40th: Day Eleven - The Grand Canyon

Both Pete and I slept badly, so we decided to leave the hotel in Williams at 7am to get to the Grand Canyon national park.  We left the tree lines roads behind us quite quickly and the landscape became very flat just a few miles out of town.  However, the thick forests returned as we entered the national park around 8am.

There are buses available to take visitors along the south rim of the canyon but we decided to rent bikes as the hills were "gentle inclines".  We soon found that was a slight exaggeration in the literature.  In addition, the altitude of around 7000 feet and thin air made the hills very difficult and the growing heat (it reached around 95 today) didn't help.  As I type this, I was just listening to the weather forecast at 10.20pm and it's still 75 degrees here and 100 degrees somewhere else in the state!

However, it was worth all of the pain.  There are no words that can really describe seeing the Grand Canyon and saying that it's big doesn't come close to the awe of seeing it.  We spent a good few hours just looking and using such description sentences as "wow".  You can just about see the Colorado river a mile below and the rapids.  One strange thing we saw were the Rooks that were climbing high in the sky and then closing their wings and diving into the canyon.  Base jumping for birds!

Tonight we had a steak meal and I stroked a real wolf that is a pet of a guy who walks up and down Main Street in Williams.  We drove up the mountain for a few minutes to see the stars in all their glory without any light interruption where we saw a group of Elks and a Skunk.

Tomorrow we start the final driving leg of 220 miles to the Hoover Dam and then Las Vegas!

40th: Day Ten - Williams

The sunset over the Colorado river last night in Needles was impressive. Needles has very little see, but we did have a great meal at a local restaurant. I think that everything came with beans.

This morning, I began the day with a swim in the pool and then we started on the journey to Williams across the border in Arizona. The 179 mile journey continued across the desert and we went mile after mile without seeing a single building or sign of life (it was still very hot).  After about 50 miles for some reason, a few signs promoted land for sale. Now let me get this right, there is no water for plants or people, no power or telephone and it can reach 120 degrees in the summer - why would I want to buy a few acres?

On route we saw a couple of small tornadoes which were impressive. We passed one town called Kingman that was quite large with some factories and quarries, in the middle of the desert. A strange place to live I'm sure.

We stopped in a small town called Seligman and had lunch in the fantastically named Roadkill cafe.  I had no roadkill for my lunch, but did have the largest lemonade ever served.

Without quite realising, we had been driving up hill for dozens of miles and very slowly the terrain changed from burned desert to forest as we exceed 5000 feet.  We rode into Williams on Route 66 and reached a height of over 7000 feet just as we got here. Williams is a lovely little town with a touristy feel based around the old west. There are plenty of shops, bars and restaurants. There is a restored train line from Williams to Grand Canyon village, but the price was crazy, so tomorrow I will be driving the 70 miles to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

We drove up the mountain a little but couldn't get to the ski resort, but you can see forests for miles and the air is very clear, despite the temperature still exceeding 80 degrees.

This evening, we walked into the main town from the hotel (about 1.5 miles) and had a huge meal. The amount of food that is piled on plates is obscene. On the way back, we could see the stars so clearly. At home, the light pollution is so bad, you see a few stars, but here it's the full blanker, if not the duvet.

Five on the fifth #12

Welcome to 5 on the fifth, a monthly posting that benefits from audience participation. You take 5 photographs on the 5th of the month (or the days leading up to the 5th) - post a comment here with your name, location and link to the site containing your photos and I will update the blog entry with your information. Remember to mention my blog on your own blog, so that your visitors get to see the other contributions. You can take 5 random pictures or follow my suggested theme - this month it is: Looking Up.

You can join the 5 on the fifth Facebook page here.

My own pictures are below the links of those who kindly contributed:

Howard, USA
New Leaf, USA

Siddeshwar,India

Daniel, Sweden

Mrs Urs

Jason
Bryn, London
My Time, Dublin
Pete, In USA with me
Al, Philippines
Mark, USA
Torchy, UK
I am witness
Andrew, UK
James, UK

40th: Day Nine - The road to Needles

Started the journey of 280 miles around 9am but decided not to go up to Griffith Observatory due to the mist in Los Angeles. So we set out on our way and stopped after an hour at the Ontario Mills outlet centre as planned. This shopping centre is absolutely massive. we had intended spending an hour there and ended up staying 3 and a half hours!

Pete was looking for clothes and I was looking for a few bits too. We were only partially successful. It seems that the Abacrombie and Fitch clothes are designed for thin lanky teenagers, so we both struggled. Got a few things in Timberland (many bargains!), Hollister and Gap. It's strange, but the Banana Republic outlet clothes were awful and I think my Dad would have liked it.

The road to Needles turned to the mountainous Mojave desert quick quickly. It got hotter and hotter and temperature soon hit the late 90's. Despite that, we could still see snow on the mountains. After a refueling stop in Barstow, we set out across the desert and apart from a few houses at the start, we saw no human life for about 50 miles until we reached Ludlow. This used to be a tiny vibrant place serving Route 66 (see picture), but when the new highway was built alongside, the town was killed and only 23 people now live there. We had a drink and some cake at the diner (the other 2 businesses were a motel and gas station).

We arrived in Needles at 6.06pm and the temperature was 105 degrees which is 40.5 Celsius. Remember it's the 3rd of June, so this place must be frying in higher summer. As I type, I've just had the first swim of the holiday. When we booked in, the receptionist asked "two queens?". She meant the beds of course.

Will explore this run down town for a while tonight. The town grew up around the Colorado river, the only water for dozens of miles and the railroad of course.

40th: Day Eight - Los Angeles

It's been a long exhausting day (again), this time travelling around Los Angeles. We started the day with breakfast at the hotel next to a film unit right next to us. It looked like a comedy programme to me.

We took the metro to Downtown L.A. and had a look around the area that went from interesting to worrying. There were dozens of homeless people along Broadway and it didn't feel safe at all. To be honest, Downtown was a dump!

We got a bus to Santa Monica which took over an hour, despite clear roads. It shows how big the city is. By the way, we saw a massive advert for Dr Who along the road to Santa Monica. We walked from the pier along to Venice beach. It's been a really hot day and it was great to see Venice beach which is pretty cool. Saw another film crew, this time filming a dog barking - I have no idea why. Main Street in Santa Monica is worth a visit too.

Universal Studios had been busy overnight to advertise the King Kong ride that is due to open next month by putting huge footprints across the beach at Santa Monica!

After a spot of lunch and a beer, we got another bus to Beverley Hills and walked up Rodeo Drive. It's just a little exclusive - one shop even had "by appointment only" on the door.

Another bus ride and we got off for a beer in a gay bar on Santa Monica Boulevard. We don't even go to gay bars in London, so this was unusual, but lots of fun.

We ended the day with dinner on Sunset Boulevard.

A few closing comments... the "better" areas of the city are great, but I don't feel safe in general. There are so many people who obviously have mental problems and for the richest country in the world to have so many homeless people is worrying. I thought London was bad, but L.A. is far worse and the begging has been pretty aggressive at times. However, in general the people we've met have been really friendly and helpful, despite thinking we were from Australia!

40th: Day Seven - Universal and Sunset

Last night we had a quick Mexican meal and then went to a comedy night in the basement of the hotel. The evening was to feature some top professional comedians and they were very very funny in the main. The problem was that the bar had about 7 people in it! So Pete and I were "picked on" as the English guys throughout. A great evening.

Today we went to Universal Studios theme park and the rides are as good as we had expected, especially The Simpsons ride that was motion and animation in one - and made me feel a bit sick. The theme park is built on top of a hill and includes a tour of the actual functioning studios down at the bottom of the hill. Pete was very excited to see the set of Desperate Housewives. The park was great fun and we managed to go on every ride at least once and see a few shows. The view from the top across the valley made up for the rough location of the hotel. Perhaps this city is worth exploring yet.


This evening we got a bus to Sunset Boulevard and we saw the film premier of something probably awful starring Ashton Kucher. We only saw Tom Selleck and Macy Gray arrive.

We walked along Sunset for a while and had a beer in a cool bar before having some dinner. We were served by a cliche - an actress from Manchester, working as a waitress hoping to make it big in Hollywood.

It's really strange, but America seems to be full of people who look rough and walk along the streets talking to themselves and I am not talking about mobile phones. What's this mental problem all about?

40th: Day Six - The road to L.A.

We started the very hot day by driving across some stunningly beautiful valleys with hills and mountains surrounding us. We had a break in a small town called Los Olivos that had lots of winery offices and shops. It wasn't until we looked it up in the guidebook, that we realised that Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch was just outside of town.

We then went to a vineyard and Pete tasted 7 very expensive wines. On leaving to head cross country toward Santa Barbara, the car lost power up the steep hills and a warning light came on. The car had only 400 miles on the clock! So I nursed it to Santa Barbara airport where there was a Hertz office. The staff there were great and they asked few questions before offering me a Toyota. I really didn't want a Toyota and the assistant noticed that we should have a convertible and so he gave us the only one he had - a gold Mustang! OK, it has some bling, but it makes a fantastic throaty roar when you accelerate.

We eventually made it to the hotel in Los Angeles. Despite being tagged as close to Universal Studios and it being quite nice, it's actually in a really awful looking area. First views of this huge city were not great, but we all know from TV that the city has a lot to offer and not everywhere looks and feels rough.

We have made a quick trip to Hollywood Boulevard, which was not as interesting as I thought it would be. But tomorrow we have a day at the theme park!

40th: Day Five - Big Sur

Today was all about miles. We picked the car up at 9am (it turned out to be a Chrysler - the Mustang "alternative". Even so, it's a cool car that has one an impressive electronic convertible roof. And to be told that the car is brand new with 16 miles on the clock did not help my slight nerves as I was mentally preparing to sit on the wrong side of the car and drive on the wrong side of the road.

We ventured out of San Francisco on "the 101" down to Monterrey and then on to route 1 along the coast. The journey along Big Sur is classed by many as one of the best drives in the world. We were not disappointed. At each turn, we had another amazing vista. This went on for a hundred miles with virtually no side roads or villages or towns. We stopped a few times to take photos, including a long beach packed with seals and sea lions.

We had intended to stop at a local motel, but the weather is hot and sunny and it's Memorial weekend, so the best places on the coast were full or silly prices. So we ended up in Nowheresville around 300 miles from San Francisco.

Tomorrow we enter Los Angeles.

40th: Day Four - Haight Ashbury

It's not until you try to get across San Francisco by that you realise that it's pretty big! It took us well over an hour to get from Fishermans Wharf to the Pacific ocean at Golden Gate park.

The park is simply huge. It's 3 miles long and stretches from the ocean up to the hippy hangout at Haight Ashbury. Take a look at this image to see just how it was carefully designed. We took hours to walk right through it taking in the sites and people watching. We saw a humming bird drinking nectar and it's a shame that I didn't get a chance to take a photograph.

We then walked to Haight Ashbury and had a good look round a huge record store called Amoeba Music and then up Haight itself.


Haight is a great street with an amazing collection of independent stores selling everything you can imagine. It's a little like Camden, but far more laid back.

We then walked to the Castro and as we arrived, we saw 2 completely naked men walking up the street as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The image is blurred, but you get the idea. You saw everything! I am no prude, but come on!

We then went to see the shops Downtown before getting the F line tram back to the hotel.

And tomorrow we leave San Francisco to drive down the Big Sur...

40th: Day Three - Sausalito and beyond

Another early start, but this time I'd enjoyed an 8 hour sleep, so all was well. Starting with a breakfast that consisted on coffee and mini doughnuts, we then rented bikes today from the wonderfully named Blazing Saddles, which has hundreds and hundreds of bikes and accessories.

We started at 8am by cycling along the bay and to the shore at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. The morning was blue skies and a sun that I knew would get hotter as the day progressed. There were around a dozen mad mad surfers using the waves that broke under the bridge and over the rocks. It looked very dangerous to me.

We then crossed the bridge and it is only at this point that you realise that it is very very high. When I saw the men painting up even higher, my legs went a bit. I'm sure that on a windy day, the crossing by bike is none too pleasant. It was a little shocking to see the Samaritan call boxes actually on the bridge.

We got to Sausalito at Ice Cream time (you decide when that may be) and you can just smell the money. It's a beautiful place puts our coastal "posh" towns to shame - Whitstable is a rubbish tip in comparison. We had the choice at that point to get a ferry back to San Francisco, but decided to cycle on. A tough hilly journey right round the cove to Tiberon which is just as wealthy and has a mix of new houses and expensive looking apartment blocks and old (for America) wooden houses. Despite it being a small town with a tiny theatre/cinema, it does boast an international film festival. Lunch was purchased at the local Deli.

Despite the journey only being around 18 miles, due to the many hills, it took about 4 hours to get from the bike warehouse to Tiberon, plus the time we spent in Sausalito and stopping en route to take many pictures.

We got the ferry back via Eagle Island and then relaxed for a couple of hours before heading off to the baseball.

We watched the San Francisco Giants at the huge AT&T stadium. I really enjoyed it... Pete did not. There was a really great atmosphere despite the stadium being nowhere near full. Our sports could learn a few things from the way events like this are managed. For the record, the Giants won.