California Baby!

I don't like heights. So why Em and I feel compelled to keep walking up incredibly steep mountains I have no idea. After the rigmarole that was Vegas, we were only too pleased to get back into the countryside and into the wilds of Yosemite National Park. Yosemite is a bee-ute-i-ful park in the Californian hills- autumnal colours and incredible towering granite peaks make this a stunning place to visit. We stayed just out of the park at the Yosemite Bug hostel- a very cool place with live bands and warm beds. They also serve Guiness on tap which was seriously good news (but bad news for my new improved beer belly). To burn off the man boobs, we decided to go with one of the hardest walks in the park- up to the top of the Yosemite Falls. Towering almost 850m above the valley floor, the falls are apparently the second highest falls in the States. (If you come to America, every tourist attraction is the 'biggest' or ' tallest' etc etc- anything to pull in the crowds!) This was a seriously hard trek which, being a mere 3.5 miles, we thought wouldn't take too long... 5 hours later we finally hauled our sorry butts to the top. Unofortunately the falls were dry and they were more like a trickle- oh well! Like I said- I don't like heights, so we spent all of 10 minutes up there, took the obligatory pics and ran the rest of the journey downhill; this time taking just over and hour and a half!
Having rested our battered legs, we set off for San Francisco. We like it here! It's got that 1930's vibe about it with antiquainted trams and cable cars running all over the city's hills. There were three major highlights to San Fran. The first was our trip across the Golden Gate Bridge- boy, did we pick a good day for it... fog. And lots of it. In fact, we couldn't see the top of the bridge struts it was that thick! Of course we opted to do this on bike and when the associated rain decided to fall as well, we wished we'd taken the car! To make things more strange we met up with a couple of BA pilots on stop-over in SF- so there we were, on bikes, in the pouring rain and fog, on the Golden Gate Bridge talking about sailing in Suffolk with two BA pilots. Odd.
The second highlight was Alcatraz. This is well worth a trip- very emotive; and the audio tour of the prison cells is actually narrated by ex-prison guards and inmates. The tour showed you cells which had been escaped from and where prison guards had been shot dead in escape attempts. Nice.
Lastly, the Macy's department store sale was very kind to us. Em and I successfully spent the remainder of our budget on 'luxury items' such as Ralph Lauren suits, Nine-West boots and yet more Ralph paraphernalia!
We are now safely entrenched in Santa Cruz staying some new friends we met in Yosemite. Thanks to Laura, Chris, Cosmo, Anaiis, Ruby, Forrest and Amelia the dog for having us! We owe you one. We even got to see the latest Bond film, Casino Royale, at.. wait for it... a DRIVE-IN MOVIE THEATRE last night! Now, why don't they have these in the UK?! So exciting.

Down into the Desert

So, where have we been? Or, more appropriately, where haven't we been? The last week or so has been rather hectic, taking in more natioanl parks than you can shake a reasonably sized Yellow-bellied Marmot at (more of that later).
It all began in the Grand Teton National Park. This slimline park hosts several huge ice-capped mountains culminating in the 'Grand Teton' peak towering at a height of 13,770 feet. (I'm not sure if this is big in the grand scheme of bigness, but it was impressive nonetheless!) The highlight of this park was a long walk into the Cascade Canyon. Surrounded by incredible peaks, lakes and rivers we were literally breathtaken (I blamed thin air, Em said it was because I'm unfit!) On our return trip we were witness to a 'Yellow Bellied Marmot' that could easily be confused with a skunk. It waddled along for some time before casually turning off the trail and hiding under a bush quite unperturbed by our presence! Later on, Em was almost assaulted by a rogue elk that came out of nowhere and literally jumped over our heads. I, meanwhile, was oblivious to this as I was still trying to catch a glimpse of a bear that had been in the area earlier (don't worry- bear spray in hand!)
Well well, don't some places live up to their reputations? All our preconceptions about Salt Lake City were well and truly confirmed on visiting... Having booked into our hostel, we were somewhat amused to hear that no-one drank coffee, which we later found out is against their religion. Home to the Mormons, this place is a true eye-opener. We went to Temple Square, where it all happens and even had a guided tour. Hosted by two (quite fit, sorry Em) girls we were shown around the temple and all-things Mormon. Basing their religion on some pretty dodgy concepts, we decided not to take their kind offer of a 'visit' from a nearby missionary (plus a free copy of the Book of Mormon) and stick with the more old-school form of Christianity. During the tour we were also shown (subjected to) a short video from their current chief elder which bordered on the brain-washing, and tried not to laugh when our guides sang us our very own Mormon song. Sorry guys- I just don't buy it.
(I should also mention the drunk sharing the hostel who thought London was just great- even that leaning tower thing there..!)
So, on from SLC to Moab, home of general mountain-biking radness. Em and I were slightly cynical about all the gnarly dudes coming into the hostel (private room this time thank God) and professing their best ride ever; that is until we tried it out for ourselves. We kitted ourselves up with some good bikes and our trusty guide Aaran and were converted. Downhill biking is awesome! During our trip we cycled a mere 14 miles but in this time managed to see some incredible sights, witness dinosaur footprints, scope out some radical downhill action (that's lingo) and completely bust the backwheel of my bike. Thoroughly good fun.
After this we checked out the Canyonlands National Park which is certainly unlike anything we've seen before. Rock towers, incredible colours and massive canyons were very impressive- much like the scenery from a Roadrunner cartoon!
The Arches National Park was also a real highlight. The geology in this area is formed by sandstone being eroded by rainwater resulting in big arches of orangey-red sandstone. Our 8 mile walk around the Devil's Garden culminated in us finding some hidden Pictographs- Indian murals dating back 700 - 6,000 years old! (We were tipped off about these by 'a friend', and when we challenged a park ranger of their whereabouts she flatly denied their existence!) We should have some pictures for you soon.
Last, but not least, we were truly dumped in the desert at the Monument Valley Park. Run by a tribe of Indians, the scenery here is straight out of a movie- several famous westerns (including John Wayne's Stagecoach and Tombstone) were filmed here. We literally drove for hours on the straightest roads seeing nothing but sandy soil, brown grasses and the occasional rock formation (I'm definitely not doing this justice!) The only thing that we could see moving was the fuel guage. I should also note that the Indians are doing a fine job of getting their own back on the land-grabbing American pioneers. Having reclaimed their land the Indians are now highly skilled in charging a fortune for just about everything in the area. Our campsite was a complete rip-off and our donation to the museum we visited was all but baulked at by the officious Indian squaw there. Sorry chief, I just can't feel sorry for you anymore!