road trippin' west USA

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 3:22 pm

Twoist - and yet again I'm left wondering what exactly do you do for a living?!? You might being living vicariously through me, but anyone who follows your Tweets knows you live the life that most of us can only dream of!!! lol

Dono - cheers! Estes Park looks wonderful. Sadly, I'm not getting that far East although we did look in that direction at one point. There's always next time though

Jeroen · Post by **Jeroen** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 6:40 pm

oops. totally forgot to upload the pics. Here's a few:

video summary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhoqnqs2ZiU&feature=fvst

Jeroen · Post by **Jeroen** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 6:46 pm

Mexicola wrote:So I'm reliving a trip I did back in 2002 and heading back to the SW of USA in May. Can't wait!

San Francisco
Big Sur
Yosemite
Death Valley - including Devil's Racetrack
Vegas (not for long though)
Hoover Dam
Peach Springs for a bit of Route 66/Americana
Grand Canyon (natch)
Monument Valley
Meteor Crater
Phoenix
Home.

Bring it on!!

NICE

i see i missed a few places. Meteor Crater sounds like my kind of thing. Next time! I'm hooked!

radiateme · Post by **radiateme** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 6:49 pm

Absolutely beautiful pics, Jeroen. I'd love to see all of that in person.

Redpoint Beach Boy · Post by **Redpoint Beach Boy** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 6:53 pm

Just realized that this post is several months old, lol...well, the invitation stands.

Jeroen · Post by **Jeroen** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 7:30 pm

radiateme wrote:Absolutely beautiful pics, Jeroen. I'd love to see all of that in person.

thank you so much. I hope you will soon get the chance to.

Jeroen · Post by **Jeroen** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 7:34 pm

Redpoint Beach Boy wrote:Just realized that this post is several months old, lol...well, the invitation stands.

haha. it is, but mexicola bumped it and he's embarking on a journey somewhat similar to mine, soon. I never made it to phoenix. It was a short stop at Page, and then back to UT again. Science Center sounds awesome. Tell us more!

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 7:51 pm

Jeroen wrote: Science Center sounds awesome. Tell us more!

Indeed yes. Do tell...

Doubt I'll have time, but if I find myself at Phoenix early and it's a choice between that and an overpriced coffee in the airport lounge I might just swing past.

Redpoint Beach Boy · Post by **Redpoint Beach Boy** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 10:41 pm

I manage the IMAX and certain planetarium operations. I enjoy it...been working with IMAX equipment/film for almost 20 years now. I'm beginning to get my feet wet in show production (CGI/multimedia for full-dome video). Anyway, I recommend visiting Arizona Science Center over coffee any day (overpriced or not, lol). I'll get you hooked up with entrance, tickets, etc...

Our website: www.azscience.org

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 11:03 pm

Redpoint Beach Boy wrote:I manage the IMAX and certain planetarium operations. I enjoy it...been working with IMAX equipment/film for almost 20 years now. I'm beginning to get my feet wet in show production (CGI/multimedia for full-dome video). Anyway, I recommend visiting Arizona Science Center over coffee any day (overpriced or not, lol). I'll get you hooked up with entrance, tickets, etc...

Our website: www.azscience.org

That's a really kind offer, thank you

As it is, our itinerary means an overnight stay in Flagstaff, a VERY early start and then a flight back to London around 9AM. But... if our plans change I'll drop you a line and take you up on that - it looks fantastic!

JosephG · Post by **JosephG** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 1:39 am

Jeroen wrote:oops. totally forgot to upload the pics. Here's a few:

btw, don't ever ride that roller coaster omg.... I had bruises afterwards.
Dude, looks like you had a fantastic journey.

TheSilenceEchoes · Post by **TheSilenceEchoes** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 2:41 am

jeroen, next time you go, can i come? It looks awesome.

Redpoint Beach Boy · Post by **Redpoint Beach Boy** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 2:46 am

Mexicola wrote:
Redpoint Beach Boy wrote:I manage the IMAX and certain planetarium operations. I enjoy it...been working with IMAX equipment/film for almost 20 years now. I'm beginning to get my feet wet in show production (CGI/multimedia for full-dome video). Anyway, I recommend visiting Arizona Science Center over coffee any day (overpriced or not, lol). I'll get you hooked up with entrance, tickets, etc...

Our website: www.azscience.org
That's a really kind offer, thank you

As it is, our itinerary means an overnight stay in Flagstaff, a VERY early start and then a flight back to London around 9AM. But... if our plans change I'll drop you a line and take you up on that - it looks fantastic!

No problem...safe travels!

zeitgeist · Post by **zeitgeist** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 3:36 am

awesome pics jeroen! the jailhouse cafe is the shit, my gf and i make a point to eat there everytime!

Twoism-ist · Post by **Twoism-ist** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:06 am

vegas is so much more fun to visit than it is to live in, haha.

Jeroen · Post by **Jeroen** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 9:35 am

@JosephG: good thing I decided to stick with taking pictures. Had my share of coaster fun later in L.A. at six flags =)

@TheSilenceEchoes: a big part of this trip was me travelling alone, which was exciting but also really difficult at times. I have no idea what it would be like to travel like this with someone else, but I do hope to find out one day. Sharing the awe when looking at such vast landscapes must be a very special thing indeed. It truly IS awesome and if you love nature you owe it to yourself to get to this part of the planet one way or another. I'll be sure to announce my future USA travel plans well ahead of time =]

@zeitgeist: thanks man! I stumbled onto that little cafe by accident and had a proper american breakfast there. Very authentic atmosphere, super friendly staff and great food so I can certainly understand why you go back when you get a chance to.

@Twoism-ist: Vegas was fun and loathing for me. I found out the hard way that being in this city on your lonesome own is one hell of a test (especially after hiking in the great outdoors for days. The photography got me through those 2 days but I'm not going back for a while. Do you live (and work?) there now?

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:29 pm

Don't believe it - we've just heard there are big problems on Highway 1 (ie. the Big Sur coast road) with large landslides and mud slides closing 2 or 3 areas for up to a month. Unbelievable... ARRRGHGHH!!!

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Sat May 21, 2011 6:09 am

So I'm 5 days into my holiday in the USA and it's just been incredible so far. Today took the prize though I think.

We're hiking in Yosemite. Sadly, we couldn't do the famous Four Mile Trail because of the snow, but we thought we'd see how far we could get anyway and headed up the trailway. Got about an hour in before avalanche debris turned us around, sadly. However.....

We're heading back down the trail, enjoying the views when from nowhere a bear cub appears not 15 feet away from us. Calm as you like, no fear at all, it was playing on a branch without a care in the World. Now this presented something of a dilema. I've never felt such a strong urge to go 'Awwwwwww!' while at the same time wanting to run like an Olympic sprinter before 'Mum' made an appearance. My wife had the camera and managed one shot before we sneaked past and legged it!!!

Doesn't exactly do it justice (we really were ALOT closer than this looks), but here are a couple of other shots we took today in Yosemite. What a place!!

Waterbagel · Post by **Waterbagel** » Sat May 21, 2011 10:50 pm

yes, yosemite is a BEAUTIFUL area. visited plenty when i was younger. can't wait to go back

those sulfur geysers!

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Fri May 27, 2011 8:03 am

Thought you might like to see where I was a couple of days ago...

Oh, and watched this guy soaring over Death Valley too.