A British Trip Report to California/Utah/Arizona Part 1 (and

Hello,

Earlier on this year I asked for help on a trip we were planning to
the west and south west US during May/June and received great help
from you guys. So, many thanks to you all, can't remember all your
names but thanks especially to Iconclast and Keith Willshaw. We had a
great time. Keep up the great work.

A shortish trip report follows! (in 2 parts)

Part 1

When: 28th May -- 11th June, 2004

Who: Mike - that's me!, the wife and our two sons aged 11 and 8.

Day 1: London Heathrow to San Francisco on Virgin. Long but good
flight, Virgin are highly recommended especially for the kids. Their
on-flight entertainment kept us all occupied. Arrived at SFO early
afternoon, then stood in a long queue at immigration as they
fingerprinted and photographed everyone. However, we all had a great
laugh at the US immigration guys' expense. After a bit of a grilling
from him he asked me what I did -- computer programmer, nice and easy
and then he made the mistake of asking my wife. She said I'm a vicar,
a priest! His jaw fell open and he completely lost it! He got all
flustered and handed us our passports and waved us through. He
completely forgot to fingerprint and photograph us!

Took a taxi to the Holiday Inn Express, Fisherman's Wharf -- nice
hotel, recommended. Took a wander around Fisherman's Wharf in the
afternoon and we all crashed out at about 8:30pm

Day 2: Up at the crack of dawn, eventually it was breakfast time,
wandered down and had breakfast, but why is nearly everything so
sweet? Saw possibly the most gross sight we had ever seen. A young man
probably in his 20s who was at least 25 - 30 stone in weight (350 -
400lb) who was waddling back from the breakfast bar holding against
his blubber a paper plate with 3 large iced doughnuts on while
stuffing his face with another doughnut. Later I saw him coming back
with a repeat load. We didn't stop to see how many times he went back
as we were no longer hungry! I know that the UK has an obesity problem
as well as the US but this nearly made us all sick! How anyone could
eat 1 doughnut for breakfast was beyond us. Our youngest son tried one
and gave up after a few bites, it was just too sickly sweet even for
him.

Walked to the start of the Powell-Mason cable car and rode it to the
end, nice and empty at 9am. Had a wander around the shops and walked
to Union Sq. Then walked to Grace Cath., nice church, lovely and cool.
Then carried on walking to the crooked street, the streets were empty,
Ok it's a bit hilly but was a bit surprised that we were about the
only people walking in that part of SF on a Saturday morning! The
wife's batteries on her digital camera had died and one of the spares
that we carried hadn't recharged properly. Disaster! Surprised to find
no shops around that area. Amazing, in Europe there's always loads of
shops around tourist areas. Walked down to Ghiradelli Sq. Brought 4
AAs for the camera, had lunch - nice clam chowder. Thought about
taking the cable car back up to Lombard Street but the queues were
enormous so we walked. After a quick photo shoot and a wander up and
down the street we walked back to Fisherman's Wharf via lots of shops
etc. Spent the evening on Fisherman's Wharf. Still partly on UK time
so we all crashed out about 9pm.

Day 3: 9am. Walked around the corner from the hotel to pick up our car
at Hertz. Nice car, a Nissan, but why have a 2.5l engine? 1.6 or 1.8
would have done and would have saved on petrol/gas. It was an
automatic gearbox as expected. Only driven an automatic twice before,
both times in the US, but soon got the hang of it again. The wife has
never driven an automatic before in all her 25 years of driving so
despite me saying it's really easy she was very reluctant to drive, in
the end I did all the driving on the trip. Good job it was a sunday
morning as the streets were empty! Drove to the Golden Gate Bridge,
stopped at the park and had a lovely walk. It was a really gorgeous
morning and the sunlight sparkled off the water. Drove over the
bridge, then around the bay and back over the next bridge and headed
out towards Yosemite. Got to Yosemite village late afternoon. It was
the sunday of the memorial weekend and it had obviously been chaos
there earlier that day, but thankfully everyone was going home as we
arrived. Stayed at El Portal for 3 nights -- Yosemite view, nice hotel
a bit expensive though for what it was.

Day 4, Monday: Still waking up early, so we were in the village by
8:30am. We were all getting a bit fed up with American food and how
sweet it all seemed to be so we were really pleased to see bread
advertised in the village store as French bread, bought lots along
with fruit and cheese for lunch. (We normally holiday in France where
we all live on French bread, fruit and cheese.) Hopped onto the
shuttle bus and went to Happy Isles. Saw a coyote and some deer on the
way. Hiked up the Mist Trail, excellent fun, we all got soaked by
Vernal waterfall. Had lunch, the French bread was so sweet, seemed
like they'd added half a kilo of sugar to the dough. Definitely not
like bread in France!! Is there an equivalent of the UK's Trade
Descriptions Act in the US? !! Then we left the tourists and carried
on up to Clark Point I think it was called and back down the JMT. Most
of the tourists just seemed to walk up and down the Mist Trail so it
was nice and peaceful on the JMT -- only "real" hikers! Ate at the
pizza barn in the village that evening after a wander around the Ansel
Adams gallery.

Day 5: After the previous day's fairly strenous 6 mile hike (at least
it was for our 8 year old son) we took it a bit easier and hiked to
Mirror Lake and then carried on up the valley another mile or 2 to the
bridge and back down the other side -- about 4 miles flat hiking.
Again we hardly saw anyone once we were past Mirror Lake. Back to the
village by early afternoon. Joined the tourists at Lower Yosemite
Falls and then we decided to drive up to Glacier Point. Great choice!
One of our highlights of the whole trip was standing up there and
looking on Half Dome in the late afternoon sun and then looking down
on the valley. Back down to the village and pizza again in Degan's
Barn -- the kids like pizza!

Day 6: Checked out and then went for our final look at Yosemite.
Walked to the foot of El Capitan and then drove to Tunnel View to say
our goodbyes. I really liked San Francisco but I definitely left my
heart in Yosemite! Drove to Sequoia NP. Got lost a few times on the
myirad of roads in the main valley, swore constantly at the lack of
road signs and the appalling quality of the AAA maps -- just not up to
UK and European standards. In the end we resorted to using a compass
to make sure we were heading roughly in the right direction!
Eventually we made it to Sequioa by mid afternoon and had a short walk
amongst the trees.

We were on our way out of Sequioa NP going down to Three Rivers when
the 2 cars ahead of us stopped in the middle of the road, What's going
on I asked? Then a very young black bear wandered out of the trees,
crossed in front of us and walked slowly along the verge towards our
car, passing only about a metre from us. Luckily mum or dad were
nowhere in sight. One of the highlights of the trip!

Stayed in Three Rivers at the Holiday Inn Express. probably the best
hotel of the whole trip, excellent value at $60 for us all, very
clean, small but good pool and included another sugar laden breakfast!

Day 7: Long day driving to Death Valley. Thankfully, I'd bought a copy
of Stephen Fry reading the latest Harry Potter book -- 28 CDs! I just
love that guy's voice and the way he brings the Harry Potter books to
life. Kept us all occupied and the CDs ran out on the last day of
trip.

Death Valley is a strange place, way too hot for me, we loaded up with
water as you guys recommended. We got there late afternoon, still
about 45 degrees (I think that's about 113F). We watched the sunset
and then had a lovely swim in the pool at Furnace Creek by starlight.
Later I turned on the cold tap in our room to clean my teeth, the
water was hot, tried the other tap that was even hotter -- wierd!

To be continued ...
--multiplaza.nl.nu--

..no-spam.invalid (Anonymous) wrote:
Saw possibly the most gross sight we had ever seen. A young man
probably in his 20s who was at least 25 - 30 stone in weight (350 -
400lb) who was waddling back from the breakfast bar holding against
his blubber a paper plate with 3 large iced doughnuts on while
stuffing his face with another doughnut. Later I saw him coming back
with a repeat load. We didn't stop to see how many times he went back
as we were no longer hungry!

No disagreement here. Please see "My Fat Posts"
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&threadm=3a26924c.0405220014.30bf8c3a%40 posting.google.com&rnum=3&prev=/groups%3Fsafe%3Doff%26ie%3DUTF-8%26as_usubject%3Dfat%26as_uauthors%3Diclast%2540% 26lr%3D%26num%3D30%26hl%3Den

Walked to the start of the Powell-Mason cable car and rode it to the end

Picking a nit: The Wharf is the end of the line.

Surprised to find no shops around that area. Amazing,
Europe there's always loads of shops around tourist areas.

But that part of Lombard Street is not a "tourist area". It's
residential. That's whey there are no shops.

but why have a 2.5l engine? 1.6 or 1.8 would have done and would
have saved on petrol/gas.

No argument here. My small-engined cars have always done well on our
hills.

to the Golden Gate Bridge . . . Drove over the bridge, then around
the bay and back over the next bridge and headed out towards Yosemite.

Picking another nit: You drove _along_ The Bay. A drive "around" it is
a couple of hundred miles. You probably crossed the Richmond-San
Rafael Bridge passing right by San Quentin Prison as you approached
it.

the French bread was so sweet, seemed like they'd added half a kilo
of sugar to the dough. Definitely not like bread in France!!

You didn't check the wrapper for "exta sour".

Definitely not like bread in France!!

Yup. San Francisco's French bread is the best on the planet. That's
why you see it for sale at airports the world over.

Glacier Point. Great choice!

Indeed!

I really liked San Francisco but I definitely left my heart in Yosemite!

You're forgiven.

the appalling quality of the AAA maps -- just not up to
UK and European standards.

Unfair. AAA has some quite detailed maps. You probably didn't have
them.

a very young black bear wandered out of the trees,

How fortunate. What a thrill for all of you! I had a similar
experience, in Yellowstone, while on a motorcycle. You can read it
following the sig.

Death Valley . . . turned on the cold tap in our room to clean my teeth,
the water was hot, tried the other tap that was even hotter -- wierd!

Typical of Las Vegas, Phoenix and like places.
__________________________________________________ ___________
A San Franciscan in 47.335 mile² San Francisco
http://geocities.com/dancefest/ http://geocities.com/iconoc/
ICQ: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/19098103 IClast at SFbay Net


Don't worry about seeing wildlife in Yellowstone. I've seen plenty of
bears, bison, and other creatures from the road.

One time entering the park from the East, on a motorcycle, I saw a
couple of bear cubs cavorting at the side of the road. I stopped a
couple of hundred feet away to watch them. I looked for Mother but
couldn't find her.

The cubs crossed the road to continue to cavort. I decided I'd seen
enough and slowly continued my trip until I saw Mother, on the
original side of the road, waving at me. I think the bike had never
before moved so quickly.

..no-spam.invalid (Anonymous) wrote:
Saw possibly the most gross sight we had ever seen. A young man
probably in his 20s who was at least 25 - 30 stone in weight (350 -
400lb) who was waddling back from the breakfast bar holding against
his blubber a paper plate with 3 large iced doughnuts on while
stuffing his face with another doughnut. Later I saw him coming back
with a repeat load. We didn't stop to see how many times he went back
as we were no longer hungry!

No disagreement here. Please see "My Fat Posts"
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&threadm=3a26924c.0405220014.30bf8c3a%40 posting.google.com&rnum=3&prev=/groups%3Fsafe%3Doff%26ie%3DUTF-8%26as_usubject%3Dfat%26as_uauthors%3Diclast%2540% 26lr%3D%26num%3D30%26hl%3Den

Walked to the start of the Powell-Mason cable car and rode it to the end

Picking a nit: The Wharf is the end of the line.

Surprised to find no shops around that area. Amazing,
Europe there's always loads of shops around tourist areas.

But that part of Lombard Street is not a "tourist area". It's
residential. That's whey there are no shops.

but why have a 2.5l engine? 1.6 or 1.8 would have done and would
have saved on petrol/gas.

No argument here. My small-engined cars have always done well on our
hills.

to the Golden Gate Bridge . . . Drove over the bridge, then around
the bay and back over the next bridge and headed out towards Yosemite.

Picking another nit: You drove _along_ The Bay. A drive "around" it is
a couple of hundred miles. You probably crossed the Richmond-San
Rafael Bridge passing right by San Quentin Prison as you approached
it.

the French bread was so sweet, seemed like they'd added half a kilo
of sugar to the dough. Definitely not like bread in France!!

You didn't check the wrapper for "exta sour".

Definitely not like bread in France!!

Yup. San Francisco's French bread is the best on the planet. That's
why you see it for sale at airports the world over.

Glacier Point. Great choice!

Indeed!

I really liked San Francisco but I definitely left my heart in Yosemite!

You're forgiven.

the appalling quality of the AAA maps -- just not up to
UK and European standards.

Unfair. AAA has some quite detailed maps. You probably didn't have
them.

a very young black bear wandered out of the trees,

How fortunate. What a thrill for all of you! I had a similar
experience, in Yellowstone, while on a motorcycle. You can read it
following the sig.

Death Valley . . . turned on the cold tap in our room to clean my teeth,
the water was hot, tried the other tap that was even hotter -- wierd!

Typical of Las Vegas, Phoenix and like places.
__________________________________________________ ___________
A San Franciscan in 47.335 mile² San Francisco
http://geocities.com/dancefest/ http://geocities.com/iconoc/
ICQ: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/19098103 IClast at SFbay Net


Don't worry about seeing wildlife in Yellowstone. I've seen plenty of
bears, bison, and other creatures from the road.

One time entering the park from the East, on a motorcycle, I saw a
couple of bear cubs cavorting at the side of the road. I stopped a
couple of hundred feet away to watch them. I looked for Mother but
couldn't find her.

The cubs crossed the road to continue to cavort. I decided I'd seen
enough and slowly continued my trip until I saw Mother, on the
original side of the road, waving at me. I think the bike had never
before moved so quickly.

..no-spam.invalid (Anonymous) wrote:
Saw possibly the most gross sight we had ever seen. A young man
probably in his 20s who was at least 25 - 30 stone in weight (350 -
400lb) who was waddling back from the breakfast bar holding against
his blubber a paper plate with 3 large iced doughnuts on while
stuffing his face with another doughnut. Later I saw him coming back
with a repeat load. We didn't stop to see how many times he went back
as we were no longer hungry!

No disagreement here. Please see "My Fat Posts"
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&threadm=3a26924c.0405220014.30bf8c3a%40 posting.google.com&rnum=3&prev=/groups%3Fsafe%3Doff%26ie%3DUTF-8%26as_usubject%3Dfat%26as_uauthors%3Diclast%2540% 26lr%3D%26num%3D30%26hl%3Den

Walked to the start of the Powell-Mason cable car and rode it to the end

Picking a nit: The Wharf is the end of the line.

Surprised to find no shops around that area. Amazing,
Europe there's always loads of shops around tourist areas.

But that part of Lombard Street is not a "tourist area". It's
residential. That's whey there are no shops.

but why have a 2.5l engine? 1.6 or 1.8 would have done and would
have saved on petrol/gas.

No argument here. My small-engined cars have always done well on our
hills.

to the Golden Gate Bridge . . . Drove over the bridge, then around
the bay and back over the next bridge and headed out towards Yosemite.

Picking another nit: You drove _along_ The Bay. A drive "around" it is
a couple of hundred miles. You probably crossed the Richmond-San
Rafael Bridge passing right by San Quentin Prison as you approached
it.

the French bread was so sweet, seemed like they'd added half a kilo
of sugar to the dough. Definitely not like bread in France!!

You didn't check the wrapper for "exta sour".

Definitely not like bread in France!!

Yup. San Francisco's French bread is the best on the planet. That's
why you see it for sale at airports the world over.

Glacier Point. Great choice!

Indeed!

I really liked San Francisco but I definitely left my heart in Yosemite!

You're forgiven.

the appalling quality of the AAA maps -- just not up to
UK and European standards.

Unfair. AAA has some quite detailed maps. You probably didn't have
them.

a very young black bear wandered out of the trees,

How fortunate. What a thrill for all of you! I had a similar
experience, in Yellowstone, while on a motorcycle. You can read it
following the sig.

Death Valley . . . turned on the cold tap in our room to clean my teeth,
the water was hot, tried the other tap that was even hotter -- wierd!

Typical of Las Vegas, Phoenix and like places.
__________________________________________________ ___________
A San Franciscan in 47.335 mile² San Francisco
http://geocities.com/dancefest/ http://geocities.com/iconoc/
ICQ: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/19098103 IClast at SFbay Net


Don't worry about seeing wildlife in Yellowstone. I've seen plenty of
bears, bison, and other creatures from the road.

One time entering the park from the East, on a motorcycle, I saw a
couple of bear cubs cavorting at the side of the road. I stopped a
couple of hundred feet away to watch them. I looked for Mother but
couldn't find her.

The cubs crossed the road to continue to cavort. I decided I'd seen
enough and slowly continued my trip until I saw Mother, on the
original side of the road, waving at me. I think the bike had never
before moved so quickly.

..no-spam.invalid (Anonymous) wrote:
Saw possibly the most gross sight we had ever seen. A young man
probably in his 20s who was at least 25 - 30 stone in weight (350 -
400lb) who was waddling back from the breakfast bar holding against
his blubber a paper plate with 3 large iced doughnuts on while
stuffing his face with another doughnut. Later I saw him coming back
with a repeat load. We didn't stop to see how many times he went back
as we were no longer hungry!

No disagreement here. Please see "My Fat Posts"
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&threadm=3a26924c.0405220014.30bf8c3a%40 posting.google.com&rnum=3&prev=/groups%3Fsafe%3Doff%26ie%3DUTF-8%26as_usubject%3Dfat%26as_uauthors%3Diclast%2540% 26lr%3D%26num%3D30%26hl%3Den

Walked to the start of the Powell-Mason cable car and rode it to the end

Picking a nit: The Wharf is the end of the line.

Surprised to find no shops around that area. Amazing,
Europe there's always loads of shops around tourist areas.

But that part of Lombard Street is not a "tourist area". It's
residential. That's whey there are no shops.

but why have a 2.5l engine? 1.6 or 1.8 would have done and would
have saved on petrol/gas.

No argument here. My small-engined cars have always done well on our
hills.

to the Golden Gate Bridge . . . Drove over the bridge, then around
the bay and back over the next bridge and headed out towards Yosemite.

Picking another nit: You drove _along_ The Bay. A drive "around" it is
a couple of hundred miles. You probably crossed the Richmond-San
Rafael Bridge passing right by San Quentin Prison as you approached
it.

the French bread was so sweet, seemed like they'd added half a kilo
of sugar to the dough. Definitely not like bread in France!!

You didn't check the wrapper for "exta sour".

Definitely not like bread in France!!

Yup. San Francisco's French bread is the best on the planet. That's
why you see it for sale at airports the world over.

Glacier Point. Great choice!

Indeed!

I really liked San Francisco but I definitely left my heart in Yosemite!

You're forgiven.

the appalling quality of the AAA maps -- just not up to
UK and European standards.

Unfair. AAA has some quite detailed maps. You probably didn't have
them.

a very young black bear wandered out of the trees,

How fortunate. What a thrill for all of you! I had a similar
experience, in Yellowstone, while on a motorcycle. You can read it
following the sig.

Death Valley . . . turned on the cold tap in our room to clean my teeth,
the water was hot, tried the other tap that was even hotter -- wierd!

Typical of Las Vegas, Phoenix and like places.
__________________________________________________ ___________
A San Franciscan in 47.335 mile² San Francisco
http://geocities.com/dancefest/ http://geocities.com/iconoc/
ICQ: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/19098103 IClast at SFbay Net


Don't worry about seeing wildlife in Yellowstone. I've seen plenty of
bears, bison, and other creatures from the road.

One time entering the park from the East, on a motorcycle, I saw a
couple of bear cubs cavorting at the side of the road. I stopped a
couple of hundred feet away to watch them. I looked for Mother but
couldn't find her.

The cubs crossed the road to continue to cavort. I decided I'd seen
enough and slowly continued my trip until I saw Mother, on the
original side of the road, waving at me. I think the bike had never
before moved so quickly.