United States: West Coast 2014 (part 2)

Something also worth seeing is the Wynn Hotel, it is the most luxurious and imposing I have seen in my life, it is almost too much to tell you! It is quite north of the strip but you have to go through it and see what they did, the decoration, the size, the style and the millions they will have spent! There are many more hotels, each with its own but the Wynn and its secondary tower (Encore) for me took the prize to Yankee exaggeration of the imposing.

I was a bit crazed with this new visit to the city of Las Vegas and I'm a guy who does not play, not $ 10, not half an hour stand at a table in a casino. I do not find the sense of the game, but here clearly there is entertainment for all tastes, one has the feeling of being very safe, there are people moving around everywhere and another thing that I particularly like is that it is a Of these modern and spacious cities, is not all topped up like in NY, San Francisco and even Buenos Aires.

Another interesting thing that is near Las Vegas is the ¨Valley of Fire¨, a national park comprised of an area of rocks and small mountains of red and yellow colors. I loved it, you only have to drive one hour to go and another to return to see it. To those who like the landscapes and take photos, I recommend it.

After those first two nights in Vegas we went to Tusayan, to see the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. The name sounds awesome, does not it? and it is. It's impressive, I'll never forget that feeling when we get to the national park, we pay for the entrance (which is a bit expensive but lasts a whole week), we did a couple more miles to the parking lot, got out of the car and my old man just there He says "prepare" (of course, he already knew). We were a few meters away from seeing him, and once you walk towards the kidney and the barrel looks, one stays with his mouth open. It is a sight that strikes you in the chest, I do not know how to express it in another way. I at least slowed down in the place and I stood for a long time looking stunned, trying to scale what was in front of my eyes, something incredible. I still know very little about this planet but I really doubt there are many places of this caliber. It is something that once in life must be seen. Go!

There I made a planning error: we arrived quite late to Tusayan, we saw the canyon for a while, it was very cold because there you are at a considerable height and we went to the hotel because it was getting dark. The plan was to sleep early, go to see the sunrise to the canyon again and stay until a little after noon to be able to drive the four hours back to Las Vegas during the afternoon, because we had hotel again there. The mistake was just that with so few hours does not give to go down to the base of the canyon, I should have scheduled two nights there instead of one. This also shows how unconscious I was of the magnitude of this place, I never imagined that it involved so much lowering. It's too big!

There is a fairly accessible footpath for walking but it takes about four hours to go and obviously still more than that to climb back up. Even there they recommend to go down, to do night down (in the campings that there are) and to go back to the next day to do everything in one day is quite epic and one must be in good physical condition. But we did not have that time. The most we could do was go down that path (the Bright Angel Trail) for about an hour and go up again. We had to leave ...

Another thing you can do is get off by helicopter. We did not consider it because it was quite expensive but afterwards I regretted it. I do not know when I will be going (on this trip in a few weeks I will not) and the truth that having been there and not going down to the base was a huge waste. Also the views from the helicopter would have been great and with the short time we had was the only viable option. They are those expenses that in the life you have to be wise, to close the eyes, to gather courage and to pass the card. Because I'm sure it would have been worth paying the more than $ 200 that came out per person. It will be for the next, everything is learned in this life friends ...

From there we came back to Vegas for a couple more nights, spent those days quite relaxed, barely getting out of the car, walking a lot on the strip, eating lots of rich stuff at the Bellagio and Caesars Palace buffets and a giant and powerful FatBurger burger Where only a few days later Mayweather made a small scandal).

Then we set off on a journey of about eight hours to Monterey, a place that surprised me very positively. The drive from Las Vegas was quite long but it was a pleasure for the eyes (and for my camera), the GPS took us through heaps of scenery between mountains, fields and vineyards. We went to Monterey because it is next to Carmel by the Sea which is a little town, without detracting it in the least, very but very picturesque and looking very expensive to live as are their hotels. That's why we had both hotel nights in Monterey, which is only fifteen minutes away by car and yet has its own, we really liked it. It's also quaint, it's very quiet and it's right on Monterey Bay which is a beautiful spot on the Californian coast. There is a famous aquarium in the Cannery Row area where sardine canners once worked and the entire car ride from Monterey to Carmel, along the coast of rocks, crystal clear water, all filled with birds ... it really is not wasteful.

Initially before traveling I wanted to make the whole trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco along the coast because I had read that it has amazing views but after we could not put it together, obviously doing so and not on the highway took us twice as long and days These trips are always few. So when we could not do that, at least we wanted to do a little bit and from Monterey we went along the coast to Big Sur, another place that I had written down that was worth seeing. While it is not a long journey it takes quite a while, because the route is totally scenic, there are lots of viewpoints, the views are of film and one is stopping at every moment.

I add other more photos because the views from Monterey to Big Sur are truly impressive:

The sunset was seen in Carmel, this place among other things is famous because at one time was mayor of the legendary Clint Eastwood:

In Monterey I had to give a little bit about the hamburger theme and ate the two nights at Italian food places, both very good. One of them, I remember, with a very good band playing live music and in the other even though it was clearly a restaurant the menu offered a burger which of course I ordered and it was excellent, as always happens in that blessed country.

Sadly, our journey together was beginning to end, after which we had only the last three nights in San Francisco. Then my old man would go back to Madrid and I would go five more nights to Hawaii, before flying back to Buenos Aires.

To the city of San Francisco the truth is that I underestimated it a little. I went through the Golden Gate, through the steep streets and because my dad had an interest in going, no more than that. That is, it was a fixed, you can not do this road trip, get to Monterey and not go up two or three more hours with the car to SFO. But I do not know, I did not carry much enthusiasm, I do not like cities so much, I always prefer what is natural rather than man-made but I was wrong again.

The city is special, in every way. First it is quite small inside everything, we went with the car even though they recommend not having one but to us it worked because we not only used it inside the city but it allowed us to go very easily to Sausalito and to climb to the top From the Golden Gate Recreation Area from where you have a great view: on one side the Pacific and on the other side first the Golden Gate, then the San Francisco Bay and finally behind the city. Amazing place to watch the sunset. More can not be asked for.

We also used the car to visit downtown, Union Square and Chinatown ...

We also used it to go see a forest of Secuoias on Mount Tamalpais within a few miles of driving.

I even went to a dock under the Golden Gate, during the night, to take the photo that follows. That without the car could not have done it.

To close with San Francisco I think the city is iconic (like the imposing Golden Gate), it is very avant-garde, people are at least "peculiar", there are many people almost disguised I would say and it is multi cultural, there is everything And at least on the three days we were there it was not very crowded, nor was the traffic so uncontrolled, it was very quiet getting around. That's why in a month we go back to San Francisco for another three days ...

Continues in the next post ...

My Last Post:

https://steemit.com/travel/@rappiro/united-states-west-coast-2014-part-1

https://steemit.com/steem/@rappiro/anyone-can-help-me-understand-well-steemit

https://steemit.com/food/@rappiro/iolo-san-isidro-buenos-aires

https://steemit.com/food/@rappiro/five-guys-boca-raton

https://steemit.com/food/@rappiro/charm-city-burger-company-deerfield-beach

https://steemit.com/reviews/@rappiro/burgerfi-lauderdale-by-the-sea

https://steemit.com/food/@rappiro/the-cheesecake-factory-boca-raton

https://steemit.com/food/@rappiro/one-burger-sawgrass-mills

https://steemit.com/food/@rappiro/my-first-review-shake-s

Thanks @papa-pepper for the gift