Wednesday 18th - Grand Canyon.

The highlight of my trip by far. This place is so spectacular its unreal! Words cant really describe what its like. It looks so good on tv, but even better in real life!
Anyways, after having woken up with a mild hangover from vegas, we travelled about 7 hours to the Grand Canyon South Rim. We'd all been offered the chance to go out on a helicopter over the canyon, and there was a choice of $185 for 25-30 mins, or $225 for 45-50 mins, I originally went for the shorter flight, but changed to the longer one as I think that an experience like this is worth the money. The flight took about 5 minutes to reach the canyon, flying over woodlands. But we finally made it to the rim, and as we flew over the pilot dipped the chopper like a rollercoaster ride as we flew over the rim and into the canyon. The sight that met my eyes was unreal, miles and miles of beatuifully shaped rocks that had been erroded over millions of years. I thought the history behind Death Valley was awesome, but this is out of this world. As we flew through the canyon, the pilot was pointing out the names of each rock formation. I was sat behind the pilot on the left, and everything he pointed out was on the right so I didn't get the best of views, but everything on the left was jst amazing. There was also snow on some parts of the canyon walls, and you could see where there had been bushfires in the last few years. The canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, ranges in width from 4 to 18 miles (6.4 to 29 km) and attains a depth of over a mile (1.83 km) (6000 feet). Nearly two billion years of the Earth's geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted. Recent evidence suggests the Colorado River established its course through the canyon at least 17 million years ago. Since that time, the Colorado River continued to erode and form the canyon to the point we see it as today. It was such a great experience flying through this truly amazing place, the 45 minute flight seemed to be over in but a few minutes. Time flies when your having fun! I ended up buying a DVD of the flight, not the same as actually flying, but a good reminder so that i can look back in years to come!
After the flight we went to an information center a mile or so away, and watched the sunset...again, so beautiful. There were so many shades of vibrant red as the sun went down. I took so many pictures to try and save the moment. The weather during the day was very warm and sunny, as you may tell from photos, but as soon as you get in the shade it gets freezing. I also had a few more pictures taken of my lying down game on a wall next to the canyon.
Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canyon for more info. I'd reccommened visiting this place to anyone, no matter how much it costs, its an experience worth having!
This night we stayed in cabins again, thank god I was lent a sleeping bag this time!

Thursday 19th - Seligman and Joshua Tree N.P

Today we visited Seligman, this is the birthplace of the famous Route 66 in America, connecting Chicago to Los Angeles and goes through the heart of the states. This delightful town retains all the flavor of the old road. A trip down Route 66 in Seligman is a trip back in time to the days when Route 66 was the Main Street of America. Founded in 1895 after the completion of the "Peavine" Railroad (see Ash Fork) the railroad camp known as Prescott Junction officially became Seligman and was an important railroad stop along the line. Seligman embraced Route 66 wholeheartedly upon its arrival in the late 1920’s. We had a look around, there wasn't much really to see, the place was very old! We then went for lunch at the Snow Cap - a very famous roadside cafe. In 1953, working on a shoestring budget, Juan Delgadillo built the Snow Cap Drive-In from scrap lumber. Fifty years later his small Route 66 business is known worldwide. Yes it has great food, but perhaps the real reason the Snow Cap had become a Route 66 Icon was Juan himself. He has become the Route 66 Clown and loved to make people laugh. People came here to see Juan Delgadillo and to laugh with him as he amused the Snow Cap customer with his off-the-wall antics. For Juan the customer is all-important and he promoted Route 66 one person at a time. Life is to be enjoyed and Juan enjoyed it to the fullest. On June 2, 2004 Juan Delgadillo passed away. He is sorely missed by all who knew him. His zany antics at the Snow Cap entertained Route 66 travelers from around the world. His legacy will live on at the Snow Cap through Juan's sons John and Robert who continue the tradition of fun that made the Snow Cap and Juan a Route 66 legend. There were a few practical jokes when we were there...noteably there were two doorhandles on the entrance and exit doors...the wrong side had signs above it stating push or pull, and people were stood there for ages trying to open the doors with the wrong handle, the right one wasnt labelled and was very discreetly placed on the other side of the door. other practical jokes were 'used' napkins, and a mustard bottle that squirted out a mustard color bit of string so that the victim thought they were bein sprayed with mustard...so much fun! I had a John Dog (hot dog) for lunch. http://www.theroadwanderer.net/RT66seligman.htm or http://www.legendsofamerica.com/PicturePages/66az-ashforksnowcap-7.html for more information.
Next stop was after a very long journey to Joshua Tree N.P. http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=joshua+tree+national+park&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=du8JS82ZE4KysgOPuoXACQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCMQsAQwAw
Joshua Tree N.P is filled with Joshua Trees and cool looking rock formations. Joshua Trees were named by Mormon migrants who had made their way across the Colorado River. Legend has it that these pioneers named the tree after the prophet Joshua, seeing the Joshua tree limbs outstretched in supplication, guiding the travelers westward as well as the bushy leaves looking like the beard of the prophet joshua. Young sprouts may grow several inches in the first five years, then slow dow, averaging one half inch per year thereafter. The tallest Joshua tree in the park looms a whopping forty feet high, a grand presence in the Queen Valley forest; it is estimated to be over nine hundred years old. These "trees" do not have growth rings like you would find in an oak or pine. This makes aging difficult, but you can divide the height of a Joshua tree by the average annual growth of one half inch to get a rough estimate. Geologists believe the face of this modern landscape was born more that a million years ago. Molten liquid heated by the continuous movement of earth's crust, oozed upward and cooled while still below the surface. As ground water percolated down through the monzogranite's joint fractures, it began to transform some hard mineral grains along the path into soft clay, while it loosened and freed grains resistant to solution. Rectangular stones slowly weathered to spheres of hard rock surrounded by soft clay containing loose mineral grains. Imagine holding an ice cube under the faucet. The cube rounds away under the corners first, because that is the part most exposed to the force of the water. A similar thing happened here but over millions of years, on a grand scale, and during a much wetter climate. After the arrival of the arid climate of recent times, flash floods began washing away protective ground surface. As they were exposed, the hugh eroded boulders settled one on the top of another creating impressive piles of rock that can be seen today. We got here just as the sun was setting, so we weren't able to do much exploring, but we had a quick look around, once you saw one tree or rock, you had seen them all pretty much. The sunset, again, was beautiful.

*At present I'm sat waiting at my hotel for my shuttle to take me to the airport...I will finish updating my week away when I arrive in New Zealand...places for me to update are a day in San Diego and my final trip day in Los Angeles...please continue to leave comments, as its really nice to hear from everyone...it's kinda tough being on the other side of the world and reading your comments helps me stay focussed and motivated. Speak to you all soon :D*