Hoover Dam and Las Vegas

We left Kingsman early on Sunday morning and drove to the Hoover Dam. I have to say that whilst this is impressive as a man made structure, it really has nothing on Monument Valley or the Grand Canyon; that said it is still well worth a visit. 

We carried on with our road trip and drove on to Las Vegas.  Vron had managed to book us into the very grand Luxor hotel and we spent the night in a glass pyramid.  

After all the days on the road we collapsed into our comfortable bed and slept for two hours, feeling refreshed to hit the Strip and Freemont Street. What an amazing place, we saw so many bizzare and wonderful sights.

We ate at Tony Roma's which was lovely, and had our latest night yet.

We got up later than normal and hopped on the bus to downtown Vegas, looking at the Venetian, the Mirage and Treasure Island en route.

We came back to the hotel and had our first downtime by the pool. Happy days. 

Mese Verde, Monument Valley and The Grand Canyon

Well the last few days have been amazing. What incredible sites and what anincredible journey we have been on. We started out from Cortez yesterday morning and headed for Mese Verde. What an a magical place. So ancient, you could almost feel the history.

You left Colorado and drove to the four corners which is where four states meet. We all had our photographs taken with a foot in different states.

We drove on to Monument Valley. I think this has been the highlight so far of our trip. The site of the Navajo Indians, a place very sacred to them, and you could certainly feel this. We took a sunset tour and watched the sun go down over this remarkable landscape.

 

We spent the night in a lodge overlooking the monuments.

Unfortunately I awoke with a migraine, but managed to shake it off and we drove on to the Grand Canyon. I thought nothing else could impress me after Monument Valley, oh how wrong I was; the views were breathtakingly awesome, and ones I will remember as long as I live. 

And to top it all off, we got to see the very endangered Californian Condor!

We drove on heading for Las Vegas, stopping overnight in a town called Kingsman. This town was experiencing an incredible electrical storm and we walked to a Denny's with lightning going off all around us. Just after we ordered, but before our food arrived, lightning hit some power lines and the whole side of the road blacked out. We left the diner after an hour to go to the Denny's on the other side of the road, taking our lives in our hands as once again the lightning flashed around us, the road signals didn't work and to top it all some sprinklers turned on as we walked past them!

We finally managed to eat at 9.15! 

What a fantastic couple of days!

The road from Pismo Beach to Los Angeles was not as spectacular as the first section. We drove an hour and a half to Santa Barbara. This was a stunningly beautiful town and we spent over an hour chilling at a cafe on the beach before heading off on the last section of Route 1.

The road was a long and hot one to Longbeach, the traffic was some of the worst congestion I have seen, with five lanes on each side of the freeway crawling at a snails pace for over an hour!

We arrived at the Queen Mary feeling rather hot and flustered, but soon chilled with a glass of wine and a lovely meal.

We were up bright and early (4.15 ) to drive to the airport for our flight out to Cortez, Colerado. The first flight was uneventful to Denver and then we caught a tiny 'propeller' plane to Cortez; this was really bumpy but had some spectacular views!! Tomorrow will be an early start to drive out to Mesa Verde!

Road trip - route 1

 ''Had an amazing two days driving from San Francisco on route 1. Yesterday we drove to Monterey and saw some incredible scenery,  we picked up our Chevvy Comara!

Now this is how to travel in style!  We stopped off at Ano Nueva National Park and did a three mile round trip hike to see some elephant seals.  After a really hot trek we arrived at the viewing point and were disappointed when we only saw a couple of seals in the distance! However we saw loads today at Sans Semillion. 

We left Monterey this morning after spending about an hour looking at Whales, and though we saw quite a few in the distance we didn't manage to get a photo! However I did manage to capture a dolphin not too far from shore.

And also managed to photograph a pelican. A magnificent bird is the Pelican, his beak can hold more than his bellycan! 

We were very lucky with the weather and the light and we got some amazing photos of along route...

Also managed to get some good pictures of the bird life...

We arrived in Pismo Beach and had a lovely meal in the local Denny's.