It's been a crazy few days since my last update, going from one extreme to the other. After leaving San Francisco we headed for Yosemite National Park. I've been told a few times how beautiful the park is but it truly was one of the most stunning places I have ever visited, it could almost be a different world. We wanted to climb half dome which is the most famous trek in the park but it turned out you needed a permit, all of which had been taken 6 months in advance. Not one to be discouraged we blagged it as 'wilderness explorers' and were given a permit to camp anywhere in the park and climb half dome. Result!

We then set up camp and were told in explicit detail that we would probably be eaten by black bears in the park, if not by the bears there was a good chance the mountain lions would get us. Fortunately the park rangers were there to give us some good advice..... throw stones at the bears and fist fight the mountain lions. So reassuring! That night we were awakened by a huge thunderstorm which had during the night completely flooded our tent and given Nick nightmares about bears. Fun times. We were then told that most of the trails were closed due to lightning strikes which dashed our hopes of climbing half dome. Fortunately yet another park ranger was there to give us some more good advice about another hike we could do in the park , what he failed to tell us was that the trail he marked on the map was 23 miles up and down mountains. It was pretty tough but admittedly the scenery did make it worthwhile, just a shame the weather was so rubbish and I'm so unfit. I've been walking like a cripple ever since.

That night we had an even bigger storm which caused most of the roads in and out of the park to be closed so in order for us to get to Las Vegas we had to take a 4 hour detour in the wrong direction. When we arrived in Vegas I somehow managed to blag a really nice hotel room on the strip for $30 which is less that we have been paying for hostels between us! I think it's because they thought they would get money off us in their casino, little did they know we are skint travellers with no intention of gambling over $20. (I did however turn that $20 into $50). Vegas was exactly how I imagined it to be; big, bright, loud, and full of OAP's sitting on slot machines for 4 days straight. We had a look around at the sights and came across a show at one casino in which a boat full of scantily clad women attacked a pirate ship. I'm sure there was more to the plot but it was lost on me, I was just interested in the.....um.....visual spectacle. Definitely one of my highlights of Vegas. I was hoping for a crazy night out in which I got smashed, drugged and woke up married with a dead person in my pool but unfortunately it just didn't happen.

After Vegas we headed to the Grand Canyon, I managed to get a bit more engineering geekiness in on the way at the Hoover Dam which is MASSIVE. The Grand Canyon is exactly that, every picture that I took looks like a painting. We did a hike and intended on getting to the river at the base of the canyon and then returning to the top, fortunately the national park service place a number of warnings stating how many people die from exhaustion and heat stroke attempting this in one day, and although we are now classed as hardcore "wilderness explorers" we decided against it.

We just got to Albuquerque in New Mexico and are staying in some dingy motel. Something good has to happen, I recon there must be some murderers and hookers about. The next stop is in Oklahoma where we are staying with a friend at university and it's frat party time!

Keep living the dream,

Gibb