Well, not that much to share with you today. Uneventful drive from Yosemite to SF - all fine until a real traffic snarl at the SF end trying to cross the bay. I paid a toll (no idea how much - that little joy is still in store), and still we were stuck in 5 lanes on a Saturday afternoon. Anyway, hotel seems ok and well located. Before we left, we headed off to the south entrance to Yosemite to check out the giant sequoia trees. Fabulous these - the largest at our location was 8.5 metres across at the base (see pic with Chris). It took a while to get there and back and added substantially to the drive, but was worth it. Before we left we took some more pics at Yosemite Bug Resort ... read more

Hello again You now find us in (well more correctly just outside) Yosemite National Park. Our trip today was relatively uneventful and unspectacular. It took us past the Edwards Air force Base so we had some fun watching various manoeuvres along the way, and the most massive farm of wind generators we have ever seen, in the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Our journey took us through Fresno which is a major agricultural centre - if the road proximity is any indication, it is primarily wine and citrus. In any event, the smog for about 2 hours was unbelievable. Presumably that finds its way inland from LA, but it is a disgrace and they should do something about it. I need to talk about petrol (Gasoline) - not least because we almost ran out today looking for ... read more

Gday all Another great day here. As you will see from the pics, the weather keeps being very kind to us - clear blue skies and pleasant temperature once the morning frost and ice melted! We started the day in Bryce Canyon in Southern Utah (this is one pretty part of the country). The park itself is famous for its ‘hoodoos’ - crazy rock formations that are best understood by looking at the pics. Today was a walking day so we checked out a few rim vantage points and then went down into the canyon on a 6 (or so) km trail. OK going down but a little tougher ascending. Still we managed - and more importantly, thoroughly enjoyed. The Hoodoos are a lot like ‘the Pinnacles’ (a far better name - that we flew over ... read more

It was a pleasure to awaken to a crisp clear and still morning - with the sun just darting around one of the Mesas immediately outside our balcony. Beautiful hotel this one - run bu Navajo inside the Navajo tribal area. Great but hurried breakfast as we had booked a tour ofr 8. 45 thinking it was 7.30, and when we got down to breakfast, our guide was waiting there wondering where we were. Now this takes some explaining! To get to Monument Valley, you cross (just) from Arizona into Utah. Then in the 4 mile road to the hotel, you cross back into Arizona. There is (at this time of the year until Nov 7),1 hours time difference between the 2 states. As instructed, we had both adjusted our watches to the correct time. Problem ... read more

Not much to report today. Just a perfect day around and in the Grand Canyon. Weather was magnificent and this place is amazing. Now Chris and I took nearly 200 pics between us - and I have to say that none of them does it justice. You just have to see it - for the size, the colour, the variation etc. ....... However, we have cobbled together a few for your perusal - including the ones where we walked down into the canyon (and back) - and that was great fun and a little bit challenging. With that walk - along with the rim walking we did, we managed about 16 kms - so are pretty tired. Early tomoz for a chopper flight then off to Monument Valley - where we are staying in a hotel ... read more