TREK AMERICA WESTERN WONDER TOUR DAY 6-13

This morning Abby and I had an early start as it was the beginning of our Trek America 7day tour. There was such a diverse group of people. There was 10 of us altogether including tour guide: Ethan 19 England, Danny 36 London, Aj 24 England, MK (my nickname for her as I couldn't pronounce her name lol) 24 Korea, Jeong 21Korea, Liz 28 Chicago, Morgan 19 Madagascar, Tim 41 British tour leader and Abby and I. We started off the tour by going to Hollywood....

HOLLYWOOD

Me & ma boy Hugh

The stars

We were in Hollywood for just under an hour so didn't have much time to see everything, it was speed exploring. I went to the Hollywood wax museum while Abs toured around. It was crazy how many of the actors and actresses looked real. Hugh hefner, Owen Wilson, Johnny Depp and the texas chainsaw masacre were the best. I quickly had a look at the chinese theatre and where the golden globe awards are held. We then hit the road for a long drive to Lake Havasu on the Colorado River....

LAKE HAVASU, COLORADO RIVER 6-7

Drinks with the other tour in the lake

Hottest night of my life 45degrees

This was by far the hottest drive I have ever experienced. We drove most of the day and arrived at Lake Havasu just in time to set up our tents before sunset. Abs and I raced in to have a swim as we had been sweating the whole trip. The water was so nice and not to cold but just right. We had another tour group camp next to us that night. After setting up tents we didn't even end up using due to the heat we then decided to have a drink down by the water as an icebreaker so we got to know each other a bit better. On the menu for dinner was BBQ corn, mashed potato and sausages. We even had a cute little yogi bear table setting with a red and white checkered table cloth. When it was time to go to sleep the whole group decided to sleep outside as it was too hot to sleep in the tents. I slept in my togs so I could run down to the water when needed. After an ok sleep we packed up first thing and headed off to the Grand Canyon via London Bridge.

SELIGMAN ARIZONA AND THE GRAND CANYON NEVADA DAY 8

The GC

1st time in my life I've been speechless

I'm at the Grand Canyon Baby!

Today was one of my favorite days, on the way to the Grand Canyon we stopped at the London Bridge in Lake Havasu. Its a bridge that is the reconstruction of the 1831 London Bridge. We also stopped at Seligman, the birthplace of route 66 "the mother road" and where the director of the cars movie got inspiration from. The directors got the idea for the cars to talk and have eyes from the local cars in Seligman which had sun visors with drawn on eyes over the windscreen to reduce the heat. All of the cars that feature  in the movie were all at Seligman, like Matar and the sheriff. The small town is really hick and seemed like a place where Joe Dirt would live. They are famous for their malt shakes, which I had a sip of they are delicious. This was our lunch stop and I had my first experience of sweet potato fries. We then continued the 5 hour journey and arrived at the Grand Canyon mid afternoon. We set up tents and shared a campsite with another tour that was going. 

As soon as I heard that we were going to see the canyon I was sooooo excited.  I chose the blindfolded option of seeing the canyon :) I got guided to the rim of the canyon and took off my blindfold, the canyon was AMAZING, UNBELIEVABLE, UNREAL, EPIC. It is 277 miles in Length and 18 miles in width, it was HUGE! Way bigger and cooler than I expected. Our group walked down into the valley to the first hut to check it out from another perspective, we saw a mountain goat and this was my first meeting with a squirrel. The walk down was fun and everyone was full of beans, we turned around at the hut and hiked a mountain for an hour to get back to the rim. When we arrived back to the campsite there was an alk 10m away from Abby and my tent. It was massive and of course being me I attempted to chase it to capture a good pic for facebook to show you all. We had a really tasty stirfry for dinner courtesy of Danny the fireman's cooking and then hit the hay. Abby and I woke up at 2am and were both freezing, I grabbed 2 thermals, a beanie, jumper, socks everything I could see and nestled up into a ball to try and get back to sleep. It was like going from one extreme to another, camping on the sun at lake Havasu to camping in what felt like the snow at the Grand Canyon.

LAS VEGAS BABY! 8-9

Me & the Pilot before take off

Vegas Baby!

Las Vegas..a place I've dreamed of

This morning I woke up super excited as today was the day of my scenic helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon. There was 5 of us that decided to splurge and do it, as when would we ever get the opportunity to do it again. The helicopter was so smooth and a huge adrenaline rush. It started off going across miles and miles of pine trees and forestry until we got to the edge, we then all closed our eyes and got dropped over the edge of the canyon down in into the basin of the canyon and swooped back up. It was unbelievable, you could see rocks that were over 2,000 years old that were a deep red colour. It was by far the best angle to view the Grand Canyon and actually get an idea of how big it was. It was a really nice day for it and we were lucky there was no rain as it is Monsoon season there. After the helicopter ride we then packed up camp, said bye to the Grand Canyon and made our way to LAS VEGAS, the city of partying. Arriving into Vegas in the day was different to how it really goes off at night. When the sun goes down, the strip lights up and everything is so vibrant and full of people. Tonight we had a special inclusion in the trip price which was the limousine ride. Tim our guide ended up getting us the Batmobile which had the sign and everything all lit up on the inside. We had a 2 hour tour around Vegas with the first stop being the famous Las Vegas sign and the last stops being Old Vegas and a drop off at the first casino of  the night Caesar palace (where the Hangover movie was filmed). In old vegas people were ziplining across the roof, I met a 70year old guy dressed up as santa and there was a rock show where I slapped the hands of the lead singers. The Belagio was another cool casino along with MGM, except they usually have caged lions there but due to them doing rennovations they weren't there :(. New York New York was unreal!They have created a mini New York inside the casino so you feel like you are actually in New York. There is also a rollercoaster that goes inside this casino which Abby and I went on, it was AWESOME!!There are some pretty crazy stories from Vegas which you will have to ask me about..

During the day Abs and I checked out the strip. We went to m & m world which has 3 storeys of m & m stuff from the lollies to pjamas to everything and anything. I really wanted to make some personalised m & m's  for you guys but since I was camping they would just melt :(. We walked the strip with a yardie glass which you can see in the photos, you can drink on the street whenever you want as long as you are the right age. I had vodka and strawberry slushy which tasted like straight vodka since the straw went straight to the base of the glass. There are pool parties in most of the main hotels and a nightclub called the cosmopolitan which has different music on each level of it. Our last night out Abs and I had cocktails with Amit & Danny the British boys and then went to Treasure Island for the night where believe it or not this was the first time I have gambled since I have been in vegas. I won $20 on the pokies, my machine was based on the movie "The Hangover" where you had to match the characters and find items in the room. I had a blast!! when we came home we all went swimming, chilled out by the pool and jumped into the spa every now and again. This continued until 7am where we packed our bags and jumped on the bus ready for our next destination. Another tick off the bucket list- pulling an all nighter in Vegas. 

The Belagio...a water canal inside!!!

Belagio.. where the roof is the sky and  it rains on  you!!

New York New York Casino 

The lights show at midnight

M & M World!

Old Vegas where ziplining took place

Vegas Ladies

Belagio

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK 10-11

Finally we made it here!!!

      Having serious sweaty feet syndrome!

Today was the longest day on the road we have had so far. We had an early start departing Vegas for Yosemite at 7am and spent 7hrs cooped up in the van. The first half of the drive was boring desert scenery where it was boiling hot and due to cars breaking down on the hills we had to turn the air con on and off the whole way.  The second half of the drive the scenery just got better and better. It was a relief finally seeing a park ranger and the Yosemite sign as we all wanted to kill each other after being in the van so long, especially with our weirdo tour guide. Once we arrived we set up camp at what we nicknamed "the carpark" you will be able to see why in photos. It was like camping on the road, pegs wouldn't go in the ground and there was traffic running alongside our tents all night. It was a pretty funny experience. We taught Mk and Jeong the 2 Korean girls on our trip how to play a game of "cheat" with cards which was the highlight of my night. I wasn't sure if they got the game in the end as everytime it was MK's turn and she didn't have the card she would laugh and go " I don't have hahah" and then put down 4 cards and pretend to lie lol. Meanwhile our tour leader (aged 41) was drinking a bottle of whisky most nights and trying to get with each of us on the trip...creep central! 

Well Howdie Ya'll

Our Trek group

You have to climb waterfalls to see the talent!

Abs & I at the top!

What you've all been waiting for...YOLO

A camper having his daily shower

Liz & I on babe alert

Doesn't do the waterfall justice

Strike a pose

 Water sliding time!

The good old Carpark

The next day we had a full day of hiking up to see the waterfalls. These 2 waterfalls are the largest in North America. The photos don't do them justice, it was amazing to be up in such a high altitude swimming in a water hole with a family of 4 smoking hot brothers! A definate YOLO moment. The walk up to the first waterfall was pretty steep, people who were afraid of heights were clinging to the rocks next to the steps going up. The steps were huge, a real bum workout! A lot of tourists slid down the rocks at the first waterhole and created a water slide which was so much fun! Once we got some water on board we continued our hike to the top waterfall, Nevada Fall at 594 ft. I felt pretty sick on the way up as we somehow missed the contaminated water sign on the way so I had to stop and throw up halfway up. I was lucky I didn't get the shits or anything else, especially with my luck on the health front. A ranger gave us tablets to dissolve in our water bottles to purify  the water THANKGOD! Once at the top we all took in the scenery, Abby and I took some planking photos and we hung out for an hour or so swimming with other toursits in the waterhole. It was the perfect day for seeing the waterfalls, although saying this we nearly got struck by a lightning bolt at one stage on the way up. After a big day it was our last night camping altogether so we celebrated with camp cooked burritos, smores, a pack of cards and some alcoholic beverages. 

Ps: You are probably wondering why there is a photo of my feet but I thought I should fill you in on my latest issue. I am getting severly sweaty feet and have no idea why. 

SAN FRANCISCO 11-12

Drinks & Nibbles on the Catamaran

Giant Sequoia Trees

GLUTEN FREE BURGER!

This morning before we began the big drive to San Francisco we checked out the Giant Sequoia trees.These trees were HUGE and were over 2,000 years old. We walked in the trunk of one of the trees that had fallen over and it was more than 40m long. The tree roots were massive as well. Once we ticked off the sequoia trees we were on our way to San Francisco. Today I indulged in a special treat at the lunchstop..I finally found something I could eat!!!! It was a "low carb burger" which has no bread and the normal meat patties and salad was wrapped in green lettuce leaves. It was soooo good and such a relief to have some decent tucker! Everyone voted for me to ride shotgun on the last driving leg to San Francisco. This was so I could quiz our creepy tour guide about lots of trips and extended details such as who he had got with etc. He tried to get the Koreans and Morgan several times on the trip but we saved them. It was a unique experience having a 41 year old tour guide alright.

Andre the seal!

End of trip Catamaran scenic cruise

Yolo is catching on guys :)

Captain Hanz and I on the Catamaran 

After a long drive we finally hit the outskirts of San Francisco and were greeted with peak traffic due to the big baseball game on that night. San Francisco was where our tour ended so we said our goodbyes to some of the crew at the hotel that was booked for post tour accommodation. The funny thing about this was Abby & I didn't have post tour accommodation so we ended up sneaking past reception with 2 other Denmark girls from the other tour and Danny from our tour and crashed the night in Amit and this Australian guys room. It was pretty funny trying to figure out sleeping arrangements in a room that was made for 2 haha. We pretty much dropped our bags in the room and tried to get a taxi as soon as we could since we were running behind schedule for making our Catamaran scenic boat cruise. The taxis were pretty busy so an illegal taxi driver across the road offered us a ride to the Pier in his flash car for $20. This was an interesting ride as we went extremely fast, skipped critical road rules and went a dodgy way to get there but we made it so we were happy. Since the 9 of us all got on so well most of us met up for the Catamaran scenic cruise where drinks and nibbles were served on board. It was our final night in San Fran so we decided to go out in style. The catamaran went around Alcatraz (the old Federal Prison) and under the famous Golden Gate Bridge. This was exciting as it was really foggy so the bridge appeared out of nowhere and was huge up close.

Jack & Rose off the Titanic

Golden Gate Bridge

San Francisco!!

After the Catamaran cruise we all had our last night out together in San Francisco having cocktails and eating a good solid non camping meal. I had the best time meeting people from all over the world and making new friendships that will last forever. 

LAST DAY IN SAN FRANCISCO WITH ABBY & PAIGE 13-14

Train ride with Abs to Palo Alto

2 Storey Train!!!

Navigator Abby

Theme Park time!!!

Today was my last day in San Francisco with Abs so we decided to make the most of it. We got up early and caught the train to Palo Alto to meet up with Paige, Abby's team mate in Mississippi. She showed us around her town which was a really nice area. The guy who invented google lived here and Standford Uni wasn't too far away, unfortunately we didn't have time to see it. Paige came with Abby and I to Great America, a well known theme park over here. The best thing about the day was instead of paying $67 the people behind us in line gave us a coupon to get in for $20 each!!! It was unbelievable and was 1,000 x better than Rainbow's end back home! We went on all the rides we possibly could with our limited time as I had to be on a flight to Calgary at 5pm. There was a 240ft drop free fall ride that I almost threw up on, a stand up roller coaster which was insane, a wet rapids ride, a ride which felt like you were flying and an old fashioned roller coaster made on wooden tracks. It was so much fun and the fast food was crazy! I tried curly fries for the first time and dipping dots which were miniature balls of ice cream in whatever flavor you wanted! The wet rapids ride was some serious YOLO material as I had to take all my belongings with me on the ride which included my iphone and passport in my bag. Nobody was coming off the ride dry so I had to strap it around my waist and under my tshirt. The stand up roller coaster ride was another insane thing that we did. It was so different to anything I have ever been on as you were standing up and doing several cork screws in a row.

Feels like you are flying ride!

Grizzly Bear wooden roller coaster

Cool water area!

Stand up Roller Coaster!!!

Water Rapids ride!

After a long but fun day with Abby and Paige they dropped me at the airport and Abs and I said our goodbyes. I had a blast as always seeing Abs again. Even though she is in Mississippi and I study in Dunedin we still are just as close as ever and get up to our cheeky little adventurous antics as always. It was really cool to finally meet Paige someone from Abby's team and to hangout with her. After saying goodbye to Abby I limped into the airport as I had WAY too much stuff. I had a yardie glass from vegas around my neck along with my camera and handbag, then I had a 8kg over weight suitcase which I pulled along with my over weight carry on gear. Checking in was not something I was looking forward to. I had to unpack and wear the heaviest clothes I could find. I threw out a pair of heels, wore my chucks and 2 jumpers with 3 attached around my neck to reduce the weight of my suitcase. I had to attach my running shoes, jandals and other clothing to the outside of my carry on and take my yardie glass on board the plane as well. It was a mission and I didn't realise once I had strapped it all on me that I had to take it all off including my hat, sunglasses and shoes and walk through a plastic chamber which screened me and my clothing for dangerous goods. I wish I didn't have so much stuff!