mybigadventures.com

Hello boys and girls, this is it, the adventure is over, we are back in the UK after a flight from Paris that set off and arrived at the same time (Weird). We are already busy rushing between Sheffield and Coventry catching up with family and such like. Again apologies for such a long time since our last blog, we splashed out a bit and stayed in a hotel in Paris so no computer facilities I'm afraid.

Anyways how was Pairs I hear you ask? We had a very busy time fitting in all the sights, starting on Monday with Disneyland!!!! Mickey was on top form and we had an awesome day with the sunshine holding out right up until 20 minutes before the park closed. Tuesday we visted the Palace of Versailles which had some splendid artwork, architecture and gardens - get me, cultured! The next two days we did the full on tourst thing taking in the Eiffel Tower, Saint Chapelle, Sacre Coeur (Very Tasty and a fantastic view), The Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Moulin Rouge and dropped in to see  Mona at the Louvre. We also found time to eat, sleep and shower suprisingly (Including a final meal to finish off the trip at a little restaurant near Sacre Coeur - they didn't serve cheesy cottage pie - gutted)!

So what now? Well with plenty of time on my hands this website will no doubt be changing. The plan is to allow you lot to upload your photos, post blogs, have your own members with email updates, all the things we've had essentially, there is also another website on the way where we shall be publishing our trip journal and all the bits that are currently stuffed inside it.

Besides all that we have much sorting out to do after unceremoneously dumping our stuff in Sheffield before running off for 3 months, so that should keep us busy. We will off course be making a few visits here and there so hopefully see you all soon . . . . . . for now though this is it, I'll turn off the email updates and in a while you'll have the chance to opt back in and recieve future news and blogs (I bet you can't wait)

Cheerio and ta ta everyone, thanks for tuning in xx

PS Paris photos will appear in the next couple of days!

 . . . ok thats more than enough geek for one weekend I think. Lots of updates to have a look at. All of my first year uni pictures and pictures from the Derby Mile last year are up for the world to see. More pictures should be coming soon and maybe some member stuff so you can add comments to the blog and photos.

Anyway thats enough about the website - my car is in the garage on Tuesday - its broke again :-( Last month the clutch went at the top of the M1 slip road - not the dream! Now its too many speed bumps have knackered the suspension, the front brakes need doing and so does my cam belt. On top of that theres a dirty great hole in the exhaust somewhere which translates to me sounding like a tractor everywhere I drive. The question is when do you know its time to stop spending money on it and buy something newer? Answers on a postcard?!  

Right thats more than enough sitting behind a computer for one weekend. Time to head off. Catch you later!

Dani woke up early and had a bath before waking me up. It was gone 8:30 AM and, with breakfast ending in half an hour, we hotfooted it across to the breakfast room. We stood in the queue for waffles before giving up as it was taking far too long (maybe tomorrow?). Instead we had some toast and I had a cold boiled egg, and then we had a couple of pastries. We also sorted ourselves out with a couple of teas. After breakfast, we gathered our things and headed off in the car to Yosemite National Park. It took longer than we expected to get to the park and we arrived at the parking for the main visitor centre after about an hour and a half.

We were given a map at the entrance and another at the car park information, and, after catching a bus from the car park to the visitor centre, we got a third. It wasn’t very clear where to start even with all the maps and having asked for information at the car park. Dani asked about the Yosemite waterfalls, but due to the dry weather both the main falls were apparently pretty dry. When we asked again at the visitor centre, the man was a little more helpful, directing us towards the Vernal Falls which involved hikes of different lengths depending on how far you wanted to go up.

It first involved catching one of the shuttle buses that run around the park. The shuttles take you to the main trail heads around Yosemite village. We caught the shuttle to stop 16 and when we got there we thought we better eat the crisps we were carrying, having read warnings about carrying food (due to bears). We also bought some chocolate cookies from the food kiosk and filled the water bottle from the water fountain. Finally, we got going on what turned out to be a much more strenuous walk than we had anticipated! It took about an hour and a half, walking uphill all the way, with a few stops for water and to catch our breath. We saw a little lizard darting about and a pretty impressive butterfly, and lots of little squirrels. Close to the top, when we were having a rest, a boy came past on his way down and cheerfully told as it wasn’t much further - we must have looked like we were on the verge of giving up (we were)!

And he was right! Minutes later, we arrived at the bridge and enjoyed the view of the waterfall, taking a few obligatory “we were here” photos. We sat around under the trees by the bridge for a while to recover before setting off back. We filled up our water bottle again and started the journey back, past a squirrel that was splattered on a rock looking knackered. It looked how I felt.

The walk down wasn’t too bad; certainly easier than going up. Once at the bottom, we joined the queue for the shuttle bus. There were loads of people waiting at the bus stop, as it seemed late, then three came at once: you know what they say about buses. So, we caught the bus back to the visitor centre. We got off at ‘Curry Village’, having spotted some deer from the bus. We took some pictures before heading to the gifts and grocery store where we bought Burt the bear, some Pepsi, a fridge magnet, a sew-on badge and a postcard.

We’d already decided that we wanted to go to Glacier Point next, via Tunnel Viewpoint. This involved a drive. And a much longer one than we expected, as it turned out! We stopped a couple of times along the way, including at Tunnel View, which offered fantastic views across the park. The car park at Tunnel View filled up shortly after we arrived, with a number of coach parties and we left just before we got blocked in by another coach. The drive to Glacier Point took much longer than expected, due to the slow winding roads, but we did see a wolf by the road on the way, which was fantastic. We stopped at a viewpoint shortly before Glacier Point which was pretty busy. Somebody offered to take a photo of us sitting on a rock against the panorama, which was nice. We also saw some more of the blue birds we’d seen earlier and took some more pictures before heading back along the winding roads.

From Glacier Point, our next stop was due to be Mariposa Grove, home to the huge Sequoia trees. Time was already marching on and we started to get concerned whether we would make it in daylight. Again, it turned out to be a really long drive (the park is massive); it took about an hour and a half and it was gone 7:30 PM when we arrived. The light had already started to fade so much that Dani had already taken a picture of the sunset just before we arrived. The trees were incredible, and absolutely massive. Disappointingly, they were fenced off to protect the roots, so you couldn’t get too close. We had a bit of a wander, and it was dark before we left to head back to Mariposa.

It took about another hour and a half to get back along winding hill roads. We went straight to a restaurant in town called the Charles Street Dinner house. It was very nice; I had fettuccine and steak and Dani had honey barbecue baby back ribs. Again, the meal came with a side salad and also some very nice garlic bread. It was all very nice and cost $75, including tip. Back at the hotel, we had a quick look at photos, but the Internet was going too slowly to be any use, so we went to bed, ready for our road trip to LA tomorrow.