travel – Page 9 – Globitrotter

Grand Canyon and Grand Canyon

The past weekend we visited Grand Canyon. We went to both the eastern and the western part which will explain the title of the post.

From Las Vegas we took one of these touristy tours which included a flight to the canyon, a visit to the Skywalk and a meal. There is no doubt about it, the Grand Canyon is grand. But if you expect anything else than a canyon at this site you might be disappointed. The scenic flight did not even go over the canyon but just landed on the airstrip on the same side of the canyon that we came from. If you happened to sit on the wrong side of the plane you did not see much of it. From the air strip there are buses taking the tourists to two sites, Eagle Point and Guano Point. At Eagle Point you will find the Skywalk which is a walkway with glass floor built out over the canyon. You walk out and can see the canyon underneath your feet. It is quite cool unless you are afraid of heights in which case I would not recommend it. However I was disappointed that it was not possible to see all the way down to the river on the bottom of the canyon, this point is quite far away from the Skywalk itself.

The Skywalk

Once we had gotten this far we were quite hungry and went in search of food. It was told that Eagle Point would have Asian food and Guano Point some local barbecue type of food. We chose Asian but as it turned out that you had to sit outside to eat we decide to go and have a look at what the barbecue was like. This day it was very cold and windy so anything outdoors did not feel very attractive. Unfortunately, at Guano Point you also had to sit outside to eat but now there was nothing more to choose from. The food resembled something out of a school kitchen in the 80’s, the only thing worth eating was the brownie. I was left very cold and disappointed after this meal.

The view from Guano Point

The only thing that was indoors was the souvenir shop and considering it is very cold in this area for a number of months every year and the rest of it you are in need of air condition, I am surprised they have not built a decent café or restaurant where you can enjoy the view. It looks like there was meant to be more, at least at the Skywalk, but nothing has been completed and the whole place is a construction site. It is amazing considering the amount of tourists visiting this place that they can not make it more enjoyable to visit.

If it wasn’t for the great views of the Canyon I would have asked for a refund.

The next day we drove to the eastern side where Grand Canyon National Park is. It is a fair drive from Las Vegas and we arrived late in the afternoon. As we drove into the Park we still had not seen a glimpse of the Canyon. We parked and followed the signs to the Rim. All of a sudden this impressive canyon was at your feet, almost giving you a dizzy feeling. It is hard to grasp how large it is and how far it might be to the other side. As you stand there you imagine the surprise of the first people finding this canyon and what they thought as they were planning to head straight on.

The view from Yavapai Point

In this area you find several visitor centers, hotels, restaurants, guided tours and well planned walkways and hikes. The walkway along the rim is about 20 km long and there are several places where you can hike down into the canyon. You can even ride a mule down if you do not want the exercise.

The view from Plateau Point halfways down the canyon

On this side the Canyon is more impressive and also the fact that it is nicely build up around it makes it more worth going to this side. For anyone who has the time I highly recommend going here instead of the western side from Las Vegas.

Our first roadtrip in the States – Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park was exactly the change of scenery that we needed. From fancy bars, restaurants and huge yachts to desert, rock and mountains. In two days we did three hikes. All of them were easy, the mountains here are not very high and the trails are easy to walk.

We drove into the park through the southern entrance at Cottonwood Visitor Center. From here we hiked to Lost Palms Oasis which was a very nice hike that featured some cool parts through small canyons, dry river beds and at the end an oasis with palm trees. To reach the oasis you had to walk down a fairly steep canyon. The view was of course much better from the top of the ridge where we stopped for some snacks.

Walking along a ridge to Lost Palms Oasis.

The palm trees at Lost Palms Oasis.

On the way back to the parking lot we climbed Mastodon Peak which was a quite airy peak with lots of boulders you could climb around on. In the background you can see the Salton Sea.

The second day we picked up some breakfast at the local supermarket and drove up to Keys View. The plan was to sit and watch the view while eating. We ended up eating in the car and then went out for 5 min to take some photos. The reason being that it was extremly windy and cold outside. From Keys View you could look towards the south and Palm Springs which is outside the National Park.

At Keys View.

Close to Keys View we hiked the Lost Horse Mine Trail. This is an easy hike which takes you past an old gold mine which is fairly intact. The mine was build in the late 18-hundreds and was in use for almost 4 decades. In total it produced about 280 kg of gold and 450 kg of silver. After visiting the mine we climbed a couple of peaks along the trail which were not really on the map. Just for the fun of it. It was very windy and cold also here so we did not stay for long. At the end the trail seemed to be never ending going through the valleys back to the parking lot. When we came back we had been away for 2-3 hours so it was actually shorter than it seemed.

Joshua Trees.

After a sandwich lunch at Cap Rock (were we found some bolted climbing routes which made us miss our climbing gear) we hiked Ryan Mountain. It was a quite easy hike which did not take more than 30-40 min. This peak is in the center of the western part of the park and from here you have a great view of the whole Joshua Tree National Park.

The view towards north west from Ryan Mountain. On many of the small rocks you can see in the valley there are climbing routes. So next time we will be bringing climbing gear.

On a mini hike in Hidden Valley just before the sun went down. The light was fantastic this time of day. It is at these moments I seriously consider buying an SLR camera.

Joshua Tree is a great place if you like hiking, desert and large boulders. The rock formations you find here are amazing and there are many places to play around among the boulders.

Having fun at White Tank campground.

We found it magical and will be going back. We highly recommend a visit if you have not been here.

Our first roadtrip in the States – Los Angeles to San Diego

Leaving the dream world of Las Vegas, we drove towards the coast and the next city of dreams, Los Angeles. We arrived at night in Pasadena which we knew nothing about accept that it was close to Hollywood and Santa Monica that we planned to visit the day after.

Pasadena turned out to be a very nice place. Here you find Caltech and this is also where they host the Rose Bowl. We walked around the little city center at night and it was filled with small restaurant, cafes and shops.

The famous Hollywood sign from Griffith Observatory.

The day after we drove into Griffith Park to look at the view of the city. We stopped at the Observatory, took a few pictures and noticed how yellow the air around this city is. Somehow it was not very tempting to go on anymore…

The view from Griffith Observatory towards the sea and Santa Monica.

After driving through Hollywood we ended up in Santa Monica where we walked along the beach, had some food, some beers and took it easy for a while.

Santa Monica beach.

The next day we met an old friend of mine, Sonia, in Longbeach, where we had brunch together. Afterwards we walked around the Marina and out to the Queen Mary, one of the first great ocean liners, which is now a hotel and museum. Longbeach is also a very nice place for a walk and a few beers.

We then drove along the coast to the northern part of San Diego. Almost the entire coast line is filled with upscale residential areas with small cosy city centers with nice restaurants and expensive stores. We did not see more Ferrari car dealers anywhere else… Here it is very obvious that a lot of people have a little too much money. And it makes you realize that even if you thought that you have a pretty decent home it is nothing compared to this. For comfort I think that they are probably not as happy as I am…

Now the time had come to check out San Diego. We started with breakfast in fancy La Jolla, went for a walk on Mission Beach and then strolled around the marina in the city center and the Gaslamp Quarter with all its restaurants and bars.

At Mission Beach.

Gaslamp Quarter.

At the Marina.

This is where the bananas come from.

After three days of going from one nice, more or less fancy place to another, drinking beer and strolling around we were fed up and both felt that we had to do something. Said and done, we left the fluffy world of the south west and headed towards the mountains and some hiking.

Our first roadtrip in the States – Las Vegas

The day after we arrived in Phoenix we left on our first roadtrip. First stop was Las Vegas. We had not really planned this trip, we more or less just drove off to see where we would end up. The last few days in Sweden we watch the Ocean’s movies so the first stop felt natural. I had never been to Las Vegas before and it was about as sick as I had imagined. A kind of Disneyland for grown-ups.

On the road.

We drove in from the east just after sunset and you could see the lights from the city behind the mountains the last few miles before you actually drive into the valley. As you turn a corner the city appears and you can clearly see the Strip and all the casinos. It is a weird feeling after driving hours through the desert on roads that seem to go on forever. Out there everything seem quiet and vast and suddenly you are facing this city on steroids. It is no coincidence that the museum of neon signs can be found in downtown Las Vegas.

The Strip by night.

When you look at the map you don’t think the Strip is very long but what you don’t realize is how large the casinos really are. Just to walk straight through a casino is not a matter of minutes but more 15-20 min. We did not, in two days, see all of it.

Having a lunch time beer in front of the Bellagio. It is after all holidays!

I was a bit disappointed that not more people were gambling, it all looked kind of empty. Many tables were closed and most of the slot machines was unused. However considering the size of the place I guess the number of players was still impressive.

I am still working, so no, we did not win the Megabucks…

Some of the casinos were very nice, my personal favourite is the Venetian. The shopping mall with a canal through the middle is really impressive. Otherwise I think we both liked the newly opened Cosmopolitan, they have this quite cool bar in the middle of the casino.

The Venetian shopping mall (it is indoors…).

At the bar in Cosmopolitan.

After two nights though I was ready to leave. It felt like we were stuck in a dream world and had to escape to reality again. Back on the road again we headed towards Los Angeles. Coming soon…

My new favourite subway

This past weekend Andy and I visited our friend Birgit in Copenhagen. On our way to Christiania we caught the subway. This is the first time I have been able to sit in the very front of a subway train and look out the window when going through the tunnels. I was fascinated and this quickly became my favourite subway. Until now the Beijing subway topped my list where they have very long cars with poles down the middle which enhances the movement of the train. They also have these cool displays in the tunnels. But this was so much more fun. Like it!

Iceland – just the way it sounds

For Easter this year I went with Andy and his company to Iceland. I guess we were 20-30 people and the schedule was full. We spent in total 6 days on the island. We drove from Reykjavik to Akureyri on the north coast and spent most of the time in the area around Akureyri. The landscape around Reykjavik was not too impressive but as we came further north the views were simply spectacular.

Reykjavik.

The view from the house we stayed at in outside Akureyri. This is a very beautiful area which I would like to visit during the summer sometime. Unfortunately there was still a lot of snow in the north which made it difficult to go hiking and horse back riding. But of course perfect for the ones who wanted to rent snow mobiles.

Naturally we had time to visit a few of the many hot springs. This is the famous Blue Lagoon close to Reykjavik.

We also passed a number of water falls, this is Godafoss.

In Reykholt we learnt more about Snorre Sturlasson, the famous writer, who lived and was murdered here in 1241. You would think that such an important historic place would also look impressive but this was a tiny village with about 10 houses, 2 churches and a what looked like an oversized hotel.

I would like to return to Iceland but then in the summer and spend more time hiking or horse back riding. The best thing about this country is the beautiful and vast landscape. The worst thing is the stinky hot water…