30th September 2012 – London Heathrow to San Francisco
So that was an interesting journey! We arrived at Heathrow in plenty of time for our flight and then waited, and waited. We were called to our flight gate at the expected time only to find that there was a technical problem with the aircraft. It wasn’t a big problem as far as we were concerned but they couldn’t get the elevator between the two floors of the 747 to work and that would have meant they couldn’t deliver food the their first class passengers (we didn’t see why that was a problem but the airline did – funny lot). After they’d spent an hour or so trying to fix the lift they gave up and decided on a change of aircraft which meant a delay of a total of 4 hours which was just what we didn’t need as it meant we were arrived in the dark and had to get to grips with our rental car in the dark (a Dodge Caravan, seven seater job which has plenty of room for all of us). The drive in to San Francisco wasn’t quite as fraught as we’d feared as we had Graham as pilot, me (Elaine) with the map and Pete & Ann both acting as spotters which was a great help as the roads were pretty close together; anyway, we found it first attempt arriving at around 22:00. The hotel was on the edge of Chinatown but being a Sunday night everything appeared to be closed so the very obliging hotelier ‘phoned for a pizza for us and we sat in the foyer and ate it before retiring.
1st October 2012 – San Francisco (Including Alcatraz)
We were up early this morning as we’d been told that it was a good idea to take the earlybird tour to Alcatraz as it is usually a lot quieter (we’d pre-booked this from home as they get booked up a long way in advance). We took a taxi to the pier and were impressed to find that they had a pre-board facility for handicapped which meant we could bypass the tacky, compulsory photo ‘opportunity’. The ferry across didn’t take long but afforded some great views of the Island and the Golden Gate Bridge. On arrival Graham made use of the handicapped trolley and the rest of us walked up to where the audio tour started. In total we were on the Island for around 3 hours and had a very enjoyable and informative tour. Once back on the mainland we took another taxi to pick up our pre-booked bus tour tickets (we’d booked hop-on hop-off tour bus tickets which lasted 48 hours and included 4 loop tours). We took the first three of those at various parts of what turned out be a very, very hot day (C90F) and saw much of what the city had to offer. We finished up at a restaurant on the waterfront and had a nice although not particularly cheap meal before heading back to the hotel.
2nd October 2012 – San Francisco.
We made a slightly later start this morning and went for a leisurely breakfast before joining the last of our loop tours which took us out to the Golden Gate Park which is, we’re told, a smaller version of New York’s Central Park and very pleasant it was too. Once we’d finished this tour we decided to take a ride on one of the famous street cars which turned out to be a interesting experience as a truck decided to drive straight across in front of the trolley which had to do an emergency stop and that meant that the brakes got well and truly stuck on so we had to get off and wait for another to come along to take us to the waterfront. It was extremely hot again today (Max. 94F) so we then spent a bit of time just chilling out on the waterfront listening to a busker singing the Blues, before going to eat at a Restaurant on one of the piers. From there we took a taxi to a bar recommended (by the busker) for it’s live music. It turned out to be a rather tatty looking place with some interesting characters in it but they did have some good music & it’s apparently the oldest continuously licensed premises in San Francisco so that was interesting in itself.
3rd October 2012 – San Francisco to Mariposa, CA.
Once we’d check out this morning we drove through the city and out across the Bay Bridge then on eastwards to Manteca where we stopped to take a look around a Bass Pro Store and to buy some essentials at Walmart (Cellphone, water etc) we also had brunch before we left so that we could get some miles done. Having had a further look at the maps we decided on a slight change of route and we’re now in striking distance of Yosemite National Park and we intend taking one of the routes through it tomorrow before heading south towards Kings Canyon & Sequoia National Parks. It was hot again today, not sure of the actual temperature but definitely hot! Mileage so far 197.
4th October 2012 – Mariposa to Three Rivers
Well, that was a good night. When we checked in to our Motel yesterday we asked for a restaurant recommendation and were directed to a local Mexican restaurant that proved to be very good. On our way to the restaurant I spotted a sign pointing to the Prospector’s Brewhouse so once we’d eaten we went along to check it out. It turns out that they’ve only been open for seven weeks and they appear to be doing a good trade which isn’t surprising when you try the beers as they’re very good with the weakest one being 5.8%. We managed to try them all by having what they refer to as a flight of tasters i.e. a generous taste of all six that they’re currently brewing. Having taken another look at our route we realised that either we had to make today a short day or a very long day as much of our time was going to be spent inside various National Parks. We decided on the long day, made an advance hotel booking and left at a reasonable hour to get started. Our first visit took us in to the south western portion of Yosemite and, as the weather was once again on our side (clear blue skies and hot) we got some great views. Next we headed south and a little east to Kings Canyon & Sequoia National Parks. We had thought that we might visit Kings Canyon today and then Sequoia tomorrow but that was before we realised that you had to travel through both to get to our booked hotel. It was 17:00 before we reached Kings Canyon and by the time we exited the Park it was dark. That meant that we had to make our way through Sequoia in the dark (pitch dark too) which was great fun bearing in mind there are lots and lots of switchbacks, very large trees to avoid and a long bumpy section of road works to contend with. We finally reached our motel at around 21:00 with just enough time to spare to get to the pizza palace before it closed at 22:00.
5th October 2012 – Three Rivers to Ridgecrest.
We’ve had a much more leisurely day today taking a very scenic run across minor roads to Ridgecrest where we met up with two couples (Don & Judy, Stanley & Barbara) who Graham and I had previously met on our trip to Alaska three years ago. We had originally intended meeting up for lunch before moving on to position ourselves for the run in to Death Valley tomorrow but, having spoken to one of Judy’s work colleagues (Brett) who advised us of a better route to take, we changed our plans and decided to stay here in town for the night. We were all invited to spend the evening at Don & Judy’s house and we spent a very pleasant, warm evening sitting on the back porch drinking Margaritas and eating pizza, what more could you ask for? Thank you guys, we had a real good time.
6th October 2012 – Ridgecrest to Bishop via Death Valley.
Our first port of call this morning was the local Walmart as the store we’d bought our cellphone from hadn’t set it up properly and when we tried to use it yesterday it wouldn’t work. Once we’d got that sorted we started out along the route Brett had suggested and it turned out to be really good decision as there were some really good views to be had and very, very little traffic. Once we reached the park we took a spin out across most of it making sure we took in the lowest point in the USA (282 feet below sea level). Not surprisingly it was really hot in the valley (around 110F) so we didn’t do much in the way of walking around but we all saw what we wanted to see from the car. We had hoped to make our overnight stop quite close to the Park exit but it turned out that the nearest town was hosting a film festival so all of the motel rooms were taken. We drove on through a couple of one-horse towns to the next bigger town thinking that we’d easily get a room as they have over 20 motels BUT it turns out that they have a weekend long car show in town so there were very few rooms to be had. As a consequence we’ve ended up in a very mediocre but very expensive motel – still at least we got a room, eventually!
7th October 2012 – Bishop to Jackson
We left this morning to more blue skies (Hooray) and made our way North on a very pretty highway before turning West and back in to Yosemite where we crossed the Tioga Pass (9945 feet above sea level). There were some very pretty views to be seen but it was a little busier than we’d have liked as it was Sunday and there were obviously lots of locals taking advantage of the good weather. Once we’d left the park we made our way up to Jackson via one or two historic towns and made an early stop as we were running out of clean clothes and we knew there was a Laundromat available. We spent an hour or so (all of us) in the Laundromat using their free Wi-Fi and catching up on some errands before heading back to our motel and eating at the next-door Diner.
8th October 2012 – Jackson to Mineral.
As we had quite a few miles to cover today we left a little earlier than usual and headed East on Highway 88 through one of the many National Forests before turning north and on to Lake Tahoe. We travelled around the west coast of the lake and very pretty it was too. From there we encountered more forests and lakes interspersed with one or two open areas of cattle farming country. We’ve finished the day at a lodge (rather basic and not particularly good value for money!) just outside of Lassen Volcanic National Park where we will be heading tomorrow before we make our way across to the coast. The weather has been kind to us again today but as we’re staying at around 5500feet above sea level it is feeling rather chilly out now!
9th October 2012 – Mineral to Arcata.
We had a bit of a shock this morning when we woke to find ice on the car roof & windshield; we’d just got used to temperatures in the 90’s! It turned out to be a cool but bright sunny day as we drove through Lassen Volcanic National Park which, as the name suggests, is a Park which was created after a volcano blew it’s top in 1915. It’s not a very big Park but the views were great and with the blue skies we got some really good pictures. Once we’d visited the Park we headed west towards the coast and ended the day by visiting a California Welcome centre where we were advised that we’d be better off staying here in Arcata than going slightly further south to the larger town of Eureka. I can only say that if this is the better of the two towns I wouldn’t like to stay in the other!! We took a drive into the town centre this evening to go to a restaurant the visitor’s centre had recommended and found it to be one of the few places I wouldn’t really be comfortable walking around. They appear to have far more than their fair share of hobos and such like frequenting the town square. We stayed in town long enough to eat at what can best be described as a fusion restaurant (very arty farty but with very tasty food) before heading swiftly back to our motel close to the Interstate. Mileage to date 1805.
10th October 2012 – Arcata to Santa Rosa.
We left fairly early this morning in misty conditions making our way towards the Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1). En-route we made a detour through the ‘Avenue of the Giants’, a state park which is full of Giant Redwood trees; it was well worth the detour too. A little further down we took a further short detour to a tree which you can drive through; it turns out that a Dodge Grand Caravan only fits if you fold back the side mirrors!! From there we continued south until we joined Highway 1 where we saw some great views of the coast (the sun had been in and out a few times by then). Unfortunately there were a number of areas of road works which slowed us down somewhat so it was getting a bit late by the time we discovered that there was no accommodation to speak of along the coast road. In order to find somewhere to stay we headed inland to the side of an Interstate and we’re now holed up in a bottom of the range motel – well, at least it’s cheap! We made up for the iffy motel by visiting the local ‘Hooters’ for dinner which, for those who haven’t been, is run by lots of young ladies wearing very tights shorts and t-shirts so Graham & Pete were cheered no end (Ann & I enjoyed it too as they have good food and a good bar).
11th October 2012 – Santa Rosa to Monterey.
It was overcast and damp when we left this morning as we continued our coastal drive. The journey took us over the Golden Gate Bridge and through San Francisco which was a little slow but not too bad all things considered. The views for the remainder of the journey were good despite the damp weather and as we’d made it to Monterey by early afternoon we called in at the visitor’s centre where a very helpful lady pointed us in the right direction to find accommodation at a reasonable price. As we had the afternoon to spare we went along to visit the Monterey Aquarium which, although a little pricey, was worth the visit. As all of the restaurants in the Cannery Row area (where the Aquarium and historic area can be found) were on the expensive side we decided to go elsewhere to eat, however, this turned out the be a mistake as we got very lost in the dark, wet (it was raining properly by now), one way streets and having asked a local for directions, ended up back there anyway. Oh well!
12th October 2012 – Monterey to Santa Barbara.
It was overcast again this morning but did brighten considerably throughout the day. We were once again following the coast south past dramatic scenery when we came across a beach with a very full parking lot which we decided was worth investigating. The lot ran along side a beach that is frequented by a large population of Elephant seals and where a viewing walkway allows you to get pretty close. One of the volunteer guides told us that the animals on this beach were all youngsters with the eldest being around 4 years old, she also told us that the Bull seals which would be coming to the beach in the next month or so would be considerably bigger weighting in at up to 4000lbs !! We also had another strange sighting, infact we thought we were seeing things, as there was herd of wild zebra quite close to the road. It turns out that they were released after the Hearst estate zoo closed down and have established a thriving population. We’ve finished our day at Santa Barbara, a very nice beach resort nestled between the sea and the mountains. As it’s a Friday night and all the locals are also wanting to come to the beach accommodation has proved to be quite expensive but we are only a few minutes walk from the beach and we’ve just eaten in a superb Fish restaurant so it can’t all be bad.
13th October 2012 – Santa Barbara to San Diego.
The sun was out again as we left this morning so we started the day by having a light(ish) breakfast on the beach before starting out along the coast to Malibu (where all the posh beachfront homes are) and on to Santa Monica. We had intended to stop and have a drink on Santa Monica Boulevard (as per the song) but didn’t as they wanted between $8 & $12 for parking. From there our journey took us through parts of Los Angeles and, as we suspected, it was fairly tortuous with lots of traffic and idiot drivers about. The traffic thinned a bit as we continued south but we were on Interstate all of the way as there really wasn’t any option. We arrived in San Diego mid-afternoon and drove to our friend’s (Brian & Barbara Downing) house. Later in the day we went along to an Octoberfest event at the local BMW motorcycle dealers where we were fed and watered before going on to a really good, incredibly well stocked bar which Brian & Barbara frequent. All in all we had a very good evening.
14th October 2012 – Santa Barbara to El Centro.
Having spent a very comfortable night at Brian & Barbara’s we took them out for breakfast at Denny’s before taking advantage of their local knowledge and hitting the shops for an hour or so. We left their house at around midday and journeyed east along Interstate 8 which, at times, took us very close to the Mexican border. We’re now staying in a decent motel (which has the required guest laundry) around 10 miles inside the US and have just returned from a very good Mexican restaurant.
15th October 2012 – El Centro to Parker, Arizona.
It was good and hot again when we left this morning and, as we seem to have got a day or two ahead of ourselves, we made a slight change of route so that we could stop off at Palm Springs and visit the Joshua Tree National Park on our way through to Sedona (Tomorrow’s destination). It turned out to be a very circuitous route which saw us stopping in Palm Springs for lunch (at a great 50’s style diner) and took in some really good, huge open views. We had just started to look for a rest stop when we came across The Oasis Palm Gardens, a Date farm in the middle of nowhere where we had a some interesting samples and a date shake so thick that you had to ‘drink’ it with a spoon!! Our run through Joshua Tree didn’t go quite to plan though as we couldn’t find the turning we intended to take and ended up coming out of the park a good few miles further west than we’d intended so that extended today’s mileage quite a bit. The last 120 of the journey was on a really good road through some of those open spaces that I’d mentioned and we made better time than we’d though so we checked in to a reasonable motel with a very good ‘Mom & Pop’ restaurant next door – all in all another good day. Mileage so far 3300.
16th October 2012 – Parker to Sedona.
We started our day with a good breakfast at the restaurant next door and then started out towards Sedona taking in yet more expansive views as we went. We made a lunch stop in Prescott, a historic town with one of the oldest saloon’s still operating so we decided that this would be a good place for lunch. Although it had been renovated more recently because of a fire, it is apparently pretty much as it was in the 1890’s as the resident drinkers had man-handled the bar across the street when the fire broke out! From there we continued on to the hillside town of Jerome (ex-copper mining area) for a brief stop before carrying on to Sedona and it’s red rocks. We stayed in town for the sunset before returning to the motel and it’s neighbouring restaurant which had been described as ‘one of the best’; the food was okay but it really didn’t warrant the 75 minute wait to get in.
17th October 2012 – Sedona.
We had decided to stay a second night in Sedona to give ourselves a chance to see a bit more of the area so, first thing this morning, we took a tour around an 8 scenic 8-mile loop. We had expected this to take an hour at most but we kept stopping for pictures and then found our way in to the Red Rock State Park so it took all morning. The State Park was well worth the visit as it had a visitors/interpretative centre and a number of walks ranging from .4 mile to 2 miles. As Graham wasn’t up to the walk and we didn’t have sensible shoes on anyway, Pete, Ann & I went on the shorter walk which took in a number of different vistas including the river which runs through the Park. Whilst there we saw a spider with a red back (about the size of your thumb nail) and took some pictures of it. We were curious to find out what it was so asked at the visitors centre and whilst looking the lady volunteer let out a blood curdling scream which made us all jump back about four feet. It turns out that she had every right to scream as a six inch long desert centipede (which is poisonous) had just walked across her foot! One of the Rangers came to the rescue, caught it in a paper bag and then let it go outside close to one of the walkways.
18th October 2012 – Sedona to Grand Canyon.
As we had plenty of time today (we had accommodation booked and not many miles to cover) we decided to make a short detour and visit Montezuma’s Castle. It isn’t really a castle and wasn’t really built for Montezuma but it was still interesting as it’s the remains of a very large building built into a rock face. We also visited Montezuma’s Well which isn’t really a well either, it’s a sink hole full of water which carries no oxygen but has traces of Arsenic in it! Again it made for an interesting visit particularly as we caught up with a school class who’s teacher was giving a very interesting lesson on the Well, it’s make up and it’s history – thanks Miss! We then started our journey towards the Grand Canyon and climbed considerably from the desert and in to the mountains, as a consequence the temperature dropped quite a bit so we changed out of our cut-offs and sandals and got in to our boots and Jeans. We just missed out on seeing sunset properly so went back to the cafeteria at our lodge for some food and a drink before retiring as we plan to get up early to see the sunrise.
19th October 2012 – Grand Canyon.
Our alarms went off at silly o’clock this morning (5am actually) and we made it out to see the sunrise over the south rim of the canyon; it was great to see but we were nearly frozen by the time we’d been there for over an hour. We also saw a group going off on their Mule train ride down in to the canyon and Pete, much to everyone’s surprise, had the wildlife viewing of the trip when he saw a Bobcat crossing the path just a few feet away from him (we’re not really jealous). He later went along to the visitors centre to ask the Rangers if they were interested in a sighting, they said they might be dependent on what he’d seen. When he said he’s seen a Bobcat they were obviously sceptical until he managed to show them a photograph, they then asked him to complete a form with as much detail as he could provide. They also said that neither of them had ever seen a Bobcat (Grrr, even more jealous now!). After we’d had a much needed breakfast we drove out to Grand Canyon airport where Pete & Ann took a flight over the canyon and came back with great big grins on their faces. After a bit of tourist type shopping we took in some more of the views before heading back to the canyon’s edge to watch the sunset. It was whilst we were waiting for the sun to go down that a huge bull elk decided to walk down the middle of the road straight towards us (and the other 50 or so tourists) I managed to get a good picture of it before it gave me the evil eye and I decided it was prudent to back off. We ate in the lodge cafeteria again tonight before having a reasonably early night (well it had been a long day). Mileage to date 3805.
20th October 2012 – Grand Canyon to Chinle.
We made a slightly later start this morning, had breakfast and then started to head out of the Park; there were more great views of the canyon to be had on our way to the exit and we took in as much as we could before we left the area. Not long after leaving we came across some roadside stalls where a group of Navajo people were selling their wares. I found a rather nice necklace for sale on one of the stalls and the lady owner very kindly made me a set of earrings and bracelet to match (Pete & Ann made some good purchases too) so I’ve yet more stuff to bring home (bigger suitcases anyone?). The scenery soon changed considerably as we travelled east through the high desert at around 6 – 7000 feet, first through the Navajo and then the Hopi Indian reservations. There was mile after mile of nothing but very long, straight roads and we were just beginning to think we wouldn’t be finding a comfort/lunch stop when we spied a Hopi trading post where we stopped and shared a very nice Indian fry bread dish. We arrived in Chinle at around 15:00 thinking we were a little early to check in to our motel but we then discovered that this part of the Navajo nation works on Mountain daylight savings time (the same as Colorado) so it was in fact 16:00. We also discovered that, although it was Saturday night, the local restaurant shut a 19:00 so we ate early and joined the locals in what appears to be the Saturday night ritual of visiting the Laundromat. No I’m not kidding, we went along to one of the three which this small town has (many of the properties don’t have running water) and found an absolute melee of people washing what appeared to be enough laundry to last a lifetime – it was an odd way to spend a Saturday night and quite an experience!
21st October 2012 – Chinle & Canyon de Chelly.
Our reason for coming to Chinle was to visit Canyon de Chelly. Graham & I had been really impressed when we visited around 20 years ago so we decided it was worth another visit. The canyon (which is little known to many tourists) is the site of a number of ancient ruins which were built and lived in by the Anasazi, the predecessors of the native Americans and which can only be visited by taking a tour with a licensed Navajo guide. We had booked an afternoon tour so visited a number of canyon overlooks this morning before taking lunch at Thunderbird Lodge and meeting up with our fellow adventurers (2 American guys) and our guide. This is definitely not a normal tourist jeep ride all whoopee lets go fast on a jeep, but much more case of lets go and see these sites and, bye the way if you want to do that you have to take a rough jeep ride to do so. In all the tour lasted 4 hours (rather than the 2 ½ we though it would) and we saw a number of ruins built in to the rock faces, lots of petroglyphs and heard stories of how the natives had been driven from the canyon by Europeans who thought there was gold to be had. It was a really good tour but very bumpy, dirty and windy so we were really glad of the coffee waiting at the end of it.
22nd October 2012 – Chinle to Kayenta via Four Corners & Monument Valley.
It was sunny but cool when we left this morning and, as usual, we took a circuitous route to get to where we were going. We once again drove through some vast open areas before arriving at the Four Corners, the only place in the US where the corners of four states meet and, surprise, surprise there was a fee to pay to get to the actual spot and that spot was surrounded by Navajo vendors selling local crafts, some of which were very nice and not too expensive either. By early afternoon we had reached Monument Valley with its enormous views and the famous buttes where most of the early (and some not so early) cowboy films were made. We stopped at Gouldings Trading Post for lunch where we sat eating Navajo Tacos overlooking the valley, very nice. From there it wasn’t far to Kayenta, our stop for the night. Once again there doesn’t seem to be much in the town but at least the motel has a small restaurant so we don’t have to go far this evening.
23rd October 2012 - Kayenta to Moab.
We left Kayenta in sunshine and headed back through Monument Valley before taking a detour on to a ‘pretty’ road en-route to Moab. The pretty road soon turned to dirt with warnings of sharp curves, steep grades and narrow passing places. The warnings turned out to be true but the views on the way up and at the top were well worth the effort as you could see for absolutely miles. Once we’d got back to the main road we took another short detour to Natural Bridges National Monument, a small park with a circular drive and viewing points for a number of natural bridges. One or two of the views entailed short trails so Graham waited whilst Pete, Ann and I took a walk or two, some which turned out to be longer than expected! We arrived in Moab late afternoon and having taken a walk through Downtown (yes, it’s a walking town and the shops stay open in to the evening) we went to Eddie McStiff’s, a local Brewhouse to eat and very nice it was too (the beer wasn’t bad either).
24th October 2012 – Arches & Canyonlands National Parks.
It was much cooler when we got up this morning and there was quite a bit of cloud about. After a good breakfast we made our way out of Moab and in to Arches National Park which was every bit as good as Graham & I remembered although it would have looked better with some sunshine. We spent a good few hours viewing/ walking to the various arches and as we did so the wind picked up and it got really cold and grey. Once we’d had our fill of Arches we returned to Moab for a quick lunch before leaving town again to visit Canyonlands National Park. None of us had been here before so we called in at the visitor’s centre as we weren’t really sure what to expect. The Ranger on duty told us that, as the weather was closing in, we’d probably be best just driving around the various overlooks and taking a chance on what we could see. We did just that and saw some good views which probably would have been fabulous if the weather had been better (by this time it was raining and blowing a gale). As we readied to leave the Park the skies started to brighten and we finally saw some clearer views including one of the nearby Le Sal Mountains complete with snow that hadn’t been there when we arrived! It was then back in to town for dinner at the local Brewery (okay but not as good at McStiff’s) followed by a nightcap at a local’s bar before retiring for the night – Goodnight folks!
25th October 2012 – Moab to Bryce Canyon Village.
The skies were bright blue when we left this morning, unlike yesterday, and we were half tempted to call in to the Parks again to see them in good light but we knew we had a long way to go so common sense ruled. We had no option but to take the Interstate for a short while this morning but I70 turned out to be a six-lane highway with next to no traffic on it so it really wasn’t too much of a hardship. We then found ourselves on a stretch of road which seemed to go on forever with very little traffic and not too much to see until, that was, we came across a pull-in with a number of rocky mounds around it and viewing ‘tubes’ which directed your vision to surrounding sights. From there we moved back on to pretty roads including one which took us through Capitol Reef National Park. This is largely a drive-through park but with a very pretty 20 mile scenic route as a side attraction. Our next turn took us on to Route 12 which I had heard was well worth a look and it turned out that it definitely was as it took us across Boulder Mountain which rose to around 9600 feet and provided some terrific views from the top. We arrived at Bryce Canyon Village late afternoon and availed ourselves of the restaurant facilities before calling it a night. Mileage to date 4895.
26th October 2012 – Bryce Canyon Village to St George via Bryce Canyon & Zion National Parks.
Oh my word it was cold this morning- cold enough to freeze a bottle of water left in the car overnight! According to the TV it was 16F (around minus 9c) when we left our rooms and went for breakfast and it hadn’t warmed much by the time we went in to Bryce Canyon either. This is a drive-in and drive-out experience with around 18 viewing points to visit and we stopped (and froze) at just about all of them taking in some terrific views as we did. It was lunchtime when we left and it had warmed quite a bit but not enough for us to have cold lunch so we found a local restaurant and had a very nice Elk burger. From there is was supposed to be around an hours drive to Zion but the route took us through Red Rock Canyon which, in itself was stunning, so with photo stops it took a bit longer. The drive in to Zion is great with lots of views and a couple of really interesting tunnels to negotiate but, unfortunately, there is part of the park which you can only access by shuttle bus (Bryce is the same in the summer months) and we decided not to take the shuttle as we were told we would need around 3 hours to see that part of the park and we really didn’t have the time. It was a relatively short hop from there to our overnight stay in St George which is a bit different to our recent stays as it’s on the side of an interstate which is not great but which provides an ideal starting point for our journey in to Vegas tomorrow.
27th October 2012 – St George to Las Vegas.
We left reasonably early this morning and, as usual, stayed off of the Interstate as much as possible. This entailed us driving down the side of Lake Meade and stopping at one or two view points which turned out to be a little disappointing as the water level is so low that there isn’t that much to see. We took a drive across the Hoover Dam using what used to be the only road across the lake and discovered that it is now simply a tourist attraction and that having driven across you had no option but to drive back again. The drive in to Las Vegas was, as we expected, somewhat confusing as the Hotel we’re staying in doesn’t have a drive-up entrance on the Strip so we had to find our way around the back streets to the parking lot; this wasn’t helped by the fact that the hotel is undergoing a major re-fit and resembles a building site, just what we needed! Once we finally found our way in there was the usual long queue to get checked in but, unusually, the check in desk was right next to a stage full of ‘singers’ which made the process even harder than usual. We ventured out on to the Strip later in the evening and it was absolutely manic, filled with hen parties, stag parties and an assortment of people in Halloween costumes. We made it to the Harley Davidson Café for food and also had a drink at our hotels in-house brewery (beer okay but no atmosphere) before calling it a night.
28th October 2012 – Las Vegas Drag Strip.
We were up early this morning as we had tickets booked for the NHRA Drag racing at the Strip just north of Las Vegas. We stopped on the way for breakfast and still arrived in plenty of time to see the opening ceremonies and a full days good racing. It was Pete and Ann’s first taste of Drag racing and I think they enjoyed it despite the fact that it was extremely hot sat in the stands. We left the race strip at around 17:00 and arrived back at the hotel early evening in time for a quick shower and some food (not particularly good) before we took a cab to the famous Fremont Street experience. Fremont Street is one of the original tourist/gambling areas of Vegas which now has a huge overhead light & music display on the hour every evening during the evening. Graham & I had never been before so it was a new experience for all of us and once we’d seen the ‘show’ we found a casino bar for a drink before heading back to base.
29th October 2012 – Las Vegas.
It was hot & sunny again this morning and we decided that we would investigate the open top bus tours we had seen advertised. It turned out that we could take two different routes one around old Las Vegas (Downtown etc) and one around new Las Vegas (The Strip area) so we did just that. It cost $35 per person for both routes and, for us, it was a really good way to see most of the sights without having to do a lot of walking. Once we’d seen enough we stopped off at the Monte Carlo Casino and had a drink in their pub (it used to be a brew house and although it isn’t now it does have a good beer list) before going back to the hotel to prepare for our evening out. Once we’d tidied ourselves up we took a cab across to Treasure Island where we ate at a pretty good fish restaurant before heading off to see Cirque Du Soleil perform Mystere. The show was well worth seeing and included a number of acts which made your muscles aches just watching them! Once the showed had finished we went outside to see the battle between the two pirate ships that are the Casino’s trade mark, it was okay but much more of a dance routine than the battle we’d seen in the past. Graham & I then took a taxi back to the hotel whilst Pete & Ann had a walk along the Strip to see if they could catch the dancing fountains outside Bellagio but unfortunately they had finished for the night (it wasn’t long ago that nothing finished for the night but I suppose that’s a sign of the times).
30th October 2012 – Las Vegas to Barstow via Kingman & Oatman.
We left the madness that is Las Vegas this morning and, having now worked out the back streets, had a fairly easy run to our first stop at Kingman. Kingman is on one of the few remaining original parts of Route 66 and has a visitors centre and museum where we spent an interesting hour or so before taking another less well known part of Route 66 to Oatman. Graham & I had learned of Oatman on a previous visit; it is an ex-mining town where Donkeys released when the mines closed still live and where they come daily to be fed by the tourists who are sold bags of feed by the locals. We had lunch ourselves and then did some tourist shopping (yes – we did succumb and buy some donkey feed) before leaving town and taking the I40 to Barstow our stop for the night which also just happens to be on Route 66.
31st October 2012 – Barstow to Merced.
We left a little later today as we didn’t have many miles to cover. The journey turned out to be fairly boring as we were back in to the land of lots of traffic and tedious roads (compared to what we’d become accustomed to anyway). It had started out sunny this morning but we lost the sun about mid-afternoon and it remained overcast but warm for the rest of the day. We had pre-booked a motel for this evening as we wanted to be in striking distance of San Francisco Airport tomorrow and, although the motel itself was okay, it turned out to be pretty noisy as we were right on the side of the main road and there was a railway line just behind that – hey ho – you can’t get I right every time.
1st November 2012 – Merced to San Francisco International Airport.
After we’d packed up (properly) this morning we took a leisurely drive, if a slightly tedious one, to the town of Tracy as we’d discovered that they had a ‘Famous Dave’s’ and we’d been hoping to get to one of these before we left. Famous Dave’s is a chain of really good Barbeque restaurants where, if you order one of the banquet meals, it comes served on a dustbin lid, literally! Our server Famous Danielle explained that the reason for the trademark dustbin lids went back to when Dave, who was not a well-off man, first started in the catering business. In the early days he would apparently use a dustbin to smoke his meats and then turn the lid up to use it as a serving dish. Although we wanted a more substantial lunch than usual (we weren’t due to be fed on the flight until late evening) we took the sensible route and ordered a banquet for two between the four of us and it was ample and very good as usual. As we still had some time to spare we visited the nearby shopping mall to while away a little time before starting on our last 50 miles. The sun was out again by the time we left Tracy and we had an easier than expected run back. The car rental return was well sign posted and very close to the main road so we made it back with lots of time to spare. Check-in also went off without a hitch (first time I’ve been through a body scanner though) and then the long wait began…..
2nd November 2012 – San Francisco to London Heathrow.
Our flight left slightly early last night and proved to be completely uneventful (thank goodness). We even got through Heathrow much more quickly than we had expected and we were at Derek & Jenny’s (Ann’s brother and Sister-in-law’s) by 15:00. We spent a very pleasant evening in their company and they even managed to keep us awake until 22:00, thank you guys.
3rd/4th November 2012 – Hillingdon to Home.
We left Derek & Jenny’s at around 11:45 and were home by 16:00 having stopped for lunch on the way. Pete & Ann decided to stay overnight rather than drive home in the dark and cold when they were already tired and they left this morning at around 10:00. Oh well, time to unpack and face reality I suppose!!!
Total mileage 6080!