| California (& other bits) Jo left to travel a month before me and the plan was for her to spend some time in Mexico and to meet up with me in LA. After an UNBEARABLE time trying to leave Mexico, waiting three hours at US immigration, Mel and Jo finally and cross into America. Jo: San Diego however is so cool!!! We went to LA Jolla today and saw lots of seals in a seal reserve, and sat in the sun for a while with a jazz concert being held in the park nearby. This place is like paradise compared to Mexico! But very different in a lot of ways.� Jo and Mel then make their way on to LA, and spend some time with Mel�s relatives in Orange County. Meanwhile, after a trip to the Mediterranean Cafe, which must be the MOST Mediterranean cafe in the whole of London, I begun my trip and left for LA. The LAX airport had a shooting the day before, which happened the floor above where I got in and had only just reopened. The draconian immigration official that was dealing with me very nearly wouldn�t let me through. Official: The space on your form for the address where you�re staying tonight is blank. Me: Yes, well you see my girlfriend has made the booking today, so I don�t actually know the details. Official: Well, I�m afraid that we can�t let you through until we have that. Me: Well, I don�t know it. Maybe you could ask my girlfriend who should be waiting for me just outside. Official: I�m afraid we can�t do that. You have to put the address down Me: But I�m I don�t have the address. Official: Look, I�m trying to help you out here. And so on. Eventually, I write down an address for a hotel that I�ve got the details for that we�re staying at later on in San Francisco. I was shell shocked at the jobsworthsness of these officials. Anyway, I finally made it through the customs and meet up with Joanne who is waiting for me on the other side. She is wired, after driving through the manic LA traffic all the way from Orange County. LA While we were in LA we stayed at a Motel in Santa Monica. We drove around a lot and took in the various sights - Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Sunset Boulevard, and UCLA. We were tempted to buy a �Star Map� and sake a sneaky peek at some of the houses of the stars, but in the end couldn�t be arsed. The thing about LA is that everything is BIG. Big cars, big roads, big food, big people. Driving around felt like the computer game Grand Theft Auto - it�s the peppy radio ads that do it. "I want my baby back baby back baby back ribs" is the ad that was on the most and infected my mind. It�s no wonder that Americans have such a big problem. You drive everywhere, and the main dining option seems to be junk food. Our experience was mostly fast-food anyway - terrible I know but it�s the quick and easy option. A couple of weeks in, I thought to myself �If I ever have another Burger King meal it will be too soon�. We had a nice Happy Days style dining experience in "Mels Diner" in San Francisco, where they recorded some scenes for the George Lucas film "American Graffiti" I went to Universal studios which was pretty funky, but very hot. I enjoyed seeing the backlot tour which showed a lot of the scenery from some old school films including the clock tower from "Back to the Future". They were filming "The Hulk" at the time of the tour, but the shoot was closed to the public. Also at Universal was the rock musical "Spiderman Rocks" which was a little bit gay - there was this whole flirtation thing between Mary Jane and the Green Goblin to the No Doubt tune "Hey Baby", for example. Leaving LA, we met up with Mel had a 12 hour drive along the scenic highway 1 from LA to San Francisco. There were some really stunning views along the coast, passing lots of interesting places. This included Gilroy, �the garlic capital of the world" apparently. It boasts the following catchphrase: " mmm... garlic!� I think they were being serious. San Francisco San Francisco is a lovely hilly city. It�s a lot less hot than LA and is frequently covered in fog. The centre of the city is made up of several very distinct districts. Its like they designed a block in isolation and then plonked them down all next to each other - the financial, slum, Chinatown, warf, gay and druggy areas all sitting next to each other. We did a lot of walking about which was interesting but tired out my poor wee feet. At one point we wondered into the slum area of Tenderloin to catch a bus which was a tad unnerving, but wasn't too bad. The fog obscured the views of the city a little - the fantastic views that are meant to be seen of the Golden Gate Bridge" and from "Twin Peaks" couldn't be seen. I went to visit Alcatraz - "Wish you were here" and all that (boom boom). It lies just north of San Francisco and it must have been a pretty spooky site when it was still open. As you walk around you hear an audio commentary which features recordings from famous prisoners and is quite eerie. A few days after the trip, I was able to see "The Rock" and "Escape from Alcatraz" films which was a little freaky - seeing the sights that I had just seen a little while before in person. Yosemite Park Next stop was Yosemite Park, a beautiful National Park East of San Fran. They have the oldest and largest trees in the world (sequoia) that grow 40ft wide, 300ft tall and live for 3000 years and granite monoliths with a sheer face of 13000 ft straight up from just a meadow. We stayed 3 nights and slept in a canvas cabin - a kind of tent/cabin hybrid thing. The sights around the park were beuoootiful, but it was too hot for too much hiking. We took in the sights and cooled off at the pool. We managed to see coyote and deer, but no bears or mountain lions. The park is famous for its bears - and you have to store all food and smelly things (such as toothpaste & suncream) in a steel bear-proof locker. The first night we stayed there I woke up in the night and heard these rustling & breathing noises outside and saw this giant shadow on the side of the tent. I convinced myself that it was a bear outside and was a little freaked out (I'm still not sure if it was or not). Anyways, the next couple of nights I slept much better with earplugs in. The next stop was Death Valley, where it gets so hot that thermometers can actually burst. It was about 48 degrees when we drove through it. We stopped along the way at a little town called Beaty. The most entertaining thing about the drive was passing all the brothels (3 along an otherwise deserted freeway) on the way there. "Shady Lady" brothel for all those tired mother truckers missing home. I don't really have too much to say about Death Valley as essentially it�s just hot and a desert and not too much else. Las Vegas We've been staying at Circus Circus in Las Vegas, which is a casino based on a ... circus theme. It�s got a big indoor amusement park and a big top area, where circus acts perform every half hour. We had a look around most of the casinos, but didn't really get up to any gambling. The headache inducing "ding ding ding" of the machines was pretty annoying, and the fatties with their bucket of change, continually feeding it into the machines really put me off. Most of the casinos are pretty spectacular and have free attractions to lure you in. It is just as well that they are such nice air-conditioned places to visit, as it was Its soooooooooooooooo hot, (the Nelly song kept getting played to death btw)- 39 degrees (104) at 10.30 one morning we checked. We went to Rio (with a carnival style show in the sky), Mirage (which has Seigfreid & Roy's beautiful tigers and dolphins cooped up), Treasure Island (with its mediocre pirate battle), the Venetian (a recreation of the Palazzo Ducale from Venice and is surrounded by canals inside and out with gondolas Flamingo (with its manky looking Flamingos and Penguins), and Caesars Palace (with camp looking roman soldiers). Vegas is also famous for its buffets, and we had one at the Sahara - lots of food piled on with as many repeat servings as you want. I could feel myself getting fatter before I even started. Vegas is also famous for its big shows (particularly magic), so Jo and I went to see the magicians Penn & Teller's show at the Rio. I really enjoyed their TV shows so was looking forward to it. Jo thought she�d be too squeamish, I dragged her along. The show was pretty cool, and they performed their famous catching the bullet in the teeth trick. Afterwards they came outside to meet the audience, so we were able to meet them and get photos taken with them. One diverting afternoon was spent trying to find STA travel on Marlin Parkway. Hours later, we found out the road we were looking for was MARYLAND. Curse the Americans and their slightly different accents. From Vegas we decided not to go to the Grand Canyon because Jo got ill in Vegas (tummy bug - probably from bad water) and we had already done a lot of driving, so we extended our time in Vegas so that she could recover a little. Instead we went for a day trip to Zion Canyon National Park. Absolutely nothing is just down the road in the states, but this was relatively close - only 2 hours away. It is a red rock canyon very similar to the Grand Canyon so it gave us a fair idea. It was soooo hot again; we had been in the desert for quite a while, and this really was no exception, probably about 50 C (130F). On the way home we drove back in the dark and could hear this strange popping sound, which on our return to Vegas we found was the coke cans exploding in the boot in the heat! We found out that the average temperature in Vegas and around is about 39C (109F). Temperatures in the shade reach 65C (175F) and temperatures in cars can reach 200F within minutes. Needless to say it was absolutely shocking and sad to hear two news stories within one week, of parents leaving their children in cars for several hours causing their deaths. After Vegas we drove down to the glitzy desert retreat of Palm Springs for three days. It was gorgeous and quite reasonable but unbearably hot again. We took things fairly easy and went on a trip up the Arial Tramway (which has the largest revolving cable car in the world apparently). We did a day trip to Joshua Tree National Park which was really cool. We saw millions of Joshua Trees (strange Dr Seuss type cactus trees) and we saw a Coyote and a Road runner!! meep meep! But Jo also stubbed her toe on a cholla cactus which was really painful and made her feet bleed. The thorns have spines which makes them really hard to get out. We stayed at Mel's uncle's house in La Habra (Orange County near LA) to relax for a few days before flying out to NZ. It was lovely to be able to rest and wash our clothes and be in a house again, so it made a real difference. We got on our flight and were sat next to what I can only describe as a pure evil child. Screaming and hitting his mother, throwing things. The mother did not discipline him one bit so the flight crew knocked the bugger out with a sedative. Then the little... started snoring! We had two wait on the plane for two hours before take off while they escorted some unwanted passengers off the plane, then we flew 14 hours to NZ. About Contents Email |