Seff

The trip was a huge succes (well, the girl and I are still together, which is amazing all things considered). We made it from LA to Monte Vista, CO - then north to Yellowstone, west to SF and south to LA again. A great trip - all in a Nissan Versa...

Saw a few lots of old cars, including an Olds from the 50s in Colorado.

Lost a credit card in Yellowstone (and had another card on which only the chip worked - that's not fun...)

And, we were never charged for the rental car. So, all in all, a good trip.

oldcutlass

Glad you had a good time.

Seff

It was amazing. So many parts of the US I'd never seen before.

MDchanic

It's a big frickin' country. I live here and have never seen any of the stuff you did.

Sounds like a great trip. And for a great price.

- Eric

Seff

Oh yes, and we want to see the east coast eventually as well.

Camping in the national parks was very, very cheap. Bear spray was a must, though.

MDchanic

Yeah, they do stink... But how did you get close enough to clean them?

- Eric

Jamesbo

I got a dollar to a doughnut he didn't hike up and down the grand canyon

Seff

Re: Bears - we went to Yellowstone and went hiking in bear country. The must have heard that we were coming, though, because we never got close to them.

Jamesbo: My girlfriend and I hiked to the bottom and back up to the rim in just under eight hours, including break to swim in the Colorado river. We were tired by the time we reached the top...

Jamesbo

Self,

Wow Congratulations. I'll bet you're one of the few that didn't ride mules

Seff

Indeed we were not. Started at 6 AM to counteract the heat, and we still drank something like 12 liters of water for the round trip.

rustyroger

What was the temperature difference between the top and bottom of the Grand Canyon?.

Congratulations on your hike anyway. Glad you enjoyed your trip. Mind you anyone who take a vacation in the USA and doesn't have a great time has some serious problems......

Roger.

Seff

I agree, it's almost impossible not to have fun. My girlfriend was in awe at many of the things, and surprised by the stark difference between things - how rich and busy one part of a city could be, and how poor it could be only blocks away.

The temperature difference was something like 85 f at the rim and 109 f at the river.

oldcutlass

Am I the only one that wants to see pictures??

47 Convertible

__________________________________________________ ____

No. Always interesting to see what people from outside the USA take pictures of

Seff

Hollywood was much smaller than expected - all the expected things were present, we just thought it would be... bigger.



Yours truly and my better half, somewhere in Hollywood.



I assume only the ugly ones are working at any given time.



Santa Monica beach, a few minutes before the occurrence of a sun burn. We learned to wear sun screen plenty fast.



Flat and straight roads like these are practically unheard of in Europe. The miles pass quickly, thankfully. My girlfriend was impressed.



My mother has an old friend in Vegas, we stayed with him for a few days. Good fun.



Mark is too preoccupied with his Margerita and his Enchilada to notice the photographer...




Guess what this is.




The bottom, AKA the Colorado River. My GF insisted on getting into any sizable body of water we came across.




Notice the donkey riders - the people that wanted to see the trip but not hike the miles! I was mildly envious by the time we were 2/3 up again - that's when the incline starts killing you slowly...




Mesa Verde. You guys have more history than we ever hear about in Europe.




Pagosa Springs, CO. This was after we saw a rodeo in Durango, CO. Both very charming towns. It's a much more beautiful part of the country once you get out of the desert - in my opinion.




See what I mean?




I didn't think they still had barns like this over there! :O

Seff

My uncle's cars.




Dinosaur National Monument.





Guess which national park!



You guessed right.





Buffalo - there we lots and lots of these bad boys.




Yet another national park!





Camping life. This is how we lived and slept 3/4 of the six week trip. All in all, a good experience.




Yosemite.






Mine shaft at the Empire Mine State Historic Park. They mined gold for a long time in CA.




SF. We only stayed a short while - cities tended to stress us out, whereas camping and national parks were far more calm.




Pitcher of Margarita in SF - we got hammered that night...




More camping, this time just south of Monterey, CA - we had trouble finding camping spots along the west coast since a wildfire was raging at the time. This meant we ended up sleeping in the silly little Nissan Versa.




We have many more pictures, these are just the ones off Facebook. It was a good trip.

MDchanic

If she was your girlfriend at the beginning of that trip, and she was still your girlfriend by the end of that trip, I'd say she's a keeper.

Looks like it was great fun (and reminds me of the old days!)!

- Eric

oldcutlass

Very nice pictures, now we have proof... Glad you 2 had a great time.

Seff

She stuck with me for the duration. Some kind of craziness, I suspect.

Thanks to all.

MDchanic

Crazy as a fox.

Beware, or you'll wake up and find you've become "respectable."

- Eric

Seff

That sounds like code talk for "a father". D:

oldcutlass

Married...

Seff

Gods no!

47 Convertible

Seff, thanks for the photo tour of your trip to the Western U.S. I'd say your itinerary was a good sample of scenery and special places. Glad you and GF had a good time.

Your Uncle has good taste in cars. A C7 Corvette and a Corvair convertible.
Jerry

Seff

We would have done very few things differently!

His C7 is the full package... And his Corvair has needed a clutch the last ten years...