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USA eclipse 2017

July - August 2017
A 36-day adventure by John Read more
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  • John BickerstaffUSA eclipse 2017
    Day 1

    Close encounters of the high kind.

    July 27, 2017, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Not sure if it's the orange one's influence but check in was bizarre. Queued up to have a weird security quiz. Liz was asked about her job or lack of. Just to mix it up I was grilled about my free time - clearly I don't look the working sort. Ended up quizzing me about the cost & location of the seasie. Security was negotiated with comparative ease. Boarded to find a plane out of the dark ages - no seat back entertainment - cheap skate yanks. Still, not the longest of long haul flights & the BBQ chicken was pretty good. Saw a couple of planes - crossed over a vapour trail - does that class as a near miss?Read more

  • John BickerstaffUSA eclipse 2017
    Day 1

    Vegas!

    July 27, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 34 °C

    Very disappointing arrival into New York. Skycrapers barely visible on the horizon. Not what was ordered... Settled down to the expected endless queues & grilling that is homeland security. Since Liz had a passport that hadn't been put through the washing machine since our last visit she could prove she had an expired travel authority - we could jump some of the queuing by using the baffling machines. They spat out receipts. No surprise whose had a cross on it. Crosses go one way - pre-approved the other. Going to be a grilling. Except it wasn't. Perfunctory questions & spat out. Unfortunately not for Liz. Epic queue. Got moved - not allowed to wait, even parents were being separated. Picked up the bags. Eventually met up, did security & settled down for some serious waiting. Had window seats when eventually boarded but a combination of Mancunian style cloud & bad location over the wing meant no views at all. Not the most comfortable flight but made it to Vegas & the first sight off the plane - slot machines. Train to baggage reclaim. Opted for taxi - needs to be easy & in his defence it was. He did however take the longest route possible & expected a tip. The tip was the extra $10 you took us round the sticks.Read more

  • John BickerstaffUSA eclipse 2017
    Day 2

    Geek fest

    July 28, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 37 °C

    Time to try to comprehend the insanity that is Las Vegas. Stepped out post breakfast & the first thing to get our still weary heads round was the temperature - 30°+ at 8.30. Any little bit of shade was grasped & clung to. Every now & then misters were used to cool things down, which helped allbeit very briefly. Scouted out the venue for the Bunnymen concert & then headed for a casino - first one - any one - one with air con.
    The scale of it was immense - seemingly endless means of losing money. The craps tables summed it up perfectly. Wandered round Caeser's Palace just as some nerd fest was kicking off - epic queues of geeks waiting for a computing conference. Half expected to see Sheldon.    Read more

  • John BickerstaffUSA eclipse 2017
    Day 2

    Slots of fun

    July 28, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 37 °C

    Apparently all the madness that is the 'strip' is a new phenomenon. For a sanitised version of the old fashioned madness that was Las Vegas in the past you need to head to Freemont Street, Downtown. Rather bizarrely the strip is not the city centre. Handily this is also the site of one of U2's best known videos & hence my idea of what Vegas is like. Where better to have a little flutter. Being 5 miles or so from the hotel meant walking was not an option so we hit the bus. The downtown express was anything but, but it had air con so we were happy. Were dropped off with the instructions of where to pick up the return - @ the heart attack cafe. Wandered along the pedestrianised & cannopied road with dodgy Elvis impersonators & kids dancing to Michael Jackson. Stopped for a slot machine session - 5 cents a pop - high stakes stuff. Avoided the temptation to zip wire off Slotzilla - a five storey slot machine. Back to the strip for lunch. By now it was hitting 40° - a bit much. Retreated to the air con of the MGM casino. All well & good but couldn't find our way back out - we did find Sheldon though. Guess they don't want you leaving. When we did get out we headed for the Earl of Sandwich for possibly the best sarnies.Read more

  • John BickerstaffUSA eclipse 2017
    1
    Day 2

    Mac, me & 500 others.

    July 28, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 35 °C

    Tea proved to be something of a movable feast. Initial plans of eating at the hotel were binned off when the headline steak price of $7.99 was found to be a gambling related offer & shockingly 5 cent punts on the slots didn't count. Opted to take in the Belagio fountain show - one of the few things in this city that hasn't been totally monetised - before deciding. It was at this point it became clear how unsuited to human existance Vegas naturally is - 42° at 7pm. Any breeze felt like a sub-standard hair dryer. Once the fountains had done their thing we tried in the Paris casino but it was too loud & busy. Decided to head towards the concert, for we had a show planned, & find somewhere near there. Took the route through the Flamingo casino & found a relatively quiet food court - should be cheap, easy & relatively acceptable, admittedly not the greatest of endorsements for a food establishment. Chinese chow & then off to see Echo & the Bunnymen - Liverpool's 2nd finest. Unfortunately show times proved to be later than anticipated & the Bunnymen proved not be quite as show worthy as Liz hoped ie she was tired & not fussed. I loved it along with 500 others & the wasted guy in front of us probably liked it enough for about 10 of us - surprised he didn't explode with excitement. Midnight curfew & it was still ludicrously hot outside.Read more

  • John BickerstaffUSA eclipse 2017
    Day 3

    3 different varieties of arid & bleak.

    July 29, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    Small matter of getting to the airport to pick up the hire car. Since we had 24hr bus passes it seemed to make sense to get the airport bus & then take the car rental shuttle. The buses were very frequent after all or so I thought. Helps if you read the timetable. Got to the bus stop to find we had a 30 min wait - oops. The rental car place was easy enough to get to - a world away from the operation at Exeter, in fact the car rental place was probably bigger than Exeter airport in it's entirety. Got into a heated discussion over unpaid fees for the car. It was paid up front in advance, which was accepted but sometimes the 2 companies get the taxes a bit wrong. Why should I have to pick up the tab. Manager called & sorted. All for ... 24 cents. Checked car - all ok. Stopped off at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign - people were queuing for a photo opp & some chancer was charging to take photos even though a sign said it wasn't allowed. Pushed on, picked up stuff & headed out of Vegas or at least we tried. Many wrong turns. Eventually headed out to the bleak Nevada hinterland. Flat, arid & inhospitable. Crossed the border into Arizona & things got more rugged & grand but still bleak. Every now & then signs pointed to unseen places - their existance seemingly implausible. Stopped off for food in Mesquite & finding shops proved a challenge - fast food easy, casino / resort not a problem. Into Utah & things got impressive - just beyond Hurricane there was a historic viewpoint - expected some sort of border skirmish with the Mexicans. In fact it was the site of a rocket test track.Read more

  • John BickerstaffUSA eclipse 2017
    1
    Day 3

    What's the time?

    July 29, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Lodge located - handily a short walk from the park gate. A quick sort out & then out to get the National Park Pass & have a quick look since we arrived relatively early. Car entrance into the park is banned meaning everyone has to use the shuttle bus within the park - they looked busy & it was a relief not to need them today - just a short walk up the valley floor along the Virgin river. Still really hot but at least the breeze had some noticable cooling effect - the fact that that was probably caused by an imminent storm was immaterial - flood warnings had been issued. Thankfully the warden didn't insist on photo id & off we went, hideously unprepared - not even a bottle of water. Rectified that at the shop. Nice walk - rather sweaty. Can safely say the hilly challenging routes are unlikely to make the grade - August in the S. States. Headed back & located the local Thai restaurant. Happy days. Nice bit of cooling down before heading out for tea - phones however seemed to think we'd been out for ages - all of a sudden it was 7.30. Clearly we had crossed a time zone - that's why the clock in reception was highlighting it was Mountain time zone. And that was why people were flooding out of the park...Read more

  • John BickerstaffUSA eclipse 2017
    Day 4

    Canyon climbing.

    July 30, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Woke up to find outside was cool(ish) so strike while the iron is hot. Out for a quick run, brekkie & upto the park. No need for photo id unsurprisingly, rather more surprising was the limited queue for the shuttle bus into Zion. Got on the 2nd bus. The plan was to do the moderately challenging stuff before the heat took over & by then we'd be coming downhill. So upto the Emerald pools via the Kayenta Trail. Lots of dramatic outlooks over the valley & a fair few stumbles & trips. Got to look where I'm going. The middle pool was relatively easy to get to. The decision was whether to push onto the upper pool. The clue is in the name - quite a bit of uphill & not do much shade. Liz wasn't happy but we made it. Unfortunately you couldn't swim there but lots of shade when we finally made it. Lots of down to the lower pool which had waterfalls spraying the unwary - nice. At the bus stop the warning that made the impression was of the possibility of hours of queuing for return buses (not the tales of flooding, wildlife etc) so the decision was made to head back as the heat got to its worst & hopefully as people were still active. Plan worked - no queue. As for the visitor centre - the queue going into the park - epic... madness.Read more

  • John BickerstaffUSA eclipse 2017
    Day 5

    Hike cheating

    July 31, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    One of the most iconic views of Zion is from Angel's Landing - a strenuous 6 hour hike. With 30° or higher that was never an option. However, on the way out to Bryce the road climbed up the valley wall & at the top was a hike claiming canyon views & only to be moderately challenging. The only catch was the lack of parking. An early start should do the trick. Run & brekkie done. Just the small matter of fuel - is the hire car petrol or diesel? Nowhere in the documentation was there an indication. Had to rely on the sound of the engine... Thankfully at the car park, there was 1 space but had to turn round to get it - facing the wrong direction - could be a problem. Start of the path was a hefty flight of steps - Liz looked none too pleased. A fair bit of shade & fairly flat for the remainder helped. The view at the end sealed the deal. Very impressive. Bad selfies aside - you couldn't fail to take a bad photo of this. The limited parking ensured limited numbers - the family messing around with the echoes didn't ensure quietness - and they never stopped singing on the way down. Got back to the car & as Liz predicted there was a queue to get through the tunnel to Zion & no-one wanted to let me in so I could turn around. Ho hum - eventually a slow bus meant a gap - quick 3 point & off to Bryce.Read more

  • John BickerstaffUSA eclipse 2017
    Day 5

    A big Wow.

    July 31, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Sailed through the Park gate - loving the annual pass. The visitor centre was a little more challenging - parking was looking to be a problem, but we got lucky. Stocked up on water & genned up on hikes & views. Opted to try the shuttle again - worked pretty well at Zion. Except we missed the bus & since it wasn't compulsory the car got the nod. Headed to furthest main viewing area - Bryce lookout. On arrival the car park was packed - should've got the bus. Eventually we got another break & parked up. Headed to the gorge rim & jaws promptly dropped. Words don't do justice to the sight - just epic in size & grandeur. Nice walk along the rim to get away from the crowds. Onwards to Inspiration Point & hopefully a more extended rim walk. On arrival rumbles of thunder suggested otherwise. Ignored the ominous signs but drops of rain forced a rethink & a dash back to the car. Things didn't improve. Decided to drive to the furthest point & hope things might ease off. They didn't. Hail & fork lightning. Decided to retire to the hotel & head back if things improved - they didn't...Read more

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