California part one – Hollywood calling

After Vegas we were pretty quickly into California – the desert end – on May 17th. It was hot, dry – you know how deserts can be. We stopped for a drink in Baker and were thrilled to see the world’s tallest thermometer (see photos). We didn’t manage the largest ball of string though (sorry cousin Isa) – that’s back in Minnesota, or Kansas, or Wisconsin, or Missouri, depending on your definition of largest, apparently.

 

Anyway, after this giant surprise we drove on down the hot roads in the general direction of Los Angeles. We stopped to look at the Calico ‘ghost town’ marked on our map but it seemed to be mainly shops, and they were shut (it’s mainly a rebuilt late 1800s silver mining town, quite interesting in places, totally bizarre in others, very much for the day-tripper). We took some photos and moved on to our stop for the night – a little town called Barstow.

 

We’d picked Barstow because our rental car needed its 10,000 km oil change and we thought this might be easier to negotiate in a small town. As it is we stayed pretty much next door to the garage and got the oil change done nice and easy in the morning. Our evening was spent eating in a bowling alley (online reviews said it was the best food in town, it wasn’t bad at all), bowling (well, why not? We haven’t bowled since Canada), laughing at some of the funny shop names (‘Nail House Rock’, one other in the slideshow) and watching Dancing with the Stars back at the hotel (h’s favourite show – semi-final). We even managed to sleep despite the very noisy switching train tracks just behind the hotel too. Imagine that Pink Panther scene with the gauntlet and the blackboard – the hotel handed out earplugs on check-in (for real).

 

After the oil change we drove down some back roads into Los Angeles (it saved us several miles of crazy cross-town freeway I think). The scenery was mountains to one side, cacti everywhere, some very Mexican little towns, all pretty peaceful and easy. Then we joined the highway and arrived in LA on the San Fernando side. Photos of the first 24 hours in California are here:

 

As for Los Angeles, we’d not been sure what we were going to do. We weren’t even sure we were going to call in but in the end nosiness and h’s love for movies persuaded us that it was worth it. We looked at all the options and decided that, although the downtown area is no doubt very interesting (impressive architecture, art galleries, fancy restaurants) this wasn’t really what we were after at all. We’ve been in a lot of cities since we’ve been travelling and what we wanted in LA (as a family, remembering h’s tastes) was the full movie experience thing. We didn’t want tasteful – we wanted to see the Hollywood sign, the Walk of Fame etc. After all practically everywhere has a fancy modern art gallery these days but where else would you find Paul Newman’s handprints in the pavement/sidewalk?

 

So we’d booked two nights in the best deal we could get in Hollywood – a Comfort Inn just a short hop from Hollywood Boulevard and an easy trip to Universal Studios. Of course it meant we didn’t get a lot of sleep. Apparently the first night there was a convention of skateboarders in and they were young and raucous, running around the corridors, yelling at each other (the joy). Still, who needs sleep – this is Hollywood!

 

We got there early afternoon and straightaway headed down to Hollywood Boulevard. H wanted to go to the Hollywood Museum just off the main drag so we went there first before it closed. Based in the old Max Factor building this museum prides itself on having the best selection of ‘real Hollywood memorabilia’ in town (or something like that) and certainly we saw lots of costumes and posters and all kinds of interesting bits and pieces (Roddy McDowell’s ‘powder room’, the cell from Silence of the Lambs, heaps of Marilyn stuff). It being Max Factor central there was a fair bit about make-up and hair too (how Lucille Ball became a redhead etc.). The guide-book was a bit sniffy about this museum but h really enjoyed it – she is quite the movie nerd.

 

After this we had a snack in the Mel’s Drive-In next door and then went for a walk along the Walk of Fame to do some star-spotting. H was looking for her favourite actress (Lindsay Lohan – no insults please, we love the Linz) but she doesn’t have a star yet (we checked on the map). h did find one of her very favourite singers though (Eartha Kitt – don’t anybody say our daughter doesn’t have varied taste) and we have photographic evidence of this one. We did also find some L Lohan photos in a movie poster store (movie pics – not mugshots) and I got some bright green trainers in the campest menswear shop I’ve been in in a while. We were loving Hollywood so far.

 

We wandered by the Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theatre, more and more stars and hand and footprints on the pavement/sidewalk and then ate in the quite fancy Rolling Stone restaurant nearby (I guess they got tired of watching Hard Rock and Planet Hollywood making such easy money). Then we went back to the hotel and had our first noisy night. Day one LA photos are here:

 

Day two in LA we got up early (2 hours sleep – it was like having a newborn) and even made it to breakfast. There we met a girl h’s age who was in town from North Carolina with her Dad for a Hollywood movie audition (really). h was kind of amazed that girls like this really do exist (this one had already done some TV and an ad and was very polished and poised). h was a bit jealous too in all honesty (“she’s so lucky”). We suggested that some people might say the same of her, wished the girl in question all the best and headed outside for our ‘shuttle bus’ to Universal Studios.

 

Well, our shuttle bus to the office down the road where we got our tickets for the Studios anyway. Then the company (Starline) put us on a fab open-top double decker and drove us the mile or so to the Studios. It was a lovely day (bright but not too hot) and the views of the hills and houses were stunning as we sped along. We got to the park before it opened so witnessed the whole ‘people waiting at the entrance to steam in’ business which we’ve never really seen before. It was fun and good for h (her only theme park experience to date is 2 days at the Paris Disney Resort a couple of years ago). All in all we had a great day at Universal too – went on all the rides, went on the very entertaining (and bumpy) studio tour, watched all the shows (special FX, animals etc.), took endless snaps and so on. It was like a regular holiday.

 

At 6pm the bus took us back to the hotel and we collapsed briefly (tired feet, red noses) and though we might have liked to go and visit LA’s Chinatown or downtown or something the truth is we were just too tired (theme park days are hard work) so we walked to a little Chinese restaurant just down the road in Hollywood. It was an unassuming little place and not very busy but the food was really, really good. We ate our fill and wandered back to the hotel. We did even get some sleep this time. Our LA Day 2 pics are here:

 

Even before knowing how noisy the hotel would be (“I’m sorry,” said the receptionist, “LA just has a drug problem”) we had booked our third LA night over by the beach to get a look at that side of town too. This meant we packed up the car on Friday morning (20^th May) and changed lodgings. On our way we called by the Hollywood sign (windy roads to get up there and impatient local drivers), then drove down Sunset Boulevard (kind of scruffy really, lots of ads, lots of bars), into Beverley Hills and then turned into Rodeo Drive. There we parked in the first public parking we saw (hilarious valet parking scenario – British people are just not used to this kind of thing). Then we found a little café for lunch in the Rodeo Drive version of a plaza, I suppose (mainly plastic surgery places, beauty salons and so on). Whilst sitting there eating a croissant stuffed with spinach or some such I SWEAR Julie Andrews walked by with an older lady friend. JA was in movie-star camouflage (baseball cap and sunglasses) but I heard her speak and NO-ONE sounds like Julie, even now. H did see her too but Mark was too busy eating and so you’ll have to take my word for it. But really – it WAS her. Very exciting.

 

We wandered a little down Rodeo Drive (“can I take a photo of the display in your store?” “Yes, if you stay outside”) and it was all very Pretty Woman (the shopping section). It’s possibly the cleanest place in California – the streets look like someone’s scrubbed them with toothbrushes. Then we got our car back out of the valet parking and drove along to Santa Monica (very pretty, lovely shoreline, h’s first glimpse of the Pacific) and then finally into Venice, where we had booked a place for the night by the Marina. The hotel was a bargain (older than some of its neighbours, less glossy) but it had a lovely outdoor pool and the weather was good so we all went for a swim and lie in the sun.

 

Still, no time to lose – only one night in Venice so we got dressed again and then walked down to the seafront to really say ‘hello’ to the ocean. H loved it – paddled and scampered about and at that end of Venice beach it was really just joggers and families and it was pretty quiet. After a while though we decided to go in search of the famous boardwalk and wow, what a change that was. I suppose it was Friday evening by then but the place was super-busy – skaters, posers, dog-walkers, cyclists, tourists (lots of us) and lots and lots of people begging in one form or other (young and old, some quite together and some really, really far-out). There was a lot of marijuana promotion, lots of t-shirt shops, a man stapling his chest for some reason, lots of buskers (some very good) – just loads of stuff going on. It was like a festival or something (think Glastonbury late Sunday night) but h was tired and hungry (and gets tired of bugged-out people telling her she’s an angel) and so we found a place to eat (not many on the boardwalk really) and there we had a lovely meal with music playing in the background, some entertaining skating going on and even a beautiful sunset too. After that we got a cab back to the Marina (it was quite a walk for a small, tired girl and by this point some people were looking pretty Friday night crazy). We were all pretty worn out by LA (it’s so lively!) and ready to move on by then too. Our photos from Friday 20^th are here:

 

A couple of days later I asked h what were some of her favourite bits of the trip so far and she said, without hesitation, Hollywood so I guess it was definitely a good decision to go to LA. This is one girl with stars in her eyes.

Next time our visit to poet/blogger Chris of Enchanted Oak and the rest of our central California trip.

One night in Vegas…

We left Arizona on Monday 16^th May and drove into Nevada. The very first thing you meet in that state is the Hoover Dam and Mark was interested in taking a look at it so we pulled in and parked up in the shiny new multi-storey car-park for visitors. It was all a bit cramped and busy (smallest parking spaces we’ve encountered in the U.S. so far, for example) and as h and I really weren’t keen to see the generators the two of us found a shady spot near the café (worst visitor centre café we’ve encountered in the U.S. so far too) and did some reading. Mark on the other hand paid his dollars and visited the “truly impressive feat of engineering” (his words). Apparently the tours were split into groups of 150 people at a time (eek) and then sent in the 75-people-at-a-time elevators to the turbine room (double eek – 75 people in an elevator at once). It sounded interesting but I’m mighty glad I didn’t go in. h and I took a look from the top of the dam down to the river – that was plenty!

After this we drove along the highway into Las Vegas (less than an hour away) for our one night there. Everyone’s seen Vegas on TV and in the movies (probably CSI and Showgirls mostly for me) and so in part you know what to expect. Still the first impressions are not quite what the screen allows. These are the Las Vegas features we noticed during our short stay:

1.There are a lot of plazas (rows of shops and restaurants) on the drive in to the centre of town. And when I say a lot I really do mean a lot. It’s a city that has grown a good deal in recent years and there is masses of new-build on the outskirts.

2. There is lots of dust – it is in the desert after all.

3. There are a lot of advertising hoardings (there are a lot everywhere in the U.S. but they sprout particularly busily here). They advertise casinos, dancing girls, dancing boys, lawyers, restaurants – all the things you need in Vegas. There are posters for shows you might want to see (Seinfeld was calling in later in the month for a couple of nights, for example) and then there are posters for everything else (unknown magicians, random Vegas dancing shows, stuff you might well need to be drunk to enjoy – put it this way, quite a lot of the shows give away free tickets).

4. A lot of drinking is going on. Even on Monday the parties were well and truly underway all over the strip. We saw a stag do/bachelor party and the groom-to-be looked about 12. Guess we’re getting old.

5. There are a lot of cheap hotels – even the Casino hotels are fairly cheap (well, on a Monday in May) but of course there are always the hidden costs to consider (the ‘resort fee’, for example). After a little research we decided against a Casino and stayed in a place a block behind the main Vegas strip. It was lovely (a whole suite of rooms), just a walk from all the glitz and a real bargain. And it was blissfully quiet.

6. There are a lot of tourists (“tourist capital of the world” one local called the city) and whilst I’m sure London, Paris and New York (and a few others) might have something to say about that it certainly was pretty full of visitors. There were loads of English people about (quiet, tidy couples in particular – not sure why).

7. There are a lot of shops – particularly clothing shops, the fancier end mostly. With that and the whole shows thing Vegas is a bit of a tacky New York in that respect.

8. The sky is very noisy – with constant helicopters up above (people flying off the see Grand Canyon and so on, we imagine). Lots of planes about too.

9. As well as all the busy parts of Vegas there are great empty lots (windswept desolate areas) right in the centre of the city. We’ve stuck a photo or two of those in with the slideshow – just for balance. It is an odd looking place.

10. It is quite fun to witness the interesting competition between the big casinos as to who has the cheesiest, most ridiculous décor out front (“Look at my pyramid!”, “No, see my Eiffel Tower!”, “No, I have a lion the size of a house!”) and yet somehow it is kind of beautiful in its way (well, for a short time anyway). The fountain show at the Bellagio, for example, which we caught on the Monday night was really enchanting. We wandered up the strip to see all the big casino fronts but we only actually went in to the Mirage (for h and M to visit the lions and tigers and dolphins on the Tuesday morning). It was fun to see inside but my goodness it was like a town in there – bars, cafés, shops, even a bit of what looked like artificial grass called a ‘pet relief area’ at the back of one casino. Plus what is on sale is all so expensive (definitely most expensive sandwiches so far in the Mirage coffee place). Free parking though of course. Some you win, some you lose. And that’s Vegas.

Here are our Nevada photos (including Hoover Dam, Vegas and the Siegfried and Roy ‘Secret Garden’ at the Mirage):

And here is a video of the Bellagio fountain show:

So, a short and sweet post this time. We’re currently about halfway up California and there’s going to be heaps to write about all this bit of the trip but we’ve no idea when we’ll get round to writing it up (never mind sorting through the photos!).

Corners and Valleys and Canyons, oh my!

Brace yourselves - it’s a long one!

So, Thursday 12^th May we left New Mexico and drove into Arizona (all this within the Navajo Nation area, which does have quite a different feel to other parts of the country). In this north-eastern corner of Arizona h posted a birthday card to a teenage cousin at the post office in Teec Nos Pos and then about fifteen minutes later we were back in New Mexico again as we entered the Four Corners Monument site (Four Corners marks the point where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado meet – the entrance gate is just in NM). We paid our few dollars and then entertained ourselves immensely running around and posing for photos (“here’s h in Utah and Colorado”, “here’s Mark playing twister in 4 states at once” etc.). We were not alone – other people were playing similar games. We ate a picnic in the blazing sun, perused the many stalls selling Native American jewellery (we have lots of people to buy gifts for) and generally enjoyed the Four Corners experience. There’s not much to see in some ways but somehow it’s still a lot of fun and impressive in its emptiness. Then we drove for about ten minutes through Colorado (it’s just the way the road bends – no offence Colorado but we haven’t time for everywhere) and finally, that day, we crossed the border (again) into Utah.

Once in Utah proper we drove through some beautiful rocky scenery before arriving at our stop for the night – Bluff. Our first meeting with Bluff was the very impressive Twin Rocks (and great Twin Rocks Café). We had a drink, took photos and then drove on into the little town to find our motel (Kokopelli – a fairly minimal establishment but clean, quiet and friendly, and look up Kokopelli – good stories). For such a small place there’s plenty to do in Bluff (even if you’re not going off hiking or river-rafting, as many other visitors were). I visited a great rough’n’ready artist’s place while the others took it easy and rested up. Then later on we all wandered the dusty streets a little, took in Bluff Fort which is a mostly recreated cabin village to commemorate the Mormon settlers who founded the town in 1880 after a pretty amazing (and long) journey that literally took them through the rocks round about. The Fort is free to enter and the whole place is developed and staffed by volunteers from what we could see.

There is always an awkwardness in this day and age surrounding places that celebrate the European expansion in North America (well, there is for people who care about such things) but this little place seemed to be doing its best to just remember some history and not blow one band of people’s trumpet too loudly over the sound of another’s (but of course we could be wrong). Bluff’s a bonny place too (close to the San Juan river) and we very much enjoyed the rocky views (those red rocks reminding us of the cliffs of Auchmithie in Angus, Scotland in some ways). As Bluff is quite a stopping point for tourists there were a few places to eat and we ended up in a very entertaining steakhouse/BBQ kind of a place (lots of cowboy décor, free bandana with every meal, huge apple pie). What with all the fresh air we slept well and weren’t even too disturbed next morning by all the archaeologists, hikers and river-rafters as they set off for their various country adventures. A little later than some of these travellers we drove parallel to the San Juan river for a while – stopping along the way to look at petroglyphs and the river and the amazing Goosenecks scenic view (all in Utah still). Our Four Corners and Utah photos are here:

New Mexico - Land of Enchantment? Part Two.

So, it turns out yesterday was a bad day to post a blog update. The whole system was on the blink, our first New Mexico post came and went (and then came back again), comments disappeared – very confusing! Right now we’re deep into Arizona and lots of great photo days coming up soon so we want to make sure New Mexico doesn’t get lost altogether (or our reports of it at least) so here is the second part of this short series. And we’ll be back with Arizona, some time next week.

So after Bandelier (see last post) we spent the rest of Sunday driving north east to Taos. The drive took us through a reservation, along the edge of the Rio Grande (we stopped, h paddled, we enjoyed listening to the bilingual Spanish/English kids jumping in and out of languages) and then we passed through more and more beautiful mountain scenery (at one point we caught sight of the Rio Grande Gorge and it is spectacular). Then we got to Taos – sleepy little Taos is a smaller, quirkier Santa Fe and it’s at the foot of even higher mountains. The keep-to-the-adobe-look restrictions seem to be well enforced here too – even McDonald’s has no high arch in Taos (see photos).

We’d booked two nights in Taos (at the very reasonable and very lovely Taos Pueblo Lodge) but after our first evening out on the Sunday (lovely food and drink, really relaxed atmosphere, great music in a bar/restaurant – the excellent Taos Inn, hippies aplenty etc.) we booked another night and determined to have a little rest and catch our breath in this special wee place. The next day (Monday 9th) we really did rest (siesta!) and apart from that we just wandered a bit around the centre of the town (a lot of tourist shops but good bookshops, eco-friendly shops and so on too). It’s so beautiful with the mountains all around and the trees and the general air of calm that we really did wind down a little. Then on Tuesday 10th we resumed tourist/travelling duties and visited:

The Taos Pueblo – this is the area next to modern (i.e. Spanish colonial and beyond) Taos where the local Tiwa Native Americans still keep their houses pretty much as they have been for hundreds of years (i.e. no electricity or mains water – you can read about it here). Their leaflet says the Tao Pueblo is “considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in the USA”) and visitors pay to enter (not very much) and pay to take in a camera (though you are asked to take photos only for “personal use” hence no photos of the Pueblo will be in this blog). No-one pretends that the locals live only and always here (they have other more modern houses outside the Pueblo walls for the most part) but the area is still very much in use and has a large church (many of the Tiwa are now Catholic as well as keeping to other older beliefs – kind of blended together from what we could understand) and a cemetery within its borders (as well as a lot of other activity going on just outside). We were a little surprised how many of the buildings in the Pueblo were used as shops of some kind just now (selling jewellery, ceramics, clothes, art, very tasty ‘fry bread’) but then tourist destinations are tourist destinations and people have to make a living so there was no reason to be surprised really. I think we just wanted a break from gift shops but evidently there is no such thing (and then we went mad anyway and ended up buying a necklace, a painting and some fry bread, which is like a light naan bread with icing sugar on. We’ll need a trailer for the car soon. And some new, bigger clothes.

After the Pueblo (and lunch in the hotel picnic area and a game of horseshoes there too) we visited some much newer houses – the Earthships that are out on the 64 highway, over on the other side of the amazing, and very gusty, Rio Grande Gorge bridge. The Earthships are eco-friendly buildings first built in New Mexico (about 40 years ago) but now appearing all over the world – their website is here. They concentrate on using renewable energy, using rain/snow water for the building’s water supply and using some recycled materials for construction (mainly car tyres packed with earth and cans and bottles in cement – see the photos and you’ll get the idea). The visitor centre has some information (though we had a few more questions than could be answered by the very friendly, young intern) and it’s undeniable that the buildings are very, very striking (green does not have to be dull or ugly). You can even rent an earthship for a night to try one out for size (but we already had our names down elsewhere). Interesting to visit – though we would have liked a proper tour rather than the self-guided business. It is a fascinating subject (how to make housing, and indeed all construction, less of a drain on resources) and we are very interested in it. Our Taos photos (including the town, the earthships but not, as I said, the Pueblo) are here:

On Wednesday 11th it was time to leave Taos and set off down the 64 and past the Earthships again (but this time we kept on going west). Bizarrely the weather had completely changed and on this day, instead of the warm (or downright boiling) weather we’d experienced in New Mexico so far (35C back near Roswell on the Friday), it started to snow. The 64 is a pretty high road (it goes through the San Juan mountains) and at some points we could hardly see the road and the temperature went as low as -6C (and our snowboots and shovel safely back in Ontario). Compare this photo from this stretch of the drive to the picture at the top of this post!

Luckily though it was only a temporary phase and by the time we got to Chama for lunch it was slowing down and the snow turning to rain. Then by the time we drove further west (through the Jicarilla Apache Nation, more Carson National Forest, more dramatic rocky scenery) the temperature was rising again and it was off with the heating and the fleeces and back to “where did you put the flip-flops?” again. At one point a very small sign showed that the map was right and we were crossing the Great Divide (or Continental Divide of the Americas – see here). Quite exciting and we’ll cross it again some time in Canada on our way back east of course.

We looked for an overnight place in Bloomfield but they appeared to be digging up all the roads so we ploughed (or plowed) on to Farmington and one of those roads with all the hotels and lots and lots of pick-up trucks full of oil industry guys (from what we could see). The next section of our journey will be grand valleys and canyons and all kinds of wonderful but this New Mexico section has certainly been something special (there is so much history, so much colour and art and beautiful scenery here). No-one here (especially in Taos) has been very surprised by our ‘off for six months with the kid’ travels – it’s like they get all sorts of people and all sorts of travellers here and we are nothing unusual or strange (and that hasn’t been the case everywhere). And then someone we met at breakfast on Wednesday said they liked the state so much that they were coming back next year for a whole month’s visit and we could completely understand. So as we leave we’d say “New Mexico – enchanting? Yes, most definitely”. We loved it.