On July 29 th 2005 it finally is time again to board a plane and fly to my beloved USA. It’s Jörgens first time there and I can’t wait to show him all the places that I cherish dearly since my time as an au pair. Our first stop is New York City; what a hot and humid welcome! We are taking the super shuttle into Manhattan, where we are staying at the Americana Inn, one of the few cheaper hotels in the city. The room is small and hot and the air-condition extremely loud – so it’s pest or cholera. After a pretty sleepless first night we are deciding to take a boat cruise around Manhattan. The weather is not too great, it’s cloudy, foggy and very humid.
But still, I think this boat tour is a great way to get a first impression of this amazing city. After the tour we are visiting the famous camera store B H, to get some special lenses and an external flash. We walk through the city check out the Rockefeller center and shop a bit.
On the next morning we are going up the Empire state building. Again we are a bit unlucky with the weather as it is foggy and humid. Afterwards we spend the day strolling through Manhattan and visiting the Lower East Side
where we take part in a very good guided tour. We have a pastrami sandwich at Katz Deli and keep on exploring the city.
On the next morning we are flying to San Francisco! My city! Whenever I see the Golden gate bridge I am getting this warm feeling in my body, I just love this place! Also Jörgen – quite overwhelmed by NYC – instantly falls in love with the slower pace in SFO. We check into our hotel at the gate to Chinatown and start exploring the city.
Telegraph hill, Lombard street, North beach and Chinatown…just walking around this place is enough to make me thoroughly happy. We are having dinner in one of the restaurants in Chinatown and must have picked the worst one there is, it is really a horrible experience. I am trying hard to push this away to not let this ruin my San Francisco vacation! On the next morning we take the cable car down to the pier and catch the ferry over to Alcatraz.
After the tour through the prison we stroll around pier 39, Haight Ashbury, the Golden Gate park, pass by the painted ladies and just soak up the wonderful atmosphere that is to be found only here in San Francisco - in THE city.
Today we are much more lucky with our dinner as well – we have the most amazing cheese ravioli in tartufo at the restaurant Mona Lisa in North Beach. This dinner really makes up for last nights disaster. So yummy!
The next day is already our last in San Francisco, we pick up our rental car – get upgraded, yay – drive just one time over the Golden Gate bridge to say goodbye and then head south on Highway 1 to Monterrey.
So far on this vacation we haven’t been the luckiest weatherwise and today is no exception. We drive along the most wonderful stretches of coastline and barely get to get a glimpse of it through all the fog. Memories of days spent here during my au pair time come up. In Santa Cruz we stop to check out the Mystery Spot, a slightly overrated attraction.
In Monterrey we stroll around the harbour area and have a great Clam-chowder dinner. We had actually planned to do the 17 mile drive the next day, but considering the ever persisting fog, we think it’s not worth the money. Instead we continue driving down Highway 1. At Big sur we take a hike in the Redwood forest, it’s wonderful. The further we get away from the coast the clearer the weather becomes.
At Lucia lodge we stop to have a late lunch. My dear readers, I can only warmest recommend this place. Not only did we have the greatest burgers ever, the service was great and the view over the coast is fantastic!!! The view alone is well worth a visit there!
We drive down the coast a little further until we reach Pismo Beach, our next stop for the night. We have a light dinner at the Splash cafe and then walk around the pier. There the most amazing thing happens, we are seeing whales jump out of the water! This is so exciting!
On the next morning we hit the road again towards Santa Barbara. On the way we also take a little stop in Solvang, a “Danish” town in CA. And I thought we would be going to Disneyland the day after tomorrow 
After strolling through Santa Barbara where we have a great Mexican Meal, we continue driving down to LA.
We check out the beach communities and drive along Mulholland drive before we check into our Travelodge in Anaheim. We must have been upgraded again as we find a great jacuzzi in our 45 Dollar Motel room.
The next day we spend at Disneyland, great times! The day after that it’s already time to say good bye to California as we are hitting the road through the Mojave dessert towards Las Vegas. We are having lunch in Baker, a town that gives it’s name all honour as the thermometer showed well above 100 degrees! Now it comes in really handy that we got a car with remote start so that the ac will have cooled it down a bit before we leave the restaurant. Of course we can’t resist shopping at the first Outlet Mall we come across – many will follow. In Las Vegas we check into our hotel, the Stratosphere towers, and get ready to walk along the strip for a bit more.
It has cooled off considerably, it’s probably just around 90 degrees. The strip is long and we are tired which is why we don’t check out as many hotels as we had intended to. ´
Our next stop is Zion Nationalpark, a great place for hiking. We take the shuttle bus to get to various starting points for shorter hikes. It’s a great place that I would like to come back to for a bit longer.
We keep on driving along the All American Highway number 12 – one of the most beautiful roads I have travelled. In the evening we arrive at another big highlight of our trip: Bryce Canyon!
We take quite a long hike down into the canyon before it’s time to go on and check into our motel. Unfortunately the sky is all cloudy; I can imagine that the hike would have been beyond awesome in the sunset. On the next morning we continue our trip to Capitol Reef NP. As much as I don’t find this place THAT amazing, the more in awe is J. Anyway, it’s a great place to learn the geology of that part of the world.
Our next stop on the way will be Arches NP. We drive through the park and stop for various shorter hikes.
The plan for the next day is rafting the Colorado river! And that is so much fun, we have such a great time. We are on the water the whole day! In the evening we are joining a cowboy dinner and take a boat tour though Canyonlands NP.
The next morning we are starting quite a long drive that leads us through Monument valley to Page, Arizona.
Here we are taking a guided tour to Antelope canyon, one of the most amazing places we’ve seen on the trip. Unfortunately we were there to early during the day as the light for taking photos is best during midday. Lesson learned for next time.
In the afternoon we take a hike to Horseshoe bend – another awesome place!
On the next day we are going to the Grand Canyon. We are arriving punctually for the afternoon thunderstorm, but that’s fine since it opens up for some great photo opportunities.
The plan for the next day is to hike down into the canyon for a few miles. The views are amazing and one day I would like to hike all the way down to the river. For now, we are getting about half way, which is more than enough considering the fact that we have to hike all the way up again.
We spent the rest of the day with taking the shuttle bus to various places. Unfortunately it’s cloudy again so that there wasn’t any chance to watch the sunset.
The next morning we are getting on our way back to Las Vegas. We are passing the Hoover dam and spend the day shopping in Las Vegas. In the evening we are checking out some more places on the strip.
The next day we already have to drop off the rental car and catch a plane back to New York city. This time we are staying at our friend Lars’ place on the Upper East side. When we wake up the next morning it is raining cats and dogs – the perfect day for a museum. J gets to choose and the museum of natural history it will be. In the evening we are taking Lars out to another great Italian dinner. The next day we spend in Central park and then take the subway over to Brooklyn to be able to walk back to Manhattan over Brooklyn bridge. I just love the view. We have a great lunch at Southstreet Seaport and continue towards Ground Zero where we also visit the little church that had served as a base for all the help workers.
On our last day we do some more shopping and check out a museum on the Lower East side when I at some point notice that I lost our camera. Luckily we had changed the card so that we didn’t loose all our pictures only the last ones of NYC. That last day was of course ruined. We checked with the lost and found and actually receive a call from some bus-station at Grand Central that they had found our camera. When we get there around midnight all we get to see is the same pouch containing someones Else’s camera. We are still amazed by the fact that there actually is a slight chance to get your lost belongings back even in NYC. On our very last day we are taking Lars out for a great American Breakfast at a diner before we have to catch our plane back home.
We have a 8 hour layover in Amsterdam and use the time to meet up with our Erasmus friends Debbie and Sven who guide us through the city. We take a boat tour on the canals and have lunch together, but unfortunately we are in that kind of zombie state you are in after a sleepless night-flight over the Atlantic.
