Year of the Dragon

January 22nd 2012 in Lawrence, Kansas

To celebrate the Chinese New Year, the year of the Dragon, the Chinese Students Association organized a big event at the Lied Center. The first part was mainly performances from little kids in traditionnal chinese dresses from different minorities in the country, it was so cute and I was impressed by their talent! The Silk Road Company performed two dances: the Umbrella Dance and a Mongolian Grassland dance, so pretty. Kung Fu demonstrations and classical chinese music were also nice and the ladies presenting the evening, all from the Chinese Students Association from the Univeristy of Kansas, had beautiful dresses for the event!

No better way to end the children's part of the performance!

Umbrella Dance by the Silk Road Dance Academy

Mongolian Grassland by the Silk Road Dance AcademyDressed up to present the event

California Trip - THE END

This is it, all the pictures of our December trip are finally up!!
We ended up driving 1207 miles in just 2 1/2 weeks! Here was our itinerary:

Total : 1207 miles (1942km)!!

This was really an amazing trip, I can't believe all the beautiful sights we saw and exciting places we stopped at.
Its hard to decide which place I liked best, but the first thing that comes to my mind when someone asks me is (oddly enough?) Joshua Tree. I was impressed by those strange trees, so many of the them in the middle of nowhere and nowhere else... combined with the rocks which lit up before sunset and the atmosphere at the campground, it was incredible!
Another thing that left me a deep impression was all the wildlife we saw that I had never seen in their natural habitat or ever in real life : seals, sea otters, sealions, and even a glimpse at some whales far away!
Chris's favorites were, amongst many, walking around the incredible city of San Francisco and the amazing landscapes of Death Valley...
A trip neither of us are about to forget!

California Trip 15 - Los Angeles

December 30 2011 to January 2nd 2012

Santa Monica Beach

Acrobats on the rings next to Santa Monica Pier

Hippie/crazy style Venice Beach

Complete contrast : luxurious Rodeo Drive

Hike in Solstice Canyon with our friends Christelle and Rob and their australian shepherd Kai

New Years Day : Paradise Cove beach!

Last day of the trip : riding California bikes on Ocean Drive

California Trip 14 - Death Valley

December 29th 2011

Dante's view at 5475ft-1669m overlooking Badwater basin
Twenty Mule Team Canyon

Zabrisky Point!!

Badwater Basin - 86m below sea level!Artists Palette

Golden Canyon

Sunset when camping at Texas Spring campground

Mesquite Sand Dunes

Mosaic Canyon

California Trip 13 - Las Vegas!!

Since we were planning on going to Death Valley (just 2 hours away) and were being outdoors alot during the trip, we decided it would be fun to have a complete change of scenery and make a stop in Las Vegas. I found a great deal online to stay at the Flamingo hotel/casino, cheaper than all the other hotels we had stayed in sofar and yet the biggest and nicest room! Once there, we asked ourselves what to do if you don't want to gamble?? But each big hotel/casino on the "Las Vegas Strip" is an attraction to itself! Here are pictures of the most famous ones. My favorite : the Luxor, for its most complicated architecture. The most surprising thing : real lions on display in a big savanna-looking cage!! Maybe a little too much right?!

Our hotel : Flamingo
Christmas display in the BellagioCeiling of the Bellagio receptionParis of courseLuxor

Excalibur

Treasure Island

The Venician

New York New York

MGM tigers!!

California trip 12 - Red Rocks Canyon

December 27th 2011
We had a room booked in Las Vegas for that night but weren't quite ready to get back in the busy city, so went first to Red Rocks Canyon, just 15 minutes away from Vegas.
From the 13-miles scenic drive, you can stop at different spots and take off for a hike. From the Keystone Thrust you have a beautiful view of the valley and rock formations. The best part was to scramble along the bright red "Calico Hills"!

Views from Keystone Thrust hike