Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Tourist attractions - American West Floating Shadow

American West Floating Shadow

The American West (this article)

Day1: Jackson Town on August 9

Day2: Grand Teton National Park on August 10< /p>

Day3: Yellowstone South Line on August 11

Day4: Boiling Yellowstone on August 12

Day5: Return to Salt Lake City on August 13

Day6: Arches National Park on August 14

Day7: Canyon and Monument on August 15

Day8: Canyon and Horseshoe Bend on August 16

Day9: Hoover Dam and Route 66 on August 17th

Day10: Las Vegas on August 18th

Day11: August 19 Universal Studios Japan

Day12: Highway 1 on August 20

Day13: Cabin in the Woods on August 21

Day14: Winner on August 22 Beautiful land

Walking towards the dream

From August 9 to August 25, 2019, it lasted 16 days, with 3 families, 9 people and two cars, driving 5,300 kilometers across California, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, ***7 states. A big adventure, the most daring, farthest and full of unknown journeys in my life, is worth recording through words and pictures, making it a memory and a dream trip that will be unforgettable for a lifetime.

At 10 pm on January 23, 2019, the three of us (the nominal heads of the three families, mainly responsible for paying and doing all the chores) placed an order for round-trip air tickets from Shanghai to San Francisco. . Then the clarion call for travel was sounded and careful planning and itinerary began. We planned to fly to San Francisco, catch the earliest flight the next morning and fly directly to Salt Lake City, then rent a car at the Salt Lake City Airport until we drove back to San Francisco to return the car on the 24th. For a 16-day trip, stay in hotels for 15 nights along the way. You need to measure the distance between each hotel and plan which attractions to visit. The choice of route is a big project. We had disagreements on whether to go to Yellowstone. Going to Yellowstone means that we will have to drive a long distance and may encounter more unknown situations. But after many discussions, we decided to choose to challenge the larger West-American Loop. The gene of adventure is buried in our bones. In the following travel notes, I will intersperse my thoughts on choosing the route bit by bit during the itinerary to record it.

The time shortened from 6 months to 6 weeks to 6 days. One week before the trip, we started to buy all kinds of food and make various preparations. The list of daily necessities prepared is as follows:

Towel, toothbrush, toothpaste, slippers, kettle, shampoo, detergent, adapter, walkie-talkie, phone card, neck pillow, blanket, swimsuit, spring and autumn clothes, umbrella (not used)

Among them, I prepared phone cards from two operators, AT&T and Veizon. I did not choose T-Mobile, which has the worst signal but is also the cheapest. Facts have proved that this is an extremely correct decision. In most cases, Veizon’s signal is better than AT&T’s. In some cases, one has a signal and the other does not complement each other. During the entire trip, many national parks have no signal at all, so they can only use walkie-talkies. Especially because the roads for the two cars in front and behind are relatively complicated, walkie-talkies solve a major communication problem.

We prepared a variety of snacks, nuts, biscuits, and instant noodles, especially instant noodles, which saved our Chinese stomachs when we had bbq and other kinds of meat every day.

As a photography enthusiast, I brought my beloved Canon 5D4 and EF16-35 F2.8III, EF70-200 F2.8II IS (love the little white rabbit to death). I also brought a A small tripod, a polarizer and a 9-stop light filter. In addition, I also brought a GoPro and DJI mobile phone stabilizer. The shot of "Love the Little White Rabbit to Death" is very heavy, but it turns out that this headband is very correct, and many blockbusters later came from this shot.

On August 8, we took the high-speed train from Hangzhou to Shanghai, and then went to Pudong International Airport via Metro Line 2. The subway ride took an hour and a half, and it was very crowded. It was not as fast and comfortable as the airport bus. . It was about 9 o'clock when we arrived at Pudong Airport. Our plane took off at 0:30 on August 9. There were many people at the airport. To prevent waiting in line for too long, we immediately went through the baggage storage procedures and entered the airport at about 10:30. After passing the security check and entering the borderless waiting area, you still have some time to visit the Rishang area of ??Pudong Airport.

At that time, Typhoon "Lekima" was on its way to Shanghai. I thought it would be affected for a while. In fact, a few hours before the arrival of the typhoon, our United flight was still flying without wind or waves. The weather took off on time and on time, starting this magical journey of good luck (it was sunny throughout and all flights took off on time).

Then it was 11 hours of suffering, and finally we landed in San Francisco at 9 pm on August 8th. Yes, you read it right. Due to the time difference, we caught up with the previous day and flew from August 9th to August 8th. day, and August 9th was my fortieth birthday, so I spent the longest birthday in my life, an extremely wonderful experience.

After arriving in San Francisco, we started waiting for the flight to Salt Lake City at 5:45 in the morning. We came out of the international airport, went through customs, picked up our luggage, and then transferred to the domestic airport in San Francisco. It was almost 8 It was 0 o'clock on the 9th of the month. It was daytime in China. We were in high spirits, so we did not arrange accommodation. We waited for the plane directly at the airport. At 4 o'clock in the morning, we started to exchange tickets and store our luggage. I thought there were not many people, so we went to the bathroom. When I came back, I found a long queue. Most of them were American high school students traveling during the summer. Fortunately, the airport processing efficiency was quite high, and I was able to complete the formalities and board the plane quickly. Security inspections at domestic airports in the United States are very strict. Basically, all electronic equipment and food must be taken out of bags, pants, shoes, jackets, etc. must be taken off, and the entire body must be scanned by a large machine. It is worth mentioning that Delta Air Lines’ seat allocation efficiency is very poor. The tickets obtained at the check-in counter are not assigned seats. The only staff member who allocates seats on the spot before boarding the plane first allocates two people and then It was three people and finally one person, which was extremely inefficient and the scene felt chaotic. The plane flying to Salt Lake City is a small plane with only five seats in a row. The snacks on the plane are only a brown sugar cookie and a glass of water per person. However, it seems that the stewardesses on domestic flights are younger than those on international flights, unlike us. When I arrived, there were several aunt-level American stewardesses on board.

The flight from San Francisco to Salt Lake City took off on time, because there is a one-hour time difference between the two places. Salt Lake City is one hour ahead of San Francisco, so it feels like a two-hour flight, but after arrival, the watch actually After calibrating the local time, it shows that three hours have passed. It was around 9 a.m. when we left the airport on August 9, and we immediately went to AVIS to go through the car rental procedures. There is another little episode here. Originally we were going to rent a seven-seater and a five-seater, but we found that the seven-seater was too big, and the control system was completely different from the cars we usually drive. We couldn't even find the gear shift. Because of the location, no one dared to drive it, so they asked Avis to change cars on the spot, and finally chose a GMC five-seat off-road vehicle and a Lincoln five-seat off-road vehicle among several vehicles. The trunks are huge, enough to hold our suitcases (two for each family, a total of 6 suitcases). It feels very spacious for 9 people, 6 adults, 3 children, and 9 people in two cars. Later, I discovered on the way that both cars can actually pull out a row of seats in the rear luggage compartment to become a seven-seater car, but the last row is more crowded.