Good morning!
(i admit it's already 12.30AM but i feel like it's still morning since i slept quite long:))
Right now i'm back in Grand Rapids with my first host family after spending one week in California. I'm so happy to see them again, it feels a little bit like coming home! Because i was so focused on giving you a summary of each day, i almost forgot to tell you in general about the trip! Normally, we would wake up at 06.30AM, showered, get dressed, eat breakfast, make our luggage, take down the tent and load the trailer. At 08.00 we were ready to take off! In total we drove 4000 miles and crossed 10 states! It's really amazing how we all became friends in this short period of time. I enjoyed this trip, it's a great way of seeing different things and meeting new people, learning about their cultures also. In the beginning i had the feeling that there was a bit too much driving but we had to cover a certain distance of course. It was sad to say goodbye and realize that we might never see each other again... But we keep in touch and who knows, maybe one day i will go to Korea and visit my best friend Lucy! Okay, where were we in the trip? First day at Grand Canyon i think. So lets get further from there on!
October 15th: Grand Canyon
Seven of us decided to check out the canyon! We prepared ourselves by taking enough water (approximately 1 liter per hour hiking), a few granulla bars and a rain jacket. We hiked to Skeleton Point and the view while going down in the canyon was incredible. At first i couldn't believe we were really walking IN the canyon:) At noon we reached our point and the boys wanted to go further down to get closer to the river. Fionulla, Emily and me decided to hike back up. Easily said though, but a lot harder to do:) At some points we only walked for 10 minutes and felt like dying! But once we reached the top, we were pretty proud of ourselves! Back on the camping ground, we desperately needed to do laundry since our clothes were covered by a layer of red dust. Unfortunately things came out of the washer more dirty than we put them in because the dust was now all over, even clothes that didn't had dust on before turned out to be red...:) Since everybody warned us for a really cold night below freezing, we decided to sleep with four people in one tent instead of two in order to keep each other warm. Putting two layers of pants on, one thermic shirt, two t-shirts, three jumpers, gloves, a hat and two extra pair of blankets i was quite warm but still shivering sometimes.
October 16th: Lake Powell, Arizona
After swimming in the coldest but most refreshing lake ever we headed to our camping. This place was owned by an ex tour leader from Trek America and was really well provided, there was a dorm (so we could sleep inside), the usual shower facilities and best of all a chill out place with music, seats and a pool table. James and Alan learned me how to play and i won two games. It was one of the most nicest evenings, probably because it was so unexpected, we danced like crazy (for those in the scouts: it really seemed like a scouts party:)), played pool, had fun and went to bed maybe a little bit too late :)
October 17th and 18th: Zion National Park, Arizona
The first day in the park was a little lazy, we had a chilly afternoon, we even made some pancakes! The next day, five of our group did a hike called Angel Landing, pretty difficult and since my back was really hurting i decided not to join them. Instead we walked to the town, had lunch there and planned to do the Riverwalk. Pretty unprepared (only one bottle of water for the three of us and one cookie) we took the shuttle bus up to the point where we started our trip. Luckily it was easy to walk but really beautiful views near the river. We didn't had the time to walk in the river itself because we had to be back on time since Lucy was cooking that night. After dinner we played Black Jack (also called 21) to practice for Vegas:)
October 19th and 20th: Las Vegas, Nevada
Let me describe Vegas in a few words to give you an impression what this city is like: impressive neon lights, casinos called New York New York/Venetia/Paris, the Eifel tower, a big fountain with an amazing water show every 15 minutes, M&M world, roller coasters, film set for a lot of movies (indeed, we felt like in the movie 'Ocean's Eleven'), a train connection between two casino's, the Stratosphere, gambling people no matter what time of the day it is, Freemont street experience (see pictures), mega outlet store, a fake statue of Liberty,... This is Sin City! At night we went gambling, wandered around the strip (this is a four mile section of Las Vegas Boulevard with the main casino's and hundreds of hotels), enjoyed the fountain show and asked ourselves how people could come here and gamble over and over again, most of the times losing their money. I realized i'm not a good gambler, most of the times it seemed too obvious that i would lose :)
October 21th: Los Angeles, California
We arrived quite late in LA, part because we had a flat tire on the last part of the trip. Fate or not:)? Luckily Rob knew how to fix it! At 06.00PM it was time for me to say goodbye to everybody (most of them would stay one more night in the hotel) and i felt so sad leaving them!
During my week in California, i had a chance to visit different optometry practices, stay with different people and learn different things from each of them! Their hospitality and kindness is amazing! I will tell you about my experience later!
The pictures are online! You can see them by clicking on 'diavoorstelling' on the right side of this blog. A website called http://picasaweb.google.com/vandeneyndelynn will open. Click 'Lynn' and select an album. I've put the pictures in different albums, sorted state by state.
Bye bye x
woensdag 29 oktober 2008
vrijdag 24 oktober 2008
Hi there!
How are you all doing? I apologise for not been posting a message on my blog for so long, but when you're camping in the desert it's pretty hard to find an internet connection:) So it's time to update you i guess and with the help of my little diary i'm keeping that won't be a problem. I will give you a short summary of each day, so let's go back to where i finished my previous message.
October 8th: New Orleans, Louisiana
We just spent our last night in New Orleans and as we left the town the following day i was shocked by the damage that was still visible from the hurricane three years ago: houses were broken, roofs were gone... That night we arrived in San Antonio, Texas.
October 9th: San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is considered as the birth place of Texas. Before it belonged to Mexico, as well as Utah, California and Arizona. Through the town a little river flowed (i thing it was an artificial one), giving a really nice atmosphere! At night we did some pumpkin cutting using certain Halloween patterns. It was much harder than i thought it would be, but at the end i succeeded to cut a spider web and we had a lot of fun!
October 10th: Del Rio, Texas
We crossed the border to Mexico and although it was only a couple of miles away from the US, it seemed like we found ourselves in a completly different world: mexican hats, cowboy boots, taco restaurants as far as you could see! In a local park, we ate nacho's (with a lot of cheese on top of it!), had the best taco's ever (they were totally different from those we ate before in america, these were crispy, rolled up very thin, stuffed with beef and a dressing on top) and how could we not end drinking a tequilla :) Entering back in the US took us over one hour and we ended up setting our tents in the dark and having dinner at 09.30 PM.
October 11th: Carlsbad, New Mexico
Because this was our first night in the dessert, me and Lucy were so looking forward to the sunrise that we decided to wake up at 05.30AM to enjoy the wonderfull upcoming sun! At 06.00AM it was still dark... Finally at 08.30AM it became lighter but without a rising sun! It turned out to be a cloudy morning :) In Carlsbad we visited a beautiful cave with a lot of stalagmites and stalagtites. A little bit further away there was an other cave and every summer 400.000 bats are coming over from Mexico! Every evening at 06.00PM they come out of the cave, looking for insects to eat. It was amazing to see them and hear their wings flapping!
October 13th: Monument Valley, Arizona/Utah
Monument Valley is the largest indian reservation of America. Years ago the Navajo people came from Asia, through China, Russia and Alaska to Canada and made there way to the US. They don't have any electricity or streaming water since they wanted the area to stay as natural as possible. Fourteen families are living their, having their own believes and religion. I will try to tell you how this valley looked like but i allready know that this will be impossible. You have to be there to experience the beauty of this scenery, it was absolutly amazing! We arrived at 05.00PM and start discovering the reservation by jeep. Massive red rocks as far as you could see and this in combination with the light of the undergoing sun made it perfect although it was really freezing out there! I've never been this cold and the wind felt like cutting in my face.. Once we arrived at the hogan (name for the Navajo hut made of clay on the outside and wood on the inside with a fire place in the middle), there was a fire to keep us warm. Later that evening they did some traditional dancing for us and at the end we joined them because it was too cold to sit down and not move.
October 14th: Grand Canyon, Arizona
At 06.30AM we woke up and the jeep took us to the perfect spot to watch a real sunrise :) At first it was still pretty dark but as soon as the first sun rays showed up, it didn't take long for the sun to come up and shine! In the afternoon we arrived at the Grand Canyon, having our first views from inside a helicopter! These mountains together with Monument Valley are the two most beautiful things i've ever seen!
I promise to tell you later about the Grand Canyon, Zion and Las Vegas but right now i'm pretty tired, so it's time to go to bed now.
Good night and see you later!
X
How are you all doing? I apologise for not been posting a message on my blog for so long, but when you're camping in the desert it's pretty hard to find an internet connection:) So it's time to update you i guess and with the help of my little diary i'm keeping that won't be a problem. I will give you a short summary of each day, so let's go back to where i finished my previous message.
October 8th: New Orleans, Louisiana
We just spent our last night in New Orleans and as we left the town the following day i was shocked by the damage that was still visible from the hurricane three years ago: houses were broken, roofs were gone... That night we arrived in San Antonio, Texas.
October 9th: San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is considered as the birth place of Texas. Before it belonged to Mexico, as well as Utah, California and Arizona. Through the town a little river flowed (i thing it was an artificial one), giving a really nice atmosphere! At night we did some pumpkin cutting using certain Halloween patterns. It was much harder than i thought it would be, but at the end i succeeded to cut a spider web and we had a lot of fun!
October 10th: Del Rio, Texas
We crossed the border to Mexico and although it was only a couple of miles away from the US, it seemed like we found ourselves in a completly different world: mexican hats, cowboy boots, taco restaurants as far as you could see! In a local park, we ate nacho's (with a lot of cheese on top of it!), had the best taco's ever (they were totally different from those we ate before in america, these were crispy, rolled up very thin, stuffed with beef and a dressing on top) and how could we not end drinking a tequilla :) Entering back in the US took us over one hour and we ended up setting our tents in the dark and having dinner at 09.30 PM.
October 11th: Carlsbad, New Mexico
Because this was our first night in the dessert, me and Lucy were so looking forward to the sunrise that we decided to wake up at 05.30AM to enjoy the wonderfull upcoming sun! At 06.00AM it was still dark... Finally at 08.30AM it became lighter but without a rising sun! It turned out to be a cloudy morning :) In Carlsbad we visited a beautiful cave with a lot of stalagmites and stalagtites. A little bit further away there was an other cave and every summer 400.000 bats are coming over from Mexico! Every evening at 06.00PM they come out of the cave, looking for insects to eat. It was amazing to see them and hear their wings flapping!
October 13th: Monument Valley, Arizona/Utah
Monument Valley is the largest indian reservation of America. Years ago the Navajo people came from Asia, through China, Russia and Alaska to Canada and made there way to the US. They don't have any electricity or streaming water since they wanted the area to stay as natural as possible. Fourteen families are living their, having their own believes and religion. I will try to tell you how this valley looked like but i allready know that this will be impossible. You have to be there to experience the beauty of this scenery, it was absolutly amazing! We arrived at 05.00PM and start discovering the reservation by jeep. Massive red rocks as far as you could see and this in combination with the light of the undergoing sun made it perfect although it was really freezing out there! I've never been this cold and the wind felt like cutting in my face.. Once we arrived at the hogan (name for the Navajo hut made of clay on the outside and wood on the inside with a fire place in the middle), there was a fire to keep us warm. Later that evening they did some traditional dancing for us and at the end we joined them because it was too cold to sit down and not move.
October 14th: Grand Canyon, Arizona
At 06.30AM we woke up and the jeep took us to the perfect spot to watch a real sunrise :) At first it was still pretty dark but as soon as the first sun rays showed up, it didn't take long for the sun to come up and shine! In the afternoon we arrived at the Grand Canyon, having our first views from inside a helicopter! These mountains together with Monument Valley are the two most beautiful things i've ever seen!
I promise to tell you later about the Grand Canyon, Zion and Las Vegas but right now i'm pretty tired, so it's time to go to bed now.
Good night and see you later!
X
woensdag 8 oktober 2008
Trek America Trip
Hi everybody!
Finally i found a stable internet connection! As you may have noticed allready, this blog message is in english so my American friends also understand how i'm doing:) and i apologise for possible spelling mistakes. We have been on the road for one week now and i can say it's great! There are people from Scotland, Ireland, England, Switzerland, Japan, Korea and Australia. The different cultures and accents are making it really interesting! Some days we drive for many hours, other days we have time to do rafting, visiting a city, doing a swoamp tour while seeing alligators... Most of the time we cook ourselves; Mexican, Korean and Japanese food were allready on the menu. At night we sleep in tents and although i've bought two extra blankets, i always wake up shivering... I hope i will survive our nights in the dessert next week! My tent mate is Lucy, a girl from Korea, and she is awsome! I have the feeling that we will be friends for a long time. Washington DC, Tennessee and Mississippi are allready behind us and right now we are in New Orleans. Yesterday we went out in Bourbon street (karaoke, piano bar, jazz concert, live bands...) and i can tell you it was a real culture shock to me! I had the feeling that all the people were crazy :) Today we leave for Lake Charles, Louisiana and Thursday we will arrive in Texas. Next week we drive to Arizona and we will visist Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon! Unfortunatly i don't have much time left to write more about my adventures. Just wanted to let you know that i'm doing fine and that this trip was a great dicision!
Love you all!
X lynn
Finally i found a stable internet connection! As you may have noticed allready, this blog message is in english so my American friends also understand how i'm doing:) and i apologise for possible spelling mistakes. We have been on the road for one week now and i can say it's great! There are people from Scotland, Ireland, England, Switzerland, Japan, Korea and Australia. The different cultures and accents are making it really interesting! Some days we drive for many hours, other days we have time to do rafting, visiting a city, doing a swoamp tour while seeing alligators... Most of the time we cook ourselves; Mexican, Korean and Japanese food were allready on the menu. At night we sleep in tents and although i've bought two extra blankets, i always wake up shivering... I hope i will survive our nights in the dessert next week! My tent mate is Lucy, a girl from Korea, and she is awsome! I have the feeling that we will be friends for a long time. Washington DC, Tennessee and Mississippi are allready behind us and right now we are in New Orleans. Yesterday we went out in Bourbon street (karaoke, piano bar, jazz concert, live bands...) and i can tell you it was a real culture shock to me! I had the feeling that all the people were crazy :) Today we leave for Lake Charles, Louisiana and Thursday we will arrive in Texas. Next week we drive to Arizona and we will visist Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon! Unfortunatly i don't have much time left to write more about my adventures. Just wanted to let you know that i'm doing fine and that this trip was a great dicision!
Love you all!
X lynn
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