Day #8 – Moab (Arches NP)

I am not so sure I want to write anything today. Germany came short in its bid for the European championship (Spain won 1-0). That had an adverse impact on my mood…

Day #7 – SLC to Moab, UT

Got up a little late – but the bed was so nice and comfy – there was simply no way to leave early… We got under way, drove due south on I-84 until we found out that our GPS unit was sending us on about the longest route to Moab… So we had to turn around, drive back twenty miles and turn onto the right road.

The drive from SLC to Moab was largely boring (sorry to say that, but we have been spoilt by the beauty of the landscape we saw the last couple of days). As we approached Moab, the scenery got a lot nicer and reminded us of 60s and 70s Western movies.

Checked in and then drove to Canyonlands NP, about 30 miles north of Moab. The drive is nothing to write home about, and Island in the sky doesn't really seem all that great until you get to "the shore". The views are nothing short of spectacular! Check out the pics – couldn't describe it any better.

At dusk we moved on to Dead Horse State Park (Girls: Yes, this park is named after a bunch of horses that have died there. Back in the old days, cowboys used the area of the point as a natural corral. They mustered the horses and left those they didn't like behind. So far so good, but one year, a few horses refused to leave that point and died right there. The reason: They were thirsty, but could not climb down the steep slopes to the Colorado River. At the same time, they didn't want to lose sight of the river. This is what led to this regretful ending.)

For dinner we went to the Moab brewery. If you ever stop by, have a brew and enjoy the good value meals.

Day #6 – Montpelier to SLC

Today meant a lot of driving from Montpelier (!), ID (Paris is just six miles away), along Bear Lake (this blue is not for real), through Logan Canyon to Antelope Island near Salt Lake City in Utah. The water of Big Salt Lake smells brackish – my intention was to jump in and to get a photo with me reading a newspaper floating on the lake – but NO.

Well, there's not a whole lot to write about today, other than it is getting a little hotter (30+°C) and that we are excited to reach Moab, UT tomorrow. Arches NP and Canyonlands NP will be waiting for us!

PS: Happy Birthday Sören!

PPS: My camera is done for good, so I will have a hard time trying to upload photos to the photo section, but I will try and find a workaround.

Day #5 Yellowstone NP to Idaho

Friends,

Today we had to say farewell to Yellowstone NP. The weather was really helping in the morning by sending cold showers. But later the sky cleared a little and we continued our sightseeing. I know that I am repeating myself over and over again, but this park has everything you could ask for. Unfortunately, we still didn't spot a bear, but we could never decide whether we really wanted to or not. On the one hand there is all the buzz about spotting such an animal, on the other hand you have to realize that these animals are wild, extremely strong and also very curious. So there's always a chance that one of those will come and check on you while you are in his range. And that is a rather scary thought…

In the afternoon we headed south through Grand Teton NP (I am at a loss to believe that this place is really named after three (?) "Tetons" (Pierre, you know what that means)). Trappers must have been very lonesome. This park reminded me a lot of the European Alps, not so much of the Southern Alps because the grass is greener here. Essentially, we just drove through this park and stopped when we thought the scenery merited such an interruption of our travel.

We had dinner at Jackson, a Western style cowboy town in Wyoming. This place is extremely touristy. A little like Shotover St in Queenstown, but with more nostalgic feel. BTW: Dick Cheney has a farm close to the town and he uses Airforce 2 to fly up there. This seems ridiculous because an Airbus 319 appears to be oversize for this tiny airport.

On our journey south we the mountain scenery has changed from snowy and rocky singular ranges to a multitude of ridges and peaks which are all covered with grass. This makes for dramatic light plays at dusk. If this area would not be so secluded, I would like it a lot more. But right here it feels like you're just 1,000 miles away from anything.

Alrighty, these are my thoughts for today. I have posted the first few photos, so you might want to check them out!

Day #4 – Yellowstone NP

I know, I am skipping a few days but I am hopeful that I will be able to add them in the next couple of days. I just think it is best to write this while memory is still fresh. Soooo, here we go:

We got up at 5 am this morning so that we could do some wildlife watching. Drove to Lamar Valley (I can't believe that it is not included in most travel guides, because this is one of the game must sees in Yellowstone!). It takes about 90 minutes to get there which effectively became 120 minutes because of all the stops we had to make along the way. When we were driving up the pass road to Lamar valley it was all snowy white – about 1m of snow still lying around at the end of June.

The valley itself is like a huge green meadow with a number of rivers running through it. We first saw a bison herd (about 300 animals), the most we have seen so far. Then we spotted a lone coyote (they look like beige foxes). Elk and deer were abound. While watching buffalo and deer, our attention was then diverted to two coyotes that were feeding from a buffalo carcass.

After that we tried to spot some wolves but we did not get closer than to spot the ears of a single wolf about 3km away. On our way to Mammoth Hot springs however, we pulled over because we saw about ten cars that were stopped along the road – and there it was: a wolf amid a bunch of buffalo. This wolf was trotting along the river bank and then swam across to the bank where we were watching. Hope that the photos turned out alright… I can't tell now because our digital camera broke yesterday (it always seems to do that when we're traveling. The last time it let us down was in Africa two years ago), so we're back to the old film.

BTW: If anyone likes Rotorua – go and visit Yellowstone – its thermal features are even more spectacular (and there are many more of those around here). We spend all our time around midday and afternoon to walk in areas full with geysers, hot springs and pools in the most spectacular colors one can imagine.

This was our last day in West Yellowstone and we will head south tomorrow. We are sure to miss this place because for anyone who likes the great outdoors, this is a marvelous spot to visit.

We will now have a drink on Germany's 3:2 win over Turkey in the semi final of the European championship! Please keep your fingers crossed for the final on Sunday!

Thanks for your comments so far, have a nice day and I will hopefully be back tomorrow!

Day #1 From Düsseldorf to Denver

The first day started early with a drive from from Frankfurt to Düsseldorf to meet with my parents and then move on to the airoport.

Our flight was with Northwest (or Northworst, as I might say). The plane was a Boeing 757, about the oldest you will get these days on Trans-Atlantic routes…
But it wasn't just that: Entertainment, there was none. Friendly staff on the plane – not that day. However, the legroom was very good, so I won't complain…

Anyways, we finally touched down in Detroit only to learn that we could not get off the plane because of a thunderstorm. So we had to wait for more than one hour until we finally were allowed to deplane. Had a hard time to get through US airport security but managed to make the connection to Denver by 20 minutes (the remainder of the 3.5 hours we originally had for this exercise).

When we finally arrived in Denver, we missed one suitcase. What a start. It was well after midnight when we finally made our way to the hotel in downtown Denver. It was just great to be in bed after this 26 hour trip…

This was our first day on the trip, thanks for taking your time to read through it. Will continue tomorrow!

Will write more tomorrow…

Hi folks,

so far it has been very nice, but also very exhausting. We're at Yellowstone right now and we will stay here for three nights (and we do have internet access here) so I will post all the stuff tomorrow!

Have a good one!

Alex

The Route

Hi everyone, welcome to my travel blog!

For this year's vacation, the USA have edged South Africa which we would also love to travel again. But there's so much to see in the US and given the current exchange rate, we figured it may be a good idea to check out some of the parts we have not visited before.

Our trip will take us from Denver to Yellowstone Park (where we'll meet Yogi Bear for sure) early next week.

Have a nice weekend and hope to be on air again Sunday or Monday night!

Alex

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