The American West + Toronto (Canada)

1st day – Rome/Frankfurt/Toronto

Departure at 06:55 a.m. for Toronto (Canada) from Fiumicino airport. We go to my father's house for dinner time, so we don't risk waking up late. We sleep, or at least we try because the excitement is really a lot, until 3:30 a.m.. I jump up for fear it was late. We get dressed and all go to the airport (me, Flavio, my father and my brother). There was only us...a sight!!! We go to check-in, hand over the luggage and look for the gate. The excitement was very strong, I couldn't contain myself! I was nervous about the long journey to face by plane and at the same time happy because I had been planning to go to the States for a lifetime. My heart was at 2000 and I felt like fainting. A sensation like that I had only felt a few days earlier during my wedding.

It was enough to see Flavio at the altar to make me faint! heheehhe Luckily at the airport I managed to hold on, but it took a lot of strength! We flew with Lufthansa to Frankfurt and as usual, "luck" wanted us to end up near the wing. An hour's delay, but we still arrived in time to catch the connection to Toronto. It was a crazy race, also because Frankfurt airport is huge, but fortunately the staff is very kind and the signs are quite precise. Here I am again seized by panic. I started crying like a child, because I knew I wouldn't survive 9 hours on a plane (I thought it was like the Rome/Frankfurt one with turbulence towards the end). And instead, what a plane!!! Air Canada is truly an excellent company. A spectacular plane (and who has traveled so many hours?), huge with many comforts. Super comfortable seats, a TV on every seat back, pillow and blankets.

In short this reassured me a lot! You can tell I've never traveled! Here too for our "luck" where do we end up? Just behind the wing. Well, 2 out of 2 is a good average! We arrive at Toronto airport which is really beautiful. Fortunately the luggage arrived with us?. We look for the person who was supposed to pick us up at the airport and who would be our guide for all 3 days (at least that's what we understood) and instead no luck. We wait an hour in vain, so we try to call from the cell phone, but it doesn't work! We look for a phone booth and can't get a line even from there. In short, I was going crazy and in the end we go to the Information Center and a very kind guy lets us call from his phone. Moral of the story, the lady was at home and would contact us the next evening for the Toronto tour, in short we had to do everything on our own.

At this point it was much better this way! We take a taxi, or rather the Limo driven by an Arab. We pay 55 Canadian $ (trip + tip) and arrive at the hotel. We check in and go to our room! The room is huge, clean and with a view of the skyscrapers. It felt like being in New York. We freshen up a bit and go down to the Hall. We ask for a map of the city and have them tell us which are the most beautiful places to see. While we're at it, we have them book the tour to Niagara Falls for the next day. On foot we head towards the CN Tower, the tallest tower in the world. We buy the ticket (43.98 Canadian $ for two) and take the elevator to the top! A spectacular view! We turn 360° and see all of Toronto and Lake Ontario. The tour continues and we go to a point where there's a glass floor.

It really makes an impression to walk and look down from a height of 553 meters! We also have our photo taken for the modest sum of 23 Canadian $. We do a tour of the shopping center and go out. We see the Rogers Centre (Skydome) a huge baseball stadium. We continue our tour strictly on foot and look for the famous Yonge St., the longest street in the world. We walk a lot with map in hand, but no luck we can't find it. We take lots of photos and therefore go in search of the Eaton Centre, the largest shopping center in Toronto. After a lot we manage to find it and without meaning to we also manage to find Yonge St.. Anyway, the shopping center is really huge, in the basement there's even the subway station. Incredible!!!! We have dinner with fries, cola and hot dogs, take one last evening tour and go to the hotel dead tired. I collapsed almost immediately.

Tomorrow the tour to Niagara Falls awaits us, booked earlier at the hotel.

2nd day – Niagara Falls

At night we can't sleep much due to the time zone. Wake up at 6:30 and off to have breakfast at the legendary Starbucks where we get 2 medium coffees (they give you an enormous cup) and 2 cherry muffins (super heavy). Our stomachs still aren't used to this type of food, besides we're coming off a super detox diet that lasted a good 3 months. We go back to the hotel and at 8:30 sharp the coach arrives to take us to Niagara Falls. Our group consisted of only 9 people (including me and Flavio). Unfortunately the weather isn't great, cloudy with the threat of rain. At around 10:30 we arrive at the falls. We stop to take some panoramic photos and it starts to rain. But it doesn't last long fortunately! We head, still by coach, to the entrance of the "Maid of the Mist", the famous boat that takes you right under the falls.

We buy the ticket (included in the organized tour ticket) we take the blue raincoat and get on the boat. Angy also came with us, a Mexican girl who was part of our group. The upper level was already full of people so we had to go down to the lower floor which was perhaps better because we got less wet. Armed with camcorder and camera we start taking photos and videos like crazy. We got soaked with so much water, but it was so beautiful. We also met a family of Italians. After getting off the boat me, Flavio and Angy went for a nice walk among the shops and attractions of Niagara Falls. It felt like being in Las Vegas or at an amusement park.

Everything is huge, shops, cars, food! We stopped to eat in a sort of mc donald's (Wendy's, which then turned out to be the best overall tied with Burger King) very nice and clean and I must say we ate well (even though by now the diet has gone out the window!). At 15:00 we had an appointment with the rest of the group at the coach stop, to go see a small shop where they produce wine. As soon as we arrive at the coach stop, it starts to rain. Well what can I say, we were very lucky, by now the tour was almost over! The little wine shop wasn't great. They had us taste white, red and rosé wine. I didn't like the red, the other two yes! At this point the coach takes each of us back to our respective hotels.

It was a beautiful day, apart from the weather, and besides having seen the falls (I imagined them bigger and more beautiful honestly) we met Angy, a very nice Mexican girl with whom we exchanged emails. The tour in the end cost 105 Canadian $ each and includes transport to and from the falls to the hotel, the "maid of the mist" boat and the visit to the shop where they produce wine. In the evening we stayed at the hotel because outside it was raining and very windy. We were dead tired, we didn't have dinner and I even went to sleep dressed. Tomorrow the real honeymoon awaits us and we can't wait. First stop, San Francisco.

3rd day – Toronto/San Francisco

Finally the day has arrived. Departure for SF. Wake up as usual at all hours of the night. The time zone is a mess!!!! We download the photos and videos onto the laptop and burn everything. More than anything we do it for fear of the metal detector which could demagnetize the cards. We always have breakfast at starbucks (by now for me it's a myth), but this time we get the coffee in the small cup (tall) and two banana, chocolate and cinnamon cakes (always super heavy). After a bit, the waitress arrives who offers all customers a small cup of cappuccino with cream and a small banana cake. What a sight!! We go back to the hotel, have them call us a taxi and go to the airport. It was a bit late, we took it a bit too easy. Our flight was at 11:55 and we left the hotel at 9:15. There was a bit of traffic, but we still arrived in time.

We check in, fill out a lot of forms (they even take our fingerprints and a retina photo...like in the movies) and finally we board right on time. We fly with Air Canada this time too. We encountered quite a bit of turbulence during the journey, but in the end we arrived safe and sound this time too. We take the shuttle (booked from Italy from the site that takes us directly to the hotel. We settle into the room which honestly we expected a bit nicer, given that the hotel is Japanese (Hotel Nikko). We freshen up, take the city map in the hall and start the tour. We are struck by the fact that we have everything within reach, buses, cable car, shops, etc..

Patrizia, from the travel agency was really good!!!! The hotel in the end won't be great, but we only have to sleep there anyway, the important thing is that it's in a central spot! We have lunch, so to speak because it was 16:00, in a Mexican restaurant below the hotel and then, as our first destination we decide to go see Columbus Av., the street of the Italians and we get there strictly on foot. Indeed it's full of Italian restaurants, a bit Americanized. A Sicilian restaurateur even stops us to ask if we had already chosen the restaurant for the evening. We continue always on foot and finally arrive at the famous Fisherman's Wharf. Beautiful and full of people. It was 17:00 and with the sunlight about to set it was truly romantic. We take lots of photographs and go straight to Pier 39 to see the sea lions and the little shops, including the famous "Bubba Gump".

The day is, meteorologically speaking, stupendous. Lots of sun and little wind. We continue our walk on the seafront and arrive at Pier 43. Tired from the journey, but happy we head back on foot to the hotel. San Francisco is full of ups and downs, with absurd slopes. We arrive at the hotel dead tired. We take the Mexican dinner to the room, again from the same restaurant as the afternoon, but only Flavio because my stomach still has to get used to the American food! We download some photos onto the pc and go to sleep. The next morning San Francisco in all its beauty awaits us!

Day 4 – San Francisco

We get up at 6:30 and after a nice shower we get ready to face a very long and very full day. First of all we buy the "Priority Pass" ticket which is valid for a whole day and with which we can take all the buses, shuttles, cable cars in San Francisco. It costs 11 $ per person. So, we immediately take the famous "cable car" from the Market St. terminus which takes us directly to Fisherman's Wharf. We look for a place to have breakfast and who do we meet along the way? The legendary IHOP. I couldn't believe it, the first real American breakfast. We order a plate with sausages, bacon, eggs, potato frittata. In addition, but still included in the price, I get the french toast and Flavio the pancakes. To drink instead we take the usual American coffee which I like very much. We resume our tour, but this time on a full stomach, and head towards Pier 33 to book the trip to Alcatraz.

Unfortunately the tickets for the day were all sold out. If we wanted, there was room for 9:00 the following day. I burst into tears because I was convinced that the next day we had to leave for Yosemite. I try to convince the girl behind the counters with tears, but no luck. We take the tickets anyway for the next day (52 $ for two) and decide to go to Herz, which fortunately is across from the hotel, where we rented the car for our whole trip. We wanted to know if it was possible to pick up the car that same evening, so as to go the next day to Pier 33 on our own and as soon as the tour was over we would go to Yosemite. Anyway, between one thing and another the car wasn't ready, or rather it was there but without the GPS. While talking we keep hearing "sunday" from the lady. We didn't understand why.

Moral of the story, I notice from the voucher that we were supposed to pick up the car on Sunday and not Saturday. I apologize two hundred times and it felt as if someone had lifted a weight off my stomach. With the fact that in Toronto we only stayed 2 days, I didn't remember that instead in San Francisco we were supposed to stay 4 days and 3 nights. So, we go back to the hotel relaxed and resume the tour finally more at ease. We take the bus again, but this time the n° 28 still using our pass bought in the morning, to go to Alamo Square. It starts to get a bit chilly and a strong wind picks up. San Francisco is very windy and quite cold! We arrive at Alamo and see first of all the "7 sisters", the Victorian houses photographed by the whole world. It's a truly wonderful neighborhood, it looks like our "Parioli" in Rome.

A very well-kept garden, very clean and very green, with a part dedicated to dogs. From here we take bus n° 28 again and arrive at the Japanese Tea Garden. It looks a bit like our Villa Borghese, anyway it's beautiful. To enter you pay 5 $ per person. Towards late afternoon we take the bus again, n° 29 and go to the Golden Gate Bridge. Spectacular!!! There's a beautiful viewpoint to take photographs. The wind is always strong and it's also a bit chilly. After all the ritual photos, we take bus n° 28 again to return to Fisherman's Wharf, but the driver drops us off a few miles earlier, that is near Ghirardelli Square. At first we almost cursed him, but then he made us discover a scenic route that takes your breath away. Too bad it was almost 18:00 and the sun was setting, but the photos still came out well.

In practice we passed through Fort Marton park, we saw the Golden Gate Bridge again in all its splendor, but this time frontally (spectacular!) and the island of Alcatraz which seemed to be just a step away from us and in the end (still on foot) we arrived at Ghirardelli Square. We stop near Pier 43 and take the cable car to the hotel. We eat something in the room and go straight to sleep. Tomorrow the visit to Alcatraz awaits us.

5th day – San Francisco/Alcatraz

Wake-up at 6:00 and ready for the trip to Alcatraz. We have breakfast directly at the bar on Pier 33, where you catch the ferry to the island. By 8:30 we were already in line for boarding. Americans are uniquely precise. The ship was supposed to depart at 9:00, and at 9:00 sharp we departed. Same with the line. A mile-long line, but in an instant we were already on the ship! The day is gorgeous again today and it was less hot than yesterday! We get off the ship and start the guided tour with map in hand and headphones with the explanation in Italian. The penitentiary is really beautiful. It makes quite an impression to see these places in person!! The tour lasted 2 and a half-3 hours. Back on dry land we decide to see "Aquarium of the Bay". The ticket cost $31.90 for two. It was quite nice.

On the underground floor, then, you pass through a transparent tunnel where lots of fish, rays, small sharks, etc. swim. It's lunchtime now, so we stop at Pier 39 and eat at one of the many little restaurants. At 15:00, since we didn't know where to go because Twin Peaks was too far, we decide to take a nice trip to Sausalito. We buy the ticket which costs $19 per person round trip. We leave at 15:30 and arrive at Tiburon, but only in passing. We take photos from the ship. It's beautiful. All wooden little houses that look fake they're so cute, with a very green and well-kept little lawn on the waterfront. We set off again toward Sausalito. Here we get off and take a walk along the waterfront. Here too, all wooden little houses and villas. It looks like a postcard it's so beautiful! Departure was scheduled for 18:00, with arrival at Pier 39 at 19:00.

After that, we look for Denny's to have dinner, even though I wasn't very hungry. Unfortunately we can't find it, so we take the bus again to go back to the hotel. We stop at a sort of Burger King (Carl's Jr) and bring everything to the room as always. Dead tired, we go to sleep because tomorrow a beautiful day awaits us too, especially because we have to drive the car for the first time. Luckily Hertz is right across from the hotel, so we don't have to waste time with the suitcases.

6th day – San Francisco/Yosemite

Wake-up as always at 6:00. We sort out the suitcases, check out, and go have breakfast at Starbucks which is right inside the hotel. This time we get the frappuccino, but we didn't know it had ice. These Americans put ice in everything. They actually have ice bins. Anyway, we go back to the hotel, grab the suitcases, and cross the street to go to Hertz. They had advised us to go about an hour early because of the line of people. We arrived at 9:00 and luckily there was no one. After the paperwork, they hand us the keys and we go to the garage. We see the car and it's beautiful. A metallic gray Mazda 6. Roomy and comfortable. The 2 large suitcases and the trolley fortunately fit in the trunk (we had been really worried). Flavio practices a bit with the controls, we set the navigator to Italian, and we set off toward Yosemite.

Driving these cars with automatic transmission is a sight to behold! As always we get lost and get on the highway. After paying $4 for the highway, I get the doubt that the navigator no longer had the route in memory. We turn at the first cross street and make the navigator recalculate. Luckily after a while we manage to get back on the right road, but we lost a good hour. Along the way the landscape changes completely. Beautiful with very high mountains and the road that followed the path of the winding Merced River. We finally arrive at the hotel, the Cedar Lodge. Nothing special, packed full of Mexicans (and we had even worried about swine flu). The room is huge, but it's not very clean. In short, we didn't like it at all, but fortunately we only had to stay one night.

We freshen up quickly and go right away to the Yosemite View Lodge, which is the hotel where I had read that the excursions for the park departed from. They only tell us that the park entrance is just a little further ahead and that's it. By now it was 16:00 and it was a bit late. We take the car and enter the actual Yosemite. We stop in front of the actual entrance with the ranger in the booth who gives us the park map and a receipt telling us that today the entrance was free. We think, how lucky!!!!! We set off looking for where the parking lot with the buses for the tours was. But no luck, we can't find anything. The landscape, however, is breathtaking. We stop constantly to take photographs. After a while we get a doubt.

But could it be that here we have to do everything on our own with our car? It was also a bit late, 17:00, and we thought we'd never make it in time to see everything. Also because I was absolutely looking for the viewpoint with the Yosemite Valley, which I couldn't find. So we think of coming back the next morning, but with the organized tour. We continue our route by car and every now and then I take a look at the Routard guide (truly very useful, I don't think a better guide than this exists!) to see if it said anything interesting. Well, I read that Glacier Point was beautiful to see at sunset. We had almost reached sunset and so we decide to follow the advice. And thank goodness we did, because along the way what do we come across? The famous viewpoint of the valley that I was looking for, with the Vernal Falls, El Capitan, and Half Dome.

With the sunlight almost at sunset, the park is a wonderful thing. The bright colors and the crystal-clear air! We couldn't have picked a better time of day. We take lots of photos and continue our tour. To get to Glacier Point it takes about an hour and the road is quite winding, but in the end it was worth it. The Routard guide was right. At sunset the spectacle is breathtaking. The valley opened up before our eyes in all its splendor. You could also see the Sierra Nevada range with the snow. We decide to go back to the hotel. By now we had seen the whole park on our own and so we decide not to do the tour the next day. We reset the route on the navigator and as always we misunderstand. But it was a stroke of luck because we enter a parking lot with the Vernal Falls right in front. We had found the path to get right under the falls. A spectacle never seen before.

It was really close to sunset and the mountain peaks were lit up in fiery red. The falls from below were very tall and with the wind the water spray cooled us off. We decide to go back to the hotel, but this time for real. It starts getting dark and the park is all dark. We absolutely must remember to go the next day to get gas at the only gas station located near the Yosemite View Lodge. We have dinner right at this hotel, because we read that there's a Pizza Restaurant. Surely super expensive, since there's only that hotel there (besides ours, which didn't convince us much). For two enormous pizzas and two Coca-Colas, $44.10. We almost had a heart attack, but we should have expected it! While we were there we also go to check out the laundry room, but unfortunately it didn't have a dryer. Never mind, we go back to the hotel and sleep in really uncomfortable beds.

Tomorrow the Giant Sequoias of Sequoia N.P. await us.

7th day – Yosemite/Visalia

Wake-up always at 6:00 in the morning. We check out and go again to the Yosemite View Lodge because Flavio remembers that the dryers are there and so we can do the laundry. We change money (25 cents x 4 for the washer which lasts 25 minutes, while 25 cents x 3 for the dryer which lasts 45 minutes) and do our first load of laundry. Ah! First of all, we had to buy detergent because they don't provide it. Luckily everything went well (even though the clothes seem a bit tighter to us). While we waited we had breakfast with a soft and very heavy cookie and instead of the usual coffee we got a white chocolate cappuccino. Also very very heavy!!! We leave the hotel at 11:00 (too late unfortunately) and go get gas. A very kind lady gives us a hand, but in the end it was very simple. We finally set off toward Visalia.

We arrive at the hotel at 14:00 and it was too late for the visit to the Sequoia Park. At the reception they couldn't find our reservation. We almost had a heart attack, but in the end everything worked out fine. The room is beautiful and huge. The hotel in general is stunning. It's the Comfort Suites. Next to it there's even a huge parking lot for cars. Inside the hotel (if only we had known earlier) they also have a laundry room and a fitness center. Given the time, we decide to take a walk and see the little town, since it's very cute. We'll go to the Park tomorrow morning early with no rush. At the reception they give us a very useful map of the town's shops and restaurants (it's really well made). In the evening we decide to buy something and eat in the room because the town was cute yes, but it didn't seem very safe to us.

I manage for the first time to call home with Skype and also to connect to the internet for free (until now the connections were all paid. In this hotel, on the other hand, it's free). Tomorrow we set off for the Sequoia Park. They say you get there in 30 minutes by car. We'll see!!!

Day 8 – Visalia/Sequoia N.P.

This time we have breakfast at IHOP with the typical pancakes, strawberry crepes, bacon, eggs, potatoes, and sausages. A really heavy thing. The coffee, though, was good. We leave stuffed like balloons and set off for Sequoia N.P. In 30 minutes you reach the entrance of the visitor center. This time we get the National Park Pass for the modest sum of $80 (it lasts 1 year and allows entry to all paid federal protected areas). Then it takes another half hour to reach the actual park. The road is full of hairpin turns, but the scenery is beautiful. Of sequoias, though, not even a shadow. At a certain point, who crosses the road? A nice little brown bear cub. Unfortunately, due to the excitement, I can't get it on video, only a few blurry photos.

Unfortunately we only managed to see that one bear, oh well it's already a lot, these things happen once in a lifetime! Anyway, it was a nice experience! Squirrels, on the other hand, there are in industrial quantities. The first sequoias start to appear. They are enormous and have a light/dark brown color and look like they were drawn. We reach the first trails. We follow, always by car (the nice thing about these parks is that you can decide whether to visit them on your own with the car or take the frequent internal shuttles), the signs that lead us to the General Sherman parking lot. We park and do the walk on foot (at first all downhill, but then on the way back...). We arrive in front of the Sequoia and it was enormous! The usual obligatory photo and we set off on other trails. Luckily there weren't many people.

We get back in the car and look for the spot where the "Tunnel log" is, the sequoia that you can drive through with the car. We find it because you just follow the signs for Moro Rock and anyway the map the ranger had given us at the beginning was also very useful! We arrive at the Tunnel log, here too the obligatory photo with the car inside the opening, and then we head toward Moro Rock. We were curious to know what we could see. We park and discover that to see Moro Rock you have to climb the whole mountain and get to the top. We decide to take it on. We start with the staircase that's not too steep, but then it gets narrower and steeper. The panorama is spectacular, we're definitely higher than Glacier Point. We take lots of photos and videos. We finally reach the top and we're left breathless. A 360° spectacle.

After that, we go down and get back in the car heading toward Bakersfield. It was 15:00 and considering it takes at least two hours, it was better to leave. The landscape changes completely. It becomes almost desert-like. We arrive at the hotel (Best Western Hillhouse, nothing special) and the heat is suffocating. It feels like having a hairdryer pointed at you. We try to go out and find somewhere to have dinner (even though the IHOP breakfast from the morning was still sitting in our stomachs). We can't find anything open. The little town is cute with the typical American houses, with the front yard and the parking spot beside. The streets are enormous. A bit disappointed, we go back to the hotel. Luckily there was free internet connection. I connect and look up the town's restaurants. It finds quite a few right near our hotel, but on the opposite side from where we went.

So we manage and find a Market to buy water (which they made us pay a fortune for) and then two ice creams for dinner. We go back to the hotel for good and go to sleep dead tired. The climb up Moro Rock is starting to take its toll. Tomorrow we set off for Furnace Creek.

Day 9 – Bakersfield/Death Valley

Wake-up always at the usual time, 6:30/7:00, and we immediately look for a place to have breakfast and above all get gas. We go to IHOP for the second time and get the same menu. This time it was quite heavy, maybe because that cursed pizza from the Yosemite View Lodge was still sitting in our stomachs. We get gas and set off toward Death Valley. I couldn't wait, I'd been waiting for this moment for ages. The landscape was starting to become desert-like and it was truly beautiful. Along the way we stop a lot and for the first time I take the wheel. Driving here is a sight to behold!!! It's really easy because you don't do anything at all. It's all automatic. After a while, though, you get sleepy because doing nothing and with all the roads straight, you get quite bored.

We arrive not too early, it was 16:30, at Furnace Creek Ranch, we get out for check-in, and a blast of torrid hot air leaves us breathless. We had never felt heat like that. It wasn't humid, but it was still unbearable. Without exaggerating, it was 50° C. We go into the room and it wasn't exactly the best. The bad thing is there were lots of little critters flying around here and there. We don't think about it, we eat a hotdog on the fly, grab the Death Valley map they gave us at the reception, and immediately go visit the most famous spots. We start with Badwater. Luckily there were very few people. On the road, then, we were alone. I thought you had to pay for entry to the Valley, but nothing at all... all the better (even though we had the National Park Pass anyway, but maybe for Death Valley it wasn't valid!). At Badwater it was really hot.

It was to die for! After the usual obligatory photos in front of the sign, I discover there's also a weather station! Even in Death Valley I find something that talks about weather. We continue our trail and go to Devil's Golf Course. There we meet a couple of Italians. In the whole Death Valley it was just the 4 of us. Continuing along the road we turn onto Artist Drive with its Artist's Palette. A spectacle never seen before. Luckily we arrived late and so we visited Death Valley at sunset because I think at this time it's the ideal moment to visit it both for the temperature and for the colors, which are beautiful! It's now 19:00 and we also try to go to Zabriskie Point. Luckily we manage to arrive in time before the sun sets. The colors are intense and bright. A spectacle in every sense.

We don't make it in time, however, to see Dante's View which we promise ourselves to visit tomorrow since it's along the road to Las Vegas. Happy with the beautiful day, we go back to the hotel, though not too happy because of the little critters scurrying around the room. We get gas at the only gas station in the valley (right next to our hotel). We go to dinner at the only steakhouse there and also quite expensive (it was normal). Luckily we eat well and go to sleep. We leave the bathroom light on so that the insects are drawn to the light. We sleep a bit restlessly.

Day 10 – Death Valley/Las Vegas

We get up as early as possible and the bathroom, having left the light on all night, was full of insects. On the walls, on the floor, even on the toilet. An insane thing. I kill them all, we hurry to get dressed and check out to go to Las Vegas. There, surely, the hotel will be much nicer, and in fact we can't wait to go there for that reason too. We have breakfast always at Furnace Creek Ranch and leave. Along the road we see the sign with the indication for Dante's View. We had enough time and decide to go see what it was, since everyone had told me it was stunning and I had also read it in the Routard guide (very useful and practical). We arrive after about 20 km (we didn't imagine it was so far), but it was definitely worth it. A breathtaking panorama over the whole Death Valley. Breathtaking. The temperature wasn't too high either.

We get back in the car and this time without stopping we head toward Sin City, the city of sin, that is, Las Vegas. I drive again, by now I've gotten a taste for it! We arrive and as we imagined it was quite busy. We find our hotel, the Mirage, amid the confusion, but it took us a while to figure out where to park. Then we followed the "self parking" signs and parked for free near the elevators that led next to the check-in hall. They give us the room keys and the hotel map. When we open the room door we're left with our mouths open. We still had in mind the one from the day before in Death Valley full of insects. This one was a palace. Enormous and super luxurious! From the window you could see Caesar's Palace and the Mirage pool. A spectacle! After putting the suitcases and documents with the laptop in the safe, we go out mainly to eat because we hadn't had lunch yet.

Finally we go to Denny's, which is right across the street! Las Vegas by day is insane chaos and is a city like any other, but it always remains special. Around 19:00 we see the fountain show in front of the Bellagio. Beautiful! Evening approaches and the lights start to show. At 21:00 we go back to the hotel already tired because the Strip, the main street that crosses all the most important hotels and casinos, is very long. We change and go out again. We'd like to eat at one of those enormous buffets like the one at the Paris recommended by everyone, because for only $25 you eat all you want, but we still had the lunch sandwiches sitting in our stomachs. So we give up eating and first of all at 22:00 we see the volcano show that erupts right in front of the Mirage. Also beautiful. But we arrive too late for the show at Treasure Island, with the pirate ship.

Too bad, we only manage to see the end. Well, it'll be the excuse to come back to LV. We continue the tour along the Strip and decide to go see Las Vegas from the top of the Stratosphere Tower. The km on foot are so many, it seemed like it would never arrive. If only we'd known, we wouldn't have gone. We finally arrive and the line at the metal detector awaits us (as if we were at the airport). I should mention that the ticket cost $14.95 per person. We go up to the 108th floor and once out of the elevator, a spectacle never seen before opens up before our eyes. All of Las Vegas lit up as far as the eye can see. We take lots of photos and then go down almost immediately because at 23:30 there was the last pirate ship show at Treasure Island. This time we decide to take the bus ($3 for a one-way ticket). Unfortunately we had clean bills and on the bus the driver didn't have change.

So we're forced to get off. We change money at the Stratosphere casino and take the next one. We arrive after a long time at the Luxor. By now it was midnight and the show at Treasure Island was long over. To our amazement we realize that by midnight everything was already turned off. Las Vegas at that hour closes up shop. A big disappointment, enormous! We're really down because we were missing seeing the Luxor, New York New York, the Excalibur, the Paris, the MGM and others. Some were still lit, but others no longer. Only the casinos stay open until late at night, the lights and restaurants, on the other hand, close at midnight. Very sad, we then look for a little kiosk we had seen in the afternoon under the Paris hotel, that sold cocktails with glasses shaped like the Eiffel Tower and a Hot Air Balloon. No luck, the kiosk was closed. So we try to enter the Casino and look for the bar.

We think maybe they sell them there too. At first we didn't see them, but then my eagle eye sees lots of Eiffel Towers lined up behind the counter. We're overjoyed because they cost the same as the ones at the kiosk. We take only one and have it filled with strawberry Margarita. Delicious and... with a very tall straw! We go out and by now it was 1 a.m. and so we decide to go back to the hotel. On the street there were only drunks, not-too-respectable ladies, and bums. In short, from a VIP evening to total desolation. We throw ourselves on the bed with our feet smoking. Luckily the bed was ultra comfortable, so much so that the next morning we set the alarm for 8:30 because by now it was 3 in the morning.

Day 11 – Las Vegas/Zion N.P.

We get up very late, at 9:00. We take a quick shower and decide to go see the Secret Garden with the dolphin show on the ground floor of the Mirage. Anyway, to get to Zion it takes at most two and a half hours. The Secret Garden opens at 10:00, we pay the ticket which costs $15 per person, and we enter. First thing we go see the dolphin pools which are truly stunning. They do a few acrobatics and we go down to the underground level to see the pool from underwater. After that, we go to the other pool where there are mommy dolphin, daddy, and the little baby. So adorable! They make them do a few acrobatics too. We head to the secret garden where there are a sort of very furry sheep/llamas, in another cage instead there was the white lion with the lioness, in another still the black panther and then the tiger, the white tiger, and an adorable little cheetah cub.

It's getting to be 11:15 and it's starting to be too late also because we had to leave the room by 12:00 and we still had to get our suitcases. So, we go up, get our things, and go down to check out. This time there was a line, but in a few minutes we manage to do everything. We head toward the car which luckily we had parked not too far from the elevators, program the navigator, and set off toward Zion. We hadn't even managed to have breakfast and so along the way, but after quite a while, we stop at McDonald's where we have lunch because it was by now lunchtime. We set off again, and enter Utah where we change the time and set the clock one hour ahead (unfortunately, by doing so, we lose an hour). We arrive around 17:00 local time at the Best Western Zion Park Inn in Springdale, we check in as usual, and go to the room just long enough to sort out the luggage.

Here too, free internet everywhere, in fact in the evening we call our respective families with Skype. The hotel was stunning, all in wood, and the rooms were very clean! We then go to Zion Park, at the entrance we show our National Park Pass that we had gotten at Yosemite, and start the tour. All national parks can be seen either with your own car or with the free shuttles that pass frequently inside. We always preferred to do it on our own so we were freer to stop and take photos. The only difference from the other parks is that in Zion, with the car, you can only drive along the main road. The internal ones, due to pollution, can only be visited with the shuttles or also with your own car, but by showing a permit if you're staying at one of the hotels inside the park itself. We tried anyway to enter this road, but right away a police cruiser stopped us.

Luckily I was going very slowly and the policeman, who was probably also our age, understood perfectly that we didn't mean any harm and just told us to turn back. While I was making the U-turn, he even waited for us and when we stopped in the rest area along the main road, he stopped to check if we had turned back. Dreadful!!!! Anyway, we continue our route and the sky was starting to worsen, in fact it starts to thunder and rain, but it all lasts at most 15 minutes and then a very strong sun comes out. The colors become even brighter and with the approach of sunset everything was even more beautiful. By now we visit all the parks at sunset, because we've seen that there are fewer people and the colors are much more vivid. As soon as we decide to turn back, we meet a couple of Italians with whom we exchange a few photos and info.

We go back to the hotel and take the dirty clothes to bring to the laundromat which was in town. Coin-operated as always ($1.25 for the wash and $0.75 for the dryer). It closed at 22:00, but it was better to hurry because otherwise we'd be late for dinner too since in the USA the restaurants tend to all close early, around 20:30/21:00. At 21:00 we go back to the hotel and try to go to the restaurant, also right there inside, but unfortunately it had already closed, so we decide to go to the pub next door which luckily closed much later. We finally get the french fries with bacon and melted cheese that we hadn't managed to eat in San Francisco and then a sandwich each with more fries, but the sandwich was as big as my head. I can't manage to eat it all, unfortunately. Stuffed like two balloons, we go out for a little stroll around the hotel which even at night was really beautiful.

The whole row of wooden rooms on two floors and opposite them the respective parking spots (like in the movies). We go back to the room and fall into a deep sleep. The next morning Bryce Canyon awaited us with the Navajo Loop + Queens Garden trail.

Day 12 – Zion N.P./Bryce Canyon

We were supposed to get up at 6:30, but we fell back asleep and finally woke up at 7:30. We program the navigator heading for Bryce Canyon and discover that the road passes through Zion Park again. Good thing we had the Pass for the parks, otherwise we would have had to pay another $25. We have breakfast at a little shop in town and then, since we had to pass through Zion again, we decide to go see with the shuttle the internal roads that unfortunately couldn't be done by car. We park right after the entrance, in the parking lot where the museum is also located and after a very short while the bus arrives. We go as far as the Zion Lodge and get off there. Honestly we expected better, the most beautiful road is without a doubt the main one, which everyone can do with the car.

We try to do the trail to the pools, but we read on the maps on display that they last at least 1 hour and at most 4 hours. No way, unfortunately we don't have much time, we have to leave for Bryce Canyon. So we take the shuttle back to the parking lot and set off for good. It was 10:30 and we arrive at the Best Western Ruby's Inn around 13:00. The place is beautiful, full of little shops inside the hotel, with even two gas pumps. We check in and as always they give us the hotel map because the rooms were arranged in lodges with the parking spots in front. Besides the reception, this hotel also has the post office (for stamps), a supermarket, a souvenir shop, the restaurant, and a sort of McDonald's. Internet here too, luckily, is free everywhere. So, we eat at this sort of McDonald's which we liked a lot, and around 15:00 we take the car and after a mile we enter Bryce Canyon park.

We always show our pass and the ranger gives us as always the detailed map of the park with the various trails. Here too you go through the park with your own car and you stop at all the viewpoints along the road. We of course see them all and take lots of photos and videos. The landscape is stunning and in the afternoon it's even more so because the colors are always more intense. It's getting to be 17:00 and at the last viewpoint we decide to do the famous Navajo Loop plus Queens Garden trail. I had read that the first was much more beautiful, but in our haste we only saw the signs for the second. No big deal, because the two trails at a certain point join up and so you're forced to do both of them. Sure of what we were about to face, we start the descent along the canyons and the spires. The spectacle is marvelous. Very tall spires and red, pink, white sand.

We took at most 1000 photographs. At first it's all downhill and flat, so quite easy, but as everyone knows, every descent involves a climb, and once we arrived after quite a while (it was by now 19:00) at the junction with the Navajo Loop, the path starts to become more challenging. The landscape changes completely because here you pass among the trees and the pinnacles. Even more beautiful, but in the end the famous climb begins... and what a climb! It had to compensate for the descent at the beginning. Well, let's say it was quite tough, but doable. We reach the top dead tired and go straight to the hotel. We buy breakfast for tomorrow at the market so we waste less time, and then dinner at that sort of McDonald's for the evening, so we go to sleep not too late.

We take a nice hot shower and then heat up the sandwiches in the microwave that was in the room, besides the mini-fridge that they have in all the hotels. We connect to the internet for a while, charge the batteries of the cameras and the camcorder, and go to bed. Tomorrow a 4-hour drive awaits us to get to Moab.

Day 13 – Bryce Canyon/Moab

We get up a bit late, around 7:00, have breakfast in the room with the things we bought the day before, and get in the car heading for Moab. A 4-hour drive awaits us. Along the way the landscape changes again and it feels like being in Monument Valley. We don't stop much for photos because we want to get to the hotel as early as possible. We stop to eat at Denny's which is right at the entrance of the town and head to the hotel, the Redstone Inn. It's all in wood and the rooms are a bit small, but in the end it's quite clean. Of course, used to enormous rooms with even two double beds, this one in comparison seems like the Seven Dwarfs' room. The nice thing is we have to stay here 3 nights!!! We sort out the suitcases and decide to just take a stroll around the little town which seems to be quite cute.

It's very hot! We see a few little shops that sell lots of cute little things, but for now we don't buy anything, we have two more days available anyway. We also stop by the Visitor Center which is always open, even on Sunday, to get the map of the places where films were shot. I had read about this thing too in the Routard guide. We realize, however, that the map doesn't mark the exact spots, but only the places in general... a bit of a rip-off. At this point the one I had found on the internet was better. By the way, this hotel also has free internet, you just have to get the password at the reception. We go back to the room and I go to sleep. It was 17:00 and I was insanely sleepy. Anyway, we were staying there for more than a day so I took the opportunity to get a good sleep. I woke up at 21:00, but we didn't have dinner because we had eaten a lot at lunch.

So we sorted the photos on the computer and connected to the internet for a while, after which we went to sleep. Tomorrow, a visit to Canyonlands.

Day 14 – Canyonland/Arches N.P.

We get up at 7:30, a bit late. We have breakfast at Burger King which is right across from our hotel and immediately go visit Canyonlands. We first stop to see Dead Horse Point. We pay the $10 ticket even though we have the Pass, unfortunately it's not valid for this park. As always the ranger gives us the map and the description of the place. This park too is visited by car and for anyone who wants, you can do the trails shown on the map. It's morning and the photos don't come out great because the sun is too strong. Maybe it's because we're used by now to seeing all the places in the afternoon and at sunset! Anyway, it's still beautiful. It looks like a mix between the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. On the way back we go to Canyonlands which is a bit further (about 30 km). Here our pass luckily is valid, otherwise we would have had to pay $10.

Here too, with the map of the place, we set off with the car and stop at all the viewpoints. Every now and then we do a little trail to photograph the panoramas better. At a certain point, who do we meet at a viewpoint? The couple of Italians we met at Zion. Incredible!!! From 9:30 when we started visiting Dead Horse Point and then Canyonlands, it had become 14:00. So we go to the hotel in Moab, freshen up because under that sun we got decidedly cooked, and go eat at Wendy's. We get back in the car, get gas, and go to Arches N.P. which as a distance is much closer (only 2 miles). Here too the pass is valid and the very kind ranger gives us the park map in Italian. We start with the first viewpoints and seeing Balanced Rock. Right after we see the turnoff for Delicate Arch. We decide to go since everyone said to see it in the afternoon hours, even better at sunset.

We park and set off without knowing what awaited us! It was 17:30 when we started the trail toward Delicate Arch and we arrived in front of the beautiful arch at exactly 18:30. A good hour between steep climbs even on bare rock and descents. Once at the top, though, the spectacle is fabulous. It's full of Japanese (man, they're everywhere) who were taking photos like crazy, but in the end our turn came too. It makes an impression to see yourself tiny tiny under that arch. It's enormous, and in photos it doesn't do it justice! It's still tough to get there and above all you have to bring a good supply of water because there are no drinking fountains whatsoever. You need at least 1.5 liters per person. I had never done such a tough hike since I've been in the USA. It's now 19:30 when we arrive at the parking lot. We don't manage to see any other arch.

We're sweaty and dirty with sand, so we decide to go back to Moab to stock up on water, have dinner, and buy something for tomorrow's breakfast. In front of the hotel there's a big supermarket and there we buy lots of water, a little t-shirt for me, and breakfast for tomorrow. Then we go to Burger King and buy two sandwiches to take away. Once in the room, dead tired, we take a very long shower, eat, download photos and videos, browse the internet for a bit (we take advantage since here it's free. Who knows if it'll be like this at the next hotel) and go to sleep. Tomorrow the other part of the arches awaits us, hoping it's not as tough as today's.

Day 15 – Arches N.P./Scenic Byway 128

We wake up this morning too with no rush, around 8:00. We have breakfast with the bottle of chocolate milk and some cookies bought the day before. Too bad that Flavio didn't notice and the cookies were peanut butter. An insane flavor, it felt like eating peanuts along with the cocoa. We go out around 9:30 and go again to Arches to finish seeing the other arches that were missing. First we see Sand Dunes Arch, Pine Tree Arch and finally the famous Landscape Arch and Double Arch, but only in the distance. They seemed close and instead no. It was also 11:30 so the sun was directly overhead and it was insanely hot. We thought we wouldn

Day 16 – Moab/Monument Valley

As always we have breakfast in the room with the little bottle of milk and chocolate and biscuits bought the day before at the supermarket, but this time they are cookies with chocolate chips and not peanuts. We leave the hotel at 9:15 and take the road towards Monument Valley which passes right in front of the Hole 'n the rock shop. From afar on the rock there's a huge sign reading exactly HOLE 'N THE ROCK and an arrow pointing to the shop. So we stop to take a look. Outside it's nice and we take a few photos. We enter the actual shop, but it's all a rip-off!!!! The shop, which is huge and entirely carved into the rock, has free access only in the first part, to visit it with the "guide" you had to pay 5 $ per person. We leave it alone and go out, also because we took a peek inside and there was nothing interesting, moreover you couldn't even take photos or video.

So we go for another walk outside where there is a small zoo (also this one paid) and a small market where we buy water. We go out and get back in the car, this time without ever stopping. We can't wait to get to Monument Valley and take the obligatory photo at the same spot where the scene was shot in which Forrest Gump decides to stop his long marathon. Luckily the weather is beautiful and it's warm. The landscape becomes like a western film and we get closer and closer to the point on the road where to take the photo. Here it is!!!! It's beautiful, it feels like being inside the picture we have at home and that I looked at every day and said: sooner or later I too will be there on that road!!!! We take lots of photos and also with us in the middle of the road, since no one was passing by! We get back in the car and go to the hotel.

I recognize it from afar because I had seen it on the internet. It was built directly on the mountain wall and the color of the materials is the same as the rock (like all the hotels where we stayed. Here in America they care about not ruining the landscape, not like in Italy!!). We hope to have the room with a view of Monument Valley and as if on purpose, they give us exactly that one and also on the 1st floor. I mean, we couldn't have done better!! The spectacle is "spectacular", I was almost about to get emotional! I had dreamed of this moment my whole life and in the end it came true. We also had the little balcony. The room was truly wonderful. On top of that the internet was also free. I take lots of photographs of the panorama and we go for a stroll around the little shops that are there in the hotel and then to look for a place to eat.

We buy a few small gifts and some more postcards, then we go out and go see at the restaurant if they do takeaway. No luck, if you want it you have to sit down and we didn't feel like leaving a tip again. So we went down by car along the road and there were lots of things: a gas station, a supermarket, the carwash. So we filled up with gas and went into the supermarket. We bought sandwiches for the next day too, the cheese slices, the salami, the mortadella and a box with plastic knives, forks and spoons so we could make them ourselves. For dinner Flavio got himself a nice rotisserie chicken. We went back to the hotel, ate and at 16:00 we went out to go see this famous Monument Valley. At that moment a strong wind picks up and in the valley many dust whirlwinds form. It almost looks like a sandstorm, never seen anything like it. The weather starts to worsen.

The entrance is very close to the hotel, but unfortunately the parks pass is not accepted (but we already knew that). You pay 10 $ per vehicle. We park the car and look for the entrance to Monument Valley proper, but we can't find it. There's only a big hotel where they were also doing construction work. We thought they had closed it, but then why make us pay the entrance? We see a dirt road that runs through the whole valley, but we only see jeeps. We think they are the ones from the tours organized by the Navajo, but then we see a sedan and another car similar to ours. So then, could it be that that road is exactly the route we have to take? Indeed it was.....the wind didn't stop and it had also started to drizzle. We go down with our car and the ground is sandy. We take 2-3 photos really quickly otherwise we get covered in sand.

We get back in the car and continue the trail marked on the map they gave us at the entrance (compared to the others this one seems to have been made by a 4-year-old child). The weather starts to improve, the wind stops and the sun comes out, finally. The valley is beautiful seen from below. It's strange to think that there they filmed all or almost all the western films seen on TV. Every now and then there's some Navajo stall where they sell little necklaces or local objects strictly handmade. I buy a little necklace and a matching pair of earrings, very nice. We continue the tour and here too we meet some Italians, from Venice. By now it's 19:00 and we decide to go back to the hotel. We take a shower and lie on the big bed to watch that beautiful sunset over the valley.

It feels like watching a poster, and yet it's all real!!!! We have dinner, prepare the sandwiches for the next day and then go to sleep early because tomorrow Lake Powell and also Antelope Canyon await us, and if we can we'll do the latter the same day.

Day 17 – Monument Valley/Lake Powell

We get up at 6:00 to leave at 7:00. The weather was cloudy, but we're still in Monument Valley....we have to drive over 200 km, maybe the weather there is nice. Fat chance, the closer we got the worse it got. I'm getting so annoyed!! Damn it, the only day it absolutely must not rain was the one for Antelope Canyon, and what does it do? It rains, and hard too!!! We arrive at the hut where they do the tours for the Canyon. The hut is on the left (coming from Monument Valley) and just after the Navajo power plant (it's huge, with 3 very tall smokestacks). Anyway, there's the sign: Upper Antelope Canyon. Just to enter the parking lot you pay $6 per person (and NOT per vehicle...absurd. These Navajo make you pay even for the air).

After paying and after entering we think: but if we didn't want to do the tour now, but book it for tomorrow (hoping the weather is good), will they make us pay the entrance again? On top of that, from the receipt they gave us at the entrance we realize that the time was different from what we had, that is, it was 8:30 instead of 9:30. So we arrived even earlier!!!! There's a one-hour difference between Utah and Arizona. If we'd known, we'd have gotten up an hour later. Anyway, the weather wasn't improving and it was raining a bit. Strangely they were still doing the tours (I had read that if it rained they wouldn't do them because there was a danger of the canyon flooding). So we decide to book the visit for 12:00 the next day and then we try to ask the Navajo lady at the entrance if she'd do us the favor of not making us pay the parking entrance again the next day.

Luckily she was kind and signs the receipt writing that it's valid for tomorrow. And now what do we do since it's 9:00 and check-in at hotels is usually at 14:00? Let's try going to the hotel anyway, the Lake Powell Resort & Marina which is in the Weahpea area (this area is considered a national park so we can use our pass, otherwise we would have paid the entrance for the marina too!). Fortunately the room is available, but by mistake I decide to take the one on the 1st floor thinking it had a lake view. And no, we just killed ourselves carrying the suitcases up a floor with stairs. The lake view ones cost a bit more. We stay quite a while at the hotel, since outside it was still raining. We have lunch with the sandwiches we had prepared the night before, then we sleep until 15:00.

We get up and to our amazement we look out from the little balcony and see the sun! Finally, maybe the rain is over for good! I immediately check the forecast for the next day on the internet (which is free here too) and it says a beautiful day, with clouds in the afternoon. Perfect, all we need is for it to be nice in the morning. So, we go out and decide to go see the Glen Canyon Dam (again after consulting the Routard guide, fantastic!). We arrive at the Visitor Center which is on the left just before the bridge over the dam (coming from the Antelope Canyon parking lot) and we read that they don't let you in with backpacks (but I already knew that because our Routard guide had written this too).

They still make us leave cameras, video camera, cell phone, wallet and belt in a container....as if we were at the airport!!!! We pass under the metal detector, take back all our things and enter the hall where there's a big bookshop, a nice scale model of Glen Canyon and a series of videos. We look out from the windows and the sight is stunning. The dam is enormous and scary! We decide to do the tour with the guide (in English as always unfortunately) and see the dam up close. Wouldn't you know it, the 16:00 one was the last of the day and we had arrived just in time. The cost is $5 per person. Once the little group has formed we start the tour. A very good and friendly girl takes us down with the elevator to the dam itself where we can walk freely and take photos and videos. She explains how it was built, with what materials, etc....

I understood some of it, but unfortunately not all! After that, she takes us to the machine room which was enormous. 7 turbines of a size never seen before! Then, we go back up to the hall and the weather was getting worse again. In all the visit lasted 1 hour. So it became 17:00 and the Visitor Center was about to close. A very strong wind picks up and the black clouds threatened rain. We then decide to go to Page which is nearby. There are lots of shops and so we finally spend a good amount of money and buy gifts for everyone, so we've gotten that off our minds. Meanwhile it stops raining and the sun comes out for good, and with it a beautiful rainbow. We immediately take lots of photos and on the way back to the hotel, along the road we stopped at every viewpoint to see it and photograph it.

Rainbow, Canyon and Lake....what a sight! We arrive at the hotel, put away the gifts and get ready to go to dinner. We go back to Page and I had read in the Routard guide too that at Strombolli's you ate quite well! So we decide to go there. They make us wait a very long time (we arrived at 8:40, they close at 22:00 and they seated us at 21:15). We got pizza and I must say it wasn't bad at all, much better than Pizza Hut's. After eating we go back to the hotel and go to bed. We were really tired. Tomorrow awaits the visit to Antelope Canyon which we had been looking forward to for so long, and also Horseshoe Bend and then, the long journey to the famous and beautiful Grand Canyon. Unfortunately today's rain slowed us down a bit, but we'll manage to do this too!

Day 18 – Lake Powell/Antelope Canyon and Horseshoband/Grand Canyon

We get up early in the morning, breakfast in the room again with milk and chocolate and cookies, and by 8:30 we're already in the car. The day was gorgeous, it couldn't have been clearer. It was hot, but it felt good. In short, we set off with a smile on our faces. First thing we go to see Horseshoe Bend following the Routard directions (very simple and easy). We park and walk 15 minutes on sand and rock to reach the cliff where you look at this spectacle of nature. It's a bit tiring especially in the morning just after getting up and with the sun beating straight down! The sight, though, took away all the fatigue. Truly beautiful. It's strange to find yourself in a place you always saw only in photos, while now you're in that photo too!! We take all the ritual photos and go back to the car heading for Antelope Canyon.

We arrive at the parking lot at 10:00 and the Navajo lady luckily lets us through without making us pay for parking because she kept yesterday's receipt valid. There was already a huge crowd (compared to yesterday when it was raining and it was just us). Luckily we had booked the day before for 12:00 (which is the best time), although there were still spots available for that time anyway. It's likely that since it had rained the day before, many people gave up thinking it would be bad today too....and instead! We pay (in addition to yesterday's parking) $25 per person to be taken to the Canyon entrance and also to have the Navajo guide (in English). We wait for 12:00 and then the young lady starts calling names so she can distribute us among the various trucks driven by the Navajo. We get a real Indian, with long hair, boots, a big belt and a big hat.

He takes us along a dirt road full of sand to the Canyon entrance. Full of people, but I already knew that. The various groups start entering, luckily not all together, everyone tries to keep some distance from the others otherwise we wouldn't be able to take any photos. There were also the photographer groups who however pay a bit more, if I'm not mistaken $50 per person, but it's a joke because ending up with the other groups, they wouldn't be able to take good photos with all the people in front. On this they're very poorly organized. They should have a preferential lane just for photographers and let them in in groups of 12 people at most, but without overlapping with groups of other people. The Canyon is beautiful. The entrance is a vertical slit not too big, but inside it's a play of colors made by the sun's rays perpendicular on the rock. That's why it's better to go at 12:00.

The tour lasts about an hour and a half, including transport to and from the Canyon. As usual there's also a tip to leave for the Navajo guide (we left $2). We get back in the car and the sky starts to cloud over. Damn, just in time! We go eat at Burger King which was along the road and then, heading for the Grand Canyon. Along the way we hit the mother of all downpours with very strong wind. We even had to stop. What a pain, we could have arrived at the Grand Canyon at sunset and instead this rain ruined everything. We arrive at the South entrance at 17:00 and it was still raining. We show our pass and they give us as always the detailed map with the various viewpoints and the usual newspaper (in Italian too) with the various news about the Grand Canyon. Our hotel is right after all the viewpoints, so we decide to stop anyway.

We immediately get gas at the first campground which is after the entrance on the right (there are signs anyway). Every time we stopped it stopped raining. The sight was stunning, and with the rain streaks and lightning even more so. Flavio even managed to capture two of them. Stunning even with the rain. We continue, but it just won't stop. The sky is too solid unfortunately. We decide to go to the hotel because it had become 19:00. They give us the keys to the room which is very big, but again on the 1st floor (what a pain, stairs with the suitcases). We notice that the toilet flush doesn't work and so we go back to the lobby. The girl immediately sends someone to check. Prompt is an understatement. They were very fast. Once the problem was fixed we decide to go eat right there in the dining room.

You could take whatever you wanted with a tray and then pay at the cashier (like a cafeteria). Not exactly cheap, with about $17, $18 only Flavio ate because I wasn't hungry! In the lobby and dining room the internet is free (if you have your own computer), otherwise if you connect with their computer you pay. In the room instead this time no internet (not even paid). We take the opportunity to connect to the internet in the lobby and then go back to the room. We put a few things in order and go to sleep. Tomorrow if the weather is good, we hope, we'll go see the viewpoints, but with sun. On top of that, tomorrow is also July 4th, Independence Day so, it's a National holiday. Who knows what they'll do that's nice....I even bought 2 little American flags for the occasion!

Day 19 – Grand Canyon

We get up not too late, and outside there was a gorgeous sun. Very happy we go out and have breakfast again in the hotel (there's only that one unfortunately). I expected they'd do something special since today is July 4th, so little flags, freebies, etc.... Fat chance, a huge disappointment! I'd been waiting for this day forever and instead nothing doing, it was like all the others. So I get a cappuccino, quite good, with a type of "Danish" pastry with cinnamon and glaze, and Flavio instead a hot chocolate with 2 banana and nut muffins and the other with blueberries (I did better this time). I go to the room, get the two American flags I had bought in Page, we take the car and with map in hand we start stopping at the viewpoints. We were the only ones with the 2 little flags in the air vents fluttering away happily on this important day for the States.

Hmm! Anyway, the traffic was really heavy unfortunately and to find parking at the first viewpoint which was right after Grand Canyon Village, it took us 15 minutes. We were starting to get nervous and decide to see the viewpoints from the last to the first (as always). Along the road we find some elk grazing on the grass. We take a few photos and continue the tour. To get to the first viewpoint which is at the south entrance of the Canyon you have to drive about 25 miles. The traffic seemed to have magically disappeared, but surely because all the people had stopped at the viewpoints near the Village since it was July 4th and also Saturday, they must have all booked tables and so they had to stay in the area (lucky for us!!). We start with the viewpoint which is at the beginning of Desert View with a tower all made of stone and some little souvenir shops and food places.

Very beautiful the panorama with the sun even though in the distance the usual big clouds threatened to come back. We go up the tower and the panorama was even more beautiful! We take lots of photos and videos and then decide to eat something there since it was 12:30 (maybe we can manage to eat at a decent time). We buy a bag of already-cut sandwiches (such a great thing...they were already ready), a little bag of turkey and one of provolone (all rigorously already cut to sandwich size...how I love these Americans!), we also get 6 small bottles of water which is always needed and one of coke. It wasn't very cheap, but that's fine. We sit down to eat behind the little shop where there were tables with benches. We were the only ones luckily. Since it was a bit hidden you couldn't see much. Once done eating we continue our tour of the viewpoints.

We stop at almost all of them, but in the end the panorama was always the same, so we decide to skip some and go to the Market Plaza which is along the road. It's a huge supermarket that sells everything. Maybe we'll find some little gift there. Fat chance, things cost a lot and we only bought postcards and milk with donuts for the next morning. We then head to our Village to see some little shops that we had seen on the map they gave us at the park entrance and that I had also read about in the Routard. Sunset was now approaching and the colors this time were beautiful. The prices in the little shops were unapproachable, in fact we decide to do one last round and then go to the hotel to rest a bit and sort out the photos. As soon as we leave the shop it starts drizzling. (but here even the raindrops are enormous?).

Here everything is oversized! We arrive in the room and lie on the bed to sleep until 19:00. It was dinner time (luckily a decent hour), I thought: who knows what they'll do tonight since so far I haven't even smelled anything about July 4th. We arrive in the dining room and nothing doing, not even for the evening had they organized anything. There was just a lot of people standing in line with trays and in a room beside I could hear music. I thought: the party's in there. Yeah right, it was only for those who had booked. What a rip-off!!! The July 4th specialty was 2 hot dogs with french fries (wow, they really went all out). We ate terribly. I had 2 skimpy hot dogs and Flavio a tough little steak, a boiled potato and a few veggies.

A worse dinner we'd never had! I take the opportunity to also do a refill with the coke even though I don't know if it was allowed, but with what I ate I didn't care! Luckily we brought our computer so in the meantime we connected to read emails. At 22:00 the cafeteria closes and that little party in the other room ends too. So we decide to go to the lobby and try calling home with Skype. I manage to call my father and then we go to sleep. Tomorrow we leave for the second-to-last city, that is Kingman on the famous Route 66.

Day 20 – Grand Canyon/Kingman

We have breakfast in the room with the milk and chocolate bought the day before and the mini chocolate donuts which were really awful. We take the car and leave this really sad place full of old people (the other hotels were definitely better). The weather was beautiful luckily, maybe the bad weather is now just a memory. Along the road we cross the famous Route 66 and the radio stations finally play songs known to us Italians too and perfectly fitting with the surrounding landscape. The nostalgia starts to set in unfortunately. We arrive in Kingman and go straight to the Quality Inn, our hotel to check in and drop off the suitcases. We also read that internet is free and that breakfast is included in the price (but I already knew that because I had read it in the Routard).

Check-in though we could only do from 12:30 onwards, it was 11:00 and we decide to take a tour of the city and look first of all for a laundromat, the Route 66 museum, the Dam Bar & Steakhouse restaurant and the 60s little place Mr. D'z so well described by the Routard guide and which were all, right on Route 66. Here though they changed the name to Andy Davine Av., but it's still her...the legendary one!!!. We find the laundromat, along the road and right near our hotel, but it's very expensive. For a wash $1.75 and the same for drying. Unfortunately if that's the only one we have to make do. It closes at 19:00 though. We hurry, hurry to take a photo at the Route 66 symbol which is right on the asphalt and get back in the car. We notice that there's really no one around and that the shops are all closed.

Damn, today is Sunday! What a rip-off, and we think that the Route 66 museum is closed too, and instead we're lucky because it's open. We go in and the gadgets are endless. We go up to the 2nd floor and with $4 per person you enter the actual museum. In short, we could have saved that too but it's fine, we took some photos! We buy a frame for our 4000 photos and leave. Given it was lunchtime we decide to eat at this point at Mr. D'z which is right across the street. It actually looks nice aesthetically. It seems like one of those 70s little places from the Grease era, all light blue and fuchsia. We go in and get a hot dog and a hamburger all with french fries and coke. My hot dog was incredibly spicy and in fact I left it. The place wasn't very clean and in fact we left almost immediately after eating.

We take some photos outside and look for the other restaurant for dinner, which from the Routard description must have been really nice! We find it and it's indeed really nice. It's also near our hotel, and still on Route 66/Andy Davine Av. By now it had become 13:30 and we decide to go check in. They give us the keys and we go to the room. It's the typical American hotel with rooms on the ground floor and parking in front. Very nice and the rooms are also very big and clean. Flavio tries to connect, but it needs a password. I go out and walk to the reception to get it. Coming back to the room I take a little tour and see the pool. It's really nice, big and seems clean too. There are very few people, only 4 people, and I immediately run to tell Flavio.

He takes the opportunity to make a call to his parents with Skype and then we go out right away and go relax a bit and finally get some proper sun, since the shops are all closed and the day was too beautiful not to take a nice swim in the pool. Only 2 people were left. We get 2 loungers (even though they were a bit broken, but it doesn't matter) and we relax. We decide to swim, even though the water wasn't exactly very clean (there were a few flies and other little insects), but no big deal because they were only near the shallow end. We stay there until 16:30 because we still had to go to the laundromat which closed at 19:00. But before going back to the room I decide to stop by the reception and ask if by chance there was one in the hotel too (usually they all have one). And indeed there was and it was even open 24/7.

Wouldn't you know it, it was right in front of our room (how lucky), but since it wasn't signposted we hadn't seen it. Even better, we can do everything calmly. Today is a day dedicated to relaxing. It was really needed. We take a nice shower, get dressed, call with Skype Gino, my father's cousin who lives near Los Angeles to arrange for tomorrow when we go visit him, and then we go out to finally eat a nice steak properly at the Steakhouse. From the parking lot it seemed like there was no one inside and we were already worried. We go in and instead there were people, not many but there were. The place is really nice! You could choose whether to go to the restaurant or the bar. We naturally go to the restaurant.

It's really typical with even sawdust on the floor to make it look like a real saloon! The waitress was very friendly and we ordered a coke for me and a beer for Flavio then, a T-Bone with fries, salad and beans for Flavio and a burger sandwich, salad and fries for me. A spectacle! Finally we ate normal food after all these weeks. We decide to get dessert too (one between two though) which was very good! We take some photos and in the end we didn't even pay much, $43 for two. We decide to leave a $10 tip instead of $6, also because we only had $5 clean and $1 in change and it didn't seem right. On top of that the waitress was very friendly and always nice to us so we gladly gave it to her. When she came back she had a huge smile (I'd think so, we left her almost 20%) and she even takes 2 photos of us with our camera.

We leave very satisfied with the day dedicated to pure relaxation and go to the hotel because tomorrow awaits a fairly heavy day. Almost 550 km and 4 hours 30 minutes of driving to get to Los Angeles. On top of that I read that it's a chaotic city and that the hotel parking is also paid. What a pain!! We do the laundry in the laundromat in front of our room and go to sleep.

Day 21 – Kingman/Los Angeles

We get up at 7:00, get ready and go have breakfast for the first time included in the price, at the hotel. The coffee was watery, but with a bit of milk it became decent. We get two pieces of toast with jam and I also get a donut which from the look seemed fabulous. It was my first donut finally! It was indeed really good, too bad I only took one! We leave satisfied this time too, we finally managed in the same city to have dinner and breakfast decently, almost like in Italy. Our stomach thanks us! We check out and go back to the Visitor Center//Route 66 Museum to take a photo in front of the Route 66 sign and buy another postcard. We take the opportunity to also get gas and see the little souvenir shop that was a little further ahead. The funny thing is that inside the lady was alone and Flavio and I take a very quick tour of the shop, but the prices were too high.

Forget it, we decide to just get gas and leave. It's starting to get late, it was 9:15. I stay in the shop to tell the lady which gas pump number to unlock, and Flavio leaves the shop to get the car. You know those movie scenes where he comes out, takes the car, she stays inside with the gun and robs the place? well, same thing. On top of that I remembered that I had also put my hands in my pockets and the lady was looking at me a bit scared. In the moment I didn't think about it, but then I realized and I was about to laugh because I saw the scene and imagined what the lady was thinking. When Flavio approached the gas pump and I asked the lady to unlock pump no. 8 then she calmed down! When I went out and told Flavio everything we burst out laughing. Only that the gas wasn't coming out and the lady from inside the little shop comes out and shows us how to do it.

It was different from all the others, you had to lower a handle otherwise the gas wouldn't come out. The funny thing is that she came out without a word and went right back in. I go back in to get the credit card and the receipt only by mistake she rings up $28 instead of $26 and apologizes two thousand times and gives me the $2 in cash. I go out and she apologizes again. For me she had really gotten scared!! hahahaha. We're still laughing. We get in the car and finally we set off. 4 and a half hours of driving await us on the way to Los Angeles.

Day 21 – Los Angeles

Along the road we get a bit melancholy because we know these are now the last days in the USA. We pass through the city of Barstow and I remembered that there was a big Outlet there where brand-name clothes cost really little, but unfortunately I don't know where! We read from the GPS that for Los Angeles we have to exit, but we make a mistake and exit a few exits early. The mistake makes us arrive at the Outlet which in the end is right on the road, so I would have seen it anyway. We get off, eat at Burger King and go look at the shops. Many were closed for renovation, and so we didn't see much. We only bought a pair of Levi's jeans each and 2 pairs of shoes, Nike and Puma, for Flavio. We paid just under $30 each for the jeans and about $116 in total for the shoes. We finally arrive in Los Angeles and it's truly a trauma.

We went from desolate roads where there was only us to insane traffic where everyone was speeding left and right. Not to mention the 6-lane highways. I tried to respect the speed limits as much as possible, but I saw that everyone did whatever they wanted!!! We arrive safe and sound at the Omni hotel where I had read that parking was paid and also quite pricey! So we look around nearby for parking lots where for a few dollars you could park as long as you wanted, even though it wasn't exactly very close to the hotel. We find it and there was a really unpleasant Mexican guy. I think I understood that it cost $12 per day, but that you couldn't leave the car at night.

So it was all for nothing! On top of that I was trying to ask him if we could leave the parking lot every time we wanted without paying again, but we couldn't understand if he was playing dumb or just didn't understand what we were saying. I think more that he was pretending not to understand. We told him off right away and went to park at the hotel. The first approach with Los Angeles wasn't the best. We arrive at the hotel and leave the keys with the Valet where you paid $30 per day, but at least the car was watched and you could leave it as long as you wanted. We leave just $1 for the parking attendant, check in and go up to the room. It was very big and the view wasn't bad at all. In front we had a very tall hotel with a nightclub on the ground floor with fountains doing beautiful water displays.

We freshen up and go out in a hurry because we had an appointment with dad's cousin in Laguna Hills which is about 45 minutes by car from the city. We have the car brought to us and our problem now is the tip. How much should we give and above all, when should you give it? When they bring it to the parking lot or when they go get it? We get our beautiful Mazda 6, enter the address in the GPS and set off for Laguna Hills. It was very late, we were supposed to be there at 18:00 and instead we left the hotel right at 18:00. We take the highway and it was even busy...it felt like being back in Rome, what a pain! We finally arrive at our destination, but at 19:00. Laguna Hills is really nice, it's just as I expected. The main road with the row houses on both sides. Each little house had its little front garden and the garage beside it. Almost all of them had the pool and garden behind.

We ring the doorbell and Gino, dad's cousin, opens the door, who had been worried because he didn't know how to contact us, since he didn't see us arriving. We apologized for the delay, but Los Angeles was truly chaotic. There was Nanette, the wife, Ricky the son and Sammy, a beautiful 4-year-old Golden Retriever. They show us the house which was enormous, two floors and the pool with jacuzzi and barbecue outside, behind the villa. We take a few photos and then go out to eat at a Mexican restaurant near the Lake. There Michelle, the daughter, with her boyfriend were waiting for us. The place was stunning, even more beautiful with the sunset. We got a little table on the terrace with a lake view. We ate very well and a lot. The evening flew by unfortunately and we all go to Michelle's house for a coffee. We see the photos of Gino's grandchild and then some photos of our wedding.

After that, we go back to Gino's house because we had left our car there. We give them the bomboniere and they give us the gift. Chatting about this and that it gets quite late. Reluctantly we say goodbye promising to come back and stay many more days with them. We arrange with Ricky to go see the city two days later because tomorrow the Universal Studios await us. We ask Gino about the tip you should give the valet when they bring/take your car at the hotel. He explains that the tip is usually left when they bring the car back to you and not when you leave it. We as usual hadn't understood anything and had left a dollar to whoever had taken it to the parking lot. On top of that, a dollar was too little anyway. Normally you leave from $3 to $5. So, we arrive at the hotel and by now it was 2 at night, we leave the car and go to the room.

Tomorrow awaits a long day at the Universal Studios.

Day 22 – Los Angeles (Universal Studios)

We get up at 7:00, get ready and go down to the lobby. They bring us the car and this time we leave the tip (only $2). We enter the address of the Universal Studios in the GPS which I had found inside the newspaper of hotels/restaurants/museums that was in the room. We arrive in no time and without getting lost at the Studios. We park and pay $12 for the whole day. We enter from the side of the bars/shops (Universal City Walk) luckily, so we can also have breakfast. We stop at my beloved Starbucks and get 2 cappuccinos and 2 pastries. We start taking lots of photos and in the distance we see the famous rotating globe with Universal Studios written on it in front of the entrance. There too, ritual photos and then we get in line for the ticket. We pay $67 per person, they give us the park map and the show times, and we enter. It's huge and stunning. We don't know where to start.

We start looking at the show times and decide to see Terminator 3D first. Then, we go to Jurassic Park which is a ride, like the one at Mirabilandia where on the last turn it dived into the water....but we didn't know that and we got in line. We end up right in the front row and from being dry as we were, we came out completely soaked. The time to dry off and we continued our tour. Between shows and rides it had become 14:00 and we decide to stop and eat something. We go to the Flintstones kiosk where they cooked everything on a big barbecue. We resume our tour and see the Waterworld show, then the beautiful Studio Tour, where a little train takes you to see the sets of films like "War of the Worlds", how an earthquake in the subway is simulated, the famous motel from "Psycho", "Jaws" and other films.

During the tour, we had to stop 3 times because they were filming live, but they didn't tell us which film. We buy lots of little gifts for us and for our parents and in the end between one thing and another it had become 20:00. The Studios were about to close and so we decide to leave. We stop to get a milkshake for dinner and go to the parking lot to get the car. We go back to the hotel and go to sleep dead tired. Tomorrow awaits the tour of Los Angeles together with Ricky.

Day 23 – Los Angeles (city and Venice Beach)

The appointment with Ricky was in front of the hotel at 8:30, but we go down a bit earlier so as not to make him wait. We go around in his car so we can see everything without worrying about driving. First of all we have breakfast with the donut finally, which in the whole trip I only managed to eat once. We start with the Hollywood Sign which we manage to see from the Mulholland Drive viewpoint (mind you, Drive and not Road). Unfortunately there was a bit of haze, but we still managed to photograph it. What an emotion, you always see it in films and now instead you're right there in front of it. We go down and go to the Walk of Fame where there's the sidewalk with the stars of famous people and the handprints in cement. We take the usual photos with our favorite actors and we even manage to see the unveiling of a new "star", but we didn't know who it was.

We get back in the car and go to Hollywood Blv, Rodeo Dr, Sunset Blv and Beverly Hills. Beautiful and very rich. You pass into true luxury with the villas of the super-rich covered in plants. Unfortunately we don't manage to see any famous person. Lunchtime starts to approach and we go towards Downtown where we eat at Wig'n Chicken chicken of various kinds, thigh, breast with spicy sauces. Once done eating we take a quick drive through Downtown and then head towards the California beaches, that is Santa Monica and Venice Beach. Along the road I recognize the famous rides with the Ferris wheel of Santa Monica, which appears in many films and music videos. We decide to park at Venice Beach and take a nice walk among the little shops. The beaches are enormous, four times ours.

If you lie down with your towel at the start, you reach the water's edge at sunset!! At Venice Beach there are the strangest people: street musicians, improvised dancers, painters, in short everything and more. There are tons of shops of all kinds, from the normal ones to the strangest ones. There's even a clinic that gives alternative treatment to those who take marijuana. I buy a little t-shirt with "Los Angeles" written on it and a pair of shorts that I'll wear when I go running, and unfortunately I'll have to run a lot again to burn off what I've eaten so far! By now it was 19:00 and the sunset over the ocean was stunning. It still didn't seem real to me, that wasn't our sea, but the immense Pacific Ocean. We also take a walk on the beach and I get down to the water's edge to touch the warm ocean water with my own hands.

It was indeed really warm, and I see in the distance the famous Baywatch towers. Naturally I don't miss the photo, identifying with Pamela Anderson, even though it turns out very difficult! We decide to leave, taking one last look at the ocean and those immense beaches. We wanted to go along the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), the highway that runs through the middle of the ocean, but unfortunately it was late and we decide to go back to the hotel. Ricky takes us back to the Omni and very sad we say goodbye. It was an unforgettable day. At this point, we put all the gifts in the suitcases paying attention to the various weights and go to sleep.

Day 24 and 25 – Los Angeles/Rome

We get up a little later than usual, around 8:30. After a shower, the last in the USA, we put the last things in the suitcases and go down to see if there's a Starbucks nearby. Luckily there's one right in front (or rather behind, where the fountains are) of our hotel. We go back to the hotel, get the luggage, connect to the internet a bit in the lobby which is free and then have our car brought to us. That was the last trip in our beautiful and very comfortable Mazda 6. We fill up, arrive at the Herz depot and reluctantly leave the car. Luckily there was no problem. We had worried so much about how to get to the airport on foot, since we no longer had the car, and instead there at Herz there's the shuttle that takes you to boarding for free, simply by giving the driver the airline you're flying with. Super organized!!!! We arrived at the airport at 13:00 when our flight was at 19:20.

Well, better early than late). Check-in luckily went well, because we were worried about the weight of the suitcases which was indeed a bit heavier, but they said there's a margin of a few kg. The only problem is that they put us in separate seats, but the guy was kind enough to write the change in pen. We eat at the airport and finally 19:00 arrives. We check