Up, Up and Away

Hot air balloon in action

The older I get, the harder it is to choose a birthday present.  I know, I know, that's such a tough problem to have, but the way my mum nags, it kind of is.  It got to the point where I was actually asking for help in choosing, and in the end my dad (with an air of desperation) suggested a hot air balloon ride.  Why not?

Mixed salad

The balloon took off (if that's the right phrase) from gorgeous Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire.  The hot air balloon held about 17 people including the pilot (again, I think that's the right phrase) and a co-pilot - I had no idea the basket would be so big! The journey was so, so smooth, as well, and it felt really serene just drifting along.

Moo

Seeing everything from above like that is quite odd, as well. I suppose the nearest I'd come in the past is that moment when taking off and landing in a plane, where you're just under the clouds and everything looks like a patchwork blanket. Flying over the Westonbirt Arboretum area we obviously got to see a lot of gorgeous countryside, as well as Westonbirt House and Highgrove.

Oh, and did I mention it was a champagne flight? Only the best, naturally.
The landing was the only bumpy moment during the whole flight. There are seats and hand-holds in the basket, so we were all prepared and it was pretty soft, really.  As this took place in September the weather wasn't exactly sunny, but it was clear and not too cold so I was pretty comfortable and got a lot of photos.  It's definitely an experience I'd recommend.

In Bruges

First things first, if you haven't seen In Bruges, get thee to Netflix right now, because it's good. OK, it may not be everyone's cup of tea - the language is uniformly foul and there's a hugely generous helping of black comedy - but Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are fab in it, and Ralph Fiennes's evil streak doesn't stop at Lord Voldemort.  Also, I doubt there are many other films where Bruges is such a central character.

This is the only beer brewed in Bruges itself, and it's brewed in the Halve Maan brewery right in the centre.  We toured the brewery and saw the whole process, as well as seeing the view from the top of the building, where my photo above was taken.  As part of the tour every visitor got a glass of Brugse Zot to try (but only at the end, once everyone was safely downstairs and nowhere near any staircases).  Brugse Zot means Bruges Fools, but apparently it's also a slang word for drunkard, which could be apt.  I have to confess that I was not a beer drinker before I went to Bruges.  My only experience with beer was when I was on a school trip to Germany and drank Bitburger every night, and that was only because that was what everyone else was drinking.  However, Bruges was an education for me.

Yes, that is an actual beer glass.

Yes, Brits like beer.  But when you go to a pub in the UK, if you order a pint of Stella it's just as likely to be poured into a mismatched San Miguel glass as it is an actual Stella glass.  Not so in Bruges.  Each beer seems to have its own distinctive glass, and that beer will come with that glass.  Kwak, above, was probably my favourite, and not just due to the frankly ridiculous glass, although that was what caught my eye in the first place.  A word of warning, however - once the beer level gets below the narrowest part of the glass, it can tend to run all over the place when you tip it to drink, meaning that you suddenly feel an awful lot drunker than you are thanks to the beer running down your chin.
The above photo was taken in Staminee de Garre, which is an amazing place to learn about and try different beers.  It's located in a tiny, easily-missed little lane off one of the main streets of the Bruges city centre, but it has no trouble attracting customers.  The upstairs, where we sat, felt almost like a beer restaurant, in that there were tables with menus as well as a traditional bar. Luckily for us beer novices, the staff were friendly and knowledgeable with recommendations and advice.

A light snack

On to Belgium's most famous food.  These monster waffles were courtesy of Lizzie's Wafels, again right in the city centre.  I don't think any of us were quite expecting something so huge, but luckily we opted to skip lunch.  Waffles, with vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate sauce - what can I say?  Go big or go home.

This is the Belfort, which is probably the best-known Bruges landmark and is pretty much what the rest of the city is shaped around.  Of course, that means huge queues to get to the top, and no, there's no lift.  Duh.  We visited on quite a hot day and there was a fair amount of time spent queuing in bright sunshine, which is not my favourite thing in the world.  The ticket lady was also not the politest person I've ever met, and yes, the stairs are very narrow and crowded, as there are people going up as well as going down.  I think I was a bit too British for my own good that day, as I found myself stopping and giving way for people and waiting for thank-yous that never came. Such is the life of a tourist.

However, the view was lovely. As negative as I sounded, I was really glad I'd done it, because there was no end of views to take photos of.  That was what struck me about Bruges - the fact that pretty much every building, every house was pretty.  You could wander down a side street of residential houses and see something beautiful.

Like I said, I've no idea what if any significance these buildings have, but I saw them as we were wandering on our way somewhere else.  It was just so easy to stumble across something lovely, which I think is really important.
In case you couldn't guess, I would highly recommend Bruges.  We were only there a relatively short time, but we saw so much beauty in such a small space.

Breakfast in America

"Why would anybody ever eat anything except breakfast food?" "People are idiots, Leslie."

While we were in Las Vegas, we found a diner where their entire breakfast menu was bigger than some main menus in the UK.  Seriously - although the Americans don't do baked beans, they still go in for breakfast in a big way.  Something I spotted but didn't go for was steak.  Steak for breakfast!  Instead I indulged my inner Leslie Knope (who happens to be my role model in so many ways) and went for waffles.

I suppose that this is the American version of a full English.  When it comes to this, there are a few things I will happily embrace, like the apparent fondness for mixing sweet things with savoury.  I didn't try the famous bacon and maple syrup pancake combo, but above you can see the icing-sugared bread right next to the fried egg, along with a pot of syrup that just came with every meal, whether you had pancakes or not.  I've probably mentioned my terrible sweet tooth, so anything that is basically pudding for breakfast is perfectly fine with me.  Also fine?  Potatoes. Yum.  However, I have to object to the American version of bacon.  I know, I know they think it's great and amazing and everything, but... it's not.  Look at it! There should be some actual meat on bacon, rather than being stiff, streaky crunchy stuff that gets stuck in your teeth. Sorry, USA.  You win when it comes to waffles, but you could learn from us about bacon.

Behold, the most perfectly blended ice-cream ever.  This was our snack at the Hoover Dam, and as you can tell, it wasn't the most beautiful view from where we sat in the coach park, but our main concern was shade and ice-cream.  All I can say is, it was an unexpectedly lovely ice-cream.

Cinnamon and vanilla are officially the best flavours.

These Jelly Bellys were a nostalgic indulgence for me.  When I was about 14 and had nothing better to do, I used to buy about £6 worth of pick&mix Jelly Bellys every time I went shopping with my friends.  It became one of those running jokes - whenever we went shopping, we would always have to dedicate at least 10 minutes for me to pick out what flavours I liked.  I clearly had my priorities in order.  This time I ate these while sitting on the balcony of our hotel in Monument Valley. I'm a classy bird.

My Sedona

(It was so hard not to sing the old The Knack song whenever we talked about Sedona)
After the intensity of Vegas, Sedona, Arizona couldn't have been more different.  To begin with, its beauty is natural, thanks to the gorgeous red sandstone rocks.  We also found that there is a serious emphasis on all things New Age, because some think that Sedona is a spiritual hotspot for vortexes and gateways to other dimensions... Er, yeah, we tried to avoid that aspect, but you couldn't help but notice the psychics, spiritual counsellors, clairvoyants, and various things to do with auras and reiki and other things we'd never heard of.

Stripey rocks

There are sights like the one above all over Sedona, and needless to say it was a popular location for cowboy films.  I still can't get over the idea of cacti just growing in the wild, like the desert version of dandelions.

My friend: Did you see that big hole thing in the ground while you were there? 

It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway - the Grand Canyon is big.  I'm not entirely sure what I expected; everyone's heard of the Canyon but I realised I didn't have much of an idea what it actually looked like.  The scale is impossible to describe, because it really is just that big.  You look out over it and you can't see anything else.
Unfortunately, I had grown accustomed to boiling hot sunshine, Vegas-style, so I showed up in a sleeveless top, printed trousers and sandals, with a skinny cardigan for 'warmth'.  I may as well have worn a jumper made of paper for all the good it did me, and meanwhile I was surrounded by sensible types in sensible hiking clothes and sturdy boots, feeling like a typical townie tourist teenage girl.  Luckily my dad took pity on me, and I spent the rest of the day wrapped in his (several sizes larger) glamorous black fleece.

Betatakin

This is part of the Navajo National Monument in the Navajo Nation territory in Arizona.  Betatakin in particular is an ancient cliff dwelling where some of the ancient Pueblo people lived during the 1200s.  Going somewhere like this really made me realise just how ignorant I am about Native American culture and history - I don't know if it's different in the States but when I was in school I can only remember one mention of Native Americans in six years of history lessons.

High-five

This is a 'butte' in Monument Valley which is on the Arizona-Utah stateline, and again part of the Navajo Nation reservation.  It's hard to believe that places like this actually exist on Earth, because to me it honestly looks like Mars.  Monument Valley has been the location for oodles of films and so it's basically the stereotypical image of the American West.
Although almost all of our Arizona stay was in Sedona, we spent the night at The View Hotel, which is the only hotel overlooking the valley.  Our balcony meant that we were able to get up early to catch the sunrise over the valley, which was amazing (but cold).

I walk a lonely road...

I took this photo from the back of a bright pink jeep.  This particular jeep belonged to the (self-explanatory) Pink Jeep Tours, which was taking us on the Diamondback Gulch tour.  With a name like that, how could we turn it down?  It may have been one of the bumpiest, most gravity-defying car journeys I've ever been on, but it gave us a good opportunity to see some of the Sedona sights that we wouldn't have seen otherwise, and on the way back we saw the most stunning sunset.
Still to come - my favourite part, the food.