USA 2011: day 9 Bryce

Taking highway 9 trough Zion national park was really spectacular. Although the canyon itself was great, this drive really is a must do.

Our RV is too large and requires one way traffic through the tunnel in Zion as many others do, meaning that that we had a minor wait to clear the tunnel. Really no issue as the view was amazing. On the other side of the tunnel, it is completely different, the view then. Geology wise the same but you are now within the largest desert dune complex of the world!!! Amazing wind deposited sandstone, big structures. As a geologist, these parks are truly paradise.

The drive itself to Bryce was short, 1.5 hours roughly excluding our stops along the way. Red Canyon just before Bryce was truly honouring its name...red it was. We parked the RV in Ruby's Inn, a quick lunch and off we were into the park by shuttle. We love those shuttle systems, hop on and off. First to Bryce point, WOW, what a scenery, over time the balance of water, freezing and melting has created an amazing pattern of hoodoo's. All columns of limestone rock sticking out in the landscape in various colours of iron oxidation (red, orange to pink). Really spectacular!!!

We got off again via Inspiration point at Sunset point to start our hike into the canyon, a 3 mile walk following Queen's garden trail and onto the Navajo southern trail up again to the rim. Guus and Malou loved it, so great to see that they were by far the youngest hiking the whole trail!! So many people could not believe it, and were really surprised that Malou is only 4 (off course to impress we do not tell that she is almost 5). The hike up was a recognizable intense moment for Sjoerd, this was the spot where Chiel had photographed him 23 years ago as a 17 year old. Very special to be here again but now as a family. Love you Chiel.

Today we move on to the Grand Canyon, the north rim, we will mainly drive there today and relax a bit as this will be a 3-3.5 hour drive and to give the kids some playing time, tomorrow we will make some hikes.

USA 2011: day 8 Zion

After a French breakfast but then American size, so croissants, pain de chocolat, eggs, fruitsalade and spinach we left Las Vegas. A minor stop at Road Bear RV to tighten the microwave as it almost 'walked out of its socket' during driving. The RV is absolutely ace, all the surfing on the internet really paid off. We spoke to other RV families where the steering wheel was shaking the whole time and other things were not fully functioning and they are looking jealously at ours :-).

Driving up to Zion, some 160 miles, 3 hour drive, the landscape changed, from the desert relatively flat at Vegas the rocks reddened, we passed through canyons, saw golfcourses in the middle of nowhere, better prepared than ever. Absolutely stunning landscape, glimpses of the mountain ranges giving an early taste of Zion, did not prepare us at all for what to come!!!! The entrance to Zion National Park is Springdale, a little pittoresque town, lucious green with off course the common to avoid tourist shops. Quickly stationing the RV at Zion Canyon RV park aka Ferber, and off to the park!! The RV park had some bad reviews on internet, but do not see anything wrong with it, reservations work a bit akward but hey, can't have it all.

As the children were still a bit tired from the late night in Vegas we did an easy Japanese style park entry, we hopped on the free shuttle bus, took pictures along the way to the last stop, the Temple of Sinawava and hiked the easy trail 3.5 km long along the Riverside walk. The canyon narrowed dramatically, making you feel very tiny. Also, here in Zion, the spring water runoff is gigantic, making the river from a gentle stream into a more roaring river, at some spots you are still able to access it and water your feet.

Surprisingly the water was less cold than in Yosemite. We finished the day with a quick swim in the pool, a definite to do for the children and dinner in Bit & Spur in town. A different level of Aureole, can not beat it, but still very good. Guus was actually the only one who completely finished off his plate with pizza, and he was really proud of that, for the rest it was all just a bit too much. Today we will be off via Zion to Bryce Canyon. Another day in paradise.

USA 2011: day 7 Las Vegas

It looks like Christmas!!! The expression of how Malou experiences Las Vegas. The glitter and glamour of the strip has certaintly made its mark on Guus and Malou. They love it, so do we, again for both of us. After shopping in the outlet mall which was succesfull considering that we had to skip Hoover dam as we doubled the planned 1.5 hours we went direct to the Venetian where we had a room booked, room.... well that is an underestimation, it is a suite, gigantic, two beds, a sitting area and mega bathroom and 3 tv's!!! Should have been 4 off course so we all can watch something differently at the same time :-) After some oohs and aaahs we went out to the strip, visited the lions in MGM, took the little tram from Excalibur to Mandalay Bay and went to Shark Reef. A highlight for the children, saw all kinds of sharks and Malou even stroked/touched a ray. Quite annoying due to local laws, it is not allowed to have any children in a bar area, not an issue normally and fully acceptable but it meant now that we could not even buy a drink anywhere unless we had a minimal 20min wait and that is these temperatures. Apparently a close to record high 111 degree Fahrenheit (44 degrees celsius) is expected later this week. We had an excellent dinner in Aureole in Mandalay Bay, clearly they are not used to have children in there. Guus and Malou were stars, ate their little hamburgers including the guacamole and hot sauce while Sjoerd was jealous on my blue cheese crusted tenderloin (he had tuna). When Guus was asked how he liked it by the waiter his answer in perfect english was: I like it very much, it is very good but not as good as my daddy's. Guess who was the proud one here????

After that we walked all the way back to the Venetian, in total we have walked some 8km I would guess. It was getting dark, so all lights came on, we saw the fountains dancing at the Bellagio, watched from a distance the volcano erupt at the Mirage. Went in daylight again to see the Gondolas in the Venetian. So we had a great time!!

USA 2011: day 4-5 Kings Canyon and Sequioa

BIG BIG BIG..... the trees are gigantic!!! Guus's expression was just one of awe: these trees are much larger than all of us all stacked together! Nature at its best. You feel so tiny when you look at those sequioa's of 80-100m and 2000 years old. Amazing that these type of trees only naturally grow in a very small area here in California and only between 5000 and 7000 feet. We have had some great experiences, fuelling up with gas from a very old gaspump still working from 1928, camping on the Crystal Spring campsite in the park in bear country so needing to store all food in bearproof container, some nice drives and walk through really stunning scenery and geology :-) including the icing on the cake: an actual sighting of a Californian brown bear!!!!!

So exciting that we completely forgot the time and made a change to our schedule and changed campsites. Guus and Malou are loving it, the hikes are great and the camperdrives are fine with some help of the occasional movie.

USA 2011: day 2-3 Yosemite

WOW no other words capture this park. What a scenery, we fully understand why Ansel Adams was hooked on this park. From every angle it is different. We are so lucky, due to the large snowfall the waterfalls are absolutely stunning, thundering down, spraying us with ice cold mist and the largest in 70 years!!!!! The kids loved it, we hiked Mirror Lake, Lower Yosemite falls and climbed up to Inspiration point. The occasional hiker we met was surprised 'oh they are real hikers, really lovely', Guus and Malou thought that was funny. Driving in the big 26 long and 10 feet wide RV is easy, roads are wide, and it is really comfy to have a house on wheels.

USA 2011: The big crossing

Finally arrived, local time 16.16 touchdown on american soil in San Francisco. The journey started with an upgrade to business class unfortunately that was only the Amsterdam - Paris leg:-). The kids were great, they won the hearts of all staff, but have to admit personal videosystems are a must for this. Malou watched 'Tangled' four times!!!! Kind of funny as well going to a steakhouse at 3 o'clock at night for a quick bite. Jetlagged off course now, awake at 5 and looking forward to a great holiday!!!

Maat gevoel?

even weggehaald

Star Wars Guus (bijna) 7

De grootste wens van Guus was om het feestje voor zijn 7de verjaardag in het thema Star Wars te houden. Van uitnodiging, battleship taart tot 'speurtocht'. Alles was in het thema. Een geweldig feest, wel een beetje vroeg, tja dat krijg je als de vakantie hier al 10 juni begint. Ik weet niet wie er meer pret het van het hele feestje, de 13 kinderen met alle activiteiten met spin the bottle voor het uitpakken van kadootjes. Top was dat, veel aandacht voor alle kadoos en niet van roesjjj volgende!! Jedi intelligence test, flying test, endurance test, de opdrachten die ze elkaar gaven en de aanmoedigingen. Hilarisch gewoon. Een kleine indruk is hier te vinden.