Week-End at Las Vegas - Grand Canyon

Rebecca could not go back to France without going to Las Vegas and to Grand Canyon. At the beginning, I was not very pro because I thought a week-end was very too short to visit Las Vegas and Grand Canyon. But Rebecca managed to convince me and so for her last week-end on the American soil, we decided to go to Las Vegas.
Since Las Vegas is not very close to San Francisco, we preferred go by plane. We booked a flight for the Friday night and the return for the Monday morning early enough to be on time at work.
The trip was not without emotions. Indeed, on Friday night, we missed the train to the airport. So, we had to take the next train and then took a cab to arrive just on time at the airport. Of course, our plane was on more than one hour and a half delay. So, we finally arrived at 1:30 am at Las Vegas, and adding time to get back our luggage and to rent a car (luckily it is opened 24/24), we went to bed at 3:30 am. Return was not bad too but I will speak about it at the end.
So, after a short night, we drove to Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon is about 4-hour drive from Las Vegas. We stopped at the Hoover Dam to take a quick picture and we arrived at Grand Canyon park at about 2 o'clock pm.

It is very strange but even if you expect something very huge, you can not prevent you from being surprised at the first sight. We nearly collided with the car ahead which stopped abruptly at the first view point.

We drove along the canyon and stopped at every view point to have a new vision of this natural monument. After a incredible afternoon, we parked at Grand Canyon village and we started walking to another view point, advised to admire the sunset. We finished our route by bus because we were afraid to miss the sunset. It was amazing. The canyon became all red. It was so magic. After so many emotions, we went to a motel at about 1-hour drive from the Grand Canyon where we were very pleased to sleep.

On Sunday, we went back to Las Vegas where we had booked a room in one of the huge hotel-casinos of Las Vegas Boulevard. We took a quick dip in the hotel pool. It was so good (you can not imagine how hot it was). Then, we started our walk through all the biggest hotel-casinos of Las Vegas. It is so unreal. It is like you are traveling all around the world in few hours. We dined at Bellagio buffet. It was not cheap, but it was awesome. Even if we had a very early flight the next day, we can not help our self from walking in the city until late.

The wake-up was very hard and of course we arrived 5 minutes late at the airport. So we had to wait for an another flight. After about 5 hours, they finally transferred us on another flight. I finally arrived at work a little late and not really fresh but luckily, my bosses are very cool. This week-end was amazing and if you have the opportunity to go there, do not hesitate a second.

Week-End at Los-Angeles

The third weed-end, we decided to go to Los-Angeles. We rent a car on Friday to go just after work. Of course, we went pretty late because Alan did a barbecue and so we ate a bit before going not to refuse his invitation. Luckily, we knew that the trip will be long (about 6 hours) so we had booked a room in a motel at halfway.
We arrived at Los Angeles at noon on Saturday.
We started of course by a walk on Hollywood Boulevard and the Hollywood Walk of Fame (It is a little dangerous because you can not stop looking down at the star instead of in front of you). We went to the wax museum and the world record museum (I know, the guide book say they are tourist trap but we could not resist). We stopped in front of the Chinese Theater to see the hand- and footprints. We finally went to the Hollywood History Museum, to my mind, the best things to do on Hollywood Boulevard. There are lots of pictures, film clips and most of all, original costumes. It was very cool. We saw for example some costumes from Moulin Rouge and Chicago. Of course, we could nod take photos. There were also the shoes Harry Potter's actors wore when they did their footprints in front of the Chinese theater (I know, it is not very interesting).

After walking the whole afternoon, we drove on Mulholland Drive and stopped from time to time to admired the view on Los Angeles.

After a long day, we decided to go to bed early to make the most of our second and last day in Los Angeles.
We started our day by a walk downtown. We went to the Civic Center. We went through El Pueblo and Chinatown. We took pictures of Our Lady of the Angels and Disney Hall. We finished by a walk on Broadway (not as well as New York one, I assume).

Before going back to Mountain View (6 hour drive was waiting for us), we decided to go to Santa Monica to take advantage of the beach a little. The beach was amazing there. We had a nap and took a quick foot bath. It was short but so good, like short holydays.

Next Episode : Week-End at Las Vegas

Week-End at Yosemite Park

The second week-end was much more prepared. We rented a car on Saturday morning and drove (about 4 hours) to Bridgeport, little city in the north of Yosemite Park, where we had booked a room. We took the room key and we drove again to Bodie, huge ghost town in the middle of the desert. It was a big gold miner city. It was very amazing to see all the stuff left there. It is like people fled from a calamity.

After a long walk into the street of Bodie, we went to Mono Lake, big salted lake on the east of Yosemite Park. Because of the mineral concentration, there are some kind of stalagmites. It was very beautiful. We admired the sunset on the lake. It was so peaceful.

On Sunday, we finally went to Yosemite Park. We came in the park by the east enter which was very nice. We were at the top of the park and so we had splendid view points of Yosemite Valley. Since we had no much time and were not well equipped (I still not had my luggage), we only did small walk in the park and tried to make the whole tour by car. We went to the soda source, sprinkled water source. We stopped a while on the bank of a beautiful lake (we nearly would have liked to swim). Then we went down to the valley were we tried to see the springs but there were not so much water. The park is very beautiful and there seem to be a lot of great walk in the mountain. The park is very well set up with shuttle and very good path. However, it is very crowded and you had to wake up very early to avoid people. this week-end was very tiring with drive and walk but the park is amazing.

Next Episode : Week-End at LA.

First Week-End in California

As you may know, Rebecca came to see me for a month. Since she had to profit of her short journey to visit the most she can, we spend every week-ends traveling in the country. It was amazing even if sometimes a little tiring.
So I will begin with our first week-end. Since Rebecca arrived on Wednesday, it was a little short to organise something. So we rented a car and decided to drive in the area.

On Saturday, we started by Santa Cruz, city in the south of San Francisco near the Ocean. We walked on a huge boarding and looked at the evolution of the weather. It was very beautiful to see sea mist raising, revealing the beach with this amazing theme park. After a little walk in the theme park and on the beach (which was very hot, Rebecca's feet remembered it), we went to the surf museum (little cottage on the coast very cooool and quite fun) and tried to see the natural bridge (it was nearly not a failure).

Then, we profit to be in the area to go visiting some places recommended by the guide book. I don't know if it was the best idea we had. We took a picture of the most pictured tree and saw a house made with stones come from different countries and all of this for only 9 dollars. Luckily, we finished our trip by visiting a very beautiful monastery (and for free because we arrived just before it closed).

On Sunday, we decided to go to the north. First, we went to the Wine country. As you may have understand, this is a big wine-producing country in the north of San Francisco. What is very different from France is that it is amazing how American know how make people spend money. There are for all tastes. You can visit the wineries in limo or have a lunch in one of the huge barbecues organized by the wineries. You can also, of course, buy everything you can imagine, even if it does not have really link with wine. And finally, you can taste wine, which was very nice. I can not finish my story without telling you how the world is very little. Indeed, ten minutes after we start our wine testing, a group of french people came just near us, and of course, they were "camarades polytechniciens". I preferred keep their names silent (maybe because I do not know them) but it was very strange to see known faces there.
Then, Rebecca forced me to go see a geyser. Normally, the geyser shouts out every 45 minutes. Of course, we waited more than 1 hour before saw it but it was worth it.

We finish our day by an amazing tour. We stop on the Mount Tamalpais, area just on north of San Francisco, on the other side of Golden Gate. We started by a walk in the forest "a l'americaine", whichs means that it could be done by car with the facility settled but it was very nice. Then, we drove to the top of the Mount Tamalpais and we admired the splendid sunset on the ocean and the whole bay of San Francisco. It was magic. Finally, we went to the coast to an amazing overlook where we could see the beautiful color of the sky and the light of San Francisco reflected on the sea. Of course, Rebecca's camera had no more battery so I am sorry but I have no picture. Anyway, photos would not be good with the light.

Next Episode, Week-End at Yosemite Park