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Tour map of destinations visited on September October 2010 Insight Vacations 34 Day Tour of Landmark Heritage sites across mainly Roman Europe, 14 countries in all.
Estimated Distance including Greek Island Cruise and Overnight Ferry legs - 14,000km
Destinations marked in red were visited prior to the tour commencing, namely Frankfurt, Budingen and Saarlburg Fortresses in Germany and Windsor Castle Stonehenge and Bath in the UK.
Most of my European images can be found in my EUROPE folder at my Zenfolio site.
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Tags: Insight European Heritage Tour Insight Tour Europe Holiday Travel Insight Vacations European Tour European Tour Map Roman Ruins Tour Map Map of Europe Europe Map Picnik European Heritage Tour European Heritage European Trip 2010 Brendon Lampard European holiday Trip Map
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On August 20th 2018 we flew out of Sydney to Honolulu where we stayed in Waikiki before flying to Los Angeles, in the process narrowly avoiding landfall of category 5 "Hurricane Lane".
From Los Angeles we flew directly on to Seattle for 3 nights then we flew to Spokane where our driving holiday would begin, our first time driving on the other side of the road. Cautiously we set off to drive to Whitefish overnight and from there across to Glacier National Park.
Our plans of driving over the entire 'Going to the Sun Road' were dashed when serious bushfires broke out along that road. Consequently we were forced to drive around the bottom of the National Park and up to Babb for our first night in Glacier National Park. After a visit to Two Medicine, St Mary and Many Glacier Lakes we took a trip up to Waterton Lakes National Park then headed south east to Great Falls, Bozeman and Nye in Montana.
The next leg via the Beartooth Highway, Chief Joseph Byway took us to to Cody then to Gardiner in Yellowstone National Park. After 5 days in Yellowstone we turned south to the Teton Mountain National Park then on to Salt Lake City before flying to Denver.
In Denver we immediately jumped into our second hire car and drove the long drive to Sundance, just west of the Black Hills of South Dakota. After visiting The Devils Tower, Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse and lots more we then headed east to the Badlands National Park, west of Rapid City and then via Scotts Bluff to Estes Park at the top of the Rocky Mountains National Park. From Estes Park we drove across Trail Ridge Road, the highest sealed highway in the USA to Grand Lake. From Grand Lake we drove through Independence Pass to Vail and on to Aspen. After a visit to the Grand Canyon of the Gunnison we took the Million Dollar Highway to Ouray, Silverton and Durango. The fall colour on the Million Dollar Highway section was perhaps the most colourful and scenic part of the whole trip.
Mesa Verde National Park was our next port of call then south into New Mexico to Shiprock and Four Corners , the junction of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado before heading back up north to Mexican Hat, the Goosenecks State Park and on to Canyonlands and Arches National Parks.
From Moab, in Arches National Park, we headed to Green River and the Goblins State Park and on to Capitol Reef National Park before heading across to Richfield then down to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks and across via Escalante National Park to Page, Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon. The last days of our trip saw us visit the Navajo Bridge, Marble Canyon, the Vermillion Cliffs and across to St George and Snow Canyon.
We'd previously done a couple of other big trips to the west coast including to Sedona the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Olympic National Park and the West Coast beaches of California.
From St George we headed to Las Vegas and caught a flight to San Francisco for a few days, visiting Muirs Woods National Park and Alcatraz before flying home to Sydney.
All up the trip driving distance was well over 10,000 km in two 'All Wheel Drive' hire cars. The trip saw us pass through 13 states including Hawaii, Washington,Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California.
We really enjoyed driving in the USA despite the initial unfamiliarity of driving on the right side of the road.
We found American drivers, patient and courteous and saw none of the road rage we so sometimes see at home in Australia.
We found Americans very friendly, courteous and helpful in every situation where we needed assistance.
All our mid priced accommodation was for the most part excellent although the motel breakfasts were often served with higher sugar content that we were used to in Australia.
We travelled through mostly 'red states' so we expected we would find plenty of support for Donald Trump, as we in fact did, but in many places a vocal dislike of him and his policies was also evident.
Our time in the USA fortunately was just prior to Trump's 'Government Shutdown' as we may have experienced some inconvenience in National Parks had we visited a few months later. It was an interesting time to be in America and we would return in a heartbeat, next time to visit New York, Washington, Boston and the fall colour in Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts.
The full trip route, blogs, and photos can be viewed at -
Black Diamond Images Polarsteps
According to Polarsteps we travelled 43,714 kilometres in our 47 days away. Of course that includes a couple of very long flights.
All USA Trip 2018 Images HERE
Tags: Basic Route Map Route Map Travel Map Map USA Map Trip Map USA Trip Map 47 Day Western USA Trip Western USA Trip 2018 Aug Sept Oct 2018 47 Days USA Travel Map Polarsteps Map Polarsteps Western USA Trip 2018 Western USA USA Travel Travel USA scan maps USA Polarsteps Trip Stillwater Valley Nye Montana
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All USA Trip 2018 Images HERE
Tags: Waterton Waterton Lakes National Park Mountains Alberta Canada Hwy 6 Western USA Trip 2018 2018 Sigma 1770 1770 Canon D60 Interpretive Sign Sign Map Travel Alberta Alberta Travel Alberta Holiday Holiday Alberta
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The 4 interpretive signs shown here in this set were installed at the Chapman Rest Area between Bulahdelah and Coolongolook in 1999 at the time of the initial Pacific Highway Upgrade which opened on the 24th October that year.
The signs appear to be unmaintained and as a result are fast deteriorating so I thought it best to photograph them while we still have them as they contain a wealth of information.
There was also another sign but it had deteriorated so badly that it was not worthwhile photographing it.
For those interested in driving in NSW there is a Department of Main Roads website and map which, after you select your type of vehicle, allows you to see all the roadside rest areas in NSW.
Tags: Chapmans Roadside Rest Area Chapmans Rest Area Roadside Rest Area Pacific Highway Bulahdelah Mid North Coast NSW Bulahdelah to Coolongolook Freeway Pacific Highway Upgrade 1999 sign Interpretive Sign Pacific Hwy Great Lakes NSW Wooton Topi Topi Apple Iphone X Iphone X Iphone iPhone X back camera Iphonephotography shotoniphone
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Tags: Victoria Clipper Ferry Route Map Seattle USA Victoria British Columbia Canada Ferry Route Victoria Clipper Map Route Map Scenic Tours travel British Columbia British Columbia Travel Holidays British Columbia British Columbia Holidays
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