NW USA trip

We’re back on the road again. This time to the northwest US up thru Oregon and Washington, over to Idaho and Montana. Traveling up the coast is proving to be a bit tougher as it seems half of America is doing the same thing. Most campgrounds are booked out from May thru September well in advance. Fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants style camping seems to be an endangered species these days. Don’t people work anymore?!?

On the way up we hit Pinnacles national monument (1), then spent a day in San Francisco and stayed at the RV park next to Candlestick stadium (2). Coke, meth and wireless internet are cheap in the adjacent lot. Tons of great coastline (3) along hwy 1. Found some wicked manzanita bark on one of our trails (4) and then drove thru some redwood groves dotting the coast.

Up next, Oregon and Washington coastline.

SW USA 2007 part 0

Forgive the lengthy delay, friends. We've been travelling around the southwest US including Kansas and Texas.
To do that we bought a used truck and camper that on the surface appeared perfect for our needs. However, it
took us a better part of a month to deal with various mechanical issues before it was ready to go.

A good chunk of our time was spent visiting friends and family in 4 different states so we didn't have much left over
for leisurely sight seeing. In summary, we did a circle through Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico
then back through Arizona and California in time for my Dad's 70th birthday celebration. On the way out and
back we did stop at a few places to camp and hike.

These are those pictures.... [Law and Order double chime here]

SW USA 2007 part 1

1) Sunset Crater, Arizona
2) Wukoki ruins, Arizona
3) Monument Valley, Arizona
4) Mesa Verde, Arizona
5) Artsy sunbeam in a Mesa Verde kiva copyright 2007

SW USA 2007 part 2

6) Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado
7) Great Sand Dunes, Colorado
8) More sand dunes
9) Betsy's Aunt and Uncle's farm in Kansas
10) Collared Lizard, Kansas

SW USA part 3

11) Slot canyon in Tent Rocks, New Mexico.
12) The tent rocks
13) El Morro box canyon, New Mexico
14) Petrified Forest, Arizona

Links to full photo albums

For those interested in seeing every gritty detail (2500+ pics) are welcome to see them at kodakgallery.com. High speed broadband recommended or tempt the wrath of your local sys-admin and view them at work during your "lunch hour". There's 3 albums and unfortunately kodakgallery orders each upload alphabetically by picture name as opposed to time taken so expect a bit of discontinuity. I also unchecked the "login necessary" button so the pics should be viewable without needing an account.

North Island (1000 pics):
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=16xaos86.9zzxfk9a&Uy=-uc89vf&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

South Island part 1 (668 pics):
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=16xaos86.cfjzkk1y&Uy=u8dwt&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

South Island part 2 (889 pics):
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=16xaos86.bt0wud4m&Uy=-9nfyzy&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

Final NZ days

At the northernmost tip of the south island we took a 4x4 tour of a 15 mile long sandspit that is somewhat infamous for confusing whale senses and causes mass beachings once or twice a decade where they bring up as many tractors as possible to pull them back into the sea (1). Elaine Bay in the Marlborogh sounds area (2).

Back on the north island, visited the government buildings. One of which is nicknamed "the beehive" and for some reason is guarded by a banana statue (3). Some local wildlife in search of wonder bread (4) and a black sand beach coastline (5).

On Wednesday, flew back home and are now planning the next few months driving around the US which will be continued on the blog in several weeks with a whole new fresh set of shenanigans!