Joshua Tree National Park, California

After the conference I had a couple of spare days before flying back to South Africa. I decided to check out some of the US National Parks which were en route from LA to Las Vegas ... Joshua Tree was the first.

It's good to know that California knows ...

(I'm not sure about anyone outside of California, though).

Disneyland

I made a promise when I was little-little that I'd return to DisneyLand when I was big enough to go on the fast rides ... thankfully I previously fulfilled that dream at Disney World! The nearest I got this time was the back entrance here and to see loads and loads of Mikey Mouse memorabilia!

Anaheim and Experimental Biology

I was at the Anaheim Convention Center for Experimental Biology Conference ... met up with old friends, made some new friends and collaborators and generally enjoyed Anaheim!

California

I picked up a rental car and drove through Nevada to California. It's a beautiful drive ... but crazy wild traffic!! I had printed my google-directions which worked well until one of the road exits was closed ... I followed a detour that took me far-far away and had to attempt a return to the next highway ... I think I was one of the slow-poke drivers going a mere 30miles above the speed limit! But I held on tight and made it to Anaheim ...

(photography out of the window while driving seems to be better than for the windfarm pictures!)

David Copperfield in Las Vegas ...

We treated ourselves to a night with David Copperfield ... he's quite a creepy looking guy but managed to seriously impress us with his illusions! Not least the one where he walked into a giant fan and appeared blowing in the wind beside John ... Han and I tried to re-live the illusion ...

... or were we just drinking out of our take-home fancy MGM glasses?!?

The Trump ...

I'm not sure if Trump should be used as an adjective or a noun - in this case definitely a noun! Our favourite hang out in Vegas and I was exceedingly spoiled after by John and Hannah ... thanks guys ;-)

Another 36 hours in Las Vegas ...

You never know who you might see when passing through Vegas! Between my presentation in Utah and the conference in California I stayed overnight in Vegas with John and Han. I won $100, John won quite a bit more than that and we all loved Vegas!

I pressed a button and won $100 ...

It's not like the puggies in Largs where the 2p coins come flying out ... this is very civilized! You get a voucher and then redeem it at a machine ...

John, of course, won enough to require the security guy to come and make sure he really is who he says he is ... all good!

Kolob Canyons

This is a spectacular area really near where Paul lives ... Kolob Canyon. It is part of Zion National Park. The snow looks remarkable against the red rock. This area is the finger canyons (I think!).

Southern Utah University ...

Paul works at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, UT. Great to see him and catch up, see the beautiful area and to do a little bit of work in the form of a presentation to their final year students!

It snowed in Utah ...

Zion in Black and White ...