The past week

Grand Canyon

Last Wednesday we took off up to the Grand Canyon, which was about an hour drive from Williams. There are various routes and tracks you can take, and activities you can do, but due to time and money, we just did Desert View Drive which takes you along part of the South rim, where there are various view points you can pull over in. There had been wildfires up there the past few days so we saw a lot of destruction. We stopped at pretty much all of the view points, as every new part to see was just as exciting as the last! It is truly, truly spectacular, no photos can do it justice, you really have to see it for yourself. It is so vast and incredible, it’s hard to take it all in, and we barely touched the surface with what we did! We spent a few hours up there anyway, little isolated thunderstorms were moving across the canyon which was fascinating to watch, and in a few minutes the storm started to close in so we decided to leave and set off to Boulder City. We stopped for a toilet break on our way out of Grand Canyon in a secluded porta-loo thing, and we spotted a huge muddy paw print on the concrete right outside the toilet door! We both got freaked out, after I’d been I ran back to the car to wait for Phil! We really left at the right time as it absolutely started hammering it down, hail and all, which settled on the ground to make the roads a bit icy. Amazing how only the day before there had been fires, and then within 24 hours there is ice on the road! So it was a bit of a treacherous drive for the first hour or so, then it calmed down and we could see about 3 different storms happening around us in the distance, lightening left right and centre, we felt like storm chasers! And an eerie storm warning broadcast interrupted the radio saying a big storm was heading towards Flagstaff and moving about 15mph.

Hoover Dam was a couple of miles away from our hotel, so we stopped there on the way. We’d driven across the bridge over the dam on the way up to the canyon, but when we got all the way down to the dam we didn’t realise how high up it was and got a bit wobbly! Hoover dam was very cool, it took 5 years to complete in the 1930’s and lots of people died in the making of it. Including a dog that the workmen found as a stray puppy on the site, and so adopted it as their work buddy. It was 11 years old when it got run over by a lorry it was snoozing under one afternoon. Very sad. We got to the hotel and there were nice views of Lake Mead from the car park with a trail you can walk, we went a little way along it, took some pictures and then relaxed for the rest of the evening.

We left fairly early the next day, said a final good bye to Las Vegas as we drive past it! I was excited and nervous to drive across Death Valley with all the safety precautions you are told to make! But it was a very easy drive, and in total there are about 3 petrol stations across the width of Death Valley so it was no where near as dangerous as the drive to Vegas where over nearly 5 hours there was absolutely nothing! Drove through Furnace Creek and went past the turning for Badwater (lowest point below sea level in North America) but we reached -190ft below sea level whilst driving so were happy with that! Passed signs warning of ’extreme heat’ and eventually got to Stovepipe Wells Village and checked into our little cabin style room. It was very hot, but actually not as hot as Palm Springs.. Unless Palm Springs just allowed us to acclimatise to the heat easier. Either way it was nice to get back to some proper warmth! There was a great little gift shop next to our room that I spent ages in, could’ve bought a lot of stuff from there. Then we drove up to a place called Mosaic Canyon which was just round the corner, known as a ‘geologic wonder’. A narrow path created by waterfalls leads you through a canyon of naturally polished marble. It was very interesting. Another attraction near us was the Mesquite Sand Dunes, so we went there as the sun set. It was absolutely stunning, so peaceful, and we had a great time running up and down the dunes and getting covered in sand. We drank nearly 2 gallons of water that day! When we got back we had a dip in the pool to cool down but got freaked out by some huge bats that kept dive bombing into the pool to eat the bugs!

Mosaic Canyon

Walking along the top of a high dune!

We had planned to get up at 6am and leave early the next morning for Yosemite as it was about a 6 hour drive, but we overslept slightly and didn’t leave until half 8! It was an incredible and terrifying drive out of Death Valley, along bendy roads going higher and higher up the sides of mountains, much of the time with no barrier at the side, it made us both pretty shaky! We stopped at one point to take in the view over a canyon at 10,000 ft above sea level. Eventually we came across some greenery again and drove through a couple of funny little Western style villages. Finally we reached more forestry and entered Yosemite National Park. SUCH a beautiful place. I almost expected to see some little fairies hopping across a stream it was like an enchanted forest! We saw another coyote wandering around very close to some tourists, but we couldn’t stop in time to get a photo! Also saw chipmunks and a kangaroo rat! Each place we stopped had a different beauty to it. We again reached a height of 10,000 ft above sea level and again there some scary parts of the roads going up and down the mountains. We got to where we were staying which was kind of a run down brick wall with a tent on the side.. Not very secure, especially from bears as there are bear warnings and information everywhere! We were basically being held in by a couple of ties. We went to a little beachy area by the river near us, did our laundry, and attempted to get some sleep, though terrified of a bear coming in! I found a stick and kept it next to the bed. There are bear lockers outside your area that you have to lock EVERYTHING that could possibly be scented in, cosmetics, toothpaste, food, bottles, even just rubbish that might have food smells on them. We didn’t sleep particularly well, there were various screams throughout the night, coyotes howling and park rangers roaming (which did help make us feel a bit safer!) but we made it through and were up early to leave for San Francisco. We had friendly neighbours (although the man snored all night!) who we had chatted to quite a bit the night before, and again in the morning. They had recently been to the UK for the first time for a months holiday, and he gave us his number as they lived in San Francisco.

The drive for San Francisco involved the most tightly bended, hilly roads, not so scary but a lot of fun! We ended up driving through a very small, seemingly very religious, town that had a carnival going on, the whole population must’ve been on the street to watch, we felt extremely awkward driving through!! We just smiled and casually carried on.. We saw some eagles on the drive. And got to San Francisco with no problems, crossed Bay Bridge on the way through which we confused for Golden Gate, despite the fact it was grey, not orange! Found the hotel but had a lot of stress trying to park. Luckily we got told about the parking rules on a hill with wheels needing to be curbed, as we’d have ended up with a hefty fine and needing to retrieve the car otherwise! The hotel is nice and safe, but we are very close to ‘Western Addition’ which is a pretty sketchy area, so I began to feel very edgy about going out. We just chilled out in the room for the afternoon anyway and recuperated, I think we've both felt a little homesick for the first time. I did a lot of research on areas to avoid, read too many horror stories too. The next day we got psyched up to go to Golden Gate Park, but upon realising the bus stop was pretty close to a bad area I bottled it, so we got in the car and drove to Lombard Street instead which was great but annoying because we got stuck behind someone who was taking loads of pictures and so we were pretty much standstill for ages! I wanted to drive the street not sit on it! We needed food supplies when we got back, so Phil ventured out to the supermarket (I wasn’t brave enough) and I sat and worriedly awaited his return.  Took him about an hour and he described walking through Western Addition as frightening and the most intimidated he’d ever felt. I will never feel unsafe in London or anywhere in the UK again after being in the States I don’t think! Yesterday was Phil and my 4th year anniversary! I was feeling a lot more positive as we had a better plan for the day, we had to get up early to move the car for ’street cleaning’ so went and drove Lombard Street again which was way more fun this time, then went across the real Golden Gate Bridge to Marin Headlands/Vista Point for some spectacular views of the city and bridge, just as the sun was still rising above the city skyline. It was really lovely, and refreshing, there was a lot of fog sitting on the water below us. When we got back we got on a bus that took us straight to Marina, had to keep our heads down and brave Western Addition where there were lots of scary people on and off the bus, but it’s only a couple of blocks wide so we were fine after a couple of minutes. At Marina we then walked to Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39, saw the seals (who were celebrating their 21st birthdays!) and did major touristy bits. And when we’d done enough walking, we got on a totally rammed bus and went back to our room, got a pizza takeaway (been craving pizza ever since we left home!) and just had a really nice day overall. 

Golden Gate Bridge, complete with fog

Today we are going to do ’49 mile drive’ which takes you round most things you’d need to see in San Francisco! It is a very pretty city with the steepest roads I’ve ever experienced, but I definitely didn’t feel particularly safe for the most part, apart from yesterday, which prevented me from really being able to see it all and enjoy it as much as I could've. Tomorrow we leave for San Jose.