USA Archives - family_tripz

Golden Gate Bridge!

Wiola & Mike — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 09:43:33 +0000

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Golden Gate Bridge – what a wonderful construction! During our very first visit to San Francisco we couldn’t see it properly because of the heavy fog. That’s why we decided to come back and give it another go. And we were lucky, the weather was fantastic and the bridge fully visable. We had to take photos of the Golden Gate from every angle!

As a Full House biggest fun in the childhood, Wiola promised herself to come to San Francisco and see it all by herself! The Golden Gate was always proudly displayed in the Full House opening so it was a bucket list adventure to be ticked off!

The bridge itself is very impressive and you can admire it from many different locations around. These are the best viewing points, according to us:

Crissy Field

Not far from the Palace of the Fine Arts, there’s a beach and a recreation area called „Crissy Field”. It’s a perfect place for a sunbathing session but most importantly, it’s the best sunset point! The sun will set directly behind the Golden Gate bridge giving you the magical photography opoortunity.

Golden gate Bridge at sunset

Fabulous Golden gate

Beach by the Golden Gate

Fort Point

As we enter the bridge, there’s a Fort Point on the right side! We need to stick to the right lane of the road as it’s fairly easy to miss the exit. You will find there a Visitor Centre which gives you an opportunity to get to know many interesting facts about the Bridge itself. This location provides the spectacular lookout of the Golden Gate with the possibility to walk across it, to the other side of the bay. The one-way distance is 2-7km so it can be tiring a bit, especially because of the strong wind and the busy-highway traffic. Still, it’s a bucket list adventure!

USA, Camp America travels

Here is where it starts

walking across the bridge

Vista point

Vista Point is located on the other side of the bridge, in a similar way to the Fort Point described above. It’s an amazing spot as well! We could adore the Bridge from this angle but we also met a little thief – the racoon, eating its dinner from a dumpster. Well, at least we have a fun photograph to recall this memorable evening.

Almost directly below the Golden Gate Bridge

This location, on the contrary to the ones described above, is not as touristy. If you continue the road from the Vista Point, exit the highway to the right and follow the East Rd for a while towards the bay, you will find yourself almost directly below the red-construction. This spot seems to be quiet, visited mostly by fishermen. We highly recommend coming here for another great photoraphic opportunity.

On a sunny day

and hidden in fog

Golden Gate National Recreation Area

Last but not least… if you head back South, towards San Francisco, just as if you were to cross the bridge, you need to turn right, and follow the road sign directing you to the Golden Gate Recreation Area. (It’s a little bit difficult because once you miss it, you can not reverse on the highway!). If you follow that road, it will take you to the small lighthouse, at the end. In the meantime, there are plenty of great lookouts of the Golden Gate with the San Francisco in the background. This location is perfect for the sunrise shots. We were blown away how pretty this landscape looked with the warm colours, shortly after the dawn. Wake, up San francisco!


Wake up, San Francisco! Sunrise

As we mentioned, there are loads of perfect spots to admire the Golden Gate Bridge, just like Baker Beach, Lands End Park together with its cliffs or from the hill in Golden Gate Park. The touristy Fisherman’s Wharf is also a good option! Which location is your favourite?

From a hill

Thumbs Up!

Lands End

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The Empire State

Wiola and Mike — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 20:47:00 +0000

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New York City

At the end of our summer adventures in the USA we had to eventually fly back to Europe. With the Camp America programme our flights home were booked from NYC by default.

This turned out to be a fantastic opportunity to see The City. After all it is a ‘must see’ place for everyone visiting the States.

After a month of traveling we were pretty much out of funds so we had to mailny focus on top attractions and due to limited time we had to narrow down our plan pretty much just to Manhattan. A good thing is that when you are once in the city it is quite easy to move around using underground/subway and it is not hard to navigate around because the island is chequered with streets and avenues.

We decided to break it down to 3 major parts and we are going to describe them briefly below.

Statue of Liberty

NYC, Broadway

Manhattan

The most touristic, most vibrant and probably most crowded part is midtown and juicy yellow NYC cabs are everywhere. This is where you can find such landmarks as Times Square, Rockefeller Center, and Empire State Building. Times Square is extremely busy both during the day and night. It is nice to go there at least twice to see how much it changes when the sun goes down. Thousands of neons and adverts light up the entire area.

NYC

Times Square on a daylight

Times Square by night

Walk around the midtown

During your walk around midtown you will come across such landmarks as St. Patricks Cathedral , Grand Central Terminal and Chrysler building. As it goes for Rockeffeler Center and Empire State Building, they are both great view points. As we could afford only one, we chose Empire State Building as it is well known all around the world.

It is famous for being the tallest structure on the planet for almost 40 years and it is an architectional pearl. You had probably seen it blown up in dozens of movies.

By the enterance there were a lot of guys trying to sell fast line tickets, saying that we are about to spent 3 hours in the line and our time upstairs will be limited. It was all lies. We were up on 86th floor in lass than 20 minutes with unlimited time and we payed only for a basic ticket. Anyway the view is as legandary as the building itself. We couldn’t stop taking pictures in every direction. For an extra fee you can go even higher to 102nd floor. Personally we were fully satisfied with 86th.

Grand Central Terminal

Chrysler building

St. Patricks Cathedral

Manhattan

Empire State Building

NYC panorama from 86th floor

Downtown

The second area is downtown. This is where you can find Wall Street, a business heart of the America. This is where you can find a scar of the city – the 9/11 Memorial. When we were there the new WTC was still under construction but I can tell downtown definitely has a lot to offer. One of the great landmarks in the neighbourhood is the Brooklyn Bridge. Walking across it was a truly fantastic experince but the constant flow of people make photographing a bit challenging.

Staten Island Ferry

We also took the free ferry to Staten Island. It departures quite often and we went there and back again after 5 minutes. As it was 09/10 we were provided with millitary boat escort. During the ride you experience an exceptional view of the famous New York Skyline. You can also catch a glimps of Statue of Liberty. I must say I was led to belive by the Hollywood productions that The Statue is HUGE. In fact it is not and it could had been my only disappointment in NYC. Well since we are on the downsides I did get quite tired with cars honking their horns ALL the time.

9/11 memorial

Brooklyn Bridge

Downtown seen from Brooklyn Bridge

Statue of Liberty seen from Staten island ferry

Statue of Liberty

Downtown seen from Staten island Ferry

Central Park

And last but not least – the green lungs of the city – Central Park. Most likely my personal best, especially on a warm, sunny day. Seems like people from the entire city are seeking for a moment of peace in this green sanctuary. If you are into sports you can enjoy variety of games in one of the specious meadows. The park is packed up with attractions, a zoo, the hackney rides, the venetian gondolas, you name it. Or maybe just a simple walk will do, too.

Natural History Museum

An extra sidekick to this area is the Natural History Museum which is just outside the park. Bottom floor is probable the least spectacular as you can find there mostly modern reconstructions but it gets a lot better further up with the compleate T-Rex skeleton as a crown jewel. Me from the past always wanted to be a paleontologist so it was kind of a big deal for me.

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Green lungs of NYC

Central Park

How about a lovely walk?

Central Park

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Swamps of Everglades and Mexican Gulf

Wiola & Mike — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 19:05:19 +0000

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Key Westey

Once you are in Florida it is worth it to plan a trip to the very end of the penninsula. The road takes you across many bridges. One of them is famous for beeing over 7 mile long. Finally after passing picturesque bays and islands you will make it to southern most town in continental USA – Key West.

The town is located just 90 miles away from Cuba and it is well known for its caribbean climat, colonial architecture and friendly atmosphere. A place was an inspiration to many artists, one of them was Ernest Hemingway himself.

Here you can visit fortress from civil war period, buy fresh cigars, enjoy spectacular reef, or a joyful dip in warm waters of the gulf. Planty of good ways to spend the afternoon!

How about a Bahama Cruise?

Not far to Cuba from here

Everglades National Park

A “Must see” of Florida state is definitely Everglades National Park. It is a vast area full of wetlands, swaps and marshlands. You can find many extraodrdinary species of animals and plants living down here. We took a combo 1,5 day trip for Key West and Everglades for 70$, had to haggle hard! It included airboat cruise. The vessel is powered by a gigantic propellers mounted on the back of the boat above the water line. During the cruise we were bussy trying to spot alligators.

Everglades

Alligator, Everglades

We saw a few adult alligators and a few that had just hatched. Those were tiny! Other than that, the swaps turned out to be full of wildlife! Tourtles, waterbirds, snakes, you name it! When the ride finished we headed to the small open-air stage where a ranger told us all about the local raptiles. His southern accent was so strong and the presentation was very informative. At the end of it, he even wrestled with an adult aligator himself!

You can even try the alligator meat here. It is a local delicatessy. Some say it is just like eating fish and chicken at the same time. Would you give it a go?

Visitor Centre

"Babygator"

He does that every day!

Just a couple of alligators

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Grand Canyon

Wiola & Mike — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 16:02:31 +0000

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Grand Canyon, Arizona

You have probably heard that in the USA everything is HUGE. It’s exactly the same if you think about the natural wonders like: Grand Canyon, for example. Not only it’s really big but also very impressive! During our very first roadtrip across the USA, we got to the South Rim at night so we could wait for the sunrise. It was an amazing morning as the Grand Canyon were slowly showing off its extraordinary beauty.

The sunrise was remarkable. It’s really worth getting up early in order to see the magic hour show in the most stunning location. We were not sure if we are dreaming or it’s the reality! We will never forget this moment.

Good morning, world

Wake up at Grad Canyon

Sky getting pink

South Rim

Lion King colors at Grand Canyon

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South Rim of the Park

The South Rim of Grand Canyon is open whole year round and is the most popular location for the tourists to see the National Park in Arizona. The transportation inside the park works really well and you can use free buses that will take you to different lookouts. (All that is included in your entry-fee to the Park).

Sky Walk

You can also choose to walk on the platform made of glass with the Rim of the Canyon located 70 feet behind you. Quite exciting. If you dare to look down, the bottom of the canyon will be 2,000 feet below. It’s called Sky Walk. We didn’t go there ourselves because of the expensive entry-tickets.

The bottom of the Canyon

Grand Canyon seems big, but you can only realise how big if you walk from the South Rim to the North one with an effort of your own muscles.

If you wish to travel to the North, less crowded Rim of the valley, you have 2 options. First is a 2-day hike through the bottom or you can take a 300km detour by car. We didn’t hike it all but we spent the whole day to get to the bottom and back to the start of the trail and we felt satisfied with the views around. It’s totally different if you look at the canyon from above or from the bottom!

Canyon

Let's hike down the canyon

Nature Perfection

Sunset point

There will be the sunset

Grand Canyon beauty

Grand Canyon NP

Soft, beautiful light

Sun about to set

The North Rim of the Canyon

A year later, during our roadtrip across Utah and Colorado Plateau we managed to get to the north Rim of the Canyon. We could tell right from the beginning that it’s not so popular with tourists and much less crowded. It was full of trees, which made it much greener than the South Rim. Once we got there, the weather was pretty bad. The fog was all over the Canyon and it was raining. Luckily, after some time it changed and the Canyon became visable again. We could take photographs, just as we like and fullfill our souls with the beauty of the wonderful landscape around. This area is closed in winter!

North Rim

foggy day at North Rim of Grand Canyon

North Rim of Grand Canyon

The day clears up

The beauty of Grand Canyon

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San Diego, California

Wiola & Mike — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 11:40:52 +0000

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San Diego

Our last stop on the journey down the California Coast was San Diego.

The city is very clean and well maintained. It does not matter if we are in buzzling downtown, or quiet and laid back oldtown, we can see the american city looking like it is taken straight out of a movie set.

We took our time relaxing on the beach and had a tour of the city. Right outside of it, there is a navy base. So while you lie on the warm sand, you can see fighters and copters flying around.

After a pleasent day, we ventured forth to Grand Canyon. Our schedule was packed, so we decided to drive overnight to get there for sunrise. You can read the full story here.

Surfer's Town, SD

Surfing time

Cowles Mountain

We managed to visit San Diego again during a 9-hour layover. Our lovely friend who we met while working on summer camp took as for a night hike. We made it to the top of Cowles Mountain. Very pleasant trail took us to the top where we could enjoy the 360 degrees panorama of Southern California. You could even see Tijuana, Mexico just on the other side of the border.

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Half Dome Hike

Wiola & Mike — Wed, 14 May 2014 10:47:16 +0000

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Half Dome

Ever since we saw Half Dome for the first time, we knew we would do anything to try to reach its top!

A steep, almost vertical wall of Half Dome seems unreachable!! The Half Dome top (2693 meters above sea level) remained unavailable for people until 70s of XIX. Today, the 13-km long trail is well-maintained and can be hiked by any average fitness level mountain-lover.

Half Dome and we are about to hike it!

Before you reach the summit…

If you want to reach the Half Dome top, you need to climb the cables. To do so, you should obtain a permit from the National Park Service. Due to safety reasons, there is a limited number of people that can reach the summit per day, and it’s only 400 people. The conditions are difficult and there have been people who died while climbing the cables that’s why it’s very important to be careful and hike in good weather conditions, only! You can apply for the permin on-line on a Yosemite’s Park website a long time in advance, or try your luck and get a permit early in the morning, the day before. There’s a small number of permits available on last notice, as well. You may get a fine if you try to hike without approval.

Half Dome cables

We made it, last part of the hike

We started the hike at midnight…

We started the hike around midnight in order to reach the Half Dome top to admire the sunrise. The trail goes up and up, sometimes very steep, and sometimes just through the forest. Since we hiked at night, we couldn’t see the Valley and the beauty of the park on our way up. We only could hear the sound of the water, stream and waterfalls around. Once we got closer to the summit, the trail became much more difficult and steep. We could only imagine by listenig to the wind how high we actually are. Before we reached the cables, we climbed the stairs for about 2 hours and that part of the hike was quite demanding! After that, we “only” had to climb the cables. Before you start your last ascent, you can “borrow” the gloves that lie just at the beginning of the cable-trail. It’s a very good idea to use them as you hold yourself very tight to the lines while slowly moving towards the top. To be honest, it is a scary part. We did it in a team and we all had the same impressions. It was well worth it, though!

The California’s sky is amazing, especially in August. We could see the meteor’s shower going crazy while we were climbing the Half Dome. We had to pay attention to the cables but the whole scenery was just breathtaking!

Take some warm clothes to wear once you reach the summit. It’s very windy and you’ll be wet after the intensive hike! The whole way up took us around 6 hours. We made it in time to see the spectacular sunrise. We could finally see the awe-inspiring, extraordinary Valley that surrounds you from every angle. You can take some incredible photos while sitting on the edge with toes hanging just above the abyss. No worries, it’s pretty solid, and a picture on a top is a must for everyone who conquered this majestic rock formation!

Half Dome sunrise

Descent

Sadly, it’s time to start our way down. First, you need to make it to the bottom of the cables. Then, it’s getting a bit easier yet it’s steep almost all the way down. Now we can truly admire the beauty around us. Waterfalls, rainbows, mist in the air with the sunshine. Something we will never forget! The last part of the hike down it called the “Mist Trail. You continue your walk along the river and there are 2 stunning waterfalls to enjoy: Nevada and Vernal. Wonderful!

To sum up, it’s the adventure of a life time to hike Half Dome and the beauty of Yosemite is one of the finnest on the planet!

On the top

Proud to be on the top of Half Dome

This photo is a must while on the top

Overlooking the valley

Vernal Fall

Mist trail

Nevada Fall, Yosemite

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Glacier Point – Yosemite’s must!

Wiola & Mike — Sat, 26 Apr 2014 10:09:35 +0000

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Glacier Point

Glacier Point, together with Yosemite Valley is the most popular and beautiful part of the Yosemite Park. It’s fairly easy to get there as the road is very well marked yet be careful, because it’s quite winding and steep, at times! On our way up, you can also choose to park your car right next to the start of the trail towards Sentinel Dome and Taft Point. Before the road reaches its dead end, you will find one more, amazing place. A Yosemite’s “must” called Glacier Point. This lookout shows the whole valley of Yosemite with the magnificent Half Dome and its marvelous waterfalls: Vernal and Nevada.

In the far, yet not too far, distance you can see a massive Sierra Nevada Range. It’s absolutely an awe-inspiring experience. Only five more minutes by car and you are at the actual, one and only Glacier point.

U-shaped Valley

Once you reach the egde of the lookout area, you will be surprised to see an enormous u-shaped, post glacial valley. To the left, you will notice the Yosemite Fall which flows especially after snowy winters and is visable in the beginning of the summer. By the end of August, it can disappear. To the right, the valley seems to be isolated by the 900-meter tall and steep face of Half Dome. If you are into mountains in general, the view will stay in your hearts forever! It’s really hard to describe the beauty of Yosemite Valley and even the photographs don’t do it justice! We tried our best capturing the essence of this Yosemite’s paradise so don’t hesitate to watch the pictures below!

Magnificent Half Dome

Waterfalls: Nevada and Vernal

Favourite NP in the world

Awesome scenery

Glacier Point and the Yosemite Valley

Glacier Point

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Sentinel Dome and Half Dome

Wiola & Mike — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 13:31:33 +0000

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Beautiful Yosemite!

According to Mike, the trail that takes you to both: Sentinel Dome and Taft Point is simply the best in Yosemite National Park. It’s not very popular but if you plan your visit to the Park, include it in your itinerary. It’s easy to miss the starting points as the trail begins just next to the small parking lot, by the road heading to Glacier Point. You can start your hike by going left or right.

No worries, the whole trail makes a nice loope so you get to see both amazing locations! We recommend that you first turn right. The hike begins with a flat path through the pleasant forest and it’s hard to imagine how wonderful it will be just after another 40 minutes. Once you reach the top of Sentinel Dome you will easly spot Half Dome with the Yosemite Valley in its full glory on one side, on the other El Captain with the Merced River disappearing in the far distance. Wondeful! That’s the place where you realize, I need to take a panorama!

Beware of Mountain Lions!

On our way up, we saw the Mountain Lions warning! You could think that since the trail is pretty popular you won’t be bothered by the presence of these carnivors. However, the National Park Servise Staff advice to keep an eye on your children at all times. And remember, “if a big cat attacks, fight back”.

Mountain Lion…

Are you afraid of heights?

After Sentinel Dome, it’s time to discover Taft Point, a place which will help you decide if you are afraid of heights, or not. Just in case you were wondering…

Stay alert…

There are no protection railings and you can get to the edge of the rocks as close as you with to. The feeling of sitting just above the abyss with your legs hanging… priceless. The views are stunning! You may shout or sing and there will be an echo reponding quite a few times before the sound disappears. You can clearly see the majestic El Captain towering just on the opposite side of the Valley. Taft Point is an easy but definitely very exciting hike that we think should be on everyone’s bucketlist while visiting Yosemite National Park. If you love taking pictures, come early to get the good light conditions. In the evening your photos will be against the sun, still pretty, of course! Take a look at our gallery below.

the art of the shadows

Sitting on the edge...

Beautiful rocks, beautiful Yosemite Valley

Are you afraid of heights?

Hello There, trail to Taft point in Yosemite

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