Marlene & Hofi Are Travelling the World: USA

After almost 4 fantastic weeks on Hawaii it was time for mainland USA and yet another road trip - whoohoo!! We started in San Francisco where we also met Alex, Stefan's brother. We really enjoyed San Francisco, it all felt really neighbourly and quite 'compact', from Fisherman's Warf (where we had a fantastic seafood chowder) to Ashbury Haight, the neighbourhood of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Co, everything was so pretty and neat. Our hotel was very close to the so-called 'Painted Ladies' known from Full House and Mrs Doubtfire, and the whole area was full of really cool houses. Very cool! Here's some photos of the highlights:

We then made our way down South to LA we stopped to see Elephant seals which were really interesting, so different to all the seals we have seen before. Not the most beautiful creatures in the world but amazing.

Then we reached Malibu Beach (I'll be ready *sing*) and Venice, strolled down the Walk of Fame, drove through the Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills and visited the Warner Brothers and Universal Studios. Stefan and Alex also spent a day at Six Flags riding the most ridiculous rollercoasters in the world while I went shopping (not on Rodeo Drive though ;) and took a drive through the city (14 lane freeways - holy moly!!) and Mulholland Drive. Although we heard quite a few bad things about LA we actually really liked it. Not as much as San Francisco though, but then you can't really compare the two.

Next stop on our road trip was San Diego where we spent a day exploring the city, waterfront and historic, mexican parts of the town. All in all a very cool and relaxed city and we now certainly know where the hype about San Diego comes from.

We then drove on towards Las Vegas stopping at the very, very toasty Death Valley. Although we knew that Death Valley was one of the hottest places on earth, the over 50(!) degrees Celsius still really hit us. I thought Perth summer was hot but it's really nothing compared to Death Valley - crazy!! The wind is so hot, it hurts your eyes; at times I thought my sneakers were melting away beneath me. So, needless to say we didn't do much walking there :)

Then it was time for fabulous Las Vegas! We checked in to Excalibur (the hotel that looks like..

..yes, the Disneyland castle, hehe!) and spent 2 full days and 3 nights gambling, eating, drinking (All you can drink Bloody Marys for $12 at the Bellagio breakfast buffet - oooh yeah!) and shopping our way through town. Las Vegas is absolutely crazy; although you hear so much about 'Sin City' everything's even crazier than you imagine it to be. The amount of shops, bars, clubs, restaurants, casinos and people - just thinking about how much money they all leave here, incredible!! We didn't really get lucky gambling but it was so much fun, we thought Vegas was awesome!

Leaving Vegas behind we made our way to Hoover Dam, Lake Meade and the Valley of Fire and then on to Arizona to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Wow!! What else shall we say, absolutely incredible. The North Rim is also less crowded so we got some nice photos there.

On our way to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon we got another unexpected treat. Along the way we saw a sign advertising dinosaur foot prints so we pulled over and took a tour by a local Najavo American Indian guide (it was donation based as he was only about 10 years old, so cute). On our travels we have seen some Dinosaur sites but never have we seen such good ones including prints of Tyrannosaurus Rex, amazing (the prints were clearly visible but got "highlighted" by a few stones).

The South Rim is as spectacular as the North but full of people. You sometimes really have to fight for a spot to take a good photo. That's also a reason why we decided to take a flight over the canyon, again wow wow wow!!!!

We then had to leave Alex in Flagstaff a little bit South of the Grand Canyon from where he was flying back to Austria. Stefan and I drove on to Antelope Canyon stopping at the 'Horseshoe Bend' where the Colorado River is taking a spectacular looking 'loop'. So beautiful! From here one highlight really followed the next. Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley (including a 2hour horse back ride), Mesa Verde, Canyonlands, Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. One park more beautiful and spectacular than the other. It was just amazing, we LOVED it! There's only two things which were a bit of a shame 1) our camera lense breaking in between and 2) the road closure to Delicate Arch (the most famous arch in the park). But hey, that's travelling, such things happen :) Phone take photos too and with Delicate Arch we now have another reason to come back at some stage.