State #7?

Ok, so we started in Illinois, headed east to Michigan, jumped on a plane that stopped back in Illinois then landed in California, drove to Arizona, then up to Utah and west to Nevada, then north west back into California.

So that's six states. Enough for six weeks? Hmm, perhaps not.

When we were in Yosemite, we started to think about Portland. Which is in Oregon FYI. 753 miles away. 13 hours and 15 minutes' drive. We could do that, right? Add another state to our list? Number seven?

Alrighty then! We found a cheap HI-hostel in dowtown Portland, got supplies, hit the road about 8.30am on Monday and prepared ourselves for two long days in the car. In about six or so hours we could get to Medford, Oregon - about half way.

A few hours into the journey the weather was getting hotter, the scenery was getting more beautiful and the thought of driving for two days (even from the passenger seat) was getting less and less attractive. "There's a McDonald's. Can we pull over?" I ask, tentatively.

Adam's sixth (Lucy) sense kicks in, realising that I want to look on t'interweb to rethink this epic drive.

Within an hour (mainly due to crappy WiFi connection), we'd cancelled the hostel in Portland, got a good deal on a Best Western in Wine Country and decided never to drink Maccy D's Strawberry Lemonade ever again.

Sorry, Portland. But this was just too good to pass up.

Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks

It's Thursday now and I think it was Monday when we went to Bryce and Zion National Parks but the days are starting to blur... We're almost half way through the trip now - so we've got just over three weeks to go. Can't quite believe how much we've done and seen so far. And how many miles we've driven. I think we're near to 2,000 miles now.

So yes, we actually arrived at our motel in Tropic, Utah (just outside of the park) on Sunday early evening with plans to do a quick stop at a look-out over Bryce before dinner. But it was pretty much zero degrees when we arrived, we'd been driving for five and a half hours, and - actually - we couldn't be bothered.

We'd starting getting into the habit of squeezing as much into every day as possible, but burn-out was approaching. And it wasn't like our day had been uneventful. We had driven via Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. Stunning.

So we had a well deserved 'night in', which included a crappy-but-good fast food dinner of battered shrimp and fries, hit the laundromat and watched Poirot on cable and played Gin Rummy, or some variant thereof. Super.

Less super was the washing machine breaking on our second load and not draining the water out, thus leaving us with a bundle of dripping, non-tumble-drier-able clothes. Lucy was not happy: "Travelling sucks. Why is there no spin setting?!"  Adam wrang out the clothes. Lucy was less angry. Especially after the satisfaction of setting up Stage One of the clever drying system.

Stage Two involved a chair on a bed near a hot-air fan heater. There is no photographic evidence of this but, believe me, it was awesome and our clothes were dry before we went to bed.

The next morning, refreshed, we woke to snow. SNOW! For the second time on our trip. We weren't expecting that, but we wrapped up and drove down the road to Bryce Canyon National Park. The Rough Guide: USA book said the best time to see Bryce was in the winter when the hoodoos (top-heavy columns) are covered in snow, so we were pretty lucky. This place was incredible. I'd love to have walked down into the basin but we were short of time (and breath: part of the canyon rim we walked up to was 7,777 feet above sea level).

It took us about two hours to drive west to Zion National Park. It's very different: to start with, you don't walk the rim; you drive straight down into the basin. Which was actually my favourite part of this park. The sceond pic is of the Great Arch that you see when you come out of a scary-ass long tunnel that goes through the rock face.

It's pretty lush (or "verdant" as Adam so proudly announced) down along the Virgin River. We did a short walk to the Lower Emerald Pools where the waterfall was doing its thing.

With Utah done, we headed west for something entirely different...

Las Vegas.

We're grand

That's right. We've hit the 1,000 mile mark. From LA to Flagstaff, Arizona to the Grand Canyon to Bryce Canyon, our rental car has delivered the grand on two and a half tanks of gas. And we're only a third of the way through the trip.

We left LA early doors (well, 8am) on Friday and, with the help of our road trip book, followed the historic Route 66 much of the way through California and into Arizona.

A definite highlight was Oatman, a tiny old mining town in the Black Mountains. This place was unbelievable - and 33 degrees Celsius. Burros (donkeys) roamed Main Street and the young burros had stickers on their heads warning you not to feed them. We had a drink in the Oatman Hotel, where Clark Gable and Carole Lombard honeymooned and whose restaurant walls are covered in dollar bills.

From Oatman we carried on east through the desert for another couple of miles. The views were spectacularly desolate - but people obviously live here.

11 hours after we left LA, we arrived in Flagstaff and crashed ready for the Grand Canyon the next day (Saturday). No pictures can do it justice... but I'll try in another blog post soon. Ta ta for now.

La La land

LA is one crazy place. We've been staying with a friend of Ad's on Venice Beach - whose apartment looks right out onto the beach. Sweet! The place is writhing with wackos: the beach wakes up at about 6am when the traders set up their stalls and then it's cleared and pretty much silent by 11pm. Needless to say it's quite like waking up at a music festival! But from the comfort of a real (air) bed.

One our first full day, Tuesday, we walked along Venice Beach to Santa Monica for a bit of shopping and some double scoop gelato (Banana Caramel and Almond Avalanche for me and Maple Mudslide and something chocolate for Ad, in case you were wondering).

Then in the afternoon we wandered to the canals of Venice. I've never been to the real thing in Italy, but I'm guessing there are fewer palm trees than this:

Then in the evening we headed to Dodger Stadium to see the LA Dodgers vs Atlanta Braves. I'm not a baseball expert, but the games are pretty long. Especially when no one scores... Luckily, I had a Super Dodger Dog to keep me occupied. It's super because it's 'ALL BEEF'. God knows what the un-supers have in them.

Wednesday was Disney day. Ad burst out laughing when he saw the castle. Apparently, it's about a fifth of the size of the one in Florida. Whatevs. It's the Disney castle!! We went on all the scary rides; Big Thunder Mountain was the best. And Adam has the slo-mo video of me screaming my way round (with my ruddy arms in the air) to prove it. We also encountered the most freakishly nice 'Cast Member' who sold us our caramel apples. Like a fully grown Child Of The Damned. *Shudder*

Today was our last full day. Randomly, some guys from work were in town for a shoot so we met them on Hollywood Boulevard and saw the stars. Only the ones of the pavement, though. Also saw some crazy get lairy with a poor tour seller. Time to leave...

Check out this sight from the car:

This is how they carry bikes on buses in LA, folks.

For lunch, we drove up to Griffith Park Observatory - a welcome respite from the madness at city level. Bloody brilliant. Hollywood sign, view of the sprawling LA County, cheese enchilada, fruit, chill.

We ended the day with two indulgences: a Whole Foods shop and laundry. Excellent.

Next stop: Flagstaff, Arizona for the Grand Canyon. Let the road tripping commence.