Well there's been a bit happening lately so this will be one very brief entry.
Firstly, The Grand Canyon. A great big hole in the ground, stunning, unbelievable and done in style with a morning helicopter ride followed by a walk along part of the southern rim. Can't image a better way of seeing it. (On the way home we just stopped in at a tribute to The Flinstones - so tacky it had to be done)
Sedona. A small town in "Red Rock County". Incredibly coloured rocks with a town clinging desperately to the side of some stunning cliffs.
Monument Valley. Well we put on our best boots, saddled up the horses and headed the wagon east. Had a personal tour with a native american which was truly special. Got a first hand account of the local indian population living in the area and appreciated the mesmorising beauty of the land. Monument Valley, The Grand Canyon and Sedona were each wonderful and not to be forgotten. Good times.
What next. Oh yes. Popped back into California (via Route 66 of course) and hit another National Park. Joshua Tree National Park. Now to put this in perspective we've been to Yosemite National Park - a living breathing display of mother nature's grandure, we've been to Sequoia National Park - where we were swallowed whole and spat out again by natural beauty and Death Valley - an architectural natural wonder - but these are all second fiddle (for me) to Joshua Tree National Park.
Joshua Trees are inspiration in physical form. Muddled, twisted fantastical creations that can't be grapsed in words. They truly belong in Joshua Tree National Park for it is a landscape of impossibility.
This is when we left for the famous Californian Central Coast. A drive were you plunged through perfect fog, wound through forests and clinged desperately to road hovering above a relentless ocean. Scenes changed in a blink of an eye. Fog seemed to be placed meticulously by a great artist vanished around a mountain only to reappear without warning created an illusion that I had just reached everest's summit. The crystal blue sky could halt my driving just so I could stop to appreciate it all a little more. But watch out. That fog just rolled in and I can't see anything. (Apart from a whole heap of seals, huh, where did they come from?)
We're in San Francisco now. Best I write the next chapter.
