Today in DC

- A visit to the White House. GM's Wagoner out, Solange and Tim in!




- Enjoying the 3,000 cherry trees in full bloom, which line the Potomac.

Virginia - where it all began

We've spent the last two days in Virginia, the first British colony. I can see why the British felt right at home here - it was largely grey and drizzling! It's also beautiful countryside - green, rolling mountains and valleys.

Our main ports of call were Lexington (for lunch) and Charlottesville (for dinner and breakfast). They are both quaint, colonial towns. Lexington is famous for the Washington and Lee University (where Robert E. Lee is buried) and the Virginia Military Institute (every graduate in its history has gone to war). Charlottesville is famous for the University of Virginia, which has been named the greatest piece of US architecture. It was conceived and designed by Thomas Jefferson. It is a beautiful place. Perfect to stroll around.

To get between the towns we crossed the Appalachian Mountains on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We didn't get to see the view as it was under mist - very atmospheric especially when two deer tore across the road from out of no-where!

Better luck this afternoon as the sun came out for our drive through the Shenandoah National Park - dense forests as far as the eye could see and more 'friendly' deer content to graze on the side of the road rather than scare us out of our wits!

Next stop Washington DC just in time to wish Obama good luck for the G20 summit.

Family ties in Kentucky

I never thought I'd be visiting family in Bowling Green, Kentucky but this trip has been full of surprises.

On Thursday night we were spoilt - home cooking, cold beer, comfortable bed and catching up on about 15 years made for a memorable evening. It really was a very special addition to our trip. Thanks for a great evening Therese, Sean and Savannah!

Going to Graceland

You never think you’ll find yourself driving down Elvis Presley Boulevard in Memphis on your way to Graceland. But today we did!

The house is much smaller than you think it will be. The decor is crazier than you think it will be (somebody once managed to sell the concept of shag-pile carpet on the ceiling and walls). The awards fill more wall space than you can imagine. The costumes are even flashier than you expect them to be. And in case you were wondering, no, he wasn't home...

We spent the afternoon in Memphis in the sunshine listening to live music in a park on Beale Street – a good way to spend a Wednesday afternoon.

Tomorrow we're taking a small detour to Kentucky to visit some family.

Enjoying the good things in life in LA and MS

We’re lucky people to have spent the last few days enjoying food and music through Louisiana and Mississippi. And most importantly getting to savour it all slowly in the very best Southern way.

We’ve had a lot of good food on this trip but Louisiana is the first state where we’ve come across food that you don’t find everywhere else. So we’ve sampled as much as we could and in large quantity. We’ve feasted on gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish étouffée, fried seafood in all forms (catfish, crawfish, mussels, shrimps), hush puppies (corn and jalapeno balls), boudin (pork, spices, rice sausages), po-boys (sandwiches), hogshead cheese (no dairy in sight just more pork and spices), cracklin, pralines (sugar, sugar, pecans and more sugar), pulled pork sandwiches smothered in the world’s finest BBQ sauce and slaw, BBQ beans and ribs. And all washed down with sweet ice tea, mint juleps, hurricanes and ice-cold beer. We think we shared an apple two days ago...

As for the music – live jazz in New Orleans (in several bars and on the streets) and a visit to the birthplace of Blues in Clarksdale, Mississippi, also home to some of the best BBQ at Abe’s BBQ (famous since 1924
www.abesbbq.com/index.html).

There has also been some culture and a lot of history thrown into the mix. Visiting old plantation homes like Oak Alley (see photo) and Laura, and roaming the French Quarter in New Orleans on a great walking tour, we’ve learnt a lot about the South and the influence of the French, Spanish, Africans, Cajuns, Creoles, Americans and the Mississippi in creating this unique place.

New Orleans is shabby and bruised (a few people told us that at last they feel like the rest of the country is feeling what they’ve been feeling since 2005), but she is also beguiling and charming. You can’t help but be won over by the beauty of the French Quarter, and by the friendly locals who wouldn’t live anywhere else and want you to feel the same way. There were moments when we did!

Taking it slow in Louisiana

We're spending tonight in a little cabin (http://www.bayoucabins.com/) on the bayou in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana (about 15km east of Lafayette). We've just had fried catfish, grilled shrimp, jambalaya and succulent pecan pie for dinner, and watched a couple of enthusiastic locals do the two step to some serious 'country' music.

Louisiana is lovely - calm, slow, a little ramshackle, dignified, graceful. Despite being neighbours, it's a far cry from Texas where we spent the last two days.

It was fun to be in Texas - mainly because of all the stereotypes we know so well and it's a place neither of us ever thought we'd visit. It isn't the most inspiring place we've seen. Amusing to be greeted with Howdy's and Y'all's wherever we went!

In Fort Worth we ate serious meat in the Stockyards and wandered past stores selling every conceivable size, style, colour of stetson and cowboy boot. In Dallas we visited the 6th Floor Museum in what used to be the Texas School Book Depository. It is not often that you get to stand in a place where history was made (perhaps Ground Zero is another example), imagine it playing out in front of you and wonder how, even in the smallest of ways, the world might be a different place if events had worked out differently.

Tomorrow we'll meander further south through Cajun country. Arrive in New Orleans on Sunday.

On the road in Texas

We're finally heading consistently east. This morning we hit the road for the 1,200km trip to Dallas.

We arrived in Texas late this afternoon. First impressions: hot (about 10 degrees celsius warmer here) and flat as a pancake!

The long drive is made easier by listening to Alistair Cooke's "Letters from America" (thank you, Pam). And, of course, what we're seeing along the highway: amusing signs ('Jack's Smelly Pants Laundry', where to go for fried rattlesnake and free 72 ounce steaks), 2km-long trains carrying coal west, the seemingly never-ending strip malls that welcome us to some towns. And most hard to believe of all - the huge numbers of massive camper vans (at least twice the size of what you see in Europe) towing 4x4's.

Day by day we realise what a huge country this is!

New Mexico

We've spent the last two days in New Mexico. One in Sante Fe, a very stylish desert town full of art galleries and interesting small stores. It is one of America's oldest cities, founded by the Spanish, and has a unique feel to it - it's in the desert yet you can ski less than an hour away, it's American yet the Mexican influence is vast.

New Mexico is mountainous, desertous, very dry. It is stark yet beautiful but, if you are used to green spaces and water, it can feel quite stifling after a while.

New Mexico, like Utah, feels far removed from the rest of the US. The towns we've seen have been poor with deserted main streets and many boarded up homes, restaurants, shops, gas stations, motels. It is hard to imagine how the people in these states can possibly relate to what goes on in Washington DC never mind on Wall Street or in Afghanistan.

Grand Canyon magic

After the unforgettable highs of Monument Valley and all we saw in Utah , we wondered what the Grand Canyon would offer. Well, it did not disappoint. The sheer scale of it alone is enough - multi-hued cliffs and pinnacles tumbling as far as the eye can see in all directions. It has a very solitary feeling to it, as you know that so much of it is hidden and has not been explored by man.

You can't help but stand and stare in total awe of it.

Monument Valley, Arizona

More wonder at Arches National Park yesterday and then a drive through the Valley of the Gods to Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park just across the border in Arizona.

We are lucky enough to be staying at the only hotel in the park (The View Hotel), so we’re spending the night among the monolithic rock formations. It is now pitch black, the sky is filled with stars and there is not a sound out there. Just some tourists and the Mittens. Wow!

This is Navajo territory – the reservation is the largest in the US. The landscape is barren, rugged, lunar, desolate, lonely, abandoned. Millions of years of natural forces have created this and all we have to do is breathe it in.

More Bryce Canyon

A few more pics of Bryce Canyon as it deserves a closer look.

Even more in awe with Utah

Our National Parks odyssey continued yesterday. We were fortunate enough to visit Bryce Canyon National Park, Capitol Reef National Park and Goblin State Park.

We’ve run out of superlatives to describe what we’ve seen. Best maybe to describe them by our reaction to them – in awe, incredulous, moved, inspired. Perhaps gobsmacked is best!

Bryce Canyon (photo 1) is beyond description. It is basically an amphitheatre created by erosion to form thousands of turrets called hoodoos. Best I think to let the view of the photos tell the story for us.

We did a short hike into the amphitheatre itself to bow before Queen Victoria sitting on her thrown and not looking nearly as menacing or stout in the Queen’s garden.

Capitol Reef is 1,000ft-high amber, cream and red rock walls running through a massive canyon (photo 2). Goblin is hundreds of sandstone gnome-like figures gathered together (photo 3).

The scenery on the drive between these parks is also incredible and varied – one minute snow-capped mountains, then towering multi-coloured sandstone cliffs, then desolate canyons, then rolling fields covered in snow and cypresses, then a dry plateau to remind you that you’re in the desert.

This is a unique and unforgettable part of the world. These two days have been some of the best of a trip that we didn't think could get any better.

In awe with Utah

We've done about 4,000km so far and come about 1,000km east. We've got a long way to go!

Tonight we're in Southern Utah, which is National Park central. We started in Zion National Park. Hope to see about 4 more.

Zion is mighty cream, pink and red sandstone walls and rock formations (with names like Court of the Patriarchs and Angel's Landing) that tower all around you. Under a clear blue sky the light was perfect. We had the park almost to ourselves again. If Zion is anything to go by, the next few days are going to be quite something.

We're clearly the strangers in town! The guy at the motel's front desk looked very alarmed to see potential guests.

Viva Las Vegas

Well, we made it out of Las Vegas with our shirts!

Feeling quite dazed from the experience. It is a crazy place. We got to gaze up at the Eiffel Tower and have dinner near the Grand Canal (which is on the 2nd floor!), and then wander down the flashiest street to remind ourselves that we were actually still in the US. And I almost forgot to mention gazing up at a shiny new Sphinx. Did I say it's a crazy place?

Lots of the hotels are very glam as you can imagine. We stayed at the Bellagio, which to my mind offered probably the most memorable slice of Vegas - dancing fountains. Shoots of water dance and perform to music. Impossible to describe properly so rather take a look at this YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjCsKMAczrI

Cruising California

We've had some great highlights of the trip in the last three days. Incredible coastal views as we drove. Some perfect weather. Crazy, opulent, wonderful Hearst Castle (zebras grazing in the California sunshine and all!). Beautiful Santa Barbara - a morning run on the beach (yes, BOTH of us), breakfast on the beach and whale watching. Re-living Tim's sailing memories in San Diego.

And the lowlights? Deciding to drive through LA rather than around it as we had originally intended. We knew we should avoid it but since we were there... We definitely won't go back. If I ever win an Oscar I'll ask them to Fedex it to me. Just too many people, crazy traffic, beat-up roads and lots of general tackiness. One good thing was that Jack Bauer was clearly not in town, as we weren't incinerated or captured as suspected terrorists and tortured...!

We spent this afternoon back in Mexico, crossing the border at Tijuana to become tourists again.

In some ways it feels as if the road trip has just begun - we're spending a lot of time in the car, staying in some cute and some not so cute motels that we find along the way.

Tomorrow we head for two nights (we listened to you, Nelly!) in Las Vegas. It will be sad to leave lovely California behind. We've had a great time discovering it. It is very like South Africa - many parts identical to the Cape (Cape Town, winelands, Garden Route) and KZN (Durban, Umhlanga, the Midlands, North Coast, Underberg and the Berg). That gives an idea of how beautiful it is here.

Butterflies for Hannah

Dear Hannah

Today Tim and I visited a place in California where beautiful orange and black Monarch butterflies come every year to spend the winter, as it's too cold and dry for them where they live. There are hundreds and hundreds of them fluttering around or resting in the sunshine on the branches of cypress and eucalyptus trees. We loved it!

Love

Solange

Sunset on Big Sur

We spent last night in the very cute coastal town of Pacific Grove between Monterey and Carmel. Tim ran along the beach this morning.

We had breakfast on the beach in Carmel – a great way to start the day with good coffee. Then a visit to the Carmel Mission – beautiful and tranquil basilica, gardens, cemetery and courtyards that are straight out of a Spanish village. Next came some time with otters and the Monarch butterflies (see next post).

And then the start of the much-anticipated drive down Big Sur. The views are magnificent – rugged coastline below, wide beaches, cypresses hugging the cliffs, wild flowers on the side of the road. You can’t help pulling over again and again to marvel at it. We also stopped for drinks at Nepenthe (a hilltop bar restaurant) to take it all in. We were lucky (again) with the weather. The sun came out about 1hr into our drive and we saw a beautiful sunset.

We are now in San Simeon for the night. It is not really a town. It’s more a stretch of road covered in motels. We’re here because it is the closest place to stay near Hearst Castle, which we visit tomorrow.

Exploring Yosemite National Park

Yosemite makes you simple. You spend most of the time with your mouth hanging open and the only word that you can come up with is ‘Wow’! I am not even going to try and describe how incredible, majestic, inspiring it is. Hopefully the pictures give some sense of what we saw. Some of the highlights for us:

Day 1
Well, we hoped it would stop raining and it did. We were hoping for sunshine. Snow never entered our minds. But it snowed – all day!

The park under snow was amazing. Granite cliffs (dominated by El Capitan), snow-covered pines, rushing rivers, waterfalls, beautiful rock formations – all highlighted by snow. Tim did a great job of putting snow chains on the car (I sat inside the car and pretended to study the map – he gave me enough time to re-draw the map!).

We hiked to Vernal Falls – we had the path to ourselves for most of the way. Each bend in the path brought another spectacular view. At times the snow was ankle height (which meant soaked feet!). Skis would have helped sometimes on the way down.

We got back to our hotel around 7pm after a long drive on windy mountain roads. We saw a baby deer and a bob-cat on the way.

Day 2
Our wish for sun was granted. The park under brilliant sunshine and clear skies, with snow everywhere, was also amazing. We took a different route into the park – taking us to around 6,000 feet. We saw a coyote on the drive.

Today’s highlight was a 6km walk to the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias at the southern end of the park. The road is closed in winter so in some places we were knee-deep in snow.

The trees are magnificent. They are over 1,500 years old and can grow up to 115m high and 8m wide. We had them all to ourselves, which was very special. During the two-hour walk we saw only six other people.

We were in the car for the rest of the day – driving west towards Monterey Bay. We drove through farmland (strong scent of garlic in some places) and strip-mall central, offering drive-through everything – Starbucks, Ben & Jerry’s and even Chinese food. We didn’t stop.

Just arrived in Yosemite

We arrived on the outskirts of Yosemite National Park a few hours ago. It's still raining - fingers crossed it will have stopped tomorrow so we can explore the park.

We're staying at the very friendly Hotel Charlotte in Groveland. A local choir has been practising in the lounge downstairs since we arrived. As I type they're singing 'Jeepers Creepers'. They're lovin it! So am I!

First view of the Pacific

We saw the Pacific for the first time on Highway 1 at Elk – population 208 and sign posts to New Zealand, Ivory Coast and Tanzania.

Quite a view!

Wine and apples

We’ve been hiding out in the North West corner of wine country close to Mendocino. We were lucky enough to find the Boonville Hotel. Great meatloaf and scones, a roaring fire, swathes of rosemary everywhere, friendly people (thank you Derek and Angela). We couldn’t have asked for more.

We sampled some delicious wines and bought a few bottles of Chardonnay from a lady in a beret who asked to join us on our trip. Some of the estates are quite something – huge replica French chateaux or Tuscan villas surrounded by poplars and olive trees.

The scenery has been beautiful – imagine the Natal Midlands covered in vines and apple blossom. It has rained almost solidly for the last three days – a good thing as they desperately need it, and it meant we saw the valleys covered in mist, sometimes with the sun peeping through the clouds, and loads of rainbows and monkey’s weddings.

Two days in San Francisco

We’ve walked the city from top to bottom – it certainly is hilly! We had our photo taken in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. We climbed the never-ending staircase to Coit Tower – past cute little homes and gardens attached to the hillside and full of jasmine, camellias, lavender, rosemary, bougainvilleas, magnolia trees and roses – to see the incredible city and bay views and 1930’s murals. We were serenaded by an old guy (he began singing ‘Love is in the air’ as we walked by) as we tried to navigate our way out of dodgy Mission. We’ve seen skyscrapers and multi-coloured Victorian houses just around the corner from each other. We caught a cable car up California Street past the Fairmont where ‘Hotel’ was filmed (Solange was excited). We walked down Union Street through Cow Hollow and ate at Perry’s. We stumbled across cool Fillmore, wandered past special little stores and bakeries and had drinks at Harry’s Bar. We wandered around a farmer’s market listening to a jazz quartet. We’ve seen Alamo Square with its chocolate-box row of Victorian houses and views over the Financial District (see photo). We met King Charles Cavalier pups called Bella Donna and Axel Rose near the marina. We ate Schezuan in Chinatown. We’ve been greeted and welcomed by locals. Maybe we should live here...

With aching calves we head North today into wine country. We are staying in the little town of Boonville in the Anderson Valley. Hoping for a great view as we cross the Golden Gate Bridge this morning.