the last one!

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Ok so I know we are home but thought I have kept this blog going for six months so only right to do the final instalment….mainly for my benefit and might help me to realise that it is over and time to enter the real world. For now however I will pretend its still going on.

As you will see if you read all of this I am not having to pay for this internet time so I can take as long as I like and it is covering the last month of our trip so it is going to be a long one, sorry.

So we flew to LA from Hawaii and stayed for a week on Hollywood Boulevard. Hollywood is so completely crazy compared to all the other places we had been. We did all the usual tourist things like going to the Hollywood sign in the hills and driving round famous peoples houses in Bel Air. If you ask me it seems a bit silly to buy a house where everyone knows the stars live if you want some privacy but I guess that’s fame for you. We had great fun at madam toussards (not sure of spelling) posing with all the wax works….being in LA is like being permanently drunk because anything goes no one cares what the hell you do…you could probably walk up the street completely naked and no one would notice….not that we did.
We saw lots of famous film locations like the school where Grease was filmed and the church from sister act and lee even climbed the fire escape that Richard Gear climbs in the end of Pretty woman.

We spent a day down on the beech where Baywatch was filmed and watched all the girls roller blading past…well lee did anyway! And we watched the posers working out at muscle beech…..while we ate a burger in fear of loosing weight from watching!!!

In all we had a great time in LA but it was very much fake and over the top and once you have done all of the touristy things there isn’t really much else to do but eat so we hired a car and drove along Highway one up the cost to San Francisco. We spent 2 days doing this and I can honestly say it was the most breath taking scenery we have seen the whole trip, who knew America could be so stunning and un-fake!
We slept in the car to save some pennies and stopped off at little cafes on the way. Half way we came across a beech absolutely covered in elephant seals….not only have we never seen seals quite so big we have never seen so many in one place. The whole stretch as far as the eye could see was covered in them….its funny how you can pay loads to see something stunning yet every now and then you come across something you weren’t expecting that takes your breath away…so there we were on the Californian coast somewhere between LA and San Fran watching these seals for such a long time…like nothing else in the world mattered….well at that point it didn’t.

I’m not sure if it was because this was the start of the end or if it was because we knew we only had a few weeks left so we didn’t have to really worry about money anymore but we seemed to enjoy America to the fullest…everything just fell into place from then on and all the struggles and downs we had had over the last six months just melted away.

San Fran was where the partying really began…..the city itself was beautiful not really a city it felt more like a big homely town. We met a great bunch of people in the hostel we were staying in and had a great time getting to know the town and its night life. Lee even managed to have a dance off in a club one night however his usual moves didn’t seem to impress the yanks as much as it impressed us brits.
San Fran really is as hilly as it looks and a simple short walk up the road to the shops could take ages due to the bloody hills placed so annoyingly everywhere thank god for those hop on trams.

We hired bikes and went across the San Fran Bridge which really does seem to go on and on. A sign on the bridge tickled our fancy for all those wanting to commit suicide the sign said jumping off this bridge will be fatal and tragic….well that’s the point of jumping….anyway there was then a button you could press (no not a trap door) but to call a councillor if you are tempted to jump….morbid I know but did find it funny.

When it came to leaving San Fran we really didn’t want to we had made a good bunch of friends at for the first time in a long time really felt like we could belong…I think it’s the only place we have been to where we felt like we could live.

We hired a car and drove across to Lake Tahoe dragging two of the guys we had met with us. Now we knew Tahoe is a ski resort place but it was the end of the season however we were not prepared for what we arrived to. Thick snow everywhere….now I know this probably isn’t that exciting for you guys who have had it all winter but we hadn’t seen snow for a long time and this really was a winter wonderland. All the log cabins were completely snowed over within all the forests on the way. We had a great time with the lads but there wasn’t really much we could do seeing as we only had shorts and flip flops so we did a bit of driving and lots of drinking to make up for the cold. One of the guys we were with had a time share there and it was the most luxurious place we had seen for months….it even had a huge heart shaped hot tub in one of the rooms so I commandeered that while the guy’s watched crappy guy films in front of the fire. I love the way travelling can take you to all these unexpected places.

As seems to be our luck the day we went to leave Tahoe the weather had caught up with us this time in the shape of a blizzard….all of the roads were closed and you could barely see 2 foot in front of you so we had to stay stranded in Tahoe……Honestly it doesn’t even shock me now when things like this happens to us we had survived monsoons, cyclones and hurricanes so what’s a little snow!

When we eventually left Tahoe we only had one day in Yosemite National park so we drove still with the guys very hung over. The scenery changed again so dramatically going past lush green and yellow meadows and little hillbilly towns with vultures circling above (obviously don’t like out of towners). Once at the park we didn’t have long there so drove a little way in and it was again stunningly breath taking and such a contrast to how I have always imagined America…I wish we had a little more time to go bear hunting but we didn’t so off we went to a little insulated shack of a tent for the night. We built a fire and cooked hotdogs on sticks and had a great last night with the guys having what at the time seemed like the most deep and meaningful conversations we had ever had…however I think the 2 litre bottle of wine may have contributed to that. None the less it was a great night under the stars.

We drove the next day to LA where we left the boys and flew to Vegas. We were very sad at this point we didn’t want to leave the state where we had had so much fun and we didn’t want to arrive the our last port of call. Although we had really missed home while we were away it seems to have ended so suddenly we needed a few more months to get used to the idea of coming home…instead we had a week.

Once in Vegas we had arranged to meet up with some girls that we had met in San Fran which was great for me, as much as I loved being with the guys it was time for some girly time!!

Again we hired a car, only this time it was a convertible mustang to cruise round Vegas, and cruise we did. We spent a day driving round Death Valley in our mustang. Now Death Valley is how it sounds just miles and miles of dessert and nothingness…we even saw tumble weed! Every now and then we would come across a little deserted mining village with its old wooden villages and saloons just like in the old westerns. It was great fun to speed along the long open roads with the roof down and the music up (not quite driving miss daisy but nearly)

Now Vegas really is something else and unless you have been there you really cant understand but I will try and explain. Although you know its all fake and built for gambling and tourists you just cant help get pulled into the grand fakeness of it all. I t really is like taking drugs (I imagine!) and jumping into a crazy world where anything goes and everything does. The first few days while we were with the girls we stayed in a motel but once they left and as we promised ourselves we booked into Caesars Palace…the deluxe room! Ok so this did cost a small fortune which probably could have fed a small third world country for a few years but it was well worth it after all it was our honeymoon and we had stayed in some god forsaken dives over the past months so now was time to live it up and enjoy some luxury if only for a few days.

We went to all the casinos all with there own themes and enjoyed walking up and down the strip just taking in all the sights and absurdities along the way…we considered getting hitched then realised that its not so cool when you already are.

We put going home to the back of our heads and went on a trip to the Grand Canyon, we even went in a helicopter into it thanks to a lovely present from my parents. I got to sit in front with the pilot and watch the scenery below through the glass floor…again another one of those memories we will never forget.

Then natural disasters reared its ugly head once more adding to our long list of things the earth wants to send our way…a bloody volcano erupts sending dust everywhere and all flights home cancelled….once again….BLOODY HELL!
At this point a conversation I had with my brother before we left kept replaying in my head. Pete says why have you booked your flight home the day before our wedding and I say (famous last words) what could possibly go wrong! Well I didn’t know did I?

So once again we were stranded somewhere however, this time we really did want to leave. Any other time I wouldn’t have minded being stuck in Vegas but I really didn’t want to miss my little big brothers wedding. To cut a long story short the big guy upstairs decided that we had had enough bad weather this trip and our flight was the first to take off after days of no flights and that was the end.

We had been so anxious about missing the wedding and then so happy to be flying I think we actually forgot that this meant it was all over, just like that our dream honeymoon of a life time was over.

You know we were very excited to come home and see everyone we had missed so much, but there was still that part of us wishes we were back at the start again with six months of possibilities and adventures ahead of us.

We couldn’t have started and ended with such a contrast of places, from the tiny sleepy villages in china with the mist lingering over the great wall, to the bright lights and chaos of Vegas. Yet somehow they seemed so right and will always be part of the million and one perfect memories that we have made on our honeymoon that we will cherish forever.

So for the last time

All our love always
Katy and Lee
xxxxx

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