holiday update

Hey all.

See, this whole “having my laptop on holiday” thing is great, cos it means I can update this. Woo hoo!

So we’ve been in the states for just over a week now, and I’m slightly sunburnt. Again. Still, it should mean that I’ll have something of a tan when I get home.

So holiday so far has been:

Tuesday: Got into San Francisco, found the hotel, had a sleep, went for a walk, went to bed.

Wednesday: Went for a walk around San Francisco, went down to pier 39, had a look at some boats, went for a walk along the coast for a bit, then caught the cable car back to the hotel. And I swear, you think you know hills? You don’t know the meaning of the word until you go to San Francisco.

Thursday: Left San Francisco via the golden gate bridge. Went up country for a bit, went to a winery. This country sucks! What kind of law gives 16 year olds the right to drive cars, but not drink until 21? Not that I’d be legally to drink if I was at home anyway. Carried on to a little place called Napa. Nice little village.

Friday: Went to Sanora via Yosemite national park. It was really really cool, but it was completely different from anything else we’d seen so far. It looked like it belonged in British Columbia or something instead of California. Sanora is a little town/village in the middle of Gold country, about 5 miles from Jamestown, one of the man gold mining towns that operated in the early 1900’s. Got there in the late afternoon, went for a walk around the place in 100F. That’s almost 40C. In other words… HOT!! Oh, and I noticed that a town that hasn’t been used for about a century has a Harley café.

Saturday: Changed room when the ceiling decided to leak on me. So called up the janitor dude, who was a gal, to find out what was up, and it turned out to be the air con thing from the floor above, so to fix it would be too hard, and it was easier to just change room. Visited Jamestown and went on a steam train that was operating when the mines were. It was actually pretty interesting, as well as the steam engine that was operating, the roundhouse was also the home of the engine that starred in back to the Future III, along with a few of the props from the film. Then we went on to the Columbia state history park, which was a open air museum thing like Beamish, but was a mining town, complete with theatre with shows and everything. That day was pretty cool. Went back to Sanora for tea.

Sunday: Left Sanora and headed east. Visited Bodie, which is a ghost town, and by Ghost town I mean ghost town. There were cars that were just sitting in fields rusting away. After visiting the ghost town, went to Mammoth Lakes, where we stayed for the next 2 days. It was pretty high up in the mountains, at about 8000 feet. That’s about the size of Ben Nevis, to give you some idea.

Oh, and now mum is trying to get Judi up by tickling her. It’s actually quite productive. Seems to be the best method we’ve tried so far.

Monday: Stayed in Mammoth lakes. Went for a walk up a mountain to see a waterfall. It was pretty cool, but hot. Not as hot as 100, but fairly close. And I got sunburnt again, but at least it’s going down now. Also saw a basalt rock formation known as the “devil’s post pile”, which was alright. There was this café, which had a sign saying “Harley parking only.” So if you’ve got a Yamaha or Suzuki tough luck, can’t park there. Guess Americans really really like their Harley’s.

Tuesday: Drove. Drove. And drove some more. Went through Death Valley, and recorded our new record of heat at 116F. That is over 45C, so very very pigging hot! Travelled about 350 miles that day. Saw the very southern tip of Las Vegas from the road. Counted about 3 casinos in Las Vegas.

Just come back from breakfast, and yeah, I totally melted the plate! It wasn’t my fault. They shouldn’t give you polystyrene plates with food to put in the toaster. Newsflash, it’s gonna get hot! So yeah… I melted the plate with a toasted waffle… but at least I got a waffle out of it. (And syrup everywhere… but let’s not go into that!)

Anyway, back to Tuesday. Stayed at Boulder city, which is the town the workers used when they made Hoover dam. Not much there, just a few café’s. According to Judi the pool was the best so far, but as I don’t tend to go swimming much these days I can’t comment on that.

Wednesday: Visited Hoover dam. You should have seen my dad; he was like a kid in a candy store when he saw all the turbines. Yes, he creates turbines on a daily basis… or looks over people who create turbines on a daily basis… or something with turbines. So he’s been working at the same place for the last 12 years… doesn’t mean I have to know what he does! Had a 10 minute introduction talk before going to see the turbines and the guy giving it was really good. He had the auditorium in stitches every 20 seconds. There was this picture which he said “this next picture is really cool but I don’t have anything to say about it.” He then put it on the slide, waited 5 seconds, then moved on to the next slide.

Then after the dam we arrived at the hotel at the Grand Canyon. Went out for tea. Oh, and then Judi and my mum decided to compare me to a cross between a kangaroo and an elephant for unknown reasons. So I’m not in the best mood with them today.

Today: Went to the Grand Canyon. Words cannot describe this place. It is incredible and so much more. You have to see it to know just how utterly mind-blowing this place is. Went for a drive along the south rim to a place known as death view. Not sure why it’s called that. Cool watchtower there with an amazing view. I managed to use up an entire film in about an hour. But OH MY GOD!!! (Not trying to make people jealous at all… nosiry)

Right, well, better get ready. We’re going to watch the sun set over the south rim… just as soon as this big thunderstorm cloud goes that is. Hopefully soon. (I think I’m slightly hyper…)

Have fun and take care guys.

Miss you.

Oh, and one more thing… as you can I see I am posting, and I also check comments. So be nice and DON’T SPAM!! Thank you.