27 Sept: Las Vegas (Day 1)

Williams was pretty sleepy in the morning, aside from the multitude of hikers getting ready for their early morning hikes. We headed to a little cafe for breakfast that we had seen the night before. It was called some coffee brewery company and so Mark figured he’d get some good coffee there. Alas, the search continues. Brekkie was pretty bad, and the tea, well, it’s the first time I’ve not been able to drink tea (even after the hot milk with a tea bag in it in Spain). It was really, really bad and smelt like it was from the dregs of an urn. There was a table full of old guys next to us and one turned out to be pretty chatty. He’d never been to Australia but had shared a tour bus with a load of Aussies to Disneyland. His opinion was that Aussies knew how to party and so he just wanted to visit Australia sometime. He was a nice guy actually, didn't try to teach us about Australia (unlike others) and then wished us fun for the rest of our trip.

Before we left the town for Vegas, I found Smokey the Bear and we had a little chat (see photos) and we saw the Grand Canyon steam engine getting ready for its day of work. We were a bit late heading out of town as we’d really taken it slow and easy this morning, but soon enough, we were on our way to Vegas baby!

What a crazy town! You just immediately come alive as everything is buzzing, electric and alive. It was an instant burst of energy. We found the Flamingo and tried to get into the valet parking - this in itself was an ordeal. Too many lanes, too many circular driveways, too many cars, and too many people. But we eventually ended up in the correct lane and a nice man took the car away after unloading our bags for a nice sum. Walking into the actual hotel part, we were greeted by an enormous gold cage that housed a beautiful macaw parrot. While he was lovely to look at and coo over, we both felt a bit sad that he wasn’t free to fly around. I had images of that macaw in the animated movie ‘Rio’. He should have been out there looking for his girlfriend.

Both Jamie and Connie had arrived and as we were walking through the massive complex that is the Flamingo, amongst the throngs of people, we saw Jamie walking towards us. It was so good to see her again, it felt like it had been forever and what a place to reunite. On to the lobby only to find that we couldn’t use the self check in as our passports were safely locked away in our luggage.

While we were standing there trying to figure it all out, someone behind me wrapped their arms around me. I froze as I knew it was Connie and I didn’t want to turn around too quickly. Ten years of being online with each other, skyping, sharing birthdays and Christmases and so many stories. I was so excited to actually be in the same room with her, to be able to hug her for real. When I turned around, we both looked at each other, burst into tears and just kept hugging. It was fabulous. Skype doesn’t do her justice LOL. We’d chat a little, hug again, cry again, chat some more - hit the repeat button here. So, so good.

Jamie and Mark headed off to wait on the massive line for the check in and were somehow, bumped up to the silver class for check in, so we all walked through some pretty snazzy doors. Alas, we still needed the passports, so it was down to the valet, grab the right bag, grab the passports, and then start again. Needless to say, Mark and Jamie looked after all of that so that Connie and I could chat, hug, cry, chat, hug, cry…… etc.

We were given a room on the 27th floor (out of 28) which was on the strip. We were pretty excited until we got to the room. It needed some work. That’s the best way to say it. Plus, it was very small. We saw into a few others around us during the few days we were there, and yes, ours was very small in comparison. Even the guy who brought our bags up noted that we were in the smallest room on the strip side (without prompting - and he said he was baffled as to why it was a small and dodgy room, again, without prompting) BUT, the view was amazing and made it so worthwhile that we didn’t ask for another. We were directly opposite Caesar’s Palace and the Bellagio fountains were just to the left, so we had a great view of them. The Mirage was just to the right, and that was where we saw the Cirque Beatles show ‘Love’. So we were right in the middle of the strip and looking down on all the action. We went for a quick tour of the hotel and saw the pool (what a crazy party place that we were about 30 years too old for) and the flamingo enclosure. The flamingos seemed pretty happy. They were all standing around, like flamingos do, and having a big wing flap here and there. It was pretty cool - flamingos at The Flamingo. We wandered out to have a look at Caesars and the Bellagio fountains. It was bloody hot in the sun, so we headed into the little mall near the Bellagio and I fawned over the Harry Winston jewelry window display. As we headed back towards the street exit, the fountains went off. We watched them through a window in the air conditioned mall, and they were dancing along to Elvis with ‘Viva Las Vegas’ which seemed entirely apt for our first hours in Vegas. We didn’t realise at the time that the fountains play a different song every time.

Mark and Jamie had a little snooze (poor Jamie had been awake for almost 30 hours at this stage) and I went to Connie and Kelly’s room. Connie brought her friend Kelly along for the ride (very pragmatic of her) as she knew there would be times that we’d be doing our own thing. It worked out well for everyone. Connie had brought some LuLaRoe Disney leggings for me and so I got to try them on and decide which ones I wanted as well as a very funky top. Needless to say, I’m living in them at the moment. It was lovely to meet Kelly and sit around laughing and having some fun.

After everyone was awake and refreshed, we headed down for some dinner. There was a little arcade strip beside the hotel which had some great little restaurants. We found a place that seemed right, and headed in, along with what seemed to be 500 other people. It was loud, and frantic and very Vegas. We had a booth and craft beers and cocktails and a heap of laughs. Kelly tried her hand at learning some Aussie words (and pronunciation) and it had us all in hysterics. ‘Mate’ and ‘ridgey didge’ were just hilarious. We all had tears streaming down our faces and Connie and I complained about how much our tummies hurt from laughing so much. It really was such a fun night. Laughter, good friends, good food and some nice little drinkies.

Jamie needed to crash and so Mark, Connie, Kelly and I headed out for a little wander. Connie needed a little help walking (what can I say! She was tired?) and we saw the Bellagio fountains do two shows, one to Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ and the other to ‘All That Jazz’. They are pretty amazing to watch. I can’t get over how totally packed the streets were on a Wednesday night. There were people everywhere and some were really interesting to look at LOL. We saw Iron Man and a very dodgy looking Chewbacca. People were handing out hooker business cards and “free” offers to this and that. Seriously, there were people everywhere. We all decided that we were buggered and headed back to the Flamingo. It was an excellent introduction to Vegas. Tomorrow - the wedding!

Click here to see some pics. 

26 Sept: Grand Canyon (South Rim)

So I was the only one who made sunrise. What an incredible experience. I’m so glad I got up. The colours on the rocks kept changing and it was soooo quiet. A crow flew past and I could hear his wings flapping. I’m so pleased that Mark got to hear this later as I didn’t think anyone would believe me! When the sun was finally up, it was directly behind one of the large buttes - so more amazing photos ensued. I think I said it before, you just can’t take a bad photo around here. It was bloody freezing though - I reckon that’s why Mark stayed in bed. It wasn’t really that early - it was 6:30am their time. Oh, and during the night, I got up to have a look at the stars. It was too cold to go out on the balcony, so I peered through the glass doors instead. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many stars before. The sky was full, totally. It’s all the little things. 

After brekkie at the restaurant with a view, we took a few weeks more photos and then hit the road to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The scenery changed again - this time, large, smooth, flat rocks everywhere. Also dinosaur footprints at Indian roadside stalls (go figure). We stopped at another roadside vendor and got a lovely bracelet and some matching earrings (and a couple more pressie pieces). The trip is taking longer than we thought it would, even though we pick up that ‘hour’ due to the daylight savings time change. Plus, there has been a large number of very slow drivers and few overtaking lanes on the highway. 

Today seems to be a day of mini stops at road side traders, both large and small. The large one was to restock on mints and Oreo cookies, oh and the obligatory restroom break and quest for good coffee (alas on the last one). There were a couple of very Southern ladies in the restroom complaining about the lack of toilet paper “God dang it, I’m gonna go out there and tell them they need to put some paper in this place” (but you need to imagine that with the very strong accent attached). Off we went and then found another trading place to grab some dreamcatchers for Jamie.

We’re back on the road again now - yes, I’m typing while Mark drives) but we had to turn around to find an ATM as the Grand Canyon National Park has a $30USD entry fee and they generally don’t take credit cards, unlike the tiny roadside vendors. 

Once inside the park, we caught glimpses of the canyon between trees. Lots of trees again as we were around 5000miles up. There are a few roads inside the national park, and the one main one has a few viewing points before you reach the visitor centre. Like every man and his dog, we stopped at the first one. I think that first real look at the canyon is mindblowing. It’s immense, deep, wide, craggy, jagged, raw, powerful, so many adjectives and like the photos - doesn't do it justice. We sat down on a seat near the edge (again, many places with no barriers) and just took in the fresh air. A couple came over and were trying to selfie a happy birthday message to their granddaughter, so I offered to film it for them. They were really cute, but very average singers LOL. I did the ‘hip hip’ thing at the end, but they just looked at me blankly. I don’t think it’s an American birthday thing. (I later asked Connie and it seems that it’s not). 

We stopped at the gift shop here as we figured it would be madness at the visitor centre. Some bad lunch (some weird chicken roll doovey) and then we hit the road again to the next lookout. As we were leaving, there was a lone tarantula crossing the bus lanes. I walked after him and took a video - I was pretty excited about seeing him. Mark said a guy had stirred him up by pushing him around with a camera, until it burred up at him and he walked away then. Why do people do that? While I was videoing, an American lady was laughing and telling me that it would jump on me (they don’t) and was trying to scare me - again, why do people do that? I was enjoying watching him go on his journey (did I mention that Shea had earlier told us it was tarantula migration season?). I just laughed at the American woman and said I was from Australia and not scared of little spiders. She shut up then. 

The first three lookouts were all similar, just (obviously) a little further around. Each view was magnificent though. They all had an area that had a barrier, which made it easy for me to look and take photos. Everywhere else was barrierless though, and so many people were climbing out on ledges and the like. Good on them - I do wonder if any of them fall over the years though. At one of the lookouts, we saw black hawks flying overhead. We know they were black hawks as a tour guide told her group that they were. Blessed be us eavesdroppers. 

We got to the ‘Grand View’ lookout and as the name suggests, this was the best lookout we saw. It was on a bend and the canyon stretched out on either side of us. The Colorado River was an electric blue snake way, way down there. If you stood in the right spot, you could see the rapids. As beautiful and peaceful as this was - too many groups of Germans and Chinese were loud and pushy. (I feel like I’m being racist and stereotyping, but it just seems to be this way). They’d push in front of you, particularly while you were taking a photo, and they yell! Like really yell! I know I can talk loudly at the best of times, but these people were all amazing. Soooo loud. And it seemed to me that they weren’t interested at all in what they saw, they just wanted to get that perfect photo and then move on, so much of it seemed to be yelling directions to pose this way or that. Anyway….

As we were driving, there were road signs warning of elk and mountain lions. I really wanted to see a mountain lion. We had learnt from signs at the redwoods that if you see a mountain lion, you need to make lots of noise and wave your arms around to scare them off. It’s the opposite for bears. Just don’t get them mixed up. Alas, no mountain lions (from the safety of our car). Elk though - well, we saw elk. There was a mum and three babies just grazing on the side of the road. We pulled over (like many others and how convenient was it that there was a car park right there!) and took some photos. There are signs everywhere saying not to approach of feed wild animals - makes sense. Now, its single lanes with double lines, so if you get stuck behind someone, you just have to stay stuck. So, while we were peacefully enjoying watching the elk across the road with lots of other people, a four wheel drive full of young German people, stopped in the middle of the road and held everyone up. For ages, no exaggeration, at least five kminutes. People were nice and not blowing horns as they didn’t want to scare the elk (I assume) but eventually, cars started to cross the double lines to get going again. All of the drivers that passed them make rather rude gestures or said something out their windows. The Germans didn’t care. The really arrogant part of it was that there were three vacant car parks right in front of them. Everyone on the side of the road was shaking their heads at them and we were all pointing to the vacant car parks trying to get them to pull over. They just kept taking photos, but then eventually, one of the girls pointed to the space and had the driver pull over. He didn’t get out of the car, but the girls did and they all raced across the road into the bush and got into the elks’ faces. Naturally, the elk moved on. Sigh. Luckily for us - there ended up being elk everywhere the further we drove into the park. At one stop sign intersection, a very large stag wandered across the road, letting everyone know we were in his territory. I would not want to mess with one of those things. His hooves were huge and he looked very strong. Beautiful, but strong and scary. 

We decided to miss the visitor centre when we saw a huge and completely packed car park. By this time, it was well into the afternoon and we really wanted to see what the canyon looked like down at the other end of the road, which was a half hour drive away (dependant of course on not running into people who wanted to stop on the road and hold everyone up). So we skipped it and headed for the Canyon Village. We found a park at some of the lodges and went for a wander over to the canyon, via the train tracks. More trains (yay, Shea). We had a look at this end, but we both agreed the other end was much more impressive. Then again, when I say ‘end’, we’re talking about a tiny, tiny part of the canyon. On a map, if the canyon was 30cm long, we saw maybe 5mm. There were hiking trails down to the floor of the canyon and this is also where you can take a mule train down. There were many red faced, sweaty people coming up. some looked painful, others looked painful and happy. I’d hope they were all proud of themselves as it looked like no small feat. 

By this time, it was getting late, we badly needed to do laundry and it was around an hour drive to our hotel, so we hightailed it out of there. We’d really love to go back and do some of the (easy) hikes around the place. I’d like to see more of the wildlife. 

It was a nice drive into Williams, but if you ever stay there, don’t stay at the Howard Johnson. When you book, they don't tell you that you may be in an entirely different building or on a second floor with no elevator on the night that you need to lug all your bags into the room to get ready for the laundry and the next leg of the trip. They also didn’t mention the choking smoke in the hallways of the non-smoking part of the hotel that is so bad, you’ll need to put a towel on the floor to stop it getting in under your door. BUT, the town of Williams is amazing. Totally amazing.

It is the last town to have lost Route 66 to the interstate, and has retained all of its old buildings, gas pumps, and paraphernalia from it’s Route 66 days. We drove down the main street to the laundromat and got really excited about checking out the town. Mind you, it was already 7:30, we hadn’t had dinner, and we hadn’t started the laundry, and we were totally exhausted - but the town was so alive that it perked us up. Laundry done, (bloody hell, it took almost an hour) we were beyond famished and tired and dragged ourselves over to the steakhouse across the road. Rod’s Steakhouse. OMG, so far, this has been the best meal choice of the trip. This was the steak that my nan used to cook. I haven't had a steak that good in about 25 years. It was not only melt in your mouth, it was totally flavoursome and juicy. We both fawned all over it. It was also huge, and we were starving. It definitely hit the spot.

It was a big meal and even though we were dead on our feet, we couldn't resist having a look at some of the stores on the main street. We wandered down one side, past fairy lights, partying people and old gas pumps, onto the other side where we passed life sized fibreglass Elvis and a theatre with a very large bear at the front of it. We walked into what we thought was an interesting store that turned out to be a gift/souvenir/oddities shop that really took up four shop fronts. The place was amazing and we couldn’t help but grab some things. I liked the town so much that I bought a shirt with it’s name on it. Arizona delivers! While we were at the counter, Mark spotted some old photos and the young girl brought them down for us to look at (after I fell for the Jackalope heads mounted on the wall - just like a drop bear story I guess). The photos showed the main street in the 50s and 60s. It's been very cool looking at old photos and comparing them to the new in many places that we’ve been. I think America is very proud of it’s heritage. 

So, it’s off to Vegas in the morning. I’m very excited as I’ll be seeing Jamie and meeting my friend Connie. Connie and I have known each other for over 10 years now and although we Skype frequently, we’ve never been in the same room, or city, country or hemisphere before. It’s going to be good.

See the Canyon and Williams photos here.

25 Sept: Monument Valley

We’ve left Page on our way to Monument Valley. We needed a pretty hearty brekkie as our Valley tour goes over lunch and the early afternoon - so no doubt, we’ll be starving when we are done. we stopped off at a little cafe called The Ranch Grille Cafe. It was a really yummy brekkie but for the very first time in America, the eggs were undercooked. In general, food here has been pretty amazing. Big, but pretty amazing. We had people tell us to just order one meal and share, and that’s pretty much the case. Each place we visit has ‘Christmas Globes’, baubles you hang on your Christmas tree and this cafe had lovely ones that were sand paintings by local Navajo Indians. If they weren’t so delicate, I’d have wanted one to take home. 

The road out of Page reveals stunning view after stunning view. It’s hard to take your eyes off the scenery - all the reds, oranges and yellows, dotted with green shrubbery here and there. We pulled over at one of the Indian trading spots that are alongside the road. It’s so hard to make choices when there are so many beautiful jewellery pieces. The turquoise is especially stunning. I really couldn’t decide between some pieces, so we made a deal and that was that. They even take credit card! We’ve ended up with quite a few lovely necklaces and some little pressies to take back home. Back on the road to Monument valley again - this time, the scenery changed back to no greenery (pretty much), just red, earthy, ochre colours with big rocky outbursts. There were bits of stone jutting out of the earth, all angular and stacked on top of one another. It was very rugged. 

We came to the pay station, paid the fee, crossed the line, and voila, we were in Monument Valley. We followed the line of cars up and as we walked to the visitor centre, the buttes that you see in movies were right there, just in front of us. It was almost like an alien landscape - all red dirt with these huge things just sticking out of it. (Descriptive hey?). It’s really very hard to describe, and the photos we have don’t do it justice - story of our nature trip life. They are enormous, beautiful, angular, worn down, real (as in the ancientness of the place is palpable), and you are surrounded by beautiful earth colours. 

We arrived with only half an hour to spare before our tour. We met the tour guide in the lobby of the hotel there (the only one) and she was a young Navajo girl. I still don’t know her name as she was a little shy about that side of things and mumbled out a little of her history. We jumped onto the jeep - there were only six of us; Mark and I (obviously), a young German couple (who turned out to be pains in the ass - what is it about Germans on holidays? Nice people until they go on holidays and then they turn into arrogant obnoxious people who think they are the only people in the place and are entitled to everything. Can you tell how annoying these two were?), and a lovely 94 year old Californian with his sister-in-law. We were suitably impressed with how much the old guy got into, especially getting in and out of the jeep. His sister-in-law just wanted me to keep talking as she loved my accent (what accent?) and was very apologetic about Trump. LOL. The jeep turned out to be just as bumpy and dusty as the one for Antelope Canyon, but add in sunburn and windburn and that’s what it was like. Not that we complained - the view was worth it all. 

Our first stop was to see the buttes that we could see from the visitor centre, just from down below rather than up top. These things are just magnificent. Honestly, I can write about the names of what we saw, but you just need to look at the photos to understand the majesty of the place. We stopped at ‘John Ford Point’ which was the film directors’ favourite scene shot. This is the one you see in all the old Westerns with John Wayne. There was a guy with a horse so you could have your photo taken sitting on the horse, looking all Magnificent Seven-ish. I don’t think I could mount a horse (give me a bull, no problem!) so we dipped out of the $5.00USD fee. We stood there and gazed in amazement - again, there are no words. 

She took us into the ‘back country’ which is Navajo tour only. We saw some more buttes and a few natural arches. One was meant to be like an eagle, but I guess my imagination just isn’t that good. There was a large curve of rock arcing from the bottom to the arch, and she had us lie back on it to look up at the arch. It was one of those moments. It was a little surreal and again, you could feel the spiritualness of the place - the ‘ancient-ness’. While we were all laying there looking up (including the most impressive 94 year old) she played a flute - it was a really special moment.

Back up and off to visit a hogan. Navajo do not live in teepees, that’s the Indians who live further north. Hogans are their homes, built of sticks, covered by bark and then packed with mud that bakes in the hot desert sun. After monsoon season, they re-mud the areas where they see bark, a nice indicator that it’s time to cover up again. We went inside one, and it was about 10, maybe 15 degrees cooler, even though it was sitting in the sun with no shade around it. A small hole at the top lets the hot air out (logically) and also any smoke from cooking. Inside were rugs on the dirt and skins on the chairs (no backs, more like short and wide stools). A lady gave us a spinning demonstration and taught us a little about the designs on rugs. Aside from the symbols meaning different things, anything without a ‘spirit line’ (a type of patterned border woven in) is probably made in China (she said). We talked a little about the types of plants and stuff used to dye to rugs their beautiful colours. They are expensive though, and understandably so when one about a metre wide and 700 high takes around 6 months to make if you've made the design many times. 

On the road again to see another couple of arches and buttes. One of the arches this time was called ‘the eye’ and it really did look like one with eyelashes provided by dark streaks in the rock face. The guide took some really good photos for us all here. Our last stop was to look at the ‘totems’ and she pointed out the four figures to the left of the totem that were shaped like people facing over the land. These shapes are what appear a lot in the paintings and weavings, as they are the spiritual beings protecting the land (“watching over us, protecting us” she said). While you can drive around the valley yourself on the dirt roads, I’d recommend the Navajo tours because 1. you help support them, 2. you get all the back country and 3. the stories and significance of things. Oh, and the occasional prairie dog - at least, we think it was a prairie dog. It may very well have been a chipmunk sitting up having a look around. 

Tour over and done with, we headed back to our hotel room to wash off the huge amount of dust we were covered in. I’ve never enjoyed a shower and hair wash so much before. We hit the restaurant for dinner, which was surrounded by huge glass windows looking over the buttes. What a great place to eat. The food was a little hit and miss, I guess we’re just not quite used to it. We had some Indian fry bread, which was very yummy. A flour mix that is fried up and then you put some honey on it. I liked that. We tried the ‘Navajo sampler’ which had red chilli with beans, green chicken chilli and a mutton stew. The red chilli was way too hot for me but Mark liked it. The chicken was the best I think and the mutton stew was very strong in flavour. There was also a Navajo taco which was really quite nice. A million times better than the bloody silly Taco Bell one. I should mention that I ordered a lemonade. Lemonade is actually lemonade here, not fizzy like Sprite (if you want that, it’s called a sprite, go figure!) and I had ordered one for dinner. We both laughed at the enormous cup it came in, but, after the chilli, it was needed!

After dinner we hit the gift shop as we had a $20USD voucher and a 10% discount as we were staying at the hotel. We bought a beautiful sand painting that had four figures that represent balance. Hopefully it makes it home in one piece. The sun was setting, so we raced out to grab some photos and sit on our balcony watching the colours change. I guess it’s a little like Uluru in that regard. Again, even the photos don’t do it justice.

We were both totally buggered and sitting on the balcony was absolutely freezing (even with covered ankles and wrapped in a blanket) so we headed in for a reasonably early night. We really wanted to get up for the sunrise…. but only one of us made it.

Photos here…(many, many photos).

24 Sept: Flagstaff to Page (Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Canyon, Lake Powell)

Brekkie in the morning was at the Toasted Owl cafe. It was a very cool place with owls and owl things everywhere. Everything was for sale, even the light shades (of which there were many). Kevin was our waiter and we waited often. A lady at the table opposite us was  doppelgänger for Carla (Fairy Princess Stardust) and so I tried to take a few sneaky peak photos. There was also a toddler, who was cute the first couple of times he came over but the shine wore off after that. It was a really good brekkie though, and we enjoyed our time there, even if Kevin took twenty minutes to remember to bring a takeaway box.

We went for a walk to find Mark a real coffee, and got to see a little more of the town itself. Some nice little shops, but because it was a Sunday morning, nothing (well, almost nothing) was open. We found a cafe, Mark got coffee, my ankles remained warm (an inside joke), the trains remained long (another inside joke) and the weather apps were up to date (yet one more inside joke. Mark’s feet will always be hot (the last inside joke). 

After brekkie with Shea, we headed off on the three hour drive to Page (which is really a four hour drive due to a daylight saving change. Page is only small and there are only so many hotels you can choose from. This has probably been the dodgiest hotel we’ve stayed in (aside from that one where you couldn’t lift your arms up in the shower at Pompeii). It looked all nice and modern, but then the bed was a think mattress and you could hear absolutely everything that happened in the next room, which included snoring and toilet habits. TMI? Yeah, it was for us too. But anyway, that was at night - I have the whole day to explain first.

So Page and the Navajo camps can be on different times. We had to work out which we were on - my watch said one thing, the iPhone said another, and it ended up being my watch that we needed to go by. So we had enough time up our sleeves to have a quick lunch and freshen up before the tour. We found a cool little crepe cafe and shared a crepe of raspberry, banana and almonds smothered in whipped cream and melted chocolate. Yes, it was good. Mark tried for a coffee again, I think he’ll give up soon enough. 

We went for a quick drive to check out Lake Powell. It has a dam and was quite spectacular to see. It’s obviously a popular spot for boating and fishing. It was bloody big, that’s all there is to say. 

On to the tour. we jumped into the back of an open truck that had a row of seats on either side facing out towards the landscape. Somehow, I ended up in the very end seat, which I guess has given me a get-ready for the roller coaster at Disneyland. It was bumpy and dusty and I thought I would fall out on more than one occasion. Luckily for me, they’ve been doing this a while now and haven't lost a customer yet. Rosie was our Navajo tour guide and she grew up in the area and seemed a bit tired and a little cranky to start with, but we worked out that was more about a rather stubborn Chinese lady than anything else. 

We arrived at Antelope Canyon - we didn't really know what to expect. We’d seen a heap of photos online, and they all looked very professional. We weren’t ready for a place that made taking a bad photo impossible. There was a crack in a big rock, and that’s what we walked in to. I don’t know how to describe it, you’ll just need to look at the photos. I can only say, I wish I had worn sneakers as the dirt/dust was very fine. We wound our way through the canyon, a crevice in the rock is probably the best way to describe it. Rosie said that the canyon was formed by water rushing through. She gave us a demonstration later with some of the sand outside and Mark’s water bottle. Again, it’s hard to explain. Anyway, the swirling, rushing water wore away parts of

the rock, which exposed the layers of rock that have built up over thousands of years. A bit like the rings on a tree. The water comes through with such forces that it washed away some scientific cameras that had been screwed into the rock face. The colours on the rock face were amazing and they swirled in different ways. Each twist and turn revealed different patterns, one spot was called a heart (because the shape of the rock created a heart shape), another was an eye, another created a flame. At some points, it was narrow and we had to go through single file, but I didn’t once feel claustrophobic. Rosie showed us some great photo spots and angles and at the end, took one of Mark so that it looked like he was holding a flame (THE flame). Rosie normally does photographic tours so I think we got very lucky. 

I feel like I should be able to write more about Antelope Canyon, but it’s one of those places that is more seen and felt than something that can be put into words. The photos don’t do it justice, but then again, the photos are amazing.

After the canyon, we took off to see Horseshoe Canyon before sunset. We’d seen a mile of cars there on the way in to Page and thought we wouldn’t make it back there until morning, but we had some spare time. We found a park (amazing in itself) and walked up the steep hill with everyone else. We got to the top (very exciting when you reach a crest) thinking we’d be at the canyon, only to find that it was a climb down almost twice as far and twice as steep. Oh well, what can you do. we made or way down, and the light was just lovely on all the rock faces around us. At the end of the trail, people were lined along the rim of the canyon for at least a km. Mark had gone on ahead to take some photos while I meandered (old age) and took photos of plants and rocks and all the other things I like to take photos of. I found him on the line of people, and well, I don’t like getting close to the edge of anything really. He was right on the rim and ended up with some amazing photos. People were sitting on the edge of the rim (like Mark!) and leaning out taking crazy selfies and all sorts of things. How nobody falls over is beyond me. Then again, it’s nice not to be in a nanny-state that would have barrier up. Take responsibility for yourselves people and if you fall over, bad luck! 

It’s called horseshoe bend because it’s shaped like a horseshoe. Go figure! I just asked Mark how far he thought the drop off to the bottom of the canyon was and he just laughed. No idea. Probably somewhere between 500-800m. At the bottom, the Colorado River. It was a wonderful shade of blues and greens. Again, this is a place where it’s hard to take a bad photo. We watched the sunset and change the colours on the rock face and then made the trek back up the hill. 

Just an end to the post - as we drove back, there was a slow driver ahead of us who was obviously uncomfortable with driving. A lunatic sat right on the back of our car, revving up and being a dick. We decided to turn right at a roundabout when it came up (first chance to turn anywhere) and the car before us made its way slowly through. The lunatic overtook us and how they didn't crash in the roundabout was just a miracle. They both ended up wedged and and blowing horns. We drove off. People can be crazy. 

Then we were crazy. We went to Taco Bell. This was a mistake, unlike the rest of the day.

Check out 10,000,000 photos here. 

23 Sept: Kingman to Flagstaff

Breakfast this morning was pretty dodgy indeed. So it would seem to me that any kind of eating at Kingman is not great - but then again, if we’d strayed further afield, it may be a different story. We were greeted at breakfast by some interesting sights. A group of bikies from Czech Republic (they were all lifetime members and their ladies were impossibly tall and beautiful) as well as a few beauty queens still in curlers but proudly displaying their sashes. 

We headed out on Route 66 again, but this stretch was fairly straight and quite different to yesterday’s experience. As always though, the scenery was wonderful. We headed through Page and on to my insistent little two hour sidetrack to visit Winslow, Arizona - to stand on the corner. I drove, and I actually made pretty good time (wink, wink). Halfway to Winslow, the landscape changed from the red clay earth with dark green shrubbery (and the occasional tree) to enormous plains of yellow grasses. It was entirely different and it was like this all the way to Winslow. This is what I thought the Wild West would look like!

We drove into the sleepy little town of Winslow and got very excited when a tumbleweed tumbled across in front of us. We got so excited, we couldn't grab the camera fast enough, but we did end up with a little photo of it. The very special corner was very easy to find. It really is a small

town, so we just drove down the Main Street and a couple of blocks later, there was the corner. Good on them for taking advantage of the tourism it offers them - there really isn’t much else in Winslow (although it is very pretty). We stood, first me, then Mark, then me again. Then we went across the road into the souvenir shop (which was playing ‘Wasted Time’) and bought a couple of fridge magnets. There were lots of shirts with “I stood on the corner” printed on them. Back out onto the street and the hotel across the road was playing ‘Peaceful, Easy Feeling’ and we decided to drop into the diner on the other corner (there, you have all four corners now). After a ridiculously thick shake and a shared roast beef sandwich (while listening to ‘Life In The Fast Lane’ and the reason we were there ‘Take It Easy’), we headed back out to have another look at the famed corner. We took a photo for a couple from Sacramento and they took one for us. They apologised for their President (LOL) and then told us all about every famous musician the hubby knew, right down to partying with Janis Joplin and Mama Cass. I'm not sure if I believe them or not, but he told good stories. 

Back into the car and we hightailed it back into Page to meet up with Shea (Fairy Princess Petal). This is three different continents we’ve met up on now, so we’re all rather impressed. It’s always great catching up with Petal as she’s always great fun. We had dinner at a local brewery and chatted all night. Dinner was great - pulled pork and some tri-tip, polished off with a great brownie at the end. Shea stayed the night with us at the dodgy motel with loud air conditioning and strange lights all over the place. 

I don’t think I mentioned it before, but it seems to me that most American hotels have hallways straight out of The Shining. This one was no different. Freaking me out man! But most importantly, Shea gave us a travel goodie bag each (isn't she a good egg?) which was full of lots of naughty nibbly American treats. How kind is that!

Piccies here …

  

22 Sept: Bakersfield to Kingman (via Route 66)

This morning saw us head off into the desert on our way to Kingman, Arizona. The landscape is pretty desolate! We saw a huge wind farm across a mountain ridge in Tahachapi, I’ve never seen one this big before. It was so big, I couldn’t get a photo that took it all in. We also saw our first cactus around here - that was a big moment (we high fived). Not much further along was an aeroplane graveyard and of course, a boat repair place for all the boats in the desert. There are a ton of those shiny silver ‘Silver Stream’ caravans on the road. We saw one once at GOMA in a ‘California Dreaming’ exhibition. I thought they were long gone, but they are here, beautiful to look at, with happy owners behind the wheel.

I drove again. I feel I should mention this every time as it’s a complete feat of magic on my part. I drove for ages actually. I even overtook lots of trucks. Look out!

We stopped at a little cafe in Ludlow, on the old Route 66 - you have to do that, don’t you? The town, hmm, ok, the cafe and the few empty old garage and mechanic buildings seem very lonely. There isn’t really anything out here, including trees. It has it’s own beauty though. The cafe is one of the originals, and even has the chairs where you can sit at the counter, as well as booths. We took a booth and ordered cherry pie (feeling very touristy). Mark had a coffee, but after a couple of sips, it was passed into the hall of bad coffee fame. The cherry pie was nice though, as was the waitress. Outside the cafe, I took a few photos and an old guy in a pickup drove past and yelled out his window that the “whole town is for sale”. Made me laugh. 

Back on the highway again (as I type this) heading for ‘Needles’ which is a town with a very cool name, obviously. Old Route 66 runs parallel to this highway and there’s a train track as well. We just saw two of the longest trains ever - each had at least 30 containers after it. Other than that, it’s just big hills, little shrubs, and a dead straight road. It’s still bloody exciting though! I meant to say a couple of days ago, we’ve seen raccoons. here roadkill, but we’ve seen them. It”s a little like the badgers in the UK - you kind of almost get excited about seeing them but it’s all sad at the same time. 

We’ve just left the Wagon Wheel restaurant in Needles, CA. It’s a kitschy little diner, taking advantage of the ‘old route 66’ thing. But, we’ve had the best sandwich of the trip so far. It was a pot roast sandwich with horseradish that had the biggest horse kick I’ve ever had. The meat was melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness and it came with a really nice coleslaw on the side (as well as a Bud light for Mark). There was all sorts of memorabilia on the walls, including a photo of Steve and Bindi Irwin. The tag on the bottom was “visit from Bindi Irwin, 1998”. I asked if Bindi was more popular than Steve, and was told it was just because she visited after he had died, but that “Bye-n-dye” was very popular here indeed. I can’t say I’ve ever heard it pronounced like that! There’s a first time for everything. 

Mark had read about a little ghost town on old Route 66 named Oatman and so we decided to go and have a look. I got really excited when I saw a sign that said ‘donkeys’ for the next four miles. I really hoped we’d see one. We came around a curve and there it was, a donkey, on the side of the road. It was a very exciting moment. A couple of curves more and we were in the Main Street of Oatman - and it was FULL of donkeys. This is no longer a ghost town. They've worked out there would be a great tourism opportunity by reworking the shops and saloons and letting the donkeys wander through town, being fed by the tourists. It was a very cool little place and it’s something I’d recommend. We wandered down the Main Street, but like so many, we were more fascinated with the donkeys than the shops. Coming back to the car, there was a pregnant donkey in the middle of the road, who just didn’t want to move. People were trying to coax her with food and all sorts of things. She eventually moved on of her own accord.

Back onto Route 66 and seriously, with Oatman included, this is the absolute best part of Route 66. Windy roads took us around the canyons with the most magnificent views of the mesas. The road was not only windy, but smoothly bumpy (?) as in the dips and curves were a little like a roller coaster and great fun. We came around a corner and there was an all white donkey just standing on the side of the road (the side looking out over the valley) looking very majestic. Sadly though, I don’t have a photo that I can show you as I had my video camera out at the time instead. You’ll have to wait a bit on that one!

We made it into Kingman. I think most of these towns are the stop over/sleep over place for people touring the route. We went down the road for dinner, something Mark found that had great reviews. I don’t know who did those reviews but they all had bloody bad taste. As with anything that isn’t a rather formal restaurant in America, it was all burgers, fried and wings. We settled for wings this time, thinking it was something a little different. I don’t understand the American obsession with smothering everything in tomato or BBQ sauce (sorry guys). The wings were smothered, they were pretty awful. Then, the rather old, rather balding, paunchy, sleazy manager felt up one of the young waitresses. Ugh. Don’t go there. At that point, I felt pretty happy with the political correctness eating up Australia.

Back to the motel, getting ready for a drive into Flagstaff tomorrow, which hopefully would include a side trip into Winslow!

Check out the donkey pics here.

21 Sept: Hearst Castle & Bakersfield

From San Simeon, we made our way to Hearst Castle which was about 10 minutes drive away. You can see it high up on the hill as you make your way into the visitor centre. There are a few tours, an upstairs one, a downstairs one (what a shame you couldn’t do a bit of both, but hey, the Hearsts need money), a garden one and a kitchen one. We chose the upstairs one as it seemed to show the most elaborate rooms. At $25USD per person, per tour, one was enough. 

They took us in a little bus up the long winding road to the castle. The audio commentary (done by some StarTrek guy) said that the road was designed to give sneak peeks of the castle here and there as you come around the curves, thereby adding to the mystique of the place. There were cows here and there, and once, it was a zoo and guests would see exotic animals like giraffes and lions on the way up. It turns out that when Mr Hearst had a dip in his finances, he donated some of the animals to different zoos - not all of them though, there was no mention of what happened to the other animals. 

We made it to the top and were greeted by our tour guide, Jason. This guy knew absolutely everything about the castle. You could ask him anything, and he had an answer. Seriously, an answer to every single question thrown at him. If you go to the castle, go early in the morning. We only had 6 people in our tour group, so photos without people’s heads was easy, as well as being able to ask as many questions as you liked. We started off in one of the courtyards and got a little run down about how the castle was built over the years, and a bit about Hearst’s life. His family used to camp on top of the mountain and he decided he wanted something a little more permanent. 

The castle is lush and if you are in the area, or close to it, take the time to go and check it out. Each room was furnished in lavish carpets, textiles, ornate furnishings - all very reminiscent of things we’ve seen in European castles. His library was amazing. Books lined the walls behind glass doors and from the bits that we saw, they were sectioned off like any large library. We were standing beside the section on Italian architecture, which was beside the French history part. There was a long boardroom table in this room as well, which is where he held meetings with his copy writers. The focal point of the room was a portrait of the man himself, hanging on the wall at the end of the library. Seemingly, Hearst never wrote copy, that was for the minions. He wrote the front page and the headlines. 

We moved through the cloisters where his guests would stay. More lavish rooms. Some made up for married couples, others for single people. If you weren’t married, there was no chance of visiting your girlfriends’/boyfriends’ room. Jason told us a story of how David Niven thought he’d sneak into his lady’s room during the middle of the night but got lost in the castle. After wandering through a couple of the storeys, I’m not surprised. The cloisters were flanked by a walkway with huge windows opening onto the estate. This was three storeys up, so the breeze was pretty amazing. You’d be lovely and warm due to the fireplaces during winter, and the beautiful sea breezes would cool the place during the summer. Perfect! 

Next up was Hearsts’ bedroom. It was smaller than I thought it would be, based on the lavishness of the place. A few photos of his parents and grandparents, and a little gold leaf piece of artwork of the Madonna and child. They had this valued when on loan to a museum, and it came in at a little under $60mil. Seriously, it was smaller than the Mona Lisa. Across the hall was his girlfriend’s bedroom - the movie actress Marion Davies. It was about the same size and both rooms had lovely little Juliet balconies that looked over the estate. The designer and architect for the place (who spent 28 years completing it) covered Ms Davies’ room with religious art. Six pieces all depicting the Madonna and child. Jason thought this may have been a not-so subtle way of saying she didn’t really approve of the mistress. Hearst was still married, but had come to an amicable agreement with his wife as opposed to a messy, difficult and lengthy divorce. The first Mrs Hearst stayed in New York and enjoyed the social scene her married name allowed her, while Mr Hearst spent a good 35 years madly in love with his mistress, for all the world to see. 

There was a fourth storey to the castle as well. In here was the ‘celestial room’. A bedroom that was part of the turret, directly under the bells (yes, there were tolling bells). It was an octagonal room with wall dressings very similar to some of the Middle Eastern architecture we saw in Spain. Little hexagons of wood, which let light in through the centre. It was all coated in 24 carat gold (as were many things in the palace). Jason said that this was the room that Hedda Hopper would stay in when she visited - and it seems that Mr Hearst used the favour of the room to convince Hedda to write in a way he was happy with (namely, a bad review about a movie that Ms Davies was not in). Standing in a room that was topped by heavy bells, and also the giant water tanks, would normally be a little unnerving, but Jason said that during the 6.0 earthquake in the 80s, nothing broke or moved within the palace, but the bells shook so much they tolled. Pretty impressive considering they are the type of bells where the ringer is the part that stays still and it’s the bells that move. 

After the tour was over, we were free to roam about the gardens. They were beautifully manicured (of course) and there were some amazing roses. One in particular, the George Washington, had the most beautiful perfume. I want one of these rose buses for outside my bedroom window. There were statues and fruit trees and little steps and paths here and there. You could easily stroll around for hours enjoying the glimpses down the hillside to the ocean below. We made our way to the indoor pool - sadly, the Neptune pool which had the mosaic of Michelangelo’s ‘The Creation of the World’ on the floor and surrounded by roman columns, was closed for renovations. The indoor pool was pretty spectacular though. Beautifully tiled, as in the walls, the floor, the pool, with marble steps leading into the pool and a diving board at the end. Oh, all surrounded by classic Greek sculptures of naked men. 

After the lavishness of the castle, we made for the human-ness of Paso Robles. A small town on the way to our next stop. Without boring details, I needed to see a doctor and our travel insurance pointed us to an ‘urgent care’ centre, which are like our 24 medical centres. It was a 2 hour wait though and $130+. So my fabulous Floridian friend Connie, suggested I use a new app called ‘DoctorOnDemand’. Now, I wouldn’t even be writing here about needing a doctor aside from the fact that this app blew our minds! You download from the App Store, you sign up with your credit card details, click on ‘appointment’ and fill out a few details and then wait about two minutes. A doctor (somewhere in the US), reads your file and then you video conference with them. They ask you lots of questions, get you to do this and that, use the camera to show them things if you need to etc. They make a diagnosis (or tell you to go to a physical doctor) and if you need a script, they fax it to the chemist of your choice. How easy is that! You could do this from the comfort of your own home, bugger needing to go out when you are crook. We need this in Australia. It was $75.00 and that was it. We took off for the local chemist and grabbed a script. the most painful part of this entire process was the fact that it took the chemist 40 minutes to dispense tablets for three people. Seems that this is the norm. Mind you, you have to fill out forms about privacy and blah blah just to get the pills. The lady behind the counter was most interested in my Aussie drivers license and my explanation about DrOnDemand as she had never heard of it. So, three people working in the chemist. One to take the prescription, one to fill the prescription and one to give you the prescription. Bizarre, especially considering how long that process took. 

Anyway, lunch was necessary after all of this and we found a great little diner. The owners must have been stuck somewhere in the 50s as it was straight out of a Happy Days set. Booths, black and white checkered tiles, jukebox, the whole deal. So, while at a classic diner, one must have milkshakes and burgers. We had to ask for half the amount of cream on the milkshake (as it really was one of those ones with whipped cream overflowing with a cherry on top) and it was the thickest milkshake I’ve ever had. Chocolate Malt of course. The burger was yummy but we were glad we decided to share it. The meal was still too big and we left a little of everything behind. 

Back on the road to Bakersfield, which was our overnight stop to make the drive a little less full-on. There’s not much in Bakersfield. It seems that it’s just the stop over town for most people on the road. There was a Denny’s next door so we decided to try that. Don’t. We’ve struggled with the all-American things so far: Denny’s = no, S’Mores = no, Twinkies = no, ranch dressing on everything = no, coffee anywhere = no. Everything outside these things has been fabulous though! (Just seriously, don’t do Denny’s).

Check out the photos and the milkshake here.

20 Sept: Monterey, Carmel & San Simeon

There was a big day of driving ahead of us, so we got up early and headed down to a cafe for bacon and eggs. I have to admit, San Franciscans know how to cook. Perfectly done eggs with yummy, crispy bacon. 

We hit the road, with Monterey in our sights. All in all, it was a rather uneventful drive, except we didn’t bet on the traffic jams. It took as an hour longer to get out of SF than we’d expected. Monterey was nice - I don’t really have much to report here. It’s a little like Byron Bay with a beach and some laid back cafes. It was pretty quiet and we went for a walk down Cannery Row. The remnants of cannery factories were plenty, and where we thought they would have all been turned into restaurants, instead, they were ramshackled and wasting away. We found a little bakery to have some lunch and while the staff were lovely, it took them 20 minutes to make a grilled cheese (and yes, we were the only customers). The grilled cheese however, was like no other grilled cheese. It was a triple decker with cheese oozing everywhere. There were obviously different types of cheeses on it too as there were different colours, including that famous very orange American cheese. We shared that and then finished it off with our first key lime pie. It was a little like a cheesecake, but not. It had a base that was like an ANZAC biscuit, but not. It was very yummy and just tangy enough. 

Back into the car and a short drive down to Carmel. Another sleepy little beach town where again, I have to admit, I don’t have much to report. We had a look at the beach and then a drive around some of the very nice houses. The coastline is very different to ours, lots of rocks and seaweed, but very pretty nonetheless. 

We were on our way to San Simeon, and had planned on that lovely coastal dive down through Big Sur and the like (I originally had visions of a convertible and a Grace Kelly scarf, but that was too expensive) however there was a landslide a few months ago which wiped out a bridge and a big chunk of the road. We saw it on the news before we left, and had our fingers crossed that it would be repaired in time, but nope - those poor people are stuck out there, needing to go the long way around to get anywhere. It’s a big long way around as well, let me tell you. It added an extra 2 hours to our trip. We had to head down towards LA and then come back under and around to go back up to San Simeon. We had a nice taste of some landscape though, and got to see a lot more freeway (yay) (sarcasm). After the freeway though, were rolling hills covered in little vineyards. I think this is an area that we need to come back and explore some more. We could then do the Big Sur drive and spend another week at Disneyland!!

San Simeon is a pretty little coastal town, not too far down from Carmel if the road is intact. Again, a rocky shoreline and some nice waves. Our motel was pretty modest, and unfortunately, the smokers section was at the entrance doorway, so you had to hold your breath to get in. A large load of Chinese tourists arrived on a bus trip, and so the smoking entrance filled up pretty quickly. There was also a big termite tent out the front, so we figured there was a ‘Breaking Bad’ moment happening. There was a little restaurant a few motels down, so we went there for dinner and were surprised by a fabulous meal served by an old Italian guy. Mark had scampi and I had a sirloin (I’m over seafood for a bit now). His scampi were yummy, done in a creamy sauce, and my steak was perfectly cooked, down with mushrooms and a hint of curry (would you believe it!). We rolled out of there after a big meal and I drove as Mark had one of the biggest glasses of beer I’ve ever seen. Back through smokers delight and we crashed out for another early start and big drive.

Check out the photos here.