Hello and sorry for the delay in updates!

I've been in the States for nearly 4 weeks now (how'd that happen?!) and had fun in the car. I started in LA, staying with Andy's lovely cousins - Shelah and John.

We went to the Huntington Library and Gardens, which was lovely as it was warm and sunny. But it got very chilly at night. I went to Griffith Park, which is where the Hollywood sign is and to the Getty Museum. I spent an afternoon driving and walking round Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills, which was a lot of fun.

One afternoon they took me to Venice Beach, which is a lot like Camden but near the sea and with many, many more freaks and weirdos! We also saw the Venice Canals, and ate great pizza from a kooky little take away place which was a bright yellow hut.

We ate a lot of great food like Vietnamese, Arminian, Mexican, Thai, and it was pretty cheap!

I also went to the Norton Simon Gallery and did some shopping in the sales and found this awesome record store called Amoeba.

After my few days living it up in LA I headed out towards Yosemite. I had a small disagreement with the satnav on the way, but she got me to my hotel in the end. I headed into the park the next day, which was pretty amazing, and luckily not as cold as I thought it was going to be. I did the Mirror Lake trail, saw Half Dome, some of the falls and then saw the Horse Tail 'firefalls' in the evening. Apparently it's because of the way the light hits the falls that time of year it makes it seem as though the rock is on fire.

The next day I drove south out of the park and stopped at Tunnel Viewpoint, which gave the most amazing view over the whole valley and you can see El Capatain, Half Dome, the Cathedral Spires and the falls, and it was sunny!

Unfortunately the drive took me a lot longer than I thought so I didn't get as far as I had planned and I ended up spending the night in the tiny 'town' of Mojave. It has 2 streets in the middle of the desert, with the railroad on one side and an airforce base on the other.

I then decided to change my route and the next day I drove to Barstow and to the Route 66 Museum, which was cool - a lot of Americana and tat in an old building! And then to Calico, which is an old ghost town which has been re-vamped into a touristy place. I then headed east along Route 66. Unfortunately there wasn't much road surface as California state doesn't maintain it like the other states it passes through. So it was a pretty bumpy ride and I turned onto the freeway as soon as I could!

That night I stayed in Needles, and there really isn't much to report about that! And the next day I got up and headed to Vegas baby!