Month: June 2024

Working our way along from Monument Valley, we stop for lunch at a roadside shack serving Navajo bread, a frybread of the native American people. Here they are served as a ‘taco’ or ‘burger’ variety. We go for one of each. For some reason an army of Scouts has also just arrived here so we wait patiently in the shade as it’s now 44°c, while the husband and wife owners of the shack work hard to make up everyone’s order.

Approaching the Grand Canyon, we plan to see as much as possible with a few hours to go until sunset. We begin at Stone lookout and are both impressed by the enormity of the natural phenomenon.

Next we move on to a Geology station. Here we learn how the canyon was formed over millions of years of erosion by the Colorado River as it cut through the Colorado Plateau, which was uplifted by plate tectonics. Soon after, we walk the timeline trail where each one meter step is equivalent to 10 million years of human existence. It makes us realise how short humans have lived on planet earth, tens of thousands of years compared to the billions of years since the earth was formed. Like a tiny ant on an elephant and our lives are but one atom of such an ant. Or that’s how I imagine it anyway.

It’s time to walk around the rim and try to take in the sheer scale of this magnificent canyon. As a signpost informs us, it is not the longest, the widest or the deepest canyon in the world but it is perhaps the grandest. It’s hard to argue with that.

A man passes by us on the pathway and tells us there are eagles flying past just ahead, if we wait patiently, we will see them. We perch near the edge of the canyon wall and wait. As we’re about to question if he was having us on a blurry black shape hovers towards us. Soon it becomes clear it is indeed an eagle that soars right over our heads.

After quite a long trek around the rim (and a short run to the shuttle bus stop) we hop on and decide which stops we’ll get off at. Our plans are soon thwarted as the bus driver announces he will only be going so far as stop 5 (out of 11) as it’s getting late. Darn it. Still we get off at stop 4 and walk the short distance over to stop 5 to watch the sun setting over the canyon.

After a long long day (remember this day started with the Monument Valley tour) we need to get to our hotel which is an hour’s drive away. Alex offers to take the wheel and expertly drives us to the hotel under a sky blanketed with burning stars.

Rest Day (with a short hike)

After blitzing through four states since we arrived here, we’ve decided to take a rare day of rest to catch our breath and catch up on some planning. We have a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and restock at our favourite superstore (Walmart). Feeling like we might want to stretch our legs a bit to avoid spending all day in the rather basic hotel, I look for a short hike nearby. “Fatman’s Loop” comes up on Google, only a short drive away and at most a 2 mile easy loop.

We pull up onto the carpark and find a spot for a picnic lunch under the shelter of some pine trees. As we’re finishing our grub I spot a firewatch tower on the map. The route towards it picks up from Fatman’s Loop and it doesn’t look too much further away. Having played a videogame based on being a ranger in such a firetower, I’m immediately intrigued and it seems like destiny to see one in the flesh. I tell Alex I’ve changed the plan slightly and we set off to reach the tower. What follows is a steep and difficult ascent up and up, climbing to the top of the mountain to where the tower sits. It takes an age and is pretty exhausting in the afternoon heat. Over an hour in and Alex is not impressed, I suggest she can wait in the shade or return to the car but she is determined as ever to carry on and see the damn thing.

On the way up we see chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, lots of birds and bugs and a snake! We also spot a gigantic train that has nearly 100 cargo containers in tow, we try and work out how many kilometers long it is as it seems to stretch as long as the entire town of Flagstaff down below. At least there are some distractions from the slog!

After a two hour ascent, we finally arrive at the base of the tower and a ranger is stood out on the balcony, binoculars pressed to his brow searching for signs of fire. There have been several large fires breakout over in California to the West and the park rangers here are on high alert in the extremely dry land and searing heat. The tower is surrounded by huge drum shaped radar dishes and many other pieces of technical equipment, it looks like a serious operational base. The total hike (after getting slightly lost on the way down) takes nearly four hours and we clock over 10km on our smart watches, whoops.

Similar to the carrot and stick method, I’ve promised Alex we can go for a steak tonight as a reward for doing such a strenuous hike. There’s an Outback (Australian restaurant chain) a five minute walk from our hotel so we don our glad rags and set out for steak. We share a large slab of beef short rib with a loaded baked potato with a side of mac and cheese. I treat myself to a large glass of red while Alex sticks with lager. All in all its a very tasty reward.

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Adventure – Seeing so many creatures and critters on our hikes. Watching the sun set over the canyon.

Excitement – The grand canyon, despite everything we’ve seen on this trip that was pretty damn impressive. Sharing a huge steak at Outback.

Trauma – Concern about the wildfires in Cali affecting our camping plans. Long drives with nothing interesting to look at. Hotel breakfast was very dull (unless you love sugar).

Page is a small town by USA standards, and once more we are staying on the outskirts where only drive-thrus and fast food chains are the only available eateries. It seems the only places in the USA where you have to pay extra for huge portions are fast-food chains. So they’re typically always the worst bet economically as well as nutritionally. Instead we decide to drive into town and eat at a fried chicken place that isn’t KFC, and it pays dividends in portion size, even if we are still eating with plastic cutlery.

Horseshoe Bend

Our first stop today is to Horseshoe Bend, a famous photo spot, that I always thought was of the Grand Canyon. We’ve been warned to go early before the hordes arrive, and we’re there with only a cluster of other people.

Ham for the Dam

Having ticked off one of the main attractions early, we have time to kill. So, of course, we fill it. I fancy checking out the nearby dam that we drove over the night before. The dam here creates Lake Powell, and we make the most of the visitor centre next door to learn all about this impressive construction.

Before they built the dam, they had to build the bridge. The construction of both these structures is what created the town of Page in the first place, to provide for all the workers. The bridge construction in itself is a massive feat of engineering. Being the highest largest bridge of that kind back in its day. It looks like a giant just slotted the bridge in between the two canyon walls, wedged in there for stability. What they actually had to do was abseil down/climb up the sides, drilling into the sides to create the huge pilot holes. A crane then lowered one half of the bridge down into place as it was secured to the wall, and held up by cables, until the other side of the bridge could be lowered into place on the opposite site. The rudimentary safety standards make this an even more impressive feat.

Next came the dam. I’d never really thought too much about how you build a dam, imagining something more akin to Caleb and Clarkson just putting stuff in the way of the water. Of course, engineers know better, and so first the water gets channelled around where the dam will be built, by way of a big tunnel. With the ground dry and accessible, the dam gets built. The tunnel filled in. Lake Powell is created, taking 17 years to fill up. Power is generated by huge turbines that are connected to thick metal cables, that connect up to an endless sea of pylons. We’d seen these before but had no idea the four cables that joined them with the dam were channelling all the electricity created up and out of the canyon.

There are holes drilled into the side of the canyon to let water seep out from where it will inevitably push its way through the canyon walls. I believe this is to relieve pressure on the rocks and manage the pressure so it doesn’t create big cracks in the canyon wall.

Last of all, we learn about the impact the dam had on the native people. Now, truth be told, native americans were no longer living down in this canyon. A many-years drought had forced them away. However, relics and artefacts from their ancestors remained. They tell passed down stories from their ancestors about this area, the importance of it, and the importance of water. The exhibit doesn’t shy away from acknowledging the lack of consideration the peoples of the 1950s had for the native populations and the environment. Rather it gives them a platform to help us learn to make more informed decisions in the future. One native american speaks on video about how their people always consider the impact of their actions on the world. They didn’t know who or what lived up or down the river from them, the river being the source of life, and so they would never do anything to impact it. This is such a simple take, that it makes your realise how blinkered our culture can be to ‘development’. His culture considers the bigger picture, not just on other humans, but on the animals, the life that co-exists with us. Something we’ve seen across the Americas. So when people may argue that they weren’t as developed as other cultures, perhaps that’s because they respected their environment in ways we didn’t, they considered the impacts of their actions and so they didn’t develop the land further, because the price was too great. It’s a lesson they clearly learnt centuries ago, and sadly one we are (sometimes) only learning now. We had and have a lot to learn from these cultures, it’s a shame our ancestors were so dismissive when they met.

Anyway, onwards!

Antelope Canyon

Our last attraction in Page is to go into Antelope Canyon, something called a ‘slot canyon’. It sells out quickly, so we’re booked in for an afternoon tour. James receives warning of a storm coming. We’ll trust in the tour company. Slot canyons are essentially where the water erodes the ground underneath more and more, creating spectacular formations in the ground. What appears to be a small crack on the surface, is actually a huge open expanse of wavy walls, carved by the running water. This also means they’re not safe places to be in storms. Don’t worry, our guide Xavier tells us that they run tours on a canyon further up the way, Canyon X, which would be first hit by any inclement weather. I wonder if the people on their Canyon X tours know that they’re the canaries in the coal-mine!

Thankfully our tour is dry and clear and we get to enjoy the magical sweeping formations all around us.

Our guide, a member of the Navajo, points out the traditional shapes of his peoples… the eagle, the storm-trooper, and the pirate. Right. He takes photos of everyone at the designated spots.

However, being sold on a tour that would teach us about navajo culture and the history and significance of this sacred and respected place, we get none of this information, as our guide starts wretching into the sacred sand on the latter half of the tour. Rather him than me I guess! Despite starting the tour reassuring us that he has electrolite drinks and supplies to help anyone with heat exhaustion, he seems reluctant to take any for himself, even though he blames the heat for his condition. Two members in our group, concerned for his health, rush the final section to get him out of the heat of the canyon. Somewhat disappointed, I ask in store if there are any information panels about the history of this stunning place, and am told no, because our guide should have given us that. In compensation, he gives me a booklet reserved for the deluxe tours. We try at the reception telling of our rushed tour and getting no information about the place, to which the lady basically shrugs and suggests it’s up to the tour guide. Not a company I would recommend (Ken’s). They must get thousands of people coming through every day so what is one bad review to them, they have a captive audience either way. It’s a shame really. It’s a stunning place, that I would love to have learnt more about, and the culture of the people who protect it, but we paid a lot of money to simply walk through it for 45 minutes, and we really got nothing more for our money other than access. But, supply and demand. If people are willing to pay that much, can we really blame them for charging it? Seems the Navajo learnt something from their capitalist neighbours.

Operation Desert Storm

The next day, we have a lazy morning start before we head off towards Monument Valley. Google warns us of an extreme thunderstorm, but the skies look clear compared to the previous days, and the prediction is of the storm above our journey. Meh, how bad can it be?

We take a little detour on to the Navajo National Monument on the way. The road is a Google classic that I should be able to drive 60mph on, but the conditions mean I crawl along at 20 at the fastest.

Eventually getting back to paved roads, we find the Visitor Centre and I take a wander along the short trails, as the clouds and thunder roll in, and James has a rest in the car. I reassure myself that there’s a giant conductor on top of the visitor centre, and I’m surrounded by trees, although as I return I realise I’m carrying metal, unlike the trees, and I’m unsure how far the conducting rod will draw lightning away from, so I quicken my step.

We continue onwards excited to see the picturesque Monument Valley skyline. As we approach the point where usually there would be a stunning vista of enormous rocks, James comes to a crawling speed. Not to take in the views but because the windscreen wipers can’t move fast enough to wipe away the deluge of water pouring down upon us. Dark grey coulds encircle us, the two-lane road can barely be seen, cars crawl forwards with hazards flashing and wipers also thrashing in desperation. Thunder cracks violently above. Lightning punches the ground every few seconds. We would have pulled in and waited for it to pass, except we can’t see the road to know where a safe place to pull over is, and we’re also on a deadline as we have another tour booked this afternoon. There is no signal on the phone to check with the company to know if it is going ahead. James is convinced it can’t possibly go ahead in these conditions. I have been burnt in the past and refuse to accept the word of anyone other than the tour company. We creep on.

The rain finally abates slightly, but now we’re driving towards lighting that crashes down in front of us. There is nowhere else to go, the road just goes straight into it. We soldier on.

We finally make it to the turn before our accommodation for the night when a thunder bolt crashes down maybe 20 metres from us. The car electrics flicker as a resonating boom of thunder echoes around. There’s nowhere else to go, and lighting rarely strikes the same place twice, right? We speed on.

At our accommodation, they tell us that the telephone lines are down, there’s no wi-fi, and no way to contact our tour company. They’re pretty sure the park is shut, and therefore our tour won’t go ahead, but I’m stubborn and need the tour company to confirm before I accept it. We rush on.

Our tour is meant to pick us up from in front of an expensive hotel. Also without power or phones, they are helping their own guests with their tour woes. They confirm the pick-up would be out front… back into the deluge, wind, thunder and lightning. I can see the tour jeeps. Why would they be there if the tours weren’t running, I think. Still convinced the tour might happen (it’s at this point I realise how much Latin America may have scarred my trust in tour operators!) I attempt to rush out, but the wind and rain pushes me back. James compromises to drive us round to the jeep in its relative safety. By now the weather has mostly passed over, although another storm looms close ready to hit once more, and we find a guy sitting with the jeeps. He was waiting for us. He confirms the tour is off, and we can go the next day. We decide to go for the morning tour and delay our drive to the Grand Canyon. We take a photo of the now visible monuments, and decide to head over to Forrest Gump Point.

The rush, panic, and storms largely over, we settle into our room that looks out onto Monument Valley. The restaurant serves only over-priced salads or sandwiches as there’s still no electricity to make anything else, so we decide on another home-made hotel-room special. With no power or signal to do any research, we sit on the balcony and drink, watching the scenery before us put on a show.

Being in the middle of the desert, this is an opportune place to take in the stars. The storm has cleared, and the power still out, meaning the only lights are the headlights of some sparse cars, and the expansive sky of stars above us.

A Monumental Conspiracy Theory

The power turns back on in the middle of the night, and so breakfasts are back on the menu. But first we’re up to watch the sunrise up over the monuments.

For breakfast we share an immense omelette, check-out, and head over to the tour. As we pass through the entry gate, the sign informs us the park is still closed. As we find our man, he tells us the roads have washed away but they should be re-opening the park soon, we can give it an hour. We wait.

We find a place to sit out looking over the valley with access to the luxury hotel wifi and so we catch up on the latest research as we wait. An hour later, we go back and see a crowd gathering. We all wait.

We continue to wait.

We get herded into the jeeps, despite being told the park is still shut.

We wait in the jeep.

We get the go-ahead! Our guide Duffy, a large navajo guy with the voice of droopy the dog, welcomes us and drives us on. At last.

Welcome to Monument Valley, the land of many films and media, apparently. Duffy tells us a bit about the area, and says that most people don’t want to hear about the Navajo or the region or what he has to think. Our jeep seems to be full of Europeans, so we think we’re safe in saying we know nothing about Ford or John Wayne and so we’re actually more interested in what he has to say. Which, it turns out, is a lot, and gets more suspect as the tour continues on. I’ll let you decide what you believe or not from his commentary…

• Monument Valley is 192,000 acres
• There are no cuss words in the Navajo language, because you’re representing your ancestors
• The Spanish did an expo in the 1600s and that’s why we have spanish names here
• The monuments are sacred. Other religions have temples and churches, native americans have nature as their church, it is sacred to them.
• Merik and Mitchel were prospectors.
• The name Navajo comes from the spanish. They are called “the people” de-neh.
• The de-neh pray, the swirls on their fingertips connect them to the heavens, the swirls on their toes connect them to earth.
• The navajo have their own health care system, they don’t need insurance from employers.
• They’re the biggest native american nation, the only tribe that got to keep their land.
• The governnment makes money from the navajo parks more than they get money from them. They have power and solar plants here, they also make money from agricultrue.
• 75% of navajo people go into tbe military, they have taught them many things for how to interact with different cultures, by showing respect to one another, rather than aggression.The navajo hunt in small groups, and the spanish couldn’t conquer them because of their skills in the area and in fighting.
• You don’t hit your kids in the navajo culture, you tap them on the shoulder and tell them to stop, hush, listen, look around. Language is carefully used and spoken with intention.
• 570 different native tribes.
• The chaco canyon is where it all began, people were given a language and some water and dispersed across the country.
• Casinos are an extension from the games they used to play.
• James gets put in a headlock to display the martial arts of the people (?).
• The older generations pass down the knowledge of how to live off the land.
• If all the satellites stopped working, they would still know how to communicate.
• The size of a smoke fire would indicate the size of the incoming party.
• Four elements, earth, wind, air, water.
• An asteroid (or missile!) has recently hit the moon, the moon controls the tides, maybe thats why we got such a big rainstorm.
• Silica in the sand makes it sparkle.
• No water, means no insects, but also no birds, except ‘trash birds‘.
• The next development is lasers, the tech giants are putting a laser on the moon, and will destroy us all. I think I’ve seen this movie!

After Duffy’s dip into the conspiratorial, he takes us back down to earth with teaching us how this area was formed. “This would take you months to learn in your universities, I can show you in five minutes“. Indeed, he shows us a clever demonstration of how sand turns to monuments and canyons.

And that’s our lot. Duffy is a kind-hearted guy who seems surprised and happy to have some people eager to listen to his tales. We learn as much about him as we do about the Navajo culture and Monument valley. It’s been an interesting tour, and it’s definitely an impressive space, full of majesty and wonder.

We quickly head off to the Grand Canyon, and are shocked by how green it is around the incredibly dry canyon!

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Adventure – Exploring our first slot canyon. Getting shown around Monument Valley whilst the area was shut to everyone but the tours.

Excitement – Being in the eye of an incredible storm. American sized portions. Tumbleweed families! Getting to Forrest Gump point and it being as brilliant in real life. The majesty of Antelope Canyon. Learning about engineering and native cultures. The stars.

Trauma – A lightning bolt a bit too close for comfort. Driving rain. Vomitting tour guide.

After the debacle of public transport and half a day spent trying to hire a car… it feels good to be back in control, destiny is in our hands once again. Alex is doing an excellent job of driving the lovely BMW we’ve hired out of Las Vegas. We’re on the highway, cruising through canyons and desert landscapes on the way to Cedar City (as recommended by Alex’s friend Nell, thank you Nell!). We briefly cross into Arizona and then up into Utah where we’re surprised to see the time jump one hour closer to the UK. It seems that some states like Utah use Daylight Saving Time while others, such as Arizona do not, even though they are directly above and below one another, slightly confusing.

Our first stop in Cedar City is of course Walmart, time to stock up for the days ahead in the aircraft hangar sized supermarket. We’re greeted by a humongous red white and blue American eagle, inflated and dangling above our heads. Fourth of July is comin’ y’all, time to celebrate some freedom!

Stocked up, we check into the hotel and pinch ourselves that we’ve actually made it. Today has been a rollercoaster of emotions and I genuinely doubted we’d ever make it here, but here we are! We dump our bags in the room and head straight to the Mexican restaurant adjacent to the hotel. After some pretty rubbish food in Vegas we enjoy bottomless amounts of chips and dip, jalapeno margaritas and even though we share a “fajita for two” there is easily enough food for four people. Thankfully doggy bags exist here. They’re even showing the Tomb Raider movie and it’s a nice reminder of home for me.

Have a Bryce Day

Alrighty, we’re back on track. Time to head to Bryce Canyon, one of the main reasons we’ve driven all the way out here. It’s an almost two hour drive from Cedar up into the mountains and what a beautiful drive it is. We’ve set off early to beat the rush and the heat, as we drive up the winding roads several deer come out to see what’s happening. Luckily there are no near misses and we can admire the graceful creatures without slamming on the brakes. Approaching the National Park we pass through natural tunnels made of beautiful red sandstone. We then park up at the start of Fairyland loop, from here on out I’ll let the pictures do the talking…

On our first day we trek the Fairyland Loop and hike up to Sunrise Point, afterwards we drop down onto the Queens Loop. Hopefully from the pictures you can see the where the name inspiration comes from. I really hope the pictures do it some justice as this place was off the charts in terms of scale and mind blowing views everywhere we looked.

Thor’s Day

Today we return to Bryce to see the Southern section of the park, walking the routes and seeing the sights we didn’t have the time (or energy) to see yesterday. We also learn the area is named after a shipwright from Scotland who came and settled here in the late 19th century. We do the Queen’s Garden Trail, continuing along the Peakaboo Trail, up to Bryce Point, then back passed the Cathedral, and up the Navajo Loop. Over to the pictures again…

After an adventurous morning we’ve just about got enough energy left to explore the short “Mossy Cave” trail. As the name suggests it’s a pathway to a natural cavern formed by rainwater seeping through the gaps in the rock and over time expanding into a vast open cavern. In the moist atmosphere moss thrives giving the cave it’s literal name. On the way back we stop for some pictures next to a waterfall, the source of the fall comes from a man-made river dug by pioneers of years gone by.

As we’ve been hiking around today, some pretty monstrous clouds have passed over our heads. Appropriately in proximity to Thor’s Hammer, sporadic cracks of thunder rumble around us. Heading back to the car from Mossy Cave the heavens open and we’re given the first (tame) taste of a thunderstorm.

Swimming Upstream

Feeling like we’ve done Bryce justice it’s time to move on to the next National Park in the area, Zion. We’ve been excited about coming here since Sidney recommended it to us way way back on the Inca trail in Sept 2023! After leaving before 7am the last two mornings, and finding out the Yosemite campsites go on sale at 8am this morning, we decide to treat ourselves to a small lie-in (and major booking binge). Big mistake. The free car park at the visitor’s center is beyond full by the time we get there and parking bays outside the park entrance are quoting $40 for one day of parking! We retreat further away to the last stop where the connecting shuttle bus will reach. A meager $15 for a day of parking here. Result (?). Eventually, after the ticket machine refuses our card and we have to install an app, we pay for parking and hop on the shuttle bus to the park entrance. It’s quiet, air-conditioned and the nice driver advises us to just cross a bridge to pick up the next shuttle bus within the park. What he doesn’t tell us is that there is a 45 minute queue to get on said bus. Doh.

By the time we reach the trailhead to start our first hike it’s almost 11am, that’ll teach us for thinking we deserved a lie-in. The hike we’ve chosen, “The Narrows” was recommended by Ben and we enjoy the bimble along the riverside in the humongous valley we find ourselves in. We start to question the suggestion when we see the trail submerge into the river and see dozens of hikers wading chest-deep upstream. It’s a popular place, with most people prepared for a jaunt in water dressed in swimming gear, as we continue on in our hiking gear. The cold river water made up of melted snow, and shade from the canyon walls at least makes for some relief from the dry heat. 

We hike for a couple of hours wading against the current and trying to keep our belongings dry. After lunch on a rocky beach surrounded by giant granite cliffs, we head back and join yet another long queue for a shuttle bus. As much as we’ve enjoyed today we feel there is still much more of Zion to see, so we alter our plans to ensure we can return tomorrow to see more of the stunning vistas.

On our way home I inform Alex there is a Chili’s restaurant in town. A place I’ve been curious to visit since Alex has told me tales of spending many a lunch-break in Lima there, and we saw her usual haunt in Lima right at the start of our trip. Put on my radar from The Office TV show, I’ve always wanted to see what it was like. It is similar to a TGI Fridays in the UK and while the menu is fairly standard American grub it’s a nice atmosphere and a pretty decent price too. 

Walter’s Wiggly Bits

Picking back up our return to Zion, we are determined to set off earlier today and make sure we park for free and get on the shuttle bus early before the queue forms. We leave our hotel at 6.45am, arriving at the car park for just before 8, the time it “starts to fill up”. Frustratingly we are a couple of minutes too late as the last spaces are snapped up before our eyes. After a few desperate loops of the car park we’re back to where we parked yesterday 😢 and there is an even longer queue for the shuttle bus by the time we get to it today 😭 

Still, despite all of that, we start the hike up to Scout Overlook and luckily the steep ascent ahead of us is still in the shade. We climb from the valley floor all the way up to the entrance to Angel’s Landing, which requires a permit. It wasn’t always possible to hike up here, but one day a man named Walter took his pickaxe and dug out 23 switchbacks so that hikers could reach incredible heights. The area of switchbacks is known as Walters Wiggles! Although we tried to get a permit for Angel’s Landing we’re somewhat relived we were not successful. The hike is on a knife’s edge ridge that requires climbing up by holding on to chains while navigating the hikers coming down the return leg. It does not look very enjoyable or safe, indeed several hikers have fallen to their deaths over the years here. We’re both amazed it was ever allowed to be climbed by the general public and still is to this day. Freedom I guess?

We pivot away from Angel’s Landing towards the Western Rim. The number of hikers drops off dramatically as we scale the exposed cliff tops high above the canyon. We continue as far as we dare before taking a few photos and returning all the way back down. By this point it’s the middle of the day and it is BAKING. We feel sympathy for those just starting the hike as the steep ascent is now getting the full force of the midday sun.

We head back down and take some rest in the shade to enjoy a hiker’s lunch (wraps, Pringles, trail mix, fruit and water) before setting out on one last hike, Emerald Falls. As we overheard on the shuttle bus this morning that the upper falls are completely dry, we opt to loop around the middle falls and then see the lower falls last. The middle falls are pretty damn dry too but we do find the lower falls fascinating and ponder what it must look like here during the vast snowmelt of the Spring months.

Escape from Zion

Returning to our favourite car park we head out of Zion through the curving bends and tunnels carved through the mountainside. Once we’re out of the stunning park it’s a whole lotta nothin’ to look at as we continue 100 miles onwards towards Page…

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Adventure – hiking around the hoodoos, finding scenery that can still take our breath away even after all we’ve seen these last 11 months, clambering through a river in entirely inappropriate gear

Excitement – waffles for breakfast! Trying ‘biscuits and gravy’ for the first time, epic driving of endless views

Trauma – missing out on parking spaces, queueing for the shuttle bus, me tripping and taking a tumble saved by a large American hero (standing still, doing nothing), being higher than Angel’s Landing with nothing but sheer cliffs either side and fearing for James’s life (Alex) ((even though he was completely fine))

Our 9 hour flight from Tokyo to LA is pretty smooth. It’s on the no-frills airline ZipAir, which I don’t think would be allowed to run in Europe as even water isn’t provided free on this long haul flight. Thankfully, we’re prepared and have ample food, drink and entertainment to get us through. We cross the date line and arrive in LA before we left Tokyo. Weird. We somehow speed through immigration and customs in the USA for the first time ever, they don’t even ask to see the panicked refundable exit train ticket I’ve booked in line as our pretend proof of exit. No declaration forms to confess to the food we’re bringing in once more. And so we’re in. They clearly haven’t been reading the blog!

A quick bus ride later, and we’re down in Redondo Beach where my old school-friend, her husband, parents, and two dogs welcome us to stay for a couple of nights.

They have a gorgeous, huge, house, and we’re so grateful to be able to stay and be able to catch up after a good many years. They also get to meet James and we can celebrate our engagement together. Despite our best intentions to explore the area on arrival, we crash out for a four hour sleep, we’ve been awake 36 hours by this point. Thankfully, this co-incides with Katie and her husband (Pete) finishing work, so somewhat more refreshed, we go out for a tour of the area, with the expansive beach and rolling sea just a few minutes walk away. Gorgeous. We catch up over dinner and a drink. It’s really lovely to be able to live a bit of a normal life, after not just back-packing for so long, but the chaos of WWOOFing. Just having a beer with friends really makes it feel like home.

Our next day, Katie and Pete generously spend their national holiday ferrying us around the tourist spots. You really can’t get anywhere in LA without a car, certainly not anywhere fast, and so it’s thanks to them we’re able to see as much as we did in the one day we have in LA. We stop off at the Chinese Theatre, checking out the hand and feet prints, that have somehow lasted since the 1920s.

The walk of fame with various stars to spot. Katie explains that it’s actually the celebrities that pay to have a star. You have to be accepted of course, you can’t just be anyone, but still, you’ve got to look at those stars with some irony that they’re the ones that paid to honour themselves on the street.

Next up is the Hollywood sign. Here’s Katie and I in the same spot in 2017…

And now!

Then back to their old stomping ground of Santa Monica pier. It’s still as bustling as ever (and full of certain ‘characters’ too). It really is lovely to be by the sea again, looking out towards the islands where we’ve just spent the last few months. The beaches here are so wide and vast, with kids splashing and playing in the cold waters, the lifeguard towers dotted through just like in the TV shows.

We explore a British store and laugh at all the things we don’t think we’ve ever seen in Britain, and all the things we forgot we missed. We grab another drink at the British themed pub next door, before heading back to theirs via the tiny, rollercoaster roads of Little Venice.

And that’s our lot in LA! A whirlwind tour and catch-up, which we couldn’t have done or enjoyed as we did without the generosity of Katie and Pete. It really was hard to load up the backpack, say goodbye, and get back on the road. But our grand tour is coming to an end, and there’s not much time to waste!

Escape from LA

Leaving the blissful suburbs of Redondo Beach, we need to head to the University near downtown to get out bus to Las Vegas. This means getting on the wonders of the LA public transit system. A journey that might take half an hour in the car, will take us over an hour on buses. Now, we’ve spent a good amount of time figuring out which bus to get, and reading up about why we shouldn’t take the Greyhound. So you can imagine our glee when I get a message that our bus has been cancelled. I then get another message (whilst we’re trying to figure out what we do instead) to say we’ve been rescheduled onto another bus, a Greyhound bus, from Downtown LA no less. We’d been reassured by Pete that the Greyhound isn’t so bad, as long as you can sit together, and near the front of the bus so you can be first to grab your bags. Of course now the money we paid to reserve our seats on our original bus belongs to Flixbus forever. The inevitable anxiety is only heightened by our arrival to the the dead quiet of downtown LA, except for the ramblings and yellings of the troubled and unwell homeless who are the only other people out on the streets. Compared to Japan, the homelessness, mental illness, drug use, poverty, and perceived lack of safety here is serious culture shock, and we both briefly consider just scrapping the USA plan entirely. Thankfully, we can pay to reserve two seats together again (effectively spending twice as much to do so), and I’m grateful we have the money to make these choices. This turns out to be a serious right call as all chaos ensues when those without reserved seats and multiple children try to sit together. Our driver takes it all on the chin and jokes with us and keeps spirits up, “y’all gonna be cousins afta this trip, doncha worry, I told y’all, y’all gonna be familee, now I neva much liked musical chairs when I was a keed, so I done wanna be playin it naw“. He makes the journey smooth and is a real example of how to take bad situations with comedy, instead of what could have very easily turned into a brawl.

Eventually, we do make it to Vegas, sitting next to each other, we even manage to get our bags without issue. Now it’s time to get more public transport because the Greyhound has dropped us an hour away, when our original destination was just to walk it. Insert more characters on the next bus, and we finally make it to our original destination of the Plaza Hotel, up on Fremont Street, the older part of town.

Our room, is HUGE. I mean, four times a Japanese apartment. The bathroom alone is probably the size of one! We dump our bags and head out to experience the bright lights of Vegas for the first time.

Everything is over-the-top. The lights. The colours. The noise. The entertainers. The drinks. The people, oh the people. I always thought that the characters in USA shows were just caricatures, but they’re not. They’re actually like that, a full melting pot of all your typical US of A characters, swigging giant slushy drinks, singing and dancing along to one of the many stage acts, laughing, chatting, having the times of their lives in Viva Las Vegas. Us, like squirrel monkeys, watch with wide-eyes trying to take it all in. Japan afterall is also completely bonkers. But then the people are all reserved and quiet and subdued. Whereas here, the people match the situation. And as a quiet introvert, I very much enjoy our spot overlooking one of the stages, watching the melting pot yell along to the tribute act below us.

Enterprising Situations

The next day is Friday, which means that all the hotels triple in price, and it’s time for us to move out quickly. We’ll come back when it’s back to cheap rates. Little do we know that the next six hours will cause us to wonder once more if we shouldn’t just fly home or somewhere else. It goes like this…

• Show up to Enterprise 1, bags packed, and ready to start our road trip
• Get told the car isn’t ready and come back in half an hour.
• Walk back along to where we started, laden with bags, in 40° heat, to get an over-priced ABC wrap for breakfast.
• Time to start over.
• Present documents.
• Get told that because we don’t have a credit card, we need to provide a plane ticket out of the USA.
• We have a train ticket AND a cruise ticket leaving the USA, and a plane leaving Canada, but no plane leaving the USA.
• Get told it doesn’t matter, it has to be a plane ticket. Policy.
• Decide to take the hit of putting the charge on my overly expensive for foreign transactions credit card (our back-up plan).
• Realise I didn’t actually bring it.
• Discuss between us infront of the staff member buying a refundable flight.
• Get told the flight has to have been booked 24 hours in advance.
• Contemplate finding somewhere cheap to stay in Vegas and do this all again tomorrow morning after the 24 hours.
• Look into other rentals and try and figure out their policies and if they’re as stupid.
• Send James off to sneakily find out from Budget whilst I hang back to book a flight in secret if so.
• Same same.
• Book two refundable flights out of Seattle.
• Doctor the booking so you can’t see when I booked it. Head to Budget.
• Lady there says they don’t take debit card payments, but she can try.
• She tries three times, but it’s declined. Whether it’s because it’s a debit card, or because they don’t have chip and pin in this backwards country, we’ll never know.
• James has the sneaky idea to try a different Enterprise, where they haven’t heard our conversation about booking a refundable flight.
• Walk and wait for 30 minutes in the now >40° heat for a bus.
• Get told off for trying to enter the bus as the door opened, rather than wait to be invited in.
• Get back on the bus 1 second later after the invite (eyeroll).
• Run across a six-lane highway because there’s literally no other way to cross.
• Arrive to Enterprise near the airport. Wait.
• Get attended to and told we’re at the wrong Enterprise. This one is geographically nearer the airport, but is actually not the airport one. She can’t match the price.
• Look into getting another bus, and give in and order an Uber.
• Get into a white Tesla with white leather seats. Bold choice!
• Make it to Enterprise airport, big edition.
• Somehow get into the Premium queue.
• Get seen straight away, with all our fake documents ready to present and our bank card back-up ideas ready… “All good guys, just head out back and get your car”
• No questions. No debates. No pleading. No begging. No fake documents needed. Chip and pin machine instead of just the magnetic swipe. Our man is a cheery dude who has no idea how happy he has made us. We try to contain our excitement so he doesn’t realise we’re technically not meant to be renting a car.
• Head round the back where another cheery lady greets us and isn’t sure she has a car of the lower calibre we reserved… “how about that one? Free upgrade“. As she points to a BMW.
• It’s an absolute beauty, but bigger than anything I’ve ever driven. Although all of the options here are big or bigger. We jump in, and get comfortable. Have we done it? Have we made it out of Vegas???? One more check-point.
• Drive to the barrier attendant, hand over the licence, “have a great trip y’all“.
• We’re off!!!!!

Satnav immediately sends us into a tour of a carpark, but we’re free. We’re actually off. From complete desperation, to being in a fancy car on our way to the canyons. Our nerves shot, we can finally breathe. I guess it’s time for the road trip!

*******************

Adventure – getting driven around LA by Katie and Pete, wandering Fremont Street in Las Vegas after an incredibly long and stressful day

Excitement – spending time with Katie and Pete, catching up, and feeling like normal people again! Meeting Murphy and Jack (Katie, Pete and her parents’ doggos), being able to communicate in English again, making it through immigration and customs without any issues

Trauma – the unhoused situation, trying to leave LA, trying to leave Vegas, Chuckie street ‘performer’