Day 13: The Yosemite National Park

Valley View near Pohono bridge, Merced river, late afternoon. From the left: El Capitan, Cathedral Spires with a Bridalveil falls.

We have already been to Yosemite in 2005 but that year only managed to see its Northern part: the Tuolumne Meadows. This time we were coming to see and explore the best of the Park: the famous Yosemite Valley. It is an extraordinary experience to find yourself face-to-face with what is considered one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. The panoramas, white-granite monumental walls of rock, denim blue lakes and rivers, meadows, falls: all was sensational. In the afternoon I drove to the Park. With a dying sun behind me, long shadows from the trees and expansive views of the Yosemite I stopped at Valley View ( above ), took off my camera and shot a picture. Unfortunately there is no camera in the world that can picture the true beauty of the Valley I have seen from the bank of the Merced river that day. Maciek.

Day 14: The Big Sur, cont.

Bus Sur close to San Simone village.

We spent the night at Fresno, in the middle of San Joaquin Valley. In the morning we drove west crossing the vast valley with never ending fields of corn and orange trees stretching up to the horizon. The landscape didn´t improve until Reef city. Finally the big plain has finished and we started climbing the lazy hills of Diablo Coast Range. Paso Robles is a famous wine growing region. The vines were introduced here by the Spanish settlers as early as 1797 but gained more notoriety when Ignacy Paderewski, the famous Polish statesman and concert pianist became enchanted with the area, and planted Petite Sirah and Zinfandel on his Rancho San Ignacio Vineyard. From Paso Robles the winding road took us down to the Pacific coast and soon we entered the Big Sur. The views over the rocky cliffs, fog and angry sea below were splendid.

Big Sur squirrel.

Maciek.

Day 14: The Big Sur, California.

McWay Falls where we stopped and walked through the State Park. Highway 1, Big Sur, California.

About 200 km south of San Francisco the US Highway 1 ( also known as Pacific Coast Highway) drives through a magnificent scenery. Welcome to the Big Sur. The area is flanked by the steep Santa Lucia Mountains to the east and the rocky Pacific Coast and vastness of the biggest ocean on the planet to the west. Dozen of state parks, hundreds of vista points, some wilderness areas, a few beautifully located cafeterias ( in one of them we had a wonderful lunch with our friends ), falls, lighthouses and some spectacular bridges; it all makes the journey unforgettable.

Big Sur is famous for its thick summer fog.

Maciek.

Day 15: The Google headquarters

We spent the night at the hotel at the Marina Beach, California, somewhere between Monterey and Santa Cruz. It was raining a little ( that kind of rain that humiliates you and makes your umbrella completely useless ) and some wind was blowing from the ocean. From our hotel window we should have been able to see the beach but all we could recognize was dark skies and pale sand dunes rotten by the wind. After breakfast we left the hotel and headed north, passed Watsonville and soon arrived at the famous Silicon Valley. The valley is quite vast stretching from north to south between the Diablo Range and San Mateo coastline hills. It is home to many of the world´s best Internet and IT companies. We headed for the Mountain View to see the headquarters of Google.

My son Lukasz at the Googleplex.

To our little surprise Google occupies a modest number of 3-stories high office buildings, not so fancy and not so special as you can expect from one of the world´s biggest companies. There were bicycles and scooters lying free on the grass in every possible corner of the lawn and beside the office entrances, some volleyball courts and a lot of green areas to keep the Googlers healthy and productive. Although nothing exceptional but I liked it. It was like actually "touching" and "seeing" the virtual reality of the Internet. I also hoped that the actual proximity to some of the best and beautiful Googlers minds will make me a little smarter. Maciek.

Portugal in mid-September

Sunset at the Ria do Aveiro lake, Portugal.

I am taking a small break with my holiday diary to present one of my latest work. I will be back with "2010 Trip to America" the first 10 days very soon. A story behind: I went back to my favorite photo location where peace and serenity prevails. Enjoy the gorgeous sunset as I did that night. Location: Ria do Aveiro, Portugal.

Gear: Nikon D80, Tamron 28-75 mm

Aperture: f/22

Shutter speed: 2 sec

Focal Length: 30 mm

ISO: 400

Date Taken: September 21th, 2010, 20:07 Maciek.

Day 30: Beaver

City Hall, Beaver, Utah - perfect small town America.

That was to be our last day of the trip. The next morning we were to embark on the flight to Boston. On our way back to Salt Lake City we stopped for the night at a small hotel in the town of Beaver.

Elk Meadows in the Filshlake National Forest.

Beaver turned out to be an excellent small town. One main street, clean rich houses, nice XIXth century old red brick city hall, a golf and a football fields, nice people, old fashioned restaurants. All put in the shade of the Fishlake National Forest. That was the most perfect "small town America" we have ever encountered.

Wild animal warning.

In the evening we drove up the mountains to the Puffer Lake. The lake was nothing special but the road up and down the hill was scenic. We passed the Elk Meadows ski area, meet some wind animals wandering by the street and later got back home.

A small, by the road hotel we stayed.

What a pleasant and relaxing day it was. Maciek.

Day 29: Kolob Canyons

Kolob Canyons main pink road.

After two days in Las Vegas we hit the road again, drove north and landed at the Kolob Canyons. This is a little known part of the Zion National Park. It is so little visited that we found " Went for lunch" sticker at the gate of the Visitors Center, so we moved on up the main road. The views over the towering red rock formations were stupendous. The "hanging valley" - a small valley with green trees squized beetween two massive mountain walls ( so called finger canyons ) very high up the canyon looked breathtakingly beautiful.

Kolob Canyons Viewpoint: on the right - Gregory Butte 2348 m.

Maciek.

Day 27 and 28: Las Vegas, Nevada ( gambling ).

The Caesar´s Palace Casino main room.

When one says Vegas, the first thing that comes to every mind is gambling!

Circus, circus hotel and Casino entrance.

We also gambled. Agnieszka took a 1 dollar bill, win some extra bucks got excited and then... lost everything. It was fun.

Old lady at the gambling machine in New York, New York Casino.

Maciek.

Day 27 and 28: Las Vegas, Nevada ( sight-seeing )

Venetian hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Zion National Park was beautiful, but after two weeks of looking at the rocks, gorges, deserts... we had enough. We decided that we need some fun. The decision was quick. We took the Interstate 15 and headed south. After 3 hours we landed in Las Vegas.

Hotel and Casino New York, New York at night.

It was out third visit to Las Vegas but the city still dazzled us. When you enter the city the very first thing you realize is how big, busy and well done it is. Everything is new and shiny and when you arrive at night the city lights can not be compared to any other place in the world. Driving the main street at night with millions and millions of lights is like an electric miracle, like being in one big Disneyland. It´s wonderful. Walking the street is different. First there are tourists: thousands of them all around you with money bulging out of their pockets. There is certainly no economic crisis in America as far as Las Vegas is concerned. Then you must also expect some scam. There are people at every nook and corner ( mostly Mexican looking ) offering you to book the cheapest ticket and hotel package or the best hooker.

Venetian hotel interiors, the Caesar´s Palace hotel.

Then you do ( like we did this time ) hotel sight-seeing. Sounds crazy ? But in fact it is fun. The hotels are huge, beautifully decorated, with shops, casinos, concert halls, zoos, entertainment and restaurants. In fact some of the hotels are better than the places they imitate. Take for instance the Venetian: the signature canals, gondola rides, fresco ceilings... might be better and cleaner than the original. Don´t forget that Las Vegas hosts also many internationally recognized top quality restaurants. So that day we poked around a dozen of hotels: started with Stardust Shopping Center, passed the Treasure Island with an open-air pirate show going every hour, crossed the Strip to see the Venetian-Pallazo hotel and Paris hotels, went to see the famous staircase of the Caesar´s Palace hotels. Soon we got hungry so for lunch we went to Paris, Paris hotel buffet. A long queue to enter, well organized, very wide food selection but ....well it is always a buffet so dont´t expect too much. In the afternoon we knocked around the New York, New York hotel with its famous roller coaster, explored the Medieval style Excalibur, see the lions at the MGM hotel and later on took a sky bridge to Mandalay Bay hotel. After the sunset the fountain sound and light show at the Bellagio hotel was marvelous. Maciek.

Day 26: The best of Zion National Park: The Narrows

My son Lukasz and wife Agnieszka entering the Narrows.

Our next stop at the Zion Park was Temple of Sinawava. After getting off the bus we hiked about 2 kilometers on the paved trail along Virgin river with lots and lots of tourist all around. Then, when the paved trail ended, the path dropped into the river and we entered the water. Suddenly all the tourists and the noise disappeared and one of the most touted and breathtaking adventures on our vacation began. We entered The Narrows ( above and below ).

Traveling up The Narrows.

The next one mile long walk up the river involved zigzagging in the water with dramatically colored perpendicular walls around us. That was without a doubt one of the most exciting walks in my life.

Hundreds of Ground Squirrels gather along the trail in Temple of Sinawava begging tourists for food.

Maciek.