And The Countdown Continues With Four Months To Go

We are now just under 4 months from flying out for the United States. We're also at the point where we have enough organised that if we didn't do any more before we left, we could just wing it and we'd be fine. However, thats not my intention and we're going to be doing a lot more planning over the next month or so, as what is my intention is to at least have all our accommodation booked at least 2 months before we fly out.



Lately, I've been spending a bit of time looking at photos of San Francisco, trying to find some more places I'd like to visit and try to get some interesting shots of. Some of the places I've found so far include the ruins of an old military installation on Bakers Beach and the remains of the bath house at Sutro Beach. We're also intending to visit the former Nike Missile Site in Marin Country, which is just over the Golden Gate Bridge.



I'm not sure if k8 wants to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge again, but if the opportunity is there, I'm certainly up for another chance to take some more photos like the one above. The view from this engineering masterpiece is just amazing.

We Know Where We Are Staying

OK, so the title is a little extreme, we know where we're staying in Bonneville, we're still working out the rest of the trip. Yesterday morning I got a tip from a mate that The Red Garter hotel and casino in West Wendover had a very limited number of rooms remaining for SpeedWeek 2010. They're also the casino in West Wendover that does not have an online booking system, perhaps the two are related, perhaps not.



After a short phone call this morning, complete with the standard accent issues that come up whenever I'm on the phone to the US, I managed to secure a single queen bed room for the nights we're in town, and immediately tipped off Darrell, who is travelling with us, and within about five minutes, he'd also booked a room at The Red Garter.

Less Than 5 Months To Go..

The days are starting to go by rather quickly, with under 5 months to go now until we fly out, we've still only actually booked the airfares, but we're close to booking a few more things, and we've got some more dates confirmed for some other events we're planning on attending.



The first event we're adding to the list is in Los Angeles on Wednesday the 4th of August. It's a cruise in at the Wally Parks NHRA museum at Pomona, and attracts hot rods, muscle cars, kustoms and street machines from all over the Los Angeles area.



In order to make it to Los Angeles in time for the Wally Parks Museum Cruise In, we've had to change our plans for the trip south from San Jose. Instead of spending a night in Bakersfield on the way to LA, we'll instead be going almost directly from San Jose to LA and visiting Bakersfield after we've left Bonneville. This actually works out quite well, as another event that we're very keen on attending is the ANRA's Summer Nationals at the Famoso Auto Club Raceway in Bakersfield, on August 21st and 22nd. This is a dedicated Nostalgia race meeting, and reports from those who have attended in the past suggest that it is an event not to be missed.



After Bakersfield we'll be heading back up to San Jose to relax and check out some of the sights of the San Francisco Bay area, including a planned trip to Sacramento Vintage Ford, a visit to the San Jose Flea Markets, one of, if not the, biggest flea markets in the world. Also on the short list for things to do around the Bay, is another visit to Alcatraz, as I believe that a single visit is not enough time to really come to terms with the history of The Rock.



Between Los Angeles and Bakersfield, we plan to visit Death Valley, Las Vegas, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, the Bonneville Salt Flats, Lake Tahoe and Yosemite National Park. We're also very keen to get to the GoodGuys Hot Rod show in Pleasanton the weekend after the ANRA round in Bakersfield, and Kate would like to see a Dodgers game in LA. I'd also like to catch a 49er's game in San Francisco, or at least take a stadium tour, if such a thing exists, but the schedule for the 2010/11 NFL season isn't available yet, so we'll see what ends up happening there.