Well, what an experience that 8 week sojourn in South Western America turned out to be. We were stunned by the different scenery we saw each day [different to anything we have seen in other parts of the world], the intenseness of the heat in Death Valley, the weather including dust storms, twisters and wild fires, the fantastic people we met and the food; the huge portions and how we needed to remember to share a dish rather than have one each.
Americans speak American English but the culture is so very different and we learned so much which we think they do so much better than us ie parking bays at an angle to avoid opening your door onto another car, room to back out without backing onto a road, senior citizen parking at supermarkets - how cool is that, no grumpty shop assistants etc etc. And others where we are more advanced or do better ie harvesting; our machines do everything whereas they do a field twice to get in the corn and then the stooks separately, we don't charge for parking everywhere you go and have compulsory valet parking for which you pay a huge fee and then have to tip the valet.
We have so many photographs and so many memories that we will be talking about this trip for many years yet. There is nothing we would have changed had we had the opportunity to do it all again.
Our Favourite view; we both agreed was Bryce Canyon
Our Favourite hotel; we loved them all but for Diana it was El Tovar at Grand Canyon and for Malcolm it was Habor View Inn at Santa Barbara [which was Diana's close second]
Our Favourite meals; ie Craft in Century City Los Angeles, Jeffrey's in Moab [the steaks just cut through like butter], the Spotted Dog in Springdale near Zion NP, the Waterfront and John's in San Francisco - all fine dining with delicious food.
Our Favourite road; definitely the No 12 from Torrey to Bryce Canyon [a joyful mountain road experience from start to finish]
Malc's favourite place; [1] Death Valley and [2] Monument Valley made the most impression. Diana's favourite place; [1] San Francisco [2] Bryce Canyon and [3]Sedona made the most impression.
Would we do it all again? YES
Where next? Bishkek Kyrgyzstan to visit younger daughter Andrea, and a side trip on the way back to Instanbul for three nights.
