We had a great time in New York staying with Heather & Pete, saw all the major sights in a day, bit of a whirlwinded tour but great fun! And then had a very wet & rainy walk in Central Park before catching our bus to Philadelphia but at least we tried to explore it! We stayed with Eamon and Glynne just outside Philadelphia; we loved our time with them and they were the most amazing hosts! Did day trips and saw lots of Jim, another friend who lives nearby, so that was great. Went to Atlantic City (the poor man's Vegas); visited the Amish community (VERY interesting!); ran up the Rocky Steps and had Philly cheese steaks in Philadelphia; visited Cape May and took a ferry ride (saw dolphins!) and went to Chesapeake city for seafood dinner; day trip to Washington DC (we were even interviewed there by CNN for Memorial Day!) so all in all a great time!
We then went to Denver via Dallas and missed our first connecting flight ever! Luckily the next one to Denver was in an hour so that was great! We stayed with a family friend in Denver, Paul & Dory, who have also been so amazing to us…lent us more camping equipment and other things for our roadtrip that have been such a help! We then headed off in our upgraded rental car into the Rockies again and lone behold, more snow, sleet, hail and rain. Come on summer! Froze in our tent that night but soon figured out that thermals were needed the next night and we were toasty!
We basically followed the road to as many National Parks as possible; Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce and Zion in Utah which were amazing – the red coloured rocks and formations were beautiful! Then onto Lake Powell which dams up the Colorado, some 180 miles or so, in a desert type terrain, surreal but stunning and a great first swim of the trip! After that came more of the Colorado river and of course the Grand Canyon in Arizona. We loved our time there, one can't get enough photo's to truly capture it, especially at sunset! After that was driving a part of the original Route 66 highway and onto Hoover Dam and the bright lights of Vegas. Stayed in a hotel there but in hindsight should have camped!! We stupidly arrived on a Friday night when the rates double!! Oh well, we still had fun! Especially watching the Bellagio Water show to lights and music, so beautiful.
We then drove through Death Valley National Park, where it gets to below sea level, heading for the Sequoia National park when we got to a dead end (pass was still closed due to snow!) so asked some people in a RV motor home for help and lone behold – a fellow South African, Vanora and her husband Franz step out. We got chatting, had tea, then a beer and then pitched our tent and stayed the night near them. Oogs and Franz fished and caught our dinner that evening – such fun and so great to be flexible and make the most of a wrong turn! The next night of our travels wind broke a tent pole on our 10 day old tent! We were so upset and didn't sleep much that night but managed to change it to a better designed tent for high winds a few days later luckily! The Sierra Nevada area was beautiful with amazing blue lakes and hot springs along the route to Yosemite National Park which is a must – incredible scenery and waterfalls but no bears unfortunately. Then again after seeing a video of one ripping the frame of a car door off, just for some bread, I wasn't too upset!!
To be continued...we don't want to bore you or make you jealous all at once!
Here are some photo's though:
USA New York http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=114258&l=6d2cc&id=639785606
