Traveling slows down and the job hunt begins

A paradise on earth, it is incredible.

Mid summer up on the paeks is still little chilly out.

No I did not feel the urge to swim!




Lesleigh on top of the world at the top of Mount Evans, the highest she has ever been. I think the altitude really got to her, check out these pics!





We are at the official sign post at over 14000 feet

We are back in Denver and the city has changed once more. When we left the weather was cool with the occasional snow, sleet and then bright sunshine. The trees were still bare and the steams were flowing through the mountains as the snow caps began to melt.

We rented an apartment in a suburb called Littleton which is about 25min South of down town Denver. It feels great to be in spot of your own right now without having to live out of the suitcase or hunting for the next hotel special. We bought a heap of furniture and it feels very comfortable. The apartments here come with a dishwasher, fridge, freezer, microwave, stove and a washer and dryer. Lesleigh and I have been out to interviews most of this week and the search will continue until we find jobs. So far I have been offered an insurance sales job and Lesleigh a financial markets sales post. Lesleigh also has an offer from SAP which she intends to take at this stage. I will see more recruiters this coming week and lets hope its not too long to land a post as the cost of living in rands is very expensive.

Denver is bright green with all the trees in full bloom and little puffs of seeds flying around the place. They call them cotton woods. The days are very warm and the heat seems to cool off around three in the morning only. The sun sets around nine at night and that makes everything feel out of sync. We seem to eat later and the shops only close after eight so it feels as though it is only afternoon most days until we look at the watches and realize that we are well into the evening.

We have had dinner at Ruby Tuesday down the road and can walk there and back without having to worry about our safety. It always feels good to walk after a good meal and we have plenty of space around us to do just that. We have a park across the road which has three baseball pitches, a skate board park, a dam and a library. Just up the road we have what are known as mall strips and there are movie theatres and a host of shops and restaurants. Directly adjacent to our apartment block is the raccoon creek golf course. It looks in good condition but looking at the card appears a little short on the distance. Yesterday Lesleigh and I went over to the driving range and hit balls for an hour or so. At this altitude you can hit the ball a long way so when I took out the BIG DOG the range was just too short and I landed up hitting balls onto the course fairway behind the range. I can’t wait to play a game.

The neighborhoods around here hold what they call garage sales at this time of year. Lesleigh and I have had great fun going from one sale to the next and selecting goods for the house. Just yesterday we got a pair of great ski boots, ski poles and a number of Pyrex dishes, a Coleman cooler box and a Lexmark scanner, fax and telephone all for just thirty dollars.

Today we are off to see Mount Evans and will pack a picnic basket to go.

Here we are at 14000 feet, the air is thin and chilly

On the way up we had some awesome sightings.

Here we are at 11716ft at the peak of the Rocky Park. The car had to work hard to get us up here.

Today it was off into the Rocky Mountain National Park and the weather played its part. The road was a lot slower and narrower than we have had the past two weeks but the scenery certainly made up for it. From the colours of all the trees coming into spring to young calves jumping around on the Wyoming plains. We passed lots of Prairie dogs crossing over the roads throughout todays drive and they are just like meerkats just not very road smart. We must have passed a hundred or so road kills just in the morning section up to the Rocky National State park.







Above are views of the valley below in the park with Elk and Moose which we were lucky enough to see. There are lots of hiking trails and we hope to complete a few in the near future.


Behind me there is a frozen lake which should thaw out in the next month or so. This area also marks the continental divide which seperates all the rivers which flow east or west in the US.

Today was a short leg of the road trip from San F to Lake Tahoe. The drive was scenic and a comfortable temperature most of the way. The lake is the second largest in the US and is impressive with white sandy beaches and a holiday feel throughout the town. The water is not as cold as it looks but still not tempting enough to take a dip. Oh yes Lesleigh gave me a haircut with a pair of Wahl clippers that I bought. It was a big risk but she did really well. Did you know you have to tip hair dresssers in the US just like waitrons in a restaurant, it is crazy.

Lesleigh and I decided to hire a couple of bicycles and take the trip around the lake shores through a historic village and then onto a state park to the base of the mountain. It was great fun and I was surprised at how well Lesleigh could ride, in fact I had to put the hammer down once or twice just to catch her.

We had a fantastic Thai curry in the local down town that night and I ordered the HOT!, I broke into a mad sweat, my nose started to run and tears ran down my cheeks, but my sinuses are now clear for some time and the next day I knew just how hot that curry was.

We had a long drive all the way out to Salt Lake City. A solid nine hours, but it was worth the view. There are a lot of one horse towns on route and never one of them without a Big M sign posted somewhere.

Salt Lake City was a neat and bustling town. We went into down town and had a top meal at Mc Garth’s Fish restaurant. We stayed over in the Sheraton for $80 thanks to priceline.com and had a great view from our room. Check the photos’.

Dad here is a replica of your Ford Cortina that I spotted in the Sheraton car park on route from Panama to Alaska.

Today we headed out of Salt Lake to the mighty town of Rawlins. I have seen smaller but not much. This is truly a close replica to some of those Karoo towns in SA.

Two amazing things about the US that I have discovered: One that when you order a soda, or a coca cola or the like you get a paper cup and it is refillable as many times as you want. In the restaurants you get half way down on your cool drink and another one just appears. Even in the fast food chains, you just help yourself to another no charge. The second is that when you order a main course on a menu, it comes standard with a starter and a side salad with the mains. It is just a three course meal in disguise. No wonder I am growing, and its not upwards, eating three course meals and drinking refillable soda pops.

Anyway off to watch the US open this afternoon in real time for the first time.

San Francisco

I got to drive the crookidist street in the world and it was a breeze in the Rav4. Some of the streets are very steep around town and I even had to engage the 2nd gear for a while.





And there it was the Golden Gate bridge, majestic and worth every cent to come and visit. San Franscico is a wonderful town and has a cosmopoliton feel and a very european appearance on a very large bay. It is also the city of bridges and they are something to experience. lesleigh and I had to cross the bay bridgeat peak hour and six lanes of traffic moving slowly in one direction over the bridge is impressive.


Impressive stats for the bridge 27572 is the number of wires used to create one of the two cable supports on the golden gate bridge.

Below is the famous Pier 39 where we had breakfast and then some coffee again that afternoon.



Pier 39 and Alcatraz in the background


This tower above is a donation from a well knowen resident to the city of San F. Not a bad view from up there. The pic on the right is a typical street in and around down town San F.


Below are pics of the scenic drive from Paso Robles to San F on route 1. This is like driving chapman's peak drive in cape town for 150miles. It is dramatically pretty with the bulk of the drive travelling through a state reserve. We saw a whale and elephant seals and the views from a great piece of road were breath taking.

Scenes from the route 1 on route to San F. What a beautiful day we had to see it too.

If you look carefully at the pic below you will see the road running around half way up the cliff.