In A New York State of Mind

Cooooeeee! Coooooeeee! Is anybody still out there?

Mmmmm, well, where did I disappear to? AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep, we went all the way to the United States of America and had, quite simply, THE BEST TIME EVER. It was just incredible: the people, the food, the countryside, even the coffee went way beyond my expectations.

I have only been to America (to New York) once before back in 2005 and I loved it then but going back a second time with our good friends and doing a road trip made it that much more enjoyable.

We flew into New York for a few days of Bright City Lights before flying to Denver, Colorado, where we picked up THE TRUCK (aka a Chevy Tahoe SUV) for the drive to San Francisco. When we first clapped eyes on the Chevy in the rental car parking lot we were all giggling wildly-it was ginormous! Once we were on the open road, however, we quickly realised that almost everyone drives these humongous vehicles- and if they aren't driving one of them, they're driving an RV with an SUV trailered to the back!

So where did we go?
Gunnison, Colorado in the Rocky Mountains (1 night).
Monument Valley, Utah/Arizona (1 night). We stayed at the View hotel which is located inside Monument Valley and is pretty spectacular especially as the sun sets and rises.
Flagstaff near the Grand Canyon (1 night).
Las Vegas (1 night). I am still not sure quite what to think of Vegas- it is almost like Disneyland for grown-ups but in very twisted way. Loved the lights along The Strip at night and the world's grumpiest Elvis who we encountered on an afternoon stroll (and who I swear is on tv advertisements back in the UK for Vegas) but I don't think I would go out of my way to go back again anytime soon.
LA (2 nights)- 1 night near Anaheim, 1 night in West Hollywood
San Francisco (following the coastal road) and the Napa Valley.
Home to London and the most dreariest weather ever.... with a horrid flu to top things off which has kept me in bed for the last week:(((

If you are thinking of doing a trip to the States and want to start in New York and finish in San Francisco, I would highly recommend the route we took. We saw so much diverse countryside (a lot of California reminded me of Australia) and stayed in some fantastic motels along the way which were really cheap and super roomy (compared to travelling in Europe).


I *heart* you America!


p.s. more importantly than my blithe holiday wafflings, this photo is of the lovely Francesca Vuillemin, commercial director of Six Scents Parfums in NYC. Francesca was wearing a cute customised t-shirt by Philip Lim; Dr Denim high waisted jeans and Melissa shoes.