AMERICA

The day finally arrived and we left Heathrow airport on the 15th May 2008, we flew with Air New Zealand NZ1 leaving at 16.15hrs to Los Angeles airport (LAX) arriving at 7.00pm local time (about 3.00am in our heads).  It was an excellent flight and we quickly got sorted through customs and arrived at a hotel 5mins from LAX for the first 2 nights.

We then decided to rent a car for 2 weeks to have a chill out, and to decide what we wanted to do next.  We drove up the Pacific coast highway (hwy 1) stopping at Santa Monica, which has a lovely beach (where Baywatch was filmed for those who remember this), driving through Malibu, and going along the coast along the Big Sur coast and eventually spending a night in Carmel.

Over the next days we visited Yosemite National Park, which has amazing waterfalls, which have a hike to them but it is worth it. Also we spent the last 2 days 22nd & 23rd May in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park, which is are absolute favourite.  Sequoia is the home of the giant Sequoia Redwood trees and has the General Sherman the oldest, largest living thing on the planet. Walking through these trees is awesome as they are so big people look tiny against their trunks, it is so quiet and peaceful too.

We are going to head back towards LA as we are planning to view some campervans, as we have decided to buy one for the next part of our travels.  It is a better way to see the National Parks as some of the campsites are right in the parks, so  you have a good chance to see the wildlife ( bears especially).

31.5.08

We arrived back in LA after negotiating sometimes up to 8 lanes of traffic with impatient Americans that don't think its necessary to indicate to change lane. (one American told us its horrible to drive in LA whether the vehicle is large or small) we agree, but as we had to go through the centre a few times, Brian is now driving like a true American.

INTRODUCING OUR CAMPERVAN

Well we have finally got a campervan or RV as the Americans call them (They look at you gone out if you call it a campervan), we are very proud of Nora as we have called her. She is only 3 yrs old and very smart. She can sleep 6 people.  After Brian's usual policy of get the most from them, she came fully equipped with new bedding, kitchenware, towels etc. We had to wait from Tuesday to Thursday before we could collect her.  So we headed to Palm Springs, one of our favourite places to relax. As usual Palm Springs temperature was hotter than LA and had the lovely relaxed atmosphere of an oasis in the desert.  We stayed at a lovely hotel in downtown Palm Springs and relaxed by the pool. 

Thursday arrived and we headed back to LA to drop of the rental car and collect Nora,  we finally took charge of Nora at about 3.00pm and headed out onto Interstate 5 which is busy even when its not rush hour.  We called at a supermarket and stocked up on essentials beer and wine etc. Then headed to a campsite for the first night. Brian some how managed to get  into the neighbours campervan with our key and frighten them, they obviously did not sleep well that night as they left before 7 in the morning.The next day we headed towards Death Valley National Park as this was to be our destination for the next day. We stayed at a campsite about an hour away in the Mojave desert at a place called Tecopa Hot Springs. This land is owned by Native Americans from the Timbisha Shoshone tribe.  The campsite was very hot (Thank goodness for air con) but had wonderful hot spring baths. These waters are naturally heated from the earth and have 14 different minerals in them.  We all tried them out and came out wondrfully relaxed and with very soft skin, but with extra fluffy hair.