We are safe home and well, if not a litte tired and with a few things to unpack. All the flights were good and with a total of 12 take off’s and landings during this trip, I am adjusting better to my fear of  flying. The flight out of LA, was delayed for close to one and an half hours which turned it into a LONG flight, but I feel better than I did on the way over. We arrived in Sydney at 7am and had to run to make the connection because of the delay. We were ushered to the front of the line at check in to get over to the domestic flight. I expected customs to be a pain and that we would not get that flight onto Brissy, but it was a breeze.  No sooner had we taken off and the captain said to prepare for landing. After a 15 hour flight an hour one  goes really quick.  We then had a painful 4 hour wait at Brissy for our connection to Townsville. Waiting, waiting, waiting. After out $1.40 vanilla coffee’s all over America a $5.40 latte was a real shock. Strange hearing Aussie accents ( not that I have one) again. ; ) We finally made it home at 4pm after nearly 30 hours I think of traveling. I have the weekend and then back to work. Arrggghhh!!! I guess after 6 weeks I shouldn’t complain : )

Time to go spend time with my puppies…..

Car back in Oz.

The day was a long one when we drove to L.A.  just a day of driving down a long straight freeway. It was really busy after we left Las Vegas, after another cruise down the strip, because everyone was coming back from Las Vegas after a weekend away as it was a Sunday.

We got to the motel and settled in and then headed down to the beach for dinner. It was really busy and a lovely end to the day.  It is much warmer than last time we were here.

The next day we headed down for bagels and vanilla coffee. Aggghhh !  They make a great coffee here. We then programmed Cheryl to take us into Hollywood. We walked pretty much the whole of Hollywood Boulevard and bought a few cheap bags to take with us home to fit our purchases in.  We went in and out of some interesting shops in the area and had lunch at a choose your own wok lunch place.

We then headed back to the motel for a while. We decided to head out later to get a car part for the Mustang and a speedlight for the Nikon. These were at two different locations of course.  We were 1 minute from out first destination and came down a hilly street and stopped at a stop sign. We then went to take off and Jerry the Jeep exploded in a loud bang under the car. We tried to drive off the intersection but the car would not go. OMG!!! We turned off the car and got out and oil was spewed out all over the ground. Jerry was very ill indeed. ( the diff is done) CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS!!!!!!!  So we had to wait for a tow truck to bring yet another replacement car and guess what we are back again to a PT Cruiser, silver this time. I am so glad that if this did indeed have to happen then it happened at a nil speed and NOT  on the interstate doing 120km/h.  I took some shots of it on the phone as I didn’t have anything else on me. Luckily we had cleaned out all our things and packed them ready at the motel room for the trip back.

I must say we had so many wonderful people stop and offer help I cannot count, I went into a business and asked for directions to a shop to use the phone and they let me use theirs and I am so grateful to them. I was on two phones at one point and they were wonderfully helpful to let me tie up their lines like that.

What a day.. so after getting into the Cruiser we cruised and got the speedlight of course lol and then headed back to the motel, the car place that we were about 6 metres away from getting to was closed. Grrrrrrrrrr!!!

A yummy chinese dinner calmed us down and we had an early night after all that. Our plans to head to Venice Beach shot. : (

So now I am sitting here in the hotel room full on Vanilla coffee and the best blueberry bagels from a place called Noah’s.  We are about to leave the motel and spend a day around LA before heading to the airport tonight to fly out at about 10pm. 

We have had the most awesome of trips. With 8 states, 12 National Parks and 3 cars down. : ) 

We just have to get through today without breaking another one. 

Thank you to all who have followed my travel blog. I hope that you have enjoyed sharing our travels. I have loved reading your comments and keeping in touch with you all. It has been such a great journey and we have plans already to be back again next year, heading further north this time. Alaska sounds great so I have heard. 

So I am off  to Tasmania in 6 weeks….. lol the count is on : ) 

Car heading out of L.A. 

xxx 

p.s see you back in Oz

We went to Bryce Canyon today,  what an amazing place.  The rock formations were amazing. They  reminded me of a mass army of soldiers all standing  just waitingg for the order. The bold reds, oranges and sand colours were stunning.  This was not a huge National Park, but it packed a punch in the stunning views at each of the overlooks that we visited.

The rock pillars loomed overhead as we explores the Red Rock Canyon as well before we actually entered the park.  Great with the morning light hitting it just right.

I forgot to tell you about this little town we drove through yesterday. Just as you entered the town there was a police car parked on the side of the road. As we drove passed we both looked at each other and said, was that police officer wearing a hockey mask?  When we drove back through the town we went nice and slow to have a look and sure enough there was a dummy dressed as a policmen with a mask on sitting in the drivers seat. LOL Too funny.  

We took a walk down the main street today. What a cute little town center they have here. All the shops are made to look old and the local malt shop had a juke box, a wall of candy straight out of a scene from Willy Wonker. Delightful.

Well we are heading back to L.A. tomorrow…. the count down is on.

Car in Cedar City.

 

Today we said Goodbye to Salt Lake city and headed to Cedar City via The Capitol Reef National Park.

We stopped and got our standard $5 foot long on the way to share when we got there.I also got my fix of vanilla coffee. Aghhhhh : )

Along the way we stopped at an  old antique shop that had the yard filled with old bikes, chairs, a horse carriage and all sorts of paraphernalia. I took some shots to show  you all. You wouldn’t believe the old advertising sign painted  on the side of the building said the product was sold from Alaska to Australia. Amazing huh!

We then headed on to the park and stopped at Chimney Rock, so named for it’s shape.Then onto twin rocks and you guessed it two large rocks side by side. Balanced and just waiting for time to change all that.  We stopped at Goosenecks overlook and then took a drive up to the overlook that showed a huge canyon with running water down below. After driving past The Castle, a castle like rock formation looming overhead, we headed to the picnic area to eat our subway with five deer grazing  just next to us. They were very thin and needed to eat.

We then headed down to take in the scenic drive and got out and walked down a gorge to see ancient petroglyphs. These were carved into the canyon walls. The echo was amazing. Cooo-eee!!!! We drove down to an old Behuin Cabin, a very small one room brick building with one small door at the base of the cliff. Then onto another walk to see more petroglyphs. These were harder  to make out than the ones at Canyonlands, but no less impressive because of their sheer age. We had to stop at the Old Fruita Scool house where the fruit growers of the area children used to go to school. It was a tiny place surrounded by a rock cliff and a stream. No way out for those kids. lol  Many of the colours and rock formations reminded me of Monument Valley. This is a park well worth taking the time to see. 

I was thinking last night about all the parks and states we have been through, so here is the tally so far on day 34 of our trip.

Now let me see..so far….

States we have travelled through…

1. California

2. Nevada

3. Arizona

4. Utah

5. Montana (ever so briefly)

6.  Colorado

7. Wyoming

8. Idaho

And for the national parks drum roll…..

1. Yosemite

2. Zion

3. Grand Canyon ( north and south rims)

4. Grans Tetons (stunning)

5. Yellowstone

6. Arches National Park

7. Canyonlands

8. Death Valley

9. Rocky Mountains (stunning)

10. Sequia/ Kings Canyon

11 Capitol Reef

with plans to get to Bryce Cayon  before we leave…..

places of awesome interest that I would recommend to all….

1. Valley of the Gods

 http://www.sanjuaninn.net/the-area/index.aspx?pageID=28

 2. Craters of the Moon National Monument

http://www.nps.gov/crmo/

3.  Mono Lake

4. More to come ; )

Car in Cedar City, our last stop before heading back to L.A.

Last night we headed into the city to have a look around Temple Square and took a guided tour around the Mormon buildings. The Tabernacle and Shrine was beautiful. The acoustics in the tabernacle was amazing.  We walked around the cathedral like building and saw as many as 20 couples having their wedding photos taken. Both the Bride and Groom were dressed in white.  We then walked around the city for a while.  Lovely wide streets with lots to see.

This morning we set on a scenic drive to a place called  Bear Lake. We headed off and faced getting out of the city via the freeway ( interstate) once again.  We drove for a while and stopped at a town called Huntsville. It was a small town with many wonderfully historic buildings. Many of which were on a lovely lake. Talk about awesome views.

We rounded a corner to see 5 miniature donkeys in a field. We stopped and had a chat to them. I fed them some grass and one pushy one tried to give me a bit of a nibble…. lol bad donkey.  They were so cute and took all the scratches on the head we would give. Did you know when you scratch a donkeys ears they go straight out sideways. LOL : ) TRUE!!!!!  Unfortunately not all of them would fit in the jeep so we had to say goodbye to them.

( meet Manuel)

 We then headed to an even smaller town where I broke ( not my fault, honest, all I did was press a button) their cappuccino machine. So no coffee there now. We skedaddled as fast as we could.

We came over a hill to a lovely place called Bear lake. The water was such a vibrant blue and many people lined the shores, swimming, skiing, jet skiing and having a great time.  We stopped here to walk around the local fair and saw many interesting handy crafts from the local area. I could have bought a dozen lovely patchwork quilts. They were lovely.

We then headed to the local lookout to take shots of the lake. The houses up on the ridge had the best views of all. We also got coffee here and no broken machines did I make.

When we got to the freeway the traffic was basically at a standstill. We saw helicopters and was not sure what was going on. We finally saw that there had been an accident with five cars being towed away. There were 16 people involved in the accident with 10 being hurt. The worst being a 2 year old baby that was in a car that had rolled. He was airlifted out by a helicopter with head and neck injuries. It was on all the news. Sad. Apparently a bike had fallen from a car and one car had swerved to miss it and rolled. Another braked and the others hit that car. And p0of a pile up.

We were glad to get back to the motel and be off the road today.

Travelling by donkey is safer : )

Car in Salt Lake City.

We left Boise and headed towards Salt Lake City. We had a long drive and took a small detour to Hagerman Fossil Beds and took in a short movie about the history of the area and looked at the Fossil Collection they had there. We also found a post office in this small place and I was able to post my postcards finally.

We got to Salt lake City and fought the battle once again on the freeway to get into the hotel area that we are staying. We got settled and went and had a wonderful Chinese banquet for dinner. It was delicious.

After a great sleep and yummy breakfast we headed today to the Bonneville Salt Flats. We were interested to see what this historic place was like. ( lots of salt I imagine. lol)

The salt plains went on forever. We stopped at a rest stop and walked out onto the salt which caked itself to our shoes. There was so much glare it was impossible to see without sunglasses. It was pretty amazing.

We then drove out to Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway. This is where jet and rocket cars exceeded 500 and 600mph in the early 1960′s.

We drove out onto the speedway and clocked a fast 55mph. LOL

It was the strangest place I have been to. No plant life, just white on white. We had a bit of fun out on the salt with the shots. Oh what a feelin’ Bonneville.

We then headed to Wendover which is just next to the Salt Flats. It is on the Utah/ Nevada Border and on the Nevada side it looks like a mini Reno or Vegas. It is all casinos.

We decided to head back to the motel and we are going to go into the city this afternoon and have dinner and see a bit of the city.

 Car in Salt Lake City.

Leaving Idaho Falls we were heading to Boise for the night with a stop on the way at Craters Of the Moon National Monument. Before we left we went down and looked at the falls just a few blocks from our motel. It was lovely. We arrived at the Craters of The Moon at about 10am. We thought it was only going to be a quick stop, but after we headed into the park and
looked at the visitors  centre we ended up staying there  a good four hours or so.

It was a really excellent and different place to visit. Apparently some of NASA’s Apollo Astronauts learned basic volcanic geology there in 1969 as they prepared for the moon missions.

There was a seven mile drive around the park with many stops along the way.
 
Our first stop was at the Devils Orchids nature trail. We have been to so many Devils things ( Devils Garden- near Pikes Peak, The Devils Cornfields- Death Valley and  Devils Playground – Arches National Park)  There certainly is a lot of Devil-ing going on around here.  This was a small trail with lots of interesting rock formations and plant life.

We then headed to the Inferno Cone, an extinct volcano a very steep climb to the top, but, the view of the surrounding area was amazing. The whole cone was just black and made of small volcanic rock. We then went to view the spatter cones and big crater area. These are miniature volcanoes that spewed out rivers of molten larva that eventually formed caves and lava tubes. There were all these things called Larva bombs everywhere. These are big globs of larva that are thrown out of cinder cones that harden in flight, forming larva bombs that can take many shapes.
 
Oneamazing thing we witnessed was this deep crater in the middle of all this desolate rock that was filled with hardened ice, never unfreezing because of the strong cold winds blowing through an underground larva tube.

We then headed on a walk to the caves and walked down Dewdrop cave, a small open to the air cave. We then walked along and went down into Beauty Cave. It was really cold and dark down there. With hang Larva Stalactites. Unlike other stalactites these are not a product of dripping  water. (although there was dripping water in this cave) These are formed by recedinglarva leaving molten rock on the ceiling and the heat within the tube can cause the ceiling to remelt. The molten rock then drips and hardens, forming small stalactites. I used the flash to get some shots of the cave and see what was in there as it was pitch black down there. After leaving a really warm day above it was a beautifully chilly place to be.

We met a couple heading into the cave from New Jersey that had a brother living in Melbourne and we chatted to them for a while.
    
We then left the craters of the moon after having a really great time and stopped in a very small town called Carey and had an old fashioned hamburger at a small (an the only) food place in the town. We wanted to have an “Atomic” Burger at Arco, a place known for having over 50 Atomic reactors being built in the area, apparently this is the highest concentration of reactors in the world in one area,  but it was too early and we didn’t want to glow in the dark afterwards. lol
 
We arrived in Boise and ( after a stop at the airport – long story) we found our motel, a nice place on the Boise river and settled in for the night. Another day with one eight to go. How time flies.
Car in Boise.

We left the motel after breakfast to head to Yellowstone National Park… (how many parks is that now??) On the way we stopped at an Antique Flea market that was set up on the side of the road. I bought a Garden of The Gods foldout Postcard from about the 1950′s and a miniature crown camera measuring about 4cm across in its own little leather case. It is so cute, I couldn’t resist. I shall have to look it up on the Internet as I know nothing about it.

We coffee’d up and then headed to West Yellowstone, buying a $5 foot long, ( that cost $9) don’t they love to hike the prices in places like that. We entered the park and drove shortly by a bald eagle sitting in its nest. Wonderful to see these wonderful  birds in the wild and surviving.

We drove to the Lower Geyser basin and walked around the amazing bubbling hot springs and spewing geysers. It was like walking on the moon to me. Nothing like anything I have ever seen before. Later we stopped at a field to watch proghorn frolic and one mum feed her baby.

Old faithful was the next stop and we took our lunch in and waited with the crowds for it to erupt. We ate lunch and a couple near us who had been there for two hours said it was due to go off. After I ate I went and sat on the edge of the viewing platform and 5 minutes later there she blows. It was pretty spectacular, but I got wet. LOL The sulphur smell is so strong. We timed that perfectly as we were only there 10 minutes.
 
We pulled over quickly to get some wonderful shots of a small heard of bison with a mother and her calf feeding. I was only a few metres from them. Amazing. They seem to be shedding a sheep-like coat.

We drove around the west side of the Yellowstone Lake and we stopped to get some awesome shots of the still lake and the clouds reflected in the water with the Tetons on the horizon.  I was nearly carried away by the little bugs that swarmed everywhere.

It had begun to get a bit stormy and we had a little rain as we drove up to a place called the Sulphur Cauldron. This place was amazing. You looked down on two large sulphur pits and laying ( rather like my doggies do with legs in the air) were three Bison (a day at the spa) sleeping and snoring happily on the warm ground. They were pretty cute for big hairy cow like creatures. lol

We came to standstill of cars banked back a long way only to realise that Bison were crossing the  road to get to the Yellowstone river at the end of the  day. It took about 40 min of stopping and starting to get through this part of the park. We had Bison so close to the car you could touch them. And no i didn’t. lol We had to stop when one ran down having left at 7am and it he hill and then stood in front of us on the road and just eyed us off. Some rolled in the dirt and caused a dirt storm, two males butted each other in a rather forceful yet playful way and many snorted and made the most interesting of noises. It was the highlight of the day.

We stopped at Lower Falls and wondered at the crystal blue/ aquamarine of the water flowing from it. We walked out to artist point and was amazed at the mass of colours in the  Yellowstone canyon. You could see why it was called such a name. We raced up to the car as the clouds were looming and rain was starting to fall.
 
As we were heading over a peak in the mountain and passed the Roosevelt Lodge the rain became so heavy we had to pull off. The next thing the rain got white and it started to snow. Car passing us were covered in white and the ground turned white. At first we thought it was hail but it was light and fluffy. Now this may not be very exciting for you but for two Aussies in the American summer, we were rapt with fascination. lol Snow in summer. It didn’t last too long as we drove through it but i think it would have been pretty cold on the mountain that night.

The rain continued as we drove and the sky was dark. It was getting late and we were now into a twelve hour day having left at 7am and it was now 7pm. We really wanted to see Mammoth Hot Springs, but the rain was heavy.hot spring terrace which
Luckily for us the sky cleared for about 30 minutes when we got there and we were able to view the upper hot spring terraces which were like looking at the moon. This was my favourite thing of the whole park. The blackened trees and the colours of the water, the crystal like formations, that reminded me of budding corals was just so interesting and really like nothing I have ever seen. The steam rising from the hot springs gave the whole place an awesome atmosphere. I really loved it here. And the quaint town and buildings at the base of the springs was somewhere I would love to explore. The sulphur smell was so strong and I had flashbacks of Biology class and Bunsen burners and such. : )
We then headed out of the park and back toward Idaho falls. We picked   burger just near the motel and collapsed at 9:30pm when we got there, another huge wonderful day.
Car ( and the boison) in Idaho Falls.

We  left Denver and had a huge day of driving. We drove leaving Colorado and into Wyoming. Were headed to Jackson, a town just out of The Grand Teton National Park. We had a huge drive and were greeted with the beautiful snow covered peaks of  The Grand Teton and Mt Morgan as we drove by. We stopped at a place called Cunninghams Cabin and walked around the area. Cunningham Cabin is an old historic area of Grand Teton National Park. It is lower than the upper shelf road that goes to Jackson. The cabin was the scene of a shootout in 1899 between a posse and two horse thieves, who were killed at the scene.  We were walking about the cabin when we saw a little (rat type creature) popping in and out of a hole in the ground. I got some good shots for identification. Then we heard a rustle in the thickets and we got a quick glimpse of a Raccoon. Then we saw a badger playing in the field and we followed him and got a few flying shots of him trying to get away from us. 

We drove to Jackson Hole a completely over run town with so many tourists it took us ages to get through the main street. We got to the motel and crashed. It was a huge day.

Waking up in Wyoming and another early morning we headed out to the park and drove to the visitors centre in Grand Teton National Park. It was a massive place made of wood and glass and was architecturally beautiful. It was filled with interesting facts and stunning paintings.

We  headed to Lake Jenny and took the boat over to the west side of the lake and took quite a long hike to Hidden Waterfall and Inspiration Point. The views were wonderful. We sat up on some rocks and enjoyed watching the Chipmunks playing there. The boats dashed back and forth all the while were were there over the lake.

We walked back down to the boat ramp and across the lake. We got some lunch and bought a few t-shirts and caps at the General store and headed off to find a place with a view to eat.

We drove around to the Lake Jenny overlook and stopped at a viewpoint to take some shots of the lake, I walked down to the water, which was crystal clear and still.

We then drove up and passed Jackson lake and then back round and passed the tetons again. We saw a turn off for Signal Mountain Road and headed up the the most beautiful overlook we had seen the whole day. It was stunning, An amazing view of the snow covered mountains and lake below. It was stunning.

As we were heading back down from the over look we came to a few stopped cars on the side of the road and two rangers directing traffic. It was then that I got my first sighting of a BLACK BEAR.  I jumped out of the car and got a couple of shots, nothing great as it was kinda dark, but evidence that I had seen him. He was strolling through the forest floor. HOW EXCITING!!!!  ( happy dance)

We then headed out of the park and back through crazy busy town of Jackson Hole and towards Idaho Falls, We went over a pretty steep mountain range which took the life of three cars that we saw over heating, one of which was spewing that much steam and smoke you could hardly see the car.

We left Wyoming and passed the border to Idaho and I suddenly felt like a potato. lol  We are now in a farming area with beautiful green rolling hills.

Car in Idaho and BEARY happy.

We slept late and then headed to breakfast for a much needed coffee. As I was toasting my bagel a man asked me if I was english.   Grrrrr ( hush Brian) lol I said no Australian. We got to talking and I mentioned that we were heading to Yellowstone. Bob said he had been there many times and came over and offered us some great suggestions as to where to visit while we were in the YEllowstone and Teton ( pronounced tea-tonne… not tet-on) National parks.

We spent a bit of time chatting then headed back to our room and then out for some shopping and lunch. We really have been tired and lethargic here and were not too mtoivated to have a huge day.

After a bit of retail therapy and some grocery shopping… we headed back for an afternoon nap. lol

I saw my first swipe your groceries and swipe your card self serve counter today. The thing of the future where you will not need peoiple to serve you. The end of the checkout operator is neigh.

We spent some time working out our next few days and looking at accomadation, I had washing to do again before we left Denver in the morning and I took sometime to pack up the room and get the Jeep clened out somewhat. I talked to the squirrels and the bunnies at the bottom of our stairs, but alas I did not catch one to take home with me for our puppies to play with. lol I have done all my postcards but have not seen a post office , and I have been looking to post them. So if you were expecting one I will send them as soon as I can.

I had a chat to mum and dad  on yahoo messenger, what an awesome thing to be able to do.Clear as a bell.  Brooke rang and we talked for ages, she was very cheeky. lol   It scares me to think of Brian and Slug out in he English wilds taking shots of god knows what. I hope you two behaved.  I hope you got me some pretty flower shots. Tanty the goat did not get all sexy on me lol thank you very much, but your comment made me laugh.  Tomorrow we are off to the Grand Teton national park and then Yellowstone, both huge days and I cannot wait. 
Off to dinner it is now 9pm and I am hungry..we eat so late here.
Car in Denver. ( the city of rabbits and not much oxygen)