A Dream Holiday of a Lifetime in the U.S.A.

Hollywood's location managers find the most beautiful views in America for the screen, so we followed their footsteps. The fly-drive holiday below took us to many of them through the states of Colorado-Nevada-Arizona-Utah-California.

We traveled a total of 4.300 miles and the journey took 14 days which included a number of days in Las Vegas. Many places we visited are only mentioned briefly they include Universal Studios, Disneyland, Queen Mary at Long Beach, Yosemite etc; Our Journey was made using car hire with overnight stops in selected Motels such as Super 6 and 8, Travelodge and other various Motels, their charges, quality and security were first class, should you require any further information please contact us for details.

What a picnic! The multicoloured beauty of Utah's Painted Desert all around us, we grabbed a snack among a handful of wooden buildings known as Calico Ghost Town .It's so well preserved by the desert you can still smell sawdust.

Just like the early settlers, We headed westwards, passing through old mining towns and across the continental divide. John Wayne filmed The Searchers and True Grit round here. Scary, precipitous mountain roads lead to Silverton, northern end of the steam-powered

Durango & Silverton Railroad.
We'd have loved the eight hour trip in 19th-Century parlour cars but time wasn't on our side. Ticket To Tomahawk was filmed here and the railroad was used for the hilarious safe-dynamiting scene in Butch Cassidy, as well as movies

Viva Zapata and Support Your Local Gunfighter. Butch and Sundance did their jump into the raging river at Durango, the other end of the line. City Slickers was filmed around here as was Around The World In 80 Days. Just west of Durango, Mesa Verde's extraordinary 12th-Century Indian cliff dwellings among the oldest structures in North America were a worthwhile short detour, even if Hollywood has yet to call.

The Grand Canyon,
Arriving at North Rim in Early Morning was smart, The Colours as the sun was rising over this amazing landmark is something we will never forget, a 298 mile drive south through Kanab brought us to South Rim and Bright Angel Lodge as the sun was setting. At sunrise and sunset the view changes rapidly, Walk a few yards in either direction and there's no one around. National Lampoons Vacation, Thelma & Louise, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Rio Grande all rolled here. After passing through Kanab an area littered with Western movie sets, we came across a place Hollywood has bizarrely ignored.

Bryce Canyon.
Extraordinary yellow and red rock formations rise hundred of feet from the valley floor. After heading through the rugged magnificence of Zion National Park (The Eiger Sanction, Jewel of the Nile and Romancing the Stone). We encountered the Interstate seeing more cars in a minute than we did all day in Monument Valley. The bustle of Las Vegas was a culture shock after the wilderness. The home to umpteen films everywhere looks like a movie set. South Western Colorado and Southern Utah are staggeringly beautiful. This is nature at its grandest. Civilisation is remote and, in the clear air, the moon is bigger and we saw more stars then anywhere else except in the movies and Las Vegas of course.

Leaving Vegas on a bright Monday morning
we suddenly came upon a scene so desolate and untouched by time covering and area of 5.180 square miles

Death Valley
Daytime temperature have touched 134 in the shade walk out on to the flats and the temperatures rockets to a mind blowing 200, only Libya has been hotter, Death Valley consistently has the highest temperatures on the planet. yet amazingly teams with life. Home of Antonionis Zabriskie Point, Marlon Brando in One-Eyed Jacks, and who can forget Star Wars. Driving from Death Valley Junction en route to Scotty's Castle via Beatty you cannot but be suddenly reminded of the other great fascination of the mystical Area 51.

Leaving Death Valley via Panamint Springs suddenly brought us to the home of the early film stars, Lone Pine, home of legends Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd) and Topper, Gabby Hayes and Gunsmoke and it was here that Roy Rogers found Trigger and Tom Mix found Tony, not forgetting John Wayne and the legendary Buck Jones. After leaving this desolate, barren but awe-inspiring wilderness our journey in parts touched the great metropolis of suburbia before we encountered an area of such natural and outstanding beauty.

Sequoia & Kings Canyon
These adjoining parks protect immense mountains, deep canyons, huge trees, and stunningly diverse habitats. The Generals Highway climbs over 5000 feet from chaparral and oak-studded foothills to the awe-inspiring sequoia groves. Taking the quarter mile footpath to the top of the world at Moro Rock was both spectacular and awesome with magnificent views of the Continental Divide and views we will long cherish Great names associated with this area Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, Dale Evans, John Wayne, Tex Ritter, Buck Jones, Tom Mix these and many more live on in the legendary films such as Lights of Old Santa Fe, The Frontiersman, Twilight on the Trail, Rollin' Plains, and hundreds more that will live on forever.

Yosemite
Nothing can prepare you for the wonderment of this spectacular tract of mountain-and-valley scenery in the Sierra Nevada, Home of Yosemite Valley,
and its high cliffs and waterfalls, Falling a distance of 2,425 feet Yosemite Falls is the world's 5th tallest

Please do yourself a favour

To get to know the real Yosemite, however, you must leave your car and take a few steps on a trail. You don't have to walk far to discover the grandeur that can be found here and the values this special place offers.

The gateway where the Bay meets the Pacific Ocean, San Francisco - Los Angeles

The Golden Gate Bridge has established the boundary to riches for people throughout history, and also brought fear to many. Out in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, the island of Alcatraz is a world unto itself, soldier, guard, prisoner, chains, on pier 39 you think you can smell , hear, or even see what once was. . The prison held Al "Scarface" Capone and Robert "The Birdman" Stroud. The island was featured in movies including Escape from Alcatraz with Clint Eastwood and The Rock with Sean Connery. For prisoners, the worst torture was how close, but unattainable, was life in San Francisco. At night, prisoners could even hear parties and laughter across the bay.

Nothing can compare to a drive on the One, otherwise known as:-

The Pacific Coast Highway
said by many to be the most beautiful drive in the world, "It is" The drive south through Monterey , Big Sur, meandered along route 1, we eventually hit Bay Watch area continuing to Long Beach stopping to see the most gracious of old ladies, the blue ribbon liner Queen Mary. It was here in L.A. I had my photo taken with my favourite star Marilyn Monroe (yes taken at Mann's Chinese Theatre) No visit to Los Angeles would be complete without a visit to Disneyland and Toytown