End of Northern Trail and Road trip with Lynn

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24th July-Today we made our way to San Francisco baby! Woop woop! Our first stop was at the street where the house from Mrs Doubtfire is. We didn't see it though 😞 we saw a little row of houses called the painted ladies that had patterns on. We then drove through the Haight which is where all the hippies hung out in the streets in the summer of 69. We then walked the Golden Gate Bridge man! Been dying to do that since I saw it on Homeward Bound.



We spent the evening at Fisherman's Wharf where we did a sunset sailboat cruise past Alcatraz and under the bridge. They put on some nice snacks and we had free wine woop! Diet has taken a bit of a nose dive this week :/ Needless to say I was quite drunk during dinner oops! I had a gorgeous clam chowder and lobster tail yum! We finished the night off nicely in a country bar near our hostel 😊 The only downer is I have cankles!



25th July-Today we had a free day to explore the city so we started with a ride on the cable car....it was just like the movies! 'Please miss don't hang out of the cart'. Some people from the group went to que for Alcatraz at like 5am as they give out a few more tickets....nutters! We had lunch in Fisherman's Wharf, visited a famous bakery and chocolate shop before we visited the most crookedest street and steepest street. We led down backwards on the steepest....weird! We topped the day off by taking a stroll through the Haight and Golden Gate Park. I can't actually believe I managed to spend over a hundred dollars on clothes in this area....they is nice though! 😊 I said goodbye to my Asian elephant bag and replaced it with a San Francisco one. We went to the chinatown area for dinner at an Italian before exploring a few bars. We were going to do Chinese but the one recommended to us had a power cut :/ Tonight was full of drunkeness, drama, underage drinking (in America) and a whole lot of slut dropping! 😉



26th-Today we mainly had a driving day and had a stop off in the city of Monterey before getting to our campsite. A couple of us went to explore the aquarium.....it was like 40 dollars! It was okay but it's a bit like a museum. The penguins and sea otters were super cute though 😊 We saw feeding time with the otters and they were playing with plastic balls trying to get the treats out and were given blocks of ice with shrimp in that they banged against the windows we were peeking through to get them out. I also touched a shell crab thingy and a sea cucumber. One of the workers boyfriends came in and proposed to her on the steps in front of everyone...so cute!



When we were in Jackson one of the girls played a prank on the boys and put marshmallows in their sleeping bags, only she didn't realise they would melt and wreck them. One of them was fuming so tonight for a laugh we got her trip mascot (a green hippo she won in a machine) and decided to singe his tail, cut off his ear, fill him with marshmallows and hang him in the van....hilarious! All my idea...god I'm wicked! I laughed so much a bit of wee came out!



27th July-Today we made our way to Santa Barbara along highway 1. Apparently this is the best highway in America due to it's scenery. Along the way we stopped to look at the Big Sur waterfall and where the footings of an old house stood years ago. Shortly before arriving at camp we stopped at this funky looking place called the Madonna Inn where I had tea and banana cream pie mmm! I am a true American haha! Our campsite had a decent sized pool and jacuzzi so we pitched our tents and jumped in....I did my lengths so felt better after that 😊 It's our last night in camp and it was my groups turn to cook so we did BBQ for everyone and got drunk on goon (wine in a bag).



28th July-Last day wah!! We had a cooked breakfast this morning...Darin's pancakes are to die for! We stopped in Santa Barbara for a few hours before lunch to explore and shop. I picked up a bit of jewellery and finally got my hair cut! First time my sis hasn't done it in a decade! I found the whole ordeal very stressful but it looks okay. She can't blow dry for shit though...I was gonna be late for lunch so was just like 'don't worry about blow drying it nicely, just blast it' lol! We got into LA at around half four so went to do the walk of fame and saw the hand prints in the floor outside the Chinese theatre. I spent forever looking for Julia Roberts's star only to discover she declined one! I mean who does that? We had a glance at the Hollywood sign from a shopping mall but it was tiny! We then dropped the the Belgians off near the airport and made our way to the hotel.



Lynn wasn't there when I arrived as he got a bit lost :/ so I got ready for our last evening out with the group and as we were waiting downstairs he arrived....I ran over to him and gave him the biggest hug ever! I cried a little bit too! We were all going out for chicken and titties at Hooters but Lynn was too pooped so stayed in and went to bed. I had all you can eat boneless wings with garlic and Parmesan sauce mmm! Washed down nicely with a man size bud 😊 Got me a t shirt too! We finished our final night off at a rooftop bar looking out over the city with prosecco in hand woop!



29th July-Lynn and I met with Darin this morning to map out a route for us and I said goodbye to my tour buddies sniff sniff! Me, Ruth, Cassie and Sam are the awesome foursome! They best not replace me with anyone, as they're carrying the tour on for another three weeks. We then set off in search of bagels for breakfast before making the 120 mile journey to San Diego. We were going to buy a sat nav but as long as I look up the route before leaving wifi I can use my google maps which is pretty cool. Before we left LA I made him drive to the Hollywood bowl overlook which is where we could get a better look of the sign. It was of course amazing and the drive up through the hills and rich houses was cool too. We also bumped into a tour bus in the car park...oops!



We got to San Diego near the beaches around 3ish so stopped for some lunch and hunted down a motel. We ended up staying in a massive suite on the beach for like over 200 bucks! I was like 'Lynn we gotta get better at this'. After we checked in we hit the beach and caught some waves. The rip was pretty big so the lifeguard came around on his jet ski and asked the swimmers to get out and only the surfers could stay. So we retreated back to the hotel for a swim and shower. I got my laundry all sorted too. We had dinner at a beach bistro with live music. Chowder and cider....I can't get enough of it! I also started day 1 of my beach body workout....let's see how it goes. Good news on the cankle front....I can see my ankles again woop woop! It must be because I've been camping and not had my feet up enough.



30th July-We spent an hour catching some rays at the beach this morning before heading downtown....Lynn burnt his little white feet ouch! I decided to save us some money and booked us into a hotel for 100 bucks which I was pretty pleased with. We got there only to discover you had to pay $24 for parking as they didn't have any, it didn't have air con and it was actually a hostel! Massive fail on my part oops! We set off to explore and came across this massive ship called the USS midway that had a flight deck on top....pretty neat. We found a little area with lots of shops and restaurants....was like a mini village. We had jacket potatoes which weren't too good with microwaved cheese on the top and I had a Ben and Jerry's ice cream for dessert which was another fail because it melted down my hands faster than I could eat it 😞



After we checked into our 'hotel' we had a nap as walking around in the heat is exhausting! We then got ready and headed to the gas lamp quarter. Lynn broke his 20 year old Clark sandals and had to buy flip flops which he was not best pleased about. We were walking across a crossing when the heel just snapped off and was left abandoned in the middle of the road....hilarious! I pissed myself laughing! Still, he managed to find some flip flops on offer for $15 so not bad. We had a pint in an Irish bar, dinner in another bar with live music and I dragged Lynn to the cinema to finish the night off....finally got to see Tammy woop!



31st July-Today we were up and out of our boiling room before 8am and downstairs in the retro diner for breakfast....I was super good and had oatmeal (as they call it over here). We set off just after half 8 on our long journey to San Francisco. Lynn has never been and I loved it so we're going back 😊 The interstate 5 (motorway) has got to be one of the most boring roads ever! It's straight and the scenery is ugly! We did stop for lunch at Taco Bell though....another restaurant virginity lost! When we had our tacos the temperature outside was up to 110F...now I don't know exactly what that is in Celsius but I do know that it is hot!



Finally after a 500 mile drive we got there 😊 Then we had to faff around trying to find a motel. I told Lynn 'that's it! We're booking in advance from now on'. We nipped over the road for a burger and a beer and then headed to bed once I'd pre-brooked our next night.



1st August-Happy Birthday to my work buddy Charlotte 😊 I was sat having breakfast this morning when I realised I'd booked our hotel for last night....devastated! So that's 180 bucks down the drain! Grr! So today I played tour guide and we walked all the way up Lombard street to the crookedest part (booking a motel for the night on route), then we walked up part of the steepest street and got a pretty good photo at the top. I thought I was gonna die! The cars parked there look like they're gonna topple over. We then headed along Fisherman's wharf to Bubba Gump's shrimp house woop woop! I think all my American restaurants are crossed off the list now 😊 Got me a box of chocolates with the famous quote on.



I stopped in a wild western shop and picked up a real Stetson hat for my ranch 😊 just gotta get jeans now. Hopefully a pair of boots too if they're not too expensive. I then took Lynn on San Fran's famous cable cafe ride...I love this thing! We wanted to stand on the back of it but these two dudes pushed past us so we weren't allowed. I was fuming! But it worked out better for us because at the next stop the cable man let us hang off the side at the front....I was like 'haha take that suckers!'. We finished the day with a walk along hippy Haight street and a stroll through golden gate park. We walked and bused our way around for only 10 bucks each...not bad I say! We had Italian tonight and then hit the sack as we were shattered!



2nd-Today we were gonna check out the beach but San Fran is so cold and foggy this time around. So we walked the Golden Gate Bridge instead. Pity you can't see the top of it for Lynn's photos. We then set off on our 170 mile journey to Yosemite National Park and arrived in the little town of Mariposa where we have 3 nights booked. We checked in, I did all my extra flight and hotel booking for after Lynn has gone, did my exercises and went for a swim. We ate at this cute little diner when we got here in the afternoon so were still stuffed. I opted for soup and spinach salad at our restaurant this evening. I'm in the process of downloading Forrest Gump for us to watch but it's not ready yet :/



3rd August-Today we set off into Yosemite woop woop! Our first stop was the Mariposa grove of giant sequoia trees. I hadn't seen this grove before so was nice. They had 500 trees at this grove and a main one called the grizzly giant. We hiked 0.8 miles to see this one and then a further 1.5 miles up to the fallen tunnel tree which might I add was not as good as the one I saw that you could climb through. When we were getting on the shuttle bus at the mariposa grove the driver was telling all the ladies they were beautiful.....he just said hello to me...devastated!



So after this hard almost 5 mile hike up and down dirt hills my legs were no longer my own! I then guided Lynn up to glacier point which is where you can look down over the valley and see all around it. I did this last time but it's something you can't really miss. We picked up our table in a lovely restaurant near our hotel for dinner and prosecco and then went off to bed....Forrest Gump is still not ready 😞



4th August-We've been quite lucky on our hiking days as it's been overcast so not too hot whilst we're trekking 😊 As I didn't do it last time I decided to hike to Vernal fall with Lynn which was like 1.8 miles or something...I thought I was gonna die. But we stopped for a snack at the top so naturally I agreed to hike up to the top of Nevada fall too....again I thought I might die. I'm super proud of myself for doing it though. 7 mile round trip 😊 I will be skinny! Lynn who apparently never take any photos, wore his camera battery out. I still managed to do my exercises and go for a quick swim too! After our hike we stopped in the village for a look at the shop and a coffee and ice cream before driving back to the hotel. We just popped across the road for dinner in the evening before a bit of TV and bed. Forrest Gump is still not ready lol!



5th August-Today we set off towards Death Valley National Park. It was another long drive today covering 460 miles....we've reached our first 1,000 miles yay! We were travelling on this mega straight road so booted it and did 110mph....so much fun! I do hope those speed radars didn't catch us! We decided to stay in a little town called Pahrump which is about an hour and a half out of the park. This place is a ghost town! Nothing going on. When we arrived the owner was like 'so what else have you got planned besides the park?' This worries me :/ We're caravaning it which is so cool! Got our own little bathroom, kitchen and living room 😊 We bought breakfast, lunch and dinner stuff from Walmart so are doing it cheap style baby!



In the evening we just got dominos, watched a film and did our laundry. I shit my pants when I was in the site showers as someone tried to get into them. All I could see was the door knob shaking. Turns out it was Lynn wanting to tell me he was waiting for me so I didn't have to walk back on my own in the dark bless him!



6th August-So after some googling I mapped us out an itinerary for the park. I have to say I'm getting good at this navigating business! Our first stop was Zabriskie point where we climbed up this gravelly hill to look at the view. You can see the golden-brown mudstone hills that have different colours in them. We then went to the golden canyon. There is a sign that says hiking after 10am is not advised.....it was 11:10am. We tried to walk to the canyon which was only a mile away but it was like 100F so we turned back. Hottest place I've ever been! Apparently it's the hottest place on earth and once reached a high of 134F which is 57C. I thought I was actually going to melt! We then went to devils golf course which isn't actually a golf course but a salt lake that evaporated 2,000 years ago. You can hear the salt crystals popping in the heat.



Our next stop was badwater basin which is just salt that's nearly all white. This is the lowest point on the earth at 282 feet below sea level. After this we hit artist's drive where minerals in the rocks were shown in all different colours....really pretty! We were going to finish at Dante's view where we wandered out to where we could see across the whole valley....well worth the look! It was also 5,000 feet above the valley floor so was a bit cooler. By this point it was only like half 3 so we decided to drive out to look at the harmony borax works where there were a couple of bits of machinery left from when White gold was mined there 120 years ago. We then went to visit the mesquite flat sand dunes which were pretty cool! I stupidly walked out across them in flip flops....shit that stuff is hot! Our final stop was the 20 mule team canyon which ended up just being a slow windy 3 mile drive through what looked like the route they would've taken.



So I'm glad we've seen Death Valley but I wouldn't be in a hurry to come back lol! There were ticket machines dotted around but no toll booths to pay entry into the park. I guess they rely on people's honesty. We didn't buy a ticket! In the evening we had our micro dinners, amazing key lime pies out of boxes (best we've ever tasted) and popcorn with our cowboy film 😊



7th August-Happy Birthday to my lovely Dad 😊 54 today! So we packed up and left our little caravan behind this morning....was so much fun! As Lynn says...we've experienced being a part of American trailer trash haha! Today we made our way to Seligman....one of the towns left that's on the historic Route 66. On our way we stopped off to see the Hoover dam which is awesome! Bloody high too! When we got to Seligman the motel rooms were all themed and we got the cowboy themed room...perfect! It was amazing! We went for dinner in their pizza joint and there was an Elvis act performing who was pretty cool. We finished the night off nicely with a couple of games of pool.....at which I didn't stand a chance. I got an email today saying that my Celine Dion concert in Vegas has been cancelled due to her having inflamed vocal chords.....devastated!



8th August-Before we left this morning we explored the little town that was full of old fashioned cars etc. Apparently it's where the movie Cars was filmed. Our motel's sign was in it. We then made our 75 mile journey to Flagstaff which is near the Grand Canyon. We got there quite early so decided to do our lunch and micro dinner shop at Walmart and I nipped into the shoe shop and bought some American flag themed daps....they are amazing! I saw them once before and didn't get them...was gutted! I then dragged Lynn to the boot barn which was about 15 minutes away so I could get my boots and wrangler jeans for the ranch. We later discovered there was a shop right by our hotel...oops! Soz Lynny! After we checked in we just had a swim and a movie night. For someone who never watches TV I got 3 films into him! Including Forrest Gump which had finally finished downloading 😊



9th August-Happy Birthday to one of my girls Emily 😊 So off we went to the Grand Canyon today 😊 When we arrived we weren't really sure of which trail to do so just wandered around the rim and looked off a few viewpoints. We thought about doing a trail half way down but apparently it gets really hot so I was like nah! And plus if you can't go all the way to the bottom what's the point? I would've liked to do it on a mule but they were fully booked 😞 We also looked at doing the helicopter ride over the top but it was silly prices so we rented bikes and went out to one of the points. It was good fun and the views were amazing! Plus Lynn got to say he biked in the USA! On our way out of the canyon we stopped at Desert View to watch the sunset....we were sat on the edge of an old ruin. It was amazing to see the sun just disappear behind the hills. We decided to Pizza Hut it on the way home as we were both shattered! Lynn talked me out of eating a Hershey's cookie lol! Probs a good thing.



10th August-Happy Birthday to my Auntie Laura 😊 Today we decided to go and have a snoop around Williams....another Route 66 town. There wasn't an awful lot to do there and they had the Grand Canyon train there that departs once a day and you get a first class experience with lunch and everything....so gutted we didn't know about that earlier...it would've been amazing! It then started thunderstorming around lunchtime so we decided just to make our 200 mile journey to Vegas as there is literally just nothing between them. On the way I weighed myself....lost 4 lbs woo hoo! Finally getting somewhere 😊



We booked ourselves into the quad which is next to our hotel for tomorrow night because it was super cheap! Once we'd checked in we went off to explore the strip. We finished the night off at the Bellagio fountain show which is just amazing! The water is choreographed to the music and they change it for each song. I think we watched it like 3 times! We were hopefully going to meet up with Stacey's parents and grandparents tonight but I'd left my phone in flight mode so didn't get their texts 😞



11th August-This morning we face timed Lynn's grandchildren and Dylan asked if we were still in our camper van....so cute! I finally got to see Mand and Mat then and cried a little bit when we hugged....I was so excited to see them! I thought they might have put Stace in their suitcase but she wasn't there boo! Sniff sniff! We all went to soak up some sun and have beers at the local Irish bar outside the hotel then. Mand went back to the room as she didn't feel too well and Avril and Bob went to have lunch whilst me, Lynn and Mat went to explore. We wandered for ages up the strip and went past the Paris bit, New York bit and right up to the Luxor section which was pretty cool! They made a hotel out of the pyramid...it's amazing how they do these things. We may also have snuck a McDonald's in too oops!



This evening we had tickets booked for the linq which is a big wheel like the London eye but Mand is sick bless her so we managed to swap them for tomorrow night 😊 So it was just me, Lynn and Mat for dinner and we went around the corner from the hotel to this lovely Italian where they give you free wine, salad or soup, gorgeous garlic bread and a main all for like 30 bucks! It was gorgeous but made me so full! I practically waddled back to the hotel. We did take Mat to see the Bellagio fountains first though...I could watch these every night! When we were wandering back through the casino in our hotel I was tempted by a game of roulette but am gonna wait til the last night. Today the world also lost a great actor in Robin Williams....so sad ❤️



12th August-Today we just relaxed and had a pool day. I was kind of hoping to get some swimming in but the pool is shaped like a snake and full of drunk people so not really possible. I kind of wished I could get drunk and party with them. I soooo wanted to go clubbing in Vegas.....I'm thinking of returning for my 30th-start saving your pennies girls! I wanna see the chippendales too 😉



We met with Mat, Avril and Bob for dinner and Mand was feeling better but didn't fancy food so came out for the wheel ride later. We went back to the same Italian because Avril and Bob liked it so much. I didn't really mind as I fancied something else on the menu. After our wheel ride we took Mand to see the fountains and then headed back. I sat down at a roulette table to try and work out how to play....I think I'm getting it! I was gonna play my 20 bucks but Lynn convinced me into saving it for tomorrow night before we go.



13th August-We had a very productive day today. After breakfast we jumped on the monorail down to the Luxor so we could do the Titanic exhibition. It was brilliant! They gave us our own passenger cards with a name of someone who was actually on the ship. They had real artefacts from the ship and the layout was just like it. There were cabin hallways to walk through, the grand staircase, the outside deck with a night sky, and a real iceberg! At the end was a big board of the names of survivors and people who lost their lives. Mine was a 3rd class passenger who died 😞 Quite a few passengers were meant to be on different ships but changed their tickets at the last moment...so sad!



We then jumped on the bus and went down to Freemont Street which is where the old Vegas is. We had lunch and then rode the zip wire over the crowds. It only went like 2 blocks but it was great fun. Lynn managed to smack himself in the face with the straps when we hit the brakes because he held them too close to his face....tit! After we'd had a wander through and Lynn had got some souvenirs we caught the bus back up the strip to get ready to go out. We went to Mand and Mat's room for some champagne first to celebrate him winning his archery competition and becoming the world champion again 😊 Woop woop! Well done Mat!



I couldn't face going back to that Italian again as I was seeking something different so we went to this restaurant opposite the Bellagio and I had steak and chips mmmm! I nipped into the Paris bit to use the loo and it had a big sky with the legs of the Eiffel Tower sticking through....was really neat! After dinner we headed back to drop everyone off and went to watch the Bellagio fountains just one last time hehe! Both me and Lynn thought it was the best one we'd seen 😊 We then headed down to have a proper look inside the Venetian which had the river and everything and had a sky on the ceiling that looked just like it was real. Unfortunately the boat rides were closed so we went outside and watched the volcano performance at the Mirage before heading back. Before bed I played my 20 bucks on the roulette table. I won 17 bucks on my first round but then lost it. The woman was really nice and helped me a bit. She also let me play my last 6 dollars to finish up (you're supposed to have a minimum of 10) Xx

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