Hello everyone,

It's been a long time since my last journal entry and I have just read what I last wrote to see that I said I was in Yosemite NP instead of Yellowstone - oops! I think I wrote that one after a long day late at night on a slow computer somewhere, so yes I was in Yellowstone not Yosemite!

I have travelled a long way west across the States since then. Yellowstone was great - we spent a whole day there on the 23rd seeing some of the major sights - Old Faithful and Mammoth Hot Springs (geysers), many other geysers and the Yellowstone Falls - a spectacular water fall and river that carves out Yellowstone canyon and Tower-Roosevelt canyon. 50 eyes on the coach were looking out for bears but no luck. The park is surprisingly big and we arrived back fairly late after several stops for buffalo in the road (most of Yellowstone is in Wyoming but we were staying just outside the park in Montana). I found out that Yellowstone is the most geologically active place in the world - more so than New Zealand and Iceland, and it's not hard to see why.

Our next stop was Salt Lake City and we took the best drive yet to reach it - heading back through Yellowstone as the sun was getting up and steam was rising from the geysers and streams. We exited the park at the south entrance and drove on through Grand Teton National Park - the views here really were amazing - snow-capped mountains, trees with autumnal colours and rivers - definitely the best drive yet and best views I have ever seen. We stopped to take in the views and then at a really cool town called Jackson Hole - full of up-market shops and cafes, surrounded by mountains - I ate the best chocolate cookie I've ever eaten here - it was a whopper that I'll never forget!

We left Wyoming, crossing west into Idaho (not the most scenic state - just full of crop fields) and then into Utah where we hit Salt Lake City. We didn't spend long here - just visiting a Mormon Cathedral (Salt Lake is the centre of the Mormons) and a proper American Diner (so good after a succession of Walmart sandwiches). We stopped for 2 days in Kanab in Utah - it really was the most isolated place we'd been to. The motel was great though and we had a ranch style dinner with Utah's finest beer (interesting) and cooked by the locals who were very entertaining. We had a BBQ in the park another night (all the parks are immaculate) which was good fun, although we were careful to disguise beer in cups as it's against the law to drink in public in Utah. We visited 3 National Parks from Kanab - Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon and Zion. Bryce was my favourite, we did a two hour hike amongst the most amazing red spires of rock and canyon - it really was incredible set against a bright blue sky. At one point we took a wrong turn and scrambled up a near vertical canyon only to find no exit at the end - opps, but we were rewarded with absolute silence - I've never heard such silence before - amazing. We hit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, it doesn't have the views of the more popular South Rim but the views were nontheless amazing. We had 5 hours to hike down into the canyon - a long hike with winding paths, steep drops and little shade - hard work but very rewarding (and I didn't look like a lobster at the end - good job). Zion NP was again great - we walked some short trails to see waterfalls (not gushing though as it's autumn), across some streams and into the canyon valley.

We left Utah, cutting across Arizona and into Nevada towards Las Vegas - the last stop on my trip. It's hard to describe Vegas - it literally is in the middle of a desert and like another planet. It's strangely exciting by day but fairly menacing by night, especially if you veer off the 'Strip', which is jammed with hotels and casinos. We spent a day wondering through hotel lobbies - they are open to all and each try to outdo each other with the wow factor - one has lions in it, another has gardens and a glass ceiling, rollercoasters (which I chickened out of) and there is a really cool watershow outside the Bellugio (the epitomy of hotels in Vegas). Evenings were interesting - we saw a Variety Show one night (not bad), went for a tour in the coach and stopped at several bars and casinos (I didn't win much with my dollar gamble). We left Vegas on Monday morning and got a suprise on the coach - two of the people on my trip ended up getting married - no joke! The wedding certificate was stuck up on the windscreen. It was a heavy night the night before and apparently they don't remember much about their 7am wedding! (It's crazily easy to get married in Vegas - there are chapels everywhere and even drive-through ones). Once we reached Anaheim and they'd sobered up, they realized that they had 48 hours to get back to Nevada and get it annulled - opps!.

I left Anaheim after a wonder through Donwtown Disney which was cool and am now in San Diego staying with a family friend (Helena). They have a lovely house in the suburbs overlooking the mountains. It's nice to relax here for a bit - the trip was non-stop but I had a super time and have some great contacts in New Zealand and Australia now. I seem to have been extremely lucky with the weather, sun every day on the trip except one. It was very cold in Yellowstone (minus 5 at night) but sunny by day, and once we hit Vegas it was up to about 38 degrees. Wyoming is definitely my favourite U.S. State of those I've been to, with South Dakota coming a close second.

I'm off to the Zoo today - yippee! I'm not totally sure of my next move although I'm intending on flying up to San Fransisco soon - probably at the weekend. Thanks very much for all your messages by the way - I really enjoy reading them. I will upload my trip photos later. All the best,

Grace xx