I have now been here a little bit over a week and it has been quite an intensive schedule I´ve been pulling off around here. We started with my friend Ken from Phoenix and headed to Arizona and Utah national parks for an extended weekend.
We visited all the planned parks: Sunset Crater Volcano, Zion, Grand Canyon and also Coral Pink Sand Dunes which was on our way. Additionally we did short stops at Lake Powell and Horseshoe Bend viewpoints. I can definitely recommend Zion and Horseshoe Bend. Also Grand Canyon is worth of visiting although I liked more detailed Zion better. Sunset Crater Volcano visit failed due to too cold weather (it was snowing!!) so maybe I´ll have to come back there some time again. Coral Pink Sand Dunes was a little bit of a disappointment - pink?
After an intensive national parks tour I headed to Las Vegas for couple of days where I tried to get some taste of the sin city. I walked the strip, gambled some money, saw a show, took the roller coaster at New York New York and saw the famous fountains of the Bellagio. Las Vegas is, like my Hungarian taxi-driver told me, the craziest place on earth. I don´t know for sure but crazy it is. And you need money to enjoy it. Don´t go broke.
From Vegas I took a flight to San Francisco where I spend a few days and visited Alcatraz, Fisherman´s Wharf and took the city tour which included the famous spots like Golden Gate Bridge, Pacific Heights and Haight-Ashbury. I also took a daytrip to Yosemite NP where I had the opportunity to witness the valley view at its best - perfect postcard view (note: you need more than just a one day to really explore Yosemite). I can recommend the Alcatraz visit. Although "audio tour" normally has a bad feeling to it, this one really is a good one. (I booked all my tours in SF via local company called Extranomical and they did a good job if one is looking for a tour company.)
And finally, if one is looking for good place to eat and hang out, Lefty O´Doul´s is a great place for that. It is located just off the Union Square - Turkey and Chicken Marsala were absolutely great.
It is really big as they say, healthy (normal) food is hard to find especially if you are on the road and tips are expected everywhere what makes travelling here as expensive as in Scandinavia. America offers everything for everyone and it definitely has all that a traveler can ask for: great natural wonders and world famous metropolitan areas. In two weeks it is only possible to experience fraction of it but this is always the thing with travelling - there is always more to see. And that is one reason I´m going to keep doing it.
It is cinco de mayo today so we are going to celebrate a bit and go to a Mexican restaurant to have a few margaritas. I´ll upload some photos most likely next week when I get back to Finland.
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We visited all the planned parks: Sunset Crater Volcano, Zion, Grand Canyon and also Coral Pink Sand Dunes which was on our way. Additionally we did short stops at Lake Powell and Horseshoe Bend viewpoints. I can definitely recommend Zion and Horseshoe Bend. Also Grand Canyon is worth of visiting although I liked more detailed Zion better. Sunset Crater Volcano visit failed due to too cold weather (it was snowing!!) so maybe I´ll have to come back there some time again. Coral Pink Sand Dunes was a little bit of a disappointment - pink?
After an intensive national parks tour I headed to Las Vegas for couple of days where I tried to get some taste of the sin city. I walked the strip, gambled some money, saw a show, took the roller coaster at New York New York and saw the famous fountains of the Bellagio. Las Vegas is, like my Hungarian taxi-driver told me, the craziest place on earth. I don´t know for sure but crazy it is. And you need money to enjoy it. Don´t go broke.
From Vegas I took a flight to San Francisco where I spend a few days and visited Alcatraz, Fisherman´s Wharf and took the city tour which included the famous spots like Golden Gate Bridge, Pacific Heights and Haight-Ashbury. I also took a daytrip to Yosemite NP where I had the opportunity to witness the valley view at its best - perfect postcard view (note: you need more than just a one day to really explore Yosemite). I can recommend the Alcatraz visit. Although "audio tour" normally has a bad feeling to it, this one really is a good one. (I booked all my tours in SF via local company called Extranomical and they did a good job if one is looking for a tour company.)
And finally, if one is looking for good place to eat and hang out, Lefty O´Doul´s is a great place for that. It is located just off the Union Square - Turkey and Chicken Marsala were absolutely great.
It is really big as they say, healthy (normal) food is hard to find especially if you are on the road and tips are expected everywhere what makes travelling here as expensive as in Scandinavia. America offers everything for everyone and it definitely has all that a traveler can ask for: great natural wonders and world famous metropolitan areas. In two weeks it is only possible to experience fraction of it but this is always the thing with travelling - there is always more to see. And that is one reason I´m going to keep doing it.
It is cinco de mayo today so we are going to celebrate a bit and go to a Mexican restaurant to have a few margaritas. I´ll upload some photos most likely next week when I get back to Finland.
