Red Rock

numerous canyons with burning, red rock and petroglyphs carved in the rock yet again, took us to another reality, completely different to anything we've seen.

liczne kaniony z plonacej, czerwonej skaly, z petroglifami wyrytymi w skale, po raz kolejny przeniosly nas do innej rzeczywistosci, calkowicie odmiennej od wszystkiego, co widzielismy do tej pory.

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon was so unreal it was difficult to believe that what we saw was real.
That's why we had to go back the next day to see it again in the morning, before we set off to Monument Valley.
It's worth mentioning that this was the first night we slept in our new little (tiny) tent ;)

Wielki Kanion byl tak nierzeczywisty, ze az trudno bylo uwierzyc w prawdziwosc tej niesamowitej scenerii. Dlatego tez musielismy wrocic nad jego krawedz nastepnego ranka, zanim wyruszylismy w kierunku Monument Valley.
Warto wspomniec, ze ta noc byla pierwsza, spedzona w naszym nowym, malym (tycim) namiocie ;)

Hoover Dam

so, as you know instead of spending our time in Vegas, we decided to get out of town and go to see the Hoover Dam. it was great with amazing drive down really windy and steep roads (with up to 5mph limit!). it was hot, really hot so after exploring this impressive peace of engineering, we decided to have a swim in Lake Mead (see the proper touristy photo below ;)).

wiec, jak juz wspomnielismy, zamiast zostac w Vegas, postanowilismy spedzic dzien poza miastem i wybralismy sie do tamy Hoovera. po niemal godzinnej jezdzie kretymi i stromymi serpentynami (z ograniczeniem predkosci do 5m/h!) dojechalismy na miejsce. bylo goraco, naprawde goraco, wiec po zobaczeniu tej imponujacej konstrukcji, postanowilismy sie wykapac w jeziorze Mead (jak widac na super turystycznym zdjeciu ponizej ;)).  

Neonopolis

this is where we got to know the fascinating history of Vegas.

tutaj zapoznalismy sie z fascynujaca historia Vegas.

Fabulous Las Vegas

a Strip of cheap plastic, all "glittery" and "shiny"surrounded by cheap and not-glittery-at-all neighbourhoods and hot desert.
without the ability to count cards we did not make a fortune but we got some feel of the night life.
some classic neons were pretty cool at night (but only then) and the Bellagio giant fountain was terrific (dancing to Sinatra's Fly Me to the Moon)!
all a bit schizophrenic as you drive along the Strip and you have Paris on one side, Venice on the other, further down New York and pyramids etc...  that's why the day that was planned entirely for Vegas we spent mostly outside: in one really interesting place, a boxing gym (recommended by the trustworthy Wallpaper) and in Hoover Dam but more about this in our next posts!
so, must say Vegas to us is a place you see once and never come back again ;)
when we were leaving our hotel, we got to a lift with our bags and dozen of other people and this old American lady asked us: "are you leaving?", I said "yes" and she replied "it's hard to leave this place, isn't it?". well, I didn't know what to say to that as I didn't want to upset her.... ;)

Strip (glowna ulica miasta) taniego plastiku, "blyszczacego" i "polyskujacego" otoczona wcale nie blyszczacymi, tanimi przedmiesciami i goraca pustynia.
nie posiadajac umiejetnosci liczenia kart, nie zbilismy fortuny, ale poczulismy troche tamtejszego zycia nocnego. niektore klasyczne neony byly imponujace noca (ale tylko noca), a gigantyczna fontanna Bellagio cudowna (tanczac do "Fly Me to the Moon" Sinatry).
po jednej stronie Wenecja i Paryz, po drugiej Nowy Jork i piramidy, istna schizofrenia... wiec nasz dzien, ktory planowalismy spedzic w miescie, spozytkowalismy glownie poza nim: ogladajac jedno fascynujace miejsce, bokserska silownie (polecona przez niezawodnego Wallpapera) i zapore Hoovera, ale o tym w kolejnych wpisach.
tak wiec Vegas dla nas to miejsce, ktore mozna zobaczyc raz i wiecej no niego nie wracac.
wiec, kiedy opuszczajac hotel, jedna starsza Amerykanka wspolczula nam slowami: "ciezko opuszczac to miasto, prawda?", nie bardzo wiedzielismy co powiedziec...:-)

Mojave Desert

so, we set off from LA in our rented silver ford focus, took the Interstate 15 and headed towards LasVegas. on the way we stopped to see the Mojave Desert with the strange Joshua Trees and our first dry salt lake and Zzyzx (the funniest geographical name we have ever seen! on the map it was marked like a town just on the "shore" of this "lake" but really, there was absolutely nothing there!).

opuscilismy wiec LA i pomknelismy naszym wypozyczonym, srebrnym focusem autostrada miedzystanowa nr. 15 w kierunku Las Vegas. po drodze zatrzymalismy sie zobaczyc Mojave Desert z dziwnymi drzewkami Jozuego, nasze pierwsze suche slone jezioro i Zzyzx (najsmieszniejsza nazwa geograficzna jaka w zyciu widzielismy! na mapie wygladalo jak miasteczko tuz nad "brzegiem" tego "jeziora", ale nie bylo tam zupelnie nic!).

My Last 20th Birthday!

on my birthday we spent like half a day to pick up our car from the airport but from there it was just pleasure.
walk and coffee in Beverly Hills, lunch at Chateau Marmont and lovely dinner in AOC with sparkling wine and all ;)
below Chateau Marmont as setting for a beautiful film you probably know.

w moje urodziny, pol dnia zajelo nam odebranie samochodu z lotniska, ale potem byly juz same przyjemnosci.
spacer i kawa w Beverly Hills, lunch w Chateau Marmont i kolacja w AOC z musujacym winem i w ogole ;)
ponizej Chateau Marmont w pieknym filmie, ktory pewnie znacie.