Max and paula travel the world

Kategorie: USA

  • Santa Barbara / CA

    We just spend one wonderful week in California, where we were able to relax and plan a little bit.

    Since it was so hot, we didn’t do a lot of things, so we just visited the mission of Santa Barbara and the historic Court House, just to get a little bit of the local history. Santa Barbara Downtown is really beautiful with a lot of Shops and places to eat. I think we went into all of the antique stores and thrift stores on state street. On Monday evening, Sandy gave us a presentation at her company, where we could try out the occulus rift with position markers, which was kind of scary since it is really life-like and realistic. Sadly, we can’t upload the videos here, but you can look up worldviz for example videos.

    We went to the beach a lot and cooked some German food for Sandy and us. And of course we went to yogurtland again. The place is awesome when it is warm. One evening we went to a local bar and on the way there we were attacked by some crazy Mexican guy. Thankfully two other people came to help us out after a few minutes. Max now has a battle scar on his arm from where he was stabbed with a pen. The rest of the evening was awesome, with American football, beer and pizza.

    For just one day we drove to Sequoia National Park with a driving time of 8 hours back and forth. It was totally worth it! Apparently one of the trees is the largest living organisms on earth. The trees were really big there, as you can see in the pictures.

    Right now we are on our way to Peru with stops in Las Vegas, Miami and finally Lima. 

  • The Grand Canyon

    ​We just arrived in Santa Barbara, California at Sandie’s, an old study buddy from University. The two days in the Grand Canyon were amazing. We went hiking there with the most amazing view ever.

    But first things first. On the bus trip from Yellowstone to Flagstaff we met the nicest guy from California who told us a lot about America, the places to go here and the country in general. At our stop in Salt Lake City it was really crazy because apparently the day before there was a gang stabbing and shooting right in front of the greyhound station so we were not allowed to turn our backs to the street if we went outside or leave the premises. On our layover in Las Vegas we spent one dollar in a casino and just walked through one of the malls there.

    We arrived in the Grand Canyon at 10 in the morning and were just too tired to do anything special. After going to the campsite we decided to take one of the shuttles going along the rim and do the tourist thing. On the next day we went down one of the trails below the rim to skeleton point and back up. Next time we go there we definitely have to get a permit in advance to travel from rim to rim. In the evening we went to one of the sundown points along the way and enjoyed the view of the last rays of sun in the Canyon.

    After one day in the bus we arrived in Santa Barbara and enjoyed one day of being inside, relaxing, cooking and the evening in the backyard. Today we went to the beach and downtown Santa Barbara where we got the first frozen yogurt of our lives.

    We still have to book our flight to Peru, but before that we want to go to Sequoa National Park to see the big trees. After that we will stay in Peru and Chile for a few months before we go to New Zealand. If anyone has any tips on where to go in Peru and Chile they would be greatly appreciated!

  • Yellowstone

     Yellowstone is amazing. We were there for 3 nights and it was just beautiful. We had some starting problems when the car rental company ace couldn’t provide us with a insurance, so we had to get a different car. On top of that, ace apparently doesn’t refund so we basically had to pay for two cars. 

     

    We stayed at Madison campground in Yellowstone, right next to a river where in the evening we could see elk and bisons\buffalo (even the locals there don’t know the difference…). While we were there, we drove by a few  bisons that were just standing next to the street. In Yellowstone you can see immediately when there is an animal by the cars parking at the side of the road and lots of people with way too big cameras. We even drove by a bear once. Sadly we didn’t see any of the wolfs.
    Since it was the end of October, it rained a lot, but thanks to the car and the tent we stayed fairly dry. We could even take a shower at one of the hotels in old faithful for four dollars one time. Best shower ever. 

    The hiking trips in Yellowstone are kind of short and a lot of people drive around there in their RVs, just stopping when there is an attraction right next to the road. We went up Mt. Washburn (10000 something feet), to the Fairy Falls and up the Elephants back where we had a view of Yellowstone lake. On the way we saw of course lots of chipmunks, squirrels and geysers. I think you can’t go anywhere in Yellowstone without the slight smell of rotten eggs, we even smelled it on Mt. Washburn. On the second day there we picked up a hitchhiker who told us to go to the Yellowstone Canyon and picking him up was a very good decision since we would have missed a colorful view of the pink, yellow, red and orange Canyon.

    On two of the evenings we had a campfire at the campsite, unfortunately without marshmallows. But on the way back from Yellowstone to Bozeman and the next Greyhound we stopped at McD and had a real American meal. When refilling the car we bought the cheapest fuel ever, 50 liters for 30 dollars. It appears fuel is the only thing in America that is cheap. 
    Max forgot his sunglasses in the car ( a crystler by the way ) and we noticed that at every station until now he has forgotten something. In Toronto his earphones, in Vermont his washing cloth and now his sunglasses. Let’s see what we will lose in the grand canyon.

  • Vermont

    One week of hiking and touristing in Vermont is over. We had an awesome time here with Julie, Pierre and Anna at their home.

    Sadly the leaves were not red yet, but the nature was amazing anyway. We went to the pinnacle, up Mount Mansfield, the highest point in Vermont and visited the Ben and Jerrys factory and the granite mine. We tried out local beer and wine and tasted a lot of maple sirup products.

    After our last week in civilised society today we take the greyhound bus to Yellowstone and after that to grand canyon. It will take us only three days by bus to reach Yellowstone, piece of cake ☺.

    It could be a while till you hear from us again since we will be off the grid.

    • At the capital in Montpelier
    • Top of pinnacle
    • Taking out the longboards
    • In the corn maze
    • Ben and Jerrys
    • Local beer
    • At the mine
    • Bowling on granite
    • Eating marshmallows
    • On top of Mt Mansfield
    • The way down
    • Coffee and Vermont ice cider
    • At the falls
    • Last day in Vermont