Back to California 16th September 2008 We have just spent two days driving back to California across the desert. Sunday’s drive took us from Flagstaff to Barstow and yesterday from Barstow to Lake Isabella. The drive to Barstow was fairly monotonous; desert, desert and more desert. Yesterday however was more interesting. We avoided the freeway and drove firstly across yet more desert and then found ourselves in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada with trees, instead of cactus and rivers instead of dried up beds, which we call “ramblas’ in Spain but here they are calle [View Full Entry]

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Flagstaff, Sedona and Red Rock, Arizona 12th - 14th September 2008 We spent three nights in Flagstaff, needing some time to relax after the exhilaration of the Grand Canyon visit and also time to visit Sedona and Red Rock State Park (not to be confused with Red Rock, Nevada near Vegas). This whole region is part of the Coconoco Forest and is very scenic. Arizona is a truly beautiful state; it isn’t all desert , although there is plenty of that, and canyons too, recognisable due to their appearance in so many Hollywood westerns. It is real “Wild West’ country and [View Full Entry]

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More Grand canyon photos and a couple of the Little Colorado as well [View Full Entry]

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The Grand Canyon, lost for words! 10th & 11th September 2008 Words cannot describe the majestic grandeur of the Grand Canyon. It is awe-inspiring. We got up early, checked out and left Williams at 9 a.m. to drive up through the Kaibab National Forest to the canyon. In our ignorance, we were unaware that the forest went right up to the south rim of the canyon. It was a beautiful drive. When we arrived, we parked in a car park and then deliberately walked away along the rim trail before stopping to look. We wanted to be away from everyone else [View Full Entry]

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The Hoover Dam and Route 66 9th September 208 The journey from Las Vegas to Arizona and the Grand Canyon was brilliant! From Vegas we went first to the Hoover Dam and then the scenery was just a series of stunning contrasts, desert, mountains, prairie and then forest. First the desert, it is still the Mojave but here it is more diverse than on the drive to Vegas, with large swathes of cactus and outcrops of boulder and rock. Then we passed through part of the Black Mountain range which was truly dramatic and after the mountains came the prairie, just [View Full Entry]

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Here are a few photos of the rain in (Vegas) mentioned on the last blog on Monday 8th September [View Full Entry]

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We have been told that some of our photos from the "More Big Sur" blog don't download. We don't know how to change them so re-printing two of them now [View Full Entry]

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From L.A. to Las Vegas 6th - 9th September 2008 Santa Monica early mornings are not so different to others in California except that there are more joggers, cyclists, Tai Chi enthusiasts and bag people on the promenade. All week I have been waking early due to the time difference (and I am an early-riser anyway) to creep outside, leaving John sleeping for Spain, the UK and the US (I envy him) to have a fag and watch the world go by. By 6.30 there are always dozens of people about doing their thing and strutting their stuff. I don’t envy [View Full Entry]

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Los Angeles - more photos [View Full Entry]

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CITY OF ANGLES, Los Angeles CA 4th September 2008 “LA is a great big freeway” as the song goes. Indeed it is, however it is surprisingly easy to get around. We stayed in a motel at Carpenteria near Santa Barbara last night. Santa Barbara was a bit pricey so we went further along the beach to its less-glitzy neighbour. The motel was a bit down at heel but it was clean and very cheap so OK. This morning we left early and got to LA around 10 a.m. coming in to the city on Highway 101 from the west. As we [View Full Entry]

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