Month: June 2011

We hadn’t quite realised how close we were to Antelope Canyon, when we looked on google maps it put it somewhere completely different.

When we realised that we could make a simple detour to see it we thought, why the heck not!

The evening before we visited the canyon we watched the sun set over Lake Powell from a hill in Page. It was beautiful and lovely to be chilling out rather than on the road for once.

The canyon itself is incredible. The colours in the rock are amazing, especially when the sunlight comes down in beams, and the shapes the water and wind have made are stunning. It’s become a very popular destination, so the tours get a little busy.

We were driven out to the canyon in a group of covered “monster trucks” along a long sandy road, past cows trying to find grass in the dunes. We had a guide that took us through the canyon, and wasn’t shy about telling us exactly what we should be taking photos of – “you’re going to stand here and take a vertical shot”!

The next morning we went to have a look at the “Horseshoe Bend”, which is a point overlooking the Colorado River near Page and is very impressive. The colours are beautiful, and probably not done justice in this picture!

We decided to visit the North rim of the Grand Canyon as:

A) it was on route up to the other canyons and we were too lazy to drive to the South rim.

B) only 10% of visitors to the Grand Canyon go to the North rim and we wanted to be the cool kids who didn’t follow the crowd.

C) the North rim is higher and therefore cooler than the South rim so although the atmosphere is thinner and I am more likely to get burnt I will at least not be so hot whilst it’s happening.

The Grand Canyon is HUGE! It’s really hard to gauge how big it really is as the Colorado River looks soooo tiny.

We were lucky as it was a fairly clear day and we could see the distant Californian Hills on the horizon.

I also learnt something new about Matt… he isn’t great with heights that overlook massive drops, it was kinda cute that he was a bit nervous 🙂

Next stop Monument Valley just a few hours from Arches.

It’s a bit of an odd place really, the rocks are very similar to what we had already seen in Arches but far more eroded so you are left with isolated towers of rocks rather than interconnecting rock ridges and hills.

You don’t need to enter the Indian Reserve as you can see the iconic rock formations from the highway but we wanted a closer look.

Now this would have been the perfect time to have a 4×4 as the lady at the entrance looked a little doubtful that our Ford Fusion would cope with the rough unpaved road, and she was right!

Matt was my trusty copilot and he did a fantastic job at keeping me calm and not panicking as I navigated the huge pot holes…

I have to admit that on one awful bit of steep downhill road I managed to scrape the bottom of car in a pot hole not meant for anything other than monster trucks, but no major damage was done, phew!

I sadly had to come back that way and I was dreading it. The rock formations are pretty impressive when you’re closer and definitely worth the horrid road we had to drive along.

On the way back along the road we managed to find a mini diversion to the pot holes so I didn’t beat up the car again 🙂

Driving out of Yellowstone we encountered yet more snow on our way through Grand Teton National Park but the landscape gradually changed and became drier and more barren until the trees disappeared and we were left with crazy red rock formations.

When we arrived in Arches National Park it had been raining on and off all the way from Salt Lake City. It was an odd combination of arid landscape and big splashy rain!

The park itself is quite small but the red rock arches are fairly spread out in it and we had to pull on our hiking boots to see some of them. By far the most impressive arch is Delicate Arch which is the unofficial symbol of Utah. We had a fantastic view of it from a nearby rock outcrop that wasn’t too strenuous to get to.

After arches we drove the short distance to Moab for the night and had an awesome meal at the Peace Tree, a very chilled out and hippy restaurant.

We ended up stopping at Cody well after dark, a town about 50 miles east of Yellowstone. It’s got a place called The Buffalo Bill Historical Center, so we went and had a look the next day. Neither of us had a clue who Buffalo Bill was, and to be honest, we’re still not entirely sure. It did have a really good Native American museum though. Lots of information on the relocation to reservations and how they were forced to abandon many of their traditions.

The approach to Yellowstone was pretty crazy. We drove higher and higher up to the mountain pass and started seeing snow on the ground. By the time we were at the top, there were drifts 10ft deep by the road. Not what we were expecting in June! It wasn’t even particularly cold that we could tell. The other side of the pass it got even weirder – we came across a lake we dubbed the “Slush Puppy lake” which was made of broken ice for about 100m from the shore, and had piled up a big ridge of ice on the beach.

We stayed in the park for three nights, and despite having shared toilets/showers the first night at Roosevelt Lodge, it was probably the most enjoyable as we were in a little wood cabin with a stove. We also had a really good meal in the lodge, which had some very interesting beers available!

The most prolific animal in the park seems to be Buffalo, which are everywhere. Other animals seem to be more reticent – we saw lots of doe elk, but no stags, an no moose at all. We were lucky enough to see a black bear a few times though, ambling along or grazing on something while everyone watched from a distance. Some people got closer than others though – the first time we saw it, some hikers turned a corner ahead of it and found the bear between them and the end of the trail where we were standing. They had to wait for a ranger to come and guide them. We did also see another bear – a grizzly we think, it was brown at least – which ran across the road right in front of us. Too quick to get a photo of it unfortunately.

Oh, and the night we stayed at the Old Faithful lodge it did actually snow!

From Mitchell, we head for the “Badlands”! The countryside quickly changes from rolling plains to forested slopes – the Black Hills – and we’re entering gold country 🙂

We decide to go see Mount Rushmore straight away as we still have plenty of time. Unfortunately, they’ve built loads of stuff on the approach to the rock face, so it’s difficult to see the faces until you’re right in front of them. This isn’t so bad though, as they’re fairly small so you have to get close for a good look anyway. The clouds had been rolling in and while we were up there the lightning and thunder started, even shaking the ground when a few strikes hit nearby! I tried taking a photo but I’m not quick enough 😛

We stayed in a town called Lead, which is right next to Deadwood, the place the TV series of the same name is based. All the towns we’ve seen in the area are throwbacks to the gold rush era, with lots of old buildings preserved and newer ones built in the same style. And every single bar and café seems to be full of slot machines! I guess there’s still gold in them thar hills for some. Unfortunately, every time I tried to pan for gold (or poke at shiny things in a river at least) Katherine said I was embarrassing her, so I won’t be bringing back any this trip 😛

The next day we drove along the Needles Highway, which is punctuated by a series of extremely narrow tunnels through the rock. Somehow they manage to squeeze tour coaches through these tunnels, some of which are only 8ft wide. We stopped at one place to take pictures and were swarmed with chipmunks looking for food – they seem to be everywhere in America!

We went to check out the Crazy Horse monument too, which is the Native American equivalent of Mt. Rushmore. It’s a huge sculpture of a guy called Crazy Horse on horseback. Or rather, it will be – only the face is finished so far. The Black Hills were supposed to be left for the Native Americans, but they were forced out as soon as gold was found.

The last thing we visited on our way out of the Badlands was Devils Tower, also called The Bear Lodge, which is the mountain from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. It really does look like it’s had a fork raked down the sides!

Next… drive until we drop!

Our next stop on this really long leg of the trip was Mitchell. Katherine had read about this town in the Lonely Planet guide book, and thought it sounded exactly like the kind of place we should be seeing on a roadtrip 😛

It’s famous for a place called the Corn Palace, which is a big building they decorate with corn cobs every year. It goes back to… a long time ago or something, and they have pictures for each year on the walls inside. The changing fashions and vehicles are probably more interesting than the actual decorations. The building itself seems to be used for everything – theatre, basketball, and while we were there it was a giant souvenir shop selling a mixture of Plains Indian crafts and anything and everything to do with corn.

Apart from the weird obsession with corn, Mitchell also has one of the few working drive-in cinemas left in America. We went and saw the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film and really enjoyed the experience. They play loads of old drive-in ads and it feels really retro. I wish they had them in London, but there’s probably just too much light pollution and changeable weather to make it work :-/

Right, nearly at Mount Rushmore!

We decided to break our long drive with a stop off at Madison as the guide book had described it as one of the friendliest cities in America plus it was supposed to be a great place to get “artesan cheese”, yum!

When we arrived we had just missed the farmers market but we hadn’t missed the protestors blowing vuvuzellas in the street protesting over their senator and trying to oust him from office.

We had a lovely wander through the streets passing second-hand clothes shops and hippie new age shops. A lady recommended we walked down to the uni campus which was quite close. The uni buildings were awesome and definitely reminded me of the sort of unis you see in American films.

After a scrummy hot dog and walk along the lake front we headed back into the town. I would have loved to have gone to a uni like this one (The University of Wisconsin) you could have learnt to sail on the lake and gone swimming in the summer and then eaten copious amounts of food in their huge cafeteria.

It must have been wedding season in Madison as we saw five wedding parties whilst we were there. Grey must be the colour du jour for bridesmaids as two of the parties had them in it. Orange was also another bridesmaid colour we saw, I’m definitely glad I didn’t choose that colour as they looked like massive tangerines!

Our plan after leaving Madison was to drive as far as we could before we had to give up and then find a motel for the night. We got as far as a town called Rochester.

The drive to Chicago was mostly through trees and fields – I think we’re a bit early for the endless corn we were expecting. The freeways got a bit crazier the closer we got to the city, so we were glad to get off and find our motel, which has been great. More what I think of as a motel, with cars parked outside the rooms, which have the doors on the outside. They have an awesome dog too, which we have photos of in our room wearing a hat on the beach. Awesome 🙂

We arrived a bit late (even though we hadn’t realised that we’d crossed a time zone and it was actually an hour earlier!) so we headed out to find a supermarket to grab some food. As you can see, Katherine clearly thought this was the best part of the trip so far 😛


There was loads of fresh fruit and veg, including cactus and other unusual stuff, and a lot of it was huge!


Oh, and the weather here has gone crazy. There was an almighty storm the night we arrived and it’s broken the heat wave we were in. Lightning, thunder and buckets of rain were enough to wake us up a few times during the night, and caused a couple of waterfalls from the gutters.

The next day we went into Chicago on the ‘L’, which was interesting – it goes right in amongst the buildings, about 20ft up, and must be a real headache for some apartments! The most interesting thing about the city for us was the architecture. We took a boat tour with a guide explaining how the city had changed and all the interesting stuff about the buildings we were passing. They filmed a lot of the latest Transformers movie there apparently, so we’ll have to see what we recognise.

We also went to Millenium Park, which has a giant chrome bean in it. Officially, it’s called the Cloud Gate. It’s got a big permanent live music venue as well and there were three guys on guitars jamming while we walked through. Then we went up to the Magnificent Mile, which is the main shopping street. ‘Nuff said really – shops are shops wherever you go!

The next day we went to the Adler Planetarium, which was great. The best bits were the two movies we saw, one in 3D and one in a huge domed theatre and narrated by Whoopi Goldberg… or Hoopy Goalberg as Katherine called her. They were just spectacular, showing loads of really interesting stuff.

Later on we decided we’d had enough of walking around, so we went and saw Super 8 at the cinema. I don’t think it’s officially out in the UK until August or something, so that was pretty cool. We really enjoyed it, although I’m not sure if it can live up to the hype I’ve heard about it.

That night we went to Giovani’s which is supposed to be the most famous pizza restaurant in Chicago. Unfortunately, we could only manage a slice each of their SMALLEST deep-dish pizza before giving up and taking the rest away. It was like a 3in tall pie!

Next is the long drive from Chicago to Mount Rushmore, with very little in between!

So we arrive in Cleveland and it is HOT! Like really hot, 90+ F. We check into our hotel then head out to get some grub.

Cleveland is an interesting place, there are quite a few empty buildings and buildings that were probably once office blocks but have been converted into multi storey car parks. In fact everywhere you turn there are car parks.

For dinner we ended up in a restaurant that only sourced produce from really local farmers. Matt had some scrummy garlic and rosemary french fries which I happily gobbled 🙂

Our main reason for staying in Cleveland was that it was a convenient break in our journey and it is the home to the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”.

We were well prepped for our visit as we had listened to hours of “50s on 5”, an awesome radio station that only plays music from the 50s.

The museum is an interesting mix of video, music and nostalgic memorabilia. We both found the history of rock and roll the most interesting part and things like Bono’s shirt from some old tour the least interesting part.

I personally wouldn’t say that the museum is a must see place in America as it says in the Lonely Planet but each to their own.

Next stop Chicago!