Oh the weather outside is...lovely!

We got up early today, as I couldn’t contain my excitement about checking into the Millennium Baltimore Hotel for Christmas! Our one true extravagance during our round the world break, I couldn’t wait to see the Christmas tree at the hotel and our hotel room (as lovely as hostel rooms are and sleeping in a van, it is nice to have a bit of comfort now and again!).
Apparently the hotel has been used in lots of films including Ghostbusters (where you first see slimmer) and Vertigo and has housed at some point, celebrities including JFK and The Beatles (apparently the Beatles were flown to the hotel’s roof by helicopter and they stayed there for a few days, in secret).
We checked into the hotel early afternoon and then headed out for the day in downtown LA.

Really looking forward to catching up with our families on Skype tomorrow morning (hope all my little nieces are still up by the time we get to speak!) and then it’s off down to the Biltmore’s restaurant for a semi-traditional Christmas dinner (it’s going to be strange spending Christmas in the sunshine and warmth. Not to make you too jealous, but it’s 23 degrees at the moment!) I’m not sure if I can get away with wearing my elf hat in this establishment, but I will give it try!
Happy Christmas everyone and in the words of Tiny Tim - god bless us, everyone!

The Pacific Highway

Really enjoyed San Francisco and the Hostel we stayed at in Fort Mason. It was definitely the best one we’ve stayed in so far - it had a mini cinema onsite as well as a cheap cafe and huge lounge. The staff were all really friendly too...including the very loud, but funny, Chinese laundry lady.

We left just after breakfast on Thursday morning. On our way out of San Francisco, we drove up to the idyllic Twin Peaks part of town, to get some views of the city on a sunny December’s morning.

The drive back to LA along the Pacific Highway was beautiful. Amazing beaches round every corner and vista points for stopping and taking pics/stretching your legs every half mile...it meant we filled up the memory on our camera within a couple of hours.

Our final stop on Thursday was the Big Sur State Park, where we stopped off for a little walk along a secluded beach (equipped with its own waterfall!).

We had hopes of camping on the beach, but once we arrived we realised there was no way of getting our camper down there, so we set up camp a mile down the road. It was one of the nicest spots camping spots during our road trip, with good views of the pacific (and within ears distance of a very loud barking seal – bliss!).

Got up early on Friday morning to get a good start on the last six hours drive to LA – it was such a nice feeling making breaky in the warm sunshine for a change and not battling with extremely frosty temperatures of the mountains.

Main highlight during our drive home was stopping off at Malibu beach. Huge beach, which really makes you wish you could surf and had a spare few million kicking around to buy one of the amazing houses on the shoreline. 

Got back to LA early evening after clocking up over 2,388 miles on our wee RV overall. After saying goodbye to our camper, we checked into a cheap hostel for the night.

San Francisco

Had a fantastic time in San Francisco. Beautiful city, with some of the most amazingly ornate apartments and houses. It really is the hilly city, which makes for some fantastic views of the bay and city...but it is an uphill struggle during your walk home or anywhere for that matter!
The marina, just a stone’s throw from our hostel, had a great vibe. So many restaurants, bars and shops, it was probably our favourite part of the city. We had some lovely cold beers in the sunshine of the marina on our last day.

On the marina pub crawl

We only really had time for one main attraction so we opted for Alcatraz. Really glad we did, it was a beautiful day which made for fantastic city views and ferry ride and the tour was great. I was slightly disappointed, that tour guide “Vicky” (see “So I Married an Axe Murderer” film) was not on hand to give us the unofficial Alcatraz tour, but apart from that it was a great day out.

In the patrol yard on Alcatraz

Loved our time here, we would definitely come back and visit some of the other main attractions, like Golden Gate Park. At the minute, it’s probably our favourite city so far.
After our waffles and coffee tomorrow morning, we head start the last leg of road trip – the drive back to LA via the Pacific Highway.

Yosemite

Headed over to Yosemite Valley this morning. We quickly discovered during the short drive that we would need to start layering up again, as we headed up over 9000 ft!
A lot of the park was closed due to the icy and snowy conditions but we managed to take in some good sights during our drive, as well as stopping for a bit of amateur ice skating on the frozen lake – we weren’t the only ones skidding around in trainers, but we all felt a bit daft when a local chap skated past, doing all sorts of fancy ice skating tricks!

The drive through Yosemite National Park is a through road. What a great drive to work that would be...although, i’m not sure if you would have to pay the $20 dollars entrance fee each time. That would be annoying.
We then headed along the very twisty roads to our next stop – San Francisco. Beautiful drive through countryside’s of orchards and small farms. It was funny seeing a different backdrop, we got so used to the mountains and desert!
After sitting in a bit of a rush hour traffic jam, we eventually crossed the huge Bay Bridge and arrived in San Francisco early evening.
 

We quickly discovered that San Fran was not the best city for parking (and especially not for a camper!) so we decided to check into a cheap-ish hostel on the beautiful, San Fran Bay Fort Mason.

One night in Big Pine

Woke up to a fresh covering of snow this morning. Luckily our little RV seems to handle the snowy and icy roads well. We packed up early and headed back to Mount Charleston Lodge for breakfast. There’s a ski slope just a few miles past the lodge, so most of the hotel guests were all dressed up ready for a day on the slopes (we felt a little envious!). As it was still early, the road down from the mountain was still pretty snowy, we past a few snow ploughs on the way (both going in the other direction!). We saw a couple of cars that had skidded off of the road on our way down. We were very thankful for our hardy little RV!

Once we were off the mountain the weather changed dramatically – it was beautiful sunshine and clear tarmac roads the rest of the way.

Past a few interesting places today, including area 51, the signs on the interstate read “This road is patrolled by aircraft”, although we didn’t see any, we did see a very suspicious black car speeding down the one road leading into the desert. I don’t care what you say; something very odd is going on there! We’ve past fields on cacti all day but still not seen a stereotypical cartoon cactus.

Big day of driving, we covered about 300 miles and decided to rest for the night in a small town called Big Pine. After the last few nights of minus temperatures, it’s funny to actually be staying in a place where you don’t need to wear base layers, hats and gloves just to top up the van with gas! 

We went out for the night in the small town...there’s only one bar in town Rosi’s Cocktail Lounge, Steak and Spaghetti Restaurant. So we headed there for a bite to eat and a few drinks. 

Tomorrow morning, we head to Yosemite.

Mount Charleston

Much warmer today, managed to eat our porridge outside without jackets or hats on, bliss! Spent most of the day on the road. Beautiful day for a long drive; more amazing scenery and sights. We passed through two large Indian Reservations and a few nice small towns, including a place called Hurricane, where we stopped for gas and a bite to eat.

It was so sunny when we left Hurricane Valley...

 We made it to our destination, Mount Charleston at around 3pm (30 miles out of Las Vegas). We weren’t too sure where we were going to stay as it appeared a small, sparse town, but we soon came across a fully equipped RV campsite (Fletcher Canyon Campground). After a few nights of wild camping, we decided to treat ourselves to a night in a proper campsite. Best campsite we’ve stayed in so far, not only did it have showers and an outside grill, it also had full hook ups, so we could plug in our heater, lamp and laptop – perfect!
 

Updating the blog next to the campfire

The park was run and maintained by a really nice couple called Jim and Janine (Jim must have told us his name three or four times! lovely chap though). Jim went around on a quad bike making sure all the campers had everything they needed and offered us some firewood (I think we got special treatment as he liked people from “Scotchland”. Apparently we were the first Scotch people to stay. He was delighted).

After reserving our camp spot, we headed half a mile back along the road to a lodge we had just passed (Mount Charleston Lodge) for hot chocolate next to the open fire. Great way to end a long day driving.
Tomorrow we start our journey to Yosemite Valley.

Bryce Canyon

Got up early today, as we wanted to do a couple of trails in Bryce Canyon in the morning. It was -18 in the morning, so instead of tackling the porridge on the camp stove we decided to head to Bryce Canyon Village for breaky. Stopped at a place called Ruby’s Inn (a general store, post office, gas station, hotel and restaurant all in one), it was massive and obviously the hub of the village...it also appeared to be the only place open over the winter, in the area. After a big hearty breaky and lots of coffee refills, we headed over to the Canyon. There was even more snow at Bryce Canyon, our snowboarding gear would have come in very handy (I felt a little dismayed when I saw a couple coming off a trail with snow shoes and skis on!) still we managed to make do with what we had!

Where's your snowboard when you need it?

We headed to Sunset Point to get a good view of the Canyon from the top. It looked pretty amazing at that time in the morning and the lashings of snow made it quite a dramatic sight. You really had to go on the trails to take in the sheer enormity of the Canyon (and also to see some of the massive caves). We went on a 2.5 hour trail. You end up stopping every so often to take pictures – there is just so much to take in.
There are a couple of signs at the beginning of some of the trails that say something along the lines of “enjoy the trail, but remember the walk back up!”...oh how right they were. It was a bit of hike back up the canyon and the thin air (8300ft) made it a bit more of a challenge. Didn’t help that our water canister had frozen, so you only really had a slush puppy to sip on every now and again!

View from 8000 feet!

Bryce Canyon was also the first place we have seen any signs with warnings of bears, one said “watch out for bears when you’re enjoying your picnic”...as much as Arran wanted to see a bear, I managed to persuade him that it would be best to have lunch back in the car park in the safety of our camper.
After spending the day in the Canyon, we headed down the road to set up camp. Camped 60 miles South of the Canyon.

On our way to the next Canyon

We woke up early today, mainly due to the cold. We found out later from a Park Ranger it was -16 overnight, brrr! After de-icing the van (inside and out) and having some warm breakfast, we headed down the canyon. We stopped at another view point on the way, with views straight out of a Christmas card (it was so snowy, up to our knees at some points) and went on a short trail. All in, the Grand Canyon is fantastic place where you could spend a good couple of weeks camping (or staying in the lovely lodges) and working your way round all the trails and hikes.

I knew we shouldn't have left the chairs out overnight!

We saw a number of warning signs when we were in the Canyon, advising you to look out for elk or deer on the roads. We didn’t spot any on the roads, but we did see a couple of elks roaming around someone’s garden in the village and a couple of stags, hanging out in the grassy area near the information centre. Arran was being a bit cautious when taking photos, before a local walked past and said you could get pretty close to them without them minding, as they are quite docile. It was amazing seeing a massive stag just walking around in the village, but I guess if you live there, you’d get used to it. 

A local stag

Made it all the way to Bryce Canyon today, but as it was getting dark we set up camp for the night a few miles down the road at Dixie National Forrest.

The Grand Canyon

We started the day with a huge American breakfast at nearby diner;  then hit the road.
Lovely drive to the Grand Canyon, it was such a sunny day but you could still see a tonne of snow on the mountains (felt a little bit like a ski resort). On the way we stopped off at small town called Williams -  the first place so far Arran has had the petrol pumped for him, by the owner of the station (Bob), no less.

The Grand Canyon - view from the top

We arrived in the Grand Canyon late afternoon. It is one of America’s National Parks, so you have to buy a pass to get in ($25 minimum charge, but the pass lasts you a week). We felt a little irked paying so much for only one day in the Canyon, but once you get in and actually see the views, it’s definitely worth it. We decided to camp at the Canyon that evening. Most of the designated campsites were closed for winter, but we found one open. Not surprisingly (given the temperature and all the snow) we were the only people in the site. We got settled and made a quick bite to eat and some hot drinks, before heading over to the park’s main view point. Pulling up to the car park, there was a lovely (warm looking) log cabin and we wondered how far we’d have to walk to see the first of our views...not realising, we just had to walk across the car park and look over the small wall! Pretty amazing sight to take in – the sheer vastness of the canyon and the contrast of the bright red rock against all the snow.

Keeping warm next to the campfire

As the sun set, we decided to head back to the campsite, to ensure we still had a little light to cook in (I’m still haunted by the Kangaroo Rat incident!).
We picked up some supplies in the General Store on the way back including an extra torch, candles and firewood. Just as well did, as it was pitch black by the time we came out the store, (the light seems to disappear instantly round here; you really have to keep an eye on the time).
I successfully managed to make dinner under candle/head torch light while Arran made a campfire – first campfire of our road trip so far. Great end to a busy day.

The Breakdown

Of the van...not our relationship! Well, our trip was going just a little bit too smoothly, we had to have a hurdle at some point! When we picked up the van the chap said “the one thing you don’t want the van to say is - check all gauges” before quickly adding “but the chances of this happening are very slight, so don’t worry”. Guess what happened today! We left Vegas around 9am and had been driving for about an hour. Suddenly, on the freeway, while listening to some Flight of the Chonchoreds, the scary message flashed up...Arran’s expert driving skills came into play as he lost power steering and the engine died.

We then headed up to a gas station (straight out of 'Wrong Turn') we had passed a half mile back, to phone the free toll breakdown number. While walking through the interesting desert verge we saw many sights including tumble weed and another coyote! (it ran away as soon as it spotted us). The ladies at the gas station/deli were luckily incredibly friendly and helpful. The pay phone did not work so we had to use one of their mobile phones. It all got sorted out after a few phone calls and we had time to have a bite to eat at the Deli.

Singing the blues.

After the pickup truck arrived we ended up in a small town called Kingmam, where the garage (after 2.5 hours) found the route of our troubles – a faulty fuel pump. Problem solved.
As it was late, we decided to spend the night in a nearby motel, for some much needed rest and showers! (hence the internet).
Tomorrow we are heading to the Grand Canyon as planned.

Arran & Emily