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  • Ancsa Székely

Americas

Colombia and a roadtrip through the US after graduating from university Lue lisää
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  • Ancsa SzékelyAmericasMatkaaja

    Arches National Park

    22. marraskuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    We spent the night in Moab, a small town next to 2 national parks, between beautiful rocks and canyons, which gave us amazing views from our room.
    We drove through the park, surrounded by incredible cliffs and arches, and at the very and we did the Devil's Garden trail. It was amazing, sometimes walking between the huge cliff walls, sometimes on the top. We were walking on sand, had to cross some frozen water, saw snowy mountains behind the arches and met a nice couple from Germany. After the big hike we went to the Delicate Arch, the symbol of Utah. We had a wonderful sunset there, and a less nice encounter with a wannabe influencer, which helped Olli's low blood pressure.Lue lisää

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    Dead Horse Point

    23. marraskuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    Before going to the Canyonlands National Park we did a small hike at the Dead Horse Point. Legend says that some cowboys corralled wild horses at the cliff, and took some that they liked, and let the rest die of thirst. Quite cruel story for having such a nice view. Mountains and rocks everywhere, canyons, and we saw Colorado River the first time.Lue lisää

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    Canyonlands National Park

    23. marraskuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    We had several smaller hikes and stopped at some overlook points to see the canyons and cliffs along the scenic road in the park. We walked around the Mesa Arch, which provided beautiful landscape between the arch. Then we walked to the very end of the park, to see the Grand Vista, and then we hiked to the Whale Rock where we had an amazing sunset (again). And this time we were completely alone, no annoying tourists around.Lue lisää

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    Natural Bridges National Monument

    24. marraskuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Before going to Monument Valley we stopped at the Natural Bridges Monument. This amazing canyon has three bridges, where the water cut through the rocks, looking for a shorter way. We hiked to the bottom of the canyon, walked under the bridge and walked in the river bed to a place with some handprints on the wall.
    Then we drove the scenic drive around the park and continued the way to Monument Valley. We drove a beautiful road down from the plateau, where we had a gravel road with hairpin bends, and an altitude drop of 300 meter.    Lue lisää

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    Monument Valley

    24. marraskuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    After stopping at the Forrest Gump point we finally got to our highlight. As the Valley is a sacred place for Native Americans, the park is in their hands and there are some restrictions. Most tours are guided, or you have the option to drive the scenic drive through the park, a very bumpy dirt road. We spent two hours driving around, amazed by the rocks formations standing out from the endless plains. A truly magical two hours!
    We even run into a film shooting, where we were not allowed to make pictures or to stop. I also saw the dirtiest toilet of my life, where I refused to go. Oliver's words were: I've never seen Ancsa refusing a toilet, so it must be really terrible.    Lue lisää

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    Horshoe Bend

    25. marraskuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    We spent to nights in Page, a starting point for several tours and sights around Grand Canyon. We had a beautiful view on the red rocks around from our room. We had some changes in our plan, as some hikes we wanted to do were either super expensive or we didn't get a permit for. So we first went to the Horshoe Bend at the Colorado River. It was one of the most touristic places we've been to in the last weeks, with helicopter tours, tourist buses and loads of people. The view was breathtaking, standing right at the edge of Colorado River, where it makes a 180 degree turn.Lue lisää

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    Vertical Garden

    25. marraskuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    After the Horshoe Bend we had a small walk on the Vertical Garden trail. We walked on some rocks, no plants, only sand and cliffs. And then at the very and a small vertical garden, hanging from a wall on the shadow side.Lue lisää

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    Lake Powell

    25. marraskuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    From the Horshoe Bend we drove up to the Powell Dam, the second largest dam in the US. It was built in the fifties to ensure the distribution of the water in the surrounding states. Page, the town we stayed at, was originally built for the workers at the construction.
    We went to the visitor center, where we watched a movie about the construction of the dam. We learned some crazy facts about the dam (it took 17 years to completely fill the lake, the dam consists of 4 million tons of concrete and so on). After that we went to the lake, which had a very long and sandy shore. Sadly, the water level is very low right now. We saw some people swimming and making a barbecue at the lake, we chose to walk around only.
    It started raining in the afternoon, so we couldn't not do another hike, so we went to Walmart, to check out some crazy Christmas stuff there.    Lue lisää

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    The deepest we got - 1200 meter above sea level
    Of course we got all the cloudsThe incredible trail, which we unfortunately did not manageOn the way backRainbow in the canyonColorado River at the bottomObserve the pants - all of us walked through Walmart like thisCactus and cliffsElks on the road

    Grand Canyon

    26. marraskuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    After driving two hours to Grand Canyon (partly) on a beautiful road at the canyon, we finally reached the rim. We went to a view point (with a gift shop of course, there is no touristic place without gift shops) before we started our descend.
    We just red an article that the Kaibab Trail is easier than the others, so we were like let's go for it, as every other activity at the canyon was incredibly expensive. The signs at the trailhead were quite alarming, about taking enough water, and about under no circumstances one should try to ascend and descend on the same day. We walked through the Ooh-Aah Point, down to the Skeleton Point, but the name didn't scare us off, so we continued down to the canyon. It was all downhill, crazy zik-zak roads, rocks, and sand changing colors from yellow, gray to red. Mesmerizing views on the cliffs, at some point we even saw Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon. At the end we walked 1000 m downhill in 7 km (which was still super high, as the rim is at 2200 m), and we decided to turn around. Only 500 meters were missing, but it was getting cloudy, and dark, and it was hard to estimate how much time we would need all the way up.
    The road up was hard, it also started to rain, and we had a horrible wind, so it was a lovely combination of sweating and being cold. At the end we made the way up in 2,5 hours, before sunset and we went to another viewpoint and a visitor center. At the bookstore the most advertised book was Death in Grand Canyon, which is about the more than 750 people who died in the canyon, super marketing for the hike! We then googled, this year 16 people have met their death while hiking there, but most in the summer.
    It was an amazing hike, every drop of sweat worth the view, and we saved 350 dollars as we didn't need a helicopter to see the bottom of the canyon.    Lue lisää

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    Walmart Canyon - AKA Walnut Canyon

    27. marraskuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    We spent the night at Flagstaff, which is a town in a volcanic area, with several National Monuments around. National Monuments are like national parks, just smaller, and they can be named by the president.
    The first monument we went to, was the Walnut Canyon. In the 1200s several hundred people lived in dwellings carved naturally into the rocks in the side of the canyon. The cliffs served as roof and back walls.    Lue lisää

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    Meteorit Crater

    27. marraskuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    Today we had our second coldest day (after the snowstorm in Wyoming).
    We went to the world's best preserved meteor crater, where we saw an interesting exhibition on meteors, and then had a small tour to the crater. In the middle of nowhere, on a complete flat landscape, so nothing stopped the ice cold wind. We were told some incredible facts about the meteorite: the meteorite was flying 20 km/s before the impact, which had a power of the explosion of 20 million tons of TNT, leaving a 200 meter deep crater.
    In the 1900's the meteorite was believed to still be under the crater, so they started drilling and got to 400 m deep, but found nothing. They were looking for a huge iron meteorite, worth more than a billion dollars back then, and invested around 7 million dollars (today's value). Nothing has ever been found, as the meteorite evaporated at the impact.
    NASA had its training station for the Apollo Program in the crater, as it is so moon-like.    Lue lisää

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    Wupatki National Monument

    27. marraskuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    The last stop was the Wupatki Monument, ancient villages. We drove through the volcanic area, everywhere black rocks, amazing landscape, black mountains, with snow on the top and lava flows.
    A few hundred years ago Native Americans lived in these villages built on red rocks.
    We walked around till the sun went down, and again, we saw a beautiful sunset.    Lue lisää

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    Mining cart on the trailLiberty Bell ArchColorado RiverLake Powell - quite emptyWelcome to Nevada

    Hoover Dam

    28. marraskuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Before arriving to Las Vegas we had a small hike to the Liberty Bell Arch with a beautiful view to the Colorado River. Moon-like landscape, an underneath us lovely green spots for camping at the riverside. After seeing some warnings about brain eating bacteria in the water, we decided not to go to the hot springs, instead we headed to Hoover Dam, the biggest dam in the US. We jumped 4 times back and forward in time, as we crossed time zones crossing the river on the dam. We also checked out Lake Powell behind the dam, with an old railway track on the side, for the construction of Hoover Dam. It was super busy, as it was Thanksgiving. The dam itself was quite impressive, walking on the massive concrete wall, surrounded by art deco style towers, and looking down to the river from above.Lue lisää

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    Las Vegas

    28. marraskuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☁️ 3 °C

    Finally we made it to Vegas. After surviving the extrem long queue, we managed to check in to our hotel, Flamingo, which even had its own monorail stop and highway exit. And yes, it had real flamingos in the garden, right next to the garden chapel. After walking through the casino and the shops in the hallway, we got to our room on the 15th floor (with pink tanned windows). Then we had dinner and visited New York, Paris, the fountains of Bellagio and a Christmas Wonderland. After loosing all the money on roulette, we went to sleep, so we could wake up early to spend all the money we had left, and go Black Friday shopping the next day. Before that we went to Venice to see the gondolas and walk down the Strip by daylight.Lue lisää

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    Valley of Fire

    29.–30. marrask. 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    After dropping off Olli's friend at the airport, we drove to Valley of Fire.
    Back to reality: sleeping again in the car. We spent the night at a gas station, which had a casino firework store open 24/7, and an area for lighting the fireworks, so we fall asleep to some lovely explosion sounds and lights.
    In the morning we drove down to the valley, with beautiful red rocks everywhere (hence the name). We walked through the fire formation and the seven wonders trail. Waves everywhere in the rocks, in all colours, a picturesque landscape the whole day. We saw some arches, canyons, and petroglyphs as well.    Lue lisää

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    So happy to be in Vegas

    Las Vegas 2

    30. marrask.–1. jouluk. 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    After returning from the Valley of Fire, we went to the movies, to see the new Gladiator. We had a huge bowl of popcorn (too big for two even). Then instead of going to a fancy hotel we drove to a gas station, where we spent the night. In the morning we went for a walk in the Ice Age Fossils State Park, which was a flop and to the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area. In the afternoon we played some minigolf, where Olli beat me. After not succeeding in finding live music, and being very disappointed by the fruit machine ( I wanted to pull the arm to try it once, but only the buttons worked, we left to Death Valley.Lue lisää

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    Death Valley

    2. joulukuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    After taking a shower for two dollars at a gas station (both of us in the women's restroom, behind a curtain) we drove to the warmest place on earth. We went to the salt flats, Badwater, which is the lowest point of America, 85 meters below sea level. We drove to the Artists Palette, where we drove on a beautiful road surrounded by rocks and mountains in several different colours. Then we hiked through the Golden Canyon, passing by the Red Cathedral in a landscape similar to Badlands national park. Everything dry, no sign of life anywhere, very impressive views everywhere you look. At the end we went to the thermometer to make the compulsory picture with it (it was already 4 and there were some clouds, so it was probably hotter during the day).
    On the way out of the park we made a quick stop at an old borax mine and enjoyed the sunset.    Lue lisää

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    Sequoia National Forest

    3. joulukuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Up to Sierra Nevada!
    Thanks to the road closures (because of snow and winter, but all we saw up was sun and 20 degrees) we saw a very diverse landscape up the hills: an awful industrial city with very bad air, oil fields with hundreds of pumps. Right after some orange plantations (they must be very tasty with all that chemicals around), then England landscape with grass and some stones, and at the end some burnt forest, quite apocalyptic.
    We hiked along a river in a beautiful canyon, and we made it to the Seven Teacups waterfalls, after our heads were almost blown off by a military airplane, that flew over us very close and very loudly.
    Then we walked the 100 Giants trail, which led us through some thousand years old Sequoia trees, with an incredible size. The fire unfortunately caused some damage in the trees, and some died due to a drought in the last 10 years.
    We drove down from the mountains and found a fitness and wellness centre in the town we spent the night at, where we had a nice swim and a sauna for free, 10/10!    Lue lisää

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  • Ancsa SzékelyAmericasMatkaaja
    Boomers and General Sherman
    Moro RockThe view from Moro RockAuto Log - cars used to be photographed on the fallen tree for several yearsThe roots of Auto LogSnowy mountains from Moro RockLook from Moro Rock on the road up to the mountainsThe SenateOliver for scaleGeneral Sherman from the viewpointBlack Arch - the trail leads through the treeThe coolest car with the best driver

    Sequoia National Park - Giant Forest

    4. joulukuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Giant trees part 2. Today we drove to Sequoia National Park to see General Sherman and Co. The same morning routine: driving through some very bad air quality area, then orange plantations and at the end beautiful mountains. We had breakfast at the visitor center, with some bear proof trash containers. Then we drove all the way up to 2000 meters, in a scenic drive.
    After walking up to a giant rock we drove through the Tunnel Log to the beginning of our trail. After seeing the bear warnings everywhere, we put all our food in a bear box, and hoped to find everything very we left once we come back. We walked in a beautiful forest, with giant sequoia trees and other huge pine trees around. At some point we heard some weird noises and thought someone was shooting, but it turned out, it was a tree falling over. It was quite scary seeing it so close (at least the noise scared off the bears potentially lurking around).
    We were almost alone in the forest, it was truly magical walking around some 2000 years old trees. After passing by The Senate, Tres Amigos and other named trees we finally made it to the biggest tree (volume wise), General Sherman. It has a diameter of 11 meters and weighs 1200 tons.    Lue lisää

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    Yosemite

    5. joulukuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    Finding a place to sleep close to the park was not so easy, we were quite sceptical about our options, but eventually we found a pretty nice spot next to a fire station, with WiFi even. After we had talked about how nice it was that we haven't been woken up in the middle of the night and sent away until now, we had our personal alarm from a highway patrol. Apparently, we were parking at the wrong spot in the parking lot, which we didn't see at night. She was super nice and wished us a good day. At least we got to Yosemite quite early.
    After our breakfast with a beautiful view on the rim of the valley, we asked a ranger for some recommendations, so we went to the Yosemite Falls, and to the El Capitan Meadow to see the famous rock. On the
    shuttle bus I made friends with a random Spanish man, ( after I helped him, as he didn't speak a word in English) whom we saw again and again, and who warned us about the hurricane in San Francisco (and tried to tell me some weird stuff about Hungarians in Bilbao, but I didn't understand him, he was quite eccentric)
    and then we hiked up to some waterfalls on some icy and steep stairs. Unfortunately we didn't have time for the last hike, but the ranger in the morning told us: in Yosemite we are not sad about the things we don't see, but we are thankful for the things we did see.    Lue lisää

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  • Ancsa SzékelyAmericasMatkaaja
    The best shower
    Pinecrest Lake, hopefully with more water in the summer

    Stanislaus National Forest

    6. joulukuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Another day, another personal alarm service: today in the morning a McDonald's worker knocked on our window, saying that we are not allowed to park overnight. I found an interesting place to have a shower in Mi-Wuk, we absolutely didn't know if it even existed.
    Once we wanted to leave, our car had an engine warn signal, check oil level. So we went to Schwab Tires (as we already stole some WiFi from them at a random petrol station in Wyoming, we already knew them), but they only do tires, so we went to a repair shop, where we got our issue fixed immediately. So now, the highlight of the day: the shower. It was in the back of a laundromat, quite hidden, with a bear statue. You got 36 seconds of hot water for a quarter, a very cool system. It even had a handheld showerhead, not so common here. We even had WiFi at the laundry, so we had breakfast there. Then we drove to Pinecrest, and hiked around the Pinecrest Lake, unfortunately almost completely dry, we could walk on the bottom of the lake, where we saw the trunks from before the dam was built. We had a small detour to Cloe's Bath, a nice lake with a waterfall. Then we walked along an railroad till it got dark. So we drove back to Sonora, where we stayed at the night before, had dinner and a few beers, and made some friends in the bar. They recommended us a bar, where "you can get wasted, buy your bait and a gun. I'd love to say there are many places like that, but unfortunately there are not many left."
    After getting some recommendations for SF, (and most importantly, many warnings) and being told not to go to Reno, we looked for another place to park for the night. We didn't have many options, and as it was our last night sleeping in the car, we wanted something special. The clerk was very nice at the petrol station, we had WiFi and music during the whole night, and we weren't woken up.    Lue lisää

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    Chinese scale and accounting
    The third Wells Fargo officeOldest two-storey school building in California, built in the 1860'sMemorial of the Chinese Pioneers of Columbia

    Columbia

    7. joulukuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Before driving to SF, to pick up our friend, we went to Columbia, a former gold rush town. We had a tour of the town, where several buildings have been preserved from the gold rush times. Gold was found there in 1850, in 1853 already 25000 people lived there. People came from everywhere (the closest harbour was Hong Kong, many Chinese people came, and worked as miners or pharmacists). They would spend months to travel through the country or to sail around South America and then travel up the mountains. We also saw the third oldest Wells Fargo, which back then sent cheques to the families of the miners in exchange for the gold.Lue lisää

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  • Ancsa SzékelyAmericasMatkaaja
    The Painted Ladies and us
    Fisherman's WharfChristmas feeling in 15 degrees and sunshineSeals everywhereGingerbread exhibition (McDonald's was occupied by it, so no lunch for us 🥲)The ingredientsCable trainThe world's crookedest roadView from Twin PeakSunset over the PacificTwin Peaks after sunsetBest driver 10/10 experienceWhat does the car see ?Coit Tower viewCoit Tower, nice spot to chill above the cityStanford, expensive cars everywhereStanfordGolden Gate Bridge

    San Francisco

    7.–9. jouluk. 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    We drove for ages to get to San Francisco (South San Francisco to be more exact) without tolls, we drove around the whole bay. We barely saw anything from the city, it was so smoggy. We drove through Silicon Valley to get to our luxurious inn at the airport. We picked up our friend from the airport, and looked for a nice and cheap mexican restaurant next to a laundromat.

    After the prison we went to Pier 39, a lot of restaurants and shops, and seals and tons of Christmas decorations. We walked around Fisherman's Wharf and checked out the cable car, then a friend who works in SF picked us up and we did some sightseeing by car. (We left ours at the inn, as we've been told that cars get broken in all the time, and that we should open the windows to show that the car is empty.) We drove down the crookedest road, went to see the painted ladies, where we had a beautiful view on the city, and then we went up to Twin Peaks, where we had a sick sunset. For the first time we also bought a beer and a brown bag at a liquor store and drank it in public.
    As we are super responsible, we took a cab back to the town. Not just any cab, but a fully autonomous Waymo. Out Jaguar picked us up and reminded us to buckle up. We had a crazy 40 minutes having a beer in the car while the driver's seat was empty and the steering wheel was moving by itself, and the car braked as a completely high guy jumped in front of the car. We went to Chinatown to have dinner there and then walked up to Coit Tower. Unfortunately Waymo was too expensive and we didn't have the app, so we had a lame taxi to take us back to the inn.

    On the next day we finally got our second key and the documents of the car (many thanks to Panni and Dani). We had a quick visit to Stanford and the picked up another friend from Germany at the airport.
    After a small crisis which included a lost suitcase we managed to start our escape to the north (we were all shocked by the prices in California, so we decided to get to Oregon as fast as possible). On our way out of SF we drove through Tenderloin, where we saw what everyone was warning us about, all the crack addicts and homeless people. It was terrible to see how they are living on the streets and walking around like zombies.
    Then we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and made the compulsory photos and took Highway 1 on the coast up to the Red Woods.    Lue lisää

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  • Ancsa SzékelyAmericasMatkaaja
    Olli doesn't like the sun
    Modell of the islandWhere is the view?Foggy smoggy SFWater tower with Indian signs, after the Indian occupation of the island in 1969I had a visitorThe factory, where the inmates workedPhoto exhibition about the Indian occupationWard's office4Ward's office with Coca-ColaKitchen and dining room, the food was supposed to be very good at AlcatrazThe handles for opening the cells

    Alcatraz

    8. joulukuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    We started the day at Alcatraz, went there with a ferry, where we were supposed to have a nice view on the bay and Golden Gate Bridge, but we still couldn't see anything because of the smog. We had an interesting audio tour and some exhibitions about the history of the island, we could enter some cells and learned about the mechanical cell door system, which was quite impressive. We also read about some crazy escape stories, where a guy made a mask of his face to trick the wards. On the way back to the mainland the view got clearer, we finally saw the bridge and the skyline.Lue lisää

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  • Ancsa SzékelyAmericasMatkaaja
    Carson Mansion in Eureka, one of the most photographed Victorian buildings in the US
    Beach with black sand and huge wavesBreakfast with calories enough for the whole day

    Redwood National Park

    10. joulukuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    We spent the night in Eureka, a town with some beautiful Victorian buildings. Before having a huge breakfast we went to the Carson Mansion. Then we drove to Redwood National Park, along the coast with black sandy beaches and cliffs. Then we walked to the Corkscrew tree and the Big Tree through a very crazy forest: ferns everywhere, huge redwood trees, trees growing on fallen trees, moss on the trees. A real ewok land. Unfortunately we didn't make the trail to the shore, but we went to the Grove of Titans with even more impressive trees, grown together.Lue lisää

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