Utah...possibly our favorite state?

We think that Utah is well on it's way to becoming our favorite state. The number of stunning hiking opportunities is amazing. That said, we wouldn't want to be here in busy season. April is definitely the perfect time of year.

And they have some pretty birds here too!

Bryce Canyon Viewpoints

We got on the road at 9:00am yesterday, specifically to do the 36 mile (58 km) round trip drive through Bryce Canyon National Park. This drive has several viewpoints along the way, and we wanted to stop at each one. We were hopeful that our start was early enough to beat the traffic!

This road takes you up to 9,000 ft, and there is still some snow in places.

Prepare to be wowed!

We did an 8 mile (13 km) hike in Bryce Canyon National Park yesterday. There's no way to describe the landscape without showing you lots of photos...and maybe a video or two. So, for those of you who will never see below the rim of the canyon, this is what you're missing...

A neat little gadget

We had quite a few requests from various companies this winter to "advertise" their products for them. We turn most of them down, either because we're simply not interested in the product, or we actually try it and it's not worthy of a decent review.

But we've got a few good ones coming your way over the next couple of weeks. Here's the first one...

Wow...what a place!

Nice short drive of only 58 miles (93 kms) yesterday morning as we made our way from the eastern outskirts of Zion National Park up in altitude to Bryce Canyon National Park at 7,500 ft.

Yesterday's drive, 58 miles (93 kms).

Now *this* is a great campsite!

It was 10:30am yesterday by the time we got on the road out of Las Vegas. Not sure why it's taking us so long to get going because we were up by 7:00am.

The late start was probably better in the long run though because we drove through Zion National Park and it was a Sunday, and it is free entrance week in all of the national parks. So going through the park later in the day might mean less traffic.

Apparently Sherman is too old!

We left the Home Depot in Barstow at about 9:30am...a little later than we wanted to. Then, we put in some gas...enough to get us to Las Vegas where it's quite a bit cheaper, and then we'll put in just enough to get us to Utah where it is cheaper still. We'll try and arrive there close to empty, and then fill it right up.

Then, we stopped at a Food 4 Less grocery store and bought a few things. The food is not that much for less, but still, the prices were not bad.

But after doing all of this, it was close to 10:30am by the time we hit the road!

Back to our normal RV'ing lifestyle

We really enjoyed our time in southern California. Especially San Diego and area. I can see us returning there some day.

Yesterday morning, we dropped off our rental Beetle. What a great deal, at $205 USD ($266 CAD) for two full weeks. Taxes included. Then, it was time to get on the road.

Starting a two week holiday.

Yesterday was our last day with Helen and Tony. Two weeks sure goes by quickly when you're having fun.

We had to leave to take them to LAX airport at 3:00pm, so we decided to just hang around the campground in the morning. Went for a short walk on one of the trails.

Here's what $3,000,000 can buy you...

We decided to take a drive on the coast, with no real plans other than to stop where we felt like it along the way, and try and avoid traffic. We are only about 20 miles from the coast, so we left at about 10:00am, with plans to get back home around 4:00pm.

We started off at Dana Point, where I had found free parking near the big marina there. We had fun looking at all of the boats and seeing how the rich people live!

Beverly Hills. Movie stars, and fancy cars...

It's about 60 miles (100 kms) from where we are camped at O'Neill Regional Park to get to downtown Los Angeles. We could have got a closer spot in an "RV Park", but this place offers some green space and large sites with no close neighbours. And, it's only $20 USD ($26 CAD) per night.

We figured this would be close enough to go into downtown LA and explore, and commute back here for two days. But we learned yesterday that Los Angeles traffic makes that somewhat difficult to do.

Moving north towards Los Angeles

Yesterday was a travel day for us as we moved from Lakeside (San Diego) area to Los Angeles area. I say "area", because we're still about an hour's drive from downtown.

But before we left Lakeside, we had to go out for on last breakfast with the group. Man, I think we have eaten out more this year than all our other years put together!

Travel in Turkey – the Land of Beautiful Structures

Turkey is one of the most crowded and beautiful tourist destinations in the world. Turkey’s location is of great geostrategic importance as it is situated at the crossroads of Asia and Europe. Although Istanbul is considered to be the capital of Turkey, Ankara was declared as the capital of Turkey in 1923 after the war of independence.

A wonderful morning with Tioga George

It had rained a lot Saturday night and into Sunday morning, and the forecast was a mixed bag. But, we had some indoor activities planned in case of more rain in the San Diego area, so that was okay.

First up on the agenda was a visit with another blogger! We had made arrangements to meet with Tioga George. First, at his apartment to see his garden, and then for breakfast.

Rollercoaster fun!

What a fun day we had yesterday. Our friends Stan, Colleen, John, and Janice in one car, and me, Ruth, Tony, and Helen in the other and we took off to explore San Diego area. Not much California sunshine, but at least we didn't get rained on. Still, the temperature was nice.

First stop was Mission Beach.