Big bits of the USA, and the end of the trip

The next stunning scenery was at Arches National Park, so named because of the amazing rock arches including the Landscape Arch

 and the iconic (it's the symbol of Utah) Delicate Arch where we arrived all alone for a few minutes.

 We had stayed at Monticello in the Blue Mountain Motel (good) but shopped in Moab (very expensive to stay) then headed off to Monument Valley.

On the way we detoured to Hovenweep, a 13th century Pueblo Indian settlement with great ruined stone buildings

and a bright (colour) lizard.

We had booked (the only thing we had booked in advance) a 3-hour horse ride in Monument Valley (John Wayne country) for Judy's birthday treat even though it was Chris' birthday.

It was great, visiting placed where no vehicles could go.

We woke up on the morning of Chris' birthday in a traditional Navajo 'hogan'
 that looks like a mud hut from the outside

 

but is a beautiful bit of woodwork inside covered with soil for protection and insulation.  Probably our most basic stay but we were served with cooked brekkie.

On to the big one - the Grand Canyon - which was as superb as expected.  After an early start from Monument Valley, despite it being C's birthday, we arrived late morning then hiked down the South Kaibab Trail. Oh wow, oh wow!

Accommodation was horrendously expensive so stayed about 25 miles south and enjoyed steaks for dinner - the first time we had dined out.  The next morning we went to Hermit's Rest and walked down to Santa Maria springs where we rested in a superbly appointed hut and met a group who had hiked up from the bottom - 5 hours!  It was about 3 miles down and then back up again for us.  Great scenery all the way.

The last weekend in May is Memorial weekend, a national holiday with the start of the school holidays with everyone out and about, so we decided to head for Phoenix because everywhere in the countryside was awfully expensive.  Could only get as far as Flagstaff and the first motel we tried wanted 129$ for a  basic room!  Eventually found somewhere cheaper and then a great Indian take-away.,  Not impressed by Flagstaff, even though there was a free concert in the square.

Went via the 89A to Sonora (grossly over-rated) which we drove straight through to avoid the tourist traps and on to Cottonwood (grossly under-rated)

where we had a coffee, resisted the temptation for great food, had a really pretty walk along the river then visited two nearby Pueblo Indian sites.

We had booked a hotel in Phoenix - what a great deal!  Almost the cheapest stay of the trip in a Marriott Residence with a pool, and an apartment with kitchen.  Arrived, headed to the pool and met an extended family who plied us with alcohol!  Who needs more for a holiday weekend??

Don't normally do slobbing about poolside, but really enjoyed it for a couple of days.  Managed a walk up Camelback Mountain, a really rugged climb in the middle of Phoenix which sprawls a long way.

Then slowly to San Diego, stopping to see some masses of petroglyphs at 'Painted Rock' should have been called painted rocks there were so many.

and across the desert

with an overnight stop at Yuma in the far south-west of Arizona.  Here we spent J's birthday meal by the pool - the magic 64 (exchanged the cottage on the Isle of Wight for a house in France) This was great value, a much bigger and more interesting place than we had thought, and has a huge siphon of water under the Colorado River to irrigate the very fertile valley. It has great historical value as it's the narrowest crossing of the Colorado and so has been used and settled for hundreds of years. We saw fields of crops and masses of hay-fields al the way through the desert.  A massive change of use and environment.

San Diego has a great maritime museum with ships and submarines.  

Balboa Park is the home of lots of museums and galleries (we resisted the temptation) and great gardens too.

Decided to spend our last weekend on the beaches between San Diego and LA, so headed north through La Jolla where there were more seals and sea-lions and found a good beach and a cheap motel not too far away.

For the benefit of anyone else considering a trip in the USA, travel is very easy and motels are cheap with a continental breakfast often included.  We always went for one with a microwave and fridge (typically about $50-60 a night) so that we could largely self-cater and found plenty of good supermarkets, even some that only sell organic food.  Salads and veg were easy, rotisserie chickens can be very good, or deli counters for meats etc.  We think it's more comfortable and cheaper than a camper van (or RV as they say here) but you can't camp in a standard car!   We bought a cheap cool-box to store food during the days we were travelling between places, but will bin it now.  Other things are bring a corkscrew because because wine bottles are not screw-top as in Oz.  And a few plastic plates and eating tools.  Easy and fun.

Strange to think we'll be home in a few days.  And back to work!
`

Sublime, ridiculous, sublime again

We left the coast and headed slowly for Death Valley and places east.  Spent a day walking in the mountains just above the valley, at about 8,000 feet which made us realise what a big hole in the ground it is.  Then drove across to spend the night in a small town called Beatty before heading back down to walk among the badlands at Zabriski Point.  It really is quite a scary place - don't know how the early settlers managed to cross it.

and then to the lowest (geographicallly) point in North America (-282 feet).  

Had got in early to avoid the heat so had time to drive to the other lowest point (culturally) - Las Vegas!

One nigt here was spent walking the Strip, watching free extravaganzas like the pirate ship battle at Treasure Island casino,

 and watching the mugs lose their money.  An experience we wouldn't have missed, but...

After Vegas we went to see lots of rocks - Utah is just amazing with jaw-dropping scenery wherever you go.  We spent 3 nights at a place called Cedar City and began to realise how high most of Utah is: it seem to start at about 5,000 feet and go up from there.  Zion Canyon was magnificent.  We climbed up to Observation Point at the head of the canyon with jaw dropping views all round,

 over 2,000 feet above the valley floor.  But there were chipmunks


and flowers everywhere, 

except the vertical rock faces. 


Had warning lights on the hire car on the way back so next day we had to change it which took us about 100 miles out of our way (to the next town)(but got an upgrade)  then walked the amazing Bryce Canyon, famed for its weird rock formations, or hoodoos.

  Here we started at 8,000 feet and walked down.

Next was a long and stunning drive along scenic highway 12, stopping at Kodachrome Basin to see the rock chimneys,

 then Calf Creek to admire more flowers and rocks, with a waterfall at the end.
 
A bit further along the scenery changes to bare rock, almost as far as the eye can see.  

Spent the night in a camping cabin (more like a shed but it did have a heater) in a very cold park.

Continued along highway 12 stopping to admire more rocks in 'The Narrows' at Capitol Reef where we watched a pair of peregrine falcons playing above us.

Need to post this because we're off to more stunning scenery tomorrow and we don't want to get confused about what was where!  The colours and formations have been out of this world - would recommend a visit any time.

Highway 1

Monterey was quite touristy, and Cannery Row very much so, 

although they had restored the Pacific Biological Laboratory where the real-life Ed Ricketts (Doc Ricketts in Steinbeck's books) and Steinbeck's best friend worked. Carmel (where Clint Eastwood was mayor for a while) was twee houses and expensive shops.  But the Point Lobos Reserve just south was wonderful, 

with harbour seals, Californian sea-lions, sea-birds, flowers and trees - not to be missed.  The John Steinbeck Centre in Salinas was also well worth the visit - must read his books again when we get them out of the attic!

Highway 1 south along the coast 

passes through Big Sur, and we stopped to walk a few trails through coastal redwoods - very tall!  

Learned that the Sierra Nevada sequoias are a different species (shorter and fatter) from the coastal redwoods, also a sequoia.  Also saw some Californian condors which are being successfully reintroduced by the Ventana Wildlife Society.

Had booked a motel in a place called San Simeon near Hearst Castle, and when we arrived discovered that it was a community of motels and nothing else!  Having seen the choice of motels we thought it was going to be a big town - but not.   On the way we passed a huge colony of elephant seals - impressively big even though all the mature males were back at sea.  Brought back memories of my time in the Antarctic.

  Anyway, Hearst Castle (built by William Randolph Hearst) was suitably opulent

 in a stunning position surrounded by lush hills and overlooking the ocean.

Heading further south we stopped in San Luis Obispo where we learned that the 'San Luis' was the Saint Louis who was a bishop of Toulouse.  The Spanish had set up 21 missions in the late 18th century to try and claim California before the Brits, Russians and US, so most of the San somethings are old missions.

So on to Santa Barbara where we have one night for the price of two.  Another irritation of America is that they really whack up their accommodation prices at the weekend, and Santa Barbara is fairly expensive to start with.  But really like the town it's pretty, Spanish, clean and there's good Spanish history around,

with a good history museum - but there's also the beach and a lovely harbour filled with loads of flashy boats!  All the way from Monterey there have been coastal fogs and clouds mixed in with the sunshine: because it's only May the ocean is still cold and the mountains are really close to the sea so generate their own weather

 but it mostly burns off by lunchtime although there is often a stiff breeze.

Yosemite and around

We left San Francisco for 3 days in Yosemite National Park, and had booked a cheap hotel in Jamestown.  This was further from Yosemite than we had thought, partly because it's 24 miles from the park entrance to Yosemite Valley where all the most spectacular stuff is!  But the weather was kind to us, almost too hot at times, and we spent 2 days walking in the valley with the famous El Capitan,
 
 the iconic Half Dome 
 
and spectacular waterfalls, 
 
one of which was a 4-mile up, 4-mile down hard walk picture taken at the bottom where we were sitting catching our breath!.  
 

The third day we spent at Hetch-Hetchy where there was a huge reservoir and even more falls - this was a 13-mile trek. Quite spectacular especially the first falls which tumbled down over the bridge soaking all who passed.  The water is supposed to be so clean that it is not filtered before it goes to supply San Francisco.  Saw a garter snake but didn't see any bears!

 
Jamestown itself was small and quiet with lots of old buildings 
 

and a spectacular railway museum (Railtown 1897) 
 
where we saw the engine (not the one in the photo)  which had been in numerous films - it even had its own make-up bits to make it look different!

Then we headed up to Eldorado Hills near Sacramento to visit a friend from France who was here visiting his children.  On the way we stopped off at Columbia, a preserved old gold-rush town a bit twee but quite fun,

 and California Caverns, a great cave where they would even take you proper caving if you wanted (we didn't!).
 

We took Howard (the friend from France) into Sacramento for the day and had a tour around the Capitol building and wandered around Old Sacramento, also very well preserved with some lovely old buildings.


Heading for Steinbeck country now- Salinas, Carmel and Monterey.

Lets go to San Francisco

... as the song goes.  

Well, we're here and just about to leave for our California road trip.  The last couple of weeks at home were a whirlwind of plaster-boarding (finished bedroom 3), gardening (trying to leave it reasonably tidy before 6 weeks of neglect), eating and drinking (surprise, surprise!).  Mixed weather with some days to hot to work in the garden in the afternoon, others quite cool.

 

Chris is at a conference in San Francisco while Judy does the tourist bit, although Chris is managing to be selective about what he goes to.  We have mixed feelings about San Francisco:  we're in a hotel on the edge of the centre and only a few blocks away there's a lot of poverty.  Have never seen so many people begging and sleeping on the streets.  And this in the world's richest country - make us feel quite pleased to have a welfare state.



We've done a few guided walks, one about the buildings in the financial district, one around Chinatown (the biggest in the USA apparently) and Judy did one about the people who made SF what it is.  Anyway, the cable-cars are fun and the cable car museum was very interesting - the cables run continuously at about 10mph under the street and the cars grab them to be able to move.








Managed the walk across the Golden Gate Bridge after taking the ferry to Sausolito.  In retrospect, perhaps we do like SF after all!



Heading to Jamestown and Yosemite National Park today.

Oh, one real irritation about the USA is the way they give you prices - always without tax and tip, the exact opposite from France!  So by the time they've added 8-15% for tax (8.5% in a restaurant, 15% for a hotel room) and 15% for the (almost compulsory) tip, the price really mounts up.  But we're getting used to it even though we don't like it.  Thank you, credit card.