Blogs from North America - page 9437

First and most important, Nancy is still alive and did NOT fall out of the boat!!!!! Okay, now for the day. It is becoming an Griswold family adventure as we stayed in the Hualapai Lodge (prononced Wall-a-pie but Julie couldn't get it so she just called it the Oompah Loompah Lodge - no disrespect to our Native American friends intended of course!) If you plan to visit next summer call your breakfast order in today and it might be ready, maybe... The restaurant is simply the worst we've experienced but we are truly in the middle of NOWHERE and they are the only game in town (Literally!). We took a school bus on a bumpy 45 minute ride to the bottom of the canyon where we saw wild burros (and, no, we were not just looking ... read more

Tuesday 26th - Off to the St Lawrence Hired a car and set off to explore the north shore of the St Lawrence. Drove through Quebec city, lots of tourists, did not stop the car. Maybe another day. The first place we are aiming for is Tadoussac, just around from the Saguenay fjord. We have no accommodation booked. We need cash. Arrive in La Malbaie around 6:30pm hoping to find an ATM and maybe somewhere to stay rather than pushing on to Tadoussac tonight. There is one bank in Malbaie. It does not accept Visa cards. After searching town for another bank I remember I have a Mastercard debit card, quel clot (that is Quebec French for silly me). We have cash but nowhere to stay. I try telephoning the hostel in Tadoussac but the telephone ... read more

We left Osoyoos at 5:45 am, stopped for breakfast in Hedley. Katherine drove until Manning Park, then we switched drivers and Kath tried to catch a few winks while Roberta completed the perilous Hope-Princeton highway. She awoke in Chilliwak, when Roberta left the highway and got on a bumpy side road to get some gas. The bumpy road got incorporated into her dream somehow, in which Roberta had just driven over a cliff, and they were headed for an impact in the trees below. Nice dream to wake up from. We stopped in Abbottsford to pick up some corn for dinner, and were home before 1 pm. Vanita made the final climb up Mountain Highway to home, where Jellicoe was waiting for us in the carport, ready for some spoiling to make up for being left ... read more

Everything Is Bigger In Texas Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand welcome to the weekly-ish update of Tris's American Antics, taking you behind the scenes of the most audacious world trip ever!! I'll refrain from using big claims to make myself sound more impressive starting........now. Last week found us in Page, Arizona, so we'll kick it off from there. Fresh from a good night's sleep and a load of washing courtesy of Mrs Burke, we set out on the afternoon of the 18th on the way to Phoenix, by way of a hole in the ground made famous by the fact that it is, in fact, a FUCK-OFF hole: The Grand Canyon. Much of which can be said about this natural icon has already been said, but a few things must be pointed out, in order to give those who have ... read more

In the farming hills of Vera Cruz state, about 50 K from the Gulf of Mexico, I found silence and livestock rolling in the grass. You need a compass up there to navigate because there are no road signs to speak of. Coffee producing mountain towns like Coatapec and Xico, about 10 km from Jalapa (Xalapa), offer unusual access to rural life.... read more