RB's journal

Category: California 2018

  • Last day in USA

    Last day in USA

    lb powerpose

    Picked up Laurence at Venice Beach (after Si got our room changed in the motel – noisy traffic all night) then headed up to the Getty Centre, an amazing temple to art, money and philanthropy.

    getty 1

    Giacometti Man

     

    From there we drove up into the Hollywood Hills for a hot hike up to the famous sign, though only Si made it all the way for a photo.

    laview

    Then we headed (very slowly through horrendous traffic) to the Saskana restaurant to see the famous and charming piano educator, Aimee Nolte, playing and singing on her weekly gig. Between sets she joined us for a wide-ranging chat.

     

  • Highway 1 – day 2

    Up early and down to the beach at Morrow Bay where the surfers are already out at 7:00am. Picked up some new birds, too:

    Then on to LA where we check in to the motel and meet Laurence at Santa Monica pier for a very enjoyable catch-up, on all sides:

    santam_dudes

    … which also marks the western end of Si’s epic trip  on Route 66 (“… from Chicago to LA, More than two thousand miles all the way.”

    si_66

    … and later back to our motel through the horrendous LA traffic. The white dots in the sky are planes landing, simultaneously on parallel runways:

    la_night lights

     

  • Highway 1 day 1

    Highway 1 day 1

    Hway 1

    Through San Francisco and over the bridge.

    Golden Gate Bridge

    Scenic drive down Highway 1, starting in Carmel.

    Hway 1 2

    Some wildlife on the way.

    Elephant Seal
    Young Elephant Seal

     

    Chilling in the motel in Morro Bay with shrimp and Sierra Nevada.

    Chilling

     

  • Yosemite – day 2

    Yosemite – day 2

    To Glacier Point for closer views of Half Dome::

    halfd2
    Half Dome

    Couldn’t resist building a stack:

    HDome stack

    :

    Then back down to the Valley floor and views of El Cap:

    El Cap

     

    Climbers on El Cap, though hard to make out:

    Parting shot:

    RB & SB at Y

    Recent fire damage:

    Fire damage

  • Yosemite – day 1

    Yosemite – day 1

    Our rustic cabin in the trees:

    cottage 2

    Took a walk down the road to the Chilnualna Falls (didn’t see the Mountain Lion):

    Into the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, some estimated at 2,000 years old:

    giant

     

    Fallen giantyos1

    Did a hefty hike (25km) to Wawona Point:wawona point

     

     

  • Las Vegas, across Death Valley …

    Las Vegas, across Death Valley …

    Having negotiated our way out of Vegas in the morning rush hour traffic we headed north-west, across vast empty  desert:

    highway

    Some novelty items when we stopped for fuel:

    Zabriskie Point was an essential stop:Zab point

     

    At the motel, Si chatted to some fellow petrol-heads about their vintage hot rod:

  • Day 4 – leaving Joshua Tree (from the sublime to the ridiculous) …

    The photos of the Park that I have posted are a bit random so, as we are leaving today, here are a couple more  of rocks and trees to fill out the picture of quite how magical and impressive it is:

     

     

     

    And what an ideal base the house was:

    jthouse

    A final rock stack:

    stack2

    We then set the controls for Las Vegas (160 miles):

    open road 2

    Stopped at Roy’s Diner for early lunch and to break the fast, consisting of a tasty mash up of fried potatoes, bacon, onion, with cheese and avocado on top. Oh, forgot to mention the pancakes …

    Breakfast

    Vegas is even more trashy, tacky and totally tasteless than I remembered. Two views from out hotel room and Trump Tower:

    To my amazement, the Trump hotel – compared to most of the competition – is actually modern looking, simple, and almost elegant, with the reflection constantly changing. Never thought I would ever compliment the Chump on a matter of taste!

     

    In the evening we went to a Cirque du Soleil show. To my delight, it opened with Japanese Taiko drumming, with the special twist that several of the drummers were on trapezes being lowered from the ceiling of the theatre! All the acrobatic turns were stunning and very dramatic, but the comedy/clowning interludes were naff, verging on the embarrassing. 

    cirqu

  • Joshua Tree

    Joshua Tree

    Up at first light (6:15) for a first look at our (stunning) surroundings, as we had arrived in the dark:

     

    The Quail platoon trotted through:

    Gambel’s Quail
    Gambel’s Quail

     

    Then we headed back into the Park, stopping first to try (and failing)  to get the allegedly easy Roadrunner at the Oasis site, then up to the Cholla cactus “garden”. Extraordinary thing is that it occupies a very small and specific location, with the cacti found nowhere else in the Park:

    Same applies to the Joshua Tree, though it is much more locally widespread:

    The house with a small rock stack:

    jthouse

  • The Plan

    The Plan

    map of the route
    Route planner
    the time plan
    Day planner
    Chilling
    The driver and crew. Here chilling after a day on the road.
    Wheels
    Our wheels. (Note the precise parking.)