Coming Next - The Wedding & South Africa

We will be updating the blog when we can - but we're supposed to be working during the next stage of our "gap", so we're not sure how easy it will be to get to a PC.

In the meantime we have another marriage to celebrate.......

Wishing Matthew & Laura all happiness!

Goodbye to all that

Home for the graduation

Mazel Tov Laura!

Profound Thought?

When G-d wants to measure you, He puts a tape measure around your heart - seen outside a church in small town USA

Wildlife We Did & Didn't See

Did see :

Mule Deer, Chipmunks, Woodpeckers, Tree Creepers, Butterflies galore, Loons, Ladybirds, Ducks, Gulls, Hawks, Falcons, Crickets, Biting Insects!, Squirrels, Skunk, Blue Jays, Coyotes, Rabbits, Toads, lizards, Bats, Turkeys, Big Horn Sheep, Banana Slug, Grey Pelicans, Elephant Seals, Californian Sea Lions, Ravens galore, Mustangs, Donkeys, Elk

& dead Racoons by sides of roads.

Didn't see, despite the dire warnings: Bears, Mountain Lions & Moose loose aboot the roads.

You may want to go?

Chabad-by-the-sea (Santa Cruz)

Gay State Park (New Hampshire)

Toad Lick Park (Arkansas)

Death Valley Health Centre (Death Valley!)

Chilchinbito - The Home Of The World's Largest Rug (Arizona)

Enticements Along The Way

"Spelling Bee, The Musical"

Romp & Roll Doggies' Playground

Pet Poo Cleaners (tell it like it is!)

Futon Blow-Out Sale

"We now stock Kosher chicken, Kosher meat & pork line chops"!!!!!!

For sale - barbecued beef, pork & dogs

Willy's Ice Cream - hard & soft serve

For sale - Scuppernongs ??!!

Visit Cherryfield, the blueberry capital of the world.

We buy guns - shoot a machine gun here!

Pawn here - we buy guns, jewelry & guitars.

The Ho-Hum Motel

Cherokee Tribal Bingo

It was a long drive

We drove 8,750 miles.

We visited 21 states in the USA, 1 province in Canada.

We stayed at 36 campsites, 1 hotel, 1 private home.

We used a lot of petrol!

Artistic Licence - Chinatown

San Fran Day 2

San Fran Day 1

San Francisco

Since we met, we've been planning to go to San Francisco together. It's one of our favourite cities but the last time we were both there it was with our previous partners while in the throes of marriage breakups! We won't dwell on that further but suffice to say that we were hoping to take away happier memories this time. We did!

An all-American breakfast of waffles, pancakes & maple syrup at Sears Fine Foods, off Union Square, seemed like the best way to start our visit before we headed down to the Cannery & Fisherman's Wharf, hanging off one of the famed cable cars. We ambled around for a while, soaking up the atmosphere, & then spent ages watching the antics of the Sea Lions which have taken over the floating wharves anchored offshore. The noise was deafening! We moved on to walk up the incredibly steep Hyde Street, as far as Lombard Street (the much-filmed "crookedest street" in the city) before jumping back onto a cable car or two to take us to the Jackson Square Historical District. More ambling ensued, with a stop at a pavement cafe across from the Heliotrope Building, before we wandered our way through Chinatown & stopped for dinner at a restaurant there. The food was fresh, plentiful & delicious. Then we climbed onto another cable car for our last ride of the day, down to the lively Market Street where we meandered some more & stopped for a break at a pavement cafe. Yes, it was a tough day but somebody had to do it. Thus ended our 1st day in San Francisco.

Our 2nd day was more energetic - we visited the Golden Gate Park before getting the bikes down from the back of the RV to cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a fantastically beautiful day with no sign of the famous mist that frequently envelopes the city & the bridge. The spectacularly clear views provided a wonderful finale to our entire trip - but made it difficult to tear ourselves away for the final drive, over the Oakland Bridge, to San Leandro where we had to bid farewell to our RV (having cleaned up all the detritus of our 2 month stay - but we won't dwell on that either!)

Big Basin & Ano Nuevo

Sierra Nevadas & Yosemite

The Redwoods & The Coast

We took a short walk amongst the Sequoias while we were at Yosemite, but our main encounter with these magnificent trees was at Big Basin Redwood Park. Some of the Redwoods are as old as 3,000 years, with base diameters of 60 feet. We had the amazing experience of standing inside a living tree - the "chimney tree" has been hollowed out by naturally occurring fires which have burned away the central core of the tree and yet it still lives on. We stood in the middle & were able to look up to the sky through the "chimney" flue.

We would have liked to follow the 10 mile "skyline to the sea" trail from the Park to the coast, but didn't really have the time so we drove down from the mountains (only 1000 feet this time) to the coast to see the Elephant Seals that heave themselves onto the beach at Ano Nuevo State Park. They are impressive beasts! We were also enchanted with the flocks of Pelicans diving for food just off the beach. It was a beautiful Californian winter's day - warm sunshine & a moderate breeze. The sea mists duly rolled in as we drove north along the Pacific Highway to Pacifica, our penultimate stopover before we had to face up to true winter weather in Scotland.

California - The Long & Winding Road to Yosemite

We left Death Valley early on a Thursday afternoon, hoping to be at Yosemite that evening. This turned out to be a slight under-estimation! We finally arrived on Friday evening. In the event, the old adage, "It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive", proved only too true. The scenery en route was fantastic from baking deserts to the immense snow capped peaks of the Sierra Nevadas, passing through "Gold Rush" country (great "Wild West" Main Streets in Sonora & Angels Camp) & beautiful wooded valleys glowing with Fall colours. We drove through Glencoe, which was in a setting nearly as beautiful as the original & one of the few namesake places we've seen which remotely resembled the original. The sun shone in a clear blue sky but it turned out that 3 mountain passes were closed by snow for the winter so we had to keep driving further& further north (surpisingly) till we reached the Carson Pass at 8573 feet & finally made it over the mountains. We felt like pioneers by the time we had finished our 200 mile detour!

Sadly, Yosemite proved to be an anti-climax. Much of the Park was closed for the winter, mostly the wilderness areas that we would have preferred to explore. Being there on a Saturday was not a good idea - the over-built-upon & gloomy valley was swarming with other people. Yosemite may have been the original model for the whole National Park system but it was not one of the highlights of our trip.

Yet I Will Fear No Evil

California - Death Valley

We resisted the lure of the Las Vegas "Strip". Even after all these weeks together, 24 hours a day, we still didn't feel the need for a quickie divorce & we had no spare money to gamble - our monster gas-guzzler has seen to that. So we skirted around the city, through the suburban sprawl. We were amazed at the number of housing estates (little boxes!) that are being built. No doubt the hazy layer of pollution floating above the city will grow accordingly. Escaping up & over the Spring mountains, we ignored the further enticements on offer in Pahrump (casinos, massage parlours, brothels, live shows......) to drive up & over more mountains to reach California.

Our 1st stop was Death Valley where we lingered for 3 days. Another amazing wilderness! We had been living at altitudes of 6 - 8,000 feet for several weeks but suddenly, on the floor of Death Valley we were down to 200 feet below sea level. In theory the walking should have become easier but the temperatures were now up in the 80s, so it was still a bit of an effort. Quite good excuses, don't you think? Great place names here - Bad Water, Devil's Golf Course, Furnace Creek & Stovepipe Wells.

The landscape was wonderfully varied : salt flats, 700 feet sand dunes (we managed to climb a 100 feet dune), marble canyons, volcanic craters, layers of rocks tilted at absurd angles & mountains up to 11,000 feet high stretching on either side the whole length of the valley. And it wasn't just the ground that was spectacular - the night skies were magnificent. Thousands of stars glittered in every direction & the Milky Way stretched down to the horizon before us. Just to add to the atmosphere the howling & yapping of coyotes echoed in the mountains around us. To cap it all, we were awestruck to see a hugeB1 Stealth Bomber circling silently & eerily just above our heads. It was all truly surreal. We loved it!

Along the road

Encounters with Route 66

Route 66 has been replaced by Interstate 40 as the main east-west highway across the USA, but we found our route regularly coinciding with or running parallel to "The Mother Road", as they call it in these parts. Sometimes we made a special detour to drive along it, just to get our kicks, of course! Flagstaff was where the original campaign began to have Route 66 recognised as a "historic route", to ensure its iconic status was preserved. We visited a famed Route 66 stopover - The Museum Club, otherwise known as The Zoo. It's the biggest log cabin in Arizona, built around 5 trees (still standing inside, but long since dead) & originally constructed to house the owner's taxidermy collection (also long since dead, but still there). This is the place to go for cowboys who want to do the Arizona 2 step. Occasionally the Texas 2 step can be seen, but line dancing is a no-no. We weren't there of an evening but there were cowboys hanging out there, even on a Sunday afternoon, by a roaring log fire watching horse races. We left before the Poker tournament began but not before the barmaid showed us round the 1880s mahogany bar & the old brothel & Poker rooms. She was very keen to share her ghost stories with us.

We drove on along the section of Route 66 between Seligman (with its 50s diners & motels) & Kingman, which gave us a taste of the classic Route 66. We were enthralled with The Hackberry General Store. In the middle of nowhere, it was an amazing relic from the past - old petrol pumps, rusting old cars, advertising hoardings & signs, an old Greyhound bus stop & a small wooden building with the words "Music Hall" over the doors. Having read Bill Bryson's "Lost Continent", we were very excited to see the roadside advertising for Burma Shave. If only road side advertising had stayed like this: simple wooden boards with white lettering at strategic intervals along the kerb

"Along The Road

How Sad To

Know You're

Out of Mode

Burma Shave"

And waited..................

Flagstaff, Arizona

We enjoyed our brief time in Flagstaff, a quintessential Western town. We stayed at Black Bart's Steak House, Musical Revue & RV Park - only in the U.S. of A! Our dinner was accompanied by musical numbers performed by the waiting staff. This was our 2nd experience of all-singing, all-dancing waiters & waitresses. We were also entertained with songs from "the shows" over dinner in Sante Fe. Fiona found these musical meals surprisingly fun & Howard loved them, of course. Fiona did have to restrain him from offering his services - she knew the singing would be fine but what would he do with the soup?

Route 66 & the Santa Fe Railroad run right through town. Huge cross-continental freight trains chug through - we counted 4 engines & 112 trucks on one train that hooted by as we waited at the level crossing. And waited. And waited.

Grand canyon - start to finish

The length of the Grand Canyon

Sadly, we turned our backs on Utah- we loved it- and headed for Arizona across wide, wide plains, along straight, straight roads. Our first sight of the Grand Canyon was at Navajo Bridge where we gazed down 500 feet to the Colorado River which was dull green with murky clouds of sand swirling in the current. Despite continuing blue skies, the weather took an icy turn and by the time we reached the heart of the Grand Canyon it was utterly freezing with grey (or gray in the US) skies and a cutting wind. The Grand Canyon is undoubtedly impressive. It's immensely deep and wide. The depths make an immediate and dizzying impact but it's more difficult to realize that its really 11 miles and sometimes 16 miles across to the opposite rim of the canyon- and yet..... we were slightly disappointed! Maybe it was the cold grey weather: maybe we'd over indulged on spectacular desert and canyon scenery: maybe the hard slog of a 9 mile walk along an uneven and unnerving trail (Fiona felt sick with vertigo when she looked back and saw how near to a 3000 foot drop we'd been - with nothing to break the fall!) was too much? Whatever the reason, it wasn't one of the highlights of our trip. We think that being on top looking down probably wasn't the best way to experience it. Next time (!?) we want to ride down on mules, raft along the Colorado River and be lifted out by helicopter. We've got it all planned. It'll be great!

We did fully get a feel for the enormous length of the canyon when, several days later, we got to its end at the Hoover Dam - a man-made wonder which we were able to appreciate in gorgeous sunshine. It hadn't been on our list of places to go but it was a surprisingly enjoyable happenstance.

More Turkey anyone?

Hanging gardens of Zion

Utah - Zion Canyon

We've been very lucky with the weather - clear blue skies & sunshine nearly every day - but the nights have been cold, to say the least, until we got to Zion where the evenings were balmy. Wonderful!! Zion is another beautiful place but in a different way again. The canyon was narrower & vegetation lusher. We had been experiencing desert conditions for some time but now we were surrounded by greenery, autumn foliage & water, water everywhere - the Virgin River, Emerald Pools, waterfalls & wonderful hanging gardens where plants grew on cliff faces as water seeped, trickled & splashed down the rock.

Extra entertainment was laid on by a flock of wild Turkeys wandering along the road weaving in amongst the traffic jam they had caused. Very brave so near Thanksgiving & Christmas.

Footnote: we arrived at Zion on 8th November. As we've said, the weather was pretty warm. It had been 80 degrees during the day - apparently the perfect day to put up the Christmas decorations according to the woman in the office of the RV camp!

Howard chats up a bird

Desert trees

Amphitheatre, Hoodoos & the near fatal path!

Utah - Bryce Canyon

A strange & spectacular landscape - a fairyland filled with "Hoodooos" (the pinnacles which the native Americans imagined were people turned to stone). The rocks ranged in colour from creamy yellows through to soft oranges & pinks, turning to amber & maroon as the light faded. We drove to all the scenic "vista points", then did an easy walk around the rim of the main canyon, which is aptly described as an amphitheatre. Despite our intention of following another easy trail, we ended up hiking a strenuous 6 miles, up & down amongst the Hoodooos & along the forested canyon floor. It was an irrestibly magical place. We started at Sunrise Point, followed thne Queen's Garden, Peek-a-Boo & Navajo trails & finished at Sunset Point. (Fiona was nearly fatally finished by the almost-vertical climb of 550 feet at the end of the trail.)

Navigational and other life skills

The male navigator responsible for the 90 mile detour that led to our arrival at Route 12 rather later in the day than planned, would prefer that little is said about the matter! We can reveal, however, that our usual companionable relationship deteriorated somewhat and a tense atmosphere ensued. The beauty of the scenery & the discomfort of a frosty silence did restore harmony eventually.

Usually we have a female navigator - who is not infallible. She has been the cause of a few detours but never on such a grand scale as her male companion. Howard has, of course, been saintly about Fiona's mistakes while Fiona is not proud of her explosive reaction when she discovered how far off course she had been led.

It has been interesting to discover how unerringly Howard's sense of direction is at variance with the facts - and as for his map reading skills............ 5 minutes of intensely studying the street map in Washington DC led to a firm declaration, pointing with vigour, "We go left!". On stepping forth to turn left around the corner we immediately saw a sign directing us to our destination - pointing right, of course. Fiona couldn't go anywhere then, for laughing.


Luckily there has been a lot of laughter all along the way & our team work is pretty good. Howard's stalwart driving (on the rare occasions that Fiona drives she has usually had enough after 2 or 3 hours) & Fiona's map reading have taken us over 7,000 miles almost entirely to where we planned to go - so far!

Route 12

Utah - Scenic Route 12

We began our drive along Route 12 (pronounced rout, of course) mid-afternoon, after an unplanned detour. The road took us up and over the Aquarius Plateau, at a height of almost 10,000 feet & through the Dixie National Forest. Patches of snow lay among the trees- Pines interspersed with strikingly skeletal Aspens. There were breathtaking views, across fantastically coloured canyons, to the La Sal & Henry mountain ranges beyond. As we reached Boulder, the shy was lit by the setting sun with orange, red, pink & violet swirling around & above us. Darkness gradually fell as we drove on through Escalante Canyon - and what a drive! The road weaves along the crest of a narrow ridge with the land drropping precariously away on either side, before zigzagging down thousands of feet. On occasion the road pushes its way through sheer rock faces towering up on either side. We only had inches to spare! Howard loved the driving but it was so completely pitch black by the time that we emerged from the canyon, we decided to go back the following morning to do it all again (twice! there & back) in full daylight, stopping at all the viewpoints. We lost half a day from our schedule, but it was worth it.

Great Salt Lake

No problem with falling church attendances here...

Utah - A Lazy Sunday

We breakfasted late at Ruth's Diner. It's located in an old railway carriage in Emigration Canyon (a deadringer for a Scottish glen) on the outskirts of Salt Lake City. Breakfast is served there until 4 PM but we're not telling how close to the deadline we came! A delicious meal included "Ruth's famous mile-high biscuit" - a rather fancy name for a scone, we thought. The required post-prandial stroll was taken on the southern shores of the Great Salt Lake. We lingered on to watch the amazing hues washing across the sky as the sun set to the west, accompanied by a full moon rising through wispy clouds to the east.

Temple Lights

Utah - Salt Lake City

The city is surrounded on 3 sides by mountains. As we approached from the south, we drove up through a widening valley with increasing signs of human habitation. At first, just a house or two, then a few towns & farmland stretching around until we reached the sprawling suburbs with skyscrapers outlined against the mountains ahead.

On the 1st evening we took a strenuous walk into the city. It took longer than expected but the reward was a fabulous meal at the Cafe Oasis - well named - a vegetarian heaven! The following morning, we got up early to go to Kol Ami shul. It's a combined Conservative & Reform shul with about a 1000 members. A Bat Mitzvah was being celebrated that day, which was nice to see & we were made warmly welcome. It girded our loins to face the Mormon onslaught of the afternoon's visit to Temple Square.

And what an onslaught ........... relentless smiling & evangelical enthusiasm all afternoon. We had no hesitation in firmly refusing requests fo our home address but if any of you want advice on how to live a wholesome eternal family life as directed by the current prophet & his apostles, just let us know - we could arrange a home visit for you. We know it would be lovely!!

It was an interesting experience & it is a lovely city - grand architecture & spacious roads. The Mormon church is obviously fantastically wealthy (but we did also come across a lot of homeless people in the streets, particularly around the Catholic Community Centre). One welcome surprise - a bagpiper busking outside the Temple walls, resplendent in kilt. One unwelcome surprise - constant train hooting, day & night.

Canyonlands