Date October 2009
States Visited – 6
New –
- Montana
- Wyoming
- South Dakota
- Colorado
Re-visit –
- Utah
- California
Itinerary :
18 nights in total, staying –
- Los Angeles CA (LAX airport) 1 night
- Red Lodge MT 1 night
- Gardner MT 1 night
- Yellowstone WY 2 nights
- Sheridan WY 1 night
- Keystone SD 2 nights
- Denver CO 1 night
- Fruita CO 1 night
- Moab UT 2 nights
- Oakland CA 1 night
- Yosemite National Park CA 1 night
- Sequoia National Park CA 1 night
- Los Angeles CA (Anaheim) 3 nights
Details :
USA 2009 – Big Sky Country, Icons and National Parks
In October 2009 we set out to cover a few of the US “iconic” tourist locations. Again I’ve been able to fall back on Adrienne’s emails to fill in the detail of the trip. Though, this trip wasn’t really too hard to remember ! We had been able to secure really cheap flights – about $880 each from memory – so after having the Southwest “bite us” the year before, we were keen to get back and explore further afield.
And somewhat like our 2008 tour, we spread ourselves across 3 areas on this tour –
October 1
Adrienne, Liam and I left Sydney on a late night Virgin Australia flight. The flight was very nice and the economy seat probably one of the most comfortable I have had on these long trips. Not that I really slept any better but I was certainly more comfortable being awake !
Late night departure meant an afternoon arrival in LA. We were really just having an overnight stop before an early morning flight north so we stayed at the local Marriott near the airport. This gave us a chance to get our gadgets sorted and Adrienne to set up her local sim card so she had internet access on her Ipad. As usual on our first night after the flight, we were asleep pretty early.
October 2
We then had an early morning Delta flight, ultimately to Billings Montana but via Salt Lake City Utah. Arriving in Billings, we collected our first car for this part of the trip – a Nissan SUV – and headed to Red Lodge Montana for our next overnight stop. On the flight to Billings over parts of the mountains, we could see lots of white capped peaks. We were watching the weather closely as one of the planned highlights for the first part of the trip was to drive the Beartooth Highway.
On route to Billings MT
The Beartooth Highway has been described as “the most beautiful drive in America” so we were very much looking forward to it. As we drove into Red Lodge it was certainly cold and there were patches of snow on the ground. We could certainly see the mountains where we were due to be heading the next day were white capped ! We enquired with the lady at the reception at the hotel when we arrived and the news she had wasn’t good. There was “snow in them thar hills” and we would have to wait and see what the weather bought that night.
Somewhat apprehensive about our prospects, we drove around the small town a bit and found a pizza and steak place for dinner – Red Lodge Pizza Co. They also introduced me to one of the best named beers I’ve found in the US so far – Moose Drool ! It wasn’t too bad and we enjoyed our meal of freshly made local pizzas before heading back to our motel for the evening.
October 3
The day dawned very cold and looking out the window there seemed to be some fresh light snow. We headed down to breakfast and to find out the weather forecast. It wasn’t good. There had been more snow in the mountains overnight and the Beartooth was closed until the plows could get up there and clear it. So it would be at least late in the day before there was any likelihood of it being open – if at all. So “the most beautiful drive in America” would have to wait for another time.
But the lady at reception was very helpful suggesting an alternative route to get to our next destination, Gardiner Montana. So after a nice breakfast we headed off bound for the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway which would get us to Cooke City – basically at the other end of the Beartooth Highway – and then on to Gardiner. The scenery along the way was just spectacular and there was plenty of snow in patches along the way.
Chief Joseph Scenic Byway
We arrived in Cooke City for lunch at a local cafe and then headed to our first stop in Yellowstone National Park. Heading to Gardiner, we would see the northern parts of the park – and Wyoming – before leaving the park to spend the night in Gardiner. So not far from Cooke City we came to the entrance to the Park, and still having our Annual National Parks Pass valid from our trip the year before, headed on into the Park. It wasn’t long before we came upon the first of many bison who roam the park. We also managed to spot a coyote – way off in the distance – and were amused at the other locations we came across where groups of people had stopped “for a sighting” ! In most cases the word was going around there was a coyote/wolf/bear off in the distance, somewhere, supposedly, but we never managed to get a glimpse of anything.
We stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs, the first “thermal ” sightings for us, and wandered around the boardwalks taking in the weird formations. As we left the Park for the day, we drove through the Teddy Roosevelt Arch which commemorates the establishment of the Park and is inscribed “For the benefit and enjoyment of the people” – it being the first national park established in the US in 1872.
Our motel for the evening was situated on the hill above Gardiner so we had a good view back to the arch and park. That night we ate at a local steakhouse – Adrienne still says it was the best steak she has ever had !
Early start tomorrow – There have been fires in the park and the road that we need to take to Old Faithful has been blocked by debris which they are working to clear. At this stage the road will be open for an hour in the middle of the day so we have to time our day tomorrow to make sure that we can arrive at the blockage by 12 pm.
October 4
We were up before dawn this morning for a quick breakfast before heading back into the park. At the entrance we were met with the very welcome news that the roads were open so we didn’t have to rush to be at the lake by 12pm. There is a lot to see before we get there so an early start was in order. We took a photo of the classic stone arch entrance to the park that was opened by Teddy Roosevelt. Near the entrance is a small sign to inform you that you are crossing the 45th parallel – we took a photo to commemorate being exactly half way between the equator and the North Pole !
Our first stop was Norris Geyser Basin which we had pretty much to ourselves. The reason we had it to ourselves was that it was bitterly cold. It’s an eerie landscape, the steam rises from dozens of hot pools and geysers, and places you in a drifting, foul smelling fog. We really were extremely cold but it was still fascinating to walk the boardwalks ( some covered in ice) to watch the pools bubble and hiss. The temptation to bend down and put frozen fingers in the water was unbearable!
After Norris we headed eastward across the park to the Canyon area. We made a brief visit to the information centre which had some interesting displays about the volcanic nature of the park, before heading off again to do the North and South rim drives of the area called the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Arizona may have the bigger Grand Canyon but it doesn’t have steam vents bubbling up beside the raging river ! There are two sets of waterfalls into the canyon and the river flows very fast over rapids for the length of it. The canyon walls are stained red, yellow, orange and pink by the thermal features and the comparison to the blue-green water is striking. We made several stops along the rim, finishing up at Artists Point which has the classic view of the canyon – there were a lot of people there including one full size tour bus. Seeing this crowd made us wonder what it must be like here in summertime – the crowds must be crazy!
After the Canyon we headed down to Yellowstone Lake – a beautiful stretch of water 4 miles wide and 6 miles long. We stopped at a couple of places looking for somewhere to have our lunch but everything was very crowded – many of the park facilities are closed for the season and those that remain open are packed to the rafters. Luckily we had bought some snack foods last night as we weren’t sure what we would do about lunch today if the road was still blocked, so we found a quiet spot by the lake and ate a picnic lunch in the car – it was too cold to sit for long at a picnic table.
First stop after lunch was the Lake Geyser Basin – this one is unusual as it is sited right on the edge of the lake – in fact some of the geysers are in the lake! Liam lingered by each bubbling pool as the steam was much warmer than the air but the smell was not so nice!
After there we climbed up Craig Pass over the continental divide and headed down into the Old Faithful Village region. Fate was kind to us as we arrived only 15 minutes before Old Faithful was due to blow. There is a massive semi-circular boardwalk around the geyser with 2 rows of seating. By 3 o’clock it was standing room only as the crowd waited impatiently for it to go off. The geyser sends up a few preliminary teasing puffs and then suddenly away she goes – oohs and aahs from the assembled crowd ! She is the only geyser that we have seen blow so far – the others in the park are less frequent and less “faithful” but I’m hopeful that we’ll see at least one more tomorrow.
Our room at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge is comfortable but we’re noticing the lack of TV and Internet! Adrienne and I went for a walk before dinner to take a look at the classic Old Faithful Inn – built in 1903. The main lobby is constructed of logs and soars 7 stories high with a massive stone fireplace – an extraordinary building. We booked to have dinner in their dining room tomorrow night, but this evening we had a pleasant meal in the Obsidian room here at Old Faithful Snow Lodge.
Not really sure what our plans are for tomrrow as we are waiting to see how the weather unfolds – at this stage they are predicting a maximum of 32 degrees (Fahrenheit) and snow so we may not be travelling too far from Old Faithful.
October 5
It’s been a day of extremes – dominated by ice and boiling water.
When we woke this morning there was about 3 inches of snow on the ground. It looked very welcome as despite an open window we’d cooked most of the night – in most of the hotels we can’t seem to get the temperature below tropical. The air is incredibly dry too so you wake up at midnight feeling like a shrivelled up leaf – we haven’t been sleeping well.
Breakfast in the hotel restaurant was OK – a fairly ordinary breakfast buffet, not included in the room rate, but adequate. The waitress was very nice and told us of a drive up the road that was well worth doing.
Initially we thought the weather looked too poor to attempt to visit the Grand Tetons so we headed off down the road to see some of the many geyser basins that lie in the Old Faithful region. After a while the sky seemed to be clearing a bit so we thought we’d give the Grand Teton drive a go. After an hour and a half we’d just reached the southern border of Yellowstone and we realised that with the weather closing in again it really wasn’t worth the extra drive – it would have been more disappointing to drive all the way down and discover that the peaks were invisible in the clouds.
The drive wasn’t wasted as we saw some pretty waterfalls and another amazing canyon. The snow was falling fast on the drive back so we took it slowly and arrived back at Old Faithful for lunch in the Geyser Grill. It was quite magical eating lunch and watching the snow fall outside the windows !
The snow eased after lunch so we headed back out to view more geysers, hot pools, mud pots and steam vents. Our breakfast waitress’s suggested drive was through the Firehole Canyon – another narrow ravine with a rushing river coursing through it. There is a swimming hole at one end that is, I’m sure, very popular in the summertime (judging by the number of parking spaces). However today it held no appeal at all – the snow had eased but it was still bitterly cold – Adrienne was wearing a singlet, a skivvy, another 3/4 sleeve t shirt, a fleece jacket and a parka as well as two layers of pants, a hat, a scarf and gloves – but was still freezing!
At one stop we were excited to see a coyote up very close – he had wandered into the parking lot with his tail between his legs but a hopeful expression on his face. I suspect they are accustomed to scrounging food from park visitors – despite the many signs instructing you not to feed the wildlife.
Back at the hotel Liam had had enough of the weather and decided to stay indoors but Adrienne and I were keen to take a walk around the geyser basin near the hotel ( we had only visited Old Faithful geyser the day before). We were fascinated by one pair of small geysers that acted like a dual drain. One hisses for a while, then fills slowly with water and finally bubbles up fiercely for a minute or so before it drains away completely, then the other one takes over and repeats the cycle. They share the limelight over and over, taking about 10 minutes to cycle through the whole process. While we were watching this we could also see Old Faithful popping up in the distance, right on time.
Walking back to the hotel we were blocked briefly by a few bison that had strayed onto the path – we had to wait for them to move on a little before we walked cautiously past them – they really are big and those horns look nasty!
We only arrived back just in time to head over to the Old Faithful Inn for dinner in the grand dining room. Its a gorgeous room, with high log ceilings and another massive fireplace. Liam and Adrienne ate Elk and Bison Bolognese! I ate what we assume was a local trout. The fishing season is still in full swing here – we’ve seen several very keen anglers standing up to their thighs in the icy waters. That’s an experience they can keep!
The snow is expected to continue tomorrow – we are hoping we can still take our planned route across to the East entrance of the park and so on to Sheridan. Some of the road is very high so if it’s closed we’ll be forced to go out the nearby West entrance and detour all the way around the park back up into Montana – it would make for a very long day.
October 6
We woke to a winter wonderland this morning!
However, Adrienne thought I was rapidly disenchanted when I had to scrape 4 inches of snow off the car before we could head off. As we had suspected, several of the roads within the park were closed due to the weather so we had to leave via the west entrance and detour all the way around the park to head east. The drive up through Montana to reach the Interstate at Bozeman is supposed to be scenic but the still-falling snow limited visibility pretty badly. We saw several snow ploughs working the road and took it easy – we passed one car that had gone off the road into a ditch and that was good motivation to keep below the speed limit.
The snow stayed with us for almost the entire day – once we hit the high plains it was hard to tell where the ground finished and the sky started as the only colourful thing in the landscape was the car.
We stopped in a little two-bit town along the interstate to buy lunch at the local IGA and then hit the road again.
The only tourist attraction for the day was a visit to the Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, the location of “Custer’s Last Stand” – they have a museum and a monument on “Last Stand Hill” as well as an extensive graveyard and various interpretive displays. Unfortunately most of it is out in the weather and it was just to cold and wet to walk around.
We pulled into Sheridan close to 5pm and luckily got a room at the first hotel on our list. (we were doing a bit of “winging it” as far as accommodation was concerned on this trip – way out of Adrienne’s comfort zone ! Mind you, she had a pretty long researched list of options as backup !)
October 7
We started to work our way through the movies today!
Luckily we woke this morning to bright sunshine – but the snow still lay thick on the ground for as far as the eye could see. While we ate breakfast ( included in the room fee!) we noticed a big map on the wall with lots of pins in it. They invited their customers to pin their home location on the map – only problem it was a very insular map – just the USA ! There were a few scraps of paper pinned to the sides with “Lincoln, UK” and “Majorca, Spain” but clearly they don’t get a lot of international visitors to the Wingate Inn Sheridan WY. Of course Adrienne pinned a little piece of paper to the bottom left hand corner of the map with “Sydney Australia” on it. Adrienne mentioned to the desk clerk that we were their first Aussies and he laughed and said he was from Jakarta! We mused later on what would attract an Indonesian to work in Sheridan Wyoming!
Our first movie was at the Devils Tower in northeast Wyoming – we had the music from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” playing as we approached this amazing volcanic plug that soars above the landscape – didn’t spot any aliens though.
A little further down the road we hit our 18th state – South Dakota! – headed towards the Black Hills and the Spearfish Canyon. The drive up the canyon was beautiful – fall foliage running along the edge of the briskly flowing river and above them the walls of the canyon soared, covered with pine trees and a dusting of snow. We drove up a dirty and icy road 3 miles to see the location where some of the movie “Dances with Wolves” was filmed.
From Spearfish we climbed a high pass and then drove down a deep gulch into Deadwood – it was a sleazy town in the 1880’s and it’s a sleazy looking town now. We believe there are currently over 20 casinos in the town and it reminded us of Vegas but without the grandeur and the neon. We did enjoy our brief stop at the Mount Moriah cemetery to see the graves of Wild Bill Hickock ( shot in a saloon brawl!) and Calamity Jane – Adrienne thought of Doris Day and Howard Keel in the movie, of course 🙂
Our final drive for the day was across the top of the hills through heavily wooded country ( dusted with snow) and past mountain lakes to reach Keystone – the tiny town near the Mt Rushmore memorial. Luckily they had a room at the Holiday Inn Express and we were settled in for the next two days.
We’re waiting for the morning to drive up the 3 miles to Mt Rushmore – it’s supposed to be at its best in morning light – I just hope it’s not raining/snowing tomorrow. Another big cold front is expected through in the next couple of days.
Dinner tonight was in the historic Ruby House hotel – all rich red velvet and fringing and old photos – felt like we’d wandered into an old west Saloon movie set !
We have realised why Americans are, generally, overweight. They just don’t eat vegetables! Every night we’ve been offered a soup or salad with dinner – we’ve always taken the salad because the main course comes with potatoes and not much else. We’re starting to crave zucchini or broccoli !
The steaks and chicken have been lovely but their pasta’s etc have been pretty dreadful so far. Tonight Adrienne ate a forgetable Buffalo Stroganoff ! Liam has eaten salmon 4 nights out of 6 and it’s been lovely each time – Adrienne thinks she might try the fish tomorrow!
October 8
We woke to a reasonably clear sky and a chilly morning.
After breakfast we headed the 3 miles up the road to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial – we spotted the mountain on the drive up – such a thrill ! The walk up to the main viewing platform is through an avenue of columns and flags – on each column is the name of a state, the year that it was admitted to the union and it’s order e.g. Delaware was the 1st state etc. We dropped into the Information centre first and were a little disappointed to learn that the Presidential Trail was closed as well as some of the scenic roads in the area – the snow and ice was still quite thick on the ground up here in the hills.
The Presidential trail is the walking path that takes you right up to the base of the mountain – Liam and Adrienne were sorry that they wouldn’t be able to look up George Washington’s nostrils !
There is also a large museum there with some very interesting displays about the construction of the monument as well as the four Presidents. Liam’s favourite part of the museum was a section where you selected a part of the monument displayed on a video screen and then pushed down on a classic explosives detonator – there was a satisfying explosion noise and the image on the screen blew up! He blew up quite a lot of the mountain before he was finished.
As we were driving away from Mt Rushmore, Liam realised that his PSP (handheld game) was missing – after a little discussion we realised that he’d left it at the restaurant where we ate dinner last night – Not happy !
We drove on down the road to see the huge Crazy Horse memorial. After the development of Mt Rushmore, the local Indian Chief commissioned one of the sculptors who had worked on Mt Rushmore to start a massive sculpture of Chief Crazy Horse astride a horse. In 60 years they have only achieved the carving of his face and the general shape but the scale of the structure is 4 times the size of Mount Rushmore and it’s being entirely funded by visitor money – no federal funding. We were chatting to a local later in the day and he said that around here they don’t believe it will ever be completed. In fact there have been engineering studies done that say the planned statue is simply impossible, given the stresses etc in the rock.
After Crazy Horse we headed back up through the hills back to Keystone where we were very happy to find that the manager of the restaurant had Liam’s PSP – much happier! We wandered around the shops in the town and Adrienne bought a Mt Rushmore charm for her bracelet as well as some Black Forest fudge from the Fudge store. There are a huge number of fairly tacky touristy attractions in the Black Hills region, all living off the back of the Mt Rushmore Memorial attraction. We drove down towards Rapid City to take a look at another of the sets that were used in the filming of “Dances with Wolves”. Adrienne was also tickled to see a sign saying that “North by Northwest” had been shot in the area – in fact at the museum at the Monument they showed a video of many clips of movies and advertisements featuring Mt Rushmore, including that memorable scene where Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint are dangling from Jefferson’s nose !
The weather was steadily getting colder through the afternoon and as we left our restaurant this evening to walk back to the hotel we discovered it was snowing again – It’s predicted to continue into tomorrow – hope our flight isn’t delayed!
October 9
Not an exciting day today – mainly “in transit” to the next part of our tour.
We woke to find that the town had had another thorough dusting of snow overnight – it looked very pretty ! As we drove down to Rapid City you could get a sense of how early this cold snap has come – many of the Aspens still have not only gold leaves but green ones – under the weight of the wet snow they were bowed over almost double. Power failures have been a big problem with trees down all over the place.
We stopped at a mall in Rapid City so Liam could do a little birthday shopping – we noticed last night how good the exchange rate is so he had a bit more bang for his buck.
Rapid City is only a regional airport so there wasn’t much to do there – we poked around the little gift shop and had some lunch. With the poor weather, our plane was delayed on it’s flight in from Chicago so we left Rapid City an hour late. The flight was short and uneventful but as we dropped down into Denver Adrienne was starting to get worried – the cloud cover was very low! When we finally dropped out of the cloud we could see the runway but very little else – the airport is way out East of the city in the middle of the plains. When we landed we couldn’t even see the terminal building until we’d taxi’d a little closer – the main terminal looks like a camp full of teepees. It’s a huge airport with three sets of gates connected by a couple of train lines. We felt very sorry for the number of people on the plane with tight connections – there would have been a lot of people missing their onward flights.
We collected our new car and were offered the opportunity to choose it ourself from a long line of SUV’s. My crew thought I picked well – we have a Chevy Equinox and it’s a much fancier car than our last one.
Our plans to drive up to the Rocky Mountain National Park to do the alpine drive through/across the park was scuppered by the weather – the road has been closed for several days and with the snow falling in Denver we knew it would not have opened since the last time we’d checked. So we decided to head directly west and stopped for the night at the Fairfield Inn by Marriot at Denver West.
The snow and the traffic were very thick as we crossed the outskirts of Denver – we could see the highrises of downtown in the gloom but had no hope of viewing the mountains!
Dinner at the Lone Star Steakhouse next door to our hotel was tasty and, as usual, excessively abundant. Adrienne said she had lost some weight before we left home but was sure she had stacked it back on again since !
The weather predictions tonight are for continuing cold – in fact they’re predicting “record lows” for Denver in the next couple of days. Yellowstone will have a maximum of 1 degree ( Fahrenheit!!!) tomorrow and Rapid City is expected to be as cold as it normally is in January! We may have done well with the exchange rate this trip ( as compared to last year) but we seem to have brought a dive in the temperatures instead!
We’re hoping that the roads are OK heading west tomorrow – they’ve opened the ski fields at Vail (the direction we are heading) so I’m sure they’ll be working hard to keep the roads clear up into the mountains. We had originally booked an ordinary sedan for this leg of the trip but I decided it was worthwhile to upgrade to a 4 wheel drive – it’s a little more reassuring when the roads can be problematic.
October 10
The skies were clear in Denver this morning so that we could finally see the mountains as we headed out along I70 West.
We started to climb fairly soon up into the ski areas past some very wealthy looking towns – huge mountain houses on big lots with fabulous views. As we climbed, the skies got greyer but the snow held off – except on a couple of the ski fields we passed where they were working hard with their snow making machines on some of their runs.
We stopped in the Ski resort of Vail to find a restroom and to take a little squiz at the town – we were trying to find a pharmacy as I now had Liam’s sore throat and we needed to stock up on cold meds and throat lozenges. In Vail we could buy furs, golf clubs and real estate but not an aspirin! It’s a pretty township – all pseudo European Alpine but a ski town outside the season is a bit of a tomb. There weren’t many people around.
We gave up on the pharmacy and headed back out west. The road through Glenwood Canyon was spectacular – the road splits to an almost double decker arrangement and parts of it are slung over the canyon in the same way that Seaview Bridge sweeps over the ocean down at Stanwell Park. The river gurgles along at the base of the canyon and at this time of year it’s lined with golden Aspens – very pretty. We also passed through several tunnels along the road this morning – it was clearly easier to go through the mountains in several places when they were building the roads than to try to go over the top.
Finally we arrived at Grand Junction, CO for a late lunch. We also finally found a Safeway where we could grab the cold meds! From Grand Junction it’s only a short drive up the massive cliffs to the Colorado National Monument – Rim Rock Drive meanders along the very edge of the cliffs in and out amonsgst the massive rock canyons with amazing views down each canyon and down to the towns of Grand Junction and Fruita. We made several stops along the drive for photos of striking red rock towers and crumbling cliffs etc. The red rock under the bright blue sky was awesome and the silence was wonderful – we could hear the wind and occasionally the voices of people carried across from the other side of a canyon.
I think a Geologist would have found much to entertain them in the canyons – we could see the different layers of rock tilting upwards along the canyon walls. In places the canyon walls reminded us of a big crumpet – with tubes of rock running from top to bottom and big chunks bitten out of it !
A short stop at the Visitor Center and then we were driving the switchbacks back down into the valley to find the Comfort Inn at Fruita – our home for the night. Fruita is only a small town but we discovered a nice little BBQ and Grill restaurant next door – $39 for dinner for the 3 of us!
At dinner we asked Liam what he liked best about the holiday so far – in order he mentioned the car, the hotels and the restaurants – it was only with a little prompting that he considered some of the sights! Ho hum!
Tomorrow we head on to Utah.
October 11
We only had a few miles driving this morning before we hit the border of Colorado and Utah. The landscape was very bare and pretty dull until we turned off the interstate to drive the Colorado Scenic Byway for the last 30 miles or so into Moab – I don’t think it’s any exaggeration to say that Adrienne and I had our chins on our chest for most of the drive. We had forgotten how stunning the desert canyon landscapes could be in Utah but we were rapidly reminded by this winding drive along the banks of the green Colorado. The red, red canyon walls rose up on either side with extraordinary blasted shapes towering here and there. Unfortunately the morning light was not the best for photography but, to be honest, I don’t think even sunset light would have enabled us to convey the beauty of the drive.
As soon as we hit the byway we started to notice something we haven’t had on any of our other National Park visits – people! Every other time we’ve visited a park it’s been out of season but the Fall is peak time for this part of the world and there was a lot of traffic and a lot of competition for parking at the various viewpoints.
We drove up one of the dirt sideroads to another scenic spot but even here there were several cars – people love hiking and mountain biking the trails in the region.
We finally arrived in Moab in time to grab lunch at the local diner. Moab is a touristy little desert town – in many ways it reminded Adrienne of a desert version of Queenstown in NZ. It’s an “activities” town – there are jetboat tours, 4wd tours, ATV tours, rock climbing tours and small plane tours. Lots and lots of bars and restaurants and hotels and gift shops.
After lunch we drove north to visit Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park. In both parks you drive quite a distance along open, plain country and suddenly come to the edge of massive cliffs with vistas of canyons and rivers far below – similar to the Grand Canyon but not as deep or as well known. Canyonlands is one of the largest US national parks but it is also one of the most remote – the only way to get into the middle of the park is by 4WD roads, a trip that can take days. However, at the overlooks we did get a sense of the vast beauty of the place. Well, Adrienne and I did anyway – Liam didn’t get out of the car for the entire afternoon – he was more absorbed by the vast beauty of the movie he was watching on the laptop! He did assure us that he had looked out the window a few times !
We checked into our hotel and were pleased to learn that the rate we’d been quoted a few months ago was $60 less then the day’s “drop in” rate – the hotel is nearly full and the town is buzzing – it’s Columbus Day long weekend so we think that might have contributed to the crowds. We walked across the road to the Moab Brewery restaurant – it was packed! We had to wait for a table and the staff were running the whole time. Tonight I sampled the “Dead Horse Ale” that is one of the local specialty brews. I’ve been trying local brews wherever we go – so far I’ve enjoyed “Flat Tire” and “Moose Drool” ales !
Tomorrow we’re going to visit Arches National Park and will do our jetboat tour up the Colorado river – should be fun!
October 12
We woke up early today with the aim of getting into Arches National Park to capture the best early morning light. Unfortunately the weather continues to complicate things a bit because the cloud cover gradually came across and robbed us of the sharp sunlight. However we did manage to get some good photos of the amazing Double Arch before the cloud came over. After that we meandered along the parks roads snapping photos of the sandstone towers, fins and arches that make up the sights here. I don’t think our photos will do justice to the scale of the sights – most of the arches are absolutely huge!
Again we noticed the crowds – many of the parking areas were filling up before 9am – there were mountain bikers and hikers all setting off down the trails. We learned that there is a big 24 hour mountain bike race on in Moab this weekend – which probably accounts for some of the people. Our hotel had put out their “no vacancy” sign again tonight.
My sore throat has followed Liam’s into a cold – I’m feeling a bit under par but it hasn’t dampened my photography – I took 114 photos today ! Later in the morning we headed back to town to grab some lunch and get ready for our jetboat tour on the Colorado. When we arrived at the starting location we learned that there would be 29 people on a boat that has a capacity of 40 – so we were very comfortable with plenty of room to move around.
The tour was great fun! Our driver, Andrew had a wonderfully dry sense of humour and he was so informative about the geology of the area as well as local stories and legends. The jetboat didn’t disappoint in the speed department – we really covered the distance fast as we moved from location to location along the river. In one section, called “Wall Street” the canyon walls rise very straight up over 500 feet – this section is a favourite with rock climbers and we passed at least a dozen hanging at various heights above the ground. Andrew said that to reach the top the climbers usually do it in 2 days – spending one night suspended above the ground ( we though that would make sleeping in an airline seat sound luxurious!)
The river winds along in huge loops through the canyons – we also passed a section with one of the most challenging 4WD trails in the park. We were fortunate to arrive there when a couple of 4WD’s were crawling along the appalling looking trail. He said that, on average, in that section most cars take around 4 hours to drive 5 miles . Those guys must LOVE traffic jams!
Eventually we followed the river into Dead Horse Point State Park and were able to look up and see the viewpoint 1000 feet above where we had stood looking down yesterday afternoon – it was very cool to be able to see the area from both aspects.
We stopped and all climbed up the bank at one point to take a look at some petrified trees that were scattered around the area. There were also various other fossils including fossilised oysters and mussels.
Further down you enter Canyonlands National park ( the Nat. Park Service had even erected a sign on the banks of the river to tell you!) We drifted past an enormous natural rock ampitheater on the banks of the river – it had a similar shape to the famous Hollywood Bowl. In September, Moab hosts a music festival and one of the highlights see’s an orchestra and 200 guests transported down the river to the ampitheatre for a concert – they even take a baby grand piano down river and haul it up the sandy banks! The tickets are $350 per person but it is always a sellout!
The tour included an afternoon snack and drinks and then we were headed back upriver. We also added to out movie collection today – we passed ‘Thelma and Louise Point” where the girls drive their car off the cliff at the end of the movie “Thelma and Louise”. We also passed Long Canyon which has been used in many westerns, dozens of Jeep commercials and Back to the Future 1 and 2. We also saw the cliff that Tom Cruise scaled in Mission Impossible 2.
We arrived back at the dock just after 5, but not before the wind and speed of the jetboat gave Liam and I ( amongst others) a brief dousing of river water.
Dinner tonight at Eddie McStiffs Restaurant and Bar downtown – I sampled the “Rock Amber Ale”.
Looking forward to a bit of a sleep in tomorrow – a bit tired tonight!
October 13
The first part of the trip from Moab to Salt Lake City was along a scenic section of I70. We drove up and straight through the San Rafael Swell, a reef of rock that rears up across the landscape for many miles. In one section it was also scattered with ancient lava deposits – distinctly blobby and totally different to the rest of the cliffs.
The food today wasn’t of a wonderful standard – the hotel breakfast area was packed this morning and they’d run out of several items so we decided to try pot luck along the road somewhere – we underestimated the facilities of the town of Green River along the way so we ended up eating hot dogs from a gas station for breakfast.
As we approached Salt Lake City we detoured off the interstate to drive the Mt Nebo Scenic Byway – the road meanders up through the Uninta National Forest to about 9000 feet up Mt Nebo – it was cold up there! The drive back down was brightened by lovely maple groves which were doing their best to glow red. They were lovely but I’m sure in a better Fall season they’d have been spectacular.
We were a little too early to go straight to the airport for our evening flight to San Francisco (Oakland) so we passed some time at a mall south of Salt Lake City ( it had a Macy’s !) and then drove up north to take a look at the Great Salt Lake – very big, very flat and not particularly spectacular.
We thought that Salt Lake City has to be one of the ugliest cities we’ve ever driven into in the US. The mountains are nice but the drive in is littered with billboards ( “We Suck it Fast! – SLC Lipo Clinic”, motels, auto malls, and electricity poles etc)
October 14
Having now reached the third area for this tour, we woke to heavy rain this morning in Oakland. We had arrived fairly late and after collecting our latest car – a nice Buick SUV – went straight to the hotel.
Our drive to Yosemite was in the same miserable weather that we had 4 years ago. Rain and fog ! We stopped at the same big supermarket for a coffee break as we did on our tour then but this time the power failed in the store whilst we were there. California is experiencing major rain and wind storms at present.
We arrived in Yosemite for a late lunch. We ate at the same restaurant as we had the last time but it was packed this time ! (we almost had the place to ourselves last visit). At this stage we weren’t holding out much hope of seeing any of the views on this visit as the weather was pretty awful.
On arriving at Yosemite we were pleased to discover we had internet access but sadly the laptop charger had died ! So emails needed to be sent via our phone.
Our lodge room is small but perfectly formed. But our view is really just a few trees close by and then thick fog beyond ! We visited the shops and visitor center and the Awahnee hotel and got tantalising glimpses of the peaks and waterfalls through the murk. We had a lovely dinner in the lodge restaurant and went to bed hoping for better weather tomorrow.
October 15
Yesterday we thought that our weather fairy had forsaken us. However today we realised she knew exactly what she was doing. The skies were still overcast when we went to breakfast but at least the rain had stopped and we could see the nearby peaks.
As we drove down the roadway we turned a corner and realised what the fairy had been up to. Normally at this time of year the park’s famous waterfalls are totally dry or, at best, a “runny nose”. As we rounded the corner we came across a gaggle of photographers with their cameras raised to the rushing torrent of the Yosemite Falls. 2,500 foot high and magnificent.
Even Liam was impressed ! We drove around the valley floor to a number of scenic viewpoints and took dozens of photos. The sun even came out and created a rainbow effect on one of the falls. We heard some experienced Yosemite photographers commenting on what an extraordinary site this was in the Fall.
The final view you have of the valley is just before the entrance to one of the tunnels. It is the classic long view of the valley – Tunnel View – with El Capitan’s soaring granite wall to the left, the peak of Half Dome in the distance, Bridal Veil falls to the right and the floor of the valley carpeted in blue-green fir trees. It is certainly one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen.
From the valley we drove down 5,000 foot of winding roads into the central valley of California. Driving through the valley past fruit orchards and vineyards we enjoyed the warmer temperatures before beginning our second winding climb up into the Sierra Nevada mountains.
We arrived at the entrance of Kings Canyon National Park at about 3pm and headed straight for Grant Grove for our first viewing of the famous sequoia trees. The king of this grove is the General Grant tree – it’s huge! Liam had been very doubtful about driving miles to see ” big trees” but once he laid eyes on the General Grant he decided we weren’t so crazy after all. This one is the national official Christmas Tree and the only living national shrine. However, it’s still only the third largest tree in the world ( by volume). The biggest was still to come…
In this grove we also waked through a fallen sequoia called the Fallen Monarch. You dont have to duck as you walk through!
Next we drove for about 45 mins along winding mountain roads into Sequoia National Park. We made a brief stop at the visitor center before driving on to the parking area for the General Sherman tree – this is the biggie. It’s a steep walk down into the grove to reach the base of the tree. At points along the walk there are placards stating that you are now “half way up the trunk” etc. We saw dozens of squirrels in the forest all busy stockpiling food for the winter. Finally we reached the base of the General Sherman tree – it takes your breath away! So frustrating that its impossible to photograph the whole thing but hopefully the photos we took of Liam standing near the base will convey the size of it. It really is awesome to stand next to the largest living thing on the planet. The coastal California redwoods can claim the prize for height but nothing compares with the sequoias for girth and age. Surprisingly the General Sherman is not the oldest tree. Its approx 2,100 years old but the oldest sequoia is estimated to be over 3000 years old!!
After climbing back up to the car we headed to our home for the night – the Wuksachi Lodge. It is nestled in the forest with views of the peaks up behind. Comfortable warm rooms and one of the best meals we’ve had so far in their dining room.
On to Disneyland tomorrow.
October 16
This morning we made an early start – sans breakfast – as we wanted to hit the L.A. freeways in the middle of the day . We’ve dealt with enough L.A. traffic in the past to treat it with great respect ( and dislike ! – well not really)
The drive down from Sequoia National Park was very slow and windy. For some distance we were following a service truck that stopped periodically to clear fallen rocks from the road.
On the way down we drove through the “Giant Grove” which is home to more of the massive trees – there was one spot where you drive between two of them close on either side of the road – they dwarf the cars.
We saw more orange groves and vineyards once we dropped out of the foothills and proceeded for many miles along the dead flat valley floor. We stopped for brunch in an obscure little town near Bakersfield and after a while we joined up with the I5, the major freeway that runs down from San Francisco to San Diego. There was an awful lot of truck traffic on the road but it was all moving fast.
There was a heavy haze across the entire area which made it difficult to see the mountains that bordered the valley on both sides. As we neared the northern tip of LA we wound up through the “Grapevine” a steep and winding section of the freeway that cuts through the mountains to the north of the city.
We decided, on the advice of experts on various of Adrienne’s message boards, to avoid the more obvious direct route to Anaheim via the I5. It runs right through the centre of LA and is notorious for traffic jams. Instead we headed well east along the Foothills Freeway and then finally transferred to the 57 to take us south to Anaheim.
We arrived at about 2pm and were hit by a blast of heat when we opened the car doors – it’s hot here! A quick change of shoes etc and we headed into Disneyland. The parks are very busy at the moment with all the Halloween celebrations but we managed several rides on our first evening. It was much pleasanter in the cool of the evening.
We decided not to stay for the Fireworks as we had an early start the next day – however we had a good view of them from the balcony in front of our room.
Big day of rides tomorrow – and more heat.
October 17
This was our last day before boarding our late night flight home from LAX. It was a day in Disneyland before having a last minute swim at our hotel and sorting out our packing up before heading to the airport. And I think now we were hooked on the USA !
So these are the states we have covered at this stage –
It took us another 3 years before we were able to get back again but by that time my tour Blogs had started and we had quite a trip planned after such a break …….