South West & San Francisco

Our trip to the south west USA gave Ryn and myself a chance to see some of the most breathtaking landscapes America has to offer. We flew to Vegas, got a hire car and drove around the southwest for a week. Somewhere between Arizona and Utah it felt like we took a wrong turn and ended up on Mars! The scenery in this part of the world is truly astonishing. I hope the photos here give a taste of what it’s like, but such are the extremes of lighting, vibrancy of colors and vastness of scale that they really don’t do it justice.

Grand Canyon

Couldn’t miss this one... a natural wonder of the world, the Grand Canyon is so enormous that even when you’re there it looks like a huge background painting.




We hiked part way down this zig zag trail.

Meteor Creator

A mile in diameter, Meteor Creator is clearly visible from the highway a few miles away. While it’s a bit of a one trick pony, it is hard to not be impressed imagining the impact that put this huge hole in the earth.



Route 66

The original road out west is mostly redundant now, but some parts are preserved and lined with friendly cafes doubling as cultural attractions for people who want to get their kicks on route 66.




Sedona

Apparantly someone declared this the most beautiful town in the US. Given the surroundings it's not hard to see why.






Hoover Dam





On The Road





Bryce

The highlight of the entire holiday for me was our hike around the stunning landscape of Bryce.





Zion




Las Vegas

Casino capital of the world, and our pit-stop between the south west and San Francisco. During a trip to the old town I was quickly reminded how many crazy people there are in this unreal city – people watching here is mesmerizing!


Outside the New York New York Casino

San Francisco

We finished our holiday with Ryn’s mum and family in San Francisco. I got to meet her parents, siblings and a whole lot of other family to boot! ☺ We also got some touristy goodness in... survived the fog, visited the harbor, art museum grounds, redwoods, and of course drove over the golden gate bridge.





Right to Left - Ryn, her dad, her brother and his wife.