I've had the time of my life! (and I owe...)

Soooo I made it back to Vancouver in one piece, yay! :-)

The last 2 weeks have been crazy busy and I wasn't really inspired to write something but an update is definitely overdue! I'll try to keep this as short as possible...

Los Angeles: it isn't as special as you might think. I almost got into a fight with Spongebob on Hollywood Blvd (the walk of fame) in front of the Chinese theatre, walked up to the hollywood sign, saw crazy people on Venice Beach and stayed in a cool hostel which unfortunately didn't have fun people.
After 4 nights in L.A., I took a (crappy) busride to end up in a crappy hostel "Tod" on the strip in Las Vegas.

Next morning, I picked up my rental car (a white Chevrolet Cobalt) to take off on another one of my wild adventures. Soon enough I would be off into the desert to see some of the most beautiful parks the US of A has to offer. It's amazing how easy it is to drive American cars btw, you only need one leg and one arm. It had been 2 months since my last drive so I really enjoyed cruising on the highways. Time to test out the radio then… Options limited to: Country, Classics, 80's and some other crappy stations. I went for the Country one and immediately felt like a true American: I listened to some guy singing about how he will drive his girl on his green tractor (true story!), put my left leg on the dashboard, laid back with my sunshades on and didn't give a damn about anyone else on the road :D Also, I didn't have a road map anymore (lost it a week ago) and a GPS was too expensive so I just went where my gut told me to… AND I got everywhere I wanted to so far without going the wrong direction once! I know some of you guys won't believe this (especially the other Kristof) but it's honestly true.

First stop: Zion National Park! What an amazing park. The pictures don't do this park any justice since it's 10 times more beautiful in real life. Especially in the Fall when the trees are still changing colours. I rushed a bit through since I wanted to visit Bryce Canyon the same day but I found it to be amazing and this is one of the places worth visiting again.

Next stop: Bryce Canyon. Just look at the pictures! They call it the Bryce Amphitheater and it truly takes your breath away. As you can also see on one photo, I was freezing my ass off over there as the sun was already going under. This is a mustsee and really close to Zion as well so perfect for a 2 day visit.

On my way to Page, I suddenly noticed the many stars in the sky so I pulled over and was blown away by the view. You could see the milky way, Orion and so much more! It's the most beautiful star sky I have ever seen and I wish someone was with me to watch it since it's impossible to capture its beauty on a camera. (Believe me, I tried!)

It was a really cold night and I slept in the car on a parking lot in Page. When I woke up, the windows were frozen on the inside but my sleeping bag kept me warm and comfy all night long :-) Next up was Monument Valley, which you might know from movies such as Back to the future part III. You kinda feel like you're on Mars but much to my surprise, I ended up taking pictures in a snow storm! This surely gave me some different pictures and the white/red rocks contrast turned out pretty nice.
Afterwards I went back to Page and visited Horseshoe Bend, which is the coolest canyon I've ever seen! I also took the time to take some pics of myself since everyone keeps harassing me about it ;-)

The last day of my road trip started with a visit to Antelope Canyon. Un-be-lievably beautiful! It's around 30$ to visit but it's worth every penny and you get the coolest pictures ever. I think this is the reason I didn't care too much for the Grand Canyon, where I went to next. It just didn't seem that impressive anymore after 2,5 days of seeing beautiful sceneries. That night, I went back to Vegas and ended up staying at the Stratosphere hotel (that's the one with the big tower) for 2 nights. I explored Vegas a bit and found it to be really cool during the night. During the day, there isn't much going on though.

An airplane brought me from Vegas back to San Francisco where I'd stay for a couple of days before taking off to Yosemite. Yosemite is another beautiful park that you need to have seen if you're on the west coast. (Like Zion) It has beautiful flora surrounded by big mountains, but it has the most beautiful waterfalls in the spring. This time of the year, the waterfalls aren't as impressive but they're still there. It was extremely cold there too (-5°C) but I camped out anyway and survived! I love sleeping in a hammock tent so I strongly recommend this to everyone who wants to backpack light.

Unfortunately, I didn't see any bears or mountain lions (cougars) during my whole trip! I did get to see foxes, hawks, eagles, snakes and (one too) many raccoons. But maybe/hopefully on my next adventure when I cross Canada! The next six months, I'll be hibernating in Vancouver and working to save more money because that makes traveling so much more enjoyable. On my to do list in the meantime are: skiing in Whistler, Hawaii, Yellowstone, hockey games, winter olympics, and exploring some of B.C. during the spring.