The vastness of America... That's why we chose to take a Roadtrip on the west coast of the United States last September. We had planned everything well in advance, and rented a car for the 15 days, in order to fully and freely enjoy this beautiful adventure. Beginning of the trip, Los Angeles, my favorite city, huge...
Apart from the city centre where the buildings are located, there are only houses and beaches as far as the eye can see, a feast for the eyes. We took the opportunity to go and see an American football match: a super-heated atmosphere in a stadium of 90,000 people. Another stop, the Universal Studios, a must for people who love amusement parks with a backdrop of movie sets. We then left for Las Vegas, by car...
So Las Vegas, the city of all the craziness, slot machines everywhere, all kinds of shows, a multitude of hotels, but... an overrated city for my taste. A must see anyway! Then, we went to the quiet, with the Grand Canyon, in Indian territory. The Navajos are there in majority. Arrived at the end of the day, we could see a magnificent sight at sunset, one day there is enough, just to admire the most beautiful points of view, without trekking. We couldn't sleep there because you have to book a year in advance, so we chose to sleep in Flagstaff, a town on the road 66, a bit further south.
"Monument Valley, timeless scenery... but book well in advance to sleep there.
The next day, direction Monument Valley. Small hitch, which we had not foreseen when organizing our trips, these are all the things to see on the road! The Navajos have preserved a lot of places, so there are a lot of nature reserves to visit, and a lot of ruins linked to their history. Fortunately, everything is very easy to access, the car parks are very close to the things to see, so there is little to walk and therefore little waste of time. Also, the visit of Monument Valley is done by car, and we could stop anywhere to admire these timeless landscapes. Same as for Grand Canyon, we couldn't sleep there, and we drove further East, and even changed time zone, to Bluff. A village like in the movies, only one road, and a few houses here and there. This is where we ate the best, in the evening vegetables and meat on the barbecue, and in the morning, blue corn pancakes (natural)! Early in the morning we headed back west to Page, a town on the shores of Lake Powell. We went to see Horseshoesbend, there's no word for this place, you feel very small in front of the immensity of the landscape. The next morning we stayed to see Antelope Canyon (to be booked in advance !!). There are two of them, we went to see the one where there were places left, Lower. Wonderful place where you can see the most beautiful thing nature can do !
In the afternoon, we visited the dam and enjoyed the water activities to be done on the lake. For some it is better to do it the day before, everything is quickly booked. We took the road again the next day for Death Valley. Then there we badly managed the organization, we thought that there was not much to see, mistake! If we could have stayed a whole day it would have been better. It's a vast place with many different landscapes to see, so we had to make a choice and choose the closest ones, Golden Canyon, Badwater (the lowest point in the USA below sea level),...We slept in the evening in Lone Pine, John Wayne's city, very typical !
After 10 days under a stifling heat, here we are in the cool of Yosemite. On the road, we stop at the office which advises us to visit Bodie, an abandoned town a few kilometers away. It's quite impressive, even if there is not much left, people left overnight, leaving everything in place. The atmosphere is very special.
The next day we spent the day hiking in the park to see the waterfalls. It's a very busy place, but the landscapes are splendid. We did not meet any wild animals, too bad, except squirrels not very nice, which are everywhere! Finally, last stage of our trip, San Francisco. Faithful to the image we have of it, that of the movies. The Golden Gate, the streets in coast, the coloured houses, the Cable Car, Pier 39,... It is a small city finally where it is good to get lost on foot. We were able to go and see the Alcatraz prison, by reserving before our departure, fortunately. The visit is very interesting. In two weeks we covered 4,400 kilometres, but it was really worth it. We felt like we were visiting a different country every day. The people are nice, I will definitely go back there!