San Francisco

We spent 3 days in San Francisco. It was far too short! I wish we had stayed at least a week.
Anyway, it is a good excuse to go back :o)

Bodie

Bodie is an authentic wild west ghost town situated in California, in the middle of nowhere.
The town was built after gold was discovered on the site in 1859.
Nowadays, only a small part of the town survive. It has been a State Historic Park since 1962.

Mono Lake

Mono Lake is an alkaline (pH 10) and hypersaline lake in California (2.5 times saltier than the ocean). The lake is famous for its tufa tower rock formations. No fish can live in the lake but it is home of the Mono Lake brine shrimp that are found nowhere else on earth. They are staple food for the birds in the area. Mono Lake is a vital habitat for millions of migratory and nesting birds.

Yosemite

Yosemite National Park is one of the first national park in the US and is well known for its waterfalls. I must admit that we were very disappointed. To us it looks more like a giant picnic area. We were stuck in traffic jam, thousands of cars, everywhere. Going on a Saturday doesn't help I guess.
At that time of the year, waterfalls were amazing. Here are a few pictures, not very good I'm afraid...

Bryce Canyon

Bryce canyon National Park is situated in Utah in the Colorado plateau. It is only a couple of hours drive from Zion National Park. This is a unique and stunning site well known for its colorful hoodoos.
I must say that the wild life has been extremely cooperative :o)
I let you enjoy the pictures (don't forget to click on them to see them full screen):

Zion National Park

Zion National Park is situated in Utah at the edge of the Colorado plateau. It is a magnificent and diverse park, well known for its canyons. Hiking possibilities are endless. Spring through fall, Zion Canyon scenic drive is open to shuttle buses only avoiding long queues of cars.

Grand Canyon

We didn't have time to do the Grand Canyon but, as I was arriving in Las Vegas several hours before Stephane, I took an helicopter tour to go there.
The airport is next to the strip so we had a nice view for take off and we flew over when we came back. That was a fantastic experience. We landed in the canyon and enjoyed a champagne picnic. It was full of flowers at that time of the year!