Photographs from my 2006 trip to the United States and Vancouver

1. Joy and Mal having a mad tea party on the cup & saucer ride at Disneyland. [5 June]	2. Mal and Joy on Santa Monica Beach. We walked along the promenade towards Venice Beach but didn't quite make it. [7 June]	3. Universal Studios. I'm delivering a letter to 'The Travel Book Store' of Notting Hill fame. Joy took the photograph and you can see her reflection in the window. [8 June]	4. As soon as we arrived on Hollywood Boulevard Joy was interviewed for a local 'lifestyle' TV program. The film 'Cars' was premiering across the road at the El Capitan theatre. [9 June]
5. There was a queue to have your photo taken on this local road with the 'Hollywood' sign in the background. [9 June]	6. Haro Street, Vancouver, Canada. The Buchan Hotel is in a delightful location between Stanley Park and Denman Street. [11 June]	7. Dining at the Vina Vietnamese Restaurant on Denman Street. The local Canadian beers were excellent! [11 June]	8. Joy and Mal in Stanley Park. Just 5 minutes from down-town Vancouver, it's a brilliant place to walk or run. [13 June]
9. A curious Douglas Squirrel on a footbridge in Stanley Park. We also saw a Racoon nearby. [13 June]	10. Grouse Mountain, Vancouver at an altitude of 1,250 metres was the one place I could have used my down parka but we didn't think it would be "that cold"! [14 June]	11. We were very lucky to see Grinder and Coola, the two orphaned Grizzly Bears, in their 5 acre refuge on Grouse Mountain. [14 June]	12. Our friends Joe and Deb live in paradise at Kings Valley, Oregon. They had the aboriginal flag hanging up to welcome us! [17 June]
13. Joy, Mal, Ewen and Deb at Silver Falls State Park. We enjoyed a picnic and hike on a perfect day at Oregon's best kept secret. [17 June]	14. Crater Lake in Oregon was stunning. Photographs and words can't do it justice. [20 June]	15. Enjoying a quiet ale at Ashland, a quaint university, Shakespeare and hippy town in Oregon. [20 June]	16. After a tip from Sarah, we stopped at Leggett on the way to San Francisco. Mal is waiting for me to drive through the giant redwood tree 'Chandelier'. [21 June]
17. Ocean Beach, San Francisco. The photo was taken from near Cliff House. [22 June]	18. Mal and Joy paddling at Ocean Beach with Cliff House in the background. The water was cold! [22 June]	19. We took a ride on up and down California Street on one of San Francisco's historic cable cars. [23 June]	20. Joy and Mal at Lombard Street which is San Francisco and America's crookedest street. [24 June]
21. The sign which shows the way to San Jose. [25 June]	22. We had lunch at Coulterville. Established in 1851, the Hotel Jeffery is the oldest continuously operating hotel in California. [25 June]	23. Yosemite National Park was rocky and big. Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in North America; 739 metres from the top to the base of the lower falls. [26 June]	24. The drive south on highway 395 from Lee Vining to Lone Pine featured spectacular views of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. [26 June]
25. We had to queue up for photographs at the entrance sign to Death Valley National Park. [27 June]	26. Highway 190 to Death Valley. It was on the other side of the Panamint Range in the distance. [27 June]	27. We stopped for petrol at Stovepipe Wells. It was 46 degrees celsius in the shade. It felt hot standing in the sun cleaning the windows of the Taurus. [27 June]	28. We almost missed this sign in Death Valley as it faces the road. [27 June]
29. Mal with Nathan Burton and assistants after the 'comedy magic show' at the Aladdin Theatre in Las Vegas. [28 June]	30. Don't believe this photo. The traffic on Las Vegas Boulevard was usually chaotic. [28 June]	31. There were many mobile billboards requesting friends for lonely girls which added to the traffic problem on the Las Vegas Strip. [29 June]	32. We had a good view of the Bellagio, Caesars Palace and Paris casinos from our room at the Aladdin. [30 June]
33. At Page, Arizona, on our way to the Grand Canyon, we enjoyed an excellent meal and service at the Dam Bar and Grille. [30 June]	34. It was raining when we first arrived at the Grand Canyon. Joy set a trend; buying a new raincoat. [1 July]	35. I'll never forget the Grand Canyon. The rain cleared to provide a stunning view. [1 July]	36. The Grand Canyon. A bird soars high above the Colorado River. [1 July]
37. On our drive to the Grand Canyon Village we stopped with other cars and saw an elk just off the main road. [1 July]	38. Joy took this photo of me in front of the Grand Canyon at one of the stops along Desert View Drive. [1 July]	39. South of Flagstaff on highway 89 we stopped for lunch at Prescott. In Arizona, if you're over 18, you don't have to wear a helmet to ride a bike. [2 July]	40. One of the best motorcycle roads I've seen is south of Prescott in Arizona. [2 July]
41. A self portrait at the Imperial Sand Dunes near Glamis in southern California. Scenes from Star Wars and Lawrence of Arabia were filmed here. We weren't expecting to see a sandy desert like this. It was hot! [3 July]	42. We stayed at San Diego's Old Town Inn for our last three nights in the US. It was a short walk to the Trolley terminal and Historic Old Town. [3 July]	43. Being an honorary American, I was excited to take part in the Independence Day Parade at Old Town, San Diego. [4 July]	44. Joy checking her messages in front of the Hotel del Coronado, San Diego. Built in 1888, The Del is one of America's largest wooden buildings. [5 July]
45. Joy and Mal walking on the beach at Coronado. [5 July]	46. Our last night out and Joy was serenaded at The Jolly Boy Saloon & Restaurant (1854). [5 July]	47. Everything is big in America, including the tea bags. It needed three of us to make a cuppa in San Diego. [6 July]	48. The best beach we found on the west coast of America was Orange County's Crescent Bay. [6 July]

The USA and Canada - 2006