Secondment - The one with the bus tour (Chronicle 4.0)

Haalllooo peeps!!

Winter is here! haha! 

So I thought i'd revert back to my USA travels to talk about the last chapter. Chapter 4. Part 4. Chronicle 4.

I actually didn’t realise this would stretch out this long, but then again I tried to make the most of my time in America. So… meh. It’s just a better way for me to keep a snippet of my time in the States.

Anywhoooo, for this blog I will document the second half of my US trip which included a bus tour, a trip to Harry Potter World, a visit to the Big Apple which will then finish off in sunny, beautiful Ha-wa-ee.

The Bus Tour!

Why a bus tour, I hear you ask, well I pretty much ran out of time to organise this part of our trip… No that’s not believable. Ok, ok, I got lazy... But this bus tour was convenient as it was going to take us to see things which we wanted to see and it offered a pay for two and the third person was free. Bargain!! 7 days on a bus. Didn’t have to worry about possibly having a brain fart and turning onto the wrong side of the road (which I did do several times in SF by accident! Luckily there were no other cars around…)

Anyway here’s what we saw on our bus tour;

Arches National Park, Utah

Beautiful. I love seeing the various national parks in the States. It’s amazing to see what mother nature can form over time. As the name suggest, this national park is known for its natural sandstone arches. So I googled and according to Wiki, there are over 2,000 arches in this national park. Like wow!

 Drove through parts of the Rocky Mountains

On our way to South Dakoda, we drove through the Rocky Mountain ranges and the views of the mountains were gorgeous! Like Wow! (ok, I’m going to be saying “Wow, or amazing” a lot, so be prepared) But it was just beautiful! Catching glimpses of the snow still covering the top of the mountains, surrounded by green trees. It was breath-taking.

Visited Crazy Horse, Mt Rushmore, Devil’s Tower in South Dakota

Once we reached South Dakota we got to see some man made memorials. Still just as cool as the natural ones. Reaching the Cluster County in South Dakota we got to see the memorial for Crazy Horse. This monument is currently still under construction so you can only see his head for now. I tried to take a picture of a model of what the final product would look like, but the rain came and they rolled the model away. *sigh* I was just a little late.

We also got to see Mount Rushmore in Keystone. This was actually pretty cool. I mean, you see it on TV, in movies, but there I was standing there. Admiring the heads of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. It’s amazing to think that humankind sculpted this. Fun fact, did you know that while President Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, he also wrote the first ice cream recipe in America and you get to try it here!

After visiting some human-made sculptures in South Dakota, we were off to Wyoming. First stop, Crook County and we got to see Devils Tower. We also spotted some climbers scaling this beast. CRAZY PEOPLE! But check it. It’s honestly amazing what nature can do over time.

Paid a visit to the one and only Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

This national park has been on my list of to see for AGES!!!!! So when I found this tour taking us there I was ecstatic! Woo!! There’s just so much to see. So much to admire. So much to take in. I really want to come back and take my time seeing all the beautiful natural sites.

Old Faithful

One popular attraction here is seeing Old Faithful erupt. We were lucky and managed to get here for the last eruption of the day. It was amazing. There’s seating all around Old Faithful which allows you to sit back, relax and enjoy nature at its wonder.

Mammoth hot springs

We also paid a visit to Mammoth hot springs. Look at it glisten in the sun. It’s pretty cool to think that the geothermally heater water can emerge through the cracks and fissures to form step like features. (I sounded smart right? Haha – thank you Google). But honestly, this was gorgeous and beautiful and just something that needs to be seen. 

Saw plenty of geysers

Yellowstone National Park is known for having a lot of these. Now for the life of me, I don’t remember where we were when I took these pictures. But they are just beautiful.

While walking around the various geyser basins we also stumbled across the beautiful lake at Yellowstone. I remember just being in awe of nature and enjoying this wonderful site. It’s so calm and tranquil.

And finally I want to show you Grant Teton, which if you guys look closely, is the mountain which is the logo for Paramount. Neat right?

Salt Lake City

After being immersed in nature, we reached our final destination on the bus tour, Salt Lake City. This was our final location for the bus tour. I never actually thought about visiting Salt Lake City so this was a good stop. It was nice to learn about the city where Mormons initially settled in and listen to the history of how the city was formed. I’d write more, but I don’t remember much. If you want to learn more you can ask Google J.

And that ladies and gentlemen was my American bus tour trip. Nifty ey. A bus tour isn't for everyone. I just found it very convenient for us at the time and we still got to see what we wanted to see. (It works out very well for lazy people and was great value for money =D).

Anyway, stay tuned for the next post. There's a bit of magic in it!

Until next time peeps!