Our time finishing on US 66 harked the beginning of the National Park-athon. First stop on our long park passage was probably the grandest of them all, The Grand Canyon.
Peeking over the south rim of the Grand Canyon is a truly collosal sight. The huge chasm and expanse of nothingness is extreme, the jaw dropping awe of the view is very humbling to mother nature and her creations.
We camped on the Mather campground during our 3 night stay here, jumping aboard the free buses to get to and from the canyons rim. Seeing as we had 3 days we decided to undertake some of the parks hiking trails such as Ooh Ahh Point, the Rim trail & ending with the epic Bright Angel trail. More in “depth” details of our trail trekking are to follow shortly as a seperate posting (We did quite a few).
Throughout the duration of the road trip, we generally ate pretty well given a very tight budget and basic camping facilities. But one night here in the grand canyon, in aid of cooking what we had accumilated from various grocery shops. We had the horror and terribly unforgettable dinner. This consisted of tinned spaghetti and meatballs on a bed of boiled noodles. Granted I wasnt expecting a great meal for the grand price of less than $1 per person, but this was unedible. Proof below…Urrrrghhh!!
After conquering the grandest canyon we jumped back into the car and set a course for Moab, a town on the edge of Arches National Park in Utah. But there was one very important stop to be completed before reaching our destination.
On the border between Arizona and Utah lies the great american landscape of dusty red plains wedged in between giant stone monoliths, cliffs and stunning sandstone formations. I am of course speaking of the ancient Navajo lands of Monument Valley.
We arrived late in the day and didnt hve much time to explore, so we adapted an “Extreme Sightseeing” (have i invented the next big thing in extreme sports here?) mentality and most definitely made the most of our time with a (speedy) drive through the off-road valley floor trail. All the while the spectacular setting sun shone an amazing array of colour and spectacle over the plains colossal red rocks. These few hours glaring in awe at this most incredible of landscapes, is most definitely one of the highlights of the trip thus far.
So we finally reached our Moab target and was shocked at the price of accommodation! Being the only civilization within miles of the Arches and Canyonlands national park means beds are very much at a premium. After great delay and plenty of unsuccessful motel crawling we settled in the last free pitch at an Rv/Campground, phew!
After spending the night in Baker we drove straight into the nearby Mojave desert in search of the great mother road, Highway 66 at its southern border.
The Mojave itself has very little of anything to be worthy of a sentence here, there were 2 very long trains …that is all.
Seeing as Route 66 is rarely marked on modern road signs let alone sat nav we thought we’d have more trouble finding it than we actually did (granted a few u-turns were required along the route).
The roads were open, long and surrounded by vast flats, rolling hills and craggy mountains as it ducks and dives over the desert peaks. Diverting off Route 66 was done rarely but for this attraction we just could not resist.
Apparently the original London Bridge stands not over the Thames, but across lake havascu after it was sold and transported brick by brick and rebuilt. And here is the proof…(no photoshopping, i promise!!)
Our next major sight was the following day when we took an extremely scenic, cliff hugging mountain road to a wild west town called Oatman. This small tourist haunt felt more authentic than it probably was, but the midday staged gunfights were cool and the wild burros (or donkeys to me and you) added to the fun experience.
Grand Canyon Caverns was next up. This deep underground universe was very small but facinating as well as being quite pretty. Worth the price of admission though? probably not!
Final stop on the 66 route was Meteor Crator which is very cool as big holes go. Perfectly rounded in the middle of nowhere stands like a sore thumb in the landscape. The guided tour we took was interesting and worth the mile round trip even if was just for the photo opportunity.
Not satified with our intital exploits in the harsh Death Valley, we headed back in for some more punishment. But on the way we make a short detour to the desert gold rush ghost town of Rhyolite. The place was deserted as expected and wholly unghostly, but the crumbling remnants of a once booming community is clear (or unclear) to see.
Moving back into the valley floor, we thought we would venure out of the safety of the air conditioned car and hike up the short Golden Canyon trail.
The gentle uphill trail follows through a stark yellow sandstone, river cut canyon before taking the a steep climb over rocks and boulders to the red cathedral. The inital section was relaxing, the second was fun and a bit daredevilish at times but we are all here to tell the tale…yipee!
From here we ventured to the lowest point in the US, Badwater, which is 282 feet below sea level. We jumped out again and wandered over the vast salt flats before heading to the Devils Golf course.
I was very disappointed with the golf course, it was just a salt flat with a few sparadic holes in it…and worst of all there was no 19th hole!
On our exit from the park we made a quick stop at Dante’s Point which overlooks the valley for some great sunset views.
Fresh from our (majority) success of day one on the road we programmed “The Wench” (aka: our new Sat Nav) for Red Rock Canyon, a Vegas getaway for climbers and nature watchers where we chalked up our first glance at…suprise suprise…red rocks (trust me there are loads more to come)! The scenic drive here was very cool with pit stops lining the route at ideal picturesque photo taking vantage points. We did attempt to hike a short trail, which ended in us turning back as we got a tad lost. This is most definitely not a good omen considering the amount of hiking planned!
Moving swiftly on after clocking up our first National Park experiances we headed to the desolate and barren lands known for their harsh terrain and inability to sustain life. We drove headlong into the centre of Death Valley.
The drive was totally uninteresting in terms of driving (we probably saw 1-2 other cars every 30 minutes), but the scenery through the desert badlands and colossal canyons is second to none. En route to the habitable heart, we stopped to take a peek atop of Zabryrske point.
We were sweating even before our step count had reached double figures, the wind was so immense it almost blew us off our feet and the fact it was about 100 degrees fahrenheit didn’t help matters. Good job the views of the golden river cut canyon below was very impressive and gave us a glimpse of the harsh conditions in this bleak desert.
Finding accommodation was trickier than expected. Even the hardiest of campers would agree that pitching a tent here was not really a option. 30-40 mph winds and 100+ degree heat made conditions a bit too much to bear. So with the promise of a soft mattress (and an air con unit) we headed to the outlying town of Beatty for the comfort of a motel (good choice if you ask me).
After spending more than our fair share of time riding round America on public transport we decided it’s time to take the reigns ourselves and hit out from Vegas to explore the natural splendor of the south west’s national parks.
We set off with free spirits and images of the vast open roads in our newly crowned Sheila ( Town and Country Chrysler Caravan if your being pedantic) … and got as far as the local Walmart before making a bare neccessities pit stop. Our first Walmart experiance was a rather expensive one being honest, after buying up the satellite navigation, food, tent, stove as well as other camping essentials we were finally on our way.
The first port of call is the engineering masterpiece and extremely vast Hoover Dam. After driving over the dam a couple of times and taking a quick wander over on foot near sunset we hightailed it to the nearest campground in the nearby Lake Mead recreation area to test out our Walmart haul!
It was all going so well, tent up in record time and food ready to be lovingly prepared. This is when we ran into a few tiny drawbacks.
1, Campgrounds in the desert are not going to have lush green soft grass to lie upon
2, You need a spark to start a fire.
So John, Mike and Dockers headed off for the local supermarket to grab roll mats and a lighter, which me and Jinx were reliably told was 13 miles away. 2 and a half hours later they returned after getting lost (with a sat nav!!!)
Facilities here were very basic…so to brush off the strain of a very hot evening under the stars
to brush off the strain of a very hot night under the stars, we headed down to the lake front for a dip. Water was soo nice! This cool, clean freshwater lake was just the ticket! One day down loads to go…
We have finally reached our last major city before we head off on a 3 week road trip. Quite frankly, I’m a bit bored of skyscrapers and museums so vegas and the road trip should be a breath of fresh air.
We arrived in Las Vegas at about lunchtime via an internal flight. We headed to the baggage claim area of the airport where we were surrounded by big screen advertising big name shows at a variety of casinos. It seemed a be very hectic here.
I thought I would check out how to get to the terminal to meet Jingkei who is joining us on the road trip. As soon as I stepped outside, it felt like my face was in front of the oven door and when the door opened a blast of heat hit me the face. It was unbelievealbly hot which i didn’t expect. It was pretty constant and I rushed back into the air conditioned airport area to cool down. We managed to avoid the heat and meet up with jingkei. We jumped in a cab and headed straight to our hotel which was the Sahara. As we were travelling for the year, we are on a budget and so never tipped the cab driver. When we handed over the exact money for the cab, the driver asked “where’s the tip”, of which we ignored and promptly rushed away, probably leaving the driver somewhat pissed off. However, we thought the 30 dollar cab ride for about a 20 minute fair was reasonable enough.
By the time we arrived to the hotel, we were already knackered as we only had 3 hours sleep due to our mistake of thinking our flight leaving from Chicago departed at 11 am, when infact it departed at 6am. When we realised this it was already midnight! So after, all the commotion with screwing up flight times and cheesed off cab drivers, we decided to catch the mono rail down to end of the strip and have a slow walk down back to our hotel to see what’s along the infamous Las Vegas strip. On the way we saw the brilliant Treasure Island “sirens” show and the infamous Belliago fountains that were choreographed with music.
On most days when we woke up, we went and chilled out in the hotel pool which was very relaxing. Then when it got darker and cooler we would head off to bars, shows and gambling. On the second night me, mike, jingkei and chris went to see Crazy Girls whilst Kev went to see bite. Crazy girls is one of the longest running shows there and we managed to get some cheap tickets for it. I would say it’s an interesting experience where it’s pure seedy dancing and bare skin. Let’s just say mum wouldn’t approve! The following night we went and saw a hypnotist show called “Hypnosis Unleashed” at the Planet Hollywood who had a hard time starting and getting the crowd in the mood for it. But when the warm up and prepping was over there was laughs galore and we couldn’t help but cheer on the brave souls who volunteered themselves to be hypnotised.
When there wasn’t shows we went to a few bars and clubs. The first one we went to was the Tropicana. We was persuaded to go in but a PA guy that gave us a huge load of buy one get one free on any drinks flyers which save us a bucketload. We also hit a few bars in other town such as Diablos where we got the diablos beer. This beer was very expensive and it tasted horrible. I think it was the first time no one actually finished one. Being on a budget, we tried to have a few drinks before we left for bars so we popped to the local store and bought a couple crates to bring back to our room. The beers were nicely chilled in our hotel bath tub with free ice provided by the hotel.
It took a fairfew trips to the ice machine to get this much ice to chill the beers!
When we weren’t seeing shows or going to bars we was gambling! We never gambled every night as it wasn’t that appealing really. We had a few goes on some slots which provided lots of flashing lights and pictures to keep us entertained before it took our money. Other than slots we had some goes on roulette which all of us except kev managed to hit a number which made him a profit rather than a loss like the rest of us. Then we discovered the blackjack tables which are really fun. Most of us managed to make a profit on this which reduced our overall loss. I was only 25 dollars down overall having been 60 dollars down which put a smile on my face. The biggest profit of all of us was by mike who ended up 35 dollars up when leaving vegas!
We left the hustle and bustle of Las Vegas at lunchtime to emabark on our epic 3 week road trip of the west of california. It was sad to leave the place as I had a lot of fun. There’s a few things i never got to see or do such as going to the older parts of the vegas strip such as Fremont. It’s defintely a place i wouldn’t mind revisiting for pure fun.
September 30th, 2008 @ 2:22 am by Kev · No Comments
The Windy City was the next stop on the USA east(ish) coast loop, and as we all found out it isnt quite as near the east as expected. I required a 28 hour bus journey from cape cod & the guys needed a 17 hour bus from Toronto. These long journeys here made us all the more enthused to have a good time here on the shore of lake michigan.
Making the most of the time we had, we struck out for grant park where perchance a Latin Music festiival was in full swing, we stopped off and i tryed out my found salsa skills to limited effect, all after getting soaked by the huge 150ft water stream coming out of the Buckingham fountain.
The latest addition to chicago sightseeing is also one of the biggest draws. Millenium Park is a sculpture park on a grand scale with metallic bridges, lawns, fountains and the amazingly strange Cloud Gate otherwise know as The Bean.
Thirsty from all the posing about we needed a beer, so we headed to the signature lounge, which so happens to be on the 106th floor of the Hancock tower…more posing about then.
The only logical step after drinks is food, Ginosprovided us with a Chicago Deep Dish Pizza, which was massive and tasted damn good, even if a bit much for ones shrinking stomach.
Chicago is famed not only for its windy nature and we explored all its trademarks. Lake michigan, Navy pier (from which we saw a great free fireworks display), the northern beaches which are amazingly, less than a 30 min walk from the main shopping district, Al Capone’s ganglang territories and not forgetting the first playboy mansion were each great in thier own way. Unfathomable size, tourist haven, sun soaked, hard to find and unremarkable respectively.
In my eyes chicago is one of the homes of blues music and I payed homage to this by following a trail vistitig the main sites from the best movie ever made The Blues Brothers and a trip to Buddy Guys Blues club Legends where we saw Carlos Johnson who was pretty good.
Before heading out of town we made sure we visited the Museum of Surgical Science & the chicago history museum which were both facinating. We also crammed in a trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo (Free entry..woo!).
Chicago was most definitely a Sweet Home, but the bright lights of Vegas are flashing and who are we to resist their draw!
After rushing through city after city after city in double quick time, it was time to take a rest! And a break from the city was exactly what i got during a 4 night stay in Cape Cod.
After wandering unwittingly down an Interstate (got a bit of a telling off from the cops) I finally found my hostel. The HI-Midcape hostel is superb, its situated in the middle of nowhere and has a uniquely laid back feel with the Cheers ethic of “where everybody knows your name“. Sleeping in cabins and rushing to the main building for a very hearty breakfast of fresh pancakes, brought back memories of my days working at summit camp. This place now comes highly recommended from yours truly.
Day 1
So myself and 3 others i met in the hostel the night before struck out for Provincetown (Chaffuered in a Mustang no less…Yipee! - cheers Carla) at the very tip of the capes hook, which unknown us was well in the swing of a gay pride week (later fact finding uncovered a stat of 60-80% of the population of P-Town is homosexual).
The place is actually a really fun place and very lively as you would imagine. (travel buddy Gary from glasgow wasnt overly impressed with the outward nature of the town folk sexual preferences, which i found rather amusing). While here visited the Pilgrims monument which celcbrates the landing of the first pilgrims in the usa and walked a rock walkway a mile out into the bay to Woods End Lighouse passed the stunning salt marshes in the early evening light.
Day 2
After a crazy late night idea, i struck out again for P-Town, this time by public transport as the Mustang had deserted us, bummer! In a moment of weakness decided to part with cash and throw myself in for a possible disaster! Whale Watching isnt usually my thing, but i was glad to be onboard after being caught in a downpour which left be soaked! After 10 minutes i had my moneys worth, not Whales but Dolphins! loads of white sided dolphins circled the boat, playing about in the water! Was amazing to see!
After another hour we spotted about 6 humpback whales gracefully larking around in the waters, waving tails and jumping for the crowds. Was so great to see them in thier own habitat and not behind a glass screen at sea world. Money well spent! A superb experience!
Day 3
Struck out and rented some bikes for the day. Cape Cod is littered with cycle tracks so it was a breeze getting around, even though whichever way you turn the wind is blowing in your face!
Took a ride north to the Nauset Light beach for some sunbathing. Then followed that up with a trip to a lookout point at Fort Hill over the salt marshes (after a scaryily crossing an Interstate), then finally rounded the day off with a ride and a stroll along the beach at sunset. Amazing colours and view on offer the whole day!
I also ran into a 4 Foot Monitor Lizard on my ride. His name was Tank, and he was clearly a double hard lizard… i decided not to mess with him or is crazy owner!
Time to rendezvous with th guys in Chicago… Got a long way to go & a short time to get there!!
September 12th, 2008 @ 10:38 pm by Chris · 1 Comment
After a day of travelling from Philidelphia through New York, our arrival in Boston was met with pouring rain, something we weren’t familar with given the 40 degree heats from the previous destinations. The address of our booking took us too a luxurious hotel, we thought we were in for treat given the price we paid. Not so, we checked in and found out they were taking us to their overflow accomodation, which upon arrival looked like an old hospital, suspicions confirmed when one of the rooms still had the old bed curtains up.
Kev had already been to Boston so we left him to cover the USS Constitution and Bunker hill whilst we took a guided tour of the first half of the Freedom Trail. Before starting though after lots of walking in Washington and Phili in aleady warn out shoes I treated myself to some new trainers, the difference was immediately apparaent when we began our walking.
In the afternoon, we still had a large amount of the trail to follow, containing the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill. We planned to meet Kev later so instead We decided to go for a guided tour of MIT, which would have been good except we were visiting on the weekend when tours do not run. That didn’t stop us having a snoop around the grounds and investigating some of the lecture theatres, we left our mark in one of the rooms, at least until the next lecturer comes and rubs it off.
On our way back we met Kev, standing outside the Cheers! bar, what luck. We thought it was only fair on ourselves after so much walking we deserved a beer or two and at the same time got more ideas for Miami from some other people in the bar.
The next day we left Kev relaxing in the hostel whilst we went to drop off our bags at left luggage and to used the rest of day to see the USS Constition and Bunker Hill Monument.
We wait for a guided tour of the boat so we could go below deck allowing us to see more than just the top deck and gain a more detailed account of the boats history.
We then walked to the Bunker Hill Monument, 294 steps, no lift, boiling heat. Nice. But worth it for the views from the top of the monument. To get out the heat we went into the Bunker Hill museum, which turned out to be a good choice as it was full of history and a reconstruction, which Mike started and managed to make the other people in the museum jump out of their skin.
September 3rd, 2008 @ 7:33 am by John · No Comments
I never realised how much history Philadelphia had. I thought there wouldn’t be much interesting in this city but i was pleasantly surprised. We started by visting the Liberty Bell, an iconic symbol for independence and freedom now forever silenced. Following the bell, we headed to Independence hall where the significant figures in the American Revolution including Washington and Benjamin Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence. We visited the Franklin court, which displays a skeletal structure of Benjamin Franklin’s old house and alond the way there we managed to visit the Carpenter’s hall and see the first ever bank of the United states of America.
Loads of history here and needed a good sized lunch to recover, so we opted to try out Philly’s best known sandwich, the Philly Cheese Steak. We went over to 9th street where we witnessed two of the best known palces for cheese steaks. You have Geno’s with their bright orange colours and new commercial type look. Just opposite over the road, it’s rival Pat’s Steaks, a more authentic old style looking steak house. We opted for Pat’s steak which was also less busier at the time. I ordered a classic cheese steak which was overflowing with tasty streaks of steak and runny cheese. It was delicious.
Following the lunch, we took a stroll along Penn’s Landing where we met a nice girl handing out “o-water”, a new flavoured water with loads of vitamins drink. We grabbed about 2 to qunech our thirst and for additional nutrition for the run up the Philadelphia Art Museum Steps AKA “Rocky steps”.
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