Thanks for the latest post.
You were lucky that the damage to your car wasn't worse on the road in the Monument Valley Tribal Park.
Mark
Printable View
Thanks for the latest post.
You were lucky that the damage to your car wasn't worse on the road in the Monument Valley Tribal Park.
Mark
You would not have had a problem finding food more to your liking if you had stocked up in a grocery store in a large town, even Walmart Supercenters have a decent selection of artisan breads, organic produce, and vegetarian items. Larger towns also have so-called "health food stores" and upscale stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. For the Grand Canyon, you probably would have had to go to Flagstaff to find them.
We left the nearest "large town" 30 hours before we arrived at the Grand Canyon so I didn't really trust the cooler to keep it fresh enough.Quote:
Originally Posted by glc
We didn't do a lot of food shopping tbh as we ate out a majority of the time. The only time we really bought food was for long journeys, and that's where I was surprised with the lack of quality food from places like Walmart, Walgreens etc. I'm sure there are plenty of places with good choices (although I've heard you can't get decent cheese anywhere), but as we were on a tight schedule, I usually just typed in "supermarket" into Google maps and headed to the closest one.
Next time I'm there I'll make sure I try and find something like Whole Foods to buy stuff.
You can definitely get decent cheese in Whole Foods. Cheeses from all over the world. I often buy Australian cheese there.
Lifey
Ah right, I know Stephen Fry went to every state and said he couldn't find any, and that was also my experience, especially after trying their version of cheddar. But I'll take your word for it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lifemagician
Day 20
I woke early at around 5.30am excited to get to the canyon to start hiking. Rach wasn't quite as enthusiastic, so after deciphering her sleepy mumbling I worked out she wasn't quite ready to face the day so I left without her. There's a few trails around the visitor centre area, with varying difficulties and stopping points. We were given a guide when we arrived, which was incredibly helpful as it tells you how long and difficult each walk is, how long it will take, and where the turn-back points are. We were going to do the Bright Angel trail later on so I went for the Kaibab trail which is slightly further away. There are free shuttle buses that run regularly and take you to any of the trail points, and they started early which was great.
The plan was to go to "Ooh-Aah Point", as with a name like that, it had to be good! The path down was steep but the paths are well maintained, and they slowly descend down the side of the valley until they presumably reach the bottom. On the way I met a father and son who were planning to walk all the way to the bottom, and had their camping gear with them as it's not possible (or at least advised) to hike to the bottom and back in one day. The trail is a great way to see the valley, as each twist and turn reveals a new part that you couldn't see before, and it was especially good seeing the sun rise slowly lighting up the valley and replacing the huge shadows cast by the winding ridge.
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I got to "Ooh-Aah Point" and actually said "Ooh Ahh" to myself, before wondering if I'd perhaps not drank enough water and the dehydration was sending me crazy. I had planned to get in shape before our trip, but things had got in the way (mainly laziness) so I hadn't done any sort of strenuous walking for a long time; but despite this, I felt good and it was still not too hot at all so I carried on to the next point; Cedar Ridge. The whole walk was a 3 mile round trip, with a descent of about 1000 feet.
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When I got back to the top I saw this little guy, who was just staring out into the canyon, deep in thought.
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I think I disturbed him
I made it back to the campsite for a late breakfast, which Rach had decided to get up for; but I wasn't in the mood for hanging around and was eager to get back out, so we hurried up and got away for the second walk of the day. As far as I know, the Bright Angel trail is the most popular, with plenty of stops along it, but also lots of people. Rach was becoming more pregnant by the day, so we weren't sure how far to go and decided to just play it by ear. It was heating up quickly, and we were very aware that going down was the easy part so it was difficult to judge how far to go; but Rach kept assuring me at every point that she was fine to carry on, and she actually looked like she was coping better than I was!
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Michael Jackson made an appearance
In the end we stopped at the Indian Garden, which had a toilet and water tap, so we stopped, filled up, emptied out and started the trek back. This was further than we'd planned to come, and was a 9-mile round trip with a 3000 ft decent, but it was worth it to get closer to the canyon floor for a great view. The clouds were coming in quick, and a ranger passed us telling everyone that a big storm was coming, and it'd be wise to head back. The walk back was very tiring and slightly awkward at points, when someone moves over to let you pass, then ends up passing you later on, then you pass them again, and so on until one of you wins and becomes the trail leader. Or something like that. The rain started just as we arrived at the top of the trail, but not before some of the loudest and brightest thunder and lightning I've ever heard. We were nearly 7000ft up, and that meant that we were at one point engulfed by cloud. The rain was absolutely mental, so we took shelter with just about everybody else in a gift shop near the start of the trail and waited for the worst of the storm to pass. I don't think I've ever experienced such a large amount of rain dumped in such a short amount of time.
The shuttles were absolutely packed, and queues to get on them huge, so we walked along to the stop before the start of the trail which was much quieter, and meant we managed to get on the shuttle and get a seat. The shuttle actually had to pass most of the stops, as it was completely full, so we quickly got back to the campsite.
The rain continued for some time, so we headed to the main shop to see if there were any games or something we could buy to keep us occupied, but surprisingly there was nothing but playing cards. The rain was relentless, so we ended up sitting in the tent for a while until the rain subsided enough for us to light a fire, which it eventually did later on. I managed to get the fire lit, and cooked some of the "food" we'd bought the previous day before the rain started again. We didn't mind so much as we were exhausted. I've not slept that well in a good while.
I'm still here! Things getting even busier, but I'll still try and finish this.
Day 21
Today we were driving to Vegas, with the aim of heading off the Interstate and following Route 66 as we had done before. It had stopped raining but was still wet, so not great weather for packing away a tent. Before we left we stopped in the car park near the visitor centre and walked to the edge of the canyon to get one more look of this magnificent view. As I mentioned before, it's something I will never forget, and was still gobsmacked every time I saw it. I vowed that this would not be the last time I see this place.
After taking it all in we headed towards the southern entrance, stopping along the way every so often to get just one more look at the canyon. I was very glad that we entered at the eastern entrance, as the queue to get in was huge! It went back for possibly miles, with lots of RVs in the queue. Getting out was fine, however, and we sped down to Flagstaff to join Route 66.
There were various points along the way that the historic Route 66 separated from the highway, and we followed these as often as we could. This part of it was obviously much more travelled than the dirt road we had gone down when we had followed the old Route 66 before, as there were plenty of novelty bars, restaurants, hotels and gift shops lining the road. We stopped for pizza in a small restaurant in Seligman that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, where we ordered a large pizza. We were warned that they are pretty big, but we didn't realise there was so much that we'd only get half way through! We took the rest of it and carried on.
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After Seligman, Route 66 takes quite a detour from the interstate, rather than following it closely as it had been doing; eventually joining back up at Kingman. This is where we left Route 66 and headed up to Vegas. It was about a 3 hour drive from the pizza place to Vegas, and we were glad to finally get there.
We were staying in the Treasure Island hotel, so drove into the car park and eventually found our way to the reception. I've never been to Vegas before, so wasn't expecting the huge queue just to get checked in, so we were waiting quite a while, which wasn't ideal after the loooong drive. At least it was air conditioned! I eventually got to the front of the queue and got checked in fine. I mentioned it was our honeymoon so I was told to call room service and they'd bring up a complimentary bottle of champagne, which was nice. We went up to the room and got settled in. We weren't on the side facing the strip, but that was fine because the room was nice. I left Rach to have a lie down and wait for the champagne whilst I went and got the rest of the bags from the car. Turns out it's California "champagne", which after just doing some research is called so because of a legal loophole from WW1, and Rach got a funny look (a pregnant woman taking delivery of a bottle of champagne). I enjoyed it just the same, and had a few glasses before we went out for a swim (yes I know, not a good idea). The pool was pretty busy, but not crowded, so we enjoyed cooling down.
http://i.imgur.com/w6Rgc79l.jpg
Classy, I know
We went back up to the room where I finished the rest of the champagne before we went down to the all-you-can-eat buffet that we had been given half price vouchers for. The food was great, and there was such a wide variety of food that I massively over indulged. I paid extra for unlimited alcoholic drinks, but this probably wasn't the best move, as the service was pretty slow, and I was struggling to drink anything anyway with the amount of food I had.
After settling the bill, it was time for a gamble! I'm not a frequent visitor of casinos, but I do like a bit of blackjack, especially at the end of a night out. We started off on the slots, and Rach managed to win $50 from $5 pretty much straight away, so we were off to a good start. We'd set a gambling budget so that if we lost it didn't matter, and we knew where to stop, so we wandered about the seemingly endless slot machines until we got to the tables. Now it was my time to shine! I nearly crashed out at first, but after playing for a while I ended up $100 up! This gambling thing is easy!
After a bit more gambling and a few more drinks, we went outside for a quick wander. It was still very hot, and we discovered that Vegas isn't really built for the pedestrian, as it was quite awkward walking along the strip, with various gangways and steps taking you down to street level, then back up, then back down. It was hard work! We didn't last too long before we headed back to the casino, where I won a bit more to make up for earlier losses and we went to bed $150 up.
Day 22
We had a bit of a lie in and enjoyed sleeping in an actual bed; before this we'd slept in a car, then in a tent, and afterwards would be in a tent for another few nights. When we finally got up, we went for another wander around the strip to try and find somewhere for breakfast. Unfortunately, everywhere was absolutely mobbed; Denny's had a queue right out the door, and this turned out to be a recurring theme pretty much everywhere. We kept walking and eventually found a bar that served food, but by this time it was actually lunch rather than breakfast.
The first stop of the day was a shooting range called Battlefield Vegas. We had to take advantage of shooting a gun whilst we were there, and I definitely made the most of it, hiring an AK47, glock, shotgun, and a few other guns. We paid extra for more ammo that we could share so that we only paid for one package. We thought there may be issues with Rach firing some of the bigger guns because of the recoil, but didn't imagine that there'd be any other issues. We found out after we paid that we were quite mistaken; turns out the noise of the guns can damage the baby's ears, so unfortunately Rach had to sit it out. She was devastated as it was something she'd really been looking forward to. It was made worse by the long wait for me to get on the firing range, and this combined with the non-stop morning sickness really got to her. I felt pretty guilty, but once I got hold of the guns this was completely gone; it was a great experience! The AK47 gave me a pretty big bruise on my shoulder from the recoil which shows just how powerful they are.
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The gun range had taken a lot longer than we thought, so we went back to the hotel for a quick swim then headed out for dinner. After dinner we went for another walk down the strip, but stopped in more of the hotels, like the Bellagio, Venecian, Caesars Palace etc. and had a quick gamble in each of them. They all had their interesting own themes, and Caesars Palace had a shopping centre in which we did a bit of shopping. We walked back along to our hotel, stopping at the famous water fountain show, then went for another quick gamble and a few drinks in some of the bars. One of the bars we went to had random female punters stripping to their underwear and riding a mechanical bull, making it as "sexy" as they could to progress to the next round until eventually one of them won money or something.
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Day 23
After a heavy night I couldn't face getting up early, so we wandered around looking for somewhere to get breakfast which was pretty much a repeat of the day before, and ended up leaving Vegas about 1.30pm; not ideal considering the long journey we had ahead. We made the customary stop at the Welcome to Vegas sign which had a large queue of people waiting to get a "selfie" with it, so we took photos from the side as it was far too hot to wait.
http://i.imgur.com/9TfyU8hl.jpg
Our first stop of the day was Dante's View, a view point 5,476 ft up that's accessible via a winding road up the side of the mountain. It was a bit of a detour, but definitely worth it; it had some spectacular views of Badwater Basin below.
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We drove back down the winding road and round the mountain to Badwater Basin. It's 282 ft below sea level and is the lowest point in North America. It's also incredibly hot, with the car telling us it was exceeding 120f! There's a sign and platform that tells you the elevation and allows you to walk out above the salt encrusted ground. There must have been some heavy rainfall at some point because there was still pools of water on the ground. I've been to Abu Dhabi and experienced similar temperatures before, but Rach wasn't used to it at all, so we couldn't stop for long wherever we went. We tried driving with the roof down for a bit, but it felt like the heater was on full blast.
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You can just about see the "sea level" sign near the top
On the way back up towards furnace creek we pulled off the main road to follow a looped trail called Artist's Drive, which is a scenic road and a nice drive before rejoining the main road. I stopped at one point to check that the car was ok in this heat and noticed that the tyres seemed to be partially melting, with some of the rubber going very soft and sticky. I'd been pushing the speed a bit as it was the longest straightest road I've ever seen sloping down into the valley, so I decided to take it a bit easier.
We pushed on as it was getting late and unfortunately we had to skip Mosaic Canyon which I'd really been looking forward to. We stopped briefly at Zabriskie Point, and further on to take a walk on the sand dunes before carrying on to Lone Pine where we'd be staying for the night.
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As we got towards the edge of Death Valley I started to worry as the fuel gauge was getting very low, and I hadn't seen a petrol station for miles. It was also beginning to get dark, and we had to set up a tent once we got there, so although we were enjoying the amazing view as we ascended and descended around the mountains, it was always playing on my mind that we'd get stuck in the middle of nowhere with no phone signal. We eventually came across a family run petrol station where we refuelled and bought some snacks as we hadn't eaten in a while. The petrol was very expensive, but I was just grateful that we were going to be able to make it to our destination at all.
With fuel in our tank and our spirits renewed, another worry soon started to set in: what if it's completely dark by the time we get there and we can't see to put the tent up. After such a long day, we decided to just stay in a motel, and so after arriving at around 9pm, we drove through the small town looking for the cheapest looking accommodation. We ended up staying at a Best Western which turned out to be the most expensive place we stayed at during the whole trip as it was such short notice. There seemed to be a lot of bugs about, so we opened the door and dived into our room to find quite a few bugs already in there. We still hadn't eaten so we headed to the only place that was open, a Carl Jr's and discovered that we weren't just unlucky having a few bugs in our room, but that the town had been completely infested. The were millions of these flying bugs everywhere, and any light source was covered by a hazy thick cloud of these things. Inside every building they were everywhere! I read in the news when we got back that the infestation just got worse, and there were huge piles of these bugs everywhere.
http://i.imgur.com/SSX96T9l.jpg
Taken from a news site
Once back at the room we tried to get some sleep, but one of these bugs flew right into my ear, and I spent the next hour or so convinced that I hadn't got it out and it was going to burst my eardrum. Luckily this wasn't a case, and I think my ear was just tickling inside and I couldn't reach to scratch it. We started to worry that Yosemite, where we were heading the next day would be like this, and thought we wouldn't be able to cope if we had to camp in these kind of conditions.
Good to see you back. Enjoying your report and photos which also bring back good memories of the area.
Dave.
Yeah, awesome photos at the Grand and in Las Vegas. It turns out that Las Vegas have developed an entire culture of fancy and delicious eateries for breakfast. I may have to write an article about this at some point.
Mark
Yeah that'd be good. I didn't really research it much, as I thought we'd just walk along the strip a bit and find somethingQuote:
Originally Posted by Mark Sedenquist
Day 24
We woke up feeling kinda drained after a bug filled night and went into town for breakfast. We were stunned by what we saw: on the way in to town it was dark, and we could see a dark silhouette in the sky which we thought was maybe clouds; but once we stepped outside we realised that the town was at the foot of huge mountains towering above it. It was an amazing sight, and I just stood there for a while taking it all in. I was so in awe of it that I actually forgot to take any pictures! So here's one borrowed from Wikipedia.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ne-Whitney.jpg
We stopped for a very quick breakfast and headed out towards Tioga Pass. The drive was straight through a long valley in between two huge mountain ranges and arrived at Mono lake around 2 hours later.
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The mountains towered above us
Mono lake is a salt water lake with a small museum giving a bit of information about the ecology of the area. We had a quick walk around before heading into Lee Vining to see the upside down house; a house that is literally built upside down with everything stuck to the ceiling. It was a nice little attraction so we got some photos and had a quick look around the small museum next to it, then went to a small diner for some lunch, and my 427th burger of the trip. I still like burgers.
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After lunch we drove towards Yosemite through Tioga Pass. What a drive that was! Driving round the side of these huge mountains was amazing. We switched between having the roof down and back up as the rain started and stopped, as we wanted to get the best view possible. I had to be careful about enjoying the view too much however, as it was a long way down if I forgot to turn a corner. The first stop was Tuolumne Meadows, a beautiful meadow that had a quiet river running through it. We followed one of the trails and saw all sorts of wildlife all over the place. After a while of walking we came across a small log structure, which contained small puddles of water with bubbles coming out of the ground; these soda springs were dotted around the place and were pretty interesting.
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We carried on along Tioga Road until we finally reached Yosemite Valley where we'd be camping. The campsite was very busy, and there wasn't the privacy of the Grand Canyon, but there was still plenty of space. The view was outstanding, as it was in a valley surrounded by huge mountains in every direction. The campsite was covered in large trees, with the tents and RVs set up in between them. By the time we arrived it was pretty late, so we set up the tent and started a fire to cook some food before getting an early(ish) night. Again, as with Grand Canyon there were a few people that ignored the quiet curfew, but I eventually managed to get to sleep. Rach was going to hear about this in the morning! Grumble grumble grumble...
Day 25
Today was our last chance to do some hiking so we intended to make the most of it. We had a quick breakfast before heading for our first and main hike of the day; the Yosemite Falls trail. We planned to go to the top of Yosemite Falls, which is a 7.2 mile round trip with an elevation of 2700 ft. It was listed as strenuous, but again Rach assured me that she was up to it. It was a hot day, and the trail was steep from the very start, zigzagging up a steep incline. The constant incline made the walk quite difficult for inexperienced hikers like ourselves, but we kept going, boosted by the increasingly spectacular view of the valley below as we got higher.
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At around 5000 ft up we reached Columbia Rock, which offered an unrestricted view of the valley which made for a great photo opportunity, and gave us a chance to have a proper rest as we took it all in. I was constantly in awe of the view, but it was strangely familiar. I'm sure I've seen it before when planning the trip, and it must have been the exact view that I'd seen so often that made me want to visit Yosemite so much. It was probably the most picturesque place I've ever been. I kept feeling like any picture I took wasn't doing it justice, and I still feel that way.
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After the rest, we carried on along a much easier part of the route, with some of it even being downhill until we reached the view of Upper Yosemite Fall. The great thing about Yosemite is that every time you stop for a great view, there's another different one just around the corner, and this time was no exception. A giant waterfall cascaded down into a small pool before carrying on its journey down to the valley floor. The flow of the waterfall was nothing compared to what it was in the spring, but it still looked amazing. There were quite a few dried up waterfalls around the place, so we were glad to see one that was still going even in this heat.
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The decent down was slightly easier, but put a constant strain on different leg muscles stopping us from running down the side of the mountain at high speed. By the time we got down we still felt pretty good, so after a quick break and some food, we headed back out for a much easier route, which I think was the Bridalveil Fall Trail. It's a 1/2 mile round trip around the foot of the mountain which takes you past the base of a waterfall, but we extended it to keep walking round the base, eventually looping back around. We checked the information centre and found a small graveyard. I managed to climb across some large rocks to reach the base of the waterfall, but I definitely wouldn't advise doing this, it was pretty risky in places.
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As the evening drew in, we headed back to the campsite, where we had a nice stroll down to the river where people were floating past on inflatable dinghies. We reflected on the journey we'd been on so far and the thousands of miles we'd covered. The USA is a very large and diverse place, with each part of the country having its own distinct culture and climate. Before we got too nostalgic, we still had another few hundred miles to cover before we reached our final destination, so we called it a night ready to pack up the next morning and head into San Francisco.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXvcH0lkOVw&feature=youtu.be
Day 26
San Francisco
Before we left Yosemite, we had a drive around taking as many pictures as we could. I felt sad to be leaving this spectacular place, knowing it would be the last national park of our trip. We were on the home straight now, once San Francisco was done we'd be heading for our final destination! The drive out of Yosemite was just as good as the drive in, again winding round the side of mountains, past rivers and valleys. The experience was marred, however, by an incredibly slow RV who started to build up quite a queue behind him, and ignored all the signs telling slower vehicles to pull over and let people pass once a queue had formed. And because of the winding roads it was a good while before I could eventually overtake, getting us on our way, now behind schedule. Making me late for lunch is inexcusable!
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We stopped for a quick lunch and carried on towards San Francisco. The drive into San Francisco is nice, as you have to drive across the bridge to get there, but the traffic was pretty chaotic once we got there, with so many traffic lights, taxis and trams. I parked in an expensive car park next to the hotel to check in, before searching the web for a cheaper place to leave it for a couple of days. There were some pretty good deals within a mile of the hotel as long as you booked online before you went.
After resting for a bit, we headed out for dinner. We'd found a vegetarian Thai restaurant that had good reviews and was walking distance. This is where we first discovered the contrast between the areas where the streets are lined with homeless people, and where there are none at all. It was quite surreal walking through a block where every doorway had a homeless person staying. As far as I can remember they were pretty segregated into their own ethnicity. We weren't really sure what to make of it; an area with lots of homeless people is usually one that the police can't be bothered patrolling, meaning that it's pretty unsafe, but the homeless-lined and homeless-free streets were right next to each other.
We made it to the restaurant safely anyway and enjoyed a great meal before heading back to the hotel, picking up some snacks to chill out and get an early night ready for the next day of sight-seeing.
Day 27
We started out by getting a quick breakfast and heading straight to Alcatraz, where I'd heard it's best to visit as early as possible. We managed to find a bus that took us to within a mile of the dock. There was a large queue there already, but it moved at a reasonable pace. I'd definitely recommend getting there as early as possible, as we went straight to the cells to follow the awesome audio tour and managed to get around before it got too crowded.
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The tour was a great experience, giving an interesting background to what life was like there, as well as some of it's more famous residents with interviews with some of the inmates. I knew a little bit about it, but there was information dotted around the place, and there was an interesting exhibition about the Native Americans that took over the small island for a while which I knew nothing about. The whole experience gave a really good idea of what it must have been like to have lived there, and being able to see San Francisco being so close, but knowing you can never go there (at least for a long time).
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By the time we were ready to leave the island was much busier, as boats full of people kept arriving at the island without many leaving, so we got straight on a boat back without having to wait.
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The boat had a great view of San Francisco, but there were a lot of low clouds and fog obscuring some of the view, especially the Golden Gate Bridge, which was partially covered by the cloud. We planned to cycle there later so hoped it would clear up.
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Next we headed to Pier 39 to see the famous sea lions. There was a lot going on with all sorts of little shops and restaurants, so after a look around we had lunch at Bubba Gumps Shrimp co. and enjoyed some seafood with a view over the pier.
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After lunch we walked along to Musée Mécanique, an amazing amusement arcade housing all sorts of old arcade machines. This was one of my favourite places, and we spent much longer than planned spending 25c a go on the machines like the arm wrestler and an old mechanical baseball game, as well as strange shows like Laffin' Sal, and a diorama of a French execution. They even had Tekken 3 somewhere near the back (which was probably the newest thing there). A few dollars got us ages of entertainment, which meant that we were running a bit short on time for the rest of the days planned activities. It was definitely worth it though.
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The whole experience of the pier was slightly marred by a loud man with large posters and leaflets showing dead fetuses and babies trying to get some sort of anti-abortion message across, but his message was lost in the feelings of outrage that someone would stoop so low to try and shock people into listening to him. It was interesting anyway, as we sometimes get shouty American preachers on our streets telling us we're all going to hell, but they're pretty tame compared to the Americans in America!
We walked along to Lombard Street which seemed a lot further than it actually was because of all these hills. It was worth seeing, although there were tourists taking pictures absolutely everywhere. The last activity of the day was an ambitious one: renting bikes to cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge. We got a taxi to the rental place and got the bikes easy enough. On paper the ride looked easy as I've done a fair bit of cycling in my time, but I don't think I properly took Rach's pregnancy into account (a recurring theme on this trip), so she wasn't too thrilled about the 10 mile round trip.
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There were a few hills on the way, but it wasn't too long before we reached the Golden Gate Bridge. The clouds and mist had cleared up so we now had a great view of the bridge. Again, it was very busy with lots of people and cars trying to park to walk across. There were also a lot of bikes too, but not so many that we didn't get across easy enough. The ride along was nice, and it gave us an amazing view of San Francisco, although it was very windy. There was a place to stop at the end and get loads of photos before turning round and heading back. We took a more scenic route on the way back, but were glad to finally drop off the bikes and get the bus back to the hotel as the days activities had been exhausting! The bus was one of the strange electric ones powered by the tram lines up above.
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After a rest we went out for dinner, and decided that since we'd seen the Cheesecake Factory everywhere that we'd try one that was nearby. When we got there we were told it was a stupidly long wait, so we just had a wander about until we found somewhere nice, which happened to be an Indian restaurant. We had a lovely curry before stopping in a few bars for a few drinks (including one microbrewery that had some great IPA style beers more akin to what we're used to at home) and heading back to the hotel. Tomorrow we'll try and make it down to our final destination in one day: Santa Monica.
Day 28
San Francisco to Santa Monica... in one day
Yet again we woke up later than we should have done, but I got Rach to pack up the stuff whilst I walked the 1 1/2 miles to the car park. I stopped outside the hotel, threw the stuff in the car and off we went. I had originally planned to take part of Route 1, a scenic route down the coast before joining a slightly faster interstate and just race down in time to make the Venice Beach Freak Show. We had originally planned to arrive in Santa Monica late that evening, but we found out that the Freak Show was only on at the weekend, and this was a Sunday so it was now or never. This was one of the things that Rach really wanted to see, so we made it a priority.
The start of the journey wasn't great, as there was lots of road works and traffic along the way. In fact it was taking so long that we had to go back the way we came to head to an interstate so that we could make faster progress. This was one of the least enjoyable trips, as it was a 10 hour stressful drive which combined me going faster than I should have done so constantly watching for any police, and Rach having to throw up every so often; all the time not knowing if we'd make it in time. The Freak Show said that they were on until "dark", which is extremely vague. As we approached LA it was certainly getting dark, but we persevered.
We made it to Venice Beach and drove into a car park along the beach. Just as we paid, we looked up how far we were from the Freak Show to discover we were around a mile away, so an exhausted couple ran along the beach (Rach more waddling) until we could see some of the performers that we recognised. We'd seen the TV series about this exact freak show so were pretty familiar with some of the performers. We raced in to be told that this was the last show of the evening! We couldn't believe our luck! 10 hours of driving to make the last show!
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The show was as weird as we expected, with one of the performers putting a hook into his nose so that it came out of his mouth. Everyone watching stood silent, presumably stunned by what they were seeing; so I stepped up and started the applause (which got the thanks of the performer). After the show we had a wander about the place, seeing all of the two-headed creatures on display and talking to some of the performers.
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A lot of people aren't sure what to think of the freak show (whilst some disagree with the idea of it), but from watching the show, and hearing the performers, the Venice Beach Freak Show is somewhere that people who have something different about them can accept and even celebrate the things that make them special. There was a touching story about one of the guys (pictured below) that has a skin condition that causes malignant tumours to grow all over his body. He works in a supermarket, and has had parents telling kids to stay away from him because they might catch something, and times he'd passed something from a high shelf to a shopper only to be looked at in disgust and told that they didn't want it if he'd touched it. The Freak Show, he said, was a place where he can be comfortable with the way he looks, and not be judged.
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After the show, we walked back to the car and headed to our final accommodation: a bungalow near the beach in Santa Monica. As we pulled up to the house we noticed police cars all over the place, and some officers pointing a gun at a house. We realised that this was opposite where we were staying! We weren't completely sure so we circled around a couple of times (not suspicious at all) before deciding we'd risk getting shot and parked across from all the drama.
The bungalow was behind a house that seemed like some sort of commune. Our host Brett answered the door and showed us to the bungalow, which was a lovely little building with a bedroom and large bathroom. It was late, so we had a quick walk around the block, stopping in a shop to get a few supplies before finally going to bed, exhausted!
Loved the photos from your Yosemite hike. Thanks for sharing on this storm-drenched day!Quote:
Originally Posted by LeicesterLuke
Mark
I think Yosemite was my favourite place; amazing scenery absolutely everywhere you go. It was so hard to capture how good a view it wasQuote:
Originally Posted by Mark Sedenquist
Thanks for the effort in writing a great trip report. And the photos were excellent too :)
We also love the US National Parks and try and see as many as possible. Yosemite is also one of our favorites. You were lucky to see waterfalls that late in the year as many rely on the melted snow and have run out by then.
Day 29 - the beach
As the bungalow was less than a 5 min walk from the Santa Monica beach, we decided to spend most of the day there. The beach is lovely, and has soft golden sand all the way along. After some sunbathing and bodyboarding (which came with the accommodation) we walked along to Santa Monica pier. The whole area seems familiar, as there are so many films and tv shows that have included that as a location. We tried our first corn dogs of the trip (meh, they were ok) and headed back for some more relaxing. This had been a very busy and hectic month, so we made the most of our chill out time.
As evening drew in, we changed and walked up towards Venice beach. Venice beach is more lively than Santa Monica beach, with the boardwalk having all sorts of shops, shows and performers going on. It also has a lot of restaurants and bars, so we stopped in one of them and had our dinner facing the beach; what a setting. Afterwards we made our way back towards Santa Monica, stopping in a few bars along the way.
This area was a lively one, and we got chatting to a few people. We met some nice people in the last bar that we visited at the end of the night and got into a conversation about the differences between the UK and USA; it's always interesting to hear other points of view. I mentioned that Americans don't seem to get my dry sense of humour, followed by a joke that they didn't realise was a joke; proving my point.
The night nearly ended in disaster, when I realised I'd lost the keys to the bungalow! I managed to climb onto the roof and through an open window so at least we had somewhere to sleep.
Day 30 - Hollywood
I woke up in a lot of pain; I'd somehow forgotten to reapply sun cream after getting out of the sea the previous day and now my legs were burnt to a crisp. It was absolutely excruciating! Every time I stood up and the blood went to my legs, it felt like they were going to explode. I had to man up and get on with it though, because we still had the small matter of the lost keys! I managed to find the phone number for the restaurant where we'd had dinner and thankfully they had the keys after they'd fallen out of my pocket (or they're the most honest pick-pockets ever). I walked along to Venice beach again, and although it was a nice walk with a lovely view, with everything slowly opening for the day, the pain detracted from the whole experience a bit.
I made it back and after applying some aloe vera (Brett had some growing in the garden, so he cut some up for me) we jumped in the car and headed off to Hollywood. We managed to find some parking right in the centre that was fairly reasonable, so we left the car there and went to IHOP for some breakfast. This was going to be the last IHOP of the trip! Although we'd bee doing the last *insert inane activity* of the trip for the last few days now.
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We did all the usual touristy stuff, like the walk of fame, the hand prints, and bought some socks! As each step was making me feel like I was going to black out from pain (ok maybe slightly exaggerated) we went back to the car and headed towards the Hollywood sign. Obviously you can't actually get near it, but I wanted a good picture of it, and a good view of LA from high up. Our final stop was Beverley Hills, where we'd get a picture of the sign, walk about for a bit and feel very poor.
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When we got back, we went out for dinner and had another walk along the beach; it looks amazing whilst the sun's setting, so picturesque.
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Day 31 - Home time
This was the last full day, we were flying out of LA late that evening, so the next time we got into a bed, it'd be our own back in Glasgow. We started out at the beach again, enjoying the Californian sun before heading to a nearby mall to get some last-minute shopping in. After that, we found an Internet cafe (who knew they still existed) to print out our plane tickets and stopped in a Walmart to stock up on American goodies that we can't get back home. I underestimated the traffic though, so that ate into a big part of our day. We managed to make it back to Santa Monica beach later that afternoon where I managed to sell all of our camping gear that I'd advertised on Craigslist to a nice young lady that gave us an extra $20 to get a couple of extra drinks on last day of our honeymoon. What a lovely gesture!
As the evening started to draw in, we headed to the airport and tried a Cheesecake factory on the way. Again, it was another wait of well over an hour! How is this place so popular?! That was the third or fourth that we'd tried and the wait had been far too long at all of them. Instead we found a place that did a nice burger, which we finished and drove to the airport. I was worried about being charged over any damage to the undercarriage of the car, especially considering there was a weird clicking noise since we went round Monument Valley, but I haven't been charged for anything since, so it's all good.
The plan was to get a midnight flight to Boston and sleep for those five hours so we could wander around Boston feeling at least slightly refreshed. Spoiler: we got zero sleep.
Day 32 - Boston and the flight home
We landed in Boston early in the morning after a 5 hour flight, however the time difference meant that it was later later than 5am, so we didn't have a long wait for everything to open. We got our bags and walked down to the water taxi dock, where we'd catch the water taxi to Rowes Wharf. We were able to leave all our bags there, and took a short walk to the Boston aquarium. This was a weird experience, because we really enjoyed it, it was a great aquarium with all sorts of marine life, but we were walking around it like zombies after literally no sleep.
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After an enjoyable walk around, we stopped in a bar for our final lunch, where we tried not to fall asleep in our food. Afterwards we took the water taxi back to the airport. Once we checked in and went through to departures, we discovered that all flights to Philadelphia had been delayed (which was where our connecting flight to Glasgow was), and eventually got to the point where we'd miss our connecting flight. After a few hours we finally got put onto a flight that would take us to Dublin, where we could get a connecting flight to Glasgow. This was not fun at all, as we didn't leave the airport until nearly 9pm (remember we'd flown at midnight the night before and still hadn't slept). The flight was ok, and I managed to get just under an hours sleep, although Rach had none again. We then had an hour or two to wait in Dublin before we finally arrived in Glasgow at 11.30am the next day. That's over 30 hours of travelling!
The next week is a blur, as the jet lag hit us incredibly hard.
So that's it! Boston to LA over a month. So many miles, so many memories, so many burgers! I'll write a reflection on the whole trip soon...
Hi all, I know I said I'd write a reflection soon, but life kinda got in the way.
I'm going to come back to this with a proper reflection, but until then, my best advice is to find a balance of documenting as much as possible without that becoming the main focus of the trip. We saw so many selfie sticks along the way, where people were experiencing everything through a phone or camera screen, rather than actually looking around them and taking the odd photo or video to remember what they saw.
I was almost embarrassed to take videos of seemingly banal things, but looking back now, it helps jog memories of what we were doing at the time, and helps join the memories up together to more of a narrative than just memories of random events. We still watch the Youtube video I made every few months, and every time it takes me back to that amazing month we had. Each time I watch it makes me more determined to return and do some of the things we never got a chance to do.
Thanks to everyone for the encouraging messages, I'm glad that some of you found it useful and/or entertaining, and I hope that it continues to encourage others to take their own American road trip.