Everything
here is BIG, from big SUVs(cars) to big food, big distances to big bums.W America
California, Nevada, Arizona
California, San Francisco, mmmm.... home of the american dream and more homeless living on the streets than the poorest parts of Thailand. Several days of playing tourist ensues. Riding trolley buses up big hills, crossing big red bridges, wearing big fluffy hats, see the theme here?
Everything
here is BIG, from big SUVs(cars) to big food, big distances to big bums.
Once
we've acclimatised to to american way of life and the over friendly shop assistants
who think our accents are 'so cute'. We hire a big red car and head for the
big hills, in this case Yosemite national park. Having been a fan of Mr Adams
for years it's great to finally see it, stunning lumps of smooth granite rear
up out of the pines covered in roaring white falls from all the melt water.
Superlatives
don't do the landscape justice. We spend our time hiking up to the big waterfalls
getting drenched in the spray and taking in the big views. 
The
Tioga pass crosses the park and the Sierra mountains and the day before we arrive
they manage to shove the snow off and open the road. Peaking at 9,945 feet it's
the highest road in America. Stu can't resist the chance to play with his ball
in the snow ;)
Fun
though the mountains are, the bright lights of Vegas beckon. On the way we stop
off to see the giant Sequoias (big trees, if you look carefully you might just
spot us at the bottom).
Vegas,
wow, nothing can prepare you for the excess of this place. Extravagant re-creations
of Paris and Venice with canals and gondolas on the 2nd floor and the best free
show - the dancing fountains that are so big they sound like artillery. We check
into a casino hotel and set about blowing our gambling budget of 25cents a day
(each!).
Next
stop on the big tour, the Grand Canyon. OK, everything before was big but this
is BIG!!! Try and imagine the biggest thing you've ever seen, and that won't
even come close - even bigger than that cliff in New Zealand. Standing on the
edge you feel like you're just falling into space. The edge of the rim is 7,000
feet up and the other side's some 10 miles away. We arrive just as the sun is
setting and get to sit and watch night come up. Next day we get to practice
dying of dehydration walking along the edge for a few miles.
California(again), Oregon, Washington, British Colombia
OK,
time to get back on track - since arriving we have been going in the wrong direction
for Seattle. We point the car north east and turn the cruise control on for
a week. Apart from death valley and a million other weird american-esque things,
3,000 miles seem to just flow by.
Rivers,
mountains, forests, rugged coastlines, highway 101 winds slowly up the coast
through tiny seaside villages into Oregon. We start to get a feel for America,
far from the madding crowds. Some of these places look like they haven't changed
in a hundred years.
We
spend our time hunting down sun soaked wooded valleys overlooked by snow capped
mountain peaks. Stu braves the water and between swimming and rearranging the
rocks, we some how find our way into Washington state.
(...video might take a
while to download)
After
a month in america we realise traveling in the USA is almost as expensive as
the UK (but not quite) and despite our best efforts we are slowly becoming victims
of american diners (still we will be glad of a few extra pounds in Peru :)
Our
last few days are spent popping over the border to Canada and Vancouver, (nice
city, funky, out-doorsie feel) and indulging in bizarre local forms of transportation.
We return to America and Seattle to drink great coffee and pamper ourselves
with western luxuries before we leave civilisation and head for...
