American road-trip: part 3
We met up with G. at his house in a small town near Salt Lake City, but we only stayed there for one night. We started with a trip to the Grand Canyon.
Then G. Showed us around Zion, Bryce and a few other cool places in Utah. Bryce was my favorite, I think, maybe because we got to do a little more hiking there, but each of those places was unique in some way.
Then, following G.’s directions, we drove further through the desert for two days until we reached Arches. The journey itself was pretty interesting. Lots of cool stuff to see along the way. It's kind of a shame we couldn't spend a few more hours in Arches, but we only had one day and you really don't want to be there around noon. It's too hot to be out there at noon on a summer day, so we could only do it very early in the morning or quite late in the afternoon. We chose the afternoon and, well, by the time we got back to the motel it was getting dark.
We only spent one night in Las Vegas, but our hotel was pretty close to the city center, so we went out in the evening to have a look around. The city was loud, colorful, crowded, and, even so late at night, ridiculously hot. I think I would like it more if I was looking for something specific. Just wandering aimlessly was tiring.
After another day of driving we were out of the desert. It’s impressive how many different kinds of deserts there are in America. Our next stop was an otherwise nearly empty campground near Sequoia National Park.
At last we made it to LA. We didn’t really get to see much of the city. The beach is nice, though.
On our way back we had a little more time in Istanbul. Some day I’d like to go there again and stay for a few whole days. It seems like a really interesting city. At least this time there was time for a meal at a restaurant and a little proper sightseeing. But, of course, there's still a lot left to see.
Well, hopefully some day I'll be able to travel again.