Bellagio Fountains, a la Aspen

Vail Village


Grand Teton National Park. Zane was particularly fond of the name, as in French the name translates to The Big Boobs.

We saw lots of wildlife in Grand Teton
Bear
Snake
Bison
Peak hour at Bison Intersection
Baby bears
Yellowstone National Park
We had great weather in Yellowstone on the first day, so we went to heaps of geysers and hot springs. A lot of the springs are over 100 degrees celsius. They also spew out massive plumes of Sulfur smoke, so you walk through these big hot clouds of fart smelling steam.
Old Faithful Geyser






Baby bison!
Much Montana love,
T and Z

Grand Canyon

In one week of our road trip we witnessed some of the most humbling examples of the passage of time. Standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon, you can visualize over 26 billion years of erosion and volcanic activity. The sheer size of the canyon is incomprehensible and the colours are beautiful reds, yellows and pinks, splashed across the vast landscape.

We didn't venture to the North Rim, as it is a five hour drive from the South Rim, but we had a great day, strolling the South Rim, visiting the ranger stations and museums and experiencing a beautiful Grand Canyon sunset.

Here are some handy facts about the Grand Canyon: it is 349 km long and ranges from 6 to 30 kms wide and the walls are 1,200 to 1,800 m high. Each of the thirteen geologic layers, some of which can be clearly seen, represent roughly one billion years of geologic history.

In the picture above you can just see some people at the top right corner. It gives some perspective of the sheer size of the canyon!


In this picture (above) you can see the Colorado river, which runs for 2, 330 kilometres, originating in the Colorado Rockies and flowing through to California and Mexico, bringing life and after to seven US and 2 Mexican States. Through a lot of our trip the river was our companion. It is this river which formed the Grand Canyon, and much of the Utah Canyonlands, slowly eroding a path through the rock.

Zion

We had really been looking forward to Zion.I had heard so many great things and we weren't disappointed. We got there early and nabbed a campsite in the bustling grounds and got on the free shuttle bus, the only transportation through the park, installed to decrease congestion. Our first walk was up to the hanging gardens. When it rains on the upper plateaus of Zion, the porous rock allows water to seep through. The water then comes trickling out the lower levels, creating gardens that flourish, seemingly out of rock walls. It also creates beautiful moss covered waterfalls and fern walls that cover rock faces.

We also did the hidden canyon trail which takes you up and into a canyon, where at some points you can reach out and touch the two canyon walls. It was a hot day but inside the canyon it was lush and green, with a trickling stream.

The next day we did the angel's landing, which takes you to the top of a rock formation, 368m tall at an elevation of 1,763m. The trail is 3.9km and steep, with 21 switchbacks, called Walter's Wiggles, which is Utah's version of Lombard St.

Walter's Wiggles

After trekking up these, you come to Scout Lookout, which is the endpoint for the fearful of heights. The last half mile is all rock climbing, steep cliffs and chains to clutch perilously to. It was good fun and the view from the top was worth it.

Bryce Canyon

We just did a quick drive through Bryce Canyon. We went to Bryce Amphitheater, which is a wide space full of wacky rock formations called hoodoos. The evolution of a hoodoo is quite interesting. First formed is a fin, which is a solid rock outcrop that looks a bit like a sharks fin. Erosion by sand, wind and water eventually sculpts the fin into an arch. When the arch collapses, two hoodoos are left standing. When standing on the edge of the Bryce amphitheater, I felt like the hoodoos were stone soldiers, keeping watch and standing tall.

Arches

It was a bit of a cold and yukky day so we did a big drive through Arches National Park but didn't camp. We still fit a lot of the sights in. We saw Delicate Arch, which adorns the Utah numberplate, and the massive double arch. We were a bit sore from the big angels landing trek, so we kept our hikes to 1-2 miles in length.

Me standing under double arch

We are now back in Fernie and settled in, so I will put up the rest of the photos soon. It was a great road trip but it is nice to have a bed to sleep in and a familiar place to call home.

Much love,

T and Z.

LAS VEGAS

Unwillingly, it seemed that my aim for my time in Las Vegas was to see how much food I {Tenille} could fit in my stomach before I exploded. I feel like I came close to exploding a few times. After a buffet brunch at the Cosmopolitan Casino I had to sit down after walking every 50 metres or so, I was just so full. It wasn’t my fault though, how can they put so much delicious food in front of me and expect restraint?

We stayed the first night in the Stratosphere hotel, down the Northern end of the strip. I think it was the ghetto. It was more ghetto than the main strip, but not as ghetto as downtown, Fremont St area. We booked only the one night as we decided to leave Death Valley a day early and start the Vegas fun! It was great staying there as it has a tower that rises over 900 feet above the strip, giving an awesome view of the city. We went up the tower for 2 for 1 cocktails and had so much fun with that. What we didn’t realize was that when they say two for one, it wasn’t choose one each and get two, it was choose one each and end up with four, we didn’t complain too much! We continued onto the next bar where we got endless mojitos for $25. Wow we got our money’s worth. I {Zane} even got some alone time, sitting in the bar overlooking the strip whilst Tenille had to go and get changed out of her dress {ate too much again}. This ordeal should have taken approximately half an hour which includes the stumble there and back, I’m not completely sure, I too was slightly intoxicated, but by my drunken calculations Tenille returned about one and a half hours later, I had drunk another cocktail after I finished the one I got when she left and had started on Tenille’s cocktail when she returned, a lot comfier and ready to get her drink on! After we drank till out time was up we had to make it back to our room, a lot harder task when intoxicated! Along the way we came across some of those little shops you find in the in the middle of the isles in malls, well these were in the middle of the isle in the casino, we should have know that alcohol + first night in Vegas + shops = money spent! Tenille got her sights on some hair straighteners and stopped to ask the price, the lovely lady said that seeing as she was closing {11pm} she would give us a deal, we accepted, Tenille’s old $25 hair straightener wasn’t doing her justice, so we bought a new one, retail at nearly $300, got it for $80, drunken shopping pays off :)

For the rest of our time in Vegas we stayed in the Tropicana Casino and hotel, which is more centrally located in the strip, near MGM Grand and New York New York. We had a great day shopping the outlets and then a full day of sightseeing. We loved the Bellagio fountains, which were so far beyond what I expected. It’s pretty much just jets of water in different directions set to music but I loved it, maybe because I was fairly liquored. We went to the House of Blues bar a few times for meals and live music. It’s in Mandalay Bay Casino and they have live blues music every day and half price appetizers and $2 beers from 4-7, {we had 2 beers each and then, realizing we were on to a good thing, bought a bucket of six beers}, which makes for a great afternoon. We had dinner there one night and I had amazing Jambalaya and Zane had a nice big steak.

We tried to be thrifty and collect as many 2 for 1 drink cards we could and got the all day buffets when it was viable. It was at these that I seemed to exercise my right to eat until I felt sick.

On our last afternoon in Vegas we went on a Helicopter ride out to the Grand Canyon. It was great as we got to see the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead and it was a spectacular way to see the canyon. At one point we were flying at 6,000 feet, and the canyon descended 4,000 feet below. We landed and had some lunch before jetting off back to Vegas. It was an amazing afternoon, one that I will not forget. To put the experience in perspective, in the 3 hour trip we took over 200 photos!

Since writing, we have enjoyed more of the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park and are currently at Arches National Park, in Utah. More posts to come!

Unfortunately the photos are taking an inexplicably long time to load, so I will have to post them at a later date.

Much love, T and Z

DEATH VALLEY

For two snow bunnies used to scaling mountaintops and high elevations with ease, settling into a campsite at 200 feet below sea level and reaching heats of 40 degrees at 7:30 in the morning was a bit of a struggle. The heat is completely enveloping and the sun is torturous and the only relief is the seldom gusts of hot wind that tumble across the fields. We had planned to do some hikes to explore the beautiful landscape but every time we ventured onto the track we’d only make it a mile or so before being overwhelmed by the heat and sulking back to the car for some air con. Luckily, there was a lot to see from the comfort of Veronica. We drove up to Dante’s View, an overlook at 5,500 feet that gives a beautiful view of the valley. Funnily enough we went up for sunset and the 22 degrees was just a bit cold for us. When we made our descent back to the valley the temperature doubled, despite it being past 8pm.

Dante's View

But I shouldn’t complain. The surrounds completely made up for the uncomfortable heat and we knew what we were in for. Surely the name “Death Valley” made it obvious that it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. The sheer size of the valley is astonishing, stretching for three and a half million acres. Most of the park can be reached by the paved roads that criss-cross through the centre, but some of the highlights are only to be reached by dirt roads. We gave Veronica quite a work out and she performed brilliantly, if not a little begrudgingly.

Sand Dunes

It was quite a sight to get so many different landscapes and vistas in the one scope. Snow-capped mountains towered over granite and marble volcanic canyonlands and rolling sand dunes overlooking the great expanse of salt plains that reach across the floor of badwater, the lowest point of the Western Hemisphere at 282 feet below sea level.

Badwater Basin

Zabriskie Point, a popular lookout

Due to erosion, the floor of Death Valley has been dropping for thousands of years and is currently dropping at a rate of 6 inches each century. Death Valley receives around 2 inches of rain per year, less than 5 centimeters, largely due to the mountains surrounding the valley, that prevent rain clouds entering and also prevent the warm air leaving, attributing to the warm, dry weather.

Ubehebe Cratre

There is a place in Death Valley called the race track, where winds are so strong that they actually push rocks along the valley floor, leaving a trail behind the rock. Unfortunately we didn’t think that Veronica would be up to the 30 mile dirt road, but it would have been a great sight. I did some googling to find an pic.

A rock on the racetrack

Death Valley was given its name by prospectors that traveled through the valley on their way to the California goldfields in the mid 1800’s. It was one particular group who had a hard time and on their exit, one member remarked ‘Goodbye Death Valley’ and the name stuck. Business started soon after with the mining of Borax. Towards the late 1800’s people were starting to make serious money from mining opportunities in Death Valley. One of the most illustrious was Walter Scott (Scotty). He would roam far and wide, telling people of his secret goldmine in Death Valley, getting investors to pay him thousands of dollars to get a cut in his profits. One of the biggest investors was Albert Johnson, a millionaire who had heavily invested in, and profited from, other mining businesses. When he saw no returns from Scotty but heard how he’d been throwing his money around, Johnson decided to pay Scotty and Death Valley a visit. Scotty staged an elaborate scheme, getting his buddies to act as gold-hungry thieves and ambush him and Johnson while in Death Valley. This would surely scare Johnson enough to never visit again but to continue to fund the mining of the gold that was obviously worth protecting. In the execution of the plan, however, Scotty’s brother got shot, a halt to the fight was called and Scotty was shown to be the fraud that he was. Instead of being angry and severing his partnership with Scotty, Johnson was drawn to the valley and continued to visit the Valley and Scotty, who soon became his close friend. In the 20’s the Johnsons built a holiday retreat in the northern region of the park, with a guest house for Scotty. The home was always called “Scotty’s Castle” and every night the Johnson’s and Scotty entertained guests with Scotty’s outlandish stories of the ‘goldmine’, and even got the hired help to make noises in the basement, just the miners working hard, collecting that gold. Albert Johnson once said that even though he had given Scotty well over one hundred thousand dollars over the years, he had been compensated a hundred times over with his friendship.

Scotty's Castle

We did a tour through the castle and it was really interesting to hear the tale and see the amazing furnishings. As it had always had guests visiting and enjoying it as a museum, everything was in pristine condition, and all furnishings were the originals. In the 1920’s, it cost the Johnson’s $2million to build, I can only imagine what it would be worth today.

This area of Death Valley is called Devil's Golf Course, as it is such an expanse of rock salt weathered into jagged spires so serrated that 'only the devil could play gold on such rough terrain'

Much deathly love,

T and Z

I did some googling and this is what we missed out on :(
He sure is a big boy

LOS ANGELES
LA was sweet, we stayed right near Venice Beach and really close to some bars and restaurants and well away from the ghetto. After battling the LA traffic we were keen to get out of the car so we went for a walk down Venice Beach and had some chicken wings. There was an awesome Mexican Restaurant just next door to the hotel and it was pretty packed so we thought we'd give it a go. It was amazing. As soon as we sat down they gave us FREE corn chips and fresh made salsa. We had massive burritos and pints of Dos Equis and toasted to five and a half happy years together.

Venice Beach


The next morning we got on the road to San Diego. Before leaving LA however, we had some serious sightseeing to do. We saw the Hollywood sign, cruised along Mulholland Drive, Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood Boulevard and onto Rodeo Drive. I could've spent a whole day in the shops but time and money restraints kept us on the road. We went onto Newport and Laguna Beach to see how the rich people live. There were hundreds upon hundreds of mega-mansions on the hills, and we were certainly feeling like hobos in Veronica, surrounded by Mercs and Escolades.

The View from Mulholland Drive


Rodeo Drive Baby!
SAN DIEGO
We only saw the outskirts of San Diego, as our campsite was a bit out of town, but at night we could see the city light up from where we were staying. It was a really nice site but pretty busy and we had some noisy neighbors. They were horses and they were quite content whinnying and neighing to each other, only one of them had a bit of a hoarse horse throat and he sounded a bit like an old man horse.

At nighttime a few rabbits came out and there were heaps of squirrels so it put us in a good animal mood for the next day at San Diego Zoo.

My favorite animal at the zoo is from South Africa and is called a Dik-Dik. It's like a tiny little antelope. Fully grown they are only the size of a beagle. I also really liked the little baby duckies and the little monkeys, especially this one that looked like an Ewok from Star Wars. Zane liked the lion and the bearcat from Thailand.

Dik-Dik
Nap-time for Mr. Lion
Panda!
Meerkat
Polar Bear
Flamingo
Monkey/Ewok
Bearcat from Thailand. The keeper was taking it for a walk so we got to see him up close.
Skyfari- Takes you over the top of the Zoo.
SEQUOIA/KING'S CANYON NATIONAL PARK
Gong from the 20 degree temperatures we experienced at San Diego to -2 and snowing in Sequoia all in one day was a bit of a shock. We weren't anticipating snow and for this late in the year, I don't think the park staff were expecting it either. We pulled into the campground and saw it was only $10 but then we realised that maybe hypothermia isn't really worth it, so we continued onto Montecito Lodge. Here we got a room with a big bed and bathroom and all meals included so we were pretty happy to fill up and snuggle in for the night. The snow continued all night and well into the next day so we were holed up for a little while with road closures. Not that we minded, with a steady supply of food and NCIS Season 1 on DVD.

We were able to leave the next day, with newly purhcased chains on our tires. Unfortunately as we were taken out the Northern exit, we weren't able to see the highlights that we had come to the Park to see, General Sherman (a tree that is the largest living thing in the world), the tunnel log (a fallen giant sequoia tree that you can drive through, lenthways), and the crystal caves.
On the road again...
And now we are heading to Death Valley for a few nights and then onto Vegas. We've booked a helicopter ride from Vegas that flies over the Grand Canyon, so Zane is very excited about that.
Much love, T and Z.