Reset search
USA 2018USA 2018
SatelliteEdit route

USA 2018

October - December 2018
Beast of the east and the best of the west Read more
  • 38footprints
  • 1countries
  • 48days
  • 146photos
  • 0videos
  • 9.0kkilometers
  • 3.4kkilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • TravelerUSA 2018
    1
    111
    Day 21

    Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Page

    November 8, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Left Williams and drove north, around the eastern edge of the Grand Canyon, heading up towards Utah. Our destination for the day was Page, right in the north of the state and just near Lake Powell.

    First stop was Antelope Canyon, a tiny slot canyon that's become famous for its flowing lines and beautiful colours. We'd been a bit concerned about getting in, but the two tour operators both had space for us within 20 minutes and off we went! It was a great experience, walking through a tiny narrow canyon, not much more than a foot wide in many places, but 10-20 metres high at the same time! It's made of sandstone that's been worn smooth by flooding, and in addition to the beautiful orange shades it also has lots of flowing lines and beautiful curves. Great for photos.

    After our tour finished we drove back out of town to Horseshoe Bend, another spot that's popular on the Instagram circuit. It's a large U-shaped bend in the Colorado River, with deep canyon walls and a lovely blue colour to the water.

    Unfortunately for us it didn't look quite as good since the winter sun meant there wasn't much light on the water. A cool spot, but not somewhere I'd go out of my way to visit again. Leaving here we drove back into Page and had Denny's for lunch - our first time here. Colossal servings of diner-style food, I had pancakes while Shandos had waffles I think. Tasty, but too much.

    After this we just headed to our hotel nearby and relaxed for the afternoon - we'd earned it after several busy days!    Read more

  • TravelerUSA 2018
    Day 22

    Bryce Canyon

    November 9, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C

    Left Arizona behind and headed north into Utah, aiming for Bryce Canyon. This is very different to the Grand Canyon - nowhere near the same size, but still very impressive geologically. It's famous for the pinnacles inside its canyons, along with rock arches and beautiful stands of pine forests. We'd hoped to do some hiking here, but alas dogs aren't allowed below the canyon rim.

    So again we just drove along the top of the rim, checking out various viewpoints. Such a great spot!    Read more

  • TravelerUSA 2018
    Day 23

    Las Vegas, via Zion National Park

    November 10, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Left Bryce and headed south-west, back out of Utah. Only one night! We hoped to see a bit of Zion National Park on the drive to Vegas, and we drove in hoping to see a few things. Unfortunately for us large parts of the park were closed to vehicle traffic (ie shuttle bus only), and the parking situation was looking fairly dire, so we opted to continue on. A shame, since it looked nice. Maybe we'll come back another time.

    Pressing on we arrived in Vegas in the early afternoon. Drove out to see the Hoover Dam, but realised the queue of traffic we found ourselves was the security queue and would likely take an hour or more to get through! I was interested to see the dam, but not that interested! We opted to drive past on the freeway bridge, from which we saw - nothing!

    Headed to our Airbnb - first in quite a while! Staying in the spare room of a middle-aged professional lady. She was heading for a conference in the room and settled down for a nap, so we hit the town.

    Because daylight savings had just finished, it got dark surprisingly early - around 4:30pm. Not a huge problem in Vegas I guess! We drove up and down the Strip looking at all the lights, then decided to have a wander around. Randomly chose Treasure Island casino as it mentioned free parking, which we drove straight into once we found it! Left Schnitzel in the car, as we decided the excitement would probably be too much for him.

    Walked through the casino which did nothing for either of us, then got out to the strip and wandered around. Visited the exteriors of a few different places including the Venetian, Caesar's Palace, and of course the Bellagio fountains. Had a drink at a random bar someone gave us a drink voucher for, and had foot-long hot dogs for dinner rather than one of the colossally expensive buffets.

    Eventually by around 8pm we'd had our fill and wandered back to the car, having not placed a single bet! Took ages getting back home, but we made it and then crashed out not long after arriving.    Read more

  • TravelerUSA 2018
    Day 24

    Back to LA

    November 11, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Originally we'd planned one huge long road trip branching out from LA and then eventually returning before our flight home. But that was until we discovered Schnitzel needed a vet appointment in the middle of it! So we decided to separate into two road trips instead, two loops heading out from LA in different directions.

    So it was that Sunday morning found us leaving Las Vegas and crossing the desert back into California and to Los Angeles. A long, boring 4.5 hour drive on the interstate.

    Stopped at Barstow for lunch at about the halfway point, and had In-N-Out burgers which were great as usual.

    By the time we arrived at our Airbnb in Culver City (western LA) it was late afternoon, and we checked straight in to our host's spare room. She had a little chihuahua which had fun wrestling with Schnitzel - they were very playful after a few minutes!

    Had dinner at a Mexican place down the road where we both had great burritos. But an early night as we have an early start in the morning!    Read more

  • TravelerUSA 2018
    Day 25

    The Vet, Santa Monica, and Orange County

    November 12, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Up early and drove about 15 minutes to the vet near Beverly Hills. Schnitzel got a bunch of stuff done including tests for his flights - hopefully we get the results back in time! He was a good boy and didn't complain, and didn't have any throwing up episodes afterwards either.

    From here we decided to head down to Santa Monica since we were in the area. This is a large area of shops, restaurants, and of course the famous pier with rides, buskers and the like. Many of the shops were empty because it was Veterans Day - sort of a public holiday, but also sort of not. Who knows. I think salaried employees might get the day off, or they might not, but hourly wage slave employees don't. I think. I dunno, the system is confusing and of course outrageously slanted against the little guy. Regardless, we had a nice wander around the pier, the beach, and some more tasty Mexican food.

    Mid afternoon we drove out to Orange County, to Anaheim where we'd be staying for the next few days. We were staying in a large suburban house, which we'd booked expecting the family to be there. Except, they were away for a few months. So we had this colossal house to ourselves. Too cold for the pool, but at least we didn't have to worry about sharing living spaces or the kitchen etc.

    Grabbed supplies from the supermarket and settled in to our new home.    Read more

  • TravelerUSA 2018
    Day 27

    Disneyland

    November 14, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Time to head for the Happiest Place on Earth! Second visit for me, first for Shandos. We headed out quite early, arriving at Disneyland around 8am. Dropped Schnitzel off at the on-site kennels, then headed inside (we'd paid ahead for our tickets).

    First stop was the Finding Nemo submarines ride which was a bit underwhelming but still cute, then we went next door to Space Mountain which I remember having a big impact on me at a young age. Very intense indoor rollercoaster, and no line which was nice since it was still so early!

    From there we grabbed FastPass (return at a set time to skip the line) for Star Tours, before riding on It's A Small World. Not as bad as I remembered, though it was covered in Christmas theming and the song was interspersed with Jingle Bells which helped a lot. Quick ride on the Mad Hatter's Teacups then back to Star Tours, a 3D motion simulator ride. Lots of fun.

    Grabbed a quick snack of a Mickey-shaped macaroon, then picked up FastPass for Indiana Jones and waited in the Pirates of the Caribbean line. Excellent ride, lots of fun. Then went on the Jungle Cruise which I vaguely remember doing as well, accompanied by a very funny boat driver. Indiana Jones ride was fantastic, sort of like a 4WD chase through an indoor course with effects going off around us.

    Had lunch nearby in Frontierland, then headed out the front to visit Schnitzel and give him a quick walk and pee. He seemed happy enough despite being in the kennel for 5.5 hours now. Waited ages to get back into the park, then grabbed a FastPass for the Haunted Mansion, though unfortunately we couldn't use it until around 5pm (in around 2.5 hours).

    Shandos went to the Enchanted Tiki Room show, while I did a single-rider access to Splash Mountain (if you're on your own you can just walk in the exit and skip the whole line). Didn't get too wet, but I was dry again pretty quickly. Saw a bit of a parade and had a pineapple soft serve before heading to the Haunted Mansion. Felt similar to what I remembered as a kid, though since it was Christmas they had Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas theming all through it.

    Good fun. Only a couple more rides to do, so we picked up FastPass for Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters and used that time to queue up for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which didn't take too long. Enjoyed the mine escape ride, one of my favourites as a kid. The only ride I wanted to do but couldn't was the Matterhorn Bobsleds, as it was closed for renovations!

    Saw part of the Christmas parade, Shandos did a bit of shopping, then we collected Schnitzel and headed for the exit around 7pm. Long day!    Read more

  • TravelerUSA 2018
    Day 28

    Recovery

    November 15, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Stayed inside all day, recovering from yesterday's efforts! Lots of walking and just generally a long day. Again I meant to do some videos but ended up playing games instead. Whoops.

    Also got quite startled when one of the owners walked in the door at 7am! We wouldn't have been too bothered, except I was sleeping on the couch after being booted from the bedroom for snoring! I think he was a bit surprised but I got myself together pretty quickly and explained the sitch. Hopefully it was OK.Read more

  • TravelerUSA 2018
    Day 29

    North-east to Yosemite

    November 16, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Long day of driving today - left our place in Anaheim around 10am and headed north and east out of Los Angeles. Stopped at a spot called Tejon Ranch for petrol and an In-N-Out burger for lunch, before heading north again.

    Eventually reached our accommodation just around dark at 5pm, about 20 minutes outside Yosemite Valley. It's basically a campground and we had a fairly ordinary cabin, 5 minutes walk from the bathroom and in freezing conditions. At least we're only here two nights.    Read more

  • TravelerUSA 2018
    1
    11
    Day 30

    Yosemite National Park

    November 17, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Up early in the freezing temperatures and headed across to Yosemite National Park, about 30 minutes drive away. We were a little limited in what we could do because of Schnitzel, who as usual was only allowed on paved trails, so we had to pick and choose quite a bit.

    But it worked out, we managed to drive the typical 2 hour Yosemite Valley loop, including Bridalveil Falls, Half Dome, El Capitan and a few other sights as well, and we filmed as we went.

    Spent a couple of hours in the afternoon driving up to Glacier Point lookout, which we assumed would be closed by now but thankfully wasn't! We'd gotten in just in time, as it looked like a large dump of snow was incoming for next weekend and if we'd arrived then, we likely wouldn't have seen anything!

    Last stop for the day was to the southern end of Yosemite, the giant sequoia trees. I remembered visiting these as a kid, although you can't drive up to them anymore - you have to get a shuttle bus from a carpark 10 minutes away. We got one of the last buses of the day in fading light, but still managed to fit in a mile-long walk to see the more impressive trees. Largest trees in the world, though not the tallest - those are the redwoods which we'll encounter soon.

    Back to the campground for the night where we had dinner in the on-site restaurant. Slightly overpriced but the queues were horrendous - pretty much everyone on site had the same idea and it took over 30 minutes to queue up for food! But it was tasty stuff, and they had a local band playing inside so the atmosphere was quite festive (thankfully we'd left Schnitzel in the cabin before they started up).    Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English