Tag Archives: USA

Monument Valley

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Like Antelope Canyon, this is run by the Navajo Indians, and they run things differently from the National Parks. There isn’t a lot of access unless you go on one of their tours. The road is unbelievably bad (not this one) and no way could we take our camper van along it. We had the sunrise tour, our guide took us in a Chevrolet 4X4 minibus and we were longing to get out and walk around the rocks, but that wasn’t allowed. However, we got this one, the tallest rock is called the Totem Pole, and was climbed (ha!) by Clint Eastwood and George Kennedy in ‘The Eiger Sanction’. I think I will have to watch that film again, now I know that.

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It’s Very Grand!

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We had three days at the Grand Canyon, and every one had different weather. There are no snow pics because, after getting up at 4.30am to photograph the sunrise, I managed to slip on the ice and hurt my wrist. No big deal I know, but I also passed out about 4 times. After walking half an hour back to the village, and unable to find anyone to help, finally managed to raise someone who called an ambulance. Very exciting, never been in an ambulance before! The paramedic had just got back from a month in New Zealand, so she told us all about that. She said most of their call outs are for people who passed out due to low oxygen at the high altitude (over 7000 ft / 2000m) so that must have been the reason. Anyway, I am OK, and I’ve evened up with Colin, who’s been limping since he twisted his ankle in Las Vegas. What a pair of old crocks!

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Viva Las Vegas!

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Las Vegas – Crikey! It’s much bigger and more crowded than it was 20 years ago, and just like then, one day was quite sufficient. We went inside one casino, just to look – the Luxor, the one like a big glass Egyptian pyramid, which had just been started when we were there last. It’s always night in the casinos, for some reason – why? The casinos are much busier, apart from the gambling, every one a full entertainment complex. From where we set off to the end of the strip is 6.7 miles (10.75Km) in a straight line and we walked the whole way, with lots of wandering around as well – there was hardly anything we recognised – to the Stratosphere, where we went up to the observation deck. Then we got the bus back! People stood up to let us sit down, which made us feel really old!

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San Francisco

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We have had such a good time here in San Francisco, our time has flown by, and today we pick up our camper van. We have decided to stay close by for a couple of days, we hope to find a camp site on the other side of the bridge. It’s surprisingly easy to escape from the city,  bus travel is very cheap, the bridge is situated in a National Park and it’s very rural. Yesterday we “hiked the trails” as they say, and walked from the bridge to Baker Beach. The vegetation is almost the same as we have at Birdlings Flat – lots of the same plants!

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