The last day of our trip. Our flight back had been scheduled for late afternoon. We took advantage of this opportunity and went to the beach again....

Los Angeles. There were two things left on our wish list: Visiting Universal Studios (since both of us were "cinematics") and going to Grauman's ...

If you are a movie lover the "Universal Studios" are a must-go - in spite of the fact that ii is high-priced. When I visited the Studios back in 19...

Santa Barabara was our first destination on this day. We loved the adobe architecture. This should be a perfect place to live at after retireme...

We had no specific plans for the rest of the day. So we decided to go on driving in the direction of Los Angeles and search for a campsite. Sound...

Highway 1 is supposed to be one of the most beautiful scenic roads in the world. And it is true. So many breathtaking views along the coast. We sto...

We spent the whole day driving around the Monterey peninsula. "17 mile drive" to be precisely. It is a scenic road that runs along the coastline an...

Since SF is a fascinating place we could have easily stayed a day longer. But for some reason both of us wanted to leave. Weeks later when we wer...

On our way from San Francisco to Monterey we made a stop at Año Nuevo State Reserve. This place inhabits the largest mainland breeding col...

We had contrived a thrilling plan for this day: We would leave our car at the motel and use local public transport! Well, wasn't that exciting....

Heading for the west coast! Early on we had decided to spend some days in San Francisco whereas LA was not a must-go for us.  We drove westw...

Coit Tower is a 210 feet (64 meter) high outlook and one of the best known landmarks in San Francisco. It is located on Telegraph Hill (elev 275 fe...

Just check my review below for detailled information about hiking Half Dome.Well, I did not write anything about the descent (besides the informati...

Yosemite NP is a paradise for hikers. In 1996 my cousin and I spent some days there and chose to go for the summit of Half Dome. It is probably one...

This should have been the day of our Half Dome hike. But on the previous day we had learned that the weather forecast was really bad. So we sta...

First we went to the base of El Capitan. Watching for climbers. Turned out that it was not easy to get to the base of the monolith. Perhaps we miss...

Our first destination was Glacier Point. This wonderful viewpoint is located on the south wall of the valley. Glacier Point is accessible by ca...

Since we had not planned to visit Sequoia NP we headed for another huge Sequoia Grove: Mariposa Grove in the southernmost part of Yosemite ...

We got up around 4 am (shudder) and headed towards Yosemite NP. At Tioga Pass (9,943 ft. / 3,031 m.) I took a picture of the pass sig...

Our first stop today was Mono Lake which is located just a stone's throw away from Lee Vining. The lake is famous for its exposed tufa to...

Since Bodie is only accessible via a long gravel road it took us some time to go back to Lee Vining. Back at our tent we hit the hay immediately. S...

Lee Vining is the perfect place to stay if you plan to visit Mono Lake. It is also a good starting point for visiting Yosemite NP. We arrived there...

Forenoon was reserved for two hikes inside the "canyon". We started at Sunset point and followed the "Navajo Loop Trail" down into "Wall Street"....

What a day. I remember driving along endless roads leading to the horizon. Scant vegetation on both sides. Where were we going? Crossing nort...

Bryce Canyon National Park had always been among my "top ten" places-to-visit-list. We arrived there in the early afternoon and pitches u...

Whereas we had concentrated on the "Windows Section" and "Delicate Arch" the day before it was time for "Devils Garden" now. This fascinating secti...

Since we had only four weeks time for our trip to the Southwest we had to exclude some parks from our route when we had been planning our tri...

On our way to Capitol Reef NP we made a short stopover at Goblin Valley State Park. It is located close to the  small village of Hanksville. G...

The Moab area is an attractive region for National Park lovers. So many opportunities! We left the campground at Dead Horse Point and...

Just a stone's throw away was our next destination: Canyonlans NP. The "Island in the Sky" district to be precise (we did not visit the "Needle...

When we returned to our campsite at Dead Horse Point SP we realized that the producer of our tent had done a terrific job. Althoug it looke...

When I had planned this trip to the Southwest months ago I had detected a great picture in one coffee-table book that struck me. It was a w...

How could we sleep? Rise and shine! Enter the valley again. Well, we did it. One more bumpy descent. The lighting was different and we very...

After some hours we headed towards our next target: Gooseneck SP close to Medicine Hat. Just a short stopover for lunch. But the side trip was wo...

Ok, we had seen great landscapes, impressive valleys and fantastic rock formation. Now it was time for a little "culture" trip. Our next dest...

Arround noon we started for Monument Valley.Since I am German my image of the "Wild West" from childhood on had always been stamped by old Wester...

In the morning we made a side-trip to the North Rim Drive. Afterwards we drove back to the South Rim again and went to the trailhead ...

We left Grand Canyon NP heading for our next destination: Canyon de Chelly National Monument. This park consists of two canyons: Canyon de Chel...

If you travel through the Southwest of the U.S. the Grand Canyon it is obvious that the Grand Canyon is a must-see. Most people just stop at some o...

A beautiful day. Perfect for a "big" hike. Weeks before back in Germany we had decided to walk down into the canyon at least once. Plateau Point wa...

Spent the whole morning exploring the South Rim west of Grand Canyon Village. Getting up early turned to be a wise decision. We did barely ...

We left Las Vegas after having an opulent and yummy breakfast at our hotel. Some 39 miles (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas we reached the first hig...

It took us the whole day to reach our next destination: the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I remember endless roads, Route 66 and small cities li...

Left Los Angeles and headed for Las Vegas, NV. On our way we stopped at Calico Ghost town. Definitely not a must-go. Too expensive. To ...

Arrival in Los Angeles arround 4 pm (direct flight from Cologne, Germany). Just got our rental car and drove to the hotel. This one was the only ac...