Sonoma Beach, August 8th-10th

From Yosemite we drove west, to Sonoma Beach. We were very excited, because besides Jan, no one of us saw the Pacific before.

When we left the higher elevations of Yosemite, we drove through dry land, and it was 38°C again. We arrived at the coast just before dark. I knew the Pacific is cold and therefor influences the air temperature at the coast. But I never expected the weather we got when we exited the car.
It was very windy and only 14°C! Good thing we plan to go to Alaska. We pulled the "Alaska suitcase" out of the car immediately before we turned into ice cubes:

The landscape was very beautiful. It reminded me of England (and more so than New England!):

Around noon, the sky was blue and there was no wind until around three. But when the land started to warm, the wind picked up and clouds of mist started to form.

We wanted to see the sun set above the Pacific, but that didn't happen!

We were no longer in bear country, but we still had to watch our food. This time, racoons circled our tents at night:

Obviously, the wind blows a lot around there. Since Americans tend to call us "the Windy's", we felt a connection when we saw this:

Because it didn't get warmer than 18°C at the beach, we didn't feel like relaxing there. We drove inland to spend a few hours at a river.

It was nice and warm up there. It was only 10 km from the coast, and 25°C. We started to think that the weather had changed. But when we drove back in the evening, it went from 25 to 15°C in 10 minutes drive!

On our way down to San Francisco, we stopped at the earthquake trail. The San Andreas Fault  shapes the landscape there. We saw a fence that has jumped 6 m after the 1906 earthquake:

And we saw Harbour Seals:

They like doing yoga:

Yosemite

Yosemite is the archetype of American wilderness and nature, there are for sure more beautiful places and definitely more remote places, but the accessibility and infrastructure make it a busy place,  almost like St. Tropez on a august evening!

It is a place worth seeing, enormous granite rocks;

quiet green meadows;

streams to swim in;

waterfalls;

Yosemite is famous to the Belgians since last year Tom Waes climbed El Capitan, it is truly an impressive 1200m high piece of granite!

It is so high that it requires a few days to climb, which makes that people have to sleep against the rock!

We added a few animals to our list: a black bear in an apple tree next to the campsite, he was not really bothered by the dozens of people he had as audience, munching away on apples, quite well hidden in the tree. We heard also bears roaming the campsite at night, trying to outsmart the park rangers who patrolled the camp as well, trying to keep bears and humans separated as much as possible.

and a rattlesnake:

We spent 3 nights in Yosemite, camping in the 'wild', including bears, but the whole valley feels resort-like, there are plenty of activities organized, including painting classes wich Inge, Luka and Emma took, learning how to paint 'fast and loose' .

Sequoia National Park

We drove from the east side of the Sierra Nevada (Lone Pine) to the west side, where Sequoia NP is. As the crow flies, it is something like 100 km. But there are no roads over the mountains, so we had to drive 5 hours to get around them.

We drove through an agricultural region where we saw more olive trees than in Tuscany. But all untrimmed:

The campsite was hard to find, it was really in the middle of nowhere. When we were almost there, we saw something on the road. My first thought was a toad, but it was so dry that this was almost impossible. Then we realized it was a spider, a big one!

I threw my camera cap besides it, because it was the first thing I could think of as a reference for the picture. But the spider decided it was hers now, so I had to politely ask it back.

We camped in bear area, on a small campsite miles away from everything. The camp host explained all safety rules and told us bears are seen rarely there. But still we felt safer close together:

We followed American tradition and made the best s'mores ever:

In Sequoia NP are the biggest trees on earth. They are not the highest (the coastal redwoods are), and not the widest in diameter, but the biggest in trunk volume. And they are amazing! Since I heard about them, I wanted to see them and now I was finally able to.

It takes a while before you realize how big they really are. All other tree species around it, are also much bigger and taller than the average tree in your garden (and especially in the poor soil place where I grew up!). And because the tree looks rather slender, you need a reference to comprehend the real size of it. Jan is the little blue spot at the bottom of the tree:

The cobblestone figure here is as big as the base of that tree:

We walked through the immense forest, here are some pictures:

And here is a baby. The kids are wishing him a good life (he has some thousand years ahead of him):

Also in the neighborhood of our campsite was a historic grinding spot. It was so remote that there was no hiking path, no explanation or visitor center. Our camp host told us where we could find it.  History came alive:

Death Valley

After Las Vegas, first a long way of empty landscape. For lunch, we found this:

Then Death Valley. Dante's View. An amazing view of the hottest place on earth. 

When we arrived on the lowest place in the USA (85 m below sea level), the thermometer announced 50°C.

It was 6:30 p.m. But still blistering hot: 

At night, we arrived in Lone Pine. A very friendly little place.

 Now, we drive on to Sequoia NP. We go camping for 8 nights. Fingers crossed we don't meet a hungry bear!

Las Vegas

Las Vegas? C' è un casino! In English: crazy! Everything we expected it to be and more. A big culture shock after a week of back country USA. A lot of people (although it felt not as crowded as Firenze on a Sunday afternoon), a lot of over the top luxury and a lot of weird things. 

Our hotel was as big as Meldert (our home town): 20 floors, a casino, 7 restaurants, a food court, several shops, a gym, a spa and a big pool. It took a while to find our way around...

The girls felt like princesses. The only thing was they had to sit in the bad tub to watch teenage tv. On the big tv they had only dull channels ; )

The view out of our window:

In Las Vegas, they sell everything. 
Dresses? Anyone ?!?

Coca cola, of course:

Deep fried Oreo's. Seriously?!?

m&m's:

You could buy m&m's by the color. Wat we did, of course. These are the choices:

Then the places!

An erupting vulcano:

A covered walkway with a gazillion led lights and sound show:

Italy. Totally unexpected, homesickness got me here!

Only the Rialto Bridge has a rolling pathway on it. We don't want you to get tired!

a streetview:

It was nice to experience Las Vegas, but it's also nice to be in the real world again.

July 30th: Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon, very spectacular:

We saw Utah prairie dogs. Very rare, only 7000 still exist. They are like Emma, talk all day. They have a very elaborate vocabulary. They can tell eachother which animal is approaching, out of which direction. This one is saying "those Belgians are still there staring at us, two o'clock, in the white car":

Cedar Breaks NM, spectacular, and this one we discovered ourselves. 

Ok, almost. 

But we didn't know it existed, we drove by by accident. And we didn't expect to see this. It was as beautiful as Bryce, but less known, less people, more quiet and more wow! 

July 29th, Page to Bryce Canyon

In the morning, we took a quick dip in Lake Powell, because we had a day through dry land before us. We stocked up on water (16 liter!), gatorade, food and salty snacks. We had a full gas tank and maps. Fully prepared.

First, we drove to Old Paria, an old but now vanished pioneer town. In the beginning of the 19th century, they rebuild the village (also gone again) and used it as a film set in many Westerns. And it is understandable why here:

The Paria River was a mud stream, it felt very smooth!

We didn't take the back road we first intended, because it is impassible when wet and we saw rain in the distance. The alternative road was paved the first 16 miles, dirt road the next 34 miles. It was 2 p.m. when we reached the unpaved road when we decided to stop for lunch. We were hungry! Why I remember the hour so well? 
Well, because for once, the kids didn't forget to close the car doors. And because the car thought it was a good idea to lock itself while all doors were closed. And because the car key was still inside! #%&ò!!!!!!! And we had no cell phone reception òç#&%!!!!
We left so well prepared this morning and than this happens...

Luckily a car passed after 5 minutes. The guy had a pick up with a tool box, but no piece of wire. So did the next two guys with a pick up. They left with the promise to drive until they had reception again and then call a towing service.

We sat in the shade of our car and waited.
We remembered that we locked ourselves out of our house in Italy at least three times while we lived there. We wondered if an average of locking one out once a year is average, or if we exceed that average?

After a while, a ranger of the Grand Staircase - Escalante NM drove by. He had a pick up with a tool box. 
And a piece of wire! 
I remembered a time in Saint Tropez when we locked ourselves out of our car and the gendarmes helped us with a piece of wire. (We locked ourselves out of the car only twice in my whole life yet. Is that beneath average?)

Those gendarmes de Saint Tropez did the job in five minutes. But back then, cars where simpler. Our car was rather stubborn. It took Jan and the ranger a while to get the wire in the car, and then it took a while before they cold move it to the locking knobs. And when they reached them, happened... nothing! They cold lock the car, but not unlock it. Nor could they open the window. Was it because the key was still in the ignition?
While Jan and the ranger where stubborn and tried and tried and tried, Jutta saw something strange inside the ranger's car. A humming bird had flown inside through the open door, and tried to fly out on the other side. He hovered before the closed window. It was the first time I saw a humming bird so close. It was a magical sight! My mood lifted instantly.

After several tries, of the guys we needed a plan B. The ranger promised to drive until he had reception and call the car rental company
. 
We sat in the shade of our car and waited. Luckily the shade had grown. Yeah, because we were there already more than 1,5 hour (and we still didn't have lunch, zucht!).

After a while the ranger returned. He had called the deputy sherrif. 
We waited. We sat in the shade of the car. It felt familiar to sit there and wait...

And then; we saw a yellow pick up coming from the right direction. Could it be? Yes!!! It was the tow guy! He opened the door in two minutes. Jan and the ranger looked a bit upset because he did it so quickly...

Finally, at 4 p.m., we had lunch:

 Replenished, we drove on. (After one adjustment: I took the spare key and put it in my pocket. It is still there. Always.)

The back road was beautiful. Since we passed different layers of rock, the road changed color from time to time:

We also had yellow, purple and white!

We passed some lone ranches and wondered what kind of live people have there, so far away from everything. 

Then we crossed a hole in the ground. When we looked closer, it was a full size sloth canyon (like Antilope Canyon). But this one was in the middle of nowhere, no entry fees and no guide. But also impossible to access:

A few miles further, we saw another one. And this one was accessible. We went in. It was wonderful! Not as aesthetically beautiful as Antelope Canyon but far more adventurous. And this one, we discovered ourselves! (Well, probably the guys who build the road must have seen it before, but hey...) 

It even had a little water fall at the entrance:

After our hike, we drove on. Finally, we reached the paved road again. On a point with a stunning view on a green valley.

It was a long day. We liked the remoteness and the unexpected finds. I think this was my favorite day so far. 

Except for the delayed lunch. If your name is Nevelsteen, you know what I mean ; )