Conquering the Far West. Travel in United States of America

This year, after NY, let's go back a second time in the States, but now it's west.
California and the west will visit the parks, from Las Vegas and ending our tour in Los Angeles.
We booked everything ourselves on the Internet: flights (KLM), hotels for each night, the rental car, we covered about 4500 km and 4 were seen (6 if we include Colorado and New Mexico, only touched ...) .
The story is divided by date and will be updated as if anyone has curiosity, questions, please write to us, we will be happy to answer!
Happy reading!

 

Let's go....

We start on time with the KLM flight from Malpensa to Amstedam at 6:28 and landed on Dutch soil after an hour and a half flight.
In Amsterdam there waiting for the flight to San Francisco for 11:10, but we have to wait a bit before leaving because our aircraft is yet to be cleaned: among other things, when we go up, stay a little disappointed with the aircraft, which has no TVs for every seat, but they hung in the hallways ... shame ... what had brought in New York was definitely better, but it was the Northwest.
We are leaving a little late, at 11:30, and after 11 hours of flight, we arrive at SFO at 13:15 local time, but we are ..... 22:15
The trip passes pretty well, I'll get to sleep a little while ago Among the most difficult to sleep.
Finally arrived at the airport of SFO and withdrawn cases, we take a kind of collective taxi (on which, however traveling alone), called Van Door to Door, which for $ 35 brings us to the hotel (at the end the cost is nearly that of a normal taxi).
Our hotel is the Heritage Marina (who strongly discouraged, then you'll understand why) is quite downtown, not far away from Fisherman Wharf, but there is not much at once beautiful, unkempt, even if the room together, while it is not anything special, it is acceptable.
We rest a couple of hours in the room before going out (are now 16:00, but for us it nottefonda) starts at 18 go out.
Walk down the famous "streets of San Francisco" to the Fisherman, along the Van Ness Avenue, the street of our hotel towards the sea and become aware of the existence of these roads, but how do they park their vehicles so inclined? !
After a fifteen minute walk, we reach the sea and we see on the left Godena Gate Bridge: Even if it's a bit far away and with the sun behind him, he already understands the shape and color of the bridge seen a thousand times on TV.
We walk the walk along the sea towards Fisherman pulls where a cold wind! We were told that San Francisco because of its bay, has a rather chilly all year, though that is certainly in the summer for me as chilly, it's really unpleasant, but only cover a little more than usual and the problem is solved!
Fisherman appears before us in all its teeming with people, tourists, shops, restaurants, fast foods, lights and colors ... wander around looking at us and arrive at the famous Pier 39, the most characteristic and yet most vivid of the Fisherman, where, besides the sea lions on the pier that lazily stand (they are many and noisy and sometimes emits strange noises) you can find some of typical symbols Californians, like the legendary restaurant, Bubba Gump, the restaurant inspired by the movie Forrest Gump, which is really nice (complete with gift shop attached) but where we can not eat because there is too much tail.
Then fold back for dinner at Wape Stop, a California-style restaurant, with surfs on the walls: the dinner is good and I taste the kebabs of shrimp that I wanted to take Bubba (but there ripoveremo tomorrow to go there)
We are tired, for us this day lasted 35 hours ..... walking back to the hotel under a cold wind coming from the Pacific and 22 collapsed destroyed.
SFO's first impression is positive, although the fatigue did not allow us to appreciate it to the bitter end tomorrow and after tomorrow we will have enough time to do it.

San Francisco

At 3 am I wake up and I can not go back to sleep!
We hope that the effects of time zone vanish soon, otherwise they will suffer for all the holiday ..
Between calm while sleeping (maybe he did not sleep very well in air ...), I decided to get up at 5, update your diary and decide which route to follow to discover SFO in these two days.
At 7, when even among wakes up, we have a nasty surprise: his left arm is full of red dots accompanied by an annoying itch .. and we can not understand what could treat them.
I think it is an allergic reaction to crab eaten the night before, because it was the only thing "strange" that ate. Between is a little rough, but we just got here, we have so many things to do and see, that we do not give much weight to the thing.
We decided that today we will visit the eastern part of the city on foot, but tomorrow we will take the bike to cross the Golden Gate and go up to Sausalito.
Emerged from the house go on the steep streets of SFO in the direction of the legendary Lombard Street is a normal road but at some point, down a steep descent into eight curve-hairpin, adorned with flower beds and an ideal view of the city.
After the inevitable photos and after seeing that in fact the cars are hard to come down, we continue on foot toward Telegraph Hill, in a continuous steep ups and downs.
We climb up to reach the Coit Tower but not visited, but from where we can have a beautiful view over the Bay Bridge, another and less famous bridge at SFO.
Descending toward downtown, the area of SFO with towering skyscrapers among them by far the Transamerica Pyramid, a pyramid-shaped building rather high el'Embarcadero Center a modern commercial and management that today is Sunday which is desert, but we imagine crowded on weekdays.
Also visited the nearby atrium dell'abergo Hyatt, very spectacular, very modern, very spacious and with a large sculpture in the shape of the ball in the center.
We move then to Chinatown, inevitable in any large city, whose entrance is marked by a beautiful bow Chinese style that defines the boundaries and then we head toward Union Square, the shopping heart of the city, full of designer stores and many brands, including Macy's and Tiffany.
Walk down Market Street and Powell Street, where there is one of the termini of the famous Cable Car to SFO, the old cable cars that move up and down the city and that is a real tourist attraction.
We also note the presence of some through the town Milan, with the entries in Italian ... and I must say that there are some effect ....
In Powell Street take the metro (which we access with a ticket but not directly by inserting coins into a slot) and arrive at the top of the SFO, because we want to go to capture a photo with the famous six sisters, six houses in Alamo Square which seems to be a true architectural gem. In fact most of the houses in the city are steile Victorian, very pleasant to the eye and that helps to make SFO the American city more European.
After walking a while you out, we arrive at the Alamo Square (which is nothing but a field-hill) and we sdraiamo grass to rest and take pictures of the famous houses and live with the afternoon light are very beautiful !
We get then walk towards the ocean to another park, Alta Plaza, and then back to the hotel.
For dinner we decided to go back to Bubba Gump's, where we have to wait half an hour to get a table, so I take the opportunity to turn in the shops of Pier 39 and do some shopping.
Bubba is really on the table of the sign with the scitta "Stop Forrest" and "Run Forrest," signal for the waiters who know if they stop you, or ignore, moreover, all the local television broadcast the movie Forrest Gump .

San Francisco

Today we take the bikes for rent at Fisherman and head towards the Golden Gate and Sausalito; in our plans would also see the goddess of Presidio Park and Golden Gate Park, but we see the extent to which the forces will govern us.
Unfortunately the day is lukewarm and very foggy bicycle on the bike path until GGB ... or at least should be there before us, but it takes some imagination, because of the fog's fault, is not seen nothing 's only signal the presence of the bridge give it sounds like sirens coming from the two piers of the bridge, close up, one after the other, perhaps to signal the presence of vessels (?).. boh!
We continue in our titanic undertaking towards the bridge (I already have the legs to pieces) but nothing, the fog did not want to go through it and so completely enveloped in mist ... only once under the famous red pylons, I can see and photographed in all their splendor.
The mist around us, and is a veritable cloud driven by the wind .. and that wind!
The crossing of the GGB ends in a beautiful yard across the bay: a view of the bridge from here would be excellent if only you could see! It 'true, even with the fog has its charm, but a picture of a gray mass of air is not the best ...
The bridge stands on our right while the bay and the city center remains on the left, with the island of Alcatraz in the middle of the sea!
Take a few moments in the square with panoramic view, with the hope that the fog to go away and make friends with two boys of Sesto (Small world!), Then, as the situation changes, we decided to continue our descent toward Sausalito.
Just go down (the descent is rather steep climb ... who knows how it will help .. ..) to the sea temperature rises, the sun appears and the climate is much better!
Sausalito is lovely: a seaside town, a former little village of fishermen, quiet and very clean ... it seems the ideal place to live! We park the bike and walk around on foot, lunch and then back toward the bridge.
The climb is terrible, as I thought .. and in fact I have to get off the bike because I can not do much more, and so I continue to walk until the bridge reappears in front of us, but the fog, this big white snake, not to mention leave.
Are now 14 so we decide to continue our journey.
Let's take a stroll through the park in the Presidio, very beautiful, very well kept and surrounded by narrow streets and small houses that descivere simply with a "beautiful" is really little, everything clean, tidy, cared for gardens, bike paths, ponds and swans .. . SFO is truly a beautiful city, I must say, well worth a visit!
The bike now has destroyed the legs so we decide to bring back the bikes we had rented for the day.
We walk along the bike path that runs alongside the sea, the temperature rises and the mist vanishes, are now 15 and GGB is completely free of cloud and appears red, in all its beauty! Really a shame not seeing him so close, but it is evident that the morning is not the best moment: better to wait until the afternoon when the fog is now dissolved.
Fisherman once we decide to tackle a long line of people to climb on the legendary cable cars: you can not visit SFO without having at least one ride on these media rack!
After an hour of waiting (there really many people who want to make a turn) just get on cable. I hang out and sit in front of me Between: the cable side, the 'driver', so if we want to call it, a big lever moves back and forth and the cable goes up and down the steep streets of the city is fun, especially hanging out the impression of being on a carousel at the amusement park rather than on public transport.
We get to the terminus of the Powell Street cable in, go down and take a bus back to the hotel.
In the evening we go out to dinner and we eat in the direction of Fisherman local Hooters, a chain of American restaurants known for quite prosperous and scantily clad waitresses, a paradise for all boys!

MONTEREY - 17 MILE DRIVE - CARMEL - PACIFIC GROVE

SFO to leave today to begin our journey on the Road, we leave the Hotel Arli and descend on foot and with luggage in tow, towards the Hertz car rental, where we give a model Chevrolet Cobalt, Blue, and at 9 am and 30 are ready to leave: south to Monterey.
We find a bit of traffic along the highway, so we get to Monterey, which is already noon, parked at Fisherman (although this town has one) and lunch in a restaurant overlooking the sea really nice. To cheer the whole there are also two seals playing in the water and a pair of pelicans that come to perch just outside the window, next to us. It's really a nice place, Monterey, but maybe we will be back tonight for dinner.
At 15, we enter the 17 Miles Drive, fee offers beautiful views of the ocean and that I personally very much reminds the Irish landscape.
There are wonderful views, the famous lone cypress tree, many birds and marine animals, but also beautiful golf courses and lawns and majestic villas hidden by dense vegetation that road is a real gem, no doubt and worth paying the 9 $ that has cost us to see it.
Just outside the path of the drive 17 miles there is a little town of Caramel, a small village, with low houses, with no signs nor traffic lights, only shops and art galleries ... to us it seemed a little fake-tourism and so much we have not dwelt.
We just looked for and found the Mission, but it was already closed, so we sort of look at the gate and then we headed to Pacific Grove, in search of our hotel.
At 18 we arrived at Pacific Grove, the land of butterflies, so named because it seems that spring will arrive very much.
We find our hotel, the Seebreeze Lodge, a type of hotel that we often carry on the holiday: the rooms are all ground floor and all have parking at the door, like Motel.
Let's take a quick ride by car to Pacific Grove, we see the lighthouse and some beaches that are very similar to the landscapes of 17 miles, but the little village in itself does not offer much.
In the evening, for dinner, we decide to go and have dinner again at the Monterey Fisherman, having wandered through the center of the country where you are taking a kind of market with sales mainly in food.
The restaurant is cenaimo Old Fisherman Grotto, which, entering the FISHERMAN, is on the left: a nice place where we ate well and where I ordered it (unknowingly) a salad of raw spinach, which I had never seen, nor even tasted so far! The dish turned out delicious: spinach, walnuts and a sweet and sour sauce that made them delicious, very good!
After dinner we return to the lodge in Pacific Grove: The room is nice and the temperature 18 degrees pan ... just ... but it may be one of the last times that we could enjoy the cool on this trip .. good night!

Sequoia park

Today we are in for a day's drive to reach the Sequoia park, then we get up fairly early. We have breakfast in the reception of the lodge (they have no other blanks), almost to his feet and ask the guy at the reception information on how long it takes for him to reach the Sequoia park, but he makes a silly face and says that there has never state and has not the slightest idea of where it is .... mah! we may have mispronounced the name and did not understand.
However, at 8 and 30 are ready in the car and off we go. Around 10 we make a stop in Los Banos, about halfway and then distributed as follows: to 12 and 30 arrive at Three Rivers, at the park, where we have the hotel.
We decide to stop for lunch in a little bar of the place (in these villages there is really nothing ...) where as we know two little family in Milan who are doing the opposite to our tour, in fact coming from Death valley and headed to San Francisco.
After lunch we head to the park and arriving at 14, bought the Annual Pass at a cost of $ 80 will give us access to visit all the parks of the States (except those on Indian territories) and enter into the Sequoia.
The landscape is mountainous, but is also very hot, which we did not expect, given the altitude and the presence of so much vegetation.
Initially, the road climbs with a few bends and the trees are still "normal", such as those of our mountains, then we had to stop for a while due to roadworks on the road.
Distributed. Curve after curve, the landscape changes, the trees rise and the redwoods appear in all their majesty, we are within the Giant Forest, the domain of the largest trees in the world.
The road leads to the museum of the park, before whom STANZIONE The Sentinel, then go down and do some pictures. Then we take the car to the General Sherman sequoia, the largest, which lies just ahead and can be reached on foot by a path through the woods, and after a bit of walking, finally there he was, surrounded by a lot of photographers, as all star worthy of respect.
Say it is not very impressive, is the largest living thing in the world and even his age of 2500 years or so of all respect.
We take pictures every tree that we meet and following the Congress Trail, a tortuous path through the forest at some point I realize that it's just us, I see other people, just trees ... and if a bear jumps out right now ? The multitude of signs with warnings like "Do not feed the bears," suggests that there are many in the park and do not know how they would react if we saw one ...
Let's go back to the car and as we pass near Moro Rock, a deer crosses the road there, but too fast and I can not photograph it, then continue, hoping to see other animals and we spend with the car on Tunnel Log, a tunnel made out of a redwood tree fell on the road in 1937.
Are now 5, we decide to leave this wonderful park and leave the redwood tree behind us, walking on the road to Three Rivers, but the surprises are not over.
Suddenly the car in front of us slow down and do not understand why, when at one point on the side of the road we see a face emerge black is a bear!
It looks like a puppy, is not very big, comes out with his head on the road and oblivious to the cars of the curious who stop to photograph it, seems to be eating fruit from a plant.
The resumes with the camera, but we do not have time to clicking no pictures because the car behind us, impatient for the downturn, decided to pass them at full speed, passes the bear that gets scared and disappears into the bush ... that sin, but at least the camera has taken over and place it definitely in the video for this holiday.
At 19 we arrive at the lodge, we check in, shower and go out trying to find a place for dinner.
We decide to make a restaurant where the pizza (alternatively there is only one Mexican) and we have dinner in the company of American fans who watch a political debate on TV.
Then back to the lodge and on the way back there a coyote crossing the road!
Are now 11 and still makes a great hot-air conditioning tonight will make us company!

Death Valley

Thursday August 23, 2007 Death valley
Today will be the most grueling stage: as specified by Google maps, takes 6 hours to reach the Death valley, so we wake up very early.
Breakfast is even worse than that of Pacifi Grove: it consists in going to the reception, take a cake made from the basket on the counter, back room and make a fantastic tea or coffee with the coffee steam, but what has become a breakfast American bacon and eggs and cholesterol a go-go??
All right, the positive side of this is that we do in a hurry to eat and soon after we leave the room ready to go.
As already stated the road will be long: the road all daytime towards Death valley, we arrive at Furnace Creek, where we sleep tonight, only late in the afternoon, quindivderemo various points in the valley tomorrow morning, with some cool ... hopefully .
At 8 and 30 parts from Three Rivers, we walk a little way and we are moving away from landscapes of Sequoia until nothing around us: there is nothing, only the desert!
We arrive at Mojave, a village in the middle of the desert of the same name, at 12 and 30, just for lunch. Mojave is what might be termed a real "town" from American Western movies: a road as wide as our highways, a pair of benziani, eight or nine fast food (inevitable, there are everywhere), two buildings that define "housing" seems excessive, hellishly hot ... Do it!
How do we call these clusters "countries", very fit ... if the Americans come and see where we live, I was frightened.
The center of the U.S. that we also see in the following days everything is so: these wide streets, deserted, with nothing around, only asphalt desert and clouds .... and I I keep taking pictures of the street, because for me it's so strange see so much empty space all together, are visions that we are not accustomed ..
However, at Mojave lunch with Dennis, a chain of fast food that we appreciate, because we can eat salads and not just the usual burgers and fries.
At 13 we start over again at 15 and 30 and enter the park Death valley, after crossing a desert of Joshua Tree these strange bushes that are a cross between a tree and a cactus.
The road that leads to Death valley is shocking: no one in the journey that lasts a couple of hours icontriamo maybe five other cars. Before us there is only the road and is a black snake that at one vanishes into nothing, so that the eye sees no end ... it is unbelievable.
Entering the park Death valley is marked only by a sign, there are no rangers to ask the ticket, then the road continues for a while until it begins to descend and enter the real valley.
The thermometer marks 105 degrees the car .... or at least 35 degrees!
We go out to shoot some pictures of hell and nothing in this Charming at the same time, and the feeling is that of being inside an oven: I had never felt so warm, though very dry and windy it truly amazing and reminds me very much Australian desert when we were at Uluru and the Olgas, but now I can not say which of the two cases it was worse.
The first group of houses and lodges we find is stovepipe Wells, shortly after which we find the sand dunes of the same name: they are a spectacle, fine sand, clear, almost white and it would be nice to walk when this temperature would let ...
At 17 and 30 arrive at Furnace Creek, the ranch where we sleep and the temperature is 115 ° F. ... 48 ° Celsius ..... hell: now you understand why the name of this valley.
While we do check in at the reception desk at the ranch, we see a large group of crows, buildings and open with their beaks looking for a little relief is incredile seem statues .. it is obvious that for them, although accustomed to living in this place, the temperature is just bearable.
We go into the room to freshen up a little, but then we decide to leave.
I had read in one of the many travel accounts, which see the path that Artist Drive at sunset is the best time.
So we leave and head towards this path, which is about half an hour from the ranch.
From the main road, take a one-way street on the right and there is more to CIRA twenty munuti immersed in another world: there are only mountains, rocks with colors from red to orange to brown, very beautiful. Ma il tripudio di colori si ha una volta arrivati all'Artists Palette: una roccia che sembra davvero una tavolozza dove un pittore ha mischiato i colori: ci sono sfumature verdi, azzurre, gialle, rosa e marroni, per via della presenza di minerali nella rock. really beautiful with the sunset lighting is perfect.
Will then continue along the path until it comes out again on the main road and photograph the rock, known as Mushroom Rock, but as far as I recall from other photos, he must have broken recently, why is half of what I expected.
You return to the ranch and have dinner excellent steakhouse, very nice and where we ate good meat.
We leave the steakhouse, we take a stroll in the souvenir shop where I buy my cowgirl hat and leave the store when we look at the thermometer on the porch: 48 ° marks yet!
Goodnight ...

DEATH VALLEY - LAS VEGAS

Friday, August 24, 2007 Death valley - Las Vegas
At 6 we wake up, we must take advantage of the fact that there is very hot to see the valley.
After breakfast and check-out parties, at the turn of the Devil's Golf Course, the golf course of the devil: this is an impressive expanse of salt. There are only holes created by the salt and if you sit in silence seems to feel around the noise of the salt that breaks.
Leaving this vast expanse of salt, we continue on the main road to Badwater Basin, the lowest point below sea level in the USA.
It is an immense depression 85 meters below sea level that has a little bit of gloomy: it is salt water, not drinkable, but not poisonous to humans. Although it is early morning car meet two Italians, so we can not godercelo alone, but at least everything is in shadow, so do not die of heat.
Will then continue to Zabriskie Point, where rocks have a different color from the rest of Death: are yellowish-white, seems smeared ice cream on the mountains all around, is a really good show.
The last stop of the valley dela death is the highest point of observation, or Dante's View, so named because from up here really seem to see the hell of Dante: the whole valley is under us, in all its majesty and desolation of a hallucinatory, it seems the moon.
Leaving Death valley, which we liked much anyway, since it is a place quite unique and at 9 am and 30 parts towards Las Vegas.
We left the park across from the one from which we came, and after a few kilometers from the exit of the park, we pass the border with Nevada.
We stop to take a break at Amargosa, in a service station straight out of a Western movie, all clad in wood with a reproduction within the map of Route 66.
After hours of desert and we get nothing in Las Vegas: the traffic increases, casino appear everywhere and the city appears on the horizon ahead of us.
All'Excalibur We go where we will spend this night: it is a hotel shaped like a medieval castle, white with colored towers.
This city is incredible, but I imagined Like this exactly an amusement park for adults, with those crazy hotels that should be seen all if we had the time, and casino and entertainment of all kinds.
Unfortunately the early hours of the LV moved into a first aid clinic where the doctor prescribes antibiotics and antihistamines to Brother to recover from what she calls a true infection: the cause for which we thought we could just be a insect, perhaps fleas remedied hotel in San Francisco (which is why we do not recommend staying).
After this program out, but at least reassuring that we have now seen Among the drugs to take, we stop for lunch all'Harley Davidson Cafe, a club on the strip, in which the bikes are moving along the walls on a kind of track suspended .. that place ....
Destroyed and hot (again, at this hour of the afternoon, approaching the 45 °) back to the hotel: before reaching the rooms at any hotel in LV, you have to pass between the slot machines and gaming tables, crowded on days we come to this.
We rest in the room for a while, then go out and begin to see hotels: some, like the Mandala Bay, Luxor el'Excalibur are connected by a monorail train suspended without driver who goes back and forth trasposrtando people.
Others are linked by bridges, as the New York-New York el'Excalibur or the Bellagio and Caesars Palace.
They are all amazing and especially visit the NY-NY, reproduction of the city with the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge and skyscrapers, the Bellagio, where the spectacle of fountains at night is impressive, the Mirage, the Tresure Island and the Venetian, the most spectacular of all: It plays both inside and outside Venice, with canals and gondoliers singing in Italian and a canopy that gives the impression that it is always these days .... are magnificent hotels, there ' How about ...
We decide to stop right at the Venetian for dinner and eat on the banks of the "canal" in a Mexican restaurant.
Then we come back, but the accumulated fatigue today is so much that you take a taxi: I make friends with the taxi driver of Ethiopian origin who tells us that he was in Italy, in Parma, where he ate the most delicious cheese of his life and we also says that he is amazed at how fast the trains Italians .... a really nice type.

BRYCE CANYON

Today we wake up with a little more calm, and enjoy a good hearty breakfast all'Excalibur.
10 salute to Las Vegas, although in a few days we will return, when we are near the end of our trip, returning from the Grand Canyon.
We leave and enter Nevada, Utah: this they say it was a beautiful and already noticing how the changing landscape, Nevada is very little peasaggistico, just desert, but here there are rocks, mountains and temperatures considerably more pleasant.
On the road to Bryce, we decided to take the detour to the Zion Park: we had plans to see him, for lack of time, but since it is situated exactly on our route and that we advance to Bryce, we decided to go through .
Through it all while remaining on the road 9 and I must say that it was a nice program out: the mountains of Zion has red-orange really beautiful and we pass even under a pair of tunnels and a couple of tunnels dug into the mountain, very specific.
Laciato the park, we resumed our way to Bryce, but it starts to rain, we are hoping to leave the clouds behind and arriving in time to see the Bryce dry.
We arrive at 16 at Ruby's Inn, the country (so to speak) where you will stay tonight and then we go a little later in Bryce, after going through the usual gate with at Rangers.
The road that leads to various vantage points of the canyon is within a forest, but you can not imagine what there is once you cross the trees.
The first observation point where we stop is the Sunset Point; your car and do within walking distance, until the show opens up before us: a huge amphitheater of rocks that seem to stand like so many soldiers in an vast army with gradations of color from yellow to red, through pink and orange is spectacular, perhaps the most beautiful place we've seen so far. Take photos at every step and go down a bit along the path that leads into the canyon and see these wonders up close.
It seems unthinkable that water, wind and sand could create a marvel like this, but there you are.
Let the Sunset Point and head also all'Inspiration Point and then to Bryce Point: all overlook the amphitheater and the scene is truly breathtaking. Unfortunately the clouds and the rain that falls on the horizon do not show the color of the rocks, but if they are already so great, who knows how to look kissed by the sunlight ...
With eyes full of wonder now, back to the lodge we will host for the night: the lady at the reception tells us that at 7 there will be a rodeo nearby and we decide to go.
Just enough time to bring the bags in the room and go out on foot to the place where they make the rodeo: sit in the stands and wait.
There are the boys with cowboy boots with spurs, mountains Bryce red all around, the sun slowly settles on the horizon and a perfect climate-now there is West!
The idyll is broken, unfortunately, with the sudden arrival of a boisterous group of Italian lords, who begin to yell and call from every point of the stairs (the famous lady Mary), so come even mentioned by the other spectators: I irritates me, but because we must always recognize us abroad to be loud and rude??
Fortunately, the show begins and it's fun to see these lads who are doing everything to keep riding horses and bulls, even for a few seconds.
The rodeo lasts about an hour, interspersed with little show for children taught by a clown.
You return to the lodge and restaurant, located across the street: we do a little hastily, hoping to avoid a large group of boisterous Italians and we sit at a table but when we order two beers, the waitress asks us documents.
Documents ????? But they show less than 21 years?? We can not believe, and we think it is a kind of obligation to which it must do (it is the state of Utah Mormons, ok, but they are really as tax and bigots?): We show the passports, you will control and then goes away. I then see if does the same thing with the neighboring tables, but it would appear not: then really thought we were so young?
After dinner and drank our beer (!) There back in the room: a well-deserved rest awaits us after this beautiful and exciting day.

PAGE – ANTELOPE CANYON

At 7 we get, we have breakfast to go to Page.
At 10 we come to Page and is quite hot, even if the sky is crystal clear and we fear that the trip to Antelope Canyon ruin because of the clouds.
Page perceive just arrived in our hotel on the left, but we move towards the center of the country to find the place to organize trips Antelope: we know who are in great demand, so I think earlier you book, the better.
Arrived at the office, which organizes the trips, fully managed by the Navajo Indians (we are within their territory), the guy we talk with tell us that the first places are available for the trip of the 13 and 30, then stops, we looking back, does some calculations with the calculator and in the end there is room for the tour of the 11 and 30. Luckily, I think, because we would not have known what to do up to 13 and 30 and then also because the weather is improving and the threatening clouds come and go.
After booking the trip and pending steps quest'oretta abundant, we decide to go to the hotel to do the check-in. Our hotel is the Arizona Inn and is completely run by Indians: there they check in but do not give us the room, because it is too soon, so we go out and, even with the suitcases in the car, go to your nearest Mc Donald munch on something.
From the square of the Mc Donald, who is rather in something else, like the rest of the interaction, we see the dam and Lake Powell.
To 11 and 20 we present the venue on time: we are getting on their pick ups that have a dozen seats and off we go.
To arrive at the Canyon are a couple of miles outside of Page, then take a dirt road (which is why they use the pick up) and finally arrives amid some rocks until the pick up stop in a parking lot, we go down and see the entrance of the canyon before us: a large crack in a rock.
Unfortunately, as I expected, there are many people, in addition to our trip, even prior to trips that are coming out of the canyon ... and then there's a bustle of people who would have preferred to avoid.
However, despite the crowds we go into the crack of the rock and before us opens a new world: the rock shaped by wind and water has a smooth appearance, many seem scarf hanging in the wind and the colors ... the colors are indescribable .... Red, pink, orange, brown, ocher, sand, the most varied hues that change when light arrives and when she leaves.
I'm holding the camera and Brother is doing the photos and is a continuous trigger a shame that one can not always avoid the heads of people, but even so the photos will be beautiful then.
It is a charming place, should be visited in total solitude to better appreciate and take pictures that do not include other people, which for us now is impossible.
The light and the rocks are strange games, so you see a crying eye, a bird that flies and a bear: the Navajo guide launched the pink sand, which lies on the floor of the canyon, up and the bundle of light entering the other becomes even more clear than ever ..... and evokes something mystical, almost religious.
In the end of the canyon exit the sunlight: the guide tells us that we have 20 more minutes before leaving and then we do what we want.
We, of course, back in the canyon, wonder why everything is there, certainly not outside: the back over everything and shoot still photos, while the light that is just sheer above us, despite the clouds, manages to sneak between rocks and gives us this spectacle of nature, perhaps unique in the world.
At about 13 it starts to Page, with eyes full of wonder now just seen and return to base.
Since it is still early to go to the hotel, we decide to continue our trip along the Colorado River and Lake Powell, so we're going to see a place that intrigues me, a place central to the history of the book I just finished Faletti read.
It dell'Horseshoe Bend, the bend in the shape of a horseshoe that the Colorado River draws its slow flow.
We reach the car park and leave your car: to get all'Horseshoe it must follow a trail of around quarter of an hour, completely under the sun, before it can see.
After the walk, almost completely flat, we come to lean on the edge of the precipice and the huge rock appears in front of us: I must say that it makes a certain effect, both for the overhang we face to know the majesty of the river here has really modeled so much rock as if made.
We take a few pictures, but I think the scenes in the book and then ritornaimo Faletti at the camera: I feel quite faint because of the heat and the sun shining strong, as newly arrived car should I take a moment .. ..
Passing the time "no" depart towards Page and go to the hotel, where at last give us the room: the room is very large, clean and with very high ceilings!
We rest, we are exhausted and the heat is suffocating ....
We wake up the rest who are now already 17 and after a shower, we recover and go out.
We want a ride to the Lake Powell and we move, even if there are gray clouds on the horizon that threaten rain.
We come to the dam on the river, took some photos, while the wind rises and then we go to the lake in fact even here there are rangers who are asking us to pass before entering the lake.
We come to the first village, where you board to make day trips to the lake, do a drive, but came back almost immediately to why Page is starting to rain in earnest.
A Page we have dinner at a steakhouse near the office where you can organize trips for the antelope and then back to the hotel to make the bed.

MONUMENT VALLEY

After breakfast, we leave the hotel: our intention is to make a trip to Lake Powell, Monument Valley to leave in the afternoon, the best time to see her, or with the sunset
We head for the second time towards the lake, but it starts to rain, first softly, then louder and louder we see, so to speak, given the driving rain, a piece of the lake, but then decide to drop it because we are in good through a thunderstorm and it rains so strong that nothing can be seen outside the windows.
We do not know what to do, since it is still early to get to the Monument, but we can not remain under the Flood Page!
So after a quick consultation, we decide it is better to move towards Kayenta, the little town up the street towards the Monument, hoping the rain does not follow us up there.
The trip to Kayenta we do almost everything under the water and reached the goal at 11 and 30; some clouds in the sky opens up and we, hopefully, we make a stop at Burger King for lunch.
As soon as we leave, however, begins to rain does not seem appropriate to see Monument under the water, but what can we do?
I give a look at the map, but I see no alternative to a goal that can keep us busy the day, until the rain stops.
At some point, however, I see on the map and mark the Four Corners, a meeting point where 4 states (Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico) and does not seem far away.
I've seen some before you leave to speak of this point, only the U.S., where the lines (straight lines) of these 4 states come together perfectly: it is nothing of that, but at least it's a curiosity that is worth seeing.
We get to the point of the Four Corners in the water: if we enter (paying no less than 6 dollars) we do a couple of pictures in a hurry and then off again, from Kayenta took us almost two hours to get here, see this metallic square on the ground that indicates states, then return back.
A bit disappointed and depressed due to harsh weather conditions, back to Monument Valley.
Finally, almost arrived at Kayenta, we see before us a bit of sun ... clouds seem to have enough vent and maybe now they will go away permanently.
Are now 15, and then we head towards the entrance of the Monument.
The road leading to Monument Valley is a few miles long and straddles between Arizona and Utah: the first two rock formations that are encountered are The Sentinel, on the right and India Sitting on the left, now illuminated by the sun is peeking the clouds.
Then in the middle of nowhere, the rocks will increase in number until there an indication Street signals the entrance of Monument on the right: he has done and come to the booth where the Indian lady makes us pay the ticket (we are in Navajo territory so our pace is not true) and warns us that, due to heavy rains, the road to the Valley is closed ... what a pity.
But decided to enter the same and arrive at the Visitors Center, after which you can not go but with the guided tours: in short, the Indians organize trips into the valley to see the monoliths by neighbors, but not required to follow, indeed, you can also use their own cars and do their own path, but today, due to rain, it is this second possibility that we are denied.
From the visitor center, however, we can still see the Three Sisters: These three rocks twins, seen in who knows how many western movies, are there before us and shoot lots of photos with this background, while the clouds draw their shadows on the wet ground and the rocks themselves.
They are really beautiful and we are delighted to watch them for a while and admired all around the rocks that rise from the valley, which, in fact, rather than being a valley is a truly boundless plain.
Then, not knowing what to do and not wanting to make the trip with the Indians, we decide to return to the main road and proceed in the direction opposite to Kayenta.
The Monument is also seen from here and, although less well, you can enjoy a splendid view.
Then think about where the photo was taken can I have the desktop on your office PC, but I can not find the exact spot.
At one point, three large rocks, each one unique, are ahead on the road ahead of us and I conjure up an image note: they are! Are the rocks that I tried, but the position does not convince me.
Then continue in the same direction, overcome leaving on our right and then disappear.
I'm almost resigned to not seeing them more, when in fact, almost magically reappear in the rearview mirror now and yes, I recognize the image that I have every day for months before their eyes.
The rocks are there and the road, drittissima, at some point turn sharply to the right .. and I remember the scene in Forrest Gump when he says ".. now I want to go home."
We do the usual photos, but the rocks are in the shadows, so we intend to return there the next morning to take photos with the right light.
Then return to Kayenta, where, apart from some small house and the usual fast-food, there's really nothing.
Come to our hotel, the Holiday Inn and as we check in we notice that the Navajo territory of Utah takes the same time, then one hour ahead of Arizona, where we are. So suddenly we screened an hour later: it's already 19 and after carrying our luggage in the room, back to the hotel restaurant for dinner .. also because we have no alternative .... the little village does not seem offer much.
We have dinner at your leisure (no beer, why not have mah ..) and make friends with an old American of Spanish origin, traveling with his wife and daughter.
This gentleman is really nice, it seems an American actor, those emerging from a Western movie: probably inspire sympathy, so that tells us that he traveled throughout Europe and good knowledge of both Italy and Spain.

GRAND CANYON

At 9 and 30 (Navajo time) and after breakfast (no sugar, because there is not more ...) starting from Kayenta to Grand Canyon, the last step "in the nature of this trip.
At 10 we get to the town of Tuba in the middle and we get to 11 in the Grand Canyon National Park, east entry: usual cage encounter a ranger sympathetic with the realization that we are Italians, we proudly shows her tattoo on her left arm: a horse with red under the word "Ferrari"!
The park is located where the Grand Canyon is truly immense, full of tourists like never before, but surprisingly green is a real forest, with deer and squirrels, but we imagine it rocky and barren.
The first point of observation to see is the Desert View: Canyon appears for the first time our eyes like a cliff that you do not see the end, and is very suggestive.
Then come back to the car and go on a visit to the other vantage points that we encounter on the road: Moran Point, Grand View Point and the last busy Mother Point and all offer a fairly wide and striking visual of the Canyon.
13 to arrive at the Grand Canyon Village, the agglomeration of hotels and lodges (including ours) which stands on the banks of the Canyon, here at the South Rim.
Lunch at the self service of our hotel, the Maswik Lodge and we check in, then we rest a little room.
At about 15 we go again, I decided to explore the Canyon in some other way than the usual view from one of the many vantage points that, in fact, does not satisfy us that much.
Party decided to walk down the Rim Trail, the path that runs along the cayon and that seems to suit our legs by tourists not too trained, but soon we realize that the view is always the same, that already seen in the morning and reviewed by other vantage points.
The alternative would be to descend into the canyon on foot or by donkey, but here the guides advise against doing it all in one day, then we certainly are not as athletes want to be groped the company.
So we think that the only alternative would be to see the Canyon from above by helicopter.
The Village, where we are now, do not make trips by helicopter, you must exit the park and go to Tusayan.
So off we went, thinking it will be difficult to find a place anyway, since it seems that the trips should be booked months in advance to be sure to find a place.
We left the park and arrive in 10 minutes at Tusayan, where they struggled to find the airport, we arrive, we enter, we ask if they are there and we had two seats on the flight leaving at 16: 50, that is exactly 10 minutes later! ! We are thrilled and incredulous .... but really so soon? No time to get used to the idea and we are sull'elicolttero ready to go, we and four other young Germans.
They make me sit right next to the pilot, wearing headphones helicopter slowly detaches from the ground and takes off more and more.
I see the trees below me grow up a lawn of grass and after a few minutes in the distance, the "lawn" ends and begins the rock in less than no time we're in the canyons, the cliff is below us and I get a shiver down my spine, I do not know if the fear of being suspended in air or for the thrill of the spectacle of nature that lies beneath my feet!
The helicopter tour takes about 30 minutes and is really beautiful: Colorado finally see the slide on the bottom of the canyon and seems like a trickle of water, while the rocks around us take on different shades of color, so they seem painted a painter.
Satisfied with our tour, we return to base and buy the photo with both of the Papillon diplomino stating that we were the protagonists of this fantastic experience, to do at least once in their life (but only once, seen what it costs!)
Satisfied with our tour (even if I never get angry when I find that the headphones do not work and so I missed the whole explanation, ufff ...) back into the park and decide what to do for dinner.
After the usual family consultation, we decide to go back to Tusayan and we have dinner at the famous steakhouse Yippee-Ei-O! A nice place, where we eat good meat served by waiters with hair and shirt by real cowboys!

LAS VEGAS

9 am: leave the Grand Canyon and we head towards our penultimate stop, Las Vegas.
We return after a few days of fun in the city because it's a good foothold close to a number of natural parks and also serves to rest and let us pamper you in the beautiful hotels.
Following the road south of the Grand Canyon and we pass from Williams and we do lunch in Kingman, from Dennys.
At 14, after a long desert after crossing the dam, Hoover Dam, back in Nevada and arrive at 15 in Las Vegas.
This time we sleep at Luxor, another hotel truly spectacular: we sleep inside the pyramid and our room has a wall angle.
We spend an hour in the pool at Luxor, very nice, to try to beat the heat, then get out.
We immediately notice how there is a lot less people around now than weekend and how this allows us to walk more quietly.
We usually ride to the hotels and this time we see Paris, the Caesar Palace and the Bellagio again.
Vegas is a city that needs to be seen, no doubt about it, but to us that we returned for the second time, already seems to know how our pockets.
We have dinner in Paris where I eat a great "fish soup" in the French, then on the way back to the Luxor, we take the train dall'Excalibur by mistake and end up inside the Mandala Bay: we give a quick look and then back toward the our room through a passage that connects the two hotels.

Los Angeles

We wake up at 8 and 30 and leave Las Vegas and Nevada back to California, toward Los Angeles.
We crossed the Mojave Desert and we stop to Baker for a pause, then resume the direction Calico.
We arrive in Calico at midday under a blazing sun: the entrance to the town is paid, after which you enter the town proper.
Calico is a real town in the far west, but restored the original: the filming for a while, though, given the multitude of tourists, it seems more false than true.
We leave to LA, but we decide to walk a little piece of the legendary Route 66: take the detour to Lenwood and we exit the street.
Although this is a piece of American history is a road as the rest, rather lonely and isolated, except that every so often there is a road sign or a sign that reminds us where we are. Especially good we found a graveyard of bottles, literally hanging from poles, a kind of open-air museum, a form of art "dedicated to the memory of those who lived and who died on the mother of tuttti the streets"
After having walked the whole stretch of Route 66, we exit again on the 15 freeway to Los Angeles.
We come to LA at 14, but the highway is quite busy, there are many people and so much traffic, so that we arrive in Santa Monica who are now 16 o'clock.
We walk along Lincoln Street to Marina del Rey, until we find (at least, we think we have found) to our hotel and once at the reception, however, the Lord tells us gentilmenet the hotel that you have booked is the Marina del rey International, while they are the Marina del Rey Hotel.
Too bad, we think, given that this hotel was really nice, on the dock at Marina del Rey.
The form also tells us where we find our hotel, that in seeing you there, not very far and is still nice.
After taking possession of the room we go to Santa Monica.
Arriving on the promenade in Santa Monica, parking in the underground car park of a hotel and then do u ride on the seafront, very nice, with freshly cut trees and grass ... but full of bums.
Walk the pier to the end, where is the fun fairs and small shops of souvenirs, as well alcuninpescatori that pesacno directly into the sea.
Then we decide to take to the beach and we relax a little bit of California sun on the beach in Santa Monica, near the huts of Baywatch and surrounded by a lot of seagulls.
We spend so few hours in the afternoon, then head back towards the waterfront and we go into town.
Santa Monica has a nice downtown with a pedestrian area, where it is pleasant to walk and where there are several shops, including that of Apple, where we slingshot to use the Internet and check email.
Then decide to dine at an Italian restaurant, "Lakeside", where we meet Pasquale, a former bank moved to California to Neapolitan love or money, do not we understand we do not understand .... and other things that he tells us, since it contradicts itself more than once.
On leaving the restaurant after an excellent dinner of Italian cuisine, we walk until we reach the car and go back to the hotel.

LOS ANGELES

After a slow breakfast at the hotel (slow because the waiter, alone, has taken so long to serve us), we go out to LA to explore by car.

In Santa Monica and we go from there take the eponymous boulevard that goes through downtown and then comes in Beverly Hills.

The famous district, also made famous by a TV film that has characterized my childhood, is just like you see in the movies, clean and orderly so as to seem a little fake.

Parked in an underground car park and then we walk to the famous Rodeo Drive is a beautiful street with shops, almost all brands of Italian, but deserted at this hour, maybe because it's early.

From Rodeo Drive, then, one slips into Via Rodeo, a part of the same pedestrian street, very pretty, with nice shops, benches and lamp posts bloom.

Leaving the Rodeo Drive Beverly Hills and we are moving towards the car we take a tour of the beautiful villas of this district famous throughout the world. Some houses are very beautiful, but some are truly spectacular: well-kept gardens, all clean .. and they only see some gardener who was cleaning or some group of builders committed to building new luxury homes.

Let Beverly direction along the Sunset Boulevard Hollywood, and we arrive shortly after the district of star.

Actually it's not much, it's a bit disappointing and the evening seems to be poorly attended, perhaps it will be on TV really seems bigger, but the Hollywood Boulevad is a somewhat anonymous way, with the stars on the sidewalk.

The stars are many, each with a name of a character made famous by the film or other areas of the entertainment world and occupy both sides of the pavement.

In the square in front of the Chinese Theater, at which the first film, there are footprints in the cement of the hands and feet of the most acclaimed stars of Hollywood: we too are putting their hands in a photo impressions of the VIPs, but only for some second, because the asphalt is hot.

After our stroll in Hollywood, we decided to approach the famous inscription on the hill to photograph better.

We follow the signs read in a travel story, but we get lost in the alleys of Hollywood Hills and we lose sight of the writing itself.

It's amazing how these hills are so close to the city, and how the streets are intersected with each other!

Obviously we're shooting a little vacuum in the tangle of narrow streets, until we see the words: stop, do your photograph taken and then, following a car that seems to know where it's going (unlike us!), Back on the road main.

It is at this point that we realize that to get the word ...., just follow the street turning left after crossing over some Chinese Theater: The Hollywood sign will appear straight ahead, then decide what you get closer to photograph .

Are about 14 and we have seen everything there was to see in Los Angeles, or at least all that interested us.

So we decide to pay a visit to Universal Studios, which is not very far away.

We come and do a tour of the studios in the non-genuine, but among the shops and restaurants that are around there.

The visit to the part where you find her movies avoid it, because the cost seems very excessive, so we decide to head towards the beach in Malibu.

Then return to Santa Monica, thence along the seafront until Malibu .. but there's a lot of traffic (for an accident, then find out!) And we arrivaimo after more than an hour since we left the studio.

In Malibu, in reality, we can not see much: the houses are on the side of the sea, occlude each step the public, but making it virtually private beach, only a small corner first and then stopped on the way, we can see the beach and the inevitable surfers who are still a lot of time waiting for the right wave.

Having given this brief look at one of the most famous beaches in the world, we head back to Santa Monica and then we go another way creature: Venice Beach.

This beach is famous for the types that inhabit this strange hippies, people who do not seem to have a home, all muscle and other strange types who do not know whether to call an artist or crazy ... and among others we also met a type unfortunately strongly malformed, no legs that moved according to his stomach on a skateboard.

However, no, maybe because it's too late, because we are already at sunset, the types muscular display of its products that are physically located in the open gym on the beach.

That evening we eat in a restaurant in Marina del Rey, just outside the hotel, then go back and start packing, and tomorrow we go home!

We go home..

01 September 2007 SATURDAY BACK HOME

Ale 9 left the hotel at the airport, where we leave the car at Hertz and then reach the terminal with a bus.

At 11 we start from Los Angeles, a bit 'late, on a really small plane with two seats on one side and only one on: ipiloti are very young and very possibly the first flight and there is only one hostess.

We arrived at noon in San Francisco for 23 games and 15th Amsterdam: the flight takes 9 hours and it arrived in Holland at 9 and 23 Sunday morning, right on time.

Then take the flight to Malpensa at 12 and 55 and arrive after an hour and a half low at home ...