Vegas, Grand Canyon, Yosemite and San Francisco

Hey all from the wonderful city of San Francisco. The past week has been really really fun and we have seen ALOT!!

From Los Angeles our tour bus took us all the way to Las Vegas (sin city) where we were checked into a lovely hotel by the name of $ Queens Hotel, it was luxury, a big change to the hostels we are used to!! We were taken on a tour of all the hotels!! We found Vegas to be a crazy place as its right in the middle of the Nevada desert and there are the most fantastic hotels surrounding the city. One in particular that we saw was the Venician which was a replica of venice! There were canals with gondola rides inside!! All the ceilings were painted so it looked like you were outside during daytime, it was very disorientating but really clever! We saw a couple more shows and the had a early night as we couldnt drink or gamble due to age restrictions in the entertainment capital!! The following day we were taken to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon ( a very long journey!). It was stunning and just how I imagined!! I could'nt believe the grand scale of canyon it was massive!! Later that day we head back to Vegas (via the hoover dam) and had a huuge $10 buffet in the hotel opposite!! The next couple of days we visited Yosemite National Park which was beautiful! Soo many trees, landforms and waterfalls everywhere it was stunning. A very different side to America I thought I would never see!! The following day we were taken for a tour in San Francisco or the Golden Gate Bridge and other attractions where we finished off and checked into the European Guest hostel!! We spent the weekend with Mike before he headed home. This week we managed to go and visit the island of Alkatraz (the old high security prison, located just offf the bay) It was a really good day out! They provided a very good audio tour and we felt like we learnt quite alot about the prisoners experiences when the prison was up and running.

So whats the plan from here... tomorrow is our l;ast day in San Francisco so were probably going to visit golden gate park. We will be off to New York on Friday!! I really cant wait to get to the big apple!!

I really cant believe we get home in under a week now, it is very strange...

I will see you all soon then.
I guess.

Alex.xxx