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Published: June 18th 2008
After the party time we had in Vegas we were ready to head off and do some nature - to have us a honeymoon. We assembled an elite squad for this early part of our honeymoon that consisted of the new Mr & Mrs T and the Freckleton based trio of Mum and Dad Thompson and Auntie Von - all in a ‘big’ mini van.
We found our mini van in the car park of the Mirage casino - just like the chap said, a blue Chrysler Town & Country (ok so it‘s not a cool name for a car but that baby packed a punch let us tell ya). After a bit of time and a krypton factor challenge we figured out a way of packing all five of us in the car and a whole lot of luggage too - it took a bit of doing - team work and all that but we managed it. So then Steve put the keys in the ignition to fire the bad boy up………..nothing……….not a sausage………bad boy (sounds better than Town & Country) wasn’t having any of it. We figured that because we’d taken so long to load it up the
immobiliser must have kicked in so Steve pressed the unlock button on the key fob…………..and the lights on the car parked next to us started to flash! Hmmmmmm, coincidentally the car next to us was also a blue Chrysler Town & Country! We’d spent a fair amount of time packing ourselves into the wrong flippin car! Still, with one practice session under our belts we were able to pack much quicker the second time around. Note made - always check the car registration against the one written on the key fob!
Finally on our way we headed east and made for the Grand Canyon, stopping off at the Hoover Dam along the way. The Hoover Dam - well, it’s a big dam, really big in fact - and the Grand Canyon, well that’s a big hole in the ground, really big in fact - about 217 miles long of a hole, about a mile deep and averaging about 10 miles width along it’s length - kind of like having a big hole in ground stretching all the way from Preston to London. We got to the canyon (south rim - Grand Canyon village) in time to see the sun
Lake Mead
Created by the Hoover Damset over it - spectacular it was too. As holes in the ground go, the Grand Canyon is very nice to look at indeed. On day 1 at the Canyon all five of our intrepid band completed the 6/7 mile rim trail - as the name suggests this is a walk along the rim and it gives you super great views down into the canyon - great.
On day 2 at the canyon three of us had an early start (Janine, Dad, Steve) as we attempted to secure ourselves a place in the famous Phantom Lodge. The Phantom is the place of lodging (other than camping) within the canyon and it can book up 13 months in advance! - and a booking we didn’t have and couldn‘t get. They have a ‘rule’ where by you can put your name on a wait list and then at 6.30am every morning at the Bright Angel Lodge reception (up on the rim), if they have any cancellations then they read out names off the wait list and if you’re there in person then it’s your lucky day! We didn’t want to miss out so we were all there for 6.15am for a
nervous 15 minute wait. It was like waiting to be announced the winner (or loser) of the X Factor - we had no idea if lady luck was going to be with us or against us. We had a plan B up our sleeves I.e. we had secured a camping permit and we’d arranged to hire a load of camping gear from the general store - but that would have meant carrying a lot of gear, including food. A stern faced ranger took hold of a microphone (oh yeah, they really build it up, our hearts were pumping) and read out a name from the list - the name of a female………but it wasn’t Janine! Doh. There was no response from the ensemble - where was this foolhardy woman??? - the ranger read the name again…….still nothing! The ranger read the next name from the list - as she read it a light from above shone through the window and we could hear angels singing - Steven Thompson, the ranger did say. With glee in his heart Steve practically ran to the ranger who said with a smile “guess where you’re going today?”. Lady luck was with us - bunk
beds, steak dinners and hearty breakfasts for all 3 of us! The ranger then read the next name on this list and the chap came forward and was told there was no bed for his missus - Janine had got the last female bunk bed - thank goodness the first person on the list was a no show!
Our three explorers then set off down the Bright Angel Trail into the base of the canyon, leaving Mum and Von to keep an eye on things up on the rim. The Bright Angel Trail is a trail that runs for about 10 miles right into the bottom of the canyon, to the Colorado River (this river has done a lot over millions of years to form the canyon) and finally to the Phantom Ranch lodgings. It was hot as we made our way down there and it only got hotter the deeper we went so we drank loads and loads of water. The trail is a pretty steep one and it’s hard on the legs both going down the trail and coming back up. The views were amazingly super spectacular, accompanied by lots of massive Condors (the heaviest of all
flying birds) whooshing about on the thermals - a brill walk it was. The steak dinners, wine and Budweiser we had down there were good too. We walked back out of the canyon the same way as we went in and surprisingly we actually walked up and out quicker than we walked down it...!
The next day we put the pedal to the metal, set up the cruise control and did some serious miles in the motor - about 500 odd miles to be almost precise. We headed out of Arizona and headed west right into California (ducking under Nevada and Las Vegas as we went) - stayed the night in a motor lodge just outside a random city. After a bit of a sleep we got up super early and headed north and up into Sequoia National Park - as the national park website says - Sequoia is home to immense mountains, rugged foothills, deep canyons and most importantly it’s home to the worlds largest trees - the Sequoia tree. Crickey, that place is a really nice place to be, beautiful indeed. We drove through the park up and down winding (hairpins galore) roads that gave us
spectacular views over much stunning scenery. We also got out for a few short walks, one taking us to a stunning vista and two walks around some of the trees including the worlds largest tree (General Sherman) and the worlds third largest tree too (General Grant). Big though General Sherman is, we all liked General Grant better, a more handsome tree he was. You could spend days in Sequoia NP (it‘s twinned with Kings Canyon) but we had to push on up through California towards the north - to Yosemite National Park.
After a few more hours of twisty winding pedal to the metal, we emerged through a tunnel to be greeted by an unbelievably spectacular site - the Yosemite Valley. Some people talk a lot about Yosemite and now we know why - if we ever did look upon a nicer valley then remember where it was we cannot - this place is proper full on jaw drop amazing - right up there in our top 2 most spectacular natural sights we’ve seen on our trip - right behind Iguazu falls. We spent a couple of days hiking and biking around Yosemite, taking in the spectacular views which
include lush valleys, loads of gushing waterfalls (including Yosemite Falls, the highest falls in North America), mountains and huge great massive granite rock formations reaching for the sky. There’s bears in Yosemite, lots of them (they have lots in Sequoia too for that matter) so you can’t leave any food (of any kind) or even cosmetics in your car as there’s a real danger that you won’t have much of a car to come back to if you do! Bears smell good - in fact your average bear can smell an open can of tuna from a mile away - we were told. If you are camping then no food in your tent, not if you don’t want to share your tent with a bear that is! We kept our eyes peeled for the bear but we didn’t see one although Dad Thompson, Richard and Sarah (whilst out hiking) did see the arse of one! He then did a quick about turn and returned the compliment whilst high tailing it back down the trail - Dad apparently had no desire to see the rest of that bear………….
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