...we get up early, heat some tea, eat the meager remnants of our supplies and set off to climb back up....we take a 30 min hike to a beautiful overlook called Plateau Point and admire the canyon in all its splendor - our cameras get red hot from constant shutter release... It's chilly but sunny and gorgeous. Summer must be hell here though....because of shortage of food, hot tea or general fatigue we struggle a lot to get back up the 1000m path to the parkin...

...we eat a McDonalds breakfast which turns out to be poor value (not enough food, overpriced) and we set off for the Grand Canyon. After calculating pros and cons we decide to buy the annual all national park pass at $80 instead of just paying $30 for the canyon....we get used to driving to get any meal including breakfast even if the restaurant is just 5 mins walk from the hotel for example. Oh God!!!...we take a loooot of pictures at various viewpoints along t...

...we rise early, do some minor shopping (well I buy some clothes :)) and set out for Joshua Tree, the first park on our itinerary....we pass one giant mall after another, which is nice when you wanna shop but becomes annoying when all you need to do is pull over for a quick caffeine shot - it always turns into a 30minute navigation adventure titled: "Find the Starbucks in a roadside shopping town the size of Bruges"....we become lazy: mostly drive everywhere and...