After leaving San Fran we stayed one night in the capital of California - Sacramento. This was merely a stop-off as we left San Fran late and didn't want to travel far. Here, Jase and Becks purchased their tent and sleeping bags ready for the camping adventure ahead! We also purchased a stove and cooking equipment and struggled to fit everything in our car!

After Sacramento we drove a few hours to Lake Taupo and how the scenery changed! Taupo has been recommended to us a few times so we made sure we squeezed it in, even if just for 2 nights. As we made our way inland we ascended snow covered mountains (the first time we'd seen snow for a very long time!) and were rewarded, as we hit the top, with stunning views of Lake Taupo and the beautiful surrounding areas.

Travelling by motels is working out well as we're sleeping cheap, in style and saving lots on breakfast and lunch! The food in America is so cheap though. It really won't be costing much when we're cooking for ourselves in the campsites.

We spend a day driving around the lake and taking in the alpine surrounds! We also tiptoe into our second state as the town lies on the border of California and Nevada. What's more strange is the fact that Nevada is 'the gambling state' so the first thing you see when crossing the state line is a few casino's! We don't bother with them yet because Vegas is only a short while away.

Leaving Taupo we have a long drive ahead of us to Yosemite N.P. We set off early on our planned route partly because its a long drive and partly because we have no campsite booked and they dish out the vacancies on a first come first serve basis (the reserved sites sell out months before so its not feasible for us to book!). What we didn't consider is the fact that one of the roads may be closed, which it was! The closed road was the east entrance to the park and, luckily, we found this out before we passed the last alternative route. Taking that route took us over the mountains, through snow covered, beautiful scenery to the other side of the huge national park and into the west entrance. We were also lucky that we could get a campsite although it was a good hour in the car to the main attractions.

Every morning we had to be at the campsite office to make sure we could stay another night but we didn't have it confirmed until around 9:30 which meant we had to delay our explorations every day. This wasn't too bad as we still felt like we saw the best bits of the park and that didn't involve much walking! All the campsites come with a picnic table, a fire pit and a bear-proof cabinet where absolutely anything with an odour must be stored - maybe not our shoes but you get the picture, there are hungry bears around that'll stop at nothing to get into your car or tent for some food!

Our first drive down into Yosemite Valley introduced us to the beauty to behold with breathtaking views, waterfalls and shear cliffs towering 3,000 ft high. What a place - especially after spending a week on the coast in cities - it takes some getting used to!

In the midst of our stay in Yosemite, we found the time, and place, to watch the first all English champions league final. Little did we know that it was going to last 3 hours and we'd have barely any time left to explore the park on that day! We did squeeze in a visit to the 5th tallest waterfall in the world at 2000 ft tall!

Elsewhere in the park is a forest of giant sequoia trees. These are bigger than the kauri trees in New Zealand and there are more of them! They're quite dwarfing when wandering beneath them, even the diameter of the fallen giants are larger than us! The largest, the Grizzly Giant has been standing for an estimated 2,700 yrs. Now, that does make you feel insignificant!

Yosemite still had more to offer in the way of one of the most amazing views. Glacier point gives you the opportunity to look 3,000 ft down into Yosemite Valley and admire the ant farm below as well as the most amazing scenery all around. It's a wonderful place but, unfortunately, we have to move on.

The road that was closed when coming to Yosemite was now open and we drove that way onto our next destination. We were very lucky because, as we drove out, we hit a blizzard head on and they then re-closed the road. Not before we'd left, however, and enjoyed amazing snow covered landscapes.