US road trip with my brother - summer 2006
summary for the impatient: 19 days, 5,525 miles, 12 states: countless wonderful impressions!
wyoming, south dakota, minnesota, wisconsin, michigan: mount rushmore, corn palace, lake michigan, mackinaw island
18 august - leaving the beautiful yellowstone park and driving through amazingly beautiful national forrests at an altitude of 9,033 feet to mount rushmore. but oh no, after that it's all downhill literally on the I 90: absolutely nothing to look at so we stopped at the infamous corn palace, a building made out of corn, which had been advertised for hundred of miles on the highway.. after a quick stop in austin, minnesota, we couldn't wait to get to michigan and took the scenic route via the upper peninsular. saw another great sunset over lake michigan and visited mackinaw island and, of course, bought some fudge...
arizona (again), utah, idaho (very briefly), wyoming: yellowstone national park
16 august - travelling a third time through arizona. this time north of the grand canyon and we are once again captivated by the beauty of this area. Arizona has become a favourite travelling state. briefly stopping in utah to catch a glimpse of the salt lake, then on to the beautiful yellowstone park to view geysers - we saw old faithful errupt and a few others, too. It was amazing!!! Finally, also some wildlife: deer, elk, moose (what's the difference between an elk and a moose? I am confused...) and bison. The bears kept evading us or vice versa...
nevada & arizona: las vegas and hoover dam
12 august - more crazy traffic after driving through the desert once again. blinded by the bright lights of vegas. this is the architects' playground. why do i keep on taking photos of hotels?? oceans 13 allegedly being filmed at the belaggio, but no george clooney nor matt damon :( ... shocking: people drink alcohol in the streets ;) ... didn't hit the big jackpot, so back to school at the end of the month. hoover dam: not as massive as expected, but hot... oh soooo hot!!!
california: orange county and los angeles
09 august - ooohhh, the traffic is crazy in california, especially after driving for a week in the middle of nowhere passing a car every hour or so... watched the sunset and waves in huntington beach, newport beach and laguna beach. then got all enchanted at the happiest place on earth: disneyland and back to reality (oops!) in hollywood and beverly hills...
california: joshua tree national park
06 august - leaving the 7000 foot mountains and driving through the desert where it's hot again. joshua tree national park is so far my favourite park with its everchanging landscape (mountains, cacti, desert, rocks, oasis) and the cute joshua trees. all helped of course by the great weather we finally got after leaving all those thunderstorms behind. plenty of sunset photos also. enjoy!
arizona: grand canyon
04 august - someone should have warned me about the monsoon rain in arizona... the grand canyon is amazing though. beautiful views of the canyon. we hiked the south rim of the canyon. one day I need to get back to hike all the way down to the colorado river and also watch the sunset.
new mexico and arizona
03 august - continuing on through new mexico to arizona passing el paso in texas, the rio grande, route 66. stopped in gallup, new mexico, to see where the stars (Katherine Hepburn, John Wayne and others) used to mix and mingle. arizona greeted us with rain and seemingly flat landscape until we realized we were up 6000 feet, saw a meteor crater and got a fantastic view of a 12,000 foot mountain in the coconino national forest - an amazing view! stopping in historic williams, gateway to the grand canyon where we relax over a couple of beers, some live music and touristy entertainment.
texas: big bend national park
01 august - it is hot - very hot. big bend national park is awesome though we didn't see the rio grande due to flash flooding!! awesome mountains, dried out creeks and springs - it's hot, did i mention that? for extra excitement got stopped by border police and ended up driving through thunderstorms with lightening going down behind me, in front of me, left and right.... scary...
texas: austin to big bend national park
31 july - driving all day and still in texas, in the middle of nowhere though where you can drive 80mph on the freeway and 75mph on single lane roads... and then what: a big thunderstorm...
