...now in California

I cannot believe it's been 7 whole days since my last post.

In my defence, we've been sleeping in a lot of national parks (that don't have internet) and driving through mountains during the day, where satellite and cell phone reception has been hit and miss.  The other downside to not staying at a house at night is that all electronic devices that we would normally charge, don't get charged.  It happens while the car's on the road (and then only one at a time), or not at all.

But you don't want excuses -- you want adventure stories!

I have been delighted by requests for postcards, and just mailed a BUNCH today, so check your mailboxes gentle readers!

From the Grand Canyon we drove to the Petrified Forest (also a national park -- but we didn't camp, just toured, and kept driving to Henderson, NV).

Sarah and Britt, Petrified Pirates

we were not allowed off the path

Lizard!

Then over the Hoover Dam, and onwards into more mountains.  

It was hard to believe that after all the mountains we'd already seen, in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona that there could be more mountains... but then driving over the dam and into California, all the way to the coast was up and down mountains.  Then when we arrived at the ocean, it was not up and down but AROUND the mountains, on crazy twisty roads.

From the Hoover Dam we drove to Henderson, NV (a suburb of Vegas!) where we CouchSurfed with Luke.  He told us the best way to see the strip was to drive to the Bellagio, park there, and then walk all round.  It was good advice.

After looking around at the outrageously plush Bellagio casino floor (complete with piano bars, marble and carpeted floors, and a wacky installation of blown glass flowers exploding through the ceiling - it is Vegas, after all) we went outside to watch the fountain show.  They played "Time to Say Goodbye", sung by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman (lovely!).  Right at the end the woman in front of me, completely wowed, put up her hand, as if reaching for the final explosion upwards:

Then we toured the strip:

Sarah and I with Paris in the backround

Britt and Sarah

Bellagio, with fountain again -- Caesar's Palace behind
Planet Hollywood with the giant screens on the right

The Grand on the far left
Harley Davidson, MGM centre front
New York, New York, Monte Carlo, and Mandalay Bay on the right

After staying just one night in Henderson, we drove out of Nevada to California, through the Mojave Preserve to Joshua Tree National Park, arriving at the park just before sunset, and driving through the faded light from the north end of the park to the south end, where the campgrounds were.  We arrived that the campground about 40 mins after dark, set up the tent (after re-stringing one of the poles with new elastic), and slept on top of our sleeping bags.  Even in the desert, at least this one, it's still hot at night.

The next day we went on a 1 mile hike (round trip) and learned about 15 or so different species of desert flora that were used for various things, from sandals and nets, to food and medicine.  Then we spent a while in the shade at the oasis where we saw California Fan Palms for the first time in all their glory.  My favourite shot of this oasis:

After the park, we drove to Bakersfield, California where we stayed with relatives of a friend of Sarah's from College.  There's nothing like camping in the desert that makes you appreciate a shower!

We tried to drive all the way from Bakersfield, up the scenic California Highway 1 to Oakland (a suburb of San Francisco), but we couldn't do the whole thing in one day (probably because we kept getting out to do things like, put our feed in the Pacific for the first time, look for elephant seals -- we found none -- and take pictures of the biggest cactus flower I've ever seen).  

So we looked around for the nearest campground, and it was Mount Madonna State Park.  I thought that sounded pretty cool, until we heard it used to be a concentration camp for Japanese Americans :(  We arrived after the ranger station had closed up.  We found a site that had been reserved for two days later (therefore had a slip of paper "permit" already at the campsite), set up the tent, and spent our coldest night yet in the outdoors.  I was glad for both my silk sheet lining and my down sleepingbag, rated to 0C, and wore my jeans, two undershirts and a light sweater to bed without sweating at all in the night.  When we left in the morning, there was no convenient place to pull over and go into the ranger station... so we didn't end up having to pay anything!  w00t!

We arrived in Oakland, the next day and CouchSurfed with Kat, who is also going to Burning Man this year.  She and her lovely housemates gave us some lovely tips and tricks, and we also made friends with another CouchSurfing Burner, Angela.  Kat also was running costume evenings, where people could come and build/make/modify things for costumes.  We discovered, and made some lovely items.

This afternoon we headed out after saying our goodbyes, and arrived this evening at Sarah's parent's place in Campbell, California.  We'll be here for two or three nights, if we can swing it.  So far things are quite lovely.  More on this tomorrow... and now to bed!

Love from the road!