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Oh man, I've been putting off writing this blog for so long because there's just way too much to say and not enough words to describe.... and I know you've seen my statuses and are somewhat caught up, but maybe I can go into a little more detail here. These past two/three weeks have been incredible - I have seen and done things I never thought I would, and I am so sad that the organised tour ended last week, but am very excited for the stage stage of solo travelling. The two weeks after New Orleans we travelled to Houston, San Antonio, Carlsbad Caverns, Roswell, Santa Fe, Mesa Verde, Four Corners, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite and finally San Francisco. I'll try and condense them into some highlights. The Riverwalk in San Antonio was beautiful; we took a boat tour all around, and we sat in a bar overlooking the walk and had $3 margheritas, and were serenaded by Mexican men! Carlsbad Caverns was a massive underground cave, and in the evening we got to see all the bats fly out. It was really sinister - we had to stay extra quiet so that it didn't spoil their natural habitat, so it was a big crowd sat in silence whilst hundreds of bats flew over us. Texas and New Mexico is exactly how you would imagine it - dustmites, cacti, stretches and stretches of road without a thing in sight, but there was something magical and beautiful about it too. Our CEO Jan loved this Calvin Harris song that we played one day, and so every time we got to a huge stretch of road we played this 8 minute song full blast in the van. That's a memory I'll never forget.
Mesa Verde National Park was a great place where settlers had made villages from the walls of the Mesa Verde.... mountains I guess you would call them. We had a tour of that before going to Four Corners where you can stand in Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona at the same time. Really touristy and stuff but still.... how many people can say they've done that? Driving through Colorado was such a nice change from the open stretches of New Mexico - as soon as you cross the border you see massive mountains in the distance, amazing beauty, and then nearing Arizona, just an amazing amount of rock formations and desert. It's ridiculous how different my experiences of England and Europe have been to here. I'll probably never see anything like that again. And Monument Valley was like nothing I could have imagined. We got picked up in this rickety old truck by a Navajo Indian and taken to lots of key sights you have to see in the valley. At one point he asked us to shout at the top of our voices and you could hear it echoing throughout the whole valley. One of my favourite parts was lying down in a hogan (which is like an open cave), looking up and seeing the shape of an eagle on the roof... then Kody the guide singing a Navajo Indian song. I was nearly reduced to tears. In the evening we set up camp (and by camp I mean we laid our sleeping bags out under the stars) and were made traditionals Navajo tacos, which to me tasted just like Yorkshire Pudding with meat and cheese, guacamole and veg. Delicious! After that we were told Navajo stories and taught traditional navajo dancing, then we went to sleep under the stars. At one point I woke up and my mouth was filled with sand, but you can't have everything....
In the Grand Canyon we were able to watch the sun set whilst eating pizza which was a really beautiful sight, and the day after we set off for Las Vegas. I can't even begin to describe what it looks like. It's so beautiful but so tacky! We stayed at the Stratosphere which has a massive tower that looks over Vegas, and you can see exactly where Vegas stops and the desert begins, and surrounds this tiny little chaotic city in the middle of Nevada! I won $25 at blackjack, went on the rollercoaster at New York New York and drank a lot, but I'm so glad I didn't have a blow-out night because a couple of girls on the trip (you know who you are ladies!!!) got on the van to leave the next morning having gotten in an hour earlier, still drunk and pretty much hating life! They were good entertainment for the journey though!
Okay so to sum up the next few days, we saw hot springs in Death Valley and sat in the hot tub in Yosemite (it was snowing!!!), then finished in San Fran on the 24th. After an emotional goodbye dinner at the Cheesecake Factory some of us parted, although I met up with a few of the gang in San Fran and then in Chico where we had a friend living. The definite highlight of San F was biking over the Golden Gate Bridge in gorgeous weather, stopping in Sausalito and having a well earned beer..... and Alcatraz was pretty awesome too :)
I've spent a couple of days in Sacramento before I fly to Portland tomorrow, just doing nothing but eating and shopping, and I feel like I have my second wind now to travel for maybe 2/3 more weeks, and coming back to the UK mid/end of November. It has gone so fast, and I can't believe I left two months ago. I'm happy to say I will probably come back with a slight American twang and the tendency to say 'Thank you so much' to everything :D
P.S I want to add a list of things I've learnt about the difference between Europeans and Americans too:
They never have butter on bread
They think beans on toast sounds disgusting
We never like to have the last of any food, we always leave it and it annoys them loads
Halloween is much bigger over here - we went to our friend Kim's family's house for Halloween and everyone, even the adults, were dressed up and there was loads of Halloween-themed food
They care WAY more about sports - we saw the World Series final in a sports bar in San Fran where the San Francisco Giants won, and everyone was hugging and crying, and for days people would come up to me in the street and say 'Hey! Go Giants!'
Everyone wants to speak to you in the street and find out where you're going and where you've been. Especially after they've heard your accent.
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