ROAD TRIP USA

JOSHUA TREE
It took us 6 hrs to escape LA on the freeways in Friday night rush hour to Joshua Tree National Park, just 160 miles from the city. The park is famous for it's Doctor Suess-like trees (the 'Joshua Tree') and a hot spot for rock climbers.

GRAND CANYON
The Grand Canyon, a marvelous sight, here veiwed by one of the local critters ('mountain squirrel').
After some 'minor' car problems we finally got to the Grand Canyon, to celebrate DT's birthday. We appreciated the vertical mile decent into the Canyon firstly, and comfortably, from helicopter and the secondly, by foot.
Walking from Rim to Base return in one day was warned as risking heat stoke, cardiac arrest or even death. Pfff. It was a big days walk, departing at 5am, watching the sun rising slowly illuminate the colourful geological profile of the Canyon, as our knees started to quiver. After a very brief dip in the mighty Colorado River we laboured through the ascent, maintaining a steady pace to keep in front of the mule trains. Beer certainly tasted good back up at the Rim!

LAS VEGAS
Two nights in Vegas is all we could afford. Money practically evaporates out of your pockets as you walk down the street. But this didn't stop us drinking red-bull and vodkas from yard glasses, playing the pokies along side the grandmas and trying our luck on the roulette wheel. Amazingly we didn't strike it rich, but did manage to hang on to most of our holiday funds. It's a crazy place, considering the surrounding lands are uninhabitable deserts.

DEATH VALLEY
Death Valley is the ultimate university geology and geomorphology field trip destination. You can see how the landscape has been sculpted through millennia. Huge valleys eroded out and filled with alluvial sediments and flat big salt lakes, where the sun as evaporated the last drop of water away. This really is the bottom of the US, 282 metres below sea level. And damn, was it hot!

MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN
The land of extremes - from blazing hot desert to snowboarding atop Mammoth Mountain. Driving past the snow capped mountains of the Serria Nevada, we couldn't resist the temptation of slipping in a day snowboarding. Perfect spring conditions, plenty of snow left from an apparently great season (Mammoth receives over 10 m snow per year) and a smoothly groomed board park made for an action packed day on the mountain. We are very saw today.