Onto the final leg of the journey

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Hi,

I'm finally in the last continent i'll travel to and have only three weeks of adventure time left. It's pretty scary to think i need to get back to real life soon.

When i last wrote i was in San Francisco and i finally tore myself away from there and got the overnight bus down to Las Vegas. It was a pretty awesome place. I was surprised at how cheap the hotels were there, it was cheaper than a hostel at 17 dollars per night for my own double room with a huge bed. So for the first time in a long time i had my own room and bathroom and all for less than i'd been paying for a hostel elsewhere.

I spent the days by the pool and the evenings exploring the strip of casinos with all their elaborate decorations. I also went to the grand canyon for a day, which was amazing. Their was a storm while i was there and you could see the lightening fork down across the black sky and hit the other side of the canyon. It was really spectacular.

From Vegas i got the bus to san diego and spent a few days there visiting the zoo and seaworld and taking advantage of the exchange rate and doing some last minute American shopping before moving on to Canada.

I spend my last nights in the states at a hostel on Venice beach. It was so much nicer here than in Hollywood, a lot more quiet and a much more sociable hostel. The beach was a great place to go to even in the night time as it was still warm (plus it was the beach where they filmed baywatch so i sung the baywatch song and did the run to the beach a lot, especially after a few beers).

Then i flew on to Vancouver, which i absolutely love. I visited the huge Stanley park, where there is loads of wildlife, and also went to the suspension bridge, which is really high and across a valley and sways as you go across. It was pretty scary but with good views from it.

Next i got on a tour bus on to Vancouver island. Tofino was the first stop and was spectacular. The first night we were there we had a bbq and some beers outside. The hostel was right on the ocean so we watched the beautiful pink sunset and as we did four orca whales swam past. It was definitely one of the best moments i've had since i've been travelling.

The next day we all got on a boat and headed somewhere remote in the rainforest. We walked into it for about 40 minutes and got to some secluded hot springs. They're a nice idea but noone actually tells you just how hot they are. It was like a really hot bath overlooking the ocean. On the way back on the boat we went looking for whales and saw a grey whale out in the ocean.

After enjoying some nice seafood on our last night in Tofino we drove on to Victoria. We spent a chilled day there looking around and in the park before coming back to Vancouver.

Yesterday i saw my first ice hockey game thanks to a friend from home (thanks Noush) who introduced me to her hockey playing friend in vancouver via facebook. Another girl from my tour came too and we cheered on the team - the buffalo chickens - and joined them after for a bbq and beer in the sunshine. We both also aquired a hockey puck that went over the sidelines as a memento. It was a really good day.

I'm on to Whistler tomorrow and hopefully will get to see some bears and participate in some white knuckle activities (allbeit crying and with my eyes closed).

I'll update one more time before returning home to see you all.

x x x

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[Dad]

At the casino
Is that a "lurker" standing next to you on the slots?