Not-A-Blog.de

September 21st is not only my mum’s birthday, this year it was also the day my parents arrived in SLC. Their first time in the U.S. if you don’t count their visits to the U.S. Virgin Islands (the insular area is actually U.S. territory but not part of the U.S. states) or U.S. airports. I was really excited for them to come here. It has been almost 10 months since my visit in Germany and having them come here and be part of my American life was definitely something exciting.

It all started with a few days in Salt Lake City - getting used to the time difference and the altitude and of course to do some sight seeing in SLC (UofU, Big Cottonwood Canyon, the state capitol, Antelope Island, Red Butte Garden, the LDS temple,…) and Park City (historic main street, Olympic park, Tanger Outlet,..). The first weekend we drove up to Yellowstone NP - this time without a tent but a nice room in West Yellowstone. Of course it was a lot of driving (as usual) but we were really lucky - nice weather, lots of animals to watch, we met Robert and his dad just by chance when we stopped to enjoy our lunch at one of the many picnic areas, and we were one of the few cars that were escorted through bush fire by a ranger. So we were really lucky to make back to West Yellowstone - otherwise a long night in the car would have waited for us.

Back in SLC we took care of the cats before leaving on our long trip to Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, Monterey, Santa Barbara, LA, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, and Zion. Marc and I  had already visited most of these places back in 2006 but of course it was completely different this year. With my parents, we stayed in SF for a couple of days and I must admit that I’ve never experienced SF like that before. I really like this city and I would love to live there. The plan was to win some money in Las Vegas to buy a pretty remodeled Victorian townhouse, but somehow that plan didn’t work out.

I won’t be able to tell you all about our trip…but just a few things you need to do when you’re driving HW1 (and HW1 itself is phenomenal): have some clam chowder out of a bread bowl at the pier in Monterey; watch the elephant seals at Santa Cruz - they gather underneath the pier and are just amazing to watch; there are beaches full of elephant seals on Highway 1, north of San Simeon - they are great and you could watch them for days; have some chocolate dessert at the Aldo’s Italian Restaurant in Santa Barbara; watch the dancers, acrobats, and streetballers at Venice Beach before enjoying the quiet time at the Venice Canals. Look at the houses there and try to pick the one you like most.

And if you’re really lucky you’ll see a rainbow at the Grand Canyon…have you ever looked down on a rainbow before? I’m sure that will bring us luck.