From the UK to the UK via CA, NV, UT and OR

Trip Report

Day 1 – London / Los Angeles


After a ridiculously early start, my National Express coach deposited me at Heathrow in plenty of time to allow a relaxing massage in the Concord Room – this is a first for me and proved a very pleasant way to start my trip.

Boarding the plane it appeared that I was going to have the entire cabin to myself.

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However another couple of people boarded shortly before take off – this still meant that I was able to have 2 areas to myself, one set up for sleeping and the other for working – quite the best way to travel I'm sure!!

The flight proved uneventful, with just a little turbulance to deal with and soon enough we were landing in the city of angels.

Prior to leaving the UK, I had arranged a hire car with Budget and after a short wait in LAX to get my oversize baggage back I was collecting my steed for the next 22 days.

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It has possibly the most intoxicating engine note I've ever heard coming from a 6 and I can already tell it's going to be tough to give it back!

A quick trip to Santa Monica and I was checking into the Seashore Motel, my home for the next 2 days.
No time to waste and I take a trip to the famous 3rd street promenade

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Before walking down to the beach and out on the pier.

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The pier has been through a number of changes in its 100 year plus history, coming very close to demolition midway through the last century.
Happily some forward thinking locals convinced the powers that be that it was a national treasure worth saving – judging by the number of people present on an overcast April day, I'd say they've succeeded.

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Close to the pier is the world famous muscle beach.

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Not much going on there this afternoon, but the whole sea front is alive with people walking, cycling rollerblading and the like – its a very nice area and I thoroughly enjoyed my walk around.

Heading back to the motel it's time to grab some dinner before hitting the sack.
Up early tomorrow to start my holiday proper.

I didn't even know there really was such a thing. :)

I look forward to your next installment.

Wow, that looks like an awesome road car -- might be a little tough on the storage of gear -- but oh my, what a sleek little hot rod!

Mark

What is that - a 350Z?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by glc

What is that - a 350Z?

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Yep, it's a 350Z Roadster and Mark's quite right, storage is a bit of an issue, as is gas mileage (13.6 ave since I picked it up, but hey.... it fitted right in in Beverley Hills today!!

Day 2 report follows shortly

I, for one, am looking forward to this year's trip report -- you've always had such good photos in the past.

Mark

Day 2 – Los Angeles

The alarm raised me from the dead at 6.30 this morning and in short order I was collecting my tea from Starbucks and lowering the roof on the car, ready to take the 13 mile trip to Warner Brother's studios where I had pre-booked their tour for 8.20am

LA traffic however is as bad as everyone says and it was 8.20 before I even pulled into the lot.

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Luckily the tour was running a little late, and I made it into the briefing room to start the tour wirth moments to spare.

After a brief orientation video, the guided tour starts proper.
We were taken outside and seated in a small open electric vehicle which then set off into the secure areas of the Warner complex.

The tour route changes daily depending on what is being filmed in the area at the time, today there was nothing being filmed as it is “the off season.”
This is the time of year when all the shows have finished their filming runs and the networks film pilots for new shows and test them in front of live audiences
(tickets for these tapings are free of charge from warner)

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This is the set from a new series called Eastwick – a spin off from the movie the witches of Eastwick.

Todays tour was fascinating, a real behind the scenes look at how shows are made – we visited the stage for the show 2 and a half men, as well as walking through several properties that have been used in many shows.

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This corner building was used for all the external shots of Central Perk in Friends

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And here's the internal part, set up, as it was during filming, in a completely seperate soundstage.
The stars of friends still make $24m US each per year from synication and merchandise!


The sets for the hit show ER were still being broken down, following the end of its historical 15 season run.

After the tour finished, I headed into Hollywood and jumped on one of the open top tour buses.
As anyone who's read my previous reports knows, I love these tours, they provide a fantastic overview of a wide area without the hassle of parking and navigating.

This one starts right on the walk of fame, I'm unsure about the walk, I wonder if the sheer number of people who have stars here has diluted its iportance (Britney Spears already has a star for example)
No-one could argue that this one is not deserved however

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The starlight tour covers 18 miles of prime real estate throughout the Hollywood area and with its hop-on hop-off policy allowed me to walk Rodeo Drive,

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I also jumped off the bus at the world-famous La Brea tar pits – this is not only a tourist site, but also a working excavation (albeit only for a few months a year)

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Many of the things that they have recovered here are on display in the attached museum – this is a little bland and although it's only $7 I wasn't that impressed.

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Just down the road is the Petersen Auto Museum ($10) a collection of interesting vehicles from the past 100 years. The entry is tricky to find (it's actually in the attached parking lot)
but once inside it's an excellent journey through automotive history.
From the elegence of 1920s Rolls Royces

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to the powerhouse that is the current Bugatti Veyron there's enough here to sate the urges of most petrolheads!

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As the tour ended back at the Chinese theater, I heard dozens of girls screaming – as no-one knew I was on the bus, I figured that they weren't cheering for me!
It turns out that a teen movie actor by the name of Zac Efron was in town to attend the premier of his new movie 17 again – apparently the scraggy haired actor is quite a hit with the ladies!!

One thing left to do today – bag a photo of the iconic Hollywood sign

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i'd been tipped off that the best place to get a picture is from the Griffith Observatory, high in the hills above LA
I'd expected the observatory to be closed, as it was now 6pm, but in fact it's open until 10pm and, apart from the planetarium it's also completely free.

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I ended up heading first into the optical telescope on the roof.
During the evening hours this is set up to allow views of Saturn and its rings

Heading into the observatory museum proper, visitors are taken through a historical timeline of both the observatory and the skies – fascinating stuff and very child friendly.

The final stop is the Planetarium, this live show takes 30 minutes and costs $7 – money well spent as it's a fascinating trip through the stars.

Enough for one day! grabbing a pizza I set the sat-nav for the motel.

Yeah, you gotta love that LA traffic --

Enjoying the tale -- keep it up.

Mark

Great report !

I can almost see Joey, Chandler and co having a coffee in Central perk.

I too love the 'Z' and continue to keep an eye on prices, although I fear it will be a couple of years yet. Untill then I will have the howl of the V6 coming on song ringing in my ears !

Look forward to more.

Day 3 – Los Angeles / San Diego

A much simpler day planned today, I drive down the famous route 1 to Long Beach, the scenery is as fantastic as I've been told.

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I spend an age trying to find somewhere to park as the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is in town this weekend and all the roads appear to be closed!

Eventually I manage to park at the aquarium and go buy a ticket for a boat tour of the bay.
This doesn't leave for over an hour, so I've plenty of time to walk around the harbour and admire the lighthouse and the city as a whole.

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The harbour has been designed to look like a boat, complete with portholes in the supporting wall. Very cool.

The boat trip is a short 45 minute narrated trip around the harbour and includes sights of serveral of Long Beach's oil wells cunningly disguised as man made islands!
We see sea lions basking in the sun

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and get an up close look at the Queen Mary, once England's finest vessel, now a hotel and tourist attraction – interestingly she's almost twice the size and weight of Titanic – I guess things always look bigger in the movies!

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After the trip returns to the harbour, I head off down I-5 to Disney and spend the next 8 hours getting alternately wet and sunburnt!

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After a fantastic fireworks show – I dread to think of the amount of money they must spend on pyrotechnics – I hit the road for the 90 minute trip to the campsite just outside San Diego.

Day 4 – San Diego

Arrived at the campsite very late last night, so consequently was up late this morning, much to do, so off early.

The Coronado bridge connects San Diego with Coronado with spans rising to 248ft above sea level to allow the miltary hardware anchored at the local base to pass underneath.

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The drive then takes in the famous Hotel Coronado – apart from the famous movie filmed here (some like it hot) there's another interesting back story to this place – the people who owned all the land here dodn't have the money to develop the hotel that they wanted, so they organised a land auction, advertised all over the US, the number of people who showed up ensured that by mid-afternoon on the first day of a two day auction they had not only recouped their entire investment, but also had enough money to build the finest hotel in the West

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I'm a huge roller coaster fan, and the Giant Dipper coaster at Mission Park is one of the finest original wooden built coasters left.
There are no queues for the ride, and 6 bucks later Im left wondering where my lunch went!
Awesome!!

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San Diego has a city tour with a difference, using old-style trolley busses rather than double deckers. The trolleys start from the seafront, so I park in the cruise terminal car parks (they're huge and cost $10 for the whole day) and climb on.
The tours are hop-on hop-off and I plan to use them as a way to see the city.

There's a great tour guide on the first trolley I catch, and his pun-filled narration causes the passengers to groan and laugh in equal measure – I'm not too sure about his claim that San Diego has its own stonehenge though!!

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The trip also takes us over the Coronado Bridge again, allowing me to get a photo of downtown San Diego, Manhattan it isn't, but so far I'm impressed with the city.

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Next stop is Balboa Park, this city park was designed and built more than 100 years ago, and is beautifully maintained today, it contains a number of great museums and tourist attractions.

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The first of the museums that I venture into is the model railway museum, this is basically a number of historically accurate and very expensive layouts of various famous Western US railroads, it's good, but doesn't take more than 30 minutes to wander around.

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The San Diego history museum is right next door, unfortunately it doesn't really deliver on its name, again it only takes 20 minutes to see, and my advice would be not to bother!

Hopping back on the trolley, I'm alarmed to discover that it's already 3.30, this means that my plan to visit the USS Midway has gone up in smoke, as the last admission is 4pm and by the time the trolley gets back to the sea front, it's closed.
This is a real shame, as it's the attraction I was looking forward to most in San Diego... oh well, I'll just have to come back!

My plans changed somewhat, I head to little Italy for an early dinner, before heading out to Point Loma to watch the sunset.

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Heading back to the campsite, I'm tucked up early! Another day tomorrow.

Day 5 – Road Trip, San Diego to Phoenix

As per the title, the plan for today was to drive from San Diego to Phoenix, via a number of state roads and National Parks, staying off the Interstate as much as possible.

Heading out of San Diego, my first port of call is Anza Borego Desert State Park, the scenery all along my route is breathtaking, and the roads are simply awesome – I think I've permanently strained my face from smiling so much.

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The Z is a fantastic car for the roads, fast and responsive, I'm not sure how I've managed to complete today without a ticket!

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A ways down the road, the rocks and mesquite of Anza Borego have turned into the type of sand dunes I've not seen since Gran Canaria.

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There's a scenic overlook here, and I pull off the road to find that the area has been taken over by people driving special vehicles over the dunes.
Chatting to one of the families, I'm told that this activity is not only completely legal, but is actually encouraged – just a small difference from the UK then!!

The vehicles are amazing, spaceframe chassis with a Corvette motor, specialist tyres and about 460bhp – the heights they reach whilst dune-jumping is quite a sight.

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My last stop of the day is the Petroglyph site just outside of Phoenix, these engravings have been here for hundreds of years and are are presented along with displays of how the area used to look hundreds of years ago – an arid plain complete with wide flowing rivers – somewhat different today!!

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Rolling into Morristown AZ I'm alarmed to discover that the campsite I had planned on staying in doesn't appear to exist and thanks to Nascar being in town, just about every hotel in the Greater Phoenix area is full – eventually I find a Motel6 for the night.

Day 6 – Phoenix

Busy day again today – aren't they all!!

First stop is the desert botanical gardens at Popago park – this place is simply amazing.
I'm already in awe of the scenery around Phoenix following the drive to get to the park this morning, wandering around here however takes it to a different level.

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The variety of plant life and the way it's adapted to its environment makes for an interesting couple of hours.

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Heading into downtown Phoenix, I stop at the Heard Museum – this is a small place, tucked away down a side street, yet it's one of the most famous museums in the Southern US.

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It's famous because of its subjet matter, telling the stories of the dozens of tribes that lived in this part of the world, their culture, history crafts and current status.
It's both compelling and shocking at the same time, detailing the US attitude to Native Americans a scant 150 years ago.

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I follow the Heard up with a visit to the Arizona Science Centre – this turns out to be mainly for kids, with dozens of hands-on exhibits and demonstrations – it's good though, and the kids present really seemed to enjoy it.
They have a Star Trek exhibition going on at the moment, but as I hate Star Trek I give it a miss!

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Final stop of the day is Taliesin – Frank Lloyd Wright's Southern home. It's now a museum, open only with a guided tour – I just make the 4pm tour and I'm really glad I did,

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The guide really knows her stuff and it's amazing to hear just how many things that we take for granted today have their origins with this one egotistical, eccentric man.
Things like car ports and open plan living areas started with Frank Lloyd Wright.

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I picked up a flyer earlier in the day for an 'authentic steak restaurant' where the steaks are all cooked over mesquite – it's just down the road in Scotsdale so I decide to give it a try.
Pulling up outside, my Z is dwarfed by all thee trucks and I appear to be the only person not wearing a stetson – no one minds though and the steak is superb.

Im now in Show Low in northern Arizona, looking forward to a 700 mile day tomorrow.

Day 7 – Northern Arizona / Las Vegas

As I thought, a long day behind the wheel today, started off witth a scenic drive through the Painted Desert national park, there are more ancient petroglyphs here, 675 on one area of rocks to be precise

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The view in parts of the park is genuinely out of this world.

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It even includes a section of land that used to be route 66 – marked only by telephone poles now.

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On my way to Sedona, I had two further stops to make – the first, as I'm an Eagles fan (the group, not the team) is Winslow Arizona.

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Sadly there's no girl in it, but there is a flat bed Ford as I stand on the corner in this one-horse town,

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Were it not for the Eagles, there would be no reason to visit this place, but they've built a successul little tourist industry based around that one song and the fact they're located on route 66

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The second stop is two guns

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This is an abandoned mining settlement that unfortunately is now totally trashed – the tip to stop off here came from a report written many years ago and I would update it by saying don't bother!

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Sedona is a lovely little town, reached by driving one of the best roads I've driven on, the Z is well up to the challenge, unfortunately most of the other drivers on the road are not, and it takes 45 minutes to drive the 27 miles.

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When I arrive, I park up and go and join a trolley tour of the area, this takes us up to a chapel that was built by one of the founders of the area, although she had links to Frank Lloyd Wright, she always claimed that he had no influence on the design – having been to Taliesin yesterday, I'm not so sure!!

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Fantastic views from the site make it obvious why the church was built here.

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It's a 3.5hr drive to Vegas from here, by the time I get to the MGM Grand which is to be my home for the next 4 days it's so late that there's no queue at check in.

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There is still entertainment however and the duelling pianos in the Times Square bar in NYNY are a great way to end the day.

Day 8 – Las Vegas.

Woke up today feeling like the duelling pianos were still being played inside my skull, so had a relaxed morning exploring the Titanic exhibition at the Luxor.

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This exhibition is amazing, it's a walk through the timeline of Titanic, from her build to that fatal voyage, everything on display has been salvaged from the wreck and there are panels with quotes from survivors.

I ride the coasters at NYNY,

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Stratosphere and Sahara before ending the day by heading to the fountains at the Bellagio.

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Good to hear that the car is handling well -- and great that you were able to find a way to post some more smaller sized images -- WRT the ones from San Diego, I may be able to resize and post them today. (if I can still open them on your storage server). (Are you attending the NAB show? I just wondered about the timing of your visit here. I'll be over at the convention center later this morning).

mark

Day 9 – Las Vegas

Today’s title should probably read Death Valley, as that’s where I headed early this morning.

It’s a longer drive than road maps would suggest to get there, but the road (highway 95) is fantastic, with open sightlines and straights that go on for miles, so the trip passed quickly!

First port of call is Rhyolite ghost town, unlike 2 guns a couple of days ago, this site is actually actively preserved and is really quite spooky.
It was originally a mining community, but when the jobs went away, so did the people.

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Next stop Scotty’s castle.

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This wonderful place never actually belonged to Scotty, nor did he pay a penny towards its near $2m (in the 1920’s) pricetag.
Scotty was a chancer of the highest order, swindling many people out of large sums of money to fund a non-existent gold mine.
He found a kindred spirit in a Northern money man though, and he built the castle, even going so far as to give Scotty a room there, despite the fact that Scotty conned him for thousands of dollars!

It’s open for tours only and is one of the high points of my trip so far.

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Ubehebe crater was created 2000 years ago when pressures beneath the surface finally reached breaking point and vast quantities of rock was thrown hundreds of feet.

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Badwater is the lowest point in the continental US at 282ft below sea level, it’s hot hot hot – 110 degrees at 3.30pm according to the car, fascinating place though.

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Leaving, I pass through sea level again.

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Zabriskie Point offers stunning views of Death Valley.


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Artists Drive is a 13 mile one-way scenic trip through a landscape that looks like it’s been imported from the moon – utterly amazing.

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The final stop of the day is Dante’s View. It’s 5479ft above sea level and some 18 degrees cooler than Badwater.

A couple of points to note for anyone that retraces my steps.
There is no fuel available at Scotty’s Castle anymore, in anything other than the most frugal of cars, you will not make a return trip from Vegas on one tank – my total mileage today was 428 miles.
There is fuel at Beatty on highway 95 and also at the Furnace Creek Visitors Centre (you’ll pay $1 a gallon more here though)
Take plenty of water and sunscreen – the heat is really debilitating and there is no shade anywhere!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mark Sedenquist

What's supposed to happen is that all images are automatically sized to no more than 600 pixels wide -- I am not really sure why this hasn't worked here.

Checking it now. (It appears that the images were too large for the auto-sizing application to handle). I've removed them temporarily -- )

Mark

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If you want to give me the ability to edit my old posts again, I'll re-host those pics Wednesday evening which will solve the issue!

And no, I'm not here for the convention, just a co-incidence!

Day 10 – Las Vegas

My final full day in Vegas today, so I want to make it count.

An early phone call to Grand Canyon Tours reveals that there is space on the 1.30pm Canyon Landing helicopter tour. I was determined before I started this trip that I would do a helicopter trip to the canyon, so it’s duly booked, leaving me 4hrs to kill before the limo pickup.

I use this time to head out to the Hoover Dam and take a tour.

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The dam is an amazing structure, hundreds of feet tall and more than two football fields thick at the base, it holds back billions of gallons of water whilst supplying 7 states with part of their power and water needs through the hydroelectric plant it contains.
Apparently the water level of Lake Mead is some 45ft below optimal – the white, lower part of the rocks above marks where the level should be. It’s not been there since 1983

You can clearly see the current status of the new highway that’s being built – scheduled to open at the end of 2010 apparently.

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The tour was excellent, I would recommend the full hour tour though, it’s more expensive, but for anyone with an engineering bent it is real interesting, showing clearly the top 30ft of the 70ft turbines used to generate the electricity.

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Back to the MGM in time for the limo to pick me up and take me to the helicopter section of the airport.

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The tour I’ve booked takes about 4hrs door to door and was worth every penny of the pricetag.

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The scenery we flew over, the picnic on the floor of the canyon and the flight up the strip to end with made it the most memorable experience of my holiday so far.

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I even got a photo of my home for the last 4 days

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Final call for the day was the American Legends show at the Stratosphere.

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The less said about this the better, a very poor show, with look-alikes that only look like the real thing if you’re Stevie Wonder and, with the exception of the Christina Aguillera act, had poor voices to boot.
For some reason they also perform mainly obscure songs rather than the hits…. One to avoid I’m afraid.

I am enjoying the report and pictures and they are bringing back fond memory's ! I would love to have a day out in one of those sand buggy's, it must be awesome fun.

Shame about the legends show but looking at the last pic it couldn't of been all bad ;-)

Day 11 – Las Vegas / Salt Lake City

Leaving Las Vegas today was a bit of a wrench, I’ve really enjoyed my time here and will definitely return.

Checked out of the hotel and then hopped on the monorail to go see the Auto Collections at the Imperial Palace Casino.
This is a collection of some 300 vehicles, all of which are for sale, they range from one of a kind classics to concourse versions of popular 80s cars.

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Getting on the road, I head toward SLC, stopping first at Zion National Park

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This place is great, a winding road that leads through several tunnels with scenery as above for miles and miles.
They run shuttle busses up to various view points, but with a minimum round trip time of 2hrs I have to pass unfortunately.

Next stop is Bryce Canyon National Park, the journey here is one of Michelin North America’s scenic drives, and they’ve chosen well.

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Bryce itself has a half dozen observation points looking out across the canyon.

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This section of the canyon was created over the course of millions of years by the passage and power of water – the photos really don’t do it justice.

It’s a fairly long drive to SLC from here, and it’s just gone midnight when I pull into the hotel.

Day 12 – Salt Lake City

Mormon capital of the world, I really wasn’t sure what to expect from SLC, I’d read online that a trip around Temple Square would result in endless attempts by Mormon missionaries to “convert” me.

I decided to wake up by taking a tour around the State Capitol.

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The tour here is split into two parts, one showing off the technology used to refurbish and secure the building’s future (earthquake proofing by means of huge rubber and metal plates) – very neat.

The second part takes you through the building, access into everywhere except the governers office is available and the tour is free.

The building used to house all government functions for SLC and over years many of the architectural features had been hidden away (the original elevators had been turned into trash shutes)
The restoration revealed all these things, the building is now in fine shape.

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The senate, house and supreme court chambers are still used, but much like my last trip to DC, no-one’s in session today!

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Time to hit Temple Square now.
This is a 35 acre site right in the middle of downtown that is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints.
It’s centre piece is the 6 spired cathedral; as a holy site, this isn’t open to tours, but if the inside is as impressive as the outside then…….

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The assembly hall is open however and the docents aren’t too bad, they like to slip quotes from “the book of Mormon” into every conversation, but they are so unfailingly polite that it’s hard to get annoyed, just amazed at the power one long dead man (Brigham Young) continues to have over so many people.

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The tour around Brigham Young’s house is the first time that “plural marriage” is mentioned, and the docents here take great pains to ensure that we know that the practice was “officially” ended in 1890

His house is impressively decorated and interesting in that there are separate bedrooms for each of his wives, as well as schoolrooms for his children etc.

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Next stop today is the Kennecott Bingham Canyon Copper Mine.
This copper pit mine used to be a mountain, but 100+ years of mining have completely obliterated the mountain, as well as several of the townships that used to be here, leaving a pit that is ¾ mile deep and 2.5 miles wide, it’s so big that it can be seen from space.

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17% of the copper used in the USA comes from this one mine, along with gold and various other precious minerals, it operates 24/7 365 days a year and employs just short of 1000 people.
The scale of the vehicles is impressive, but the visitors centre is so far above the mine floor that the size is hard to appreciate – each of the yellow dumpers in the photo below holds 320 tons of material.
Their tyres cost $120,000 a set and last 9 months!

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My final stop today is enroute to Idaho – The Bonneville Salt flats have been home to so many speed record attempts over the years that even in the late afternoon rain when the salt is still wet you can almost hear the engines.

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There’s absolutely nothing here at the moment however, so a couple of photos and I’m on my way.

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My trip takes a turn for the worse on the way to Twin Falls though, coming across I-80 the weather deteriorates so much that I’m soon doing 20 mph and I can’t see a thing – roadworks means that there’s no white lines and by the time I reach Wells I’m done in, I’ve no cell service and there’s no one on the CB. I’ll complete the trip to Twin Falls tomorrow morning, with a couple more mountain passes to do and the weather getting worse it’s simply not worth the risk to continue.

I've been documenting the progress of the Hoover Dam bypass bridge project every so often on this site. How'd you get the downstream photo -- where on earth were you standing to get that photo? May I use it? (or were you in a heliocopter?)

Wow!

Mark

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mark Sedenquist

I've been documenting the progress of the Hoover Dam bypass bridge project every so often on this site. How'd you get the downstream photo -- where on earth were you standing to get that photo? May I use it? (or were you in a heliocopter?)

Wow!

Mark

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I was in a helicopter, using a long lens and a co-operative pilot!

Feel free to use it, I have loads taken from both the chopper and the ground, I'll send you those once I'm home if you'd like?

It is a fascinating project.

Day 13 – Twin Falls Area

A very long driving day today, the first stop is Shoshone Falls

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These 185ft falls are commonly called the Niagara of the south and today, in full flow, they certainly looked the part.
They are part of the huge irrigation system that gives Idaho its lifeblood of farm land, the water that flows over the falls is the liquid over the 1000ft/sec capacity that the irrigation system dams can use, hence there is a short season for seeing them in flow. By June, they will be pretty much dry.

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2 hours North of here is the Craters of the Moon National Monument.

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This park is actually a long extinct volcano (it last erupted 2000 years ago) and over its thousands of acres are dozens of varieties of volcano, along with tons of lava.

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A scenic drive takes you to several viewpoints and it’s possible to walk up the side of some of the volcanos and actually look into the craters, pretty cool!!

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On the road towards Oregon then. A further 5hrs up the road lies Burns – my home for the night.

Day 14 – Southern Oregon / Northern California

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A long drive through some stunning country on the Oregon central highway this morning, several mountain passes (thankfully with no snow) later I arrived at Crater Lake.

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This place receives 13m (44ft) of snowfall and 66 inches of rain annually!! With no outlet, it simply gathers in the lake, causing the amazingly blue water you see in the photo above.
At 608ft, it’s the deepest lake in North America and is a haven for all kinds of wildlife.

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At this time of the year, the rim drive and many of the park roads are closed due to the amount of snow – in many places the road is under 30ft of snow by the end of the winter – it takes the teams of snowploughs 4 months to clear it all!
The visitors centre at the south end is open however, although parking under snowbanks taller than the car is a little un-nerving.

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The centre itself is still buried under snow up to the third floor windows, and requires entry through a specially constructed tunnel – very nice.

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Heading down the park access road

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I make tracks for Klameth Falls, unfortunately the visitors centre is closed on Sundays, so the map for the town history walk I was going to do is unavailable – bad planning on my part there.

Straight on to Mount Shasta then, it looms on the horizon for more than 20 miles before you finally reach the small city at its base.

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The view from the city is better though

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I’m staying locally tonight as I have some more things to see around the Shasta area, so after grabbing a really nice Italian in Mount Shasta City I head off to the motel in Redding.

Day 15 – Northern California

Back up the road to Shasta Dam this morning.

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This is the second biggest dam in the USA by volume, containing billions of gallons of water, several villages are covered by the water, apparently still mostly intact.

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The dam is 685ft thick at the base, and the concrete used to build it 70 years ago will take another 35 years to completely cure!

The hour long guided tour here is free, and takes you down into the working parts of the dam, through a long concrete corridor that functions as an echo chamber – the guides demonstrate the speed of sound here, when you clap your hands you hear a high pitched noise before the echo of your clap is returned – a bad explanation there, but a very cool thing!

No photographic equipment is allowed on the tour, which considering the freedoms on the Hoover Dam tour the other day is quite amusing.

After the dam tour I travel to Shasta caverns, this is a 2hr tour which combines a boat ride to an island,

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With a bus trip up to the entrance to the caverns.
The caverns themselves are quite a strenuous tour, with loads of steps, but the trip is well worth it, the guides are well informed, and the underground scenery (some of which has been dated at 2000+ years old) is amazing.

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The caverns were discovered by a local tribesman, and his moniker is still visible on the wall.

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He and his two brothers lugged hundreds of tons of concrete through the caverns over the course of ten years to create the publicly viewable caverns, suspicions are that there are many more “rooms” still hidden, but as most of the site is government owned, further exploration is forbidden!

Oh, and you also get to see a bear!

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On the road now, to drive across to Crescent City, CA for the night, so that I’m amongst the redwoods early tomorrow.
The road here (CA299) is 145 miles of heaven – straight to the top of my list of the best roads I’ve ever driven – tight, twisty and technical I averaged 9mpg over it!! Great fun.

Quote:

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averaged 9mpg over it!!

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Sounds as though the 'Z' got put through it's paces then ! ;-)

Great pics and text.

That's my favorite type of road, too. Sounds like you had a hoot in that Z.

Lovely photos and great info.

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Originally Posted by Southwest Dave

Sounds as though the 'Z' got put through it's paces then ! ;-)

Great pics and text.

---

Yep!!

Managed to do the same again today on the first part of route 1 from Leggett to Fort Bragg - completely empty road - brakes are now squealing and I think I boiled the PAS fluid... oops

It's a great car, just a shame it's not a manual.

And I didn't turn the traction control off..... honestly!

Day 16 – California

The main event today, I’ve always wanted to drive the Pacific Coast Highway in a soft top with the music playing, and today I got to fulfill that ambition!

So it was up and on the road early, the plan was to head South from Crescent City via the 101 and 1, ending up in San Francisco this evening.

First stop was the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and the Newton B Drury Scenic Parkway drive – this 8 mile long road runs alongside the highway and was my first sight of the redwoods for which this part of the world is famous.

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On the way through I was lucky enough to come across a herd of wild elk feeding.

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Onwards to Lady Bird Johnson Grove, this is mainly a trailhead for a number of walking trails that pass through various different eras of large trees (some that weren’t cut down during the logging here and others that the Park Service have planted as part of their efforts to improve the area.)

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Just up the road from the main parking area is the scenic redwood overlook, this gives a great vista over the redwoods, all the way to the ocean.

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A long run down the 101 now to Scotia.

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This is one of the last company towns in the USA, pretty much everyone who lives here works for the lumber company and the town is owned by them, it might be my imagination, but stopping here and walking around was like walking into a strange bar – heads turned and conversation stopped!

They did have a small museum and a couple of examples of the historical methods of working timber.

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Just south of Scotia is the famous Avenue of the Giants – this is a 32 mile trip on a wonderful road through the depths of the thousands of acres of redwood forest.

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Outside the visitors centre is a fallen tree that has been dated from 1148 – incredible to think of the changes that have happened in the world over that time.

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At the end of the 32 miles is one of the two trees here that you can drive through.

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At the junction of the 101 and the 1 is the second drive-thru-tree – it would be rude not to!!!

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Following this, I start to drive the 1, only to discover that I don’t have enough fuel to make it to the next stop – a 30 minute backtrack later I fill up ($3 a gallon as they’re “the only show in town”… grr)
And get the PCH underway.

It lives up to every preconception that I had – a truly fantastic drive, where every corner reveals another stunning vista

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Midway through the trip I stumble across a Porsche club from Washington state doing their own road trip, we chop and change road position for the next couple of hours.

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Sunshine, great roads, my V6 burble, air cooled Porsche engine whine and Toby Keith on the stereo – life doesn’t get much better. I think I’ve strained my face from smiling so much.

Truly a perfect day.

Anyway…. Enough eulogizing.

Final destination today is San Francisco – I booked my hotel on the Internet before I left the UK, and on the strength of the fact they have free parking (most hotels here charge $50 a night) I booked the Hotel Adagio… what a result, the room is probably one of the nicest I’ve ever stayed in – 14th floor with a view.

So that’s where I am now.. enjoying an ice cold Skyy and looking forward to tomorrow.

Thanks for sharing the trip with us this time!

Really, a great report -- And thanks for re-loading the San Diego images again!

Mark

Day 17 – San Francisco

When I planned this trip I was intending to spend much of today doing laundry and other domestic stuff, however a previous hotel stay sorted all that for me, so I had more time to explore today than I thought.

First stop was to drive Taylor Street. Made famous by the movie Bullitt with Steve McQueen, the street’s changed little, it’s still seriously steep and full of tourists doing the same as I.

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Straight after Taylor comes the famous crooked street – this contains 8 turns within a 1 block space, and again is full of tourists!

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After the corners I’ve driven in the last few days it’s nothing really, but pretty cool none the less.

The final planned stop of the day is the observatory at the DeYoung museum.
This is a free look over SF from the 9th floor of the DeYoung art museum.

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The views from here are pretty good, unfortunately though it’s not possible to see the bridge.

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However, as I’m leaving the DeYoung I spot an open top bus….. it’s tour time!
$35 for a 48hr unlimited tour, takes in pretty much all the sights in SF, including the bridge.

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And Alcatraz

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I hop off the bus at the famous Fishermans wharf and take a tour of the second world war submarine that’s permanently moored here – the USS Pampanito.
Very small inside, amazing that 80 sailors lived in such close quarters for such a long time, this must have really been true.

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I’ve heard of cellphones, cordless phones and visually impaired phones but I’ve never seen one of these in my local radio shack.

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Back on the bus and a long stop at Macys to do some shopping means that it’s gone 7 before I get back to the hotel and head to Ruth’s Chris steak house for dinner… yum!

I’ll be back to fisherman’s wharf in a couple of days, my initial impressions of SF are good, but the homeless population are a real downside, it can be quite intimidating just walking around, getting accosted every 30 seconds.

Day 18 San Francisco / Yosemite

Checking out of the hotel this morning, the weather forecast was undecided as to what it wanted to do, but I wasn’t too concerned as both of my planned stops today were indoors.

First up was the NASA Ames research museum.

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This is a small facility on the outskirts of the secure NASA facility here in San Fran.
It’s actually a really interesting site to visit, albeit a little brief – I spent 90 minutes here and thanks to joining in on a guided tour I actually learned quite a lot!

Probably the most interesting thing was a video shot at the International Space Station of one of the astronauts eating dinner… sounds mundane, but the gasps coming from the viewing public would disagree.

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Plenty of hands on exhibits, and a good cross section of history, current and future projects make this a recommended stop… it’s free as well which helps!

Second up today is the Intel museum

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As an IT person I couldn’t come to the home of computing and not do something a little geeky!
It turns out the museum isn’t geeky at all, it just makes me realize how long I’ve been involved in IT, a lot of the items exhibited in the museum section were current when I started playing with PCs

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The tour guide has some interesting tidbits – in 1978 a flight from CDG to JFK cost $900 and took 7 hours – if airline development had happened at the same rate as computing, that same flight would now cost 1 cent and take less than 1 second!!
This development pace is called Moore’s law and is actually named for one of the founders of Intel.

There are plenty of hands-on exhibits here as well, including one that notes that “it would take you 25,000 years to turn a light switch on and off 1.5 trillion times, but Intel has developed a transistor that takes less than a second to do the same”.

It’s an interesting tour, and again one I’d recommend even if you’re not particularly technical.

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Leaving Intel late afternoon I head toward the campsite just outside of Yosemite, when I get there I head into the little one-horse town down the road for some dinner and bump into a couple from Huddersfield, where I went to university.. can’t get away from Brits!!

Day 19 – Yosemite

Thanks to not setting an alarm clock (because I always wake early when I sleep under canvas!)
It’s 10.30 before I’m on the road from the campsite toward Yosemite.

First stop today is Hetch Hetchy dam and reservoir.

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This place provides water and power for 95% of the San Francisco area – no tours of the works here, just some great visuals and a few information boards.

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Be aware though that travelling anywhere in this region takes ages, most of the people on the road think 30mph is quite acceptable and get a little emotional if you try and pass them… oops!

The trip from here to Yosemite itself is full of vista points, each one has something different to recommend it, plan on taking at least an hour to drive the route.

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Unfortunately the weather started to close in as I got to Yosemite and by the time I parked up in one of the car parks the rain was falling hard.
Yosemite runs a free shuttle bus between all the points of interest, in the hope that you’ll abandon your car at the start of the park and leave it.
This is what I did and it worked well to be honest.

The bus took me to the visitors centre and then on to the base for the valley floor tour.
I would recommend doing this tour upon arrival to the park, the drivers are a mine of information on what to see, where to walk and timescales which really helps.

The weather’s really closed in now, and it’s impossible to see the tops of the rock formations.
Apparently there are groups of climbers on various faces of the surrounding mountains… I don’t envy them!

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Unfortunately the weather stays with me all the way back to San Francisco, making it a long 3hr trip.
No real problems though and I’m now back in the same hotel I stayed in 2 nights ago.
A real scene when I first arrived as there’s an NBA hall-of-fame player staying here… he is the tallest man I’ve ever seen!!

Day 20 – San Francisco

The Coit tower in San Fran was built with money bequested by an eccentric woman during the great depression.

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The city government asked a number of famous artists to paint murals inside the tower as part of the NRA program to find people work during the great depression era.

Many of these murals are hidden away and can only be seen on a once-a-week guided tour, held Saturdays at 11am.

The Coit tower therefore is my first stop today.

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The murals are impressive, containing much hidden symbolism, the opening of the tower was even delayed a while due to communist overtones within some of the murals.

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Catching the bus down to the famous Fisherman’s Wharf, I head to pier 39 to see the resident sea lions.
The noise these creatures make is unbelievable – if I worked here I think it would drive me to distraction.

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On the Hyde Street pier are moored a number of classic vessels that are open to self guided tours. They don’t take long to walk around, but it’s interesting to watch the ongoing restorations in progress.

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A quick trip to Ghirardelli Square for one of their famous chocolate sundaes

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I head to the Hyde Street terminus of the Powell – Hyde streetcar line and jump on the running boards for the 50 minute round trip. I chose this line as I’d been told it was the most scenic, and so it proved.

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When I return to the Hyde Street terminus, I have an hour to get around to Pier 33 to board the evening Alcatraz cruise.

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The rock lives up to my expectations, the ranger talks are a fascinating insight into the history of Alcatraz and the audio tour, complete with memories from inmates as well as guards is well worth doing.

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Unfortunately however coming over on the 6.45 crossing doesn’t give nearly enough time on the island, I barely did 1/3 of the tour.
If you want to be on the island in the evening (and it’s definitely worth doing this if you can) then I would suggest heading over on an earlier crossing and staying.
When I booked my ticket, I didn’t realize that you can hop on any return so I didn’t do this. A big mistake.

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Returning to the hotel I’ve time for a quick change before heading out to meet an old schoolfriend who I haven’t seen for 15 years who now lives in San Fran.
We have a good night watching his friend’s band before heading out to another bar.
It’s late when I get back to the hotel but I’ve not got too much to do tomorrow so can lie in!

Derek,

I thought that San Francisco was going to be the end of this year's trip -- so it was a real nice surprise to swing by here tonight and see you are still here and sharing stuff with us. Speaking of old school IT -- I remember using card compilers and keypunching computer cards using Fortran.... It never seemed like science to me then -- more like art --I never really knew what was going to happen when the compiler ran.... (I wasn't particularly suited to the task of key punching I guess).

Mark

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Originally Posted by Mark Sedenquist

Derek,

I thought that San Francisco was going to be the end of this year's trip -- so it was a real nice surprise to swing by here tonight and see you are still here and sharing stuff with us. Speaking of old school IT -- I remember using card compilers and keypunching computer cards using Fortran.... It never seemed like science to me then -- more like art --I never really knew what was going to happen when the compiler ran.... (I wasn't particularly suited to the task of key punching I guess).

Mark

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Thanks Mark

This trip ends back at LAX on Tuesday, so I only have a couple more days to go.
I've seen so much and covered so much ground that it's going to take a while for it all to sink in.
Luckily I have plenty of photos and this thread to help jog the memory.

Day 21 – San Francisco / Highway 1

It was raining when I awoke this morning, which didn’t bode well for the dreamt about “roof down run down route 1”

My first stop was Laguna Seca raceway.

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This circuit is now owned by Mazda, and was busy today, a skidpan school in the paddock and single seaters out on track.
I mainly wanted to come here thanks to an episode of Top Gear where Clarkson tries to beat his PS3 time for real. There’s a bend here called the corkscrew that looked pretty impressive on the TV.
Sadly it’s on the back part of the circuit which is closed off, so I have to make do with watching from Andretti hairpin.

Onwards then to Monterey. It’s a bustling little town, full of the smell of the sea and lots of tourists strolling about in a break from the rain.

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It used to have a huge canning industry, packaging all the fish that were caught off the coast here.
Nowadays, Cannery Row is a shopping area with art galleries, restaraunts and gift emporiums.

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The jewel in Monterey’s crown though is undoubtedly 17 mile drive.
This scenic trip through… unsurprisingly 17 miles… of headland must be awe inspiring on a clear and sunny day.

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Sadly this afternoon the famous west coast fog has started to roll in, making it tough to even see some of the points mentioned in the self-drive tour brochure.

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This lone Cyprus tree has been on this outcrop of rock for some 250 years, it has a little help nowadays in the form of chains and fences, but still…..

Towards the end of the drive is the famous Pebble Beach – home to a wonderful golf course and a mecca for classic car fans.

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There’s not much happening this afternoon though unfortunately.

Carrying on down route 1 you reach Carmel, the town made famous by the fact that Clint Eastwood was its mayor for 2 years in the 80s. He still lives locally and owns a ranch and restaurant in town.
Carmel also has one of California’s nicest missions – tucked away up a side street on the outskirts of town, the 1771 Mission San Carlos is still a functioning parish, it just also happens to give tours!

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I had originally planned to stop at Bixby bridge to take some pictures, as the scenery there is supposed to be great – however the fog is so thick that I can barely see the other side of the road, so instead I’ve continued to Big Sur and checked into a motel here for the night.
If the weather has improved tomorrow I shall drive back to Carmel and re-do that section of route 1.

A good place to grab lunch in Carmel, if it's not too late.