Today has to go down as one of the best days ever so far for us and I am currently writing this blog while dinner cooks on the campfire overlooking the Grand Canyon with no one around!
But first things first, we started the day early and decided to go on a hike down to the bottom (and back up) in Bryce Canyon along the Queens and Navajo Loop. It was billed as one of the best hikes in the world and so it was a bit of a no brainer to spend the morning doing it. It was absolutely amazing the scenery all the way down was fantastic and every which way we looked there was another fantastic photo to be taken or view to enjoy.
I hope the photos give some idea as to how amazing this hike and place really was.
A quick pack up of camp and we were on the road following the same route as yesterday through red canyon on the way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Views and scenery again brilliant and we decided to stop in Kanab for some provisions and as we pulled up we noticed a posse of cowboys and people dressed up in wagons hiding down a side street. It turns out that we had stumbled upon the towns annual parade celebrating all the cowboy film stars that had acted in films in the area. Not a bad way to have lunch!
We were both quite excited at this point as we drove through the miles and miles of pine forest towards the Grand Canyon, but on arrival we were told that the campsites were all full, damn. Our recent successful habit of not planning seemed to have backfired.  
Luckily an extremely helpful girl at the campsite told us that there was another spot we could camp in if we were prepared to drive over some rough roads. We told her we had a rental and were off in a flash! 
After a couple of hours we arrived at a spot where we have set up camp with no neighbours right on the rim of the canyon. Words cannot describe how fantastic this is the views are just amazing!! T

   
The start of the descent into Bryce Canyon.  The pathway winds its way all the way down through these amazing rock formations.

    
 
The sun shining on the rocks results in some amazing colours.

 
Queen Victoria

    
Some of the narrow canyons down the bottom.

 
The switchback paths to take us up to the top, breathtaking in more ways than one.

   
The view from back up at the top (8000 ft) It’s really so impressive the different colours you get out of the rocks and with the different light.

    
The cowboy parade at Kanab, originally Grizzly Adams and other stars started the idea.  Just quite bizarre dropping in on alpaca like this at the right time.

    
It’s massive, and really quite awe inspiring the more you look, the more you see. Some quick stats, 446 km long, 29km wide and 1.6 km deep.  (According to the blurb at the site I am sure a whole host of different numbers will be posted all over the web😉)

    
 
The one above is me writing the blog at the campsite, and the one below is the view we had, not bad for a free campsite!  We had a pretty idyllic evening under the stars enjoying a fire while listening to the wind.

The drive from Zion to Bryce is fantastic. The scenery along the way is really quite unique and even though it’s a relatively short drive it took us a bit longer as we were constantly pulling over to gaze over the incredibly different scenery.
On arrival we scored a great campsite and thought we would go for a bit of a wander and found a sign for “inspiration point”. It’s a name we have seen a few times before and once agin the views did not disappoint as we emerged from the relatively flat pine forests to look upon Bryce Canyon. Simply breathtaking. T

   
A couple of shots of the scenery beside the road on the drive between Zion and Bryce.  It really makes you feel like you should be riding a horse with your cowboy hat on, watching out for Indians.

    
The views of Bryce Canyon from Inspiration Point.

Well as they say a lot of “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” and it’s easy to see why!!
We were lucky and stayed at the Flamingo which was right in the middle of the strip and meant we could easily walk to loads of the other famous casinos, Bellagio, Ceaser’s Palace, MGM, Excalibur, Mandalay and New York New York all got a visit. It was absolutely fantastic to walk up and down the strip, especially at night with all the lights on!  They are all just so huge and fantastic looking buildings, and it doesn’t stop at the front door, the interiors are very impressive too.
The numbers of people here are just mind blowing, not only just the huge numbers from the people holidaying here but we also had at least a couple of huge conferences going on (one big enough to draw Obama as a speaker). But it’s quite strange because the numbers are so big that you feel fairly isolated and private, in fact even though there were over a thousand others watching the fountains at the Bellagio it was quite romantic.

We certainly saw some weird and wonderful sights both in the newer area of the strip and the older area of Freemont St. It’s all cheesy and glitzy but that’s why we and millions of other people are here and we definitely enjoyed it. It’s definitely a city to have fun in and we certainly have.
We managed to get some free tickets to Ka, a cirque du soleil production by going to a Sales presentation with a free breakfast which we both spent the rest of the day laughing about. But the show was worth the time. The stage was fantastic and as always some of the acts were just incredible. We also treated ourselves to O, another of the eight cirque du Soleil shows on in Vegas! It too was definitely a highlight of the trip, again just such an amazing stage and show.
Another big highlight was spending a night at Freemont St which is a little bit away from the main strip, and is a bit cheaper too but obviously still designed to take your money!!! It’s a great miniature version of the strip, with a covered pedestrianised street and every hour an absolutely fantastic light display (the biggest in the world not surprisingly) occurs. It’s really quite a magical place and you can’t help but smile as you are walking down the street, beer in one hand and jaw on the floor as you watch what’s going on.

I don’t mean to put a dampener on the place, but you don’t want to go a block off the main streets, it’s a very clean and safe place on the main streets where the tourists are meant to be.  But a block behind the main streets are very dirty and run down and feel just a bit threatening.  I guess there has to be something to prop up the facade!

All in all a great place and a great few days, we have wanted to come here together for ages and it has all really been spot on and definitely one of the major highlights (though not one of the most cultural experiences)T

  
The entrance to Freemont St, we will add the proper one later.

   
Our home for the stay in Vegas, slightly bigger, and slightly pinker than our tent!  Absolutely brilliant location, right slap in the middle, and definitely a couple of fun nights had inside too.

 Done to music, and as I said before even with the crowds, really quite magical.  
The show at Freemont St, 1500ft long and 90ft wide and full of psychedelic images every hour.  Just what you need.

The name says it all really. The landscape slowly gets more and more desolate the nearer to the Valley and the temperature gets hotter and hotter. Our first little jaunt out of the car was at Mosaic Canyon. On arrival we were told that hiking was not advised due to the extreme heat. We were only going a little way into the canyon so we put our big hats on, took lots of water and were only going for 10 mins. When we first got out, we thought this isn’t too bad as the heat was dry, not the humid heat we are used to in Queensland. The temp was about 110 degrees Fahrenheit which is 43.3 degrees Celsius. After about 5 mins (half way) we both had this burning in our chests and by the time we got back to the car we were struggling. But it was worth it getting to walk through the narrow marble walls.

   
This was on the drive in

The sign in question and below is Mosaic Canyon   

Back in the air conditioned comfort of our car we drove through the sand dunes and then on to Badwater which is the lowest point in America, at 280ft under sea level. Pretty amazing.  

  The dunes in the bottom picture literally looked like piles of gold dust. I don’t know if it was the light or maybe the sand really was a gold colour but it sure was breathtaking  
   
The drive out to Badwater. We have driven so many miles of straight roads recently. You especially notice it because we had been previously driving through so many ranges. Below is us standing in the Badwater 280ft below sea level.

Next stop was Devil’s Golf Course. Just miles and miles of Salt flats. Both of us couldn’t figure out why it was a Devil’s golf course so of course Mr Google helped us out – apparently in a parks broucher in the 30’s it said only the devil could play golf here due to the surface being so lumpy from the salt formations. 

  
We then drove through Artist’s Drive, where the rock formations are layered in different sediment colors. It was truly beautiful and I don’t think the photos do it justice. 

 
By this stage the temperature had hit 117 degrees Fahrenheit. The place is so uninhabitable. As you can see with the campsite picture not that many people choose to camp! The temperature even at night only gets down to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 32 degrees Celsius. Needless to say we passed on the camping!
  
 
Even though after our first walk outside we didn’t spend more than 5 mins out of the car each time. I was starting to struggle in the heat. It was weird as I had on a big hat, long sleeve shirt and there were some girls with no hat and tank tops. Tim thinks it was our walk that did it as he was also not feeling great. But we recovered pretty well after our first icy cold beer at the pub in Beatty where we were staying the night.S

As we are using this blog as a diary, we want to be able to write a bit about how we are feeling at certain times and places, so please don’t feel offended by anything said its just so we can remember a bit about what we were thinking in the future.

Driving through the northern states I have definitely got the feeling that it would be great to buy your ranch and set up in it. Although we are here in summer you can somehow tell that there are the four distinct seasons and it’s very tempting to stop in one of the beautiful spots we have found and see them all unfold.
The trip and the day to day activities of driving, eating, seeing sights etc has all been so easy. It’s all so well directed and set up and everyone is so polite and helpful that it has been so great almost though to the point of being bland (it makes sense to me anyway). However the wondrous nature of everything we have seen has been absolutely fantastic!!

The U.S. Is far more diverse than I imagined and there are a huge array of activities available to do.
Having taxes and tipping added on to all the items that you buy takes a while to get used to. And although we are used to tipping there are occasions now in Australia where we certainly don’t. Having said that the service here has been second to none. I reckon we have had water, drinks arrived and have begun eating in the time it takes a surely 17 year old waitress in mooloolaba to get us a coffee!
While we have had fun in the big cities, it’s the smaller places which have been really special to visit. Some of them feel like you have travelled back in time when you arrive.
The medium sized towns/cities have often been the most disappointing and really could often be just described as functional.
There is certainly not a McDonalds on every corner. There are I will agree a huge amount of fast food shops but there are loads of different chains, some nationwide, and some only statewide and while they all offer a similar fare there is always something unique about them. Coupled with these are always a huge amount of independent fast food joints and diners and I will admit we have enjoyed both varieties.
I won’t repeat on how great all the national parks are, the photos speak for themselves. But again what’s remarkable is the ease of seeing them, at every entrance there is a visitors centre where when you walk in a ranger will smile and help you with any questions that you have, give you a load of maps and lists of things to do then off you go! Driving of course. To be fair you can see most of the sights from your car, and there are always places to stop and park and take photos, and boardwalks out to the “must see” sights. All easy (too easy?). Even the hiking is well marked and the trails so far have been really easy to follow. Again it’s easy but to be fair that’s great.
One of my big surprises has been the different beers on offer. When I was here last there were certainly a lot of micro breweries around and different beers were available. But it seems to have gone American super sized (surprise surprise) and everywhere we go there are beer menus including local brews as well as state brews as well as some imported from either abroad or some other state. Even the supermarkets and gas stations have great selection.
The food has also been great, I have enjoyed one the best steaks I have ever had as well as enjoying a vast array of different meals from quality homemade burgers to Chinese to clam chowder and a whole bunch in between.
Stopping at some roadside fruit and veg shops has enabled us to enjoy some wonderful peaches, plums, nectarines and especially the tomatoes. They are all huge and judging by the signs are organically produced, how I don’t know. We have also learnt that the Heirloom varieties are the best as they are not cross bred and are the most natural.
A couple of the more shocking things I have noticed…
First the poverty, in the bigger cities it is quite alarming the numbers of homeless begging on the streets.
Second the guns. There are as many gun shops as walmarts in fact in the smaller towns there are more gun shops. When we were hiking in bear areas it wasn’t uncommon to see someone with a gun in their belts, and although the threat of bears is there I cannot believe that that is why all these people had a weapon in the first place. I don’t want to rant politically about this, but we have read a statistic in the lonely planet that 32 people are murdered everyday in the U.S. from gunshots!!
But there is no way that the experience of America has been dominated by these facts they are just a small part of my observations and on the whole so far so very very good.

We left San Francisco with a vague plan and on the way decided to head towards Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. We arrived a bit quicker than we thought due to the huge four lane Route 5.
On arrival we noticed a bit of smoke in the air and quite a few firemen around and we were told that there was indeed a huge fire, but the good news was that it was 3% contained! (Better than 1 or 2 I suppose). Unfortunately this meant that most of Kings Canyon was blocked off, but the good news was that there was camping available, which we had thought would be fully booked.
The campsite we ended up getting was superb. Set in the middle of the forests and very basic it was very private and secluded. Which also brings bears into play apparently. We were warned on arrival to store all food items in the metal food locker provided and that if we saw a bear it was only looking for food so not to worry!
It was very dark and quiet that night as we went to sleep in our tent, which didn’t seem overly bear proof!! I will admit that it took me a while to get to sleep as every rustle had me convinced that a bear was just outside. But no bears to be seen but plenty of deer instead which was great.
We got to see the largest trees by trunk volume. Which is an odd statistic but nevertheless they were very impressive and there is no way you can capture their enormity on film but we have had a go anyway.
I imagine the views would be superb but unfortunately while we weren’t exactly choking on the fumes you could tell there was a fire nearby. T

  
  
Some locals behind relocated ahead of the fires.

  
  
  
The shot above is of the biggest tree, General Sherman

  
This really does give you an idea of how big the trees are.  This tree isn’t much bigger than the others in the photos below!

Today was a day of exploring some of San Francisco’s most influential and famous areas. We started off in the Haight district which was the home of the summer of love/ hippie movement. As soon as you got out Dreadlocks were the norm and shoes were definitely optional. The street was really cool and you could almost picture what it would have been like in the sixties. However, after having a look around some of the shops I am pretty sure the fore founders of the hippie movement would be horrified of the prices that are being charged! $80 for a tie-dyed t-shirt! Maybe this shirt has been dyed in John Lennon’s sweat?

From there we walked through Golden gate Park to see the Japanese tea garden. It was really beautiful, though a lot smaller than expected. From there we caught an Uber taxi (after yesterday’s marathon walk we decided to be chauffeured today) into the Mission. This area is known to be a predominately Hispanic suburb and you can tell with all the tacorita and Mexican wrestling masks in windows. Unfortunately all the hipsters moved in and the rent has risen so much that the middle class immigrants have had to move out. Saying that it would definitely be a suburb Tim and I would love to live in. It has a really great vibe. The main reason we went for a visit was all the street art that has popped up in the alleyways here. Apparently in the 80s a lot of the Mission’s population was quite disgruntled about a lot of human rights violations going on in Central America and so started speaking out by painting everyone’s garage doors. The end product is beautiful. It is amazing how a muraled wall makes any alley more inviting.

After this we had built up an epic appetite so caught another Uber to Fishermans wharf for a much anticipated In n Out burger. My Dad has talked about these burgers ever since his trip to America in the 70’s. Needless to say I was expecting a lot. I was not disappointed. As we were at the Wharf again we had to go back and see the sea lions. They are so mesmerizing. We then walked home and drove our car down Lombard street’s 8 turns which we couldn’t resist doing!

After going past all the pier seafood restaurants at lunch we decided to head there for dinner for some lovely seafood, particularly the clam chowder and the seafood bisque, the view of the Golden Gate bridge behind the harbour was pretty good to. S

   
Some buildings along Haight St

The Japenese Tea Garden

  
A few of the many amazing murals in Mission

  
    
This mural was being restored by one of the not-for-profit charities in the Mission. 

   
  
The Mexican Wrestling masks!