‘I wanted to arrive by ship once again’
This week’s entries revel in the excitement of the US – including a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty from the water
“Is my hair still black?” asked the whitehaired rider as he led the mule train past us, up the sheer-drop track from the base of the Grand Canyon. Pinned to the cliff face, ceding every possible inch to the animals and riders, we laughed nervously. Until then, we had felt the path was wide enough only for brave foot travellers, walking in single file.
It took our breath away for a second time. The first had been an hour earlier, when we had spied a plane flying 1,000ft below us, making its way along the colossal, red-walled valley and following the silver thread of the Colorado River, a further 5,000ft below. We lost our ability to gauge distance. Grand? The canyon was magnificent!
CITY HOPPING
My wife and I went for a “split trip” to Boston and New York. Being interested in American history, we found our stay in Boston wonderful. To get around, we used the “hop on hop off ” trolley bus, spending time at various places of interest – such as Fenway Park, where Cheers was filmed, and the Tea Party ships, brought to life by a knowledgeable driver. The State House was just a fiveminute walk from the Kimpton Nine Zero hotel where we stayed.
In New York, while we enjoyed trips to the Ground Zero area, the Rockefeller Tower, Central Park and Staten Island, we did not like the noisy and run-down area we stayed in around Madison Square Garden.
John Roberts, Bradford
BACK TO BASICS
After a week of exploring Hollywood and all things Disney, it was time for a change of scenery. So we drove to Yosemite National Park for the next part of our holiday. After a long drive, we arrived at Curry Village after dark, with three tired children. Our middle daughter was horrified that we were staying in a small wooden hut with no facilities.
But the food in the communal dining room was top-rate. We swam outdoors every day and did classes in drawing, photography and horse riding. Evening entertainment was provided in the outdoor amphitheatre. The scenery was stunning and we were delighted to see a bear close by. In the end, the reluctant daughter didn’t want to go home. Christine Wright, Derbyshire
Hazel Wills was thrilled to see the Statue of Liberty after sailing across the Atlantic
BLOOMING MARVELLOUS
The men entered with a swagger, guns on show on their belts as they looked around the establishment – a Pizza Hut in small-town Ajo. It was clearly a break spot for border guards who patrol the fence between Arizona and Mexico.
We’d arrived on a road trip around Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. Having found our motel, we headed out to explore. It didn’t take long. Ajo is a tiny old mining town, with shades of grandeur from its better days, including the Immaculate Conception Church. It is near Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument where we saw the spring blooms. Stunningly beautiful, the short-lived swathes of flowers cast a delightful hue over the dry cactus wilderness. It’s not how most people picture a desert.
Lisa Derbyshire, Bath
FATE AND FORTUNE
There is a serendipity to American road trips – which is how we found the Potato Museum in Blackfoot, Idaho. There you will learn about the story of potatoes, see the world’s biggest display of antique potato mashers, get your own carton of desiccated potato to take home and have the opportunity to sign the visitor’s book. The last people who signed were from Liverpool, too.
A day later we stopped for gas at a filling station in Browning, Montana, a town in the Blackfoot Indian Reservation. We were the only non-First Nation people there. A tall First Nation man with shiny black, pigtailed hair asked me: “Are you a tourist? There’s a big powwow on Friday, with dancing and food. The teepees are already going up north of town.” Unfortunately, we were expected in Bozeman, Montana, that evening. Maybe next time…
Jeffrey Max, Liverpool
HAWAIIAN LOVE AFFAIR
I have had many memorable times in the United States. Perhaps the most enjoyable was on the main island of Hawaii, where days of hedonistic lounging on Waikiki Beach, observing the scenery, were interspersed with indulging my lifelong interest in geology.
The Waikiki experience is easy to imagine but, to my mind, must take second place to being conducted around the Mauna Loa Observatory at an elevation of nearly 10,000ft on the rim of the crater of a giant and (hopefully) extinct volcano. Oddly enough, at the time of my visit, I didn’t realise that the atmospheric carbon dioxide records, initiated there by Charles Keeling in 1958 and proudly shown to me in 1975, would feature so highly in today’s understanding of the greenhouse effect addressed at Cop26. How could one not fall in love with Hawaii?
Bruce Denness, Isle of Wight