Enjoyed looking at your pics and reading about your all American adventure so much that I've made myself late for work. Worth it though. Makes pootling up and down the M5 seem a bit lame .
One day we decided to go to Niagara Falls. Nearly 17,000,000 litres of water flow over the falls every MINUTE. Apparently. The falls are actually 3 waterfalls namely The American Falls, Bridal Veil & Horseshoe. There is pedestrian access to Canada, which if you do attempt remember to take your passport with you. We went across for a couple of hours & had a long & distressing interrogation by a US customs official when we tried to come back into the USA. Despite having our passports, he wanted proof that we were travelling etc etc of course all of which was in the bus, parked behind him in the car park! Sadly the US side is a bit run down. By contrast the Canadian side is very upbeat & neatly groomed, probably because the best views of the falls are to be seen from the Canadian side......Whichever side you see them from they are a spectacular experience The welcome centre, Niagara Falls New York State. Closed Touristy bustle in Canada. Expensive & remember the passport! The observation tower & Rainbow Bridge, USA Loading up the tourists Maid Of The.............. .....Mist American Falls in the foreground with Bridal Veil behind, US side. American Falls & Bridal Veil from Niagara Falls, Ontario American Falls, Bridal Veil & Horseshoe Falls from the Rainbow Bridge
Can this get any better, superb pictures - if I ever go traveling across the USA it seems you'll have to come to be a tour guide. Absolutely BRILLIANT.
I have to disagree and say that the only place to see the falls from is Canada. Bizarrely the US haven't gone all out for over developing the falls, therefore from Canada you see nature at its best. Unfortunately from the US you see nothing but tacky and chavy hotels, casinos and gift shops.
Hey @Joker we agree!! The whole US side was run down & a bit edgy & the economy seemed to be suffering badly. This attitude was reflected through Officer Ewing of US Border Patrol who was a complete *rse. It would be hard looking out of the window every day across to gleaming Canada..... A big-up to HSBC in Niagara Falls USA however as the staff fell over themselves to help us out. Proper VIP treatment with calls to the UK to sort some banking issues. Nice people.
Battle of the Little Bighorn "BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD" "The muffled drums sad roll has beat the soldiers last tattoo no more on life's parade shall meet that brave and fallen few. On eternal camping-ground, their silent tents are spread, and glory guards with solemn round the bivouac of the dead." Theodore O'Hara, August 1847 19th century American history is a fascinating subject and the traveller is bombarded by reminders and memorials of the best & worst of our kind. From the pioneering exploration by Lewis & Clark, the British American war, the ethnic cleansing of the Native American population right through to the Civil War and abolition of slavery, it all seemed to come together here. If you’re interested, check it out & I guarantee you’ll be fascinated by the SF49‘ers of the 1849 gold rush, the Trail of Tears & the Cherokees, the Secession & the massive wave of European immigration towards the end of the century. The battle & events leading up to it were as a result of that 100 year old melting pot of greed, ego & exploitation. Maybe you're not interested, so I’ll shut up & just show you what the battlefield & surrounding area is like..... Entrance to the National Park and Custer National Cemetery. View across the landscape towards the Little Bighorn river. The veranda on the visitor centre is where the Ranger gave the presentation of the battle. Information board at Last Stand Hill Present day Last Stand Hill & the river in the centre The memorial stones mark the places of the fallen. White for the US Cavalry, Red for the Indians. Cheyenne markers.... Custers Last Stand.... Highway 212, Bear Tooth Highway Free woodland camping, middle of nowhere in the Custer National Forest. A walking traveller turned up & pitched his tent. We fed him & his dog. He was walking from Seattle to Cleveland Ohio. Work that out. I slept with one eye open that night as we were the only ones for miles & miles. Interesting people on the road.....
A quick flick back to California. After leaving San Francisco, we travelled south and east along Hwy 49 following the route of the gold rush towns. There is some spectacular scenery along this route which I'll save for another day. Leaving Drytown at an elevation of 640ft we started the long slog up to Yosemite. Climbing Snowdon's only 3500 or so Campsite at Crane Flat 6,200 feet above sea level. My favourite pastime, setting fires...... Showered & washing up. Notice the Bear Box. Put your food, toiletries etc in these otherwise they'll break into your bus...... Yosemite is awesome. Carved by glaciers.. Tolumne Grove is a Giant Sequoia stand. These are some of the oldest lifeforms on the planet. The oldest in the park here is about 1800 years old!! This is probably hard to appreciate but it was an emotional experience to stand next to such an old living thing. The exit we took out of the park was at Tioga Pass. 9943ft above sea level through the Sierra Nevada mountains. If you look closely at where the scree slope begins, that's the road down into the valley and the road on to Bishop.
THIS is what having a camper van is all about, having the time to really LIVE on the road is just such a wonderful experience, brilliant Neil, thank you. I'm so looking forward to reading all about this years adventure with Chip too, hurry up April ! Love the clip on mozzie / bear net !
Thanks @Luna the Westy , ! Yeah those clips are proper handy. Usually we held the screen in with fig 8 rail off the sun canopy but this was only an overnight. We learned though as the trip progressed. I got more & more bitten so we got another pack of clips from some hardware store & used the bigger one s to weight down the screen so the buggers couldn't fly under. Mozzies have bigger brains than most of us when it comes to figuring out the next meal! I love DEET
I'm going to takes us allllll the way across to the east coast. We'd had to to leave the Keys because of a big hurricane warning so bumbled up the Atlantic coast of Florida & Mrs Monkey navigated us to Flaggler Beach. It was beautiful. We had an extended stay here due to the weather but when the storm passed out at sea, the sun came out so we extended a bit more. The pitch These next few shots are taken from nearly the same spot on the boardwalk. Cool camping site with good facilities & good hosts. We swam plenty & walked more. There's an awesome cafe just past the boardwalk above, which is surf & VW themed. We were good patrons! One day this swam past! The beach cleared, as there are loads of shark attacks on surfers at an inlet back towards Daytona about 10 miles south. Once my loon of a wife realised what it was, it was a mad dash for the cossie & in she went. Can you spot the manta at about 10 o'clock from where she is! Note there's no other fool in the sea! The food was great at the self catering accommodation we had