North America 3

The cheapest way to do a tour of the west coast was with Amtrak and their 15 days rail pass for $210. Bargain, (and $150 cheaper than greyhound coaches!) Plus when I got on the train I thought I had walked into 1st class. The seats were huge, lent far back and had extending foot rests, plus they gave you a pillow and blanket. Ok, so it was a long ride into San Francisco but the scenery was great. We passed loads of little hick towns (all with their American flags flying), and lots of forests and mountains.

San Francisco

I stayed at the USA hostel in the centre of town. Again the first thing that struck me about San Fran was all the homeless people. I visited Haight and Ashbury, the area which had all the hippies in the 60/70's. It was still very funky with retro shops and people hanging out, plus the wooden houses lining the streets were beautiful. The park there was nice but had so many homeless people and hippy wannabies laying around. You could pretty much imagine it in its hey day!

One day I took a trip to Alcatraz. It's amazing that people used to battle their way off the island, and now people battle to get onto it. You have to book a week in advance or you wont get on. The ferry ride didn't last long, and we were ushered onto the island and up to the cell block. The audio tour was very interesting but only encompassed the cells, not the rest of the island. Plus there were so many other tourists there you could hardly walk around! We saw Al Capone's prison cell, and the Bird Man's. It was interesting to walk around the island, many of the old buildings had collapsed and had plants growing all over them. We also found out about when American Indians had taken over the island in protests over land ownership. They spent a good few years living there.

The next day was spent going to Yosemite National Park. Quite possibly the hightlight of the USA trip for me. We left very early and drove there in a mini van with a very sarcastic driver! It proved to be very amusing and the drive was stunning. Windy roads, sheer drops either side, forests stretching as far as you could see. Yosemite valley was just amazing. There were waterfalls every side of the valley, it was hard to imagine that the valley floor to the mountain top was 4000ft. I'd never seen anything like that before. We saw El Capitain, a sheer mountain, and the valley floor disappearing into mist. It reminded me of Rivendell. We headed into the valley floor and were given 4 hours to play with. Me and another lady chose to hike mid way up to Yosemite falls, the highest waterfall in the park. It was fairly steep but zig zagged to make it easier, and the view was SPECTACULAR. We could see both ways down the valley, a view of the half dome, and the waterfall crashing down by us. I could have spent forever up there!

Los Angeles

Another train journey and I arrived into LA. I stayed at the Orbit hostel on Melrose Avenue. It was a nice place but seemed to have its fair share of odd people. I did a tour of LA and saw all around (oh, and it was raining! Who said it was always sunny in California?!). Venice beach was great for people watching, downtown was amazingly poor (hundreds of homeless) and Bel Air was amazingly rich. I saw a few famous peoples houses, and also got a wave from Justin Hawkins, lead singer of the Darkness!

I visited Hollywood Boulevard to see the hand prints outside of Manns Chinese cinema. I also saw a film in there, the cinema was stunning. It had ornate wood carvings all around and beautiful paintings of dragons on the ceiling. That was the first venue of the Oscars.

Universal Studios was fun. Plus it was so quiet we saw everything there! The backlot tour was interesting, 'Meet the Fokers' was being shot (sequel to Meet the Parents) and a film called 'Stealing Christmas'. Most of the attractions were funny 3D films or simulators. Shrek and Waterworld were the best ones. It was a gorgeous day too, so that made it even better!

Magic Mountain - one place I definitely wanted to go to on my return to California. Another sunny day and I went around with 3 Aussies (hang on, didn't I do that 8 years ago too?! :-) It was really quiet and we managed to walk straight onto the rides so we got loads done. The only ride that had a queue was 'X', a rollercoaster that spun you around as you went on the ride (as in the seats moved separate from the carriage!) But they only had one car running and after waiting 1 and a half hours, with the same again to go, we gave up. Shame but we went on a good ten rides in the time we would have been waiting! It was a great day being thrown around and scaring ourselves. Just what I like! We even went on a stand up rollercoaster.

The hostel was near Sunset Boulevard where all the clubs are. One evening I strolled up to House of Blues which I found out was just a venue for any old bands (very disappointed) but then the doorman told us to check out the 'Foundation Room' at the rear. So we had a look and WOW. It was a small bar/lounge with a fireplace and sofas, and a blues jam session on! Everyone there seemed to know each other and kept taking it in turns to play. Fantastic blues music and great atmosphere, just what I wanted! The room was decorated in an Indian style with wood carvings and material on the walls. There were photos of big jazz and blues icons on the walls too.

Another bar we went to was the Rainbow club, a fun old school rock club! The weird and the wonderful met there and we pranced around looking to see who we could spot. I ended up meeting the bassist from the Darkness there, as well as having Judd Nelson push past me. Also Lemmy from Motorhead. And we had lots of fun!

Las Vegas

The hostel was downtown but it was only a short ride to the 'Strip'. The weather was baking hot but not humid at all. Plus with all the air conditioning in buildings and on buses, you ended up freezing half the time anyway! The place was crazy. There were slot machines everywhere, in the 7/11's and supermarkets, even in the clothes stores! Each Casino had its own theme and made full use of that to entice people in. There was Treasure Island which had a big show of the Sirens vs the Pirates every night. The Mirage had an exploding volcano. Bellagios had dancing fountains to music (I liked that one!) Aladdins had a desert walkway with shops and a ceiling made to look like it was always day (oh, and an indoor rainstorm!). New York New York looked like a Manhatten skyline with its own Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn bridge. Paris had a half size Eiffel tower you could go up. So no wonder Americans don't go travelling outside of the USA, they just have to go to Vegas! My favourite though was Circus Circus which had a great friendly kids area (all the other casinos don't like you unless you spend lots of money there). You could do all the fun games like squirting water into a clowns mouth to pop a balloon. I won a big octopus in one game, nice to win but big to carry around!!

The Laughlin River Run was on too at this time so loads of bikers were roaring through every day on their Harleys. The Strip was always packed with traffic, much of it limos. Often it was said to be cheaper to hire a limo in Vegas than get a taxi! Oh and seeing all the wedding chapels and drive through wedding parlours was amusing.

There were shows on in every casino. I found a place that sold half price show tickets for the same day so went to see Lord of the Dance. The dancing was great and the music wonderful. I also got to watch a pilot show and rate what I thought of it and what it's name should be. There were lots of bars and people drinking all through the day. No casinos had windows or clocks to let people know what time of day it was. It seemed like a great place to party but also very expensive! (I guess unless you win!)

Vegas made a good base to visit the Grand Canyon from. I took a day trip to the west rim, which was on Native Indian land. We drove up there via the Hoover Dam which was impressive to see and the guide was very informative about the whole trip. We passed through an area of Joshua trees too, odd looking trees growing in the desert. The Canyon itself was unbelievable. We got a buffet lunch sitting overlooking the view. There were no railings or safety barriers, and it was a mile straight down! I took a walk onto the peak and sat there taking in the hugeness of it. It's hard to find words to describe it. Red and brown in colour. Massive. Silent. Beautiful. Steep. Old. We also saw the place where Evil Knievel did his jump across.

The train trip back to Canada was ok, 40 hours though! But the scenery I missed on the way down I got to see on the way back. Oregon was lovely with its mountains and pine forests.

Canada (again)

I headed back up to Vancouver and tried to figure out what to do next. The two Aussies from Fiji were around so we met up and decided to go to Whistler for a couple of nights. Not something I'd expected to do! It was only 2 and a half hours outside of Vancouver and much hotter than I'd imagined. We checked into the Shoestring Lodge (which the boys wanted to go to for a certain bar next door! ;-) They loved that one) Spring season had just started so all the prices had dropped. We hired gear for day and headed up the mountain. It was fantastic, skiing came back to me soon enough, so Troy and I were whizzing down on our skis. Greg got used to boarding soon enough and we had lots of fun trying different runs. The snow wasn't bad either, bit slushy but better than expected! It was hot too, I ended up in just my T-shirt. (and trousers too, obviously.) We were knackered by the end of the day but very happy. If I'd had more money I would have stayed in Whistler. But being broke it was back to Vancouver.

Vancouver was my base for a while before flying on. (Plus American Airlines wanted a fortune for me to change my flight so there wasn't much of a choice in the matter) Whilst there I managed a visit to the art gallery (good display on Emily Carr, and war paintings) I also went to the Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Gardens in Chinatown. The hostel gave us vouchers for a free brewery tour on Granville Island which proved to be fun. The rest of the time was spent in internet cafes and the cinema. I met a good crowd in the hostel and we hung out in the common room and had a few drinks in the evenings, also managing to be nearly thrown out one time. Have you ever heard of a backpackers that doesn't allow drinking in the common room?! Well this one didn't, which we soon found out.