My big adventure - part II

Alright guys, are you ready for the last 14 days of my journey? After Sacramento we continued our trip through California:

Yosemite National Park, August 28th to August 29th

Around noon we arrived at our hotel, left our stuff there and then went to Yosemite National Park.

 

Sequoia National Park, August 29th to August 30th

The following day our journey led us to one of the most astonishing places I’ve ever been to – I’d never felt so small in my whole life:

 

 

 

Death Valley, August 30th to September 1st

On August 31st we went to the hottest place I’ve ever been to: Death Valley National Park. Temperatures went up to 120°F (~ 49°C) and a sign at the entrance said something like “you must not turn on the AC, because your car will most likely break down if you do”. Since we were not too excited about being stranded in the middle of a dessert we did not turn on the AC – and without drinking more than one Galleon (about 4l) of water we would probably not have made it through the day. But it was totally worth it, Death Valley was amazing.

 

 

 

Since we were super tired because of the exhausting day in the dessert we went to bed pretty early and were all looking forward to the following day. Why? First of all we were going to LAS VEGAS and second it was my 21st BIRTHDAY :D

After sleeping what felt like 20 minutes I suddenly woke up, because I heard people singing and as soon as I opened my eyes I saw candles and my friends singing happy Birthday to me – they are the best! You have to know that I’m always super confused when I wake up and so the first thing I asked was “what time is it? Is it already in the morning?” – well I guess you know what time it was – of course it was midnight ;) We were having a midnight snack with my favorite cake (Red Velvet, yummyyyy!!! :D) and then went back to bed. Annika, Tine, Kathi & Luise: Thank you guys again for this surprise, you are amazing!! :)

September 1st to September 4th

In the morning we left our hotel and were off to Las Vegas! Once we arrived there we went shopping for the evening – and since I was already 21 by then I went into a liquor store to legally buy my first bottle of alcohol in the States. When I went to the cash register I was ready to show my ID – and the guy didn’t even want to see it!! I was about to say “hey, I just turned 21, can you please ask me for my ID?!!” but decided against it..Anyway, I had a great birthday and we didn’t even lose all our money there ;)

 

 

  

Unfortunately Luise’s and Kathi's time with us was already over and on September 2ndLuise flew back to Raleigh and one day later Kathi flew back to Austria. Now only Tine, Annika and I were left. We stayed one more day in Vegas and then continued our journey to Utah.

September 4th to September 6th: Bryce Canyon

 

 

 

September 6th to September 8th: Grand Canyon

Friends of us had told us that the most amazing thing you can do is to watch the sunrise at Grand Canyon, and they were right. On September 7th we left our hotel around 4am and arrived at Grand Canyon National Park around 5.30 in the morning. We spent pretty much all day there and then went back to the hotel - it was more than impressive.

 

 

 

 

September 8th to September 10th: San Diego

 

 

 

After 27 days of traveling our so called “Travel month” was over. It was the best journey ever, we saw so many different places, experienced things I’d never dreamed of and just had a wonderful time.

Thank you girls for this amazing month, it would not have been the same without you!

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step

After 12 months working as an Au Pair my time in the USA was almost over. But before I returned to Austria, 4 friends of mine (Annika, Tine and Luise, who I met in the US and Kathi, who I’ve known for more than 5 years) decided to go on one last big trip together.

August 15th, 2012 - THE day was finally here. After many hours of planning, booking hotels, a car and flights and saving money I finally boarded the plane to NYC around noon, where I met Kathi, who flew over to the USA from Austria. We spent two great days there, but since I’ve already talked about NYC in one of my previous posts I don’t want to talk about it right now. Instead, I’d like to tell you about the journey of my lifetime: 25 days, 12 cities/places, 5 girls, 1 car, countless and priceless memories. Since pictures say more than 1000 words I’m just gonna give you short descriptions of our days and will let the photos speak for themselves.

San Diego, August 17th to August 19th

On August 17th Kathi and I flew from NYC to San Diego, where we met Annika and Tine, who flew there directly from Raleigh, because they have been to NYC a couple of times before. Since our plane arrived pretty late we just drove to our hotel and went to bed.
August 18th started pretty early. Today’s plan: Seaworld!

  

LA, August 19th to August 22nd

In the morning we went to San Diego downtown and since we would come back to San Diego at the end of our journey we were ready to go to LA. After arriving at the hotel we went to the most popular sight in LA: The Hollywood Walk of Fame.

 

On the following day we went to the place “Where dreams come true”: Disneyland & Disney Adventure.

 

 

 

August 21st: We spent all day at the “Universal Studios” and went to Beverly Hills in the evening.

 

  

 

On the next day we took pictures of the Hollywood Sign and then continued our journey to our next destination: Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz, August 22nd to August 23rd

 

San Francisco, August 23rd to August 26th

In the morning of August 23rd we got into the car and drove to one of the most beautiful cities on the West coast: San Francisco. We stopped several times to enjoy the beautiful view of Highway One. In the evening we went to Berkeley.

 

 

The following day we got up pretty early and our first stop was the airport. Luise, one of our Au Pair friends, flew over from Raleigh to join us for the next 10 days. Afterwards we started the so called “49 Miles Scenic Drive” – which leads you to all the important sights, like Chinatown, Pier 39 & Fishermen’s Wharf, Lombard Street, the Golden Gate Bridge and so on.

 

 

For the 25th we had booked tickets for Alcatraz in advance (you have to book tickets about 1 or 2 months before you go, coz they are always sold out).

 

Afterwards we walked through SF downtown, Chinatown and Little Italy and did some shopping.

Sacramento, August 26th to August 28th

In the morning we woke up pretty early and left our hotel. Next stop: The capital of California, Sacramento.

 

 

Okay guys, here I’d like to stop for now, coz otherwise it would take me forever to upload all those pictures and you would probably get bored as well. I’m gonna continue my “picture-story” pretty soon – there are still 14 days left of our journey – which we continued in California and which then led us to Nevada, Utah and Arizona.

Which cities/places do you think did we go to? ;)