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Published: November 24th 2006
Hello Everyone
BE WARNED this is a long blog so if you want to go straight to the pictures please do so (we would!)
The first thing we noticed arriving in the States was how friendly, helpful and multicultural the people were. San Fran was a stand-out for this. Everywhere we went people were always willing to give us directions or just have a chat. We’re not sure if this was emphasised by the fact that we have been living in London for 1 ½ yrs now where people can’t even look you in the eye OR that we just weren’t expecting the Americans to be so warm and welcoming. Probably both.
Friday 13th Oct Flew to San Fran arrived at 1pm. Checked into our quirky hotel with some interesting paintwork. Walked through the nearby China Town stopping to sample handmade Fortune Cookies from one of the original shops (fortune cookies originated in San Fran). We then headed to North Beach and up the interestingly named Coit Tower - offering great views of the city. We travelled onto Pier 39 to checkout the loud and stinky seals, before stopping for a well earned beer at Hooters (couldn't keep
Rach away!). We did pretty well, but the jetlag finally caught up, so we headed back to the hotel to crash.
Saturday 14th Oct We decided to hire bikes as we have enjoyed riding around many other cities. The company name was 'Blazing Sadles' and I tell you after biking 35kms+ our saddles were blazing! We rode to Fort Point, over the Golden Gate Bridge then up to a look out - tough but rewarding ride with great views of the bridge and city. Carried on to Sausilito - a gorgeous bay town where we had lunch on the water. Next stop Muil woods - home to the worlds tallest trees - the red woods. Had a coffee then followed the bay around to Toulin where we had a beer after our long day then caught the ferry back to San Fran Bay. Dinner courtesy of Chinatown.
Sunday 15th Oct Today we caught the ferry to 'The Rock' - Alcatraz. It was initially used as a military base then a military prison then finally the national penatentiary. Our tour of the prison included the cells of Al Capone's, the Birdman, and Machine Gun Kelly. There were 14 attempted
Justin ruining a perfectly good photo!
The New York skyline and one big nogginescapes over the years, with only 1 that may have been successful - the four prisoners were never found, some believe they never made it to land and others believe they are still out there. For lunch we walked to the Ferry building on one of the piers, it houses a great food market. We walked through the craft markets, the business district, and onto Union Square where we went into Macy’s and had a piece of cheesecake from the 'Cheesecake Factory'. We then caught a bus to Alamo Park which is famous for its views of the city and features in many movies/TV shows. Lombard street was the final destination which is the “Crookedest” street in the world, so they say.
Monday 16th Oct We had booked a week long tour through Trek America in order to see more in the short period of time that we had. It started in San Fran and finished up in LA. Today we met the trek group - there were 14 of us, mainly Poms and 10/14 were female. They were a great bunch of people who we got to know over the next 7 days. We took off in our
mini bus headed for our first campsite - Yosemite National Park.
Yosemite National Park is the worlds best example of glacier carved canyons, it became a National Park in 1980 to preserve a portion of the Sierra Nevada. It has some of Americas tallest waterfalls.
Once we got to Yosemite we did a small 4km trek to see the giant Sequoias which are the largest of all living things - the worlds biggest tree by volume (2nd in height) and are thousands of years old. So in a word they are GIGANTIC.
We arrived at our picturesque camping ground and set up camp. Dinner was by the fire before heading to the tent that we would call home for the next 7 days.
Tuesday 17th Oct We awoke early to a crisp morning - 5 degrees Celsius. We headed into the valley at 7am for a big day of hiking. We (the 2 of us and John from our group) quickly warmed up after hiking about 3kms to the first spectacular waterfall - Vernal Falls. This time of year the rivers were not full, but the falls were impressive as the sun through the valley created rainbows through
the mist. Hiking up the granite stairs - formed from the cooled magma - we came to a 2nd set of falls - Nevada Falls. This was about another 4kms on from Vernal. These falls were taller and the viewing platform was a ledge scarily perched next to and looking down on the thundering falls. Here we had a quick lunch break and made the decision to carry on and complete the full hike to Half Dome......
Half Dome is the pinnacle of Yosemite - it is 2,693m above sea level and the round trek is 30kms. The logo of the brand “The North Face” is taken from this massive formation. Essentially its a big rock sitting on top of a mountain. After 4hrs and 40mins of hiking we finally reached the base of the Half Dome which was a spectacular sight in itself. The boys were not interested in going further (Justin not so great with heights and John just plain exhausted) but Rach was not going to come all this way and not get to the top.
To get yourself up the side of the rock there are 2 wire cables and some gloves. The gradient of
the rock is incredible and the only thing to stop you falling are your wits. It takes about 20mins to pull yourself up the side of the dome but once your there the views into the valley below are unbelievable. Now getting down from this rock is the same way as getting up, although a parachute would have been nice.
Once Rach got down from the crest the journey back downhill only took us half the time it did to come up. This made for 7 hours of hiking in total........needless to say we slept well that night!
On the wildlife front we saw squirrels, chip monks, a racoon, deer, coyote and some of the group (unfortunately not us) saw 2 black bears.
Wednesday 18th Oct We packed up camp early and began our journey to “VEGAS BABY”! It was a long day on the road but we were excited at the prospect of visiting Vegas. We checked into our hotel late afternoon (no camping for 2 nights) called the Super 8, opposite the Bellagio hotel/casino and just off the strip. We all got ready and had a few drinks before 15 of us jumped into a stretch
Hummer for a city tour. We cruised up the strip and stopped to watch the Freemont St experience. It didn’t take us long to realise that Vegas is all about sex and gambling - as Borat would say, 'it's nice'! The ride ended at the Bellagio were we watched the famous water fountain show, an impressive display done in time with music. Then we beat the pavement, heading to New York New York (entire hotel is made to look like the New York skyline) where we went on a rollercoaster ride which went inside and outside the building. Next stop the Venetian - this hotel is a little Venice complete with indoor canals and gondola rides, bridges and a ceiling painted like the sky. The night was topped off watching a volcano erupt outside the Mirage before heading to bed. We decided to leave the gambling until day 2.
Thursday 19th Oct Justin went to the Imperial Palace car museum, then we checked out the inside of the Bellagio. It is an extravagant hotel and you can really see where all the gamblers money goes. We re-joined the group for a brilliant buffet lunch at the Luxor which is
shaped like a giant glass pyramid. We then headed to the Stratosphere (another hotel casino shaped like the Jetson's cartoon home) where we saw a slightly poxy free Vegas show and went on a thrill ride. This was no ordinary thrill ride as it was located on the roof of the building - on floor 108. Great views of Vegas but not for the faint hearted. This particular ride shot you off the side of the building, held you there for a few moments then brought you back in…..only in Vegas! Before leaving the Stratosphere we checked out the wedding chapel which every casino seems to have.
The tour continued - Circus Circus, where we watched a free circus show, then off to Treasure Island. Here we had a play on the “chocolate wheel” as Justin likes to call it, unfortunately our $10 didn’t get us very far so we bailed out to watch the free Treasure Island show. This involved pirate ships, explosions and naturally women dancing in their underwear (it's nice!). It was quite impressive seeing as it was free and they put it on a few times every evening.
Final stop was back at the Bellagio where
Nice View...
Pity about the hill we had to ride up to get here! we decided to try our luck at black jack. With $5 minimum bets our $20 each lasted a surprisingly long time - about ½ hr - but we didn't leave with the fortune that we had hoped for! By this time the feet were sore and our beds were calling...back to the Super 8.
Friday 20th Oct Back in the minivan again - destination Grand Canyon. We watched an IMAX film about the early explorers of the Grand Canyon before taking a helicopter flight over the enormous canyon. It was an amazing flight - we were flying over the plateau then suddenly it just drops off to the incredible canyon, with the Colorado River up to a mile below the rim. We flew over the north and south rims, from the photos it’s hard to fathom how vast and deep it really is. The canyon has been carved out over billions of years by the river, ice and wind erosion. The oldest exposed rock dates back 1.8 billion years. After the excitement it was back to reality and time to set up camp. It was also our turn to make dinner so we cooked up a curry storm. This
was by far our coldest night with temperatures down to -3 degrees celsius. We must have been wearing every article of clothing we owned in our sleeping bags and we were still cold. We awoke with ice on the tent.
Saturday 21st Oct It was a very early rise this morning as we wanted to watch the sunrise over the canyon. Most of us were still in our sleeping bags sitting on the edge of the canyon as the sun came up. It was a beautiful sunrise and worth the early start. After breakfast it was back into the van and off to the Colorado River where we went for a cool dip and had a relaxing afternoon. The weather was considerably warmer here.
Sunday 22nd Oct Our last day of the tour. Today we headed for Los Angeles, and after struggling through the infamous traffic we went to a lookout and checked out the city view along with the Hollywood sign. The city is huge and not attractive - lots of pollution and very spread out. We bid farewell to the rest of the group on Hollywood Blvd (where all the stars names are in the
Us in Muir Woods, San Fran
These gigantic red woods are the tallest in the world pavement) It was a bit sad but also nice to be doing our own thing again. We made our way to our hostel, USA Hostels, just off Hollywood Blvd. We decided to go check out Venice Beach so we caught a bus which took a little longer than we had expected - 1 ½ hrs!! This gives you an idea of how spread out the city is. The beach was beautiful although the surrounding area a little rough. We saw the iconic LA man with his turbin, on his skates, playing his electric guitar.
Monday 23rd Oct Because we only had 1 full day in LA we decided to do a day tour in order to see as much as possible. First stop was the Chinese Mann theatre (where movie premiers are held and all the stars hand and footprints are in the pavement) - our hostel was only about 400m from here. We also had a look at the Kodak theatre where the Oscars are held. We saw the Hollywood Bowl - an outdoor venue famous for the Monty Python's live shows. Next stop the Sunset Strip, which looked a little dodgy to us, and rightly so as
many of the stars have overdosed in clubs on this strip such as the Viper Room where River Phoenix died. On to Beverly Hills, where all the stars live in mansions shelterd from 'real' life! We saw many stars homes but the most impressive was the one with 7 Ferraris out the front - one for every day of the week! This was owned by the creator of the label “Guess”. Next was a stroll down Rodeo Drive where all the stars shop.
After a breather and some lunch at the Farmers Markets we had half a day at Universal Studios. As it was a Monday and off peak season the park was empty. We didn’t have to line up for any rides so we managed to go on just about all of them. We did a studio tour and saw the sets of Desperate Housewives (Wisteria Lane), Jaws, The Fast and the Furious, Jurassic Park, King Kong, etc, etc. After a fun packed day we headed back to Hollywood to get dropped back at the Chinese Mann Theatre, We thought our day was completed, however we noticed that the street had been closed, the red carpet and lighting was
out and the area was swarming with media and tourists - So naturally we had to find out what was going on. It turned out to be the world Premier of 'Borat'. Sacha Baron Cohen (who also plays Ali G) plays Borat, a reporter from Khazakstan. By chance a girl we were standing with told us that we could get in to the premier for free as they needed a 'rent-a-crowd'. We followed her directions to the side door and were given Khazakstan flags, t-shirts and Borat masks and let in behind the stage and red carpet. It was surreal - We watched the stars arrive for 1 ½ hrs before Borat arrived - This in itself was a spectacle as his car was pulled by horses. The whole thing was a big piss-take and was very funny. After some formalities we were then let into the theatre with all the stars - We brushed shoulders with Drew Barrymoore, Ben Stiller, Will Farrell, and Courtenay Cox to name a few. The movie was a riot - see it if you can, but not if you are easlily offended!
Tuesday 24th Oct Today was spent in transit - We caught
our plane to New York at 10am and arrived at 9pm (due to time difference). Our hostel was located right near Times Square - The Big Apple Hostel. It turned out to be a great hostel in a great location.
Wednesday 25th Oct First thing on the agenda in the crisp morning was the Empire State Building. It was blowing a gale up there but the views were very good - a jungle of impressive architecture. We then caught the free ferry to Staten Island and back, providing a view of the impressive New York skyline from the water and offering the opportunity to get closer to the Statue of Liberty. After lunch we played with the bull on Wall St and checked out the New York stock exchange. We then paid our respects at Ground Zero - having never seen the buildings while standing it was hard to imagine they stood in the crater that's left behind. Rach also finally got to satisfy her female erge for shopping!
Thursday 26th Oct Today we explored Central Park and the ice skating rink which was already up and running. We had a coffee in Trump Tower and browsed in
Tiffany’s. We checked out the Rockafella Centre, the UN building and Grand Central Station, then Rach checked out the shopping for a 2nd time! In the evening we had dessert and drinks at the Marriot Hotel overlooking Times Square.
Friday 27th Oct Not satisfied with the free ferry ride on Wednesday, we decided on a boat tour which took us around the whole of Manhattan Island in 3hrs. This took care of the morning. In the afternoon we caught a bus to New Jersey to watch an NBA game (basketball). The New York Knicks played the New Jersey Nets, with the Nets winning the game 132 - 122. We met the Nets cheerleaders, got a signed poster and Justin got a photo with one of them (it's nice!). We also got stuck into the giant pretzels and popcorn during the half time acrobatic entertainment.
Saturday 28th Oct Our last day in New York, and in the USA, was spent shopping (Rach) and sleeping (Justin)! Rach went to Macy’s which is the largest department store in the world (11 stories tall) and only made it to level 5 before running out of money. After meting up for lunch it
was time to bid the Big Apple farewell and head to the airport.
If you have read all of the above, then good on ya - You deserve a medal.
As always we hope this blog finds you are well.
Until next time, take care
Love Justin and Rach
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Kate & Fiko
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Whoa!!!
All we can say is OH MY GOD!!!! You guys just keep em coming dont you! We were getting excited about our BIG Trip next week....but ours does not compare to your travel exploits in your latest blog! Talk about making a short trip into an adventure! How amazing....Love getting the blogs...will be sending some of our own soon...Look forward to your next one.