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Showing posts from March, 2012

Too hot, go higher!

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Palm Springs Aerial Tramway Palm Springs Aerial Tramway takes you from the desert up into the alpine mountains to high altitude in about ten minutes. The tram car rotates so that you can see all around you and it’s a bit disconcerting when you are holding on as it can be a bit bumpy when you go over the pylons, you have to keep moving your hand as the walls move. Once at the top you can watch a movie to see how it was constructed and walk the many trails. There was snow up there when we went and it made it difficult to see where the path went. Luckily we went back early as the final path up to the tramway station is extremely steep after doing some walking. The scenery is spectacular. View from the tramcar The trails have snow even though it's over 30C down the bottom  Indian Canyons: Palm Canyon – Palm Springs Ranger led walks are only in the morning, so unfortunately we had missed out. We asked the Tribal Ranger what walking trail we should tackle, as everyone ha

Getting ready to camp in the US Southwest National Parks

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For years we never thought of going to the USA, in fact Lindsay didn't want to come, so he told me after we had left home! Luckily he loved it so much he wants to go back. I found photography workshops that showed me photographs of the South West National Parks that whet my appetite. And after reconnecting with an old school friend, who encourage us, we started planning... We went to the consulate to organise a six month visa and they offered us a five year one. The idea for this trip was to travel for six months in a similar fashion as to how we travel in Australia, so we needed a way of getting around and somewhere to live. But of course the USA is not Australia and things are very different there. We spent a lot of time researching what to get and how to do it. There was a van for sale in the town we were staying in that could be converted, we pulled out the spare seats and made up a frame for our bed. We had already bought a number of things before we came over such as an Engel