Its just like Whistler only you have to pedal up the hills rather than get a ski lift to the top and you can go off-roading as well... Heaven!
Full post to come later, but for now we need showers and beer... and sleep!
Sunday, 21 October 2007
Friday, 19 October 2007
Salt Lake City
Good morning all :-)
Well, yesterday we took an easy drive up route 89 carefully avoiding the interstates to get from Bryce to Salt Lake City. It is *alot* warmer up this way, which I think is a good thing.
We arrived late last night so havn't seen much of the city yet, other than the fact it is surrounded by some beautiful snow capped mountains. We're planning on having an investigate today and heading out to the salt flats where they used to set all kinds of speed records etc. Apparently the only one of it's type in America.
So far Utah has been pretty cool, some amazing national parks and lovely little villages - alot less of the trailers and falling down shacks than we've seen in other parts of America. We don't really get that in the UK, but I guess that's to do with land availability etc. Why bother knocking the old house down when you can buy 40 acres on the edge of town for $39,500 (about £18,500) - seriously.
Hopefully we're meeting up with Jez's friend Rob over the next few days as he is threatening to show us some good off-roading - wahoo! Then we'll be in Moab until at least the end of October, so hopefully some interesting stories coming up soon :-)
Not long 'till we're back now - make the most of the peace and quiet ;-)
Jen
Well, yesterday we took an easy drive up route 89 carefully avoiding the interstates to get from Bryce to Salt Lake City. It is *alot* warmer up this way, which I think is a good thing.
We arrived late last night so havn't seen much of the city yet, other than the fact it is surrounded by some beautiful snow capped mountains. We're planning on having an investigate today and heading out to the salt flats where they used to set all kinds of speed records etc. Apparently the only one of it's type in America.
So far Utah has been pretty cool, some amazing national parks and lovely little villages - alot less of the trailers and falling down shacks than we've seen in other parts of America. We don't really get that in the UK, but I guess that's to do with land availability etc. Why bother knocking the old house down when you can buy 40 acres on the edge of town for $39,500 (about £18,500) - seriously.
Hopefully we're meeting up with Jez's friend Rob over the next few days as he is threatening to show us some good off-roading - wahoo! Then we'll be in Moab until at least the end of October, so hopefully some interesting stories coming up soon :-)
Not long 'till we're back now - make the most of the peace and quiet ;-)
Jen
Thursday, 18 October 2007
Bryce Canyon: Not *quite* what it says on the tin!
Today started bright and earlyish and only being 12 miles down the road from Bryce Canyon we had an advantage over our usual mornings. We planned to head down and spend the day investigating this area due to Graham's (Dan's Dad) claims it was well worth a vist.
And Wow. Indeed it was :) It had the advantage over the Grand Canyon of being accessible to mear mortals and full of Hoodoos, formed when ice and rainwater wear away the weak limestone and of course - the catch it wasn't actually a *real* canyon. It wasn't formed by flowing water but by ice wedging and chemical weathering. Aren't I full of interesting facts today?
We visited the vistors centre and spoke to a nice ranger who told us everything we needed to know so we grabbed a hiking map (a bargin at $1.99) and headed out into the Canyon itself. It's hard to describe, full of hoodoos: amazing spires, what seem to be high walled canyons and the beatiful blue sky topped it off nicely. Still a picture says a 1000 words, so it'll save my fingers:
Spot Dan in this one:
After an afternoon of hiking we decided to drive up the park road to look at the 'natural bridge', at almost 9000ft it was bloomin' freezing! So we did a great tourist thing of running from the car snapping a pic or 3 and running back again. Fab. Dan did get stopped along the way by a chap who asked if ours was the Camel he saw around Guildford... weird! Small world. It wasn't us, but we know who's he's thinking of.
We wanted to catch the Ranger program in the evening all about the stars, but that didn't start until 7:30. We checked out the only campsite left open at Bryce, they're expecting -6C (not taking into account wind chill) and 50mph winds tonight, with a 30% chance of rain. Mm. Not much fun! Knowing the average was 22inchs of snow for this month we decided to head a couple of 1000 ft down back to the KOA we stayed in last night. However, we were both still a bit worried as only 12 miles down the road they get pretty similar weather. Although we could camp, it would be a bit freezing. So, we took the opportunity to hire a KOA Kamping Kabin (ARGH I HATE THOSE 'K's'!) and at $40 (£20) for the night for light, heat, a comfy bed and electric it was a bit of a no-brainer.
Only problem is... we still have to walk to the toilets...
As an update, the ranger programme was pretty good, even better the telescopes afterwards, we saw the craters of the moon and Jupiter and the 3 of it's moons visible at the time... coooooool.
And Wow. Indeed it was :) It had the advantage over the Grand Canyon of being accessible to mear mortals and full of Hoodoos, formed when ice and rainwater wear away the weak limestone and of course - the catch it wasn't actually a *real* canyon. It wasn't formed by flowing water but by ice wedging and chemical weathering. Aren't I full of interesting facts today?
We visited the vistors centre and spoke to a nice ranger who told us everything we needed to know so we grabbed a hiking map (a bargin at $1.99) and headed out into the Canyon itself. It's hard to describe, full of hoodoos: amazing spires, what seem to be high walled canyons and the beatiful blue sky topped it off nicely. Still a picture says a 1000 words, so it'll save my fingers:
Spot Dan in this one:
After an afternoon of hiking we decided to drive up the park road to look at the 'natural bridge', at almost 9000ft it was bloomin' freezing! So we did a great tourist thing of running from the car snapping a pic or 3 and running back again. Fab. Dan did get stopped along the way by a chap who asked if ours was the Camel he saw around Guildford... weird! Small world. It wasn't us, but we know who's he's thinking of.
We wanted to catch the Ranger program in the evening all about the stars, but that didn't start until 7:30. We checked out the only campsite left open at Bryce, they're expecting -6C (not taking into account wind chill) and 50mph winds tonight, with a 30% chance of rain. Mm. Not much fun! Knowing the average was 22inchs of snow for this month we decided to head a couple of 1000 ft down back to the KOA we stayed in last night. However, we were both still a bit worried as only 12 miles down the road they get pretty similar weather. Although we could camp, it would be a bit freezing. So, we took the opportunity to hire a KOA Kamping Kabin (ARGH I HATE THOSE 'K's'!) and at $40 (£20) for the night for light, heat, a comfy bed and electric it was a bit of a no-brainer.
Only problem is... we still have to walk to the toilets...
As an update, the ranger programme was pretty good, even better the telescopes afterwards, we saw the craters of the moon and Jupiter and the 3 of it's moons visible at the time... coooooool.
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
Grand Canyon: Does exactly what it say's on the tin!
Grand: impressive in size, appearance, or general effect
Canyon: a deep valley with steep sides, often with a stream flowing through it.
..it was indeed a Grand Canyon. Problem is, once you've pulled up and gone 'wow' what do you do then?! lol! Apparently, the average trip to the Grand Canyon lasts 4 hours, with just 45minutes spent looking at the Canyon itself, compared to almost 2 weeks in the 1980's.
You can't walk down it, well, you can, but you'll probably die and it will take you 2 days at least. From the moment we got there we were inundated with stories about people that were foolish enough to think they could walk down and back up again - including a story about a woman who ran the Boston Marathon in just over 3 hours, yet died trying to hike back out the Grand Canyon. That was more than enough to put us off! You can take a mule ride down, for over $600 each, or a helicopter over te top for just over $200 each... Mm. Rafting! Ah! that sounds fun... only smooth water at this time of year though :(
Not to be disuaded we were determined to find something to do and beat the average 4hours stay so we wandered into the visitors centre and read some more stories about people dieing of exhaustion or falling over the edge (cheerful place this). However, we chatted to a friendly ranger and although in true National Park style you can't ride your bike on *any* trails, you can ride your bike along one of the rim roads. We thought this sounded like a plan as there were over 10 viewpoints scattered along the road and the only other way of getting there is shuttle bus. Now, shuttle buses maybe a good idea, but they are a Universe in which all the stereo-types in existance seem to manifest themselves to reality... from the brash rude Old Texan Couple to the loud German to the Japannese tourist with 14 video cameras and, in our case, the tired English couple wishing they were anywhere else but here. So, since Denali, we've avoided shuttle buses! lol!
We spent the night at the campsite in the South Rim Villiage with plans to get up early and get cycling after we'd watched the sun go down over the Cayon - this is a must if you're ever in the area.
Monday morning and we awoke bright and early, I made Dan boiled eggs and soliders in bed with a hot cup of English Tea and a present of a Grand Canyon Fridge Magnet as it was our Anniversary ... he responded with 'is it?!'. It's good to follow tradition :-) We packed up and drove into the village to park Charlie up near the beginning of the road, we unloaded the bikes and made some sandwiches for lunch before starting the ride. 5 minutes in, my legs were aching and I couldn't breathe... Mm. I know I havn't been to the gym for 3 months but it shouldn't be this bad!! Admittely the first 3 miles was one of those killer gradual hills, but the answer was found at the first view point, I hadn't realised - we were cycling at between 6,500ft and 7,500ft all day. Phew! Thing is, with Moab at 4,000ft I hope it's a bit easier, or I might need my health insurance! lol!
By the end of the day and nearing the end of our 16mile ride I was starting to get the hang of it so much so that when Dan made a joke about liking riding behind me as he could go at my easy pace he soon found himself a speck in the distance as I accelerated up the 4mile hill - Hehehe. I love my bike.
Still, it was definatly worth the effort. We traversed all the view points getting our timing almost perfect so we arrived just after the shuttle buses picked up and the easy pace of the ride meant we could enjoy the views as we cycled along.
That evening we booked into the campsite on the furthest east point of the Grand Canyon. We saw a ranger who's comment: 'Nice Defender!' should certainly not go unnoted. It was amazing that for once, Charlie wasn't being called a 'Jeep thing', 'rig' or 'hippie mobile!'. We had a quick chat with him and it turns out he likes his off-roading and it was benifical to us as he recommended a place to go and watch the sunset a couple of 100yrds down from the campsites ampitheatre. Fantastic as no-one ever goes there, true to form, I grabbed a coke and Dan grabbed a beer and we headed on down there to find a truely desserted spot from which you could see the plains, the north rim and the river winding it's way through.
We watched the sun go down and headed back to the campsite to cook and anniversary dinner of beef in red wine/garlic and baked banana's with Cadbury's Chocolate (that Mum had brought over - thanks Mum!), mini-marshmallows and Baileys. Mm. Yum. When the stars came out it was amazing. With a distinct lack of light pollution it was hard to make out the constilations there were so many, pretty amazing. However, it did make me a bit sad, after the excellent evening we'd had with the fire, reading books and looking at the stars I walked to the toilets amid a sea of air conditioned RV's.... every one housed people sat inside watching television. I doubt they'd lit a fire or looked at the stars or stopped to talk to a Ranger long enough to find the best spots. Sad really.
That night I awoke to hear a group of Coyotes howling, it would have been amazing but I really needed the loo and was too scared to get up! lol!
Today we headed on over to check out Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. Zion looked amazing, but again, it was shuttle buses or a 3 day hike... We had a wander around, visited the visitors centre and then realised the clocks had gone forward an hour and we raelly should find a campsite! Desparate for a shower we headed to the nearest KOA, 12 miles from Bryce Canyon so we're planning on spending the day there tomorrow. Hopefully we can do it more justice than Zion.
Canyon: a deep valley with steep sides, often with a stream flowing through it.
..it was indeed a Grand Canyon. Problem is, once you've pulled up and gone 'wow' what do you do then?! lol! Apparently, the average trip to the Grand Canyon lasts 4 hours, with just 45minutes spent looking at the Canyon itself, compared to almost 2 weeks in the 1980's.
You can't walk down it, well, you can, but you'll probably die and it will take you 2 days at least. From the moment we got there we were inundated with stories about people that were foolish enough to think they could walk down and back up again - including a story about a woman who ran the Boston Marathon in just over 3 hours, yet died trying to hike back out the Grand Canyon. That was more than enough to put us off! You can take a mule ride down, for over $600 each, or a helicopter over te top for just over $200 each... Mm. Rafting! Ah! that sounds fun... only smooth water at this time of year though :(
Not to be disuaded we were determined to find something to do and beat the average 4hours stay so we wandered into the visitors centre and read some more stories about people dieing of exhaustion or falling over the edge (cheerful place this). However, we chatted to a friendly ranger and although in true National Park style you can't ride your bike on *any* trails, you can ride your bike along one of the rim roads. We thought this sounded like a plan as there were over 10 viewpoints scattered along the road and the only other way of getting there is shuttle bus. Now, shuttle buses maybe a good idea, but they are a Universe in which all the stereo-types in existance seem to manifest themselves to reality... from the brash rude Old Texan Couple to the loud German to the Japannese tourist with 14 video cameras and, in our case, the tired English couple wishing they were anywhere else but here. So, since Denali, we've avoided shuttle buses! lol!
We spent the night at the campsite in the South Rim Villiage with plans to get up early and get cycling after we'd watched the sun go down over the Cayon - this is a must if you're ever in the area.
Monday morning and we awoke bright and early, I made Dan boiled eggs and soliders in bed with a hot cup of English Tea and a present of a Grand Canyon Fridge Magnet as it was our Anniversary ... he responded with 'is it?!'. It's good to follow tradition :-) We packed up and drove into the village to park Charlie up near the beginning of the road, we unloaded the bikes and made some sandwiches for lunch before starting the ride. 5 minutes in, my legs were aching and I couldn't breathe... Mm. I know I havn't been to the gym for 3 months but it shouldn't be this bad!! Admittely the first 3 miles was one of those killer gradual hills, but the answer was found at the first view point, I hadn't realised - we were cycling at between 6,500ft and 7,500ft all day. Phew! Thing is, with Moab at 4,000ft I hope it's a bit easier, or I might need my health insurance! lol!
By the end of the day and nearing the end of our 16mile ride I was starting to get the hang of it so much so that when Dan made a joke about liking riding behind me as he could go at my easy pace he soon found himself a speck in the distance as I accelerated up the 4mile hill - Hehehe. I love my bike.
Still, it was definatly worth the effort. We traversed all the view points getting our timing almost perfect so we arrived just after the shuttle buses picked up and the easy pace of the ride meant we could enjoy the views as we cycled along.
That evening we booked into the campsite on the furthest east point of the Grand Canyon. We saw a ranger who's comment: 'Nice Defender!' should certainly not go unnoted. It was amazing that for once, Charlie wasn't being called a 'Jeep thing', 'rig' or 'hippie mobile!'. We had a quick chat with him and it turns out he likes his off-roading and it was benifical to us as he recommended a place to go and watch the sunset a couple of 100yrds down from the campsites ampitheatre. Fantastic as no-one ever goes there, true to form, I grabbed a coke and Dan grabbed a beer and we headed on down there to find a truely desserted spot from which you could see the plains, the north rim and the river winding it's way through.
We watched the sun go down and headed back to the campsite to cook and anniversary dinner of beef in red wine/garlic and baked banana's with Cadbury's Chocolate (that Mum had brought over - thanks Mum!), mini-marshmallows and Baileys. Mm. Yum. When the stars came out it was amazing. With a distinct lack of light pollution it was hard to make out the constilations there were so many, pretty amazing. However, it did make me a bit sad, after the excellent evening we'd had with the fire, reading books and looking at the stars I walked to the toilets amid a sea of air conditioned RV's.... every one housed people sat inside watching television. I doubt they'd lit a fire or looked at the stars or stopped to talk to a Ranger long enough to find the best spots. Sad really.
That night I awoke to hear a group of Coyotes howling, it would have been amazing but I really needed the loo and was too scared to get up! lol!
Today we headed on over to check out Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. Zion looked amazing, but again, it was shuttle buses or a 3 day hike... We had a wander around, visited the visitors centre and then realised the clocks had gone forward an hour and we raelly should find a campsite! Desparate for a shower we headed to the nearest KOA, 12 miles from Bryce Canyon so we're planning on spending the day there tomorrow. Hopefully we can do it more justice than Zion.
Sunday, 14 October 2007
Vegas... love it or hate it?
Firstly, before we get into whats been going on over the last couple of days... Congratulations to Dave and Jules (Jens bruv and sister-in-law)! Jules gave birth to Harry David James Rees at 8:19am on the 12 or 13th... Sorry, we're not sure cos we don't know if the text we got shows the time it was sent or the time it was recieved, something like a 8hr time difference and its all very confusing, so we are just going to drink a beer or six in celebration! We can't wait to meet him :-) Here is the little blighter (sorry about pic quality, its from a text messege!)
Before we got to Vegas we spent the day driving around Death Valley. It's kind of a bizarre place. Nothing lives there apart from the most stubborn mountain sheep, the odd rattlesnake and some small rodents that are meals for the snakes.Vegetation is pretty much non existent. It was originally the home of the Timbisha Shoshone Indian tribe who were a bit miffed when they got kicked out by the white man... same old story really. You kinda get the impression that the native indians of America were poo'd on from a very great height!
Anyway, depsite it being a desolate place, there is something very cool about it too, but its hard to describe. I think its to do with the fact that it can be an amazing place to see, but if you don't appreciate it properly, respect it even, it will kill you! Seriously, its that hot there that people have died when their car fails or just going out for walks, even experienced hikers have gotten into trouble. So we played safe and never went more that a couple of hundred yards from the car.
So anyway, onto Las Vegas. We had booked oursleves into Luxor, the huge Egyptian pyramid for couple of nights so that we could check "The Strip" out.
Luxor:
I came here a few years ago with a couple of mates and spent one very drunken night checking out the hotels and casinos without a care in the world and generally having a good time. This time round was different. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it, but as I wasn't in a drunken daze with a load of mates around me I paid more attention to the surroundings.
The hotels themsleves are amazing, each with its own theme. We walked for miles on our first night there and before we knew it, it was 1 o'clock in the morning! It's amazing how when you step out of your hotel, everything looks fairly close, but in reality The Strip it well long, the closer you think you are getting to the next hotel, the further away it seems to be... wierd! Also all the casinos seem to be designed to get you completely lost. The plan is that once you are in, you stay there! There are no exit signs, no arrows pointing to exits, only signs pointing to other attractions within the hotel.
The next day we walked The Strip in the daytime and again it took us ages. We planned ahead tho and knew which hotels we wanted to see most. We really wanted to see "The Sirens of TI" show outside Treasure Island (recently renamed TI because its more trendy!). Its a bit pirate ship theatrical show that is supposed to very good. Unfortunately it was too windy that night and the show was cancelled... Boooooo! By 9pm we were both exhausted so spent the next 22hours walking back to our hotel (ok, it didn't take quite that long!).
INSIDE the Venician (first floor!):
Now then, I'm gonna get all moral/boring/analytical now, so those of you that get bored by this sort of thing might want to go and watch Coronation Street or something. There is no denying that Las Vegas, or at least "The Strip" is an amazing place, the casinos are spectacular, the shows entertaining, and the general atmosphere is one of exuberence and excitement. But there are a couple of things that make you think. On our second night there in one of the casinos, I forget which one, we saw a woman in hysterical floods of tears leaving the building rather hastily. We may have read the signs all wrong, but the first thing that went through our minds was that she had made one last desperate attempt to win a fortune, and inevitably had lost, who knows how much! On reflection it could have been a completely different situation, she could have just had a barney with her other half, but whatever the situation it got us thinking about how many people must get lured here dreaming of winning a fortune. Its easy to see how it can happen too, we put about $5 of our own money in the slot machines, just for the experience, the rest that we put in was winnings. We came out about $30 up, there were many more toursits just like us but you could see with some people the temptation to keep going, just in case the next big payout is yours. But we knew when to stop, and thats the crunch point. Many people don't know when that point is, suprisingly, the Casino's don't seem to mind. In our entire trip we saw three small cardboard signs advertising gambling help-lines, scary really.
The second thing that we both found annoying, even disturbing was the touts. Prostitution and brothels are completely legal in Nevada. Las Vegas is well known for it, even to the extent of pciking up the nick-name "Sin City". There is no getting away from it and if you are going to visit vegas, you just have to accept that it goes on whether you like it or not. But the touts almost make any visit here unpleasurable. They stand on every street thrusting calling cards into your hands. They even hand them out to kids who are with their parents and parents who are with their kids, one chap in front of us had to tell his young teenage son to ignore them - they were targetting him too. There are advertising trucks driving up and down the strip. The whole stripper/prostitution thing is thrust in your face all the time, which spoils it for the vast majority of people who are there to experience the less seedy side of what Las Vegas has to offer.
There are essays about the legalisation of prostitution. Peoples free will and the safety of those in the industry should always be paramount but I'm not going to bleat on about any pros or cons of such a system, both Jen and I have our opinions on it and they needn't be written here as it isn't the time or the place.
On a final note, Elvis REALLY is dead, and most of his impersonators, barmey as they are, are completely rubbish!
Jen:
Today we mostly spent the time leaving Vegas, doing some shopping and heading for the Grand Canyon. We passed over the Hoover Dam, which bizarrely was alot smaller than either of us thought. Very high security there so much so that Charlie got pulled over for searching, well, I say searching, it was more of a cursory glance but annoying as we had to open the roof tent and back up etc. I would tell you lots about the Hoover Dam, but it was really expensive to get in - they wouldn't even let you in the vistors centre without paying out. So we decided just to admire the views instead and look it up on the internet when we got to the campsite. I'm so cheap :-) Hehe.
Hoover Dam:
Hoover Dan: (hehe!)
Anyway, now is time to enjoy the finer things in life, I have a hotchocolate with Balieys and mini-marshmallows waiting (I've been swimming tonight therefore earnt it!) so will sign off now. We're in the Grand Canyon National Park for the next few day's so not sure when we can update next, will do it asap.
Before we got to Vegas we spent the day driving around Death Valley. It's kind of a bizarre place. Nothing lives there apart from the most stubborn mountain sheep, the odd rattlesnake and some small rodents that are meals for the snakes.Vegetation is pretty much non existent. It was originally the home of the Timbisha Shoshone Indian tribe who were a bit miffed when they got kicked out by the white man... same old story really. You kinda get the impression that the native indians of America were poo'd on from a very great height!
Anyway, depsite it being a desolate place, there is something very cool about it too, but its hard to describe. I think its to do with the fact that it can be an amazing place to see, but if you don't appreciate it properly, respect it even, it will kill you! Seriously, its that hot there that people have died when their car fails or just going out for walks, even experienced hikers have gotten into trouble. So we played safe and never went more that a couple of hundred yards from the car.
So anyway, onto Las Vegas. We had booked oursleves into Luxor, the huge Egyptian pyramid for couple of nights so that we could check "The Strip" out.
Luxor:
I came here a few years ago with a couple of mates and spent one very drunken night checking out the hotels and casinos without a care in the world and generally having a good time. This time round was different. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it, but as I wasn't in a drunken daze with a load of mates around me I paid more attention to the surroundings.
The hotels themsleves are amazing, each with its own theme. We walked for miles on our first night there and before we knew it, it was 1 o'clock in the morning! It's amazing how when you step out of your hotel, everything looks fairly close, but in reality The Strip it well long, the closer you think you are getting to the next hotel, the further away it seems to be... wierd! Also all the casinos seem to be designed to get you completely lost. The plan is that once you are in, you stay there! There are no exit signs, no arrows pointing to exits, only signs pointing to other attractions within the hotel.
The next day we walked The Strip in the daytime and again it took us ages. We planned ahead tho and knew which hotels we wanted to see most. We really wanted to see "The Sirens of TI" show outside Treasure Island (recently renamed TI because its more trendy!). Its a bit pirate ship theatrical show that is supposed to very good. Unfortunately it was too windy that night and the show was cancelled... Boooooo! By 9pm we were both exhausted so spent the next 22hours walking back to our hotel (ok, it didn't take quite that long!).
INSIDE the Venician (first floor!):
Now then, I'm gonna get all moral/boring/analytical now, so those of you that get bored by this sort of thing might want to go and watch Coronation Street or something. There is no denying that Las Vegas, or at least "The Strip" is an amazing place, the casinos are spectacular, the shows entertaining, and the general atmosphere is one of exuberence and excitement. But there are a couple of things that make you think. On our second night there in one of the casinos, I forget which one, we saw a woman in hysterical floods of tears leaving the building rather hastily. We may have read the signs all wrong, but the first thing that went through our minds was that she had made one last desperate attempt to win a fortune, and inevitably had lost, who knows how much! On reflection it could have been a completely different situation, she could have just had a barney with her other half, but whatever the situation it got us thinking about how many people must get lured here dreaming of winning a fortune. Its easy to see how it can happen too, we put about $5 of our own money in the slot machines, just for the experience, the rest that we put in was winnings. We came out about $30 up, there were many more toursits just like us but you could see with some people the temptation to keep going, just in case the next big payout is yours. But we knew when to stop, and thats the crunch point. Many people don't know when that point is, suprisingly, the Casino's don't seem to mind. In our entire trip we saw three small cardboard signs advertising gambling help-lines, scary really.
The second thing that we both found annoying, even disturbing was the touts. Prostitution and brothels are completely legal in Nevada. Las Vegas is well known for it, even to the extent of pciking up the nick-name "Sin City". There is no getting away from it and if you are going to visit vegas, you just have to accept that it goes on whether you like it or not. But the touts almost make any visit here unpleasurable. They stand on every street thrusting calling cards into your hands. They even hand them out to kids who are with their parents and parents who are with their kids, one chap in front of us had to tell his young teenage son to ignore them - they were targetting him too. There are advertising trucks driving up and down the strip. The whole stripper/prostitution thing is thrust in your face all the time, which spoils it for the vast majority of people who are there to experience the less seedy side of what Las Vegas has to offer.
There are essays about the legalisation of prostitution. Peoples free will and the safety of those in the industry should always be paramount but I'm not going to bleat on about any pros or cons of such a system, both Jen and I have our opinions on it and they needn't be written here as it isn't the time or the place.
On a final note, Elvis REALLY is dead, and most of his impersonators, barmey as they are, are completely rubbish!
Jen:
Today we mostly spent the time leaving Vegas, doing some shopping and heading for the Grand Canyon. We passed over the Hoover Dam, which bizarrely was alot smaller than either of us thought. Very high security there so much so that Charlie got pulled over for searching, well, I say searching, it was more of a cursory glance but annoying as we had to open the roof tent and back up etc. I would tell you lots about the Hoover Dam, but it was really expensive to get in - they wouldn't even let you in the vistors centre without paying out. So we decided just to admire the views instead and look it up on the internet when we got to the campsite. I'm so cheap :-) Hehe.
Hoover Dam:
Hoover Dan: (hehe!)
Anyway, now is time to enjoy the finer things in life, I have a hotchocolate with Balieys and mini-marshmallows waiting (I've been swimming tonight therefore earnt it!) so will sign off now. We're in the Grand Canyon National Park for the next few day's so not sure when we can update next, will do it asap.
Thursday, 11 October 2007
This ain’t no country club… this is LA.
Well, that’s enough of the Sheryl Crow lyrics… it is amusing how everything in LA seems to have a film, tv or music link though.
Did you know that if California was a country all on its own, it would have the 7th largest economy in the world… and Arnie is in charge of it. Scary!!
Having been told by the staff at the KOA that there was an off road show at the “Fairplex” over the weekend it seemed rude to miss out on it, so our first day in LA was spent 200yards down the road from the campsite checking out the American off road scene. We were told that we couldn’t walk there as there wasn’t a predestrian entrance so Charlie had a really long drive 200 yrds to a car park next door to the campsite (and we had to pay to park!). The show itself was probably about the same size as Billing, but with a lot more space and lots of stands in exhibition halls. Unsurprisingly there were no Landies there at all, just a load of American muscle and far too much chrome. Like the bling on the UK scene, some seem to function on the idea it’s not so much about your vehicles capabilities as how much chrome you can stick on it and how tall you can make it.
There were only a couple of bits that really interested us, and I’m almost embarrassed to say it, but it was the jeeps (I’m not, some were really cool – Jen) and the sand racers. It was nice to be able to compare them to what we have back home in the way of 90’s Rangies, and Discos. Neither of us really know the US off road scene and we’d hate to offend anybody, but there was as much bolt on as you’d get on Scrap-iron racing and amongst most stands there seemed to be a distinct lack of innovation. Some seemed to work on the theory whatever type of off road toy you want, you just go buy it off the shelf, then spend a disgusting amount of money adding bolt on bling! One stand we saw that stood out was selling suspension mod kits for Jeeps… at ONLY $10,000! Huh!?! Thanks, but when I can buy a complete kit for a Landy for under £300, I know which way I’d go. However, looking at the sand racers and some of the jeeps was pretty cool, that was where the innovation seemed to be and therefore where we spent most our time, Jen spent a vast amount of it underneath several vehicles with a camera, poor George (JU – e-mail coming your way with some questions! – Jen). We did however manage to pick up a couple of bargains. Firstly a book listing a load of off road trails in Moab… essential reading! Secondly, a rather nice 4ft hi-lift jack… for £27. Bargain! (about £50 to buy at home) :-)
The following day we checked out Universal Studios. What a fantastic time of year to visit these places. Its just out of season, but still lovely sunny and warm, and not too many visitors. We managed to do the whole park before it closed. If you are ever there, check out Waterworld… Fantastic! The park had it’s usual themed shows, (including the Blues Brothers, much to my delight – Jen)
and the behind the scenes tour, which was a bit disappointing from an inside information point of view, but we did get to drive down Wisteria Lane (Desparate Housewives) which was amazing, turning into a ‘town street’ on a backlot is a surreal experience. The best part of all though – they’ve kept the scene from War of the Worlds (the one with Tom Cruise) where the 747 crashes into the neighbourhood.
Wow. That was truly amazing, luckily they stopped there for a while so we could all gawp. At the end of the day, as we were in Hollywood, it was only right we should go to a cinema, so we went to see The Kingdom at Universal Village.
Monday and we were booked in to Warner Bros for a studio tour in the afternoon, can you tell we’re both film lovers?! This meant we had a morning to kill, so we headed to the Observatory in the hills above LA, this has also been used in a few movies! But we really wanted to see the telescope etc. Unfortuantly, it was closed, and not advertised until you get pretty much to the door. Still, we looked at the building (beautiful) and enjoyed the views and for the first time realised the LA smog really does exist! Words can’t really describe what it’s like when you can *see* the pollution and know you have to spend the next few days in it. We drove back down the hill to Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard where the walk of fame is, we parked up and had a quick look, but got bored quite quickly as at the end of the day it’s just some bronze stars in the sidewalk. The Warner Bros tour was one Jen had really been looking forward to and ensured we got right behind the scenes of many TV shows and movies. We saw the old set from Friends and the current one for Two and a Half Men (very popular in the US… and I think its out in the UK too, but have never watched it). We also saw the full set of the mock up of the Chicago hospital used in ER and got to have a good wander around. One of the chaps on the tour was from Chicago and said it felt way strange being at home… but in LA! We also heard a few details of the filming, how they create the Chicago light and rain and how they did the helicopter crash that killed one of the doctors a few years ago… I remember seeing it on television – basically the helicopter fell off the roof of the hospital onto said doctor… how they created it? They hoisted a helicopter 60ft in the air on a crane filled with explosives and dropped it. Lol! That’s Hollywood for you.
Jen got all excited and clappy by the Harry Potter stuff (and to be honest you can’t blame me, they had a ton of props from the movies there including a giant spider (ahh!) and the Triwizard Tournament cup etc. etc). We even got to wear the “sorting hat” in the Warner Bros museum and were both glad to be put in Griffindor. We saw the “Friends” front door and loads of props from the series including the sleeve from the porn video Buffay the Vampire Layer!! Outside the museum were 4 “General Lee’s” that were used in the Dukes of Hazzard film. Unfortunately they were all under wraps, awaiting auction, but being the sad muppet I am I can recognize a Dodge Charger from its tail pipes and wheels ;-) They were filming a movie whilst we were there, the new Adam Sandler one, but I can’t remember the name.
On our last day in LA, we checked out Bel Air, Mulholand Drive and Santa Monica and the famous beaches, including Venice Beach where all them daft body builders pose… errr… I mean work out. What a bunch of posers! One bloke there was in a posing pouch.. You just gotta laugh (but not when they are within earshot)!
We also happened to drive past a house and a school.. anyone recognize them? Jen got a bit overexcited – answers on a postcard…
Waiting in a traffic jam we also got questioned by the fuzz. They wanted to know how long we’d been in California. Apparently any more than 20 days and you have to register your vehicle. Personally I thought this is a load of old cobblers, and my suspicions were confirmed when he pulled up next to us again and said “I only asked ‘cos I really like your truck”. Oh how our heads swelled :-)
After 3 days getting snarled up in the LA traffic, we decided that we needed to get back to what we know, i.e. the great outdoors, so headed out in to the San Bernadino mountains, another National Forest that has plenty of off road tracks and had been recommended to us by a helpful chap at the off road show. As it was getting late though we headed straight for camp, this time at Green Valley Lake National Forest campground.
This morning we got up and were determined to get some off roading done. We planned to be in Death Valley by late afternoon, giving us ample time to check out the trails in and around Big Bear Lake. We started with the easy trails, then tried something middle of the road. As the trail went on it got more technical, big boulders all over the track, steep climbs and drops and a load of axle twisting. A bit later we found out that we’d actually just driven half of the John Bull trail… one of the most difficult! With some careful driving and good spotting by Jen we made it through unscathed and with seriously big grins on our faces :-)
As I type this we are currently traveling along route 18 having missed our turning for the 395. This part of the 18 is actually part of the original route 66. Not much to see here tho! As it turned out, we went back the right way but got caught in a jam behind a fatal accident :-( A huge detour later and we pulled up in Barstow just as it was getting dark, we won’t make Death Valley until tomorrow, but it’s better than driving in the dark.
Did you know that if California was a country all on its own, it would have the 7th largest economy in the world… and Arnie is in charge of it. Scary!!
Having been told by the staff at the KOA that there was an off road show at the “Fairplex” over the weekend it seemed rude to miss out on it, so our first day in LA was spent 200yards down the road from the campsite checking out the American off road scene. We were told that we couldn’t walk there as there wasn’t a predestrian entrance so Charlie had a really long drive 200 yrds to a car park next door to the campsite (and we had to pay to park!). The show itself was probably about the same size as Billing, but with a lot more space and lots of stands in exhibition halls. Unsurprisingly there were no Landies there at all, just a load of American muscle and far too much chrome. Like the bling on the UK scene, some seem to function on the idea it’s not so much about your vehicles capabilities as how much chrome you can stick on it and how tall you can make it.
There were only a couple of bits that really interested us, and I’m almost embarrassed to say it, but it was the jeeps (I’m not, some were really cool – Jen) and the sand racers. It was nice to be able to compare them to what we have back home in the way of 90’s Rangies, and Discos. Neither of us really know the US off road scene and we’d hate to offend anybody, but there was as much bolt on as you’d get on Scrap-iron racing and amongst most stands there seemed to be a distinct lack of innovation. Some seemed to work on the theory whatever type of off road toy you want, you just go buy it off the shelf, then spend a disgusting amount of money adding bolt on bling! One stand we saw that stood out was selling suspension mod kits for Jeeps… at ONLY $10,000! Huh!?! Thanks, but when I can buy a complete kit for a Landy for under £300, I know which way I’d go. However, looking at the sand racers and some of the jeeps was pretty cool, that was where the innovation seemed to be and therefore where we spent most our time, Jen spent a vast amount of it underneath several vehicles with a camera, poor George (JU – e-mail coming your way with some questions! – Jen). We did however manage to pick up a couple of bargains. Firstly a book listing a load of off road trails in Moab… essential reading! Secondly, a rather nice 4ft hi-lift jack… for £27. Bargain! (about £50 to buy at home) :-)
The following day we checked out Universal Studios. What a fantastic time of year to visit these places. Its just out of season, but still lovely sunny and warm, and not too many visitors. We managed to do the whole park before it closed. If you are ever there, check out Waterworld… Fantastic! The park had it’s usual themed shows, (including the Blues Brothers, much to my delight – Jen)
and the behind the scenes tour, which was a bit disappointing from an inside information point of view, but we did get to drive down Wisteria Lane (Desparate Housewives) which was amazing, turning into a ‘town street’ on a backlot is a surreal experience. The best part of all though – they’ve kept the scene from War of the Worlds (the one with Tom Cruise) where the 747 crashes into the neighbourhood.
Wow. That was truly amazing, luckily they stopped there for a while so we could all gawp. At the end of the day, as we were in Hollywood, it was only right we should go to a cinema, so we went to see The Kingdom at Universal Village.Monday and we were booked in to Warner Bros for a studio tour in the afternoon, can you tell we’re both film lovers?! This meant we had a morning to kill, so we headed to the Observatory in the hills above LA, this has also been used in a few movies! But we really wanted to see the telescope etc. Unfortuantly, it was closed, and not advertised until you get pretty much to the door. Still, we looked at the building (beautiful) and enjoyed the views and for the first time realised the LA smog really does exist! Words can’t really describe what it’s like when you can *see* the pollution and know you have to spend the next few days in it. We drove back down the hill to Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard where the walk of fame is, we parked up and had a quick look, but got bored quite quickly as at the end of the day it’s just some bronze stars in the sidewalk. The Warner Bros tour was one Jen had really been looking forward to and ensured we got right behind the scenes of many TV shows and movies. We saw the old set from Friends and the current one for Two and a Half Men (very popular in the US… and I think its out in the UK too, but have never watched it). We also saw the full set of the mock up of the Chicago hospital used in ER and got to have a good wander around. One of the chaps on the tour was from Chicago and said it felt way strange being at home… but in LA! We also heard a few details of the filming, how they create the Chicago light and rain and how they did the helicopter crash that killed one of the doctors a few years ago… I remember seeing it on television – basically the helicopter fell off the roof of the hospital onto said doctor… how they created it? They hoisted a helicopter 60ft in the air on a crane filled with explosives and dropped it. Lol! That’s Hollywood for you.
Jen got all excited and clappy by the Harry Potter stuff (and to be honest you can’t blame me, they had a ton of props from the movies there including a giant spider (ahh!) and the Triwizard Tournament cup etc. etc). We even got to wear the “sorting hat” in the Warner Bros museum and were both glad to be put in Griffindor. We saw the “Friends” front door and loads of props from the series including the sleeve from the porn video Buffay the Vampire Layer!! Outside the museum were 4 “General Lee’s” that were used in the Dukes of Hazzard film. Unfortunately they were all under wraps, awaiting auction, but being the sad muppet I am I can recognize a Dodge Charger from its tail pipes and wheels ;-) They were filming a movie whilst we were there, the new Adam Sandler one, but I can’t remember the name.
On our last day in LA, we checked out Bel Air, Mulholand Drive and Santa Monica and the famous beaches, including Venice Beach where all them daft body builders pose… errr… I mean work out. What a bunch of posers! One bloke there was in a posing pouch.. You just gotta laugh (but not when they are within earshot)!
We also happened to drive past a house and a school.. anyone recognize them? Jen got a bit overexcited – answers on a postcard…
Waiting in a traffic jam we also got questioned by the fuzz. They wanted to know how long we’d been in California. Apparently any more than 20 days and you have to register your vehicle. Personally I thought this is a load of old cobblers, and my suspicions were confirmed when he pulled up next to us again and said “I only asked ‘cos I really like your truck”. Oh how our heads swelled :-)
After 3 days getting snarled up in the LA traffic, we decided that we needed to get back to what we know, i.e. the great outdoors, so headed out in to the San Bernadino mountains, another National Forest that has plenty of off road tracks and had been recommended to us by a helpful chap at the off road show. As it was getting late though we headed straight for camp, this time at Green Valley Lake National Forest campground.
This morning we got up and were determined to get some off roading done. We planned to be in Death Valley by late afternoon, giving us ample time to check out the trails in and around Big Bear Lake. We started with the easy trails, then tried something middle of the road. As the trail went on it got more technical, big boulders all over the track, steep climbs and drops and a load of axle twisting. A bit later we found out that we’d actually just driven half of the John Bull trail… one of the most difficult! With some careful driving and good spotting by Jen we made it through unscathed and with seriously big grins on our faces :-)
As I type this we are currently traveling along route 18 having missed our turning for the 395. This part of the 18 is actually part of the original route 66. Not much to see here tho! As it turned out, we went back the right way but got caught in a jam behind a fatal accident :-( A huge detour later and we pulled up in Barstow just as it was getting dark, we won’t make Death Valley until tomorrow, but it’s better than driving in the dark.
Saturday, 6 October 2007
Big hills with a dodgy gearbox - San Francisco!
Dan…
But before that... Napa Valley! This is the home of California's wine region and as we both like wine we thought it'd be a shame to miss out. We had also arranged to meet Jens mum and step-dad here as they had flown over to San Francisco for a holiday.
Napa Valley is actually an area covering about 26miles and taking in 5 main towns, although not all California’s wine is made here, the majority of the grapes are grown in the valley. We started in the southern part, Napa itself and went to the tourist info shop where we were given so much info, loads of money off vouchers, various maps of the region and some personal recommendations.
Having walked out with all the info we could possibly need we headed off to Calistoga where there is an RV/camp ground. We eventually found it tucked around the back of the town and instantly realised that this place was way out of our league. The whole site was chocca block with the enormous palatial coach style RVs that seem to be so popular here. Fortunately there was a state park just down the road, so we checked in there and felt much more at home :-)
That night we met up with Jens parents and went out for a meal at a very nice restaurant, I think we managed to pick the one in Napa Valley with it’s own microbrewery and therefore specializing in beers instead of wines. It was great to see Jen’s mum and Ron and also so nice to be able to talk to someone English again!
The following day we drove down the road to the Sterling Vineyard for a spot of wine tasting and a tour. We sampled 3 white wines and a couple of reds. I’m a big fan of red wine, especially Shiraz and Zinfandels, but after a bit of nosing (that’s what you do to make it look like you know what you are doing!) both Jen aand I decided that their reds were a bit too oaky for our liking. We did indulge in a couple of bottles of white though, and as it’s the most expensive wine we’ve ever bought (at close to £15 a bottle!! Lol! Yes, it’s true – I usually pick them for their money off labels) we’ve decided to save it until our Birthdays :-)
By mid afternoon it was time to head off to San Francisco, an hours drive south. We planned to stay at the cities only RV park, and eventually found it wedged between the San Francisco 49ers baseball stadium Monster Park, and an industrial park. The whole “camp ground” is actually a parking lot and not really very nice. We checked in and we’re given the ‘best pitch in the site’. We then asked the camp ground owner about transport links into the city and he told us that the buses were too dangerous to use around this area, so our only option would be to use the camp shuttle bus at $10 each per day… Sod that! After seeing that the pitch was actually a wide tarmaced parking space next to a container warehouse we checked out and headed back up the 101 and into the centre of the city where we found a decent little motel that had parking without a height restriction. At £50 a night for a comfy room with a flush bog, shower, safe parking and the ability to walk down the road without being mugged it really was a no-brainer!
Having checked in, first job was to drive down to the Land Rover garage to see if they could fit us in for a small service. We’d supposedly had an oil change at a dodgy place back in Burlington, but I’m convinced all they did was change the filter and top up the oil as after 100 mile I checked the oil and it was black as a black thing on a dark night. The Landy Dealer was probably the poshest car dealer either of us had ever seen. It was based in a HUGE old building off the 101 in San Francisco and the show room had it’s own Chandliers. To get in to the service area you drove your car into the building and pulled up next to the service managers offices where they took care of you without you having to walk anywhere! They made room though and fitted Charlie in for an oil change and collant flush, we’d changed the air/fuel filters already and at the rate we’re topping up the gearbox oil I reckon that’s been changed at least every fortnight!
Just encase you didn't believe the bit about the Chandilers:
So after our first night at the motel we dropped Charlie Camel off at the chandelier clad dealership in amongst Jags, Bentleys, Lambos and Landies (somebody really should tell the dealership though that Lamborghinis are Italian, not English) met up with Mum and Ron and made our way down to Fishermans Wharf where we caught the ferry over to Alcatraz!
Did you know that Alcatraz has had a varied history. It was originally built as a military fort, guarding against water born invasion into San Francisco bay. It wasn’t until quite late on in the islands history that it became a prison for the most notorious criminals, the saying goes: ‘You break the rules you go to prison. You break the prison rules, you go to Alcatraz’ and was home to people like Al Capone and the Bird Man of Alcatraz. It closed in 1963 and then 6 years later a group of native Indians began a 19 month occupation of the island. The occupation actually fuelled interest in the Indians crusade and gathered lots of public support. But as there is nothing to do there, you can’t grow anything because there is no soil, there is no fresh water and hitting the town in the evening is a bit of a bind, they soon got fed up. In 1972 Alcatraz finally became a state owned National Recreation Area and in 1973, the first visitors began to arrive. Today it’s an amazing place. The audio tours, narrated by ex prison staff and ex-convicts are brilliant, they guide you round the prison buildings and you can pause at any point to have a nose around. It must have been a depressing place, it offers fantastic views of San Francisco only a mile and a half away, just so they could see what they were missing out on. (I tried locking Dan in a cell and leaving Mum and Ron there, but they all managed to find their way back again… sigh. ;-) – Jen )
We left the island mid afternoon and headed back to the mainland to pick up Charlie. All the jobs had been done, we paid the bill and they brought Charlie down to the service area for us… GLEAMING! They had washed and polished him and put that shiny black stuff all over his tyres and wheel arches! LOL… I don’t think we’ve ever seen him so clean… they even cleaned the bikes mounted on the back, although I was quite upset because they didn’t lube them up again! ;-) So, if you are even in San Francisco and need a car wash… book into BMC.
Jen…
We traveled down to Union Square for a bit of other-side-of-the-world-girl’s-shopping-trip and left Dan and Ron in the bar at the Cheesecake Factory which wasn’t quite as good as the one in Baltimore, but still had fantastic Cheesecake – Mm. By the time we left it was getting late and the queues for the cable cars were non-existent, this was much better than the 45 minutes earlier in the day! So we all jumped on and admired San Francisco at night whilst riding on the old cable cars. Luckily Ron had been to the museum a couple of days before so was able to give us our own tour – did you know those things have wooden brakes? Going down the steep hills it was all you could smell! We spent most the night when we returned looking out the Motel window giggling at seeing Charlie so clean, before that he hadn’t been washed since he left England!
The next morning we got up bright and early…well, ok, we had a very comfy bed so it wasn’t overly bright and early, but we were still at the Exploratorium in time for the opening at 10am. This is something we probably wouldn’t have done except for Mum and Ron getting a free ticket in their city passes and recommending it to us and I’m glad we went. They had a ‘free Wednesday’ day, so we didn’t even have to pay, although we did give a $10 donation as we thought it only fair. The whole place is basically in what looks like and airport hanger and is like the ‘Launch Pad’ floor of the science museum back in London i.e. hands on science! Cool! We made smoke rings, bubble rings and a HUGE bubble, made bubbles suspend in mid air... and some un-bubble related stuff to, but that’s un-important ;-) Dan was like a kid in a sweet shop and to be honest I was too, we even learnt some interesting things so it wasn’t completely wasted on us. There was an amazing optical illusion in the restrooms with the bathroom tiles, so who knows, I may now have a hope of getting Dan to agree to re-tiling the bathroom when we get home.
When we were all scienced out (and Dan had brought me a kit claiming to make a bubble as ‘big as a bus’) we jumped back on the bus (hopefully as big as my bubbles now) and headed down to Golden Gate Park. We had to go here for two reasons: a. Dan is a geek and wanted to see where the Klingon Battle Ship was landed in a Star Trek film b. They had a nice Japanese Garden and I like stuff like that. We met Mum and Ron for tea in the Garden and spent a while wandering around being serene and taking a ton of photo’s. We decided to make the most of our muni transport passes and jumped back on the bus to Union Square, I’d realised the Adidas Climalite training top Mum had kindly brought me yesterday was reduced to $22 (£11), them being £30 at home made me want to get another one! Sadly, the other one wasn’t reduced but it gave us a chance to jump on the trolley cars to take us back around to Fishermans Warf where we had to do some pressie buying and wanted to stop for dinner. Pier 39 is in this area and is home to a huge group of Sea Lions, they made it their home after an earthquake in the 80’s and haven’t left yet. It’s pretty amazing as the tour boats and people stand and stare at them from the pier side, they don’t seem to care though and just seem content to swim about in the waters, climb up into the sun and make as much noise as possible! We stood and watched for quite a while.
The Trolley cars are from all over the world and basically a working museum, Ron was telling us about a group of people from England who came over with the express aim to ride every single one, I can think of better ways to spend my time but I have to admit they were fun.
That night we said good-bye to Mum and Ron as they had to be at the airport bright and early the next morning. It was excellent to see them and even better as they’d had a couple of days in San Francisco before us so could give us lots of help and advice – it was nice getting to a city and not having to figure it all out ourselves! Oh, and they brought Chocolate and Marmite – Wahoo! It has made me realise how much I’m missing everyone at home though, especially as I’ll hopefully be an Auntie in a couple of weeks… wish I could give my Bruv and Jules a hug! Mum texted though so it was good to know they got home safely.
The next morning saw the end of Charlie’s rest period as we were due to head down the Big Sur coastline towards LA. We couldn’t let the opportunity go though and had to drive some of the steepest streets and of course the twistiest. Luckily Dan didn’t get chased by the Police so we didn’t need to launch Charlie over any of the crests! They were awesome, especially when you try to run down them in croc sandles and realise you can’t stop. Heading out of San Francisco we went towards Monteray and through lots of little towns and villages, America is busy gearing up for Halloween as there are pumpkin patches everywhere. We stopped in Santa Cruz at Safeways only to find a ’67 Series II Doormobile in the car park – Coooooool! Needless to say we had to park next to it and just as we pulled up Linus, the owner came wandering out after picking up some lunch in his lunchbreak. He was a lovely bloke and a member of the SII club, it was a shame he couldn’t stay and chat for longer as he was on his lunchbreak, but he was talking about coming over to the UK with a SII, so hopefully we can hook up with him then and show him around some lanes etc.
As we headed down the coast the characteristic rocks and blue sea of the Big Sur coastline came into view. It was beautiful, but sadly, it seemed most of the land was privately owned, either by the Navy or private resorts. You could look, but not investigate. Due to this, I think we both agreed, Big Sur has the reputation but Oregon is more beautiful and due to the access it provides, more deserving. However, we did see Elephant Seals which were pretty cool, another animal to tick off the list:
We stopped at a state campsite for the night, next to a mad lady and her 5 cats. She came over in the morning to lecture us about living simply and not causing a lot of pollution, which as quite funny when you looked at her in her 27ft RV and Honda parked next to it. That put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day, I don’t like being lectured at the best of times, but when I’ve only been awake for 10 minutes its not a good thing. We drove down the rest of the coast and into LA. It’s amazing how Mediterranean this bit of the US is. We spent the afternoon doing washing (4 loads!) and Dan sent me to the gym as I was being grumpy – much better now The best thing though? We are checked in at the KOA next to the fairground and when we checked in the lady said: ‘are you here for the off-road show tomorrow?’ ‘eh?’ we said! It turns out there’s an offroad show here this weekend and judging by the amount of Jeep’s in the car park it’ll be a big one. Guess what we’re doing tomorrow…
P.S. Marky Bloke - saw this and thought of you, this is the colour your Eddie *should* be!
But before that... Napa Valley! This is the home of California's wine region and as we both like wine we thought it'd be a shame to miss out. We had also arranged to meet Jens mum and step-dad here as they had flown over to San Francisco for a holiday.
Napa Valley is actually an area covering about 26miles and taking in 5 main towns, although not all California’s wine is made here, the majority of the grapes are grown in the valley. We started in the southern part, Napa itself and went to the tourist info shop where we were given so much info, loads of money off vouchers, various maps of the region and some personal recommendations.
Having walked out with all the info we could possibly need we headed off to Calistoga where there is an RV/camp ground. We eventually found it tucked around the back of the town and instantly realised that this place was way out of our league. The whole site was chocca block with the enormous palatial coach style RVs that seem to be so popular here. Fortunately there was a state park just down the road, so we checked in there and felt much more at home :-)
That night we met up with Jens parents and went out for a meal at a very nice restaurant, I think we managed to pick the one in Napa Valley with it’s own microbrewery and therefore specializing in beers instead of wines. It was great to see Jen’s mum and Ron and also so nice to be able to talk to someone English again!
The following day we drove down the road to the Sterling Vineyard for a spot of wine tasting and a tour. We sampled 3 white wines and a couple of reds. I’m a big fan of red wine, especially Shiraz and Zinfandels, but after a bit of nosing (that’s what you do to make it look like you know what you are doing!) both Jen aand I decided that their reds were a bit too oaky for our liking. We did indulge in a couple of bottles of white though, and as it’s the most expensive wine we’ve ever bought (at close to £15 a bottle!! Lol! Yes, it’s true – I usually pick them for their money off labels) we’ve decided to save it until our Birthdays :-)
By mid afternoon it was time to head off to San Francisco, an hours drive south. We planned to stay at the cities only RV park, and eventually found it wedged between the San Francisco 49ers baseball stadium Monster Park, and an industrial park. The whole “camp ground” is actually a parking lot and not really very nice. We checked in and we’re given the ‘best pitch in the site’. We then asked the camp ground owner about transport links into the city and he told us that the buses were too dangerous to use around this area, so our only option would be to use the camp shuttle bus at $10 each per day… Sod that! After seeing that the pitch was actually a wide tarmaced parking space next to a container warehouse we checked out and headed back up the 101 and into the centre of the city where we found a decent little motel that had parking without a height restriction. At £50 a night for a comfy room with a flush bog, shower, safe parking and the ability to walk down the road without being mugged it really was a no-brainer!
Having checked in, first job was to drive down to the Land Rover garage to see if they could fit us in for a small service. We’d supposedly had an oil change at a dodgy place back in Burlington, but I’m convinced all they did was change the filter and top up the oil as after 100 mile I checked the oil and it was black as a black thing on a dark night. The Landy Dealer was probably the poshest car dealer either of us had ever seen. It was based in a HUGE old building off the 101 in San Francisco and the show room had it’s own Chandliers. To get in to the service area you drove your car into the building and pulled up next to the service managers offices where they took care of you without you having to walk anywhere! They made room though and fitted Charlie in for an oil change and collant flush, we’d changed the air/fuel filters already and at the rate we’re topping up the gearbox oil I reckon that’s been changed at least every fortnight!
Just encase you didn't believe the bit about the Chandilers:
So after our first night at the motel we dropped Charlie Camel off at the chandelier clad dealership in amongst Jags, Bentleys, Lambos and Landies (somebody really should tell the dealership though that Lamborghinis are Italian, not English) met up with Mum and Ron and made our way down to Fishermans Wharf where we caught the ferry over to Alcatraz!
Did you know that Alcatraz has had a varied history. It was originally built as a military fort, guarding against water born invasion into San Francisco bay. It wasn’t until quite late on in the islands history that it became a prison for the most notorious criminals, the saying goes: ‘You break the rules you go to prison. You break the prison rules, you go to Alcatraz’ and was home to people like Al Capone and the Bird Man of Alcatraz. It closed in 1963 and then 6 years later a group of native Indians began a 19 month occupation of the island. The occupation actually fuelled interest in the Indians crusade and gathered lots of public support. But as there is nothing to do there, you can’t grow anything because there is no soil, there is no fresh water and hitting the town in the evening is a bit of a bind, they soon got fed up. In 1972 Alcatraz finally became a state owned National Recreation Area and in 1973, the first visitors began to arrive. Today it’s an amazing place. The audio tours, narrated by ex prison staff and ex-convicts are brilliant, they guide you round the prison buildings and you can pause at any point to have a nose around. It must have been a depressing place, it offers fantastic views of San Francisco only a mile and a half away, just so they could see what they were missing out on. (I tried locking Dan in a cell and leaving Mum and Ron there, but they all managed to find their way back again… sigh. ;-) – Jen )
We left the island mid afternoon and headed back to the mainland to pick up Charlie. All the jobs had been done, we paid the bill and they brought Charlie down to the service area for us… GLEAMING! They had washed and polished him and put that shiny black stuff all over his tyres and wheel arches! LOL… I don’t think we’ve ever seen him so clean… they even cleaned the bikes mounted on the back, although I was quite upset because they didn’t lube them up again! ;-) So, if you are even in San Francisco and need a car wash… book into BMC.
Jen…
We traveled down to Union Square for a bit of other-side-of-the-world-girl’s-shopping-trip and left Dan and Ron in the bar at the Cheesecake Factory which wasn’t quite as good as the one in Baltimore, but still had fantastic Cheesecake – Mm. By the time we left it was getting late and the queues for the cable cars were non-existent, this was much better than the 45 minutes earlier in the day! So we all jumped on and admired San Francisco at night whilst riding on the old cable cars. Luckily Ron had been to the museum a couple of days before so was able to give us our own tour – did you know those things have wooden brakes? Going down the steep hills it was all you could smell! We spent most the night when we returned looking out the Motel window giggling at seeing Charlie so clean, before that he hadn’t been washed since he left England!
The next morning we got up bright and early…well, ok, we had a very comfy bed so it wasn’t overly bright and early, but we were still at the Exploratorium in time for the opening at 10am. This is something we probably wouldn’t have done except for Mum and Ron getting a free ticket in their city passes and recommending it to us and I’m glad we went. They had a ‘free Wednesday’ day, so we didn’t even have to pay, although we did give a $10 donation as we thought it only fair. The whole place is basically in what looks like and airport hanger and is like the ‘Launch Pad’ floor of the science museum back in London i.e. hands on science! Cool! We made smoke rings, bubble rings and a HUGE bubble, made bubbles suspend in mid air... and some un-bubble related stuff to, but that’s un-important ;-) Dan was like a kid in a sweet shop and to be honest I was too, we even learnt some interesting things so it wasn’t completely wasted on us. There was an amazing optical illusion in the restrooms with the bathroom tiles, so who knows, I may now have a hope of getting Dan to agree to re-tiling the bathroom when we get home.
When we were all scienced out (and Dan had brought me a kit claiming to make a bubble as ‘big as a bus’) we jumped back on the bus (hopefully as big as my bubbles now) and headed down to Golden Gate Park. We had to go here for two reasons: a. Dan is a geek and wanted to see where the Klingon Battle Ship was landed in a Star Trek film b. They had a nice Japanese Garden and I like stuff like that. We met Mum and Ron for tea in the Garden and spent a while wandering around being serene and taking a ton of photo’s. We decided to make the most of our muni transport passes and jumped back on the bus to Union Square, I’d realised the Adidas Climalite training top Mum had kindly brought me yesterday was reduced to $22 (£11), them being £30 at home made me want to get another one! Sadly, the other one wasn’t reduced but it gave us a chance to jump on the trolley cars to take us back around to Fishermans Warf where we had to do some pressie buying and wanted to stop for dinner. Pier 39 is in this area and is home to a huge group of Sea Lions, they made it their home after an earthquake in the 80’s and haven’t left yet. It’s pretty amazing as the tour boats and people stand and stare at them from the pier side, they don’t seem to care though and just seem content to swim about in the waters, climb up into the sun and make as much noise as possible! We stood and watched for quite a while.
The Trolley cars are from all over the world and basically a working museum, Ron was telling us about a group of people from England who came over with the express aim to ride every single one, I can think of better ways to spend my time but I have to admit they were fun.
That night we said good-bye to Mum and Ron as they had to be at the airport bright and early the next morning. It was excellent to see them and even better as they’d had a couple of days in San Francisco before us so could give us lots of help and advice – it was nice getting to a city and not having to figure it all out ourselves! Oh, and they brought Chocolate and Marmite – Wahoo! It has made me realise how much I’m missing everyone at home though, especially as I’ll hopefully be an Auntie in a couple of weeks… wish I could give my Bruv and Jules a hug! Mum texted though so it was good to know they got home safely.
The next morning saw the end of Charlie’s rest period as we were due to head down the Big Sur coastline towards LA. We couldn’t let the opportunity go though and had to drive some of the steepest streets and of course the twistiest. Luckily Dan didn’t get chased by the Police so we didn’t need to launch Charlie over any of the crests! They were awesome, especially when you try to run down them in croc sandles and realise you can’t stop. Heading out of San Francisco we went towards Monteray and through lots of little towns and villages, America is busy gearing up for Halloween as there are pumpkin patches everywhere. We stopped in Santa Cruz at Safeways only to find a ’67 Series II Doormobile in the car park – Coooooool! Needless to say we had to park next to it and just as we pulled up Linus, the owner came wandering out after picking up some lunch in his lunchbreak. He was a lovely bloke and a member of the SII club, it was a shame he couldn’t stay and chat for longer as he was on his lunchbreak, but he was talking about coming over to the UK with a SII, so hopefully we can hook up with him then and show him around some lanes etc.
As we headed down the coast the characteristic rocks and blue sea of the Big Sur coastline came into view. It was beautiful, but sadly, it seemed most of the land was privately owned, either by the Navy or private resorts. You could look, but not investigate. Due to this, I think we both agreed, Big Sur has the reputation but Oregon is more beautiful and due to the access it provides, more deserving. However, we did see Elephant Seals which were pretty cool, another animal to tick off the list:
We stopped at a state campsite for the night, next to a mad lady and her 5 cats. She came over in the morning to lecture us about living simply and not causing a lot of pollution, which as quite funny when you looked at her in her 27ft RV and Honda parked next to it. That put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day, I don’t like being lectured at the best of times, but when I’ve only been awake for 10 minutes its not a good thing. We drove down the rest of the coast and into LA. It’s amazing how Mediterranean this bit of the US is. We spent the afternoon doing washing (4 loads!) and Dan sent me to the gym as I was being grumpy – much better now The best thing though? We are checked in at the KOA next to the fairground and when we checked in the lady said: ‘are you here for the off-road show tomorrow?’ ‘eh?’ we said! It turns out there’s an offroad show here this weekend and judging by the amount of Jeep’s in the car park it’ll be a big one. Guess what we’re doing tomorrow…
P.S. Marky Bloke - saw this and thought of you, this is the colour your Eddie *should* be!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
