clock, we actually played jenga too, great stuff!! But not only that, meals were also served and each one was fantastic and indeed, very filling (I had a few second helpings)!!!

We got to ride the horses on the full day that we were there and that was good as we went over steep rocky terrain and my horse was great, we were best buddies!!! So felt very relaxed after getting used to the horse. We all rode for about 4 hours altogether, and whilst some of the others couldn't walk as well afterwards, I turned out alright!!!

Also, I have seen lots of wildlife (even saw a Peregrine Falcon today on our early morning hike today!) and I saw my first Hummingbird after missing one in Canada and this was at Moab, Utah. It hovered right in front of my face fluttering its eyelids and its tiny wings - looking at me! A lovely bird and at the ranch there were several Hummingbirds and they were visible through the windows while we were eating, in fact we saw two go straight into the window!!! One survived but the other, well, as dead as a dodo!!! There were a few cats there too which was nice having not seen one since Canada!!!

We arrived at Zion National Park late last night and so it wasn't until waking up before dawn this morning that I finally saw the park in its true colours emerge along with sunrise!! Half of us got up early to begin a 5 mile hike called Angels Landing and this is now among one of my most favourite hikes and it took us up a towering pillar right in the middle of the valley in view of the towering mountains either side. It was fantastic and I'll have to show you the photos soon. We did a few smaller hikes afterwards and now I am catching up with technology at long last!!!!

Monument Valley

Hike around Arches, Utah

Whilst the group were walking 10km around Arches in Utah, there was an amazing sight of a small arch alongside a massive arch in the sandstone, presenting views or "windows" across the valley. Everyone was getting pictures taken inside the big one and one guy managed to climb up to the smaller arch and he could just about stand in it.

We couldn't whether there was a steep drop behind him, but it looked quite scary!! So I asked him - "Is there a drop behind you?" and he replied "Yes, quite a bit". So as I climbed up a few steps to get my picture taken in the arch, I took great caution and looked over the edge... then I pretended to stumble and fell through the arch falling straight out of view - hearing small screams in the process from some of the members of the tour group (mostly girls I think)!!

In fact, there was hardly any drop behind the arch at all, so I used it to comical effect, though I think it worked a little too well!!!! So felt quite bad, I had to quickly get back up and say "I'm alright everyone!"

- Thought of the day - I think it will take a while to regain the group's trust!!!

Write to Adrian and tell him what you think about this joke, was it funny or otherwise - email a_k_swinbourne@hotmail.com.

3/08/05

Arches, Utah

I am now in Moab, Utah, having come down from Montana, Wyoming, through Colorado into Utah for the next stage of the trip. Yesterday we did our second longest drive (no more of those now thank god!) of 530 miles to get to Arches near Moab in Utah.

The scenery here is quite unbelievable - in the style of huge red rocks sticking out from the ground, similar to Monument Valley (which we haven't seen yet). Today we got up early and went to Arches National Park which was amazing, lots of red sandstone rocks which have eroded through thus presenting great "windows" through to the valley and towering rocks behind. Truly magnificent!!

It is a lot hotter here though, and I have to get used to it pretty quick!! Tomorrow we will see a bit of Canyonlands near here and the photos I have seen before of the area look quite special so I am really looking forward to it.

Also I would like to wish my parents a happy aniversary this weekend too!!! 27 years can you believe!!!

I will keep you guys posted, hope you liked the photos!!! Speak soon.

Canyonlands and Arches National Parks