National-Parks

28 November 2017 After leaving San Francisco we headed across the Golden Gate Bridge on our long drive to Yosemite National Park. The bus is cozy but comfortable, and Pat our CEO has been playing some great music. We arrived mid-afternoon at Yosemite National Park, which gave us time to see some of the giant Sequoia trees — some of which can be up to 3,000 years old. We only got to see a few, but they are absolutely amazing! You could even go for a walk into the pass of one of the fallen trees — that’s how big they are.

29 November 2017 On Tuesday we drove from Yosemite National Park (or rather just outside it) to Bakersfield. A long day in the bus with just a few stops for food and comfort. At one of the stops I had a quick chat to a guy who had a huge “pick up truck” which was towing the biggest caravan I’d ever seen. I asked if that was a big caravan by American standards and, you guessed it, it wasn’t. He said that it was just “pretty big” and that you can get caravans with three axles! He said there was a whole separate room at the front of the caravan and then a garage type area at the back. He had a quad bike in the back of his truck and I asked if he had any more in the back of the caravan. Two more back there! Everything is bigger in America.

1 December 2017 On Wednesday we travelled west from Bakersfield towards Las Vegas. On the way however we had to cross the ‘valley of death’ or, as it is known, Death Valley. The scenery was absolutely magical and a lot hillier than I thought it would be. Death Valley is the hottest, the driest and the lowest place in the USA, having reached temperatures of up to 57 degrees Celsius. At our last stop, Badwater Basin (where the photos below were taken) we were 282 feet below sea level.

2 December 2017 Today (Friday) we left the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas behind and headed north west. In the space of around an hour or so we spent time in three states — Nevada, Arizona (just going across the north west corner) and then into Utah. Our main activity for the day was a 2 hour hike in Zion National Park in the mid-afternoon. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking once again. The park is really well laid out, with a great visitor centre and gift shop.

4 December 2017 On Saturday we awoke early to meet at the bus at 6:30am (apart from Katelyn who enjoyed a sleep in at the hotel). The early start was to accommodate the opportunity to watch the sun rise over the magnificent Bryce Canyon National Park rock formations. And we weren’t disappointed either! The weather was very cold though, starting out at around -2 degrees. After a quick 15 minute trip back to the hotel for breakfast (and to collect Katelyn!) we returned to Bryce Canyon for a hike into the canyon itself. The hike took around two hours and gave us some absolutely fabulous views of Bryce Canyon. For the second day in a row we were being treated to some of the USA’s (and the world’s) most amazing rock formations.

5 December 2017 Yesterday (Sunday) was a big day, plus one of the best of the trip so far. Horseshoe Bend We started early with a short drive to Horseshoe Bend, where the mighty Colorado River makes an epic U-turn. The viewing area (a 10 minute walk over a sand hill from the car park) is quite amazing. There is literally a sheer rock cliff, with no fences, and people just get as close as they dare to take their photos. A few people asked me to take their photo for them on their phones, and for each one I begged them to be careful near the edge and not to step back at all. Some people were even sitting on the edge, which is just too stupid to put into words.

6 December 2017 On Monday we left Mexican Hat (the town) and headed to the Grand Canyon, safe in the knowledge that Katelyn’s phone was not sitting deep down in a composting toilet. When we arrived, our CEO asked us to trust him with an interesting approach he has for first time visitors. As we started getting near the Grand Canyon, he asked us to close our eyes as he finished parking. As we got out of the bus he then asked us to put bags over our heads, carefully marched us in conga line form to near the edge of the Grand Canyon, then took a mobile phone and photographed us as we all took off our bags together to see the Grand Canyon for the very first time. Absolutely breathtaking!

8 December 2017 On our way from the Grand Canyon to San Diego, we drove part of the historic Route 66. I never realised that it all started with a movie director in Chicago who needed to finish filming a movie before the end of December one year, otherwise his film wouldn’t be released. The weather in Chicago at the time was too cold to allow filming to continue, so in desperation he called a friend in Los Angeles. The friend told him the weather was great and suggested finishing his filming there — which he did, putting in motion the LA movie industry and Route 66.