The Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park

Grand Canyon and Monument Valley - By Alison

We arose early and headed to the heliport to catch our copter over the Grand Canyon, South Rim. We had to be weighed in (to balance the helicopter) and I got to sit up front with the pilot! I greeted him and he asked me if it was my first time in a copter. When I replied 'yes', he said 'me too!' and my nerves were ever so momentarily rattled..

The copter ride was amazing - coming over the forest of pines and suddenly it drops away and there! Grand Canyon. It is difficult to describe how amazing this is but it was breathtaking. And I loved the helicopter ride!! I concluded it by vowing to return to Sydney and get my pilots license...he made it look so easy...! :-)

After a few different glimpses of the Canyon, we drove deeper into Navajo Indian reserve land and into Monument Valley. It was stunning. The rock formations are huge and plentiful and the Navajo have a story for each. We took a local bumpy bus ride , guided by a native Navajo Indian, through the Valley to get a closer look. It was a wonderful experience. Later that evening, we headed to Page.

Glen Canyon Dam, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park - By Cam

This morning we saw Glen Canyon Dam on the outskirts of Page and Lake Powell. The locals sometime refer to this Dam as Lake "Foul" instead however as it generates little electricity and in general they question its overall need. An interesting fact was that the planet of the Apes was filmed here before the dam was built and instead of removing the set, they just let the dam flood over the top of it!

After Glen Canyon Damn, we headed into the Morman State of Utah and toward a Western style lunch in Kanab. I really liked Kanab - it had a Western movie feel about it (likely because many westerns had been filmed there!). We also were given the opportunity to be a part of the making of a 'real' western - 'How the West was lost' ;-) Everyone on our bus was given a character to play and when directed, had to act out our scene. Cam and I were the Wagon Master and the Wagon Master's wife. Cam got to crack his whip whilst I shot at the "Indians"! It was a lot of fun.

After lunch, we made our way to the majestic Bryce Canyon, which did not disappoint. Stunning views greeted us as we were now over 8000 feet above sea level (high than Mount Kosciosko!). The air was quite thin at this altitude and some of our fellow travellers found it difficult to breathe and take in the scenic walks.

The breathtaking Bryce Canyon!

After going to several different viewpoints from Bryce Canyon, our journey then led us to the next National Park on our schedule. Zion National Park. After already seeing Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon, we weren't sure how different it could possibly be, however Zion proved to be very different, but just as spectacular as the aforementioned locations. Zion was a brilliant mix of colours and hues with trees seemingly growing out of the rocks where they would seemingly have know place being. Whilst not as deep as Grand Canyon, Zion is still a very imposing sight and our coach wound right to the bottom where we rested for a lunch break. I've got to say, I've eaten in some pretty impressive locations, but this one really took the cake!

After lunch we then made our way away from Zion and were on our way to Vegas. I must confess, I had very high expectations and everyone I had spoken to about Vegas had said it will exceed all your expectations - it surely didnt disappoint....

Travelling through the Desert - Palm Springs, Phoenix, Sedona - By Al

Hi everyone,

We have finally started our 'real' tour! Saturday saw us head West through Palm Springs into Arizona, where the scenery was quite barren but spectacular - mountain ranges lay endlessly before us and cactus plants started building up from a mere foot high to 8 feet tall!



Clockwise: Cam in the streets of Palm Springs; Cam in the Mojave Desert just outside of Phoenix; Alison and her first cactus encounter; Alison enquires as to the chances of meeting a snake or scorpion on this bus break...

We spent our first evening in the resort town of Carefree, Arizona and were treated to a 'real live cowboy show!' which was corny but fun.



HR - In Carefree?!; Marshal Pioneer Pepper and the Sunset Pioneer Cowboy music band


Sunday (yesterday) was greeted with Cam and I rising at 3.45am (!!!) to take our first ever air balloon flight over the Mojave Desert. It was very exciting firstly chasing the wind for the perfect launch and then watching the balloons being inflated before taking off for an hour of floating over the desert. After we landed, we were treated to a champayne breakfast in the dessert...ahhh..

Next, we joined the bus group again and had lunch in the red rock town of Sedona, before heading up the mountain towards an afternoon in the Grand Canyon.


Bell Rock in Sedona

Unfotunately, 1/2 an hour out of Sedona saw our bus break down and we were stranded - albeit in a nice location - for the next 5 hours! So we arrived at the hotel late last night and are off to see the Canyon this morning, along with Monument Valley - promises to be an exciting day!


Not a bad place for a bus to break down...Jim, our Tour guide, takes the situation in hand.

The Tour Begins - By Al

Hi Everyone,

These past few days haven't been overly blog worthy but today our 'official' Western Discovery tour commenced so hopefully exciting entries herein!

Tuesday saw Cam and I head south of Anaheim for a day to San Diego Zoo - it sure was big! The highlight would have been seeing the pandas, which included a mum and her cub - very cute :-)


LR: Al and the zoo sign; polar bear - in the sand!; Mum panda; cub panda; cam and the brown bear; Cam and elephants; romantic hippos; al and the perfectly posed giraffes.

Wednesday morning we said farewell to Anaheim and Disneyland (sob!) and headed back to the hustle and bustle of LAX. We have spent these past two days in our hotel, the Hacienda, which is just outside of the airport - not much in terms of an exciting location and unfortunately Cam came down with a cold on Tuesday, so we spent these past few days resting in the hotel and watching cable...not a total loss, particularly when we saw new episodes of Supernatural, Smallville and Lost last night!

Today we commenced the tour and met our American guide, Jim Campbell, who seems like a great bloke. Surprisngly to Cam and I, we are the only Aussies on the tour (which makes us a little intriguing we hope!). The rest of the group consists of all citizens from the British Isles and a few people from Zurich.

The bus headed south again for a day in San Diego and we spent the day doing a tour of old Town San Diego and Coranado (where the admirals from the marines retire - a very neat city (i.e. clean) and also home to the hotel where the movie 'Some Like it Hot' was filmed! For those playing at home..). The afternoon was spent at Seaport, which is a Marina area down near the navy vessels (and was lovely!), and where the red bull aerospace competition just happened to be situated today, and then Cam and I opted out of the cruise in favour of wandering downtown San Diego - and visiting our first department store (hello Maceys!). We returned to LA this evening for our last night in Hacienda - until we return here at the end of the tour in 2 weeks.

Al and Cam at Seaport, San Diego

Tomorrow we head East into the dessert, through Palm Springs and then continue on through to the Grand Canyon and Vegas over the next week. Some of the optional excursions we have look very exciting, including a helicopter ride and a hot air balloon trip!

Unfortunately no photos still - although we have access to the net here, there is no mechanism by which to physically upload the pics to the computer and then onwards to blogger. But I have faith...surely Arizona will be duly civilised and you will finally get to see my pic with Mickey!!!

Theme Park Thrills! By al

Hi Everyone!

Well, here we are in the US of A! We have now finally found a place to upload pics - so enjoy!!! (16/05/08)

After a tedious 13.5 hour flight, we arrived at 10am Friday morning and faced the terror that was the LA Immigration Officers - seriously, after a long flight with no sleep, the last thing any of us wanted to cope with was filling out a form accurately or...'Go to the end of the line!' (this line was literally 2 kms long..!).

Anyhow, we passed immigration 'Have a nice day folks' (yay!), made it through customs (yay again!) and onto our bus connection to Anaheim. Shock number 1: it is averaging 38 degrees celsius here. My cautious packing for potentially cold conditions was tested as I rumaged through jumpers, jeans and coats for t-shirts and shorts. On the upside however, salvation awaited, as right next door to the hotel we are staying at, is a MacDonalds - with air con :-)

Cam outside our hotel, Camelot Inn and Suites, Anaheim

Recovering well from jet lag, we were up at 7am the next day for our trip to Universal Studios. High expectations saw me a little disappointed with universal and I would rate it on par if not just below that of Movie World. But the expectations were to be truly challenged the next day...





DINSEYLAND! Having waited for this day for at least 10 years now, I was bound to be disappointed. But guess what? I wasn't - in fact, it truly is the happiest place on Earth; I am even still wearing my embroied Mickey ears as I type :-)

Some quick highlights:

• The rides! Awesome and scary enough to make me feel brave; not so scary I refuse to participate. Special mention to Indiana Jones and the Thunder Mountain Railroad..and Splash Mountain....and the cups and saucers ... and Dumbo :-)





• The fireworks and Fantastic - brilliant. 'Nuff said.


• The parade - I saw this three times and still got excited when the characters waved to me :-)

• Meeting Mickey Mouse!!
  

Will sign off for now; tomorrow is another early morning start, this time to San Diego Zoo. Hope everyone is well and whilst I am missing you, and loving being on holidays and glad it is just the start! :-)

Our Tours

Here are the tours that Cam and I will be taking, starting with the Western Discovery Tour, a two-day stop over in Chicago and then onto the Great Eastern Cities Tour.

Planning the Trip

The trip of a lifetime - part 2 - is nearly here! Cam and I have been busy planning our 5 week trip to the States for four months and are set to Jet out on 25 April 2008. We will aim to use this blog to keep you across our adventures and experiences as we journey through the West Coast, across to Chicago and then finish up with a tour through the cities of the East Coast including the Big Apple itself.