Leg 1 Grand Canyon

15/7/91 Monday  We went downtown with Dad by bus. Found a bank and stocked up on US money. Tried for some time to find a place that could copy my disks and eventually decided that I must have a sophisticated setup as no-one seemed to know how to do it. Had to settle for printing the address file. Lunch at Wendy's, then we walked back home.  We then planned our Grand Canyon trip and ordered a hire car. Went (via the BART system to Oakland airport to collect the car. Then began a real adventure - driving on the right hand side of the road!

16/7/91 Tuesday  Left Oakland about 9am and travelled south on the freeway. Driving was very strange and required great concentration. The countryside is very sparse & dry almost no trees (except for forests of man-made ones - wind generators). San Joaquim Valley is huge and obviously very productive - but it seems lifeless - no trees, no bush, no birds, no animals. Stayed overnight in Motel 6 at Barstow - plain, cheap but good. Booked the helicopter ride & motel at GC

17/7/91 Wednesday  Left Barstow early and travelled through the "High Desert" - lots of stark barren mountain ranges in interesting shapes. We arrived in Grand Canyon about 2pm & had a look around. It was very hot so we headed for our motel - NO A/C! Don't recommend Moqui  Lodge.  Went to Canyon Rim to photograph the sunset.

18/7/91 Thursday  Up at 5am to go out to the eastern end to see the dawn. It was worth the effort, despite the clouds. Continued on to Desert View Lookout - Indian Watchtower.  Then back to the village for our helicopter ride - WOW - cost $75 each but well worth it.  Left GC about 10.30am and travelled via GC caverns (worth seeing but not as good as Aussie caves). On Hwy 93 to Las Vegas - passed through another stark gorge of Colorado - fantastic scenery. Hoover Dam is very impressive. We arrived in Las Vegas in time for tea at Sizzlers (met our first rude drivers in US about this time) Motel 6 was good again.

19/7/91 Friday   We breakfasted at Grenada Casino next door to the motel - Anne had to gamble! Then north (passing miles of condo boxes) out of L.V. on #95 (via Amargosa Valley, ) into Death Valley. We stopped at Zabriski Pt, Park Village & Panamint Springs)  An awe inspiring drive - from minus 268ft to 5000ft, down again, then up again all in the space of 30 miles. We stopped at Lone Pine info center; then along the foot of the Sierra Nevada Range (with beautiful views) to a shopping stop in Bishop K-Mart.
On to Mammoth Springs - nice & cool at 9175ft. We booked in at Motel 6 then went further on to the ski resort area and down, down to the bottom of a deep valley to see the "Devil's Postpiles" - well worth the somewhat scary but beautiful trip through fir, pines, avalanche sites. Back to the town area - tea at Macdonald's.

20/7/91 Saturday Started the day with a visit to the bakery - cheese & chili buns, brownies. Anne & I bought spray jackets at a bargain shop mine reduced from $80 to $40.  We left ML about 9am and drove north to Tioga Pass and into Yosemite. Stopped at Ellerton Pass (moormots!, chipmunks, white/beige rock & wall to wall people)  Yosemite -great grey walls of stone! Wellington Dam's cliff magnified many times over; waterfalls - even in the middle of summer! Pity we had to leave early because of so many people (and the rain). What a wonderful 5 day adventure. Left Yosemite and drove back to Oakland arriving late afternoon.

21/7/91 Sunday  Left 386 at 9.45am to go to Berkeley for church. We took an exit ramp too soon and had to get back on to the freeway. By the time we found the church, we couldn't get a parking space. We found the shop that had the Pocquet PC but it was closed - had hot chocolate & hash browns for breakfast instead. Church on the radio was just as good so we headed on down University Ave so we could do the "Bay-for-a-bob" trip. Noticing an open computer shop, we did a U turn and had a look. The dealer was very good and after a lot of discussion, I decided that the Atari was a better deal than the HP. Mainly because the extra memory capabilities of the HP didn't seem worth paying double the price.  We continued our bay trip after resolving to return to the shop with the data disks so that I could see the Atari in action.  We then headed across the Bay Bridge and found our way down to Pier 39. Had a good walk round, then decided to continue on to the Golden Gate Bridge. En route we noticed a "computer show" sign and went in... it was a market place. We bought Professional Write for $100 ($400 in Aust) and a scanner for $47 ($300 in Aust) Fantastic bargains!  On across the bridge to View Point, then past Sauselito and back to Oakland via Berkley. Helped Renee with the computer in the evening.