We had 18 days to drive from San Francisco to Vancouver and back. We carried on up the coast to Seattle, via a drive through tree and the Avenue of Giants- a huge Redwood forest drive, we stayed for 2 nights in Seattle then headed on up to Vancouver.
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| Highway 1 up to Seattle |
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| The drive through tree- with only an inch of room on either side! |
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| The Avenue of Giants |
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| Seattle at night |
We stayed with Simon and Rachel there- we met Rachel in Thailand in the first couple of weeks of our trip, and since then she has moved to Vancouver. It was Canada day whilst we were there and we had a lot of fun looking around Granville Island and then watching the fireworks in the evening.
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| Canada day fireworks |
We spent another afternoon picnicking by the sea and looking around the city including the park. The final day we went white water rafting. It was great, the weather wasn't warm but at least it had stopped raining! The water was freezing and really high which made the rafting better.
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| Good picnic spot |
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| Team EXTREME! |
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| On the river- the mist was amazing, it covered the river at some points so we couldn't see much! |
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| Tea Break |
In the afternoon we went up to Whistler to have a look around. It is a beautiful spot which Tim and I loved instantly but it made us miss skiing a lot.
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| A well earned beer in Whistler |
After 5 fantastic days we had to set off again, and headed down to Montana and the Glacier National Park. It was really lovely, we had a picnic by the lake which was a really beautiful spot.
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| Horse statues: these were on a hill at one of the lookout spots. |
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| Driving in Montana- Beautiful! |
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| Glacier National Park picnic spot. |
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| Another amazing look out in Montana |
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| Livingston an old western town. |
From there we drove down to Yellowstone National Park. We spent a day and a half driving round Yellowstone which was fantastic. We saw so much wildlife: elk, deer, bison, a black bear and her 2 cubs, and in the evening a coyote. The geothermal areas are amazing too, and we watched Old Faithful, the geyser that fires hot water 30ft into the air about once an hour.
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| Geothermal Mammoth falls in Yellowstone |
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| Stag- just sat by the road |
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| You can just about make out the bear here! |
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| The canyon in Yellowstone |
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| Snow! |
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| Bison |
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| Old Faithful |
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| Elk at dusk |
From Yellowstone we drove through Grand Teton National Park where we saw a moose and more fantastic scenery. We drove from there down to Salt Lake City where we stayed for a night before heading of again in the morning. We had a bit of time to look around the city in the evening which was beautiful.
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| The church in Salt Lake City |
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| The Salt Lake |
From Salt lake City we drove down the loneliest road in the USA which was amazing- at some points we could see for 10 miles ahead and no other cars!
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| The loneliest road |
We went from there to Yosemite National Park where we spent a day and a half. We had a picnic by the river in the meadows on the first afternoon and then went to Yosemite village on the second day. it was really beautiful with huge rock formations and waterfalls.
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| Picnic in Yosemite |
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| Amazing rock formations... |
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| and waterfalls! |
Finally we drove back to San Francisco and dropped the car off before flying to Chicago. We have had an amazing time in the western states as it is so beautiful and was made all the better by us getting engaged there!
