Zoë Johnson

Another horribly early wake up to catch the bus to Yellowstone! However an hour into our journey and the bus broke down, so we were piled on to another bus!! In Idaho Falls we transferred on to the shuttle bus to Yellowstone!  We reached Yellowstone at 3 pm and checked in to the most beautiful log cabin I've ever seen! We went out into Yellowstone which is so cute and very quiet! We picked up some bits and pieces from a supermarket and went back for some dinner. Today we had microwave meals!!! Then we chilled out and watched Zoolander on netflix, complete with microwave popcorn and toblerone!  We are so so tired, so it is an early night for us, and another early start in the morning for our tour, where we hope to see some amazing wildlife!  Zoë x

Today we got up super early to get the train to Salt Lake City, where we then get the bus to Yellowstone! We were at the station by 6:45am, so decided to get some breakfast at Snooze, where we ate after we came in from Omaha! I got another amazing latte and the Snooze Continental, which featured yogurt with granola, a grapefruit brûlée and toast, and Tom got scrambled eggs with hash browns and toast! Just what we needed!  Then we got on to our 15 hour train!!! We read our books, listened to music, played monopoly (I won), and watched the stunning scenery go by!! It is definitely the most beautiful train journey I've ever been on!!  For dinner, we made reservations at the dining car on the train! I had a vegetable ravioli and Tom had herb roasted chicken, which we ate whilst speeding through Utah watching the sun set! We also had strawberry cheesecake for dessert!  We're still on the train as I write this and I hope I can post it when we get to the hotel. We're up early agai

Today we got up early, bought a picnic and caught a bus to Boulder, a town at the foot of the Rockies!!  We spoke to a park ranger at the visitor centre who gave us a map and showed us a good route and we were off!! It was pretty hot and most of the hike was uphill so it wasn't long before we decided to have a little rest and our picnic, with the most amazing view!! The only downside to hiking in areas like this is you have to be really aware of your surroundings as bears and mountain lions are fairly common this time of year! Luckily we didn't see any, although some people actually travel many miles to the Rockies just to try and spot a bear! Crazy!  After our picnic we set off along the rest of our route which was very beautiful with amazing views. We got lost several times, and I accept full blame as I assured Tom that 'I'm absolutely, 100% sure it's this way!' Never trust me with directions... Here is a picture of the most beautiful butterfly that we saw on

Today we slept in fairly late and then got on a long bus journey to Water World Colorado!  It was lunchtime when we got there, so of course we had pizza!!!  We then got down to the serious business of going on as many rides as possible! Tom and I are both a little bit scaredy cat, but we really pushed the boat out today! Both mine and Toms favourite ride was 'Voyage to the Center of the Earth' which we could go on together and was almost 10 minutes long! We filmed some of the rides as well, which will be fun to watch back!! Before we left the park I got an ice cream and Tom got a massive cookie sandwich, which almost finished him!! Tomorrow we are going on a hike in the Rocky Mountains!!! Zoë x

We arrived into Denver this morning at 6 am after a restless night on the train. Nothing was open and we couldn't check in to our hotel so we just waited in the station.  As soon as the restaurants opened we went for breakfast in a place called Snooze. It was a really amazing place with awesome music on in the background, with the likes of Alt-j, Arctic  Monkeys and Radical Face being played! I ordered a latte and it was so beautiful and tasted great!! Tom had Strawberry Shortcake pancakes and I had 'The Banana Nutella Situation'. Both very good!  After breakfast things took a turn slightly downhill and I started to feel ill :( I think my body has decided it is sick of trains! After hanging around the station some more we got a taxi to our hotel - 11th Avenue Hotel. When they saw I was ill they did everything they could for us and were really nice! They let us check in at 10am even though check in was meant to be at 2pm!!! For a while we just dozed in the room until I felt

Today we had a nice lie in which we totally deserved after the train journey of nightmares! We packed up our bags and got a taxi to the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, which is ranked by trip advisor as the best zoo in the world!  It was huge and had the most amazing enclosures. There was an indoor rainforest and a desert dome! In the rainforest there were several trails you could walk around and see all the different animals, it was so nice to see them in such an interesting space. The desert dome was similar to the Eden project, where the climate is created inside to house many different desert plants and animals.  There was also a 'big cat complex' which was amazing, and they seemed to have every sort of cat there, even a white tiger! We also got to see the Amur leopard training session which was really interesting, some of the techniques they use are even similar to how Mum and I are training Lyra back at home!  Tom liked the tapiers and got some really good photos of the je