Afternoon Tea

Monday 30th April 2012

Our breakfast this morning was excellent in American terms. Homemade waffles, banana bread, oatmeal etc. Oatmeal is American for porridge, made with whole porridge oats (not oatmeal). Confused? So were the German couple at breakfast.

Our first stop this morning was at Van Damme State Park. I don't think it's named after the Hollywood muscleman, but with Arnold "The Governator" Schwarzenegger's term in office here, who knows. Anyway, we didn't go to see musclemen, but to see the Pygmy Forest. This is something that our guide book raved about. It's described as a "bonsai forest of trees half a foot tall but decades old". We were expecting a miniature version of the Redwood forest from yesterday, but what we actually got was a load of sickly trees which looked like they were growing in undernourished soil. Which turned out to be true, as the reason the trees are stunted is because they grow in very shallow soil on a bed of rock. We were unimpressed, and moved on quickly.

The next stop was more interesting. For me anyway, I'm not sure that Claire was that bothered. We went to a lighthouse at a place called Point Arena. We had to pay for the privilege of walking up the 145 step spiral staircase, but were met by Ron, the lighthouse guru at the top. Ron told us all sorts of useful information about lighthouses, not just in California but worldwide. He didn't tell us the story of Grace Darling's rescue mission in the Farne Islands, but as I already know that story, it didn't really matter. If Claire's lucky, I might tell it to her later.
Today's lighthouse had to be rebuilt after the famous San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Apparently, the lighthouse keeper at the time was at the top polishing the lens or trimming the wicks at the the time, and recorded in his log that the top swayed 5 feet in each direction, the lens shattered into hundreds of pieces, and the only thing that held it all together was the metal spiral staircase which we walked up today!

We've driven over the San Andreas fault today without realising. We were expecting to see something exciting, like a lava filled chasm, or a wall of rock, but there was nothing. Probably for the best.

Later on, we visited a Rhododendron state park that was boring because they weren't flowering yet, then a Seal state park that was disappointing because there weren't any seals there and it was incredibly windy.
We (me especially) were starting to get a bit grumpy, so we went in search of tea and cake. There is a huge shortage of cafes along this stretch of the Pacific coast. We eventually found a fancy looking hotel which advertised espressos on a posh looking board outside.

I asked the barmaid if they served coffee and cake. After what seemed like an age, she stopped gossiping with her colleague, turned round and looked at me like I was mad and said "cake?!". We've had some language barrier problems with the word cake already, which I don't really understand, because they have cheesecake and carrot cake here, both of which are the same as in the UK. Claire managed to translate, and we were given the evening dessert menu to look at. After all that, we decided on the cheese board, as the cakes sounded too much like puddings.

I had a cup of tea, which came in a glass. I didn't dare ask for milk instead when I was offered honey or sugar with my tea. The cheese board seemed to contain four different types of local cheddar-like cheese. While we were eating, we overheard the bar staff talking about us and saying "well, that just doesn't seem like proper English to me". They didn't get a tip. In fact, they only just got paid at all.

I'm starting to find American food a bit of a struggle. Evening meals are OK, so long as you're careful about what you order, as most things are very stodgy.
Breakfasts and snacks are difficult. I like to have quite a wholesome breakfast, maybe with some bacon and eggs sometimes (if I'm expecting a busy day), and occasionally something sweet, like a banana, or some porridge with golden syrup in. The Americans like to have the sort of thing I eat for pudding or at the fairground for breakfast. I'm surprised they don't serve candy floss.
When I'm on holiday, I often like to partake in a naughty snack in the afternoon. Like tea and cake, or scone, or biscuit/cookie or whatever you want to call what I call a biscuit. This concept seems completely alien to the Americans.
Coffee is widely available, but tea is hard to come by, and when you do get it, they don't do it right. They give you a cup of hot water and a tea bag, and then offer you weird things to go in it like honey. The tea is usually pretty weak so even if they did give you milk, it would end up like dishwater.
And cake is almost impossible to find in the afternoon. Breakfast time, no problem, but at a sensible time of day, no chance.

At the moment I'm having a beer to settle myself down about the food before ordering my dinner in the local seafood restaurant.

We're staying in a small seaside town called Bodega Bay tonight. It's our last night of "on the road" accommodation. It's nice here, a nicer town than Fort Bragg, but cheaper accommodation. More expensive food though. Bodega Bay is where the Hitchcock film "The Birds" was filmed. We've seen some menacing looking flocks of birds already whilst having dinner, and shall be making our way cautiously but quickly back to our room shortly.

Tomorrow we have to get up quite early to get back into San Francisco by 11.30. We think. We must check, as I think they will charge us an hour for every minute the car is late or something.

I'm sad that our holiday's nearing the end, but I am starting to get a bit tired of driving! We've enjoyed the time we've spent in one place for a few days more that the days on the move.

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Location:Pacific Coast Highway, CA

The Birds and the Trees

Sunday 29th April 2012

We started the day off with a 30 mile drive down a narrow road called The Avenue of the Giants, which is a road through the Redwood forest. The forest was quite different to the Sequoia groves we visited last week. The Redwood forests are much greener, with a very green, and quite damp forest floor. There are loads of ferns and mosses on the ground. It feels like you could easily get lost. The Sequoia groves are much drier with lots of pine needles on the forest floor and don't seem so dense.
The last things I am going to say about the big trees are some strange facts. The Sequoia depend on fire to survive, whereas the Redwood are threatened by it. And both have tiny cones for such big trees. The Redwood cone is only as big as an olive!

We went for a short walk in the forest, and stopped for lunch a bit later by the World Famous Drive Thru Tree (you can't tell from the photo, but the tree is still alive and growing!)

Finally, we arrived on the coast and got our first glimpse of the sea for what seemed like ages. The skies were clear and it was sunny, but it wasn't particularly warm, and it was very hazy. We had the roof down but had to put our coats on.

The coast is steep cliffs with beaches with dangerous waves. We stopped off later in the day at a beach, which was nothing special in itself, but had a small lake just inland, full of birds doing all sorts of entertaining things.
Claire spent ages taking photos of a rather boring brown bird having a very energetic wash in the water. Meanwhile, an Osprey was circling overhead, but didn't swoop on any of the other birds. There were lots of cute ducklings and goslings, and Claire is very proud of this duckling photo taken with her big zoom lens:

 

We went on a trail round the lake, which was a bit nerve racking as we were expecting the boardwalk below our feet to give way at any time. There were broken planks in it all over the place. We made it round safety, although came to the conclusion that we could see more birds from the car park. On the trail, we could hear them but not see them for all the trees.

We weren't sure where to stay tonight. The first town we tried was completely out of our price range. So we went back on ourselves to a town called Fort Bragg. We'd driven through it on the way and decided it would be OK as a backup option. The first place we tried was called Super 8. This is a chain of motels, the American equivalent of Premier Inn or Travelodge. We've stayed mainly in independent motels before, but thought we'd give it a go.
We had a look at two rooms. The first had a pack of rowdy wolf whistling men on a balcony outside, and the second appeared to be still occupied by another guest! We gave it up as a bad job, and found somewhere much nicer, with a view of seals frolicking in the harbour from our balcony for not much more money. And the breakfast sounds pretty good too.

Tomorrow is our last full day on the road. We may not have to buy any more gas! Hopefully tomorrow will bring more interesting birds, possibly whales, and maybe a forest of dwarf trees. And you thought you'd heard the last of trees.

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Location:Pacific Coast, CA

Cabin Fever

Saturday 28th April 2012

We've made good progress today, and are set up to enjoy a leisurely two days meandering down the Pacific coast.

There's not a lot to say about the drive today. The countryside was pleasant, in fact, had we been at the beginning of our trip I'm sure I would have said it was lovely or beautiful. Over the last few days we've been spoilt with scenery. We left the desert behind long ago. So we're used to the rolling hills of western California now, a bit like we got used to the slot machines in Vegas. I'm glad we got as far as we did today. We've spent a long time in the car and my legs are cramped, but it will be worth it over the next couple of days.

We stopped for lunch on the shores of Clearwater Lake, at a rest stop especially for Claire. Apart from the monster mosquitos, and the strange man parked nearby in a Rolls Royce, it was a nice stop.

Today is the first day we have not eaten in somewhere. We had an All Bran and banana breakfast, a packed lunch, and this evening we bought salad and stuff to eat in.
This means that today is the first day we haven't felt obliged to tip anyone. The tipping system in America is somewhat different to that in the UK. Or so the guidebooks have you believe. If you did what it said in the guidebooks, you'd be tipping just about everyone, and you'd have no money left after the first week.

Both of us are fairly mean tippers at home. We'll normally leave a tip in a restaurant, if the service was particularly good, but nowhere else. Here, you're expected to tip your waitress (15-20%), the bartender ($1-2 each drink!!), and just about anyone who helps you in any way, even if you didn't want or need help. When you pay for food, even if it's takeaway food, or a buffet when you pay before you start, there is the option to add a tip to your credit card payment.
After a few days, we got fed up and rounded the suggested amounts down, as most of the time we only go somewhere once anyway! A few waitresses have earned the full 20% (the diner in Victorville and the mad waitress in Mariposa). One did not get a tip at all (cold chips, wrong beer, poor power supply, implied hangover or drunkenness!). Most of them get 10%. Fast food and takeaway staff get nothing.

Apparently, waitresses/waiters and bar staff earn a very low wage here, because it is expected that they'll receive tips. We don't really like it. We've discussed it a lot, and Claire thinks that it encourages good service, whereas I think that we should get good service anyway, and leave a tip if it is extremely good. Why should I tip someone for doing their job right?
Having said that, the service from our waitresses has been excellent so far. The waiters have been OK, but the girls are winning by a mile at the moment.

Anyway, I'm sure you've had enough of my cheapskate talk by now.

Tonight we're staying in a hamlet called Redcrest, which is in a forest of Giant Redwood trees. Yes, more giant trees. Redwoods are different to Sequoias in that they tend to be taller but not as wide. And strangely, their bark seems less red.
We're staying in another cabin tonight. I was a bit dubious when Claire suggested it as cabins can be a bit dodgy. Last nights was OK, but nothing special, and it was freezing.
Today's is lovely, possibly the best place we've stayed on the road so far. It's right amongst the Redwoods, has a heater that works and a big comfy bed. What more could you ask for? Oh, freshly ground coffee instead of the giant coffee teabag that's normally provided? Yes, we've got that too. And it's only 2 dollars over budget. And it's quiet and we haven't seen or heard any evidence of cockerels yet.
We're currently enjoying a bottle of Californian wine in our cabin, the first wine we have had since arriving in America!

Tomorrow we'll hopefully be cruising along the coast with the roof down. We shall stop on the way to look at more big trees. There are some here that are so big that you can drive through gaps in the trunk!

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Location:California

Rangers and Red Tape

Friday 27th April 2012

We were supposed to be having a lie in until 8.30 this morning. I was awake from about 6 though due to a very loud cockerel outside. It's the first cockerel I've heard that actually says "cockadoodledoo" rather than just noisy crowing.
The morning didn't get off to a good start when I got in the shower to find that the water was tepid at best. So we had some very quick showers and left the cabin shivering.
Fortunately, the day got better from there. Breakfast isn't included here, so we went to the same restaurant/diner as last night. The Americans really know how to make good scrambled eggs.
After breakfast, Claire went into reception and had a moan about the shower before we set off. We weren't holding out much hope but felt we ought to complain. The showers over here are normally very impressive and this one really let the Americans down.

It didn't take us long to get to Hetch Hetchy. It was a lovely day, with clear skies and sunshine, but not too hot. Although Hetch Hetchy is part of the national park just like Yosemite Valley, they don't seem to encourage people to go there. There's no facilities there apart from toilets and a very small amount of car parking. They're very welcoming when you go, but it's not really advertised.
We parked by the dam, and after a couple of minutes a Park Ranger approached us, and had a chat with us whilst having a furtive look in our car boot and rucksacks as we were packing them. He was very nice and friendly, but we couldn't help noticing the gun and taser on his belt! None of the other national park rangers we have seen in any of the other parks we've visited have been armed. In fact, this was the first gun we'd seen since arriving in America!

We didn't enquire about the weapons, but assume that the rangers who work near the reservoir have to be more vigilant in case someone tried to contaminate the water. It does supply over 2 million people with drinking water after all.

Hetch Hetchy is the next main valley along from Yosemite Valley. It's less visited, and controversial because about 100 years ago, the dam was built and the valley flooded. Before that, the valley was flat floored, similar to Yosemite Valley. Apparently, the flooding was prompted by an earthquake and a drought and then a big fire in San Francisco which they couldn't put out for ages. Don't know if they forgot about all the sea water surrounding the entire city, but it's a bit late to point that out, and I'm sure there are some complicated reasons why they couldn't use it.
There was a big fuss at the time, as the area had already been designated a national park. The eco warriors of the time lost the battle though, so Hetch Hetchy valley was changed forever.

Having said all that, we rather liked it the way it is. Except you're not allowed to go canoeing in the reservoir.

The walk we did today was from the right hand side of the dam, working our way clockwise, across the dam and alongside the reservoir, to the waterfall you can see in the centre of the first photo.
At the start of the walk, we spotted a big bird flying overhead. It was white underneath, and looked like a bird of prey but we didn't know what is was. Taser Ranger identified it as an Osprey. We hoped to see it more during the day, but unfortunately we only saw it one more time, and it was miles away then.

When we got to the waterfall, there was red tape across the path, because the spray from the waterfall was considered dangerous. After checking for rangers, we ducked under the tape and got soaked by the waterfalls.

I find it a bit strange that it's OK to go camping when there are bears and mountain lions on the prowl, but a trail is closed because of a bit of mist from a waterfall.
We exchanged anti-stories with some other walkers later. "Did you go past the tape?" "Of course not, it looked like far too much fun" "Neither did we, we'd never do anything like that, and besides, we would have got wet".
I think most people ignored the red tape.

We had our cheese and tomato sandwiches on some nice smooth granite rocks with water flowing over them in patches. Not the patch we were picnicking on, obviously. It was very tranquil, and we only went back because the sun started going behind clouds.

The route back to the car was uneventful, apart from a snake which slithered across the path in front of us. Claire narrowly avoided treading on it, although it's hard to avoid treading on things when you've got feet as big as Claire. The snake made it to the undergrowth unharmed and we made it past unpoisoned.

We got back to our cabin to find that we had hot water! Very hot in fact, almost the opposite problem to this morning. I eventually managed to balance the taps and am squeaky clean now.

Tomorrow we've got a long day of not particularly interesting driving ahead of us. We've decided we want our last few days on the road to be good ones, and as we haven't seen the sea for ages, we're going to try and get to the coast as quickly as possible, so we can have a leisurely drive on the Pacific Coast Highway down towards San Francisco.

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Location:Hetch Hetchy, Yosemite National Park

Domestic Goddesses

Thursday 26th April 2012 (our 3rd anniversary!)

We woke up to more rain today. Nevertheless, we got ready and left in good time, and made our way back into Yosemite Valley. Needless to say, the weather was no better there.

We drove to a place called Curry Village, which is at the end of the road, as far as you can go into the valley by car. There is a huge campsite there, with a lot of ready made tent/cabin things that you can rent out if you're a lazy camper. We'd considered renting one when we were planning our trip, but I refused, on the basis that they were $40 a night or something ridiculous, and we'd still have to provide most of our own kit. We were glad we didn't anyway, because of the weather.
Our reasons for going to Curry Village were twofold. One, because there were a couple of walks that started from there which we thought might be less busy, and two because there was an outdoor clothing store there, which Claire wanted to compare to Cotswold.

We had a good look round the shop, which was quite good, but not as good as a lot of outdoor stores back home, and especially not Cotswold. We did buy a couple of things, and spotted a really nifty camping cooking set to try and get when we get home.

Finally, we could delay it no longer, we donned all our waterproofs and set off up the valley towards Mirror Lake. Despite the rain, we had a nice walk, as there was hardly anyone else around. The river was very full. I only took one photo all day as the rain and mist were so bad.

We had a hot coffee when we got back to Curry Village. I had a slight disagreement with the vendor, as the stall was called "Peet's Coffee and Tea", but they didn't sell tea. I pointed this out to them, as well as the fact that their San Francisco branch had a huge range of very nice tea on offer, but I think my comments fell on deaf ears. They probably spat in my coffee too.

We're staying tonight at a place called Buck Meadows, which is near the north western gate to the national park. We're staying in our own cabin, which looked like it might be terrible when we pulled up, but turned out to be OK, although a bit cold.

We've had a housekeeping session after arriving this afternoon. We did the laundry, which was a huge relief to both of us (and probably the general American public too), as we're getting fed up of sniff testing everything before wearing.
In between the washing and drying stage, we had some homemade pie at the local restaurant/diner, which was a perfect mid-laundry snack.
Then (and this is the really exciting bit), we went to the next town to do some grocery shopping.
We've noticed that most American supermarkets seem to have a limited selection of healthy food. For example, fresh fruit and vegetables, and whole grain breakfast cereal without sugar coating.
I did not have high hopes for the supermarket from the outside, but when we went in it was like an Aladdin's cave full of wholefoods and other less healthy, but equally fascinating stuff.
Not only was there a whole aisle of fruit and veg, but it looked incredibly fresh, and was sprayed periodically by automated sprinklers! Inside the shop! There was a whole section (5' square) just for popcorn! And, in the breakfast cereal aisle, there was shredded wheat, and All Bran! I've been regretting not bringing my own All Bran all week as it's a crucial part of my diet. I won't go into why, but I'm sure you can use your imagination.

So we spent much more than we'd planned, but we came out of the shop with the much missed All Bran, and all the ingredients for cheese and tomato sandwiches. And some nice cookies, and fish shaped cheese biscuits, and apples and bananas.

Tomorrow the weather forecast is better. I think there may even be sunshine forecast, but we will be happy if the rain just holds off. We're going to visit Hetch Hetchy reservoir tomorrow, which is a less popular area of the national park, in the north western section.
We have already had some experience of Hetch Hetchy, as it supplies the water to San Francisco, which was entirely to our satisfaction when we were there.

We're off for a romantic anniversary dinner in the restaurant/diner now. Hopefully the main courses will be as good as the pie.

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Location:Yosemite National Park

Turning Japanese

Wednesday 25th April 2012

We had to get up quite early today as the inclusive breakfast here is served between 6am and 9am! It's only a continental breakfast so why they can't serve it until a bit later I don't know. It seems to be a common theme over here.
According to their website, the motel we are staying in serves the best continental breakfast in town. Whilst we can't say this is true for certain, it was definitely the best inclusive breakfast we've had so far. Mainly because there was a DIY waffle making machine. And some fresh fruit for once. And tea!

It was just starting to rain when we set out, and the weather didn't improve all day. In fact, it got slightly worse. By the time we got to Yosemite it was grey and misty, and raining steadily. On top of that, we were both feeling a bit rough, for no particular reason, and were struggling to motivate ourselves to do much.
We went to Yosemite Valley, which is the main tourist destination because it's so easy to get to, and very pretty. You can see most of the well known sights of Yosemite there, either from the car or within a short walk.
Even though it was a wet spring day there were still too many people around for our liking.

We've come across a lot of coach tours during our trip. These are annoying because you can be in a quiet spot enjoying a nice view/picnic/bear etc when all of a sudden the peace is shattered by 50 people pouring off a coach. The most annoying ones are Japanese. The reasons for this are threefold:
Despite the fact that they are nearly all young and sprightly, they never venture more than a few metres from their coach. I don't understand this, as they would see so much more stuff if they did.
They talk very loudly and sound angry.
Their cameras are huge and sometimes they push other tourists out of the way with their lenses.
There were a lot of coach tours in the valley today and it was tough going, although I shouldn't really comment as we have hardly ventured from the safety of the car today.

We hardly did any walking today. The furthest we walked was about half a mile to a waterfall which was spectacular, but giving off so much spray we couldn't take any photos. I was amused to pass a very large lady on the way up the gentle hill. It looked like every step was a struggle, and taking her one step closer to the grave. We passed her again on the way back, but I decided not to tell her that she would actually be able to see the waterfall better from the car park, whilst remaining dry and not straining her heart.

We have not seen as many fat Americans as I expected on this trip. I don't know if we've visited the wrong states for that sort of thing. We've seen a few, but no more than the average back home.

After the wet waterfall, we drove up to a place called Glacier Point. This is a viewpoint at around 7,000 feet (the valley floor is at 4,000). The road looked like it had only just been reopened as there were still some snow ploughs working on the road.
Despite the weather, the views were amazing. We didn't really get a feel for how big and impressive the scenery was until we looked down on it. The waterfall in the second photo is over 2,000 feet high.

The valley looks like an extreme version of my GCSE geography field trip (which was to Snowdonia). You couldn't ask for a better U shaped glacial valley with the impressive little hanging valleys and their waterfalls. Mr Worthington and Mrs Parry would be very impressed.

We only wished that we'd got a time machine to go back to when Yosemite was first discovered by the white Americans and see the Valley without the easy access roads and all the tourists.

On the way back down to the valley floor, we came across a rather inquisitive coyote. He looks strangely like he's hovering in the photo, but he wasn't. He did also have four legs. He was very responsive to the rustling of bags, but soon got bored when he realised they were camera bags, not food bags.

Tomorrow the weather forecast is no better than today. But come rain or shine, we will be doing some walks in an effort to get away from the crowds. We're going back to Yosemite Valley to see some more waterfalls, and a part time lake. It should be a lake tomorrow, but later in the year it will magically turn into a meadow.

Then we'll be moving further north so we can explore the more controversial, north western part of the national park the day after.

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Location:Yosemite National Park

Lions and Tigers and Bears (oh my!)

Tuesday 24th April 2012

I did not have a satisfactory night's sleep last night. I made the mistake of opening a door and inadvertently letting some bugs in shortly before we went to bed. We thought we'd got rid of them all, but at 2am I woke to a high pitched whining, and a mosquito biting my neck. I managed to get it off in the dark, but didn't want to wake Claire so didn't switch the light on to hunt for it. So I've got a horrible itchy lump on the back of my neck, and Claire seems to have a bite on her head too, so I'm in trouble for not waking her up.
I thought we were safe when we got up, but there was more to come. I was busy packing my bag, when the biggest millipede I've ever seen INCLUDING ON TV scuttled across the floor. It was armour plated, and Claire had to deal with it because it made me feel funny.

The finger in the photo is Claire's (obviously), and the wet patch is from the glass she used to catch it. Just in case you were wondering.

Today's route took us through Sequoia and King's Canyon national parks along the Generals Highway, which is a nice road through the forest. It's so called because it links two giant trees named after American Generals.

The route was mainly nice but uneventful, except when Claire suddenly shouted "BEAR!". I was driving and didn't really know what to do. We'd agreed the previous day that if either of us saw a bear, we would shout BEAR. If we saw something else big and scary and unidentified, we would shout RUN. For anything else we'd stop and point and say AHH. Or UGH for millipedes.
So I turned the car round and we went back to look for the bear. I thought it was probably just a bush, or a man in a black coat. We found it mainly because another car had stopped, and the occupants were peering nervously out of the windows.
It wasn't just a bear, but two bears, a mother and her cub! We watched them for a while from the car, with the engine running, and the car in gear (just in case). When we realised that the bears knew we were there, but didn't care, we got out for a better look. We didn't approach them because that's when they eat you.
Claire took loads of photos, most of which were blurred because she was shaking with excitement/fear.
Eventually the bears wandered off out of sight and we carried on along our way.

We're still hoping to see a mountain lion at some point, but I don't think we'll see any tigers.

We visited another Sequoia grove, in King's Canyon national park. There were more big trees there. One had fallen down and was hollow, so we could walk right through it.

 
Another was the General Grant tree, which is the biggest tree in the world by width. It wasn't as nice as some of the other trees there though.
While we were looking at it, a little woodpecker started trying to peck a hole in the trunk! A thankless task if ever I've seen one. The woodpecker is on the left hand side, about half way up on the photo. It's about as big as a blackbird to give you an idea of scale.

We drove on after the woodpecker tree to a town called Mariposa. We're staying here for two nights while we visit the southern end of Yosemite national park.

We walked into town to get some dinner this evening. There was a choice of two eateries at our end of town. An American diner, and something called the Red Fox restaurant. Both were supposed to be closing at 9pm, but the waitress in the restaurant seemed happy to serve us even though it was 8.20.
We soon realised that the waitress (Christie) was as mad as a box of frogs. We really didn't know what to expect from the food, but we were pleasantly surprised.
The portions were normal sized, and my meal was actually pretty balanced and nutritious, and very tasty. Claire seemed to enjoy hers too.
After we went in, loads more customers followed, and we overheard Christie telling one couple "the food's great, but the service is a bit shaky".
Despite the illusion of madness and disorganisation, Christie turned out to be pretty efficient.
We're going to go back tomorrow night as it was so nice, and funny.

Tomorrow daytime we're heading into Yosemite Valley. This is the picture postcard scene you've probably seen of a green American valley with a river and a big rock.

We've already bought our own ingredients to make a pack lunch which I am very excited about.

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Location:Sierra Nevada, CA

Be Prepared

Monday 23rd April 2012

I virtually had to drag Claire out of bed this morning. She didn't get out until her coffee was almost cold and I started bouncing on the mattress. Breakfast was nothing special, but we did eat in the nicest breakfast location so far - overlooking the mountains with lots of swallows, woodpeckers and other birds flying around.

We got up to another hot day. Our first stop was at a local bakery/cafe, which the motel receptionist recommended to us as they would pack sandwiches up for hiking.
It's difficult to get normal sandwiches here. Everything is done to excess.
If I'm going to be carrying my lunch round in a sweaty rucksack for several hours in 80+ degree heat, then I like something that's less likely to give me salmonella, like cheese and tomato, or marmite. Not 25 different varieties of chicken.
Today's sandwich shop didn't offer either of my preferred options, but I thought their ham and tomato sandwich would be a reasonable compromise. We were a bit confused when we were asked whether we wanted potato salad or fries with it, but the lady said she'd put them in a suitable container.
The sandwiches arrived with all sorts of extras inside, like onion and gherkins, and contained in enormous polystyrene boxes with the potato salad on the side.
We had to eat them before we started our walk, as even if we could have fitted the boxes in our rucksack, the bears would have been able to smell them a mile away.

We walked up to a waterfall today. It was still hot when we went up, and we felt quite out of breath going up to the falls. We later found out that the air is thinner here because of the altitude, and it's not just a case of us being unfit.
The trail would have been easy if it hadn't been for the snow drifts across the path, which were beginning to melt. The snow was pretty compact in the main, but occasionally it collapsed under us and we'd get a shoe full of snow.

 
There was hardly anyone else there, which was nice. We were a bit nervous of coming across a bear, but we didn't. Not sure if we're relieved or disappointed.
We sat down on a big rock at the top of the trail, intending to enjoy the view, and take loads of photos (Claire) and read a book (me). Just as we got settled, it started raining. Big drops, which turned to ice after a couple of minutes, and then hailstones like bullets. There was thunder crashing around the mountains.

 
We were completely unprepared for rain and had no waterproofs with us. I was wearing shorts, and we both had lightweight tops on so the hailstones hurt.

We sheltered under a giant overhanging rock (after checking it wasn't a bear's den). As the hail eased off, Claire spotted someone else had been sheltering from the weather too:

It was a yellow bellied marmot. It's about as big as a very fat cat and just as cute.

We made it back to the car, but not before getting caught in another hailstorm. We weren't in any danger from the weather, but felt a bit stupid as we had a boot full of wet weather gear.

A few hundred feet lower down, the weather was dry and sunny. There was still thunder rolling around, but we decided to go and look at the Giant Sequoias anyway. When there's trees that big around, surely any lightning wouldn't strike us.

We saw the General Sherman tree, which is the biggest tree in the world by weight and volume. It didn't look as impressive as some of the other trees in the grove to be honest, so I took a photo of a nicer one.

 
We spent a short while gazing up at the trees, and then got a bit nervous as the thunder was getting louder, so hot footed it back to the car.

Tomorrow we're going to see the biggest tree in the world by width, and then on to Yosemite.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Sequoia National Park, CA

Pancakes and Politics

Sunday 22nd April 2012

Breakfast wasn't included at the John Wayne hotel, so we went over the road to a local cafe. Claire had the most ridiculous breakfast ever - pancakes with chocolate chips, fresh strawberries, maple syrup and bacon. Weird, but she seemed to enjoy it. A small boy on the table next to us had the same, which involved quite an amusing syrup spillage, and I imagine, the small boy's shorts being thrown in the bin.

We had quite a long drive today, because there was a huge mountain range in the way. It was one the nicest drives we've had since leaving the coast. Once we made it to the bottom of the mountain range, we started heading back up the other side of it, into the Sequoia National Forest. There didn't seem to be many sequoia trees around, but there were loads of other trees, and hills covered in lush green grass, which we haven't seen for a while. We got the driving the wrong way round, because there were lots of corners. I like driving on bendy roads and Claire doesn't, and I get car sick when Claire's driving me along bendy roads.
Anyway, we made it through the forest without any breakfast being wasted.

It was very hot today. We had the roof down for a while, but had to put it back up and turn the air conditioning on as we were overheating. The temperature gauge on the car said it was 101 F outside, which we were starting to doubt until we got out of the car as a gas station, and immediately felt like we were melting.

American gas stations are great. Not like the petrol stations in the UK where everything is overpriced, the toilets are like portaloos on the last day of Glastonbury, and you want to spend as little time as possible there. The ones here are more like motorway service stations but without the overpriced shops.
Our favourite thing about them is the drinks. You can get a giant soft drink (think UK large then double it) in an insulated polystyrene bucket with loads of ice so it stays cool for hours. There is also good coffee, available in many sizes, including something that really does look like a bucket. But the best thing is the price of these monster drinks. Whereas at home, you'd expect to pay through the nose for being thirsty at a petrol station, here, these giant drinks are cheaper than ever. Especially today.

We took our huge cup of diet coke to the counter to pay. The cashier was very friendly, and we soon learnt, from Syria. He spent a few moments finding out where we were from, before saying "England huh, your president is Cameron, yes?" We replied in such a way as to confirm that was correct, but also that we had nothing to do with his rise to fame.
Our cashier then asked us if we liked Mr Cameron. We said no, which turned out to be the right answer. He replied "that's good. I will only charge you a dollar". I asked him how much drinks were for people who liked David Cameron, and he said 5 dollars or more!
So, at last, the Conservative government has inadvertently saved me some money instead of taking it off me.

We drove into Sequoia national park through a town called Lemon Cove, which was full of orange trees. The temperature at the entrance to the park was about 95 degrees. We drove up a very bendy road (me driving this time), through forests of Giant Sequoias, up to the visitor centre at about 6,000 feet, where the temperature was a far more comfortable 65 degrees. Well, I thought it was, Claire was complaining she was cold. The roads were clear but at 6,000 feet there was still a lot of snow left.
We arrived at the visitors centre at 4.32pm, only to find that it closed at 4.30. So we made our way all the way back down to 95 degrees, and managed to find a motel for the night which has bear and elk pictures on the bathroom wallpaper and the duvet cover.

We've only taken one photo today apart from the breakfast one. Well, actually, we've taken about 20, but they were all different versions of the same view.

Tomorrow there will be more photos. We're not entirely sure what we're going to do, but I think there will be enormous trees and waterfalls involved. And maybe bears.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Sequoia National Forest and Park

Hot, Hot, Hot

Saturday 21st April 2012

We were on the road at 9am this morning! There was a slight delay in actually getting anywhere while we washed the car and nipped into Walgreens. The car has been covering us in dust every time we touch it ever since the Grand Canyon but it's much better now.

Our plan was to head back over to California, starting in Utah and passing through Arizona, Nevada and a long drive through Death Valley before stopping for the night. It was a long and eventful drive and we had a bit of a panic when we realised we were running low on gas just before entering Death Valley, which is not a good situation to be in. We headed for a town called Mercury just to the East of Death Valley in the search for gas and that is where we ended up getting very lost. We finally realised where we were when we saw this sign:





By this point we were practically out of gas but before long we saw a truck coming the other way which stopped to help. Then ███ ███ ███ a spaceship ███ the █████ ██████ alien ███ ray gun ██ █ ███ ███ ████ from mars ██ █████ █████ ███ ████ ███ █ ████ ████ unbelievable ███ ████ ████. █ ██ ██ ███ top secret ███ █████ ███ ███ ███ ████ ██ ███ ███ █████. But we were told that it was classified and we could never talk about what we had seen.

We arrived in Death Valley at about midday. The temperature was 110 degrees F, and I didn't like it. I'm not very good with extremes of temperature, so it's a good job I'm British really.
We had lunch in Furnace Creek, where I perked up a bit when we were given unlimited free popcorn whilst waiting for our food. We ordered a hotdog and a beef burger, partly because they were the cheapest things on the menu. The Americans do something weird with burgers. They cook them like steak, so if you forget to specify (like we did), you get a burger that's pink in the middle. Now, Claire doesn't mind, in fact, I think she quite likes it. I on the other hand, can't eat burgers unless they're brown right through. I like rare steak but not burger. Rare burger is wrong.
So Claire had to eat the burger and I had the hotdog, which wasn't really the plan.

We tried to have a look round Death Valley after lunch. Death Valley has the lowest point in America - Badwater Basin at 282 feet below sea level. We went to have a look, and made a halfhearted attempt to walk out further onto the salt flats. After about a 30 seconds, I gave up and told Claire I'd meet her back in the air conditioned car. After about 35 seconds, Claire joined me. it was so hot, I felt like I couldn't breath properly.The smile in the photo below is actually a grimace.

After that, we decided we'd had enough of Death Valley. I hadn't been overly enamoured with it from the outset. We'd driven through the desert for hours, to get to another place that was just more extreme desert, and too hot to spend any time in.
We decided that we'd spend the night at a town called Lone Pines, as we had a bit of time to spare to get there. Lone Pines is to the West of Death Valley and at the base of Mt. Whitney, which is the highest mountain in California, and, in fact the whole of the USA excluding Alaska. California is certainly a place of extremes.

The route to Lone Pines was hot. We passed a sign that said "avoid overheating, turn off your air conditioning for 22 miles". We chanced it and left it on, and made it through without the car exploding. We passed through more desert, including some proper sand dunes, which made us feel even hotter.

We liked the look of Lone Pines as soon as we arrived. The town looks like something from a Western. We tried a few motels until we stumbled upon Dow Villa Motel. They only had one room left in the old hotel, but as soon as we saw it we knew it was perfect. The hotel is like going back in time, with photos of cowboys on the walls, and a whole John Wayne display cupboard downstairs. John Wayne himself has even stayed in the hotel before us!

After we'd checked in, we went over the road to Jake's Saloon. I'd spotted the double saloon doors and line of bar stools as we'd driven through, and we knew we had to go in, even if it was scary and full of cowboys.
Jake's looks like something straight from a Western movie. We're still not sure if it's real or just a good replica.
We walked in to a group of rowdy locals at the bar, but fought the urge to run away, and soon found the barman to be very friendly and approachable.
We had to drag ourselves away after a couple of drinks, for fear of seriously oversleeping in the morning and waking up with a raging hangover.

Tomorrow we're continuing West, and aiming for Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks. The main things we're looking forward to there are green grass and big trees.

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Location:Death Valley & Lone Pines, CA

The Cheeky Chipmunks and the Crazy Frogs

Friday 20th April 2012

We overslept this morning because I set the alarm clock for pm instead of am. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately), we were still in time for another dodgy breakfast.

Our first stop this morning was to call in at the visitor centre to ask one of the park rangers about The Snake. We showed him a photo and he said "well that looks like a rattlesnake to me ma'am". He assured us that although they are poisonous, they don't bite people unless they tread on them, pick them up, or poke them with sticks. But if you are unfortunate/stupid enough to get bitten, you have to go to hospital, where you will be kept in for a number of days, and injected with anti-venom at $3,000 a shot until your blood tests come back clear.
We think our travel insurance would cover the anti-venom, but don't fancy spending the remainder of the holiday in hospital.

We had to go on a new road through the national park today, through a series of switchbacks (nowhere near as severe as proper hairpin bends in my opinion) and then a tunnel through the mountain. I had to turn the car off automatic, as it has a nasty habit of changing gear at the worst point of any bend. We made it to the start of today's trail safely at about 12 noon.

Today's trail was called Canyon Overlook. It was our favourite trail so far as it was easy, but had a nice path on a bit of an edge, and led onto a viewpoint looking out over the main canyon floor.
There were a few people who were scared of heights, and were clinging to the metal handrail for dear life on their way back down after they'd quit. One section included a sort of scaffold bridge which was a little bit rickety, and this seemed to fill a lot of people with terror.

The trail ended with a viewpoint with a 1,000 foot drop, and we found a safe rock to sit on to have lunch.

Several things of interest happened whilst we were eating. Firstly, my legs got sunburnt although I didn't realise until much later. Secondly, there were groups of swallows swooping around like fighter jets. Sometimes they came so close you could hear the wind in their feathers. And thirdly, we were surrounded by chipmunks hoping for a piece of of dinner. Claire seemed to find them a bit intimidating, and although they came within inches of us, none of them tried any food snatching. We didn't feed them because of the fine, but one of them dug a hole and found something to eat.

We stayed at the viewpoint for some time, and by the time we got back down, we were both boiling hot from being in the midday sun for a couple of hours. We had an iced tea in a cafe in the nearby town. We were both a bit shocked to find that iced tea really is just cold black tea. We were expecting some delicate lemon flavoured tea. We drank it but won't be going back for a second cup.

In the late afternoon, we went on our sunset walk. We set out at about 5.30pm and it was still 80 degrees. The walk was to the top of a rocky outcrop with views of The Watchman as the sun goes down. The Watchman is a huge chunk of sandstone about 6,000 feet high, and is the last in the canyon to catch the evening sun's rays.
We passed several groups who had quit due to the heat and ascent. We were adamant that we're weren't quitting as it was only a mile to the top with about 300 feet of ascent. It felt like a lot more though.
We made it to the top eventually, and collapsed in a tiny area of shade for a while to recover. We spent over an hour up there watching the sun go behind the mountains. Claire took millions of photos and her favourite one is below. I read a book and realised I'd got sunburnt legs.

By the time we started going down, it was dusk. We'd brought head torches just in case, but managed to make it down without. As we went down, we passed above a ravine with a stream in it far below. We could hear loads of frogs croaking away down there. The noise they made was unbelievable and they actually sounded more like goats than frogs. But there aren't any goats in Zion so according to the leaflet from the visitor centre, they must have been Canyon Treefrogs.

We were sad to leave the national park for the last time this evening.

Tomorrow we're heading over to Death Valley, the hottest place in America. An excellent destination when you've got sunburn.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Zion national park

Snake Pass

Thursday 19th April 2012

Today's continental breakfast was the worst of the trip so far. And the cup of tea I made in the coffee percolator was so disgusting I couldn't drink it. Tomorrow I shall be trying to make tea in the microwave instead.

We'd chosen a few trails to do from the national park map. They describe the trails as either easy, moderate, or difficult. We weren't really sure how to interpret that, as one of the difficult ones was described as impassable without ropes, but then showed a photo of someone rappelling down a rock I could have jumped off backwards with my eyes closed.

Our main destination today was a series of pools called the Emerald Pools. The trails were described as easy to moderate. We took a pack lunch and loads of water (there are taps all over the place near the bus stops to fill bottles from, with signs saying stuff like "you're in the desert, so drink like you are").

We found the trail pretty easy to start with, up to the middle pools. It was so easy that there were children all over the place, some of them in buggies. When we got there, we started clambering over rocks on an unofficial trail which we later named Snake Pass. There seemed to be a path of sorts, so we decided to follow it, assuming it was an alternative, child free route to the top pool.

After about 10 minutes of sweating profusely in the blazing sun, crawling under low rocks and trees, and getting scratched by plants which we hope weren't poison ivy, we decided we were going the wrong way, and to turn back. As we turned round, I spotted a massive snake curled up on a rock right in front of us. Fortunately, it stayed where it was, not even moving when I went a bit closer to look. We made it back to the proper trail and obeyed the KEEP TO THE TRAIL signs after that.
We've been trying to identify the snake. There are a few possibilities, but the one that it looks most like is the Western Rattlesnake. This is the only poisonous snake in the national park! I wish I'd poked it with a stick now, because if we'd seen its tail then we'd know for sure.

So, back on the trail. Hot, sweaty, legs aching from climbing over rocks, and starving hungry. The last uphill section was to the upper pools. The sun seemed to have suddenly become hotter (it was around 80 degrees with no clouds). We found this section much harder than we should have done, probably because of our little diversion up Snake Pass. When we got to the upper pools, it was shaded by the canyon wall. We sat and had lunch dangling our feet in the pool and felt a lot better afterwards.

On the way back down, we spotted some more hummingbirds, which everyone else was oblivious to again. This time, the hummingbird was hovering round flowers and poking its beak in like they do on nature programs. None of them would stay still for long enough for a photo.

We've taken loads of photos, but here are our favourite ones from the day.

When we got back to our hotel, we decided to try the jacuzzi out. It was a slightly surreal experience sitting in an outdoor jacuzzi overlooking a petrol station and a busy cross roads, but it seems quite common for hotel pools to be alongside the road. Aside from the traffic, it was very relaxing.

We've noticed over the last few days a few differences in what we call things. When we bought lunch today, I had to remember to ask for chips not crisps. A walk is called a hike, even if it is just a gentle amble through the park. We name sharp bends after something grannys use to hold their hair up, whereas the Americans make them sound like a weapon by calling them switchbacks.
We are going up a road with a lot of switchbacks tomorrow on our way to what we hope is an easy trail with even more breathtaking views than today. It makes a change to drive on a road with corners on, as you can drive for (literally) miles here without having to turn the steering wheel.

Tomorrow evening we are planning a sunset walk to try and get some good photos.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Zion National Park

The green green grass of Zion

Wednesday 18th April 2012

I am hoping that today's blog will be better than yesterday's. Firstly, because we have had a much better day, and secondly because I am not so tired. We have been really tired every night (apart from the early jet lag nights), to the point of not being able to keep our eyes open after dinner, which was when I wrote last nights blog.

Our journey from the Hacienda three-in-one hotel/casino/truck stop to Zion Canyon was OK. Nothing much to say about it really, apart from to comment on the wildly varying prices of gas (petrol) from state to state. We've been to four states so far - California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah, and we've paid prices between $3.80 and $4.30 a gallon. I'm not sure how that compares to UK prices. It's cheaper to fill the tank up for sure, but I don't think the car is very efficient. It's not as cheap to travel by car as I thought it would be.
They do have a far more sensible system for paying for petrol here. You pay first, by preauthorising a maximum amount. If you don't use that much then you only get charged for what you use. If they did that in the UK it'd save me hours of work with bored petrol station attendants and unsolvable crimes.

Bizarrely, Utah is in a different time zone to Arizona and Nevada. So when we arrived here, we immediately lost an hour of our day. The scenery gradually became more impressive as we got closer to the national park entrance. We decided we were going to love it before we'd even arrived just from the approach.
Zion is very well organised, and geared up to encourage people to make the most of the area. You have to pay a $25 entrance fee per car, which is for a 7 day pass. And then you're free to come and go as you please. There are free buses inside the park so there are no traffic jams or fumes.
It was about 3pm (Utah time) by the time we arrived, so we decided to take a gentle stroll and get a taste of the park and then do some proper walks tomorrow.
Zion canyon consists of one main canyon with the Virgin river flowing through it, and numerous other smaller canyons in the sandstone plateau on either side. We walked along the main canyon, which was amazing, so we can't wait to see the less accessible areas tomorrow.

The canyon floor is quite green as you can see. It's nice to be somewhere where things are growing on their own without someone watering them with a hosepipe. There is loads of wildlife here too. We've seen some very tame squirrels, some elk, weird green beetles, and some horrible grey furry caterpillars.
The caterpillars come out of some creepy nest things which look like they're made of spider's webs. Then they crawl high up in the trees and munch away on leaves, which eventually fall out of the trees looking like jigsaw pieces from all the bite marks. A lot of the caterpillars seem to fall out of the trees too, probably from eating too many leaves.
Here is a photo of a cute elk to take your mind off the caterpillars:

There are also mountain lions, condors, and hummingbirds here but we haven't seen any of them yet.

In comparison to yesterday's experience at the Grand Canyon, today has been a hundred times better. It's restored our faith in American national parks. Aside from the administrative issues, Zion is a much nicer place to spend a day in our opinion. It's easy to get to, and is much more varied than its bigger brother. The temperature is better, and there's much more to see.

We'd originally planned to spend a day here (today), before moving on to Bryce Canyon tomorrow. Then we decided to spend an extra day here, and a bit later decided we might even spend three days here and miss Bryce Canyon altogether. We'll decide for sure tomorrow.

We're staying in a nearby town called Hurricane. It's about 20-30 minutes drive from Zion and is cheap with a Dominoes takeaway close by. I'll be surprised if I can fit in any of my clothes by the time we go home.

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Location:Zion national park

The Grand Canyon

Tuesday 17th April 2012

We've been to the Grand Canyon today. We'd spent a while deciding when to go, and which part of the canyon we were going to visit. In the end, the decision was made easy for us as the roads to the northern rim are closed until summer (due to snow). So we decided to visit the western rim which Google said was only a couple of hours drive from Vegas.
The couple of hours was somewhat optimistic, as after leaving the freeway, the road turned into a dusty, bumpy track, which went on for 15 miles. Eventually, we emerged back onto tarmaced road and were directed onto a big car park.
We were starting to get a but suspicious by this point. We had been expecting to have to pay a small entrance fee to the national park, but it turned out that the western rim is not actually part of the national park, as the land is owned by a native American Indian tribe called the Hualapai. Roughly translated, I think that means "rip off the tourists".
If we wanted to see the Grand Canyon, then we had to pay to go on a shuttle bus to the viewpoints. And that was at the princely sum of $44 each. They had us over a barrel really, as we'd just driven all the way from Vegas, down a horrible road, and weren't going to turn back without seeing the canyon.
So we paid up, and stomped onto the shuttle bus.

Now, I'm sure you're thinking by now that we're right cheapskates and whingers. We're not really, we just don't like being ripped off. We'd have preferred to have just been able to come across the canyon ourselves without the aid of car parks and shuttle buses.

Anyway, we had a good look, and were suitably impressed, although our enthusiasm was dampened slightly by the fee and the heat. At one point the temperature reached 91 degrees. Don't know how they can have snow the other side of the canyon.

It was a bit surreal because, once we got off the bus, there was nothing between us and the canyon. No fence or warning signs etc. Just a 4,000 foot drop. Claire didn't like it at all but I couldn't resist peering over the edge, which made me dizzy. I couldn't help wondering how many suicides they get.

We watched a traditional native Indian dance at one of the viewpoints, although I was more interested in all the ravens flying round the cliffs. They were putting on quite a show and the only thing that stopped me watching was the fear of getting pooed on from above

The Grand Canyon is very much like Las Vegas in it's own way. It's incredibly grand and impressive, but to be honest, I probably wouldn't bother visiting it again. There's not much to do once you're here unless you like spending a lot of money on helicopter rides etc.

We're staying in a hotel called the Hacienda tonight. It's a very strange place. It's a small casino and hotel complex right next to the Hoover dam, miles from anywhere. It's right by the freeway. The rooms are good and cheap. It seems to be popular with truckers, which is good, as that means a truckers menu in the restaurant. We had enormous burgers this evening for $5 each and I'm looking forward to the truckers breakfast.

Tomorrow we're heading over to Utah. We're going to spend a couple of days visiting Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks. We're hoping it will be a less commercial experience than the last few days.

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What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas

Monday 16th April 2012

The less gullible readers probably guessed that there would indeed be a blog today.

So, Vegas...

We arrived in Vegas yesterday to 75 degree heat, listening to Radio Elvis. Yes, he has a whole station dedicated to his greatest (and not so greatest) hits. I mostly enjoyed the tunes, apart from the Elvis rendition of Hey Jude, which was almost as bad as the original.

I think we were both imagining seeing a lush green oasis when we approached Vegas from the desert road. We were a bit disappointed to see what looked like a pretty bog standard city surrounded by a heat haze (or possibly smog).

Once we got into the city though, my second impression was very different.
We had to try and blinker ourselves whilst driving in, as there were so many distractions, we would surely have either crashed or got lost. Up close, Vegas is like a very tacky lush green oasis. The city is very clean, probably the cleanest city I've ever been to. There's hardly any litter (not surprising when theres a $2,000 fine for littering). Most of the pavements are varnished. Everything that can be polished, is. There are a huge amount of water features, which would be impressive anywhere, but in a city in the middle of the desert are incredibly extravagant. You could say that the fountains sum up the whole city pretty well.

Most of the buildings here are centred on gambling with other activities tacked on. Each casino has its own theme e.g. The Venetian (Venice, obviously), Bellagio (the mother of all fountains), Caesar's Palace (Roman stuff), Treasure Island (pirates and islands I think). Each main casino has a hotel, restaurants and shops attached, which are, once again, incredibly grand. Polished marble, statues, pirate ships, indoor canals etc. you're probably getting the picture by now.
Take the Venetian for example. Outside, there's a canal with gondolas. As with all the resorts, you have to walk through the casino to get to the other bits. Then you go upstairs to the first floor, and then all of a sudden you're inside the building but outside in Venice. There's a canal, shops, bridges, gondolas with singing gondoliers, and a blue sky with clouds that seem to move like real clouds. Then you go back outside, or inside, to the casino before going back outside to the street. It's confusing.

Then there's the casinos themselves. The first one we went in was Bellagio. The first section was the slot machines. It's hard to describe the scale, but there are slot machines as far as the eye can see. Then there's the card tables, again, as far as the eye can see. Every card game imaginable, and every stake imaginable. I've seen stakes ranging from $5 to $10,000.
If you're gambling then waitresses bring you free drinks. My first glimpse left me lost for words, but I've become used to it now, and it seems strangely normal.

There are three main times of day in Vegas. Daylight, dusk and night. I prefer dusk, because everything looks pretty, with subtle lighting. In the day all the buildings look so fake, and at night everything is lit up like a fairground.

We thought that we would either love or hate Vegas. And we do, but it changes on an hourly basis. When we first step out of the hotel, I love the excitement of what's going on and all the grandeur. But after a while (anything from 5 minutes upwards), it all starts to get too much. The crowds, the noise, and the whole fakeness about everything. There's no history to any of the buildings, and when I walk around, I start wondering why I'm bothering to fight my way through the crowds to go somewhere fake.
We're glad we've been but probably won't come again.

So that's what we think of Vegas. And no, I'm not telling you anything about what happened. Thats between us and Vegas.

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Location:Las Vegas