When we last wrote, we were in Page, AZ, having visited Four corners and Monument Valley. Whilst there we also did a tour of the amazing Antelope Canyon, as featured in a Britney Spears video, saw the amazing view over Horseshoe Bend, drove along part of Lake Powell, and visited Page's own little gem of a hanging garden. We packed our bags again and drove, via the incredibly stunning Bryce Canyon, onto fabulous Las Vegas which was our home for a week.
Now, we've both been to Vegas independently of each other in past years, and this fast growing city is constantly changing. The focus has definitely moved towards the newer resorts at the southern end of the strip, whilst towards the north end it now feels quite dead, though we did get a bargain motel just one block from the strip behind the Riviera - which itself is looking and feeling very tired and ripe for development. Anyway, we did the usual touristy things - doing the full length of The Strip, seeing the various free shows like the fountains of Bellagio and the Volcano at Mirage, and taking in the exuberant plushness of the newest and greatest resorts. The Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay was well worth the visit and we bumped into Siegfried (of Siegfried and Roy fame) in the Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at The Mirage.
These lavish resorts may be the main focus of Vegas but not being gamblers we actually had the best evening just watching the spectacular light show on Downtown Fremont Street. There was a brilliant atmosphere here on a Saturday night with bands performing on stages along the street, and it felt vibrant and full of energy, in comparison to the Strip which felt to us a little sterile and impersonal this time around, though that may be the difference between a holiday and travelling. Anyway, you should be pleased to hear that both of us combined were unable to take advantage of the offer from the Heart Attack Grill, where anyone weighing over 350 lb in weight eats for free. Only in Vegas, baby !
Having a rental car gave us the opportunity to explore the surrounding areas of Vegas, and we spent several days visiting Lake Mead, the Hoover Dam, Boulder City and the Valley of Fire State Park. Although there are several big new outlet malls in Vegas, they are all full of designer labels which really isn't our scene and we had more fun at the truly massive outdoor store called Bass Pro which sat on a 4 acre site and had everything for the outdoor sports enthusiast. Complete with an indoor duck pond and huge aquarium, it took over an hour just to walk around it. We didn't buy anything of course, but the Americans certainly do know how to enjoy the great outdoors. We did find a specialist food store that stocked Marmite to make our breakfast toast that little bit more exciting, and a well timed visit to the now famous Gold and Silver Pawn Shop, home to the Pawn Stars TV series, saw a personal appearance by Chumlee, who is far slimmer and more intelligent in real life and has recently had his teeth whitened. If you have to ask who Chumlee is, you just won't understand !
As ever, a week in Vegas is over all too quick, and we headed off into the aptly named Death Valley where the temperature went well over 100F, stopping for a photo at Badwater Basin which is significant for being the lowest place in the US at 282 feet below sea level, and onto Furnace Creek which holds the record for the highest recorded temperature in the world, and where we stopped for a bite to eat. After lunch we drove past the ghost town of Ballarat with its one and only full time resident, before stopping at a motel in Ridgecrest for the night.
The next day we drove west, up into the Sequoia National park before dropping back down into the flat plains of Tulare County and stopping on the outskirts of Dinuba for a few days. This area is primarily agricultural, boasting a huge diary industry which was quite noticeable from the lingering smell. Our arrival was met with a huge thunderstorm, the only rain that we have seen since leaving home. The rain cleared almost as quickly as it came, though when we drove up the mountains the next day the effect was more noticeable - we went from quite warm at sea level, to below freezing, and several inches of snow lying at 7000 feet. Fortunately the authorities are used to it and the roads were clear but we were somewhat unprepared, having donned shorts and t-shirts that morning. It didn't stop us seeing the magnificent Kings Canyon and the truly enormous sequoia trees, in particular the General Sherman Tree which is by volume the largest known living single stem tree on earth. We were lucky to spot a lone black bear near here, oblivious to the tourists looking at the tree, and also on the road back down we glimpsed a mother and her cub feeding just within view of the road, truly magical.
The area around Dinuba is otherwise quite unremarkable, to the point that a shop assistant asked what we as tourists were doing there. That's one thing we have noticed here, that service is king and everyone in retail and hospitality is genuinely very friendly, chatty and helpful. We enjoying meandering through the local Farmers Market at Visalia, and we took a quick drive up to Fresno before heading back to the coast and onto Morro Bay, with its famed clam chowder, sea otters and sea lions on the shoreline, and sand dollar on the beach. We continued up the coast on PCH1 towards Monterey, stopping at the obscenely extravagant Hearst Castle, formerly host to stars like Charlie Chaplin but now a national museum, and quite incredible. There were also many elephant seals molting on the beach nearby, and as we parked for a rest and to enjoy the ocean view, a pod of whales came past which was very special.
Arriving in Monterey, we walked to the historic Fisherman's Wharf and on through to Cannery Row, where at peak production fisherman were landing sardines for canning at the rate of 10 tons per minute. Its now home to many cafes and restaurants, shops and boutiques, as well as the amazing Monterey Aquarium where we spent a full, fun and informative day. Timing for us was lucky again as the Monterey Grand Prix was on that weekend, not Formula 1 but plenty of racing action including the Tudor series which includes the American Le Mans series. Walking through the pits we scooped pictures with ex F1 driver Giancarlo Fisichella, as well as getting to chat to Guernsey's very own Andy Priaulx, who was pleasantly surprised to meet two fellow Channel Islanders.
So here we are in San Francisco getting ready to say farewell to our car before we fly out to the Hawaiian Islands early tomorrow morning. We plan to sight see in San Fran when we get back and are looking forward to slowing down a bit in Hawaii, but we'll probably be flat out again over there...
Take care y'all and we'll write again in a month or so.
Cheers
Craig and Sel.
