Liz n Mat Love USA

Mat here.  Guess where I just got home from?

Yep - I went to see the Discovery take off from Cape Canaveral.  When the boosters started, it was like the sun just rose again, and we saw a column of fire rise into the sky.  Absolutely freakin’ incredible.  And we were only 11 miles away.

I should point out this isn’t my photo (I got it off NASA just then).  I was standing with my mouth open in awe, not taking photos!  Stu took some shots and I’ll post them if they come out.

Our last stop was the incredible Zion National Park in southern Utah.  We came in through the Mt Carmel tunnel, and camped at the base of The Watchman - a mountain at the end of Zion Canyon.

The great thing about this campsite - there was the Virgin River next to it!  The first time for our whole trip we got to stay next to a proper river.  Sure it was stinking hot, but the river was icy cold and it was very pleasent to have a swim after all the hiking we had been doing.

Our first foray into the park was Angel’s Landing.  A dodgy climb if ever I have seen one, and people have died on this walk after slipping off.

 As you can see, the last bit of the climb up involved walking along the top of the skinny little ridge with 1200 foot drops on either side!

 Looking down and looking up Zion Canyon from the top of Angel’s Landing.  One of the cool things about this park was the white sandstone on the top of the higher cliffs.

The next day, we caught the bus all the way to the end of the canyon and went for a walk down the Narrows.  This is where the Virgin River (which has carved out the entire canyon) is cutting its way through a very narrow section.  You can walk for about 16 miles up the river (and in the river most of the time) where the canyon can be as narrow as 5 metres with 2000 foot cliffs on either side.  We didn’t go that far, but it was pretty bloody cool! 

Our last night out camping was spent on an overnight hike into the Kolob Canyons in the northern part of the park - but the photos have not been developed just yet so you’ll have to wait for those!

 You’ll recognise this backdrop from just about every Clint Eastwood and John Wayne movie ever made.  Monument Valley on the Arizona/Utah border on Navajo lands.  Huge red sandstone pillars all over the place.  The downside - you could only drive around them and were not really allowed to walk near them.  They are sacred to the Navajo and they were probably pissed about people scratching in "Frank was here 1972" into the bloody awesome structures.

 Kinda gives the place a bit of scale with little Lizzy in the pic there.  That skinny one on the right is called the Totem Pole.  It was a very popular rock climbing spot, but all of the metal pins left by climber attracted a lot of lightning that casued a heck of a lot of damage.  So no climbing now - and some guy’s job was to climb all over it and take out the holds.

Next stop was Natural Bridges National Monumant in holy Utah - land of the wacky Mormons.  We had a lovely fireside chat with the park ranger all about bridges, arches, mesas, windows, plateaus and buttes (hehehehe - he said buttes).  We answered quiz questions correctly and we won Smokey the Bear pins!  The next day, we did a 9 mile loop walk around all 3 bridges in the park, walking through a canyon all the way. Bloody hard work, but it was a good warm up for later in our odyssey.

 That little white speck pointing upwards in the middle there - that’s Mat!  Not much holding gravity back at this bridge..

 From there, it was on to Arches National Park.  Below is a picture of Mat and Liz Canyon.  We walked into the desert with all of our gear and found a nice, deep and shady canyon to camp in.  We saw lots of mountain lion footprints in the sand on our walk in - which is kinda scary!  When the sun moved over head, we quickly moved to the other side and found more shade.  We spent most of the afternoon sitting at the spot where this photo was taken, watching the sun move overhead and the canyons change colour.  Not a bad view for a campsite (that’s our tent in the foreground), and a place that very few people would ever get to see!

 The next morning we hiked back out again, almost stepping on a rattlesnake on the way.  We drove to the north end of the park and did a big loop walk through the Devil’s Garden where there are a heap of the arches that give the park its name.

 Landscape Arch on the left is about 100m long and 6 feet wide at its thinnest point.  About 400 tonnes of rock fell off it a few years ago, so they don’t let the tourists walk underneath it anymore!  On the right is Double O Arch, with me standing in the second O.  Bloody awesome park!

Next, onto Canyonlands National Park.  This photo is of a very dodgy dirt road that dropped about 1000 feet into the canyon on the Green River, just before it meets up with the Colorado River.  We drove down there becasue we were hoping to camp on the river, but the rivers here have very steep, muddy banks so we couldn’t actually get to the water. 

 We didn’t stay long in Canyonlands - we were basically canyoned out.  After the Grand Canyon, these big holes in the ground kinda look ho-hum.  But in hindsight, this place was pretty bloody awesome.

Next, a few hours drive to Capitol Reef National Park where we stayed for a night.  We went for a walk through the Grand Wash - what they call a slot canyon - where water has carved a deep canyon through cracks in the rock.  If it rains, the water can get about 6 metres deep very, very quickly, so they are considered quite dangerous, especially in August which is thunderstorm season in Utah.

 Where the walls go white on the left side of the canyon in the left picture - that’s floodwater level.  Luckily, it didn’t rain!

Next stop was Bryce Canyon National Park.  This is at the very top of the Colorado Plateau which is the sandstone plateau which has been carved out to make all of the national parks we went to.  Sitting at about 11,000 feet (3350 metres) altitude, it was the highest point that we had ever been and been standing on land - over a km higher than the highest point back in Oz.  The park is filled with rust coloured limestone pillars called hoodoos, that were bloody spectacular! 

 Part of Bryce Ampitheatre we saw on our walk through the hoodoos, and a curious little chipmunk that was trying to scam some food off of us.  We were told that when we went backpacking, to tie our food up in the air becasue these guys would chew through the packs to get at anything they could smell inside.

 Hoodoos and lots of hoodoos and The Wall of Windows.

 For our second night, we drove down to the southern end of the park and did an overnight hike on the Riggs Spring loop.  We saw this funky spiky lizard on the way, and go to see the sun set lighting up the Pink Cliffs from 1500 feet below.

Next stop, our favourite, and last park - Zion National Park… 

Back in August we went on a 2-week adventure out west, starting in Vegas (only long enough to fly in, pick up a car, and drive straight out without so much as a sniff of the main strip). A quick overnight in Mesquite, Nevada and on to our first stop, Toroweap, an isolated (yes, even by Australian standards) spot on the Grand Canyon north rim. Words cannot describe the size of this place. Pictures barely do the job….  But here’s what we got.

On the road in Utah.

Toroweap was such an amazing place, I never thought we’d find such a quiet, unvisited place at the Grand Canyon. Of course, we were lucky to end up with a 4WD just coz that’s all that was left at the rental company, and the road out there was 50 miles on dirt with a big, sloppy, muddy patch 1/2 way in. As a result it was just us and a few others camped at this big camping ground, so we went off and set up under this cool overhang and had the whole place to ourselves.

I dragged Mat outta bed at dawn’s crack so we could walk down to the lookout in time for sunrise….

Sunrise at Toroweap.

But after a while he started getting on my nervs so I pushed him over the edge. 

We did a trip with some friends over a long weekend in May to go whitewater rafting on the beautiful Chattooga River in South Carolina, famous for providing the scenery for Deliverance….  Here are some pictures of our rough and tumbles on the river.

Here we are at the beginning.

This was the first big rapid, very exciting.

Looking a bit aprehensive after being chucked out of the raft….

Back on the horse.

After a smooth start we didn’t fare so well - when we were coming up to the rapid above we got stuck on a rock and then we all got flipped out and got wedged under a rock on top of eachother. A little bit too much excitement really….  Altho apparently not too much coz then we got out of the water and tried again without the raft…..  Here we are again stuck on another rock above a big rapid (below). But at least now I knew what to expect so I was ready…. 

Sideways isn’t really the most ideal way to go down a rapid….  At least this time I knew I was coming out so I had time to take a breath!

Aaaand I’m outta there! (you can’t see me coz I’m under water)

There goes Karen bouncing off a rock….  and then getting patched up. She got banged up well and good, poor bugger.

After all these tumbles Matty was very determined to paddle us through the next rapid!

Fortunately we survived to have a quiet lie-down in the sun and a boozey dinner….

This is just some pix of us having a bbq with our mates by a nearby lake….  It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday arvie! 

Not a post about the US, but about my (Mat) warped sense of humour.  Here in the lab, we get lots of catalogs, including some for lab animals.  One had a picture of a very sad looking hairless guinea pig (obvously not a popular pet), and I couldn’t resist adding a caption to it…

If you every make your way to the US, Key West is definitely worth a visit.  Unless it’s hurricane season when you should be somewhere far from here.  It got hit by 3 hurricanes last year (Katrina, Wilma and Rita), but the people who live here don’t mind too much.  Brings the beach right to your front door!  

Sunset on New Year’s Eve 2005.

Key West sunsets are lovely.  Herb was right - I really do miss watching the sun set over the ocean…

We headed out on the town, and found a very strange car parked in town…

In Key West, you can drink on the streets on New Years.  All of the bars have a bar out the front where you could grab a beer on your way through town.  The place was PACKED!! They had closed off the main street and it was one huge street party.

This was the bar we spent midnight in.  Key West is a bit of a mecca for gay guys, and this was the gayest bar I have ever been in (not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course!).  The staff wore undies (they are setting up the stage show in this photo), and danced on the bar.  One guy was wearing a jockstrap - basically a g-string where the string goes outside the butt crack.  Now I wouldn’t have minded, but he was shaking it next to me when I was trying to get a beer.

Dancing like dickheads as 2005 ends.

We’re sotally tober, ossifers!

Sushi, the drag queen, making her way to the bar.  In New York, they drop a great big, light-covered ball at midnight.  In Key West, they dropped a sequin-covered drag queen in a giant shoe.  We were getting coverage from CNN we heard.

Em calls this her "hungover" shot.  Ugh - just recalling how I felt on the first day of 2006.  Liz went out early for a run to Hungry Jacks (called Burger King over here, but we still call it HJs) and came back with coffee and greasy food.  You rock babe!

After spending the first day of the year hanging on the beach, we went to  Mallory Square where they have a Sunset Festival every day.  Lots of performers come out and entertain the tourists.  There were acrobats, performing animals and magicians all about.  My favourite was a tightrope walking dog.

Here is the first sunset of 2006, with a Disney-themed cruise ship docked in the harbour.  When they blew the horn, it was to the tune of "When You Wish Upon A Star".  On the very top deck, we could see heaps of people working out on treadmills, ignoring the beautiful sunset while on a cruise…

A toursit icon in Key West, Southernmost Point.  Basically, the southernmost point in the US that you can drive to.  I think Susie Maroney swam from here to Cuba one time, cazy kid!

First stop, St Augustine just east of Gainesville.  This is the oldest permanently inhabited European settlment in North America (since 1559).  The Spanish, French, Engish and Americans have fought over this place for a very long time, and the place is very cool.  Lots of very old buildings that have fantastic lighting during Christmas time.  The main areas are a bit of a tourist trap, but its always cool to be in a building that was up for over two hundred years before Captain Cook bumped into Australia.

 This is the Castillo de San Marcos, an old Spanish fort that was part of the old city walls.

 Next, we took Em to Blue Springs State Park (Liz and I went there last Christmas - see previous posts).  Just as I was getting into the water, a couple of manatees swam by and checked me out.  If these things had teeth or any ability to show agression, they might be scary!

 Bye bye, Mr Manatee!

Em, just having come from the start of the Aussie summer into the bitter cold of the Floridian winter, found the springs a bit chilly!  The water is a constant 23C all year, which is actually quite pleasant when the air is only about 10!

 I still haven’t figured out why, but Em found manatees scary.  Kinda like being scared of moths, but they are pretty huge when you’re floating in the water with them.

After Blue Springs, we hit the road again and headed to Lake Worth, just north of Miami.  It’s a coastal town with the ritzy Palm Springs and West Palm Springs on either side.  They pride themselves on being much more laid back in Lake Worth than their yuppie neighbours.  

 Em loves frogs of the alive and hopping about kind.  But she could not resist the frog’s legs on the menu at Lake Worth.  Can you guess what they taste like?  You guessed it - pork.

 Next stop was Miami Beach (also called South Beach).  If you can imagine a place the size of Melbourne’s CBD packed with very expensive high-rise hotels, exclusive bars and clubs and ritzy restaurants, you’ve pictured Miami Beach.  We stayed at a very cool place called the Whitelaw Hotel.  But when I went up to the bar, got a beer and a martini, and was charged $18, I knew I was in Miami!

I know everyone thinks Florida is warm, but winters can actually be pretty chilly.  This was the first day that it was warm enough to head to the beach, and South Beach was pretty damn fine.  However, way too many people were trying way too hard to look good.  Personally, I was letting my beer gut hang out - don’t worry, there’s no pictures of that!

Not quite sure what this guy was doing standing on his head, but that’s Miami Beach for you…

Next stop - Key West, Margaritaville… 

Just before Christmas 2005, Emily, a friend of ours from Canberra, came for a visit on her way to teaching for a year in Tanzania.  For those not geographically inclined, that’s a big country on Africa’s east coast, just below Kenya.  We had a big night out in downtown Gainesville on Chrissie Eve, in a fancy restaurant (Pio’s Pasta).  After about 4 bottles of wine between us, we all looked like this…

The food was fantastic!  We stopped by Dirty Nelly’s, an Irish bar in downtown on the way home where we met a few friends.  On the way home, Em played with her digital camera, showing off her cleavage.

 The next day, we packed and prepared for our epic road-trip down the entire Florida peninsula…