Grand Canyon

This time next week I'll basking under a summer sun in the city of angels with my mate Mal and his wife Joy. We're starting our tour of the western United States with two days at Disneyland, as it's been Joy's dream since childhood to get dizzy on the 'cup and saucer' ride!

After 6 nights in LA we're flying up to Vancouver BC, staying at the Buchan Hotel. Bruce reckons it's a 'buchan good place' and he's right, as it's within easy walking distance of Denman Street and Stanley Park.

We're hoping for goof weather so we can catch the train up to Whistler on one of our 5 days in Canada. We then bid farewell to English Bay before hopping a bus down to Portland, Oregon. This is where we hire a Chevy Impala for the rest of our holiday. It's a short drive down to Joe and Deb's place outside Philomath where we're staying for 3 nights at the Aboriginal Embassy, Oregon annexe. Joe is one of the best running coaches in the Pacific Northwest and he rates Percy Cerutty as his biggest influence.

From Joe's we head down the coast via the Redwood forests to San Francisco. We'll bust a few myths in this city before driving out to Yosemite National Park. Maybe I'll get to run with the bears? After a one night stay, we have a long drive to Las Vegas (Joy was keen to stay in a swanky place so she chose the Aladdin Hotel). With a bit of luck we'll win back a few US dollars.

We then drive to the Grand Canyon, staying at a lodge within the park on the north rim. The next stop after some photos of Route 66 is Flagstaff, Arizona, then it's over to San Diego. Here we spend 2 nights including the fourth of July before returning to LA for the flight home.

All this travel means my blogging and blog visiting will have to be curtailed. I'm having withdrawal symptoms already! I'll try and keep my running diary up to date while we're in various libraries checking emails. Good luck to all who are racing at the Gold Coast and anywhere else in Australia over the next 6 weeks. I can't wait to read all about it!