The day started-off well. There were some blue patches in the sky and it wasn’t raining. We therefore decided that today was the day for a good walk so we set-off early – or at least early by our standards. Keen to learn from the mistakes of yesterday we got the cable car, which runs from very close to our apartment, to the top of a nearby peak. That way, unlike yesterday, the whole walk would be downhill. As you would expect, the cable car is clearly designed for the skiing season,but beside the map of the ski-runs was a map of the walks for the summer season, using the same blue, red and black conventions. Our route was mainly red, which took in most of the good views. As we were walking down, the rain ... read more

And it’s raining. Hard. Actually, very hard. This is not what we signed-up to! We had been warned that everything would be closed on a Sunday but we got up in the morning and everywhere was dead. It is a good job that we bought some food with us from the UK otherwise the planned self-catering would not have been an option. The clouds had also come over in the night and it was overcast and cool. The cool we don’t mind, in fact we prefer it, but the rain that followed mid-morning was a bit of a shock. We did manage to get a walk in first and found some nice views over Rauris. So the rest of the day consisted of some reading, some tele, some swimming in the indoor pool and making plans ... read more

We left at 5.00am in order to make sure that we had ample time to get to Dover to catch our 8.15am ferry, allowing for predictable road-works and other “issues” on the M25. Respect to Sea France in that they sent us a text letting us know about some road-works on the M20 so warning us to allow some extra time to get there. In the end we got there with plenty of time to spare, which meant that we needed to sit in our “lane” and wait until the ferry arrived. There was also an added bonus that the tolls for the Dartford Crossing do not start until 6.00am, so it is free up until then. I know it was only £1.50, but since we crossed the bridge and got to the toll booths at ... read more

Our flight was in the middle of the afternoon, which gave us the morning to kill. We were totally not tempted to head to the strip, and it also didn’t leave me enough time to safely get to the Hoover Dam and back, so after a swim, we killed the morning with some shopping. Not far from the hotel (and conveniently dead opposite the airport hire car centre) was a big Retail Outlet Centre so we finished with some shopping - taking advantage of all those goods that are so much cheaper than they are in the UK. Only $40 for a pair of Levis 501s, even after the tax that we keep forgetting they add on at the till.... read more

After three nights in Yosemite we unfortunately needed to drive back to Las Vegas for our flight back home. 450 miles and seven and a half hours later, we eventually crawled back into Vegas. Other than Edwards Air-force Base, which we understood from our trip to the Kennedy Space Centre, serves as the Space Shuttles alternative landing site, the biggest wind-farm that I have ever seen and a parking site for disused aircraft, the journey was mostly uneventful desert. We did see somewhere called the Calico Ghost Town, which sounded very interesting, but we made the collective decision (I was over-ruled) that we would not stop there. It was a Friday evening and the road to Vegas was extremely busy - I guess it was everyone heading there for the weekend. Mind you the traffic in ... read more

The others were going horse riding for a couple of hours, so I decided that I would brave the drive and go to The Valley for the day. Whilst 35 doesn’t sound too far, the bendy roads, not to mention some long stretches of road-works, meant that it still took well over an hour to get there. When I got there, boy was it busy. I had to park on the approach to the valley and then walk the rest of the way, but given that walking / hiking is the main occupation in Yosemite, that was not a problem. I went to the Lower Yosemite Fall, which was a very easy walk. Too easy in fact as it was absolutely covered in people - the chances of getting an unobscured view were nonexistent. I decided ... read more