ROAD TRIP ADVENTURES...LONE PINE

next stop, lone pine. a tiny town in inyo county. lone pine has been put on the map because of the alabama hills to the west, many the setting of a good western movie. we stayed in this quaint, old school hotel where john wayne once stayed! i met a lady who had been living in the hotel for 6 months, she was a writer. that was the sort of place it was. she showed me round the hotel telling me the best bathrooms to use. it was useful.

there wasn't much happening in lone pine, but there didn't need to be, i mean just take a look at that view! it was breathtaking. the number of photos that ended up on the camera of this view was impressive, but we just couldn't get enough of it.

we took a drive up to whitney portal, a waterfall nearby. to be honest the waterfall wasn't too impressive, but the drive up was stunning. 

obligatory driving picture. 

on the way, well actually we thought this was the final destination (it wasn't), we stopped at this wooded campsite where the air was cool, finally, and we had our first sighting of a 'bear bin' which is a bear proof locker to store all your food. we didn't hang around long after that, the prospect of wild bears was pretty scary. 

we even had rain. never had i been so happy to see rain, but after death valley who could blame me!  we stopped and got out to run around in tit and saw the waterfall, the blur in the background of this photo!

ROAD TRIP ADVENTURES...DEATH VALLEY

on the last day in vegas we picked up our rental car and went to walmart. our first ever trip to walmart since being in america. i was so excited, like a kid in a candy store. i wanted to stock up on everything  because it was so cheap in comparison to nyc prices, but fortunately for nick we only had one suitcase!

next stop was into the desert to death valley, which we nearly drove straight past! there were a few shenanigans on the way including nick causing a ruckus at a tiny gas station in the middle of nowhere. turns out small towns aren't charmed by the british accent like the cities. to be honest we didn't really know much about death valley and so was super under prepared for what was in store.... 

death valley is apparently the hottest place on earth, with the highest recorded temperature of 57C. the day we drove through it was 54C, hotter than the sun! even with the air conditioning full blast it was too hot. 

i did not handle the heat well at all that day. nick kept stopping along the way in death valley to get out the car and admire the view. i refused to get out the car because of how hot it was! nick was telling me that i should get out and enjoy my surroundings and feel the heat, so i rolled down the window to feel the heat. thats as far as i would go!

nick had to wrestle me away from the air conditioning to get me out the car. and then he made me walk to some sand dunes!

nick got excited and decided to run to the sand dunes and jump down the sand, forgetting that the sand was scorching hot!

around this time in the journey we were told to turn off our air conditioning for 20 miles incase the car overheated. we only managed 10 miles, they were the longest and worst 10 miles of my life. we were so drenched in sweat that it looked like we had just showered. there was a steady stream of sweat running from nick's elbow.  

once we were just out of death valley and the heat had subsided we hit a sand storm. 

at the time i didn't enjoy death valley, i just wanted to drive through it as quickly as possible. but looking back now, in the comfort of my air conditioned apartment, it was an amazing place. so silent and peaceful with incredible scenery. would i go back? right now i think i'm still tormented by the memories of the heat, but who knows what i'll feel in the chilling cold of winter!

NICK ADDS
lizzie practically shaved all my hair off using clippers before the start of the trip - this was the only day i was glad to have short hair...

ROAD TRIP ADVENTURES.... VEGAS

you can be forgiven for thinking that this month has been really busy due to the lack of blogging. well it has, kind of....we've been busy holidaying and relaxing.

when we moved out to the usa we diecided to make the most of the time by travelling as much of the america as possible and after an incredibly stressful and intense 6 month work period we decided to take a 3 week road trip to california. 

and so over the next few weeks i'll be posting about our californian adventures if you fancy joining in on our trip....here goes.

we started with an early morning stressful flight to las vegas. we're not used to just arriving at the airport and heading straight to the boarding gate and so we were a little bit shocked when we were in the queue for some breakfast and the final boarding call for our flight was being called. typically our gate was the other side of the airport and so we ran as fast and hard as we could and apologised profusely to the staff trying to convince them we werent normally like this!

we spent 3 nights in vegas, which to be honest was probably a bit too long for us. for those that haven't been vegas is basically one road of themed hotels, from paris with its eiffel tower, to venice with its canal system and even new york complete with roller coaster. it was amazing to experience vegas and the hotels were pretty impressive but we couldn't help thinking.... why wouldn't you just go to Paris and experience the culture and see the sights first hand instead of all this fakery.

when i saw these ladies sat at the bar i was outraged. i said to nick ' you can't go out in public wearing that!' then i realised, they're bar stools! fantastic aren't they?

there was a heat wave in nevada whilst we were there and so temperatures were up to 50C which was not fun, and certainly not tanning weather! it was a dry heat, unlike nyc's humid heat, so felt like opening an oven door after a run, thankfully vegas is more of an indoor holidaying destination and so we were able to stay cool under the air conditioning all day.

the famous fountains at the belaggio were pretty impressive

we went to see a cirque de soleil show one evening which was just incredible. it was stunning watching the strength of the performers, making everything look easy, so much so that when back at the hotel i started practising my handstands! if i could start over again i think i'd be in the circus, such fun!

the gardens in the belaggio