Sitting down getting to know John and Rich gave great first impressions, we were talking about the live wild rattle snake we saw in Bryce canyon, then mum and dad came with our stuff from the RV. We ran through the safety briefing and John said “ok we are ready to go canyoning. A half an hour drive of talking about famous films being filmed in the canyonny dessert planes like the bond film octopussey and the film butch cassedy and the sun dance king. We arrived at our spot got into our harnesses and set of. About half a mile down the path we reached our first obstacle out of 3.5. I know your wondering why .5 but thats because when our instructor started canyoning the second obstacle wasn’t there so he calls it .5. the first obstacle was average, the point five was easy however the last two were really hard because of the soft and slippery sand but despite this the five of us scampered up the sandy steep rock then we had to slow down because of the group in front of us then came the optional obstacle a very tight squeeze where two rocks had broken apart I got almost the very end and stopped I was stuck after two minutes Mae came in to lift me over the small gap but it was next to no use but it inspired mum to come in and help she lifted me over the small gap and i was through! we came to the abseiling and I thought it would be a piece of cake after my PGL trip but no, on PGL the drop was was 20ft however here it was a 45ft drop but after a bit of dangling I got down then on her first ever absele Mae came down then mum at this point Rich said we should go check out the next bit, it was a 5 metre slop and and metre drop then we went some difficult drops out another absele and that was easy. then came to a final tight squeeze and we were done!

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My blog post today you could call a horror story, for me especially, anyway.

We sat on the bus to go to our stop, to our walk, dad handed me the suncream and took of my cap and put it on the floor beside him. The I sun-creamed up and gave it back to dad, at this point our stop came and we got of the bus. I followed mum into the Yosemite gift shop to buy joe a new hat, yes he lost it. We walked out of the shop with joe’s new hat I looked over at joe’s hat and then realised… I’d left my hat on the bus! mum was furious but dad very, very kindly said he’d wait for the our bus to come round again we ‘all’ decided to try climb the hard face to our dome, no not the half dome or el capitan (those are ’to easy’), it was just a dome.

Mae and I walked up to the vertical edge and looked at the veiw then Mae cautiously started to to walk down however I thought different, I sat down and whizzed past Mae on my bottom despite mum warning Joe I was down within seconds as it stood up I put my hands on my hips in triumph as I though I felt there was something different as I i felt the back of my trousers I realised there was no back to my trousers… NOOOO!!! all I could feel was the fabric of my pants and all mum could see was my anonymous green underwear.

So I’d gone from the top with my cap and to the bottom with… my bottom. I hiked all the way up the dome were every time we saw people

I love Switzerland so I will disagree, but that said the northern meadows and granite domes of Yosemite are really stunning. The landscape changes from granite domes, to lush meadow to towering pine forests and back again. We chose to drag the kids on yet another hike, this time up Lembert Dome, with it’s 805ft ascent to the peak, other less patient folks just climb straight up the face. We then rewarded them and us with the afternoon on the beach, at the east end of Tenaya Lake, a huge expanse of crystal clear glacier fed water, and open water swimmer’s delight, not sure Stanborough quite lives up to this.

Day two was a trip down into Yosemite valley, where we would have been staying had we got our original choice, all I can say is that we lucked out. Whilst the valley is home to the most famous landmarks such as El Capitan and Half Dome, after the tranquility of the northern meadows, it seemed hot, dusty and busy. Glad we saw it but not what I will remember Yosemite for.

Well perhaps it was just a brown bear, but it was wild, running through the shrubbery as we passed on the shuttle bus.

Having enjoyed a hearty breakfast of pancakes, bacon and maple syrup, we decided on a detour to Bodie Ghost town. As we approached with 7 miles to go we hit the worst thing possible in a 30ft RV, a dirt road. Sensibly having gone no more than 500 metres we decided to turn back, 2 minutes later we found ourselves grounded in soft sand perpendicular to the road. After nearly half an hour trying to dig us out we decided it was time to call for help – despite a signal, no phone connection and nothing for miles around. Thankfully Bill spotted a house, so off I went. Two lovely ladies on their way out for the day took pity on me and my story and phoned the local pick garage (30 minutes drive away) and convinced them to come out and help. Two hours and more cash than I care to mention we were on the road again, heading away from the dirt track of Bodie and towards Yosemite, a little dirtier and much the wiser – we hope.

In zion we went canyoning and we walked down a river when we went down the river it got really deep and very rocky I fell over the next day we woke up really

early and we went canyoning when we got there I was terrified we got to the mountain and we got started and we went through this path we did lots of

fun things but my favourite thing was assailing we went down the first one and I was terrified you had to been back over a cliff but was really fun.

Yesterday was a great day we got new shoes but we are talking about today right now I am stranded in the desert its boiling hot people have gone past us they are

really nice one person said don’t go walking in the woods we found out why a few days ago. The truck came and they got us out and we went to Yosemite.

Leaving Zion we have a slog of a drive, trying to get as near to Yosemite as possible. On route we plan to stop for a spot of retail therapy, whilst driving round the mall, unsuccessfully trying to find a parking spot without height restrictions we are saved by a lovely “mall cop” on his Segway, who spotted us, stopped traffic for us to turn round and escorted us to his valet parking – now that is what I call customer service! Four new pairs of converse and a few bags of clothes later we are cruising down the Strip in our monster van, spotting the weird and wonderful hotels – no stopping, Bill has no self control and he is not putting the house on black.

It was then a long, long drive, through very little at all up to Mono Lake, just outside Yosemite. As the day drifted away and we passed absolutely no RV parks for hundreds of miles we started to regret our decision not to book at Mono Lake. Our luck was in, we arrived ten minutes before closing and there was one pitch left, and relax….

My gosh the views are incredible every time I look at the grand canyon it changes I would describe it but i can’t think of any words but big, really big. The campsite is lovely dispite the ravens which are the size of Joe. We set on a walk on our first day there desperate to see the rare California condors however we saw none. the second day we set out down the canyon I loved it, Joe loved it, mum loved it, dad loved it, Mae hated it. She was terrified of the hights we got half an hour down and Mae had had enough. so to my disappointment we went back up and went back to the RV. We left the Grand canyon early in the morning we were driving along and we saw a marvellous view so we pulled over and had a look, we watched… and we watched… then out from behind a rock flew a great California condor flying proud in the jet stream we were satisfied.

P.S. Grandmar and Grandad you must come here!   

Yes, but not before forcing the kids to descend a mile into the Grand Canyon, once again it brought back childhood memories, this time of the terrifying variety. As Mae whimpered and cried about being scared, wanting to turn back before we had even really begun. I remembered family walks up the cliffs at Duckpool, I am sure i recall ending up on my Dads shoulders for much the same reason, like mother, like daughter.

It was then quite literally upwards, from the Grand Canyon, we took a fabulous drive along the Desert Highway, sighting Californian Condors in the early morning thermals and then up, up, up to Bryce Canyon. Originally a bit of an after-thought on our itinerary, but what a find. Bill set the stakes high with the promise of Champagne and sweets (the former for me, latter for the kids) for anyone spotting a mountain lion or a rattlesnake,  I am still waiting for my champagne!

Then did the most amazing walk through the weird landscape of the hoodoos, descending the barren undulating terrain into the base of the canyon, where hoodoos (strange shaped pillars, some aptly named like Thor’s Hammer) surrounded our vision, before ascending again up through a steep, narrow canyon, Joe was sustained through the hot climb with the promise of sweets and many repetitions of the “Grand old duke of York”. The evening was topped off by a Rodeo, what a laugh, there was a child literally half the size of Joe, completely kitted out in hat and chaps, being thrown around on a sheep for the junior version of the bucking bronco, I have never seen anything so brave and terrifying.