We left Yellowstone National Park at 6:00am and went on the longest journey of the whole trip to try and reach our destination of Crater Lake in Oregon. Rob had read up on this area and was adamant that this was the place he wanted to go more than anywhere else. We were not disappointed. The journey itself was something out of Top Gear with some of the best roads and scenery I have ever driven with Mountainous ranges and very long straight roads (just like the movies). This was great fun for all three of us and was one of the best experiences of the whole trip. The one down point was that the ever reliable Prius was not a soft top which would of made the journey truly amazing. The one thing that surprised ... read more

After a few days on the road and trips through towns in the Rockies such as Aspen we are now set up for a couple of days at Yellowstone national park. The journey was one of the most amazing I have ever experienced, the Rockies is a must see for anyone who truly admires nature. You could easily spend a whole month in the mountains and only scratch the surface. The stop off point for us was a day in Salt Lake City which was a interesting experience. I would certainly not classify the city a a great point of interest (would actually call it dull) but the national park to the west called Antelope Island is truly a spectacle for anyone to see. The drive up through Utah was amazing and a great experience where ... read more

After our stay in Joilet we traveled through the rest of Illinois then Iowa. Iowa is a classic farming state - lovely scenery and very hot. Took about 5+ hours to drive through the state, the next state we hit was Nebraska after driving over a river into the city of Omaha. Nebraska was a great drive with very straight roads and lots of Lakes next to the I-80 to fish and generally relax and let life pass you by. The heat in the state was an eye opener, was about 90 degrees. The rest areas were very scenic to and in all a very enjoyable drive. We stopped at a place called Big Springs just on the edge of Nebraska about to enter Colorado. We travelled 700 miles.... read more

The journey from Hagi to Osaka was a long arduous task by bus to Yamaguchi City then the Shinkansen to Osaka. The bus journey was enjoyable with the road winding over a mountainous area until we got to Yamaguchi and then jumped on the Shinkansen to go to Osaka. Getting the tickets for the bus was easy as the hotel reception rang up and booked ahead for us so that was fine. We arrived in Osaka during the night and caught the underground to the southern area to get a hotel at the travel information office. They managed to get a hotel right next to the station that was cheap for Japan, £35pp, so we checked in and went straight out to sample the prestigious nightlife of Osaka. We started out at the train station hub ... read more

We left Hiroshima and had to take the train north towards Hamada City to reach Tsuwano which is south of Hamada City. The journey there was on a train that was not Shinkansen but was still comfortable and the views from the train were spectacular. The journey was made through some beautiful mountainside and the colour of the scenery was wonderful. Tsuwano is a small town with a population of 9,000 people. It is known as little Kyoto in Japan with its beautiful feudal style buildings and castle situated on top of a mountain. It is also known for its Washi paper, Sake breweries and there local steam train that runs still once a day. We arrived in Tsuwano at 11:00am and went straight to the visitors Information office. The people in there are very helpful ... read more