USA

Victoria
After Vancouver I went to Victoria on Vancouver island for 3 days. It was a really pretty place, nice to walk around the island and see the beach, pitty was that it rained while I was there.

Seattle
I took a ferry from Victoria down to Seattle where I stayed at a place called Vashon island, away from downtown for a few days. It was a very pretty little place. the hostel there was a few barns and teepees. Luckily I was in one of the barns as it rained at night and all the teepees got flooded. It was an awesom place to stay, so laid back and on the property was a forest that i walked through as well as exploring the island.

San Francisco
I was in San Fran for 5 days. It was pretty, although the city was in a fog so in the middle of summer it was very cold, it felt like winter. I walked aroung the bay area, saw Alcatraz island and the golden gate bridge.

I did a day tour out to eastern California to the Yosamite national park, which was just beautiful. i will try to get some pics up if i can, but i cant promise anything.

For my birthday i did another tour where we went to the Muir woods, where the tallest trees in the world are, and then we did a wine tour in the Sonome valley just north of San Francisco. I was great, strange that you can drive 1/2 out of the city and go from what felt like winter, to summer. Got some great views of the golden gate bridge.

Los Angeles
I stayed in a hostel in Hollywood, which was ok, but I discovered that i am allergic to bed bugs :(. appart from that i really liked LA. Hollywood is a very happy place, all the tourists are all in a good mood, so it was really nice. I did that walk of fame and saw that stars of all the actors, and saw the hollywood sign.

My favourite part of La was Santa monica, It was great to go to the beach and just relax. I also walked up to Venice beach where all the markets are. I spent a day at malibu beach which was also very pretty, and not as busy as the other beaches.

My last day in LA i went up to the Grifith observitory and saw all the space stuff, that was really cool.

San Diego
If i had to live in the USA I would want to live in San Diego, i really liked it here. Lots of pretty buildings. I went to the zoo, and man is it a zoo. Its huge! it took me almost 6 hours to walk around the whole thing, and im still not sure if i saw all of it. I did a cruiz of the bay and saw all the air craft carriers and navy ships that currently arent in use.

I spent 2 days at the beach. first I went to ocean beach, which was ok, then to Mission beach, which was beautiful. they have a beach on one side and a water network on the other, it was great, i loved the mission area, there was even a roller coaster.

Las Vegas
Mmm, going to vegas was like stepping into an oven, the ave temp was about 41 in the day and 30 at night, if you were lucky, it was a dry heat like i have never felt before.

The hotels here are amazing, i know why they are rated by diamonds rather then stars. they are well worth seeing. The casinos are huge too.

while in Vegas i went and saw the phantom of the opera which was just fantastic.

i also did a tour of the grand canyon where i was picked up, then we got into a mini plane and flew for an hour over hoover dam and lake mead, and half the greand canyon, then we had a 2 hour bus trip around the south rim, then we flew back over a different part of the canyon for an hour. it was one of the best things that i have ever done!!

Denver
I am now in Denver. I didnt know that Obama was going to be here until i got here, so i cant do much as the city is full of protestors and the bus network isnt too good this weeks, and not many tours are running. I did manage to do a tour of the colorado rocky mountains yesterday however. it was beautiful, the mountains here are so different to those in canada. As part of the tour i went into a real gold mine where i saw gold in the rock, and i even tried panning for gold, but didnt find any :(.

well thats you all up to date. ill try to get pics up if i can. i am going on a yellowstone national park tour for a week starting tomorrow, so ill let you all know how that goes.

Karyn