OK, can someone tell the wildlife that animals are supposed to be inside national parks! There were more outside of parks, such as a raccoon near a Safeway, prairie dogs in a vacant lot and deer on the roadside, next to our hotel and on the golf course. We were disappointed at seeing so few wild animals in the parks though it was great seeing elk and marmots.

We found most things to be cheaper than in Australia - petrol, food, clothes, motels. Electronics (my husband tells me) cost about the same in America as in Australia. The sales are terrific with bargains everywhere. Due to previous trips, we had a list of things to buy and came home with about double the luggage. For two people who believe in travelling light, this was something of a change of pace.

The free wifi everywhere we stayed was great. Each day we’d check on our small netbook/laptop for accommodation, weather forecasts, the route for the next day, and keeping track of the wildfires. In our experience in Australia wifi seems to be rare in hotels and if they offer it, then you usually have to pay.

We found drinks are usually huge - a bucket of soft drink is waaay too much! No wonder people are overweight. Except if you order an orange juice - which is healthy - and that comes in a smaller glass. Go figure.

The throwaway culture saddens me, it was particularly noticeable at hotel breakfasts with throwaway plates, cups, cutlery, and food in little packets. I kept thinking of the waste and landfill of all that unnecessary rubbish. Why not buy some decent sturdy china and put it in the dishwasher and re-use it? I wonder if it’s become so commonplace in America that people don’t even notice.

Customer service is brilliant in the USA, people go out of their way to help and nothing is too much trouble. In Australia we just don't have that culture and having lived in the UK for nearly 5 years, believe me, the service there is abysmal. Sometimes on the trip it did get a bit too much, all the “are you finding everything all right?” or the “everything OK folks?” I felt a bit besieged at times but it's just that we’re not used to it.

Tipping is always a challenge. We get used to it fairly quickly whenever we visit America but it's just not in the nature of Australians as we don't tip at all - or rarely. So it's not that Australians are mean or tight with money (OK, some are) but the whole tipping thing makes us uncomfortable, we don't know how much to tip, who to tip or how to do it. But we did make sure we tipped properly, probably more than necessary at times.

On the majority of our overseas trips we have credit card issues, either getting money out of the ATM or using the card in a store, and this time was no different. A piece of good advice to novice travellers is always have an alternative back up plan and some cash. We had a credit card, a debit card and a prepaid money card – all with different banks. Each of them was rejected, one by one, in a large supermarket and I was getting quite embarrassed, when my husband just paid with cash.

The credit card was rejected again the same day in a different store but then one of the other cards was accepted. After that we had no more problems but were initially concerned there had been some fraudulent activity on the card and the bank had cancelled it. They couldn’t call us as our Australian phones didn’t work in America (old phones without triband or quadband, to anyone under 25 we probably seem like dinosaurs). We’re pretty sure it must have been our bank, possibly down for IT maintenance around midnight in Australia, or the swipe card terminal in the store may have been at fault.

We flew from Australia with Qantas which was fine. From Denver to LAX, the airline was United. It was the first time flying with United and the last. Shall I just say the staff seemed untrained and incompetent and, after reaching the check-in machine, it took over an hour to get one boarding pass (just the United flight) and have our bags tagged. It was very stressful as I was sure we were going to miss our flight and the longhaul connection.

I didn't prebook accommodation except for Albuquerque, where we arrived, Denver where we departed, Monument Valley (The View Hotel is very popular and well worth the $$ price) and Moab where we wanted 4 nights over a busy weekend. The other nine places we winged it (though I did check TripAdvisor and we found a hotel coupon book quite handy). The only place we ran into trouble was Boulder, there must have been a big event on. We ended up staying at Broomfield which turned out fine.

Kay

What a nice report! I find observations like this to be a lot more useful than gushing over the gorgeous scenery.

Here in th US, we usually notify our credit card company and often our bank before we leave the country, go to a different region, or make a large purchase. Our credit card company in particular has a very active fraud department, and we got three calls last week questioning our purchase of airline tickets to Scotland for October. Since we mostly use that card for travel, it had not had much activity since our last trip, and the computer notified them. Three calls were excessive, and I am afraid I got cross.

Great report, I also enjoyed reading your observations.

Note that at least some Americans are distressed by the throwaway culture, though perhaps we are in the minority. Those hotel breakfasts, where even stirring a cup of coffee means you are throwing away a piece of plastic, is a perfect example. It is sad.

Looking forward to reading more.

Really enjoying your report! That's one of my favorite areas of the country. Love your thoughts on what you saw!

Thanks for the report, I need to get back to that part of the country soon.

And we also call the credit card company when we travel even if it is to a different part of the US.

Much of the plastic wear that is thrown away is made from recycled or corn based products which is biodegradable. It isn't quite as bad as it seems.

Glad you had such a great time in my neck of the woods. Hope my info helped you some.

Great report...interesting to see us from a different perspective. I don't mind a littel gushing over the gorgeous scenery though.

Hi, thanks everyone for reading and the compliments. I've found making time to write some notes tough since coming back but wanted to contribute to the forum as I get so much useful info for our trips.

DebitNM - thank you for all your help. My husband went to the Best Buy mobile shop at the mall right near our hotel and got lots of help buying two mobile phones. He even got the ones you recommended. They sorted it all out in the shop and he came to find me (where I was looking at clothes naturally) so we could make sure they worked but typical of anything electronic, there were problems. So back he went to the Best Buy shop where they had to spend more time on the phones but they got them working. My husband was quite impressed with how helpful they were. We actually didn't use the phones a great deal but felt more comfortable knowing we had some way of communicating if necessary.

I also bought a hairdryer in a nearby WalMart for $10! I was amazed they were so cheap and it worked fine for the whole trip. I'll take it on our next US trip, not sure when it will be. Kohl's didn't have much selection and were more expensive.

About the credit card, we had advised our banks of travel plans but things can still go awry. If they had detected someone using our card in say, Singapore, they would have stopped the card. As it was, it all turned out OK but was worrying at the time.

We were fascinated by the way the scenery changed as trip went on, from barren and dry to red rocks to green mountains.

Will come back to this....gotta go.
Kay

Sounds like a great trip. Thanks for the trip report.

Back again...

Regarding the scenery in that part of the world, we thought it was a real highlight of the trip. It was fascinating watching each day as the world outside changed, from flat, barren and extremely dry in New Mexico to red rock formations seemingly rising out of the ground as we headed into Arizona.

Sunrise at Monument Valley was beautiful, if we had planned a bit better we would have had 2 nights there but at least we stayed at The View Hotel which was fantastic (and by far the dearest place we stayed).

The red rock bluffs surrounding Moab were everywhere we looked, we really liked Moab. It had a good feel, not too big or too small. My husband liked Pasta Jay's so much we ate there twice.

We loved the country surrounding Telluride, what a great spot for a town. Seeing the tiny airstrip from the gondola made us gasp. It was terrific that the gondola up the mountain was free, it made for a fun, very cheap, excursion. We did get off at the wrong stop - the restaurant - only to be told to quickly get back on. Oops.

We were disappointed with Aspen and thought it unfriendly and pretentious. Didn't stay long at all.

Estes Park was another town we liked, it had a vibrant, lively feel to it. We have seen quite a few towns in America where the town centre is dead because the newer malls have drawn everyone away so it was nice to see this hadn't happened in Estes.

We've always found Americans friendly, helpful and polite and this trip was no different. One of our favourite things to do, once we'd reached a more built up area, was to visit a big Barnes & Noble bookstore. We both love books and to have all those books to browse through, as well as a nice cafe and toilets is my idea of heaven.

We visited both of the Tattered Cover Bookstores in Denver, fabulous stores with so much atmosphere and a wonderful selection of books. We did have Borders stores in Australia but they have all closed down and we don't have any big bookshops (that I know of) with cafes and toilets and where they are happy for you to sit for hours reading. If anyone wants to open one up in Melbourne we would be regular customers

Another place we really liked is Panera Bread - tasty, healthy food at a cheap price. Such a good choice for a quick meal.

That's all I can think of for now. I made pages and pages of lists of things to do and see, mostly gained from this forum, but we didn't have time to do a lot of it. The wildlife sanctuary outside Denver was really worthwhile, although it was roasting hot when we were there, we arrived about 6pm and left as they were closing. Although we knew it would be summer in June, we didn't expect it to be so hot. Good thing we loved it!

Kay

Enjoying your report very much!

Thanks for much for posting Kay, I'm so glad you liked my homestate of CO!

As an American living in Australia, the first thing I notice when I go back to the US on a visit is the waste, the throwaway culture, as you call it. It makes me nuts, as does the overpackaging of just about everything, and yes, I doubt many Americans even notice it anymore. I once counted the pieces of trash my lunch at KFC generated and I was appalled...and I ate in, not take out.

I've found that many coffee shops in the US don't even offer real cups anymore - I always ask for one, and I'm often told they don't have them, or have just run out because they only have six, or whatever.

Perhaps businesses should offer real plates, cups and cutlery and then hire people to wash them - maybe this would help our economy

Enough about that...I've enjoyed your report. Reading others impressions of my country always interests me.

Thanks everyone for reading.

Hi Melnq8, I know what you mean about reading others impressions of your country, sometimes people question things you've never even thought of. We lived overseas for nearly 5 years and saw things quite differently - some good, some bad - when we returned.

There was a thread on the Australian forum a while ago where someone said how expensive it was in Australia to eat out and she got shouted down and locals said, oh no it's not. Well we would absolutely agree, we ate very cheaply in the US compared to what we could find in Australia.

About the cafes not having china cups, I wonder if a chain opened and used really good china, beautiful bone china cups and saucers, whether they'd get more or less people through the doors? I just love drinking out of gorgeous china. I suppose if people like to take coffee away it wouldn't work but we always like to sit and read or people-watch with our coffee.

We went to a lot of Starbucks on this trip and often had to make do with cardboard cups - ugh. You probably know that in Australia nearly all the Starbucks closed down a few years ago. We must be in the minority in Australia as we really like their coffee and thought it was great that they are everywhere in America. Makes a change from home where they are few and far between.

Kay

Kay - That might have been me who was shouted down for mentioning how expensive food is in Australia!

Good on ya for admitting you like Starbucks. I like their chai lattes. I can't seem to find a good chai latte in Perth, but I've more than made up for it in flat whites, which I'm now addicted to. I bemoan the lack of flat whites when I go back to the US.

There's nothing quite like living outside of one's on country to broaden the mind.

K, I wonder if you found IHOP while you were traveling. Last year I read a wonderful trip report of an Aussie family who spent 6 weeks here, similar to yours. They said the best kept American secret was IHOP. Excellent choice of good food at cheap prices. And open 24/7, and lots of them around. (And they use real dishes and real coffee cups. )

Made me have new appreciation for my local IHOP (which I like when I feel like eating breakfast for dinner.)

Love the trip report!

Hi sarge56, we have been to America many times but have never made it to an IHOP - yet! On early trips we used to see them but had no idea what they were, then one day we found it was International House of Pancakes and thought mmmm...

We saw a couple on this trip but the timing must have been wrong, either we'd just eaten or had other plans. We'll have to add it to the list for a return visit one day.

Kay

Kay,

I would really like your view on what Durango was like?? We are from Qld and I have been researching trying to find the perfect Christmas destination for us for next year. I am tossing up between Breckenridge (it's winning so far..lol), Steamboat Springs and Durango. I want a town where there is plenty of shopping and dining options as well as somewhere we can enjoy the winter activities. Plus we will have two young kids in tow.

We went to Estes Park several years ago (before kids came along) and I really enjoyed it there, so I really want to go back to Colorado and spend at least a week.

Loved your trip report!

Hi kelsta78, we didn't actually like Durango much but that could have been because we had driven all day - from Ouray to Telluride and all the way to Durango - and we left early the next morning. So we didn't see much. There is a long strip of motels and take-away places, we stayed in a crummy motel and I said as much in a TripAdvisor report. Just chose badly I think, especially with so much choice!

We went into the main street and had a walk, looked in a few shops but didn't hang about. We saw the steam train the next day, it was running alongside the road so we took a few photos from the car.

We stayed in Ouray and thought it was a nice place, not a lot of shopping (no malls or anything) but an attractive small town surrounded by towering mountains.

I love shopping over in America too and found on this trip there just weren't a lot of malls around. We did shop in Grand Junction but I don't think there would be skiing near there, it didn't seem to have the mountains or climate for snow and skiing. Locals, I'm sure, will tell me if I'm wrong

We also did lots of shopping near Broomfield and Boulder. We actually really liked Boulder, the Pearl St Mall had some terrific shops and it seemed to have a really good feel to it. By the way, the Pearl St Mall is not a big indoor mall, it's an open air pedestrianised street with buskers, outdoor cafes etc.

Hope that helps a bit. Let me know if you have other questions. Whereabouts in Qld do you live? We are flying soon to a family wedding in Brisbane.

Kay

Hint about credit cards, ATM cards when traveling. We use cash a lot in Europe and have previously carried two VISA debit/ATM cards - one of which always works whether we call before or not (worrisome) and one (where we usually have more money) that never does although we always call. First trip to Greece we had problems with card #2 and needed to get in touch with the bank but didn't want to spend a bunch of money on the phone. (And dealing with time differences is sometimes a headache.) Texted our daughter (using a prepaid Vonage Greek SIM in our unlocked phones that we have found the cheapest way for emergency contact) and asked her to find an email address for the bank manager. She texted it back and we emailed the manager. Unfortunately, the mgr. got things working in Athens but when we got to Meteora, it didn't work again. So we emailed. When we got to Nafplio, it didn't work again. And so on. But having an email address saved us a lot of phone call money. Now we always have email addresses for all bank managers or other "fix it people" for any cards we are taking.

Concerning the throw-away culture, it's not just dishes and product wraps. Too expensive to fix anything that costs less than $100, so the broken toaster goes to the landfill; a new laser printer costs less than a replacement cartridge for the old one. Drives a lot of people so crazy that disposable cups (cornstarch, as someone mentioned) seem minor. A lot of it is about the price of the end product. Labor costs more than "stuff". If they bought real china, the cost of paying someone to wash it would be greater than the disposables, so the cost of the meals would go up and consumers would complain. Many Americans would prefer not to generate so much trash but we also don't want to pay more for anything.

We have the Wild Animal Sanctuary (lions, tigers, and bears) near Denver on the agenda for a Colorado loop next month. Is this the one you visited? BTW, if you want wild animals, Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park are the two best destinations for animals by far (outside of Alaska). All kinds of animals are everywhere.

Sorry to hear you didn't like Durango. We have 3 nights/2 days scheduled for Durango, although not as a destination but a base for a morning at Aztec NM, the train ride to Silverton, etc. The most expensive hotels of our trip outside Denver are in Durango, and I really wonder why since most don't get great reviews. Should we slow down the drive from Black Canyon of the Gunnison and spend a night in Ouray instead of 3 in Durango, I wonder?

What a wonderful trip! I, too, enjoy reading the perspective of our country from a visitor. That area of the country is so beautiful and offers such diverse scenery.

I'm sorry to hear Aspen didn't treat you well. It is a lovely place but yes, there can be a lot of poor attitudes and most are summer transplants I would guess. We enjoy visiting in the summer and have found it to be wonderful as a whole. And, I agree about how we are so very wasteful here in the US.

Thanks for sharing your views of your trip with us.

kelsta and polly - please do not dismiss Durango as a place to visit. I think Kay's stay was under less than good circumstances and for such a short time, that it really isn't reflective of Durango.

I lived full time near Durango for 5 years and now part-time. It is a wonderful place that is more reasonably priced than it's showier cities to the north [Vail, Aspen etc]. It is family oriented where people are true outdoor lovers and leave pretension at the city lines.

There are lots of things to do and places to see, beyond the area that Kay stayed. Parks, lakes, trails, good - no great- restaurants. There are B&B's, ranchs besides the basic motels where Kay found herself.

Ouray is cute, but tiny. It is easy enough to drive there from Durango. St Elmo's B&B is a nice place to stay. Restaurants are limited and for the most part, mediocre.

http://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/durango-restaurant-picks-by-debitnm.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/st-elmo-bb----ouray-colorado-trip-report.cfm

I love Durango too.

Labor is actually pretty darn cheap in the US compared to Australia Polly - minimum wage is much higher here (for instance, $13.17 for a junior or trainee 19 year old employee). Plus double pay on Sundays and 2.5 x pay on holidays (or thereabouts). Yes, prices are higher too, but it's not because the food outlets use real dishes and cutlery.

I was in a food court in a mall this week - there was hardly a food wrapper to be found - even the food court was using real plates and cutlery.

kay, just to clarify.. IHOP may be the "International House of Pancakes", but they serve all different kinds of foods, including lunch and dinner foods. (Crepes, spaghetti, meatloaf, sandwhiches, etc.)

It's just that I really like their breakfast choices. And they actually have pretty good coffee, too!

We are farmers and live on property near Dalby. I grew up in Brisbane though.

We stayed in Boulder also on our last trip there and had lunch in the Pearl Street Mall. Loved it. Plan to do more shopping on our next trip. Last time we moved around too much, this time I want to stay put in a few areas so we can relax, shop and just enjoy it. Plus with kids this time I don't want to travel too much.

Last trip we saw Las Vegas, Nashville, Memphis, Hutchinson Kansas, Boulder and Estes Park. This next trip we will probably fly into LA, do the Disneyland thing with the kids and San Diego for a week. I want to spend at least a week in Colorado, probably Breckenridge as we can base there and do day trips if the weather is good. My husband wants us all to try snowboarding so I will have to look into lessons. And then we will visit farming friends in Kansas for a few days, drive to Dallas/Fort Worth for a few days before flying home from there (thanks to the new direct flights to Brisbane from there). I love researching, so am always reading trip reports for ideas! Can't wait to try IHOP, didn't see one of them last time I was there - but wasn't looking either.
Kelly

Hutchinson Kansas?

Pardon my ignorance, but why there?

Never mind, I missed the bit about friends in Kansas.

I agree with DebitNM, it's fair to say we didn't give Durango much of a go, with such a short stay, and staying in a motel with a dreadful bed and no hot water didn't enhance the mood.

Yes, that was the Wild Animal Sanctuary outside Denver that we visited, with bears, tigers, lions, wolves etc. We really loved seeing the animals but it was distressing reading some of the information boards where you can read why they ended up there.

We have been to Yellowstone and Glacier and up into Canada too, and saw loads of wild animals on that trip. We love seeing animals in the wild so much we will probably go back to Canada again, where there seems to be more wildlife.

To Kelly - we like Cracker Barrel as well, a chain of country style / homestyle cooking restaurants, very cheap and welcoming of children. You might like to eat there, they are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner - no alcohol if that matters. They also have a little shop as you walk in, with some nice gifty type things. I've had Americans who are a bit horrified that we would eat there but each to their own.

We always look forward to visiting some of the chain restaurants that we like in America, we don't have that chain restaurant culture in Australia. There's really only McDonalds, KFC and Hungry Jacks (Burger King), nothing else I can think of. We did have Dennys, Sizzler and The Keg but they have long gone.

Thinking about it, I suppose you travel to experience something different and this is different for us.

Kay

I wonder if the epic drought has led to more use of disposable tableware: save water by not washing dishes. I remember being instructed to do so during a water shortage a few years back.

I never in a million years would have thought that our "chain restaurant culture" would appeal to foriegn tourists. Too funny!

I read somewhere in years past that Denny's is THE PLACE for Italians. In fact, took a Dutch friend to a Denny's for breakfast a few years ago and she fell in love. Most of the attraction seems to be the large quantity for the small price compared to food in Europe. The places mentioned earlier in the post like Cracker Barrel and IHOP are restaurants (and I use the word loosely) DH and I wouldn't go near and keep trail mix, fruit, stuff for sandwiches with us when we're driving in the hinterlands so we won't have to. In a pinch, we will go to a Red Lobster or a Romano's but mostly we avoid chains like the plague. Yet we have discovered later than we have eaten in a regional chain without realizing it. And we eat in a chain now and then in a foreign country. Think maybe an example of familiarity breeding contempt - probably the natives sneer at the chains I might eat at in Europe or the western US.

KayF- I hope you're planning on at least 3 days in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. You could certainly find much more than 3 days worth of stuff to do here! (Especially if you like shopping. You found the right place for that in DFW!!) ahaha

Make sure you put Cowboy Stadium and the Sixth Floor Museum on your "must do" when you come to town. (And we propably have at least a couple dozen IHOP's in the immediate area. I live in Arlington and we have at least 3 that I know of.)

I agree Kay, the different food is part of the whole experience. We are getting kitchens in most of our accommodation and will be self catering a bit as I was craving home cooking after our last trip.

I am also planning a trip to the wildlife sanctuary after reading about it on here. We are planning on about 3 nights in Fort Worth, we want to go to the stockyards etc. And the Fort Worth Zoo.

We patronise a small coffee shop in Oakland,CA, and order or coffee "for here" rather than"to go". Thus, we get it in real cup/saucer combo. It tastes better,and we feel virtous!!

That is "our"coffee

kelsta, you'll love the FW Zoo. It is one of my favorite's. Don't miss the new "Museum of Living Art" herpetarium. It is awesome! http://www.fortworthzoo.org/

And since you're in that neighborhood, about a mile up the road is the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. Fabulous! http://fwbg.org/

My local Starbucks has crockery cups and saucers, which I always request on the rare times I go there. I have to be desperate to drink coffee from a paper cup or styrofoam cup.

I don't find Starbucks coffee to be very good. I yearn for the old days when I could get a delicious cappuchino in a little cup that was brown on the outside and white on the inside. There would be a little foam on the top and a tiny metal spoon in the saucer. I have found the same type of presentation and level of tastiness in Rome.

I enjoyed reading your impressions of these areas in the States. It's always enlightening to read someone else's take on your country.

Next time you visit the States, an area that I recommend is the Colorado Springs area and anywhere between Denver and Colorado Springs along Interstate 25. Another nice area is Aspen, Colorado, which is only accessible during the summer months (winter in Australia) due to the fact it is accessed by one state highway which is a scary drive with very sharp curves, but it is worth every second. Another great place is Pikes Peak about 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of Colorado Springs. Once at the summit, on a clear day, you can even see Denver which is very close to 100 miles (161 kilometers) away. All four areas I have mentioned are very good heat getaways. They also offer amazing scenery. I highly recommend visiting this beautiful area. P.S. What you saw in Colo. Springs with them fires and stuff, the area is still very beautiful.