Western USA Tour

The first part of our North America vacation, 2014, visited some of the iconic areas of Western USA.

(Note on photos. Click on a photo and a new tab or window will open at the flickr site showing a larger version of the photo.)

LOS ANGELES, PALM SPRINGS AND PHOENIX

We arrived at Los Angeles airport at 6:00 am. After finding our hotel and dropping off our bags we took a hop-on hop-off tour of LA. I find most cities and towns that I visit for the first time to be interesting and memorable. Occasionally I am unimpressed by a new city, and unfortunately LA fell into this category. To be fair, Margaret and I were very tired on the only day we had to explore it, so I might not have given LA a fair opportunity to show off its wares.

The next morning we joined the tour and headed for Phoenix (Arizona) via Palm Springs. This was the first time that I was unimpressed by two new cities in succession. Palm Springs has an exotic and glamorous reputation, but I found it dowdy and uninspiring.

Here is a link to our LA and Palm Springs photos.

Phoenix was an overnight stop on the way to the Grand Canyon so we saw little of it.

SEDONA AND GRAND CANYON

During the drive to Grand Canyon we saw Saguaro cacti ...

... growing by the side of the road ... Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.

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... and the attractively sited town of Sedona ...

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My tired, jet lagged and grumpy demeanor changed immediately we arrived at the Grand Canyon.

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And finally a video ...



Here is a link to our Grand Canyon and Sedona pictures .

MONUMENT VALLEY

Our next destination was Monument Valley. The scenery of this location will be familiar to many people as a large number of films have been made there.

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Here is a link to all of our Monument Valley pictures .

ANTELOPE CANYON AND GLEN CANYON DAM

I had never heard of this beautiful slot canyon, which is very photogenic. It was a very pleasant surprise to visit it.

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We did not see &nbsp &nbsp Hoover Dam, &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp but visited second best, &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Glen Canyon Dam.	Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
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