The Canyon

Bright Angel Point, the first part of the Canyon we saw. Click this to see the full-sized panorama picture.

In Northern Arizona, the Colorado River has in the course of about 17 million years carved a really, really big hole in the ground. The Grand Canyon is 1857 meter (6093 feet) deep, 29 kilometer (18 miles) wide, 447 kilometer (277 miles) long and makes you feel very, very small.

Point Imperial, the highest point on the Rim.

Panorama of Point Imperial. Full-sized picture is here.

Today the Grand Canyon is one of the most popular tourist destinations of the World. It gets approximately 5 million visitors every year, which is funny to us, because that's also roughly the population of Finland. About 4,5 million only visit the southern rim of the canyon. This was one of the reasons we decided to visit the North Rim. It was crowded enough, too, even though we visited in June, before the busiest summer season. (A friend recommended North Rim, for which we're thankful. Thanks again, Ruth.)

A lot of wildlife can be seen in and near the Canyon, there are even bisons. We only saw deer and lizards.

The scenery in Grand Canyon is unbelievable. I found myself wondering if it actually is real, or a great hoax made with powerful computer graphics and advanced 3D projection technology?

Angel's Window vantage point. I think the name refers to the hole in the rock, visible on the right.

A baffling thing about the Grand Canyon is that in many places it would be easy to walk some 20 meter (60 feet) from the Rim without knowing that the Canyon is there. As we were driving on the scenic roads, there often was a forest on one side of the road, not unlike the forests in Finland, and a vertical half-mile drop on the other.

The view from Angel's Window pictured with a fisheye lens.

We spent one full day on the Canyon. That was enough to visit several vantage points in a relaxed pace. We also had time for a lunch in Grand Canyon Lodge. Food was good and not as horribly overpriced as I would have expected.

Walhalla vantage point.

Perhaps the most impressive thing we saw was the Grand Canyon sunset, observed from the balcony of the Lodge. We were smart enough to capture first-row seats early. The light and colors changed constantly as the sun descended. The view left us (but not the American tourists) speechless. The sunrise would probably be equally impressive, but since in June it takes place before 6 am we missed it.

The last rays of the setting sun.

In January, almost six months before our trip, I tried to book us a room on the North Rim within the National Park. Everything was fully booked. We ended up staying in Jacob Lake resort. Confusingly, there's no lake anywhere near it. The drive to the Canyon Rim took about one hour each way. When we returned, in the dark after sunset, things got a little scary. There were a lot of deer crossing the road, and even a cow and a calf. There was even a warning sign for bisons, but thankfully we saw none on the road.

A white-tailed Kaibab Squirrel in Jacob Lake. This kind of squirrel only lives near the North Rim of Grand Canyon. Squirrels on the south are different subspecies: the Canyon is an unbridgeable obstacle for squirrels.

We found Jacob Lake a nice place to stay. Prices were a little high, but so they are everywhere near attractions like Grand Canyon. Our cabin was comfortable, and the resort has a shop, a restaurant and a bakery. Chocolate and raspberry cookies get our highest recommendation. As experiences go they rival the Grand Canyon sunset. The cookies alone make Jacob Lake worth a stop! Sunset Amber Ale brewed by a local brewery was tasty.

The breakfast was not included in accommodation prices but featured lovely American-style pancakes with sponge like texture, so that they can absorb ridiculous amounts of delicious maple syrup. Those fortunate enough to have experienced an American breakfast know what I mean. Jacob Lake also offers lectures on things like landscape photography and history of the Navajo around Grand Canyon. Unfortunately we didn't have time to attend any.

We visited Grand Canyon on June 13th 2015.

Pleasant surprises in Utah

Zion National Park.

At least in Finland the name of Utah conjures images of fundamental mormons, restrictive legislation and generally conservative social climate. For us Utah was one of the most pleasant surprises of our trip. Of course we cannot claim to know the state very well at all. We only popped in twice from Arizona to the southernmost part of Utah and spent only about 24 hours in the state, including one overnight stop.

A small Scutellosaurus in St. George.

Our first stop in Utah was the St. George Dinosaur Discovery site. I have wanted to have my own pet dinosaur been very interested in dinosaurs since an early age. Actually I'm kind of fanatic about them. As there are no dinosaur fossils where I come from (thanks a lot, Ice Age), I was very keen to see an authentic fossil site. Some exceptional footprint fossils, about 200 million years old, were discovered in 2000 at Johnson Farm, close to central St. George.

Now there is a small but well-kept museum displaying footprints and other fossils, and real dinosaurs but unfortunately one is not allowed to pet and feed them life-like reconstructions of jurassic dinosaurs.

I know that some people lead empty and meaningless lives are not as enthusiastic about dinosaurs as I am. Maybe not everyone would be as interested in the St. George museum as me. However, I highly recommend the place for those who care about dinosaurs even a little. It is not a huge museum, so it makes a good stop in a long day of driving: if your schedule is busy, four hours half an hour is enough to get a meaningful overview of the exhibitions.

Dinosaur fottprints from 200 million years ago.

From St. George we continued towards the Grand Canyon, but decided to make a detour through Zion National Park. We drove through it on a scenic mountain road constructed in 1930. The scenery was awe-inspiring, and very different from what we had seen in Yosemite, for example. Through millennia water has eroded red sandstone, which is soft and crumbles easily. This has resulted in some peculiar, dream-like shapes.

Checkerboard Mesa in Zion.

Up on the mountains the temperature dropped to a tolerable level, well under 30 centigrade (86 Fahrenheit). Of course, there's much more to see and do in Zion than we had time for.

Up in the mountains of Zion.

Soon after leaving the National Park we stopped by a beautiful small pond for a snack and to switch drivers. At the same time, a group of six bikers pulled to the same parking lot. They looked exactly the kind of bikers one sees in American movies, long hair and beards, black leather vests, and they definetely did not wear helmets when riding - a bit of a scary-looking bunch. I admit that I was prejudiced and a little concerned when  they approached us. There was absolutely no reason to be afraid - they asked us, very politely, if we could kindly take a picture of their group in front of the pond!

A couple of days later, after visiting the Grand Canyon, we made an overnight stop in the small town of Bluff, Utah, close to the Arizona border. I have been to the USA once before, then in New York and Boston. Then I heard many Americans describe New Yorkers as a unfriendly and rude. I was surprised, as I found them very nice and helpful.

On this trip I understand where this comes from. All the people - really, every one - we met in rural Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and California were incredibly friendly, polite and helpful. We, reserved Finns as we are, sometimes even felt awkward. I see that in comparison, even a friendly and easy-going city like New York may indeed seem unwelcoming.

An example of this helpfulness: we needed to do laundry in Bluff. We arrived in the town late in the evening, and the only laundry shop was just closing. Before I could say anything, the manager told me she lived right across the street, so I could take my time washing our clothes and knock on her door when I'm done so she can close the shop after that, no problem, hope you've enjoyed your trip so far, oh you've seen the Grand Canyon, magnificent isn't it, make sure not to miss Monument Valley...

"Polygamy Porter, proudly brewed in Utah". A Utah brewery pokes fun at fundamental latter-day saints. Quite tasty, too.

If you ever visit the region, Bluff gets my warm recommendations even though there's not much to see and do in the tiny town itself. Landscape is beautiful and there are many interesting places nearby. We stayed in  Kokopelli Inn and liked it. There are a couple of other motels and inns, too.

We visited the dinosaurs of St. George and Zion National Park on June 12th 2015. We stayed in Bluff June 14th to 15th.

Loathing in Las Vegas

A miniature Eiffel tower. Blah.

"It's very tacky here."
- my wife on Las Vegas, after approximately 8 minutes in the city.

I didn't like Las Vegas at all. I admit that I had a strong prejudice against it and didn't give the city a fair chance. Actually we only stopped in Las Vegas because it was a convenient place to spend a night driving from California to Grand Canyon. That, and we had to see it once, didn't we?

I am not interested in gambling, and like to drink my alcoholic and other beverages in cozy pubs rather than gigantic nightclubs. A plastic and neon complex, its existence based on Nevada's lax legislation on gambling, alcohol, marriage and divorce, built in a middle of desert, is not an appealing concept to me.

We spent one night in Las Vegas, and the things I best remembe are:

• A casino-hotel-restaurant complex next to our motel. It's name was a colloquial expression for woman's breasts.
• A black hotel modeled after an Egyptian pyramid, shooting a ray of light towards the sky from the top.
• A plastic imitation of Paris, a plastic imitation of New York and a plastic imitation of Venice ("plastic" used figuratively here, I know that they are not actually made of plastic).
• A flyer I was given on Las Vegas Strip. It suggested that we should visit a night club show where scantily clad young women shot heavy machine guns. We didn't.

I found Las Vegas repulsive. However, I understand that this is because of my personal tastes and preferences. Obviously many people enjoy the city, good for them.

Of course, I could have found things in Las Vegas that are interesting to me. There's a wide variety of cultural activities, museums and theaters, that I would probably have enjoyed and I could have spent a nice couple of days in the city. However, the number of days we could spend on our trip was limited, and I chose to spend those days elsewhere. I believe this was the right decision for me. (Sidenote from Marja: It was. For both of us.)

Leaving Las Vegas, we saw a gold-plated hotel, owned by Donald Trump, in the rear mirror. I stepped on the gas pedal to make it disappear.

We stopped in Las Vegas June 11th and 12th 2015.

In the Valley of Death

The road to the basementt of the World. Well, basement of North America anyway.

Death Valley National Park on the California-Nevada border is a hot place. In July the daily average high temperature is devastating 46.9 centigrade, 116.5 Fahrenheit. The lowest point of North America, Badwater Basin, 86 meter or 282 feet under sea level, is situated in Death Valley. It's one of the least rainy places on Earth.

Mesquite sand dunes.

Mesquite sand dunes.

I am no fan of very warm weather. Even Finnish summer heat may be too much for me. Death Valley was excessively over-the-top too much. The only thing I was capable of was to stop the car, snap a picture or two, escape to the air-conditioned car and gulp down a pint of water. The landscape was very different than anything I've seen anywhere else. The drive through Death Valley felt unreal, like a trip to another planet or a feverish nightmare.

Out-of-this-world landscapes.

Death Valley is not completely dead. Even on the floor of the valley there are plants growing and lizards running between rocks. Incredible as it may be, there are also people who call Death Valley home. The Timbisha Shoshone have made a living in the extreme conditions for more than a thousand years. A powerful example of human persistence indeed.

A powerful example of the weirdness of babies: a baby sitting in the scorching ground, happily playing with sand, and reacting with vehement "no, no" when his or her dad suggested leaving.

We drove through Death Valleyn on June 11th 2015.

Yosemite

Half Dome, one of Yosemite's symbols. It can be clmbed, but a permit is required (in addition to a seriously underdeveloped self-preservation instinct, if you ask me).

Yosemite National Park in Sierra Nevada, California is the second oldest National Park in the USA and one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. It's easy to see why, the landscape is breathtaking.

As one would expect in United States, facilities in Yosemite are more than adequate and everything is made easy for the visitors. The flip side is that at least the most popular areas of Yosemite Valley are flooded with a mass of humanity and there is no trace of peace of nature. Apparently there are some less visited areas within the park.

From the top of Vernal Falls.

Being middle-aged couch potatoes, we didn't even try to hike to, say, the famous vantage point of Glacier Point, not to mention Half Dome. Climbing to the top of the beautiful Vernal Falls was strenuous enough for us in the scorching (on Finnish standards) heat. The pictures do no justice to the magnificent views.

We spent two days in Yosemite. On the second day we didn't climb anywhere from the bottom of Yosemite Valley, due to our muscles still aching because of Vernal Falls. Mirror Lake trail is very nice too, even if the lake itself was almost dry because of the drought that has plagued California for years.

Vernal Falls and a rainbow, or should it be calle "waterfallbow"?

A wet squirrel doused by the mist from Vernal Falls.

This is why it's called Mirror Lake.

There's also a small museum presenting, among other things, the histories of Native American Miwok and Paiute peoples who have inhabited the area since time immemorial. The exhibitions are good and informative, but the outdoor exhibitions could do with some maintenance. I found it a bit tragicomic that in the 20th century some local Miwoks and Paiutes started to wear "indian costumes" modeled after Hollywood westerns when they performed for the tourists, even though their traditional dress was very different. We had the good fortune to meet a Miwok employee of the Museum. His explanation of his people's past and present was very interesting to hear.

Lower Yosemite Fall is the easiest to reach of the parks many waterfalls: the path is wheelchair accesible.

Yosemite exemplifies the conflict of the National Park system's objectives: on the other hand it should protect natural environments, on the other enable as many people as possible to enjoy and appreciate them. Enormous hordes of barbarians tourists wander the paved roads and paths. Their chatter silences even the roar of waterfalls. Of course, I am in no way entitled to complain, I was one the tourists. The overwhelming majority of visitors conduct themselves well and respect the natural wonders they have come to see. Unfortunately, there always are some nincompoops who leave their trash in the forest or feed the wild animals.

A rattlesnake by the Vernal Falls trail. It was only after taking this picture when it occurred to me to question my own decision-making in deliberately getting within three feet of a venomous snake. Well, at least I didn't try to pick it up for a snake selfie.

Advice for hikers of Mirror Lake trail - if a mountain lion attacks, fight back!

The audministration of Yosemite has made an effort to limit the stress that the visitors cause to the environment. Visitors arriving with their own or rental car are asked to leave it on a parking lot and use free shuttle buses in Yosemite Valley instead. This is a very easy and practical way to reach many of the most popular sights and trailheads.

Yosemite National Park, unlike many other National Parks, can quite practically be visited with public transpotation. We took a train from San Francisco to Merced, California (consult Amtrak for fares and timetables), where we took a  Yarts bus for Yosemite Bug resort. It's situated in Midpines, CA outside the national park itself, but buses provide a convenient transfer. We wouldn't mind a little more frequent schedule, though.

We are happy to recommend Yosemite Bug for everyone planning a trip to Yosemite. There are a number of places to stay in the National Park itself, but they are often fully booked well in advance and  prices are rather steep. The Bug offers different levels of accomodation, we stayed in a two-person tent cabin, which was nice enough. There's a guest kitchen, reasonably priced restaurant and even a spa. A 15% discount is offered for everyone who arrivs on public transportation.

We visited Yosemite on June  8th and 9th 2015.

Manzanar

One observation tower is standing, but that one is a replica from 2005, too.

In the Californian Desert west from Sierra Nevada the summer temperatures can reach nightmarish heights. The shade temperature frequently rises over 40 centigrades (104 Fahrenheit) - but shade is nowhere to be found, with nothing but knee-high shrubs growing as far as the eye can see. Thankfully, our rental car was equipped with air conditioning and we did bring plenty of water to drink. In the middle of the desert, between the small towns of Lone Pine and Independence, not far from Death Valley National Park, lies perhaps the worst place in the desert: Manzanar.

During the Second World War more than 10000 Japanese-Americans were forcefully relocated from the Californian coast, most of them from Los Angeles and around, to "Manzanar War Relocation Center", a small square area in the middle of the desert, to cramped barracks behind barbed wire. All told, over 100000 Americans of Japanese ancestry were relocated to Manzanar and other camps like it. The majority were citizens of the United States. Not single one of them was ever prosecuted for co-operation with the enemy. Thousands of young Japanese Americans fought in the armed forces of USA at the same time as their families were effectively imprisoned in inhumane conditions under a merciless sun. A more detailed history of Manzanar can be found, for example, in Wikipedia.

The exhibition building, originally Manzanar school auditorium. On the foregroud a firetruck from 1940s.

In 1992 Manzanar was designated a National Historic Site, a preserved area administered by the Federal Government of the United States. It is run by National Park Service, which does an excellent job here, too. There is a very informative and emotional, yet dispassionate exhibition in the only building left from the relocation camp time. I remember particularly well an example of the way the grown-ups ruin everything. "White" students from the nearby Owens Valley school once wanted to play a friendly basketball game against Manzanar school team. Unfortunately, the Owens Valley school board vetoed this idea, even though every student in both schools signed an appeal for a permission to play!

A home plate from Manzanar baseball fiedl, c. 1943. I find it rather ironic that the residents in Manzanar were keen of the most Amreican of all sports.

Without downplaying the burden of those who had to live in Manzanar, it is important to understand that it never was a similar concentration camp as those that existed at the same time in for example Germany and Soviet Union for extermination of people that the authorities deemed undesirable. No one was deliberately killed in Manzanar, there were few instances of physical violence, and at least basic health care and nutrition needs were taken care of. This doesn't mean that what happened was right. Just because even more horrible atrocities were being committed elsewhere at the same time, doesn't mean that the relocation of Japanese-Americans wasn't downright criminal. In his apology to those relocated, President Reagan more or less agreed.

People of my generation may be familiar with the relocation of Japanese-Americans from the first Karate Kid movie. In what to me is the most powerful scene in the movie Mr. Miyagi, drunk, remembers his wife who died of child-birth in Manzanar. A clip of the scene below (starts at 2:48).

Pat Morita, who played Mr. Miyagi was born in Isleton California in 1932 and a US citizen. Nevertheless, he spent a part of his childhood in a relocation center in Gila River, Arizona. Another famous American of Japanese descent, George Takei, spent the years from 1942 to the end of the war in Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas and Tula Lake in California.

Manzanar is not a place to leave the visitor in high spirits. Because good food makes everything better, a decent remedy would be a visit to Lone Pine, about ten miles south of Manzanar. In the corner of Main Street and Mountain View Street the restaurant Bonanza has amazing guacamole and the best pico de gallo either of us has ever had.

We visited Manzanar on June 11th 2015.

Alcatraz

The Island of Alcatraz seen from the ferry.

Most people probably know the Island of Alcatraz as an infamous United States Federal prison. It has, however, been many different things, too. Today it is a national park and a very popular tourist destination. Previously it has been a coastal artillery fort and a military prison, and from 1969 to 1971 it was occupied by Native Ameican activists. More detailed information is available in Wikipedia.

Graffitti by Native American can be seen for example on the water tower.

Alcatraz still belongs to the Federal Government, and it is administered by the National Park Service (NPS). During our trip tu the U.S. we visited several National Parks and other NPS-administered places. Without exception, they were taken care of excellently. In Alcatraz we took a Park Ranger-led tour about the history of the island before it became a Federal Prison in 1934. The tour was very informative and wasn't trying to paint the tragic history in bright colors. The guide told, for example, about the Native Ameican Hopi who in late 19th century were imprisoned in Alcatraz as prisones of war because they refused to send their 6-year old children to Federal boarding school dozens of miles away from their homes.

There are, surprisingly, quite a number of beatiful flowers in Alcatraz.

The main sell block can be toured with an audio guide (available in several languages, but no in Finnish, unsurprisingly). This guide, too, is outstandingly well produced. The visitors can listen to recordings of former prisoners, guards and guards families first-hand accounts on life in Alcatraz. The conditions were undeniably harsh, but probably better than in, say, Finnish prisons at the time. There was, for example, plumbing and a modern toilet in every cell, whereas in Finland many prisoners ha to use a tin bucket well into 1960s. Those prisoners who complied to the institutions' rules also got priviledges, such as newspaper subscriptions and educational opportunities. Even food was, according to the prisoners, relatively good, sometimes even delicious.

A cell in Alcatraz.

A corridor in cell block, there are three levels of cells.

Alcatraz is only a short distance from central San Francisco, and the sounds of celebrations on the New Years' Eve and 4th of July were audible in the cells. One can only imagine how bitter it must have felt for the prisoners. No one managed to escape Alcatraz Federal Prison alive from 1934 to 1963. However, three prisoners managed to break out of the building and tried to swim off the island to freedom. They were never seen again. One of the prisoners speaking on the audioguide told that he believed that they survived and went to South America. Everyone else assume that they drowned.

Those who plan to visit Alcatraz should book their tickets early, it can be done online. In high season the tickets frequently sell out weeks in advance, and even in early June the island was full booked days in advance. When in Alcatraz, beware of poo-bombing seagulls.

Viimeisen vangin näkemys.

We visited Alcatraz on June 6th 2015.