DAY 1:
We met nice and early at the best western plus San Francisco ready to start a 7 day tour to LA. our tour leader Fiona gave us a quick briefing then we were on our way to the first stop Yosemite National Park. Before getting to Yosemite we needed to stop at a supermarket to do a food shop for the first three days. To do this we were split into three teams - lukas, Anne and I, then harry, Frankie and Tariq and finally Nicky, Rachel and Alex. The shop was pretty swift and we all managed to stick to budget! We stopped along the way to have a picnic at a cute little park, then again to take a picture of the Yosemite national park sign and final stop was at a place to walk and see the famously tall red sicamore tree groves. This was the first hike of the trip and certainly wouldn't be the last, we had fun getting to know each other then climbing in and out of this tree which had fallen down. Back in the van and on our way to the campground. After a quick lesson from fiona we all rushed to get our tents up and the camp sorted ready for dinner. As it was Memorial Day we decided to switch dinners and Harry's group cooked BBQ the first night. It was really tasty and loads to go around! It started to rain just before we ate though so had a big rush to put the rain cover up which was funny as none of us really knew what we were doing!! The highlight of the evening for me were the S'mores - something I had been looking forward to the entire trip! A simple combination of melting marshmallows over a campfire, then sandwiching these between two gram crackers which have chocolate on them, wait for 5 secs for the chocolate to melt and voila... the perfect pudding!! Frankie and I went a bit overboard with the marshmallows, having at least two s'mores each then continuing to work our way through the remaining marshmallows and chocolate. Later in the evening another group joined us, a lady in this group suggested we had cinnamon apples the next night so we asked how you make them and I realised it was the same as some apples my mum makes at home. Time for the first night sleeping in our not-so-comfortable tents, Frankie and Rachel were one side of us and fiona the other.

DAY 2 -
We all got up nice and early after not sleeping quite as well as we had the night before in beds! Fiona had said to us all the previous day she was doing a hike and we were welcome to join her, after some negotiation everyone decided to join the hike up to Nevada falls. This was a 3 mile hike and we had the option to bail out half way at vernal falls, but after the fun we were having we all decided to continue to the top! It was a tough hike but we all made it to the top to see the spectacular views of Yosemite national park. We had a picnic and rest at the top for about an hour, taking lots of photos. Then time to make our way down, in which harry, Frankie and I particularly took our time - mainly due to talking too much!! We caught the shuttle to Yosemite village, had a look around and an ice cream each then got back in the van to head back to the campsite. It was my groups turn to cook spag Bol tonight which went down really well, as did the pudding of cooked apples with sugar cinnamon and raisins (one of my mums recipes). More melted marshmallows to finish the evening and our time in Yosemite national park would be over after one more night camping.

DAY 3 -
Up early again, this time we had to pack up the entire camp before heading out and on our way to Las Vegas!!! Needless to say we were all incredibly excited for what was to come in the gabbling capital of the world!!! We stopped on the way for a picnic at cute town - turnpike. That evening was the drunkest most exciting evening we were to have!! We started it with pizza and drinks in our surprisingly nice super 8 hotel. Then 9pm came which meant - party bus time!! It picked us up complete with another trek group, Kelly (a man) was the group leader of. We continued drinking and dancing on the poles inside the bus. It took us to the Vegas sign where we all had photos with the sign lit up. Then back on the bus to drive down the strip to the 'old strip' fortmans st, we stopped at flamincos hotel to watch the famous light show above our heads! While we were in this area we had photos with a half naked warrior guy (who later on took his mask off for us to see he was about 40-gross!!) and Anne and I ha photos with two half naked chipendale male models - quite embarrassing but good fun and we got free necklaces!! Next we were back in the bus for more drinking and dancing! Finally, we were dropped at the famous Ballagio hotel, we ran through the hotel only stopping for a toilet trip, to then watch the amazing fountain show (several times!). After this we are pretty sure we went to the mirage casino and spent most of the night in there! At some point Anne and I popped next door to hurrahs to play a different version of blackjack called triple blackjack - I watched as I didn't really have a clue what was going on bet wise! We got free drinks the whole time we were sitting there! Then back to mirage to play more blackjack, and find the others! After a fun-filled first night in Vegas we decided to get taxis back to the hotel.

DAY 4 -
After a late start due to hangovers from the night before we went for breakfast at the restaurant attached to the hotel. The Germans and harry then discovered if we signed up for a membership we could win up to $100 to bet in the casino, so all of us 21+ signed up for one, mostly winning $10 to bet! I played blackjack on the machines and harry played his new favourite game- Keano! We all went out as a group to the strip. As our hotel was behind planet Hollywood we joined the strip in the middle and turned left - as we hadn't been up that end as much! We all wondered around, frankie and I managed to lose everyone so we carried on shopping. We went through an amazing mall, the ceiling was painted and the walls decorated to make you feel you were outside in Italy or somewhere! While the rest of the group went to the casino for an hour, Rachel, Frankie and I set out to see all the casinos on the strip. We were actually more impressed with the outside of the hotels than the inside where the casinos were! They were all themed according to their names. The New York hotel had a rollacoaster and a mini statue of liberty outside. While ... Was pyramid shaped, with a huge sphinx outside. The Excalibur was our favourite - shaped like a castle with huge turrets. After we'd looked around we went to pick up everyone's tickets for The ultimate V show. We met them back at the casino and walked to hooters where we had dinner. Frankie and I had to put ours in boxes and run to queue up at the show. The others took ages eating and taking photos, then eventually joined us there. The show was a couple of hours long and had some really impressive acts. Harry's favourite act was a couple who span around on roller blades then he picked her up and was throwing her around all over the place! I was laughing the whole way through and I'm still not sure who my favourite act was. When it finished we walked quickly down to the other end of the strip, where we were planning to watch the free Pirate show outside treasure island casino. We were just too late for one and slightly too early for the other, so we went into treasure island casino and the boys spent even more money!! The free show was really good with lights fireworks and actors. After we went into ... Which had a river running through it and gondolas, like in Venice. The next casino was Caesars Palace, this one wasn't much different to all the others. The final casino, the only one I hadn't been in was The Ballagio. Inside was kind of circus themed above all the table games. We spent most of the time playing the wheel of fortune, where I decided to put my first bet on! I only wanted to lose a maximum of $10, so that's all I put on. Tariq and I worked together to guess where it would land- he was right most of the time! I ended up winning $20, which was $10 profit! This was now my favourite casino. We all walked back to the hotel together and went to sleep, much later than we planned - definitely got distracted in the casino!!

DAY 5 -
We had to get up early today to go to the Grand Canyon, we were all struggling with a hangover. Our guide fiona was pretty impressed/ surprised we all managed to get through Vegas without any tattoos, piercings, weddings or worse! We had a long drive now but stopped on the way at the original Route 66 town s.... I didn't realise that the Disney film cars was based on this town, they even had cars there with eyes on them, before the film came out! We had a traditional American dipped ice cream, which was soft serve ice cream dunked in chocolate so it went hard. Some people had soda floats. The two guys running the stop were the main people who saved Route 66 when the new highway was built, they had lots of jokes up their sleeves. Including a mustard bottle that shot a string at you and a range of spoons with either holes in or half missing! After we'd had lunch here we carried on the road trip to the Grand Canyon. When we got there fiona got us all in a line one behind the other then we closed our eyes and she led us to the lookout point, counted to three and we all opened them! The view was unbelievable. I can't think of any other words to describe it, it looks man made but its not! We stood at the lookout for a while, taking hundreds of photos! After the five of us doing the helicopter ride got back in the van and headed down to the site where they took off. We had to be weighed in and pay etc then met our pilot. This was the first time any of us had been in a helicopter and it was the perfect view. The ride lasted about an hour, we were all amazed by the view. My favourite part was where we were flying over the forest and all of a sudden it ended and the canyon went down for hundreds of metres. We took loads of photos, both in the helicopter and after got got out. Those of us who had done the helicopter ride went to the campsite and set up all the tents and the area ready for when we came back. We then went to the other end of the canyon to that which we ha our first views, this was to watch the sunset. We were meant to meet the other four there but they were nowhere to be seen, eventually seconds before the sunset they appeared. It was the best sunset I've ever seen, the perfect way to end an amazing day. We ate at the campgrounds that evening. We had a lovely carbonara sauce over mushrooms and courgettes with spaghetti. For dessert we had more s'mores as we were all slowly getting addicted to them. Frankie and I had a sneaky pack of chocolate hiding behind us to make sure we didn't run out. We ate loads and also had popcorn to heat over the campfire. We spent the evening chatting and looking up at the stars.

DAY 6 -
Again, we left early after packing the camp up. This time we stopped quite early at another little famous Route 66 town- Williams. This was so everyone could have a traditional American diner breakfast, although a few of us had already eaten cereal before leaving the camp. Nicky and I shared a short stack of hot cakes - in English that's two thick pancakes with syrup!! They were amazing , even though I couldn't have managed more than one! Harry had fried eggs- over easy, sunny side up, bacon, toast and has browns- the American equivalent to a full English breakfast! After this was another long drive involving lots of chatting and card games before arriving at Lake havasu, Arizona. This was the last evening we would all have in the tour and we spent it just relaxing as it was so hot! We soaked in the lake, cooked a BBQ, sat and chatted, finishing the evening with all of us lying in a long line watching the stars - where after a week of looking I saw my first shooting star!! Shortly after we all fell asleep under the stars-Very romantic!! Until the snoring and sleep talking began, then one by one we started moving into our tents.

DAY 7 -
We were up slightly later this morning - to find the only ones who lasted all night outside were Nicky, Anne and the Germans! The final day involved driving to LA. We stopped on the way for the final picnic lunch of the trip then were dropped off pretty early at our hostel, ready for us to explore hollywood on our own!