As I sit here, on a Viking cruise ship on our way to the Arctic Circle,
I thought I best write up our last 3 and a half weeks of our sensational trip
across the U S of A. It has been such an amazing time, and as we still have another 6 weeks ahead of us,
I truly feel the need to 'download' the incredible memories
before stuffing my brain with even more!
This is the first time I have ever brought my MacBook on a holiday with us,
but as we have 7 sea days ahead during this 4 week cruise,
it seemed like the smart way to utilise those down days at sea.
The cool part?
I have lovely people bringing me unlimited food and cocktails,
plus I'm not neglecting my household duties.
Win- win.
👍🤣🥂🛳
This whole holiday all stemmed originally,
with us booking a cruise to Norway, departing from New York City,
so we thought we'd simply add a road trip across the country to get there,
as well as visiting friends and relatives along the way. It seems to be our MO.
Arriving into San Fransisco from Australia,
saw us enjoy firstly a couple of days relaxing at Fisherman's Wharf,
chowing down on the best Clam Chowder in the world whilst watching thousands
of fat, lazy sea lions lounging on the floating docks at Pier 39.
A couple of celebratory drinks at Bubba Gumps.
After our first full day, we were really looking forward to catching up with friends who drove two hours to visit us and generously treat us to a wharf side dinner with views to
Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge.
What a start!
We first met Gretchen and her sister, Lisa, in Kenya during our
African adventure back in 2019.
This time we got to meet her wonderful husband, Sal,
and we certainly hope this isn't the last time we see each other.
Amazing people. ❤️
Saying our farewells after our scrumptious meal, we simply strolled towards the pier that had our sunset cruise waiting for us. What better way to enjoy this glorious harbour, than to be out there on the water,
sailing around Alcatraz and under what I believe to be one of the most outstanding
and photogenic span bridges in the world;
the stunning Golden Gate. It was freezing up on deck at the front of the boat - but where else would we be? Well, sometimes the back is our favourite spot too, especially with a flag.
The following day our dear friend Libby,
(whom we met in 2018 on a camel train in Petra 🐪 ),
- she also featured in my 'Down Under' blog,
met us, along with her son/driver/tour guide - Keith,
and together we all had a fabulous day cruising around this picturesque city and harbour. Libby, a girl after my own heart, is an avid photographer,
and she has been looking forward to showing us 'her San Fransisco' and all the wonderful photographic spots that she knew I'd adore.
Especially cool in the morning fog,
listening to the fog horns constantly blasting on the harbour. It really set the picture beautifully.
Fort Point is located directly under the city side of the Golden Gate Bridge,
and it a place that has been historically preserved, and rightly so. Now, its an interesting site for history buffs,
but Libby was there to show me through a photographer's eye. Wow, we had a ball. I'll just post a few of my faves.
And this is how humble it looks from the outside:
Do yourself a favour, and go in for a look if you are around.
Its free too! Just don't leave any valuables in your car. Even luggage.
Apparently the smash and grab thing is HUGE around there. (We later drove across the Golden Gate Bridge
following a car with a smashed out rear window.)
Libby and I - Sisters from another Mister.
Timeless and ageless defines our friendship and connection.
And a fun SFX photo Libby did for us. I now know how to do this, thanks Lib!!
From here we drove into the famous Chinatown of San Fran for a delicious lunch and a quick look around their amazing food markets -
-then up to the technicolored hippy strip of Haight Street for some fun dress up pics. The store staff were so generous allowing us to do this!
After leisurely looking around at all the curious/drug paraphernalia stores,
we cut a straight line to the legendary windy Lombard Street. Now-a-days it is heavily landscaped now, and whilst fun driving it,
its actually pretty had to get a decent photo of it.
And who could resist stepping into the middle of the road,
to grab an iconic street car shot like this?
Then back up the hill again to photograph the famed Painted Ladies. The 'Painted Ladies' being this famous row of houses you may have seen in many a movie.
So, San Fransisco. 💙
Finally, at the end of the day, the harbour fog had cleared so we got to recreate a special photo of me that Trev took 33 years earlier by the Golden Gate Bridge. This new photo will proudly join its 'old' counterpart on our travel wall
upon our return home. (Thanks to Libby, for taking a sneaky photo of my old shot that was on our travel wall back in Australia, and to set this photo opportunity up for us.)
We followed this with a drive down to the super quaint and very trendy seaside town of Sausilido for a quick bite and drink, before heading back to Libby's home in Sacramento, and hour or so away.
All this, and it was Libby's birthday too!
This exact day last year we spent the day together sailing with friends on Sydney harbour. How cool!
We had big plans for the next few days, so we utilised a down day to check out the town and do a little shopping, before we had a day trip to Lake Tahoe in our sights.
Being only a short drive from Lib's home town of Sacramento, it was great to get out of the city, and really get the feel of what this country has to offer, nature wise. And what a place to start!
But we were in for a very unexpected treat - we hadn't been gone very long,
when we happened to come across a full on wagon train!
WOW!
Actually, it was the 75th anniversary wagon train/ride, across many miles and days, recreating part of the route the early settlers carved out many years ago. They were stopped on the side of the road, enjoying a break, and Libby was just as excited to see it as we were, having not witnessed it herself since she was a child. So, after passing them, she immediately swung a quick U turn,
and I was literally out the car door before it stopped.
I had a good chat to some of these guys, and they let me know that you are welcome to join the journey, and it only costs $60 per day, plus your accomodation if you want,
or bring a 'swag'. You can even bring your own horse!
The only prerequisite is that you have to dress in period attire.
*Note to self - and for my friend Sharon, who I'm horse riding with in Mozambique, Africa later this year... Could be an option. one day..???
Moving on -
The gorgeous and world renown Lake Tahoe is really quite high in altitude, with the view at Echo Point being 7377 feet,
so the driving was quite hairy sometimes, with steep inclines followed by long, steep and winding down hill gradients, mostly with no guardrails,
and Libby did a brilliant job driving us around. She once had a cabin up here, and has driven these roads many, many times.
From here it was an adventurous, dirt track crawl along through stunning scenery,
heading towards ' Fallen Leaf Lake', always keeping an eye our for wildlife...
Bears, coyotes, deer, oh my.
Trev took this glorious shot. 💙
Then it was up to the penultimate vista at the outstandingly gorgeous, Emerald Bay,
with its picture postcard lake shots, as well as its cascading waterfalls.
I took so many photographs, it was such a beautiful place. Make sure you check it out if you can, if you visit California.
Back to reshuffle our bags, and get ready to leave for our trip north, to central Oregon;
to visit Libby's best friend Kristy and her husband Dan. We are heading to horse country, and I for one, have been looking forward to this sector of our trip very much. Its always wonderful meeting new people on our travels,
and this was going to be no exception. More friends for life. Happy days!
Here's where more serendipity of travel and our travel family was to happen. Kristy has spent years breeding horses...and to make that even more perfect -
Arabian and Arabian Pinto horses.
As I've owned, shown and occasionally bred these exquisite creatures myself over the past 30 + years too, I was heading to horsey paradise.
Plus the yearly rodeo was in town, and we had box seats for the final day.
Welcome to 'Sisters. Oregon'
Wow.
Nestled into surrounding snow capped mountains, this gorgeous piece of paradise was to be our home away from home for a few busy days.
But wait - whoops, am I in trouble...again?
But before the rodeo, we had the parade through town to witness.
Wait, just witness ? Heck no!
As Kristy was on the committee and had to be on the table first thing in the morning giving out all the entry numbers to the participants, guess who offered to tag along to help? Yup! But help? No, it was way too much fun to be called helping! Any chance to spend more time with this amazing lady, and I was happy.
So I was like, "G'Day mate! Welcome to the Sister's Parade!"
I was met with some surprised looks, but had so much fun rapport with the locals and participants.
I also got to chat with the very sweet Rodeo Queen, Destiny,
who was giving up her High School Graduation to be a Queen today,
and at the Rodeo tomorrow. She even let me wear her hat!
Bless - finally a Queen! 👑
And as a kicker, I got to start the parade with my huge whistle that I use on my farm...
And they were off!
What a hoot! And the funniest part was; as I was giving every entrant a participation rosette as they passed me at the start - I got to follow the final exhibit down the street. You see, I was looking for where Trev and our friends were sitting, and the crowd was too thick to walk through along the footpath,
so it just seemed to make perfect sense to walk down the centre of the road,
behind the parade.... Yeah? Well, the last exhibit were fire fighters, so everyone was waving at me too,
thanking me for my service! Oops! What to do? Smile and wave.
Following the parade, Kristy and I had a window of time to get a ride in ourselves.
This was a huge highlight for me as it was a horse ride with such glorious mountain views.
It was by far, the most beautiful place I have ever ridden, it literally was a dream come true. And the icing on the cake was that Kristy and I got along like old friends.
Many years ago, I owned a palomino part Arabian horse,
so it was an utter privilege to ride Bella, in this spectacular scenery. Yup, Heaven existed right here.
And Kristy on her beautiful Arabian gelding, Mahjdi,
a stunning bay gelding who is actually distantly related to my Arabian mares at home.
What a character this horse is!
Smiling in his photos, or doing a 'Mister Ed'.
Tomorrow is the final day of the Sister's Rodeo,
and Kristy and Dan had generously bought box seats for us all to enjoy the big hoedown.
Luckily for us, we missed last night's event, as a bull actually jumped the fence and got loose in the crowd, putting five people in hospital!! 😱 It even made news back home in Australia! Fortunately they were all released, and one cowgirl even rode the following day
with a broken nose. What a legend!
I was excited, as I get to wear my brand new cowboy hat and boots!🤠 I had these items in my sights before I left Australia, and I'm chuffed to actually have bought them here this weekend, and at very reasonable prices too. Now, all I have to do is wear them through the airports now,
as they won't pack in my luggage! 🤦♀️
Just as well I LOVE them!
Cute hey?
Tonight's dinner reservation was a surprise from Kristy.
We were going to Black Butte Ranch to dine at what has been voted as having the best view in the USA! Can't wait!
Unfortunately, we had two of our team down with illness, Libby and Kristy's husband, Dan, so it was just four of us, taking one for the team. Poor buggers.
And just check this out. The restaurant itself was gorgeous,
but we couldn't take our eyes off the fabulous lakeside view. These three mountains are the namesake of the town...
they are known as the 'Three Sisters.'
I would give this place a big tick in the 'best view' department!
---
RODEO TIME, YEEEHAW!
Visiting Royalty...us?
Bahaha!
Our Possee! Myself, Trev, Libby, Dan, Diane and Kristy.
The Sister's Rodeo is a very big deal. They had bronco and bull riders from all over the country,
and even a current world champion. Now, I'm a sook when it comes to animals, and to be honest I've never really been an advocate of rodeos, but I did appreciate the care and effort that goes into an event like this,
and I must say, all the animals looked in peak condition.
Besides, to be perfectly honest - I was there for the cowboys. 😉🤠 Trev too, had his fair share of eye candy, I can assure you!
But back the rodeo. 😉 These boys were tough - with seemingly elastic backbones. Wow.
And the Rodeo clowns were brave as heck, and had their work cut out for them. I took an amazing video of the action with one crazy assed bull. One of the clowns had to retreat into his barrel, just as the bull decided to push it for a
decent roll across the arena. When eventually his barrel was upended by another clown,
he popped his head up and with a triumphant fist pump to the air -
the crowd cheered like crazy!
What a day!!! What a great few days! 🥰
---
And that's a wrap for Sisters.
Sadly.
But we do hope to pop back next year as we are currently planning our
Canadian and Alaskan holiday for the Fall of 2025. We now bid farewell to new friends made, Kristy, Dan and Diane,
as well as our dear friend Libby. Until we meet again...!
Thanks for your generosity hospitality and new friendship. xx
Driving out of town, I just had to take this last shot...how cool are these sculptures sitting randomly in a front paddock?
Very cute. Very Sisters. An absolutely gorgeous place to visit or live.
Next stop? The AVIS rental car depot, to grab our ride for the following five days.
We are now going to be on our own - unleashed on the American freeways,
and we are pumped.
And that excitement went off the richter scale upon finding out that our booked car was unavailable - so they gave us a substitute -
a brand new black Chevy Camaro, convertible!
They even knocked some money off for the 'inconvenience!
OMG.
Trev, who owns a black classic Camaro himself back home,
couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he drove it up to me,
as I was waiting with ALL OUR LUGGAGE.
To fit into a convertible.
Okaaaaayyy...😳 Even I was prepared to leave a bag behind to make sure we fit into this car. Yellowstone National Park with the top down - booyar!
Now, our initial main destination leaving from Sisters, was to be Yellowstone. But as it is over 13 hours to drive there,
and we certainly didn't want to be driving through deer country in the dark,
I had selected Twin Falls, Idaho, as an overnight stopover.
Cool.
More waterfalls, and only an 8 or so hour drive, in just the prettiest countryside. Idaho is far more than just potatoes! The landscape was gorgeous and the Interstate a great road to drive on.
A lovely surprise when we got here, with the landscape literally just cracked open with this ravine revealing a gorgeous waterfall and striking rock formations.
Twin Falls, Idaho. 💙
It was a bit of a race against time to get here in time for the sunset,
at after 9pm mind you (sooo late for us Aussies), but all good.
This is all we really needed to see at this location, and that meant we could crack on early the next morning, so we could arrive in good time into Yellowstone National Park.
The excitement was building!
Trev had no idea what I had booked for us at West Yellowstone,
just outside the Park's entrance, so upon pulling into these darling log cabins,
he was as stoked as I.
was to be our home for the next two nights,
and the best part about this now? We get to take all our luggage out of the trunk of the car, so we can put the top down! Woohoo!
I think I've only ever driven in a sports convertible, maybe once or twice in my life! What a treat!
Fully self contained cabins, kitchen, huge bathroom with separate toilet,
and two enormous pillow like beds. A family of four could easily enjoy one of these smaller cabins.
They also had large family sized ones with lofts.
Not cheap, but nothing is cheap at Yellowstone, particularly in June - and I only had booked this a couple of months ago. Many of the lodges book out immediately upon the opening up of reservations,
12 months prior.
So I felt privileged not only to acquire any accommodation at this short notice,
but to stay in a log cabin is as authentic as it gets - for us anyway!
And it was but a 5 minute drive to the West Yellowstone Entrance.
---
We stopped by the Visitor's Centre before entering the park,
as it was essential to grab a map, so we could get a good gist of where the locations were we wanted to visit. Don't rely on Sat Nav or any kind of phone reception in many spots in Yellowstone. So many mountains and plenty of altitude to hinder connections. A paper map is the go, and all you need. Old school. 👍
But basically, it is dead simple. There really is only two loop roads.
There's a top loop, and a bottom loop. The top loop being 'possibly' more vast in spectacular scenery,
and more prolific in wildlife,
with the bottom loop being longer -
and having most of the geothermal wonders, including of course,
'Old Faithful' - the geyser that shoots up every 90 or so minutes, hence his name.
As we were heading into the park around 1pm, we chose to drive the smaller 'top loop' first, thinking we could knock this over in a few hours.
Ahem, wrong.
Firstly, we were very fortunate to just miss the 4-5 hour road blockage earlier in the day,
due to a huge herd of bison deciding the road was a lovely place to lie down. A common event, apparently!
It'd be great for some awesome footage, but ugh, to wait all that time would be frustrating -
plus is was in the 90's in temperature!
So, lucky for us, we just drove over all the piles of bison poop - the only evidence of their daytime roadside sojourn!
But the views.
The scenery. The mountains, the rivers, trees, wildflowers, waterfalls, bison, deer...
Lordy - Lordy, it was Heaven on earth, and we were merely spectators.
It is by far the most glorious, expansive and diverse National Park we have ever been to.
And what happens when Australians, who are starved from snow, get to see some? In summertime???
Yup, der ... of course!!!
And as we were heading out towards the entrance again, this time to leave for the day,
just around sunset...
THIS HAPPENED..!
We spotted a bunch of cars by the side of the road, (always a clue for some action of sort), so Trev pulled over to enable me to bail out and check what was happening. And this is how spoilt we had been, as I literally said to him ;
"If this is just Bison on the road, I'm coming back to the car."
I know...how blasé is that? 🤭
So, when a chick was running past me with her smaller camera,
apparently to get her big lens, I just asked her flat out,
"So, what we got here?"
"Three grizzly bears."
O M G!
I nearly pee'd my pants with joy! This is me running back to the car to tell Trev! ⬇️
🤣
And looky looky. A Momma Bear and her two cubs! What an utter privilege!!
This is just one of the special things about Yellowstone. No fences. No exhibits. No enclosures.
If anything, we are the ones enclosed in our cars,
marvelling at the sheer awesomeness of nature - without us ruining it!
You may see the odd fly fisherman having a wee fish in a shallow bubbling stream -
but hey, with bears around? Oh, and moose.
Not me baby.
Not a chance.
Unfortunately, the traffic jam to exit the park was a shocker. The two loops converging at a simple 4 way stop sign, meant an extra 2 hours to our day, and we didn't get back to our cute little cabin till after 11 pm,
and without any dinner too. 😫
(There's a tip - pack snacks!)
Oh well, a bevvy and some cheese and crackers was our midnight snack. Going with the flow!
We still have another day to enjoy this magnificent park.
---
Day two meant taking the lower loop today, and we had a couple of main places in our sights to see, amongst anything else that was en route. Old Faithful, who is located about a third of the way around,
and Mammoth Terraces, which is located right nearby.
Timing the geyser is hit and miss, as we found out,
arriving there just was the crowd was dispersing... Bugger!
It was going to be at least a 90 minute wait - give or take Nature's whim.
No matter, there was plenty to do and see around 'Geyser Central',
including a few thousand tourists!
The Old Faithful Inn there, was possibly the most incredible log building we had ever seen. ( I seem to be saying that a lot this trip!)
It was virtually impossible to take a decent photo of it, being so enormous, so here's a couple of my my best efforts.
Inside was insane! AND PACKED.
WOW.
So, so glad we are staying in our little cabin outside the park,
but it was still very worth seeing.
So, after strolling around the boardwalk, enjoying other smaller geysers and boiling thermals pools, we grabbed the proverbial touristy 'I was here' shot, before parking our butts 'ringside' for nature's show.
We were told by the good folk next to us (their 6th visit), that you can truly hear and feel
the underground rumbling before he starts to go off. Plus, as you look further away, the other geysers start shooting up tall fountains of steaming water, indicating the pressure was building and about to blow off.
Well, Old Faithful didn't make the Earth move per se, but it was truly exciting
when it started to blow. The crowd all cheered - us included!
He managed to blow his top for about 3 minutes,
which is considered a long eruption - cool hey! Yes, it was a wait, but all good things they say, you know... It was awesome, and another big tick off our list. Don't miss it, if you come to Yellowstone.
The thermal wonder of Mammoth Terraces was located right nearby, and was worth the walk up all the steps to get there. The altitude here is a bit of a surprise too, at 7349 feet...that's 39 feet higher than Australia's highest peak, Mt Kosciuszko. So it's not a surprise that you get puffed easily going up stairs.
But oh my, your efforts are rewarded. These terraces have been formed over thousands of years, as the hot mineral filled water pours over and as it cools, depositing calcium carbonate, creating these terraces and glorious colours.
This mineral ladened water travels here from the Norris Basin,
a steaming, thermal sulphuric bubbling mud pit connected to way below the earth's crust. And we will be seeing that right at the end of the loop.
This all takes a lot of time, driving these loops, so allow for it,
so you can take in as much in as possible. We had a huge drive to still go, and getting to the top of the
Continental Divide was super cool. The tiny wee lake at the very top here seems very inconspicuous, but it in fact, half of it flows one way to the Pacific Ocean, and the other half all the way to the Atlantic. It is a very significant geographical spot, and it was awesome to learn the facts and take some pretty pics.
Randomly driving past these fissures is always fun!
Finally we get back to the Norris Geyser Basin. A thermal melting pot we had lined up in our car yesterday to see,
but couldn't get anywhere near the carpark, so we bailed. Today, we were much later, hence it was quieter, and I'm glad I googled images of it last night, otherwise we may have driven past.
It was amazing! And like I mentioned earlier...
The water from here helps create the Mammoth Terraces.
Check it out. Like a primordial soup of the birth of our planet!
And just towards our exit, I asked Trev to stop, as I saw some folk, with a camera on a tripod, standing on a hill nearby, and I was curious as to what they were seeing on the other side. My imagination and dream was a scene from Dances with Wolves. I was dreaming of seeing a massive herd of bison, peacefully grazing in paradise.
Well, after huffing and puffing my way up the hill,
I was gutted when the photographer pointed to some trees about a mile a way,
where there were a couple of bison hanging around.
Wait, what?
Am I greedy and wanting more?
Yup, sorry, but YES.
Whilst I was on this bum steer, Trev was happily sitting in the car enjoying
the view with the top down. And here I should add, I have never seen him happier driving a car, than in this car,
top down, cruising this park.
Wouldn't you be here happy too? ❤️
And here is where the universe looked after us. Again.
(Much gratitude.)
On our way out, we came across a few cars parked. Looking left I squealed to Trev, "THERE THEY ARE!"
We came across a herd of bison - all the mummas and bubbas.
Yep, the car hadn't stopped and I was out the door again.
What was lovely, is that we had a slight hill to observe them from, and everyone was giving the distance we should, and just enjoying the serenity of the setting.
It was glorious.
Happy days indeed!
Ticked everything off our Yellowstone list.
And that's a wrap, on this most outstanding of National Parks. I hope you get to see it one day, if you haven't already.
😫👋
---
The following morning we were up bright and early. We had a HUGE day's driving, but we will be rewarded along the way, let alone our destination at the end of the day.
We were going to see Mount Rushmore!
Situated in South Dakota, it's probably a fair thing to say,
that many Americans themselves haven't been there.
Hey, I haven't been to the Red Centre of Australia either, so that's fair. How often does one see more of the world before their own country?
That'd be us. Saving that for when we are 'over' the long haul flights.
Anyhoo, I had done a little researching at home about what is nearby Mt Rushmore,
and I saw that the 'Devil's Tower' wasn't that far off the track. Remember 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind?'
Yup - I'm in like Flynn!
But a wonderful surprise before that, was we got to visit the site of 'Custer's Last Stand'. Just an easy exit off the Interstate Hwy, (in the direction we were travelling, 😉)
is the location of this most famous battle, plus the Cemetery, Monuments,
as well as an information ladened Visitor's Centre.
I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I truly didn't know the facts about this,
but I do try to keep up my learning though.
Little did I know how connected a very young Colonel Custer was with both the
American Civil War, but with that of the war against the Indians as well.
(Personally, I hate saying 'the Indians', as I believe they should be more known as
'First Nations or Indigenous' but it's what it was known as back then.)
He was a highly decorated war officer, who was given the duty after the famous
Battle of Gettysburg, to 'go fight' the Indian Wars
in the New Territories.
And here I was thinking nothing much could be worse than Gettysburg,
but here at this very site: &#