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....
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....
posted by Adrian at 6:50 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home