Uncle Jim

After leaving Monterey, we headed north to San Jose, to stay with my Uncle - Jim.

At 82, he's still more than able to put you down, make you laugh and beat you to a seat.

We got there about midday so we were ready to eat. After the Hello's were said, and the slight disappointment of finding out that none of my cousins were in town, we set down for the first 'proper' handmade meal of the trip.

(Chicken, salad and some bread if you were wondering)

After that came the strawberries. I don't like them, so Lindsey and Jim had a go at the 4lb box on their own.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing by the pool and figuring out what we would do for the next couple of days.

"What is there around here?" we asked.

"Nothing really. How would you like to go to Tahoe?" came the reply.

After some umming and ahhing (from me), it was decided that we'd go early the next day and come back the day after. The 500-or-so miles that it would add to the trip would at the time seem a lot, but ultimately they were very much worth it.

We drove up to Jim's 'little cabin' at South Lake Tahoe in just under four hours. It hadn't had visitors for a few months, so the essentials - water, electricity and so on... - needed switching on before we could settle down. It was my first time there in 20+ years, and the memories came flooding back.


That evening, we went for a pizza and a look round town. The oddest thing about Tahoe is that the lake straddles two states, you can see where Nevada starts by the massive casino that appears just over the State Line.

The only real problem with Tahoe - it's altitude. Once again, the Altitude Sickness Monster bit me quite hard. Good job we were only there for a night really! The next morning Lindsey and I went out to the lake - before the crowds got there - had a bit of a paddle and took some great photographs.

We drove back to Jim's via Pixar. Pictures were taken of a very excited me outside the main gates. I met a fellow photographer who wanted his photo taking with the gates in the background, and who am I to refuse? After a quick photo or two and a handshake goodbye, it was my turn to get a couple of pics.

We headed back to Jim's, went out for a meal and got packed for our early start the next day.


San Francisco was calling, and we'd be driving there in morning rush-hour... wish us luck!

PCH & Monterey/ Carmel

Finally... after 15 years of wanting to drive it, I got to drive on the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH or Highway 1 to it's friends) 


 Finally... after 15 years of dreaming about the views, the tight and undulating roads, I got to drive the PCH. 

Finally... after 15 years... it would happen in thick fog. Hang on. That's not right. It's meant to be sunny and beautiful, dramatic and inspiring. Not blanketed in fog. But it was, so on went the fleeces and off we went. 


Regardless of the weather, the PCH is still a great road, the undulations and views are still there (not obviously the views aren't as impressive as they would be if you could see the sea), and the feel is still there. 


The fog did make for an interesting sight though. As it moved in from the sea, it would billow over the road and onto the rocks to the side. This left a small triangular tunnel that you were actually driving through... it was a weird, yet oddly beautiful effect - one I've never seen before. There were the occasional breaks in the fog (even though you could see it hanging about out at sea). 

When it cleared though, it was simply stunning...

Monterey

Even the cacti ROCK!

We pulled up at the hotel, tried (not all that successfully) to ignore the fact that we were on the flightpath for Monterey airport, and got ready to go out. Noticing that we had a small fridge in the room, Lindsey offered to go out and get some beers. It would seem that, along with your usual medicines, you can also buy wine and beer at CVS pharmacy's. Weird.


Monterey is a lovely old place - like a miniature San Francisco (minus the bridges). It's very relaxed and does a LOT of good seafood. 


After getting some food, and Doug being told that we was being fined for charity for 'smiling in the street' - yeah.. that really happened we headed back to the hotel to plan our next day...


...


... Which was to be spent at the world-class, and very famous Monterey Bay Aquarium


We had a great day there. Doug found out just how hard it is to photograph fish, Lindsey discovered that Seahorses aren't really ridable. We both discovered that enormous panes of glass with millions of gallons of water behind them are incredibly impressive. 

  

Our final day there was spent in Carmel. Once governed by Clint Eastwood, it's a charming, quaint little town that plays off Eastwood's legend quite a lot more than I expected it would. Once again, it was overcast and cold. Needless to say, Lindsey had a paddle...


Fun fact: The wearing of high heels is outlawed in Carmel.

Where were we?

Oh yes...

Los Angeles. 


The City of Angels. 


The Dream Factory.


The place we saw the second largest number of people begging...

We drove the 100-or-so miles from Palm Springs to Los Angeles, with one eye on the traffic, the other on the thermometer.

It dropped at least 15F between the two places, and the (slightly) cooler air was most welcome.

When we got to our motel, we were welcomed by the eponymous owner, Jerry. I'd read reviews of the motel online, and decided that Jerry sounded like a thoroughly nice bloke and that we should pay him and his Motel a visit. It's not in the most salubrious of districts, but we were really only there for the room at night.

After dropping our stuff off in the room, getting a quick refresher and looking for directions, we headed out for an afternoon at Universal Studios Hollywood (we had a 'Buy one day, get a second free' ticket, so decided to use them both). 


We went there on public transport (this time). After realising that we didn't have the correct change for the subway, I put a $20 bill into the machine - and got the win that I missed out on in Vegas. $14 in $1 coins cascaded into the 'change' tray. I gave a small, but noticeable 'woo-hoo' and got smiles from a couple of locals.

Universal Studios Hollywood (USH from now on) is a brilliant theme park. It's how theme parks should be done. The ones in the UK are nowhere near as good. 

Lots of rides, lots of people, lots of fun. 

The second day was more of the same USH-wise. We went in the car this time as we were going to the Griffith Observatory in the evening. It's a great place, very edu-ma-cational. While there we watched a show that was projected on the ceiling of a huge dome (the seats were very comfortable and angled back at about 30 degrees. I kept feeling like I was about to fall asleep!)

It's a bit of a must-see for the space science geek in you.

However, these weren't the only reasons for going to LA. On our second full day, we met a friend that I made years ago on Livejournal (a kind of pre-Facebook Facebook).

Alisa, her husband Mike and daughter Alex were waiting for us at The Grove - a huge shopping mall (with it's own tram). It was an odd meeting, even though we'd never actually met, we instantly recognised each other and started talking like old friends.

I choose my friends wisely.

We got in our cars and headed out into Hollywood. Yup, that Hollywood...

After Ooohing at Graumans Theatre and the Walk of Fame (where, incidentally, you have to buy your star), we broke for lunch. But not before out guided tour took us past the Playboy mansion and various famous bars from Hollywood's sleezy past.

After a great chili, we moved on... The end of Route 66 was calling.

 Santa Monica is cooler and less fake than LA. It serves as a perfect companion. We had a walk down the world-famous pier and decided that the Pacific ocean was looking tempting. Shoes were taken off and trousers were rolled up. It was paddlin' time.

The Pacific was behaving like it's name suggests. Lots of people were out in the water, cooling down and splashing around. Quite a few were fully dressed, something we didn't see coming.

It was an unexpected treat, and our first sight of the ocean that would be our constant companion for the rest of the holiday.

The following day, we left LA for the drive up the coast. Morro Bay was our first stop,  before the delights of Monterey, Carmel and our final destination, San Francisco.

Birthday...

I'm going to interrupt the blog to write a quick 'Family Guy' birthday sketch...

Stewie:

Excitedly

Brian.  Brian.  Brian.  Brian.  Brian. Briiiaaaaan..

Brian:

What?

Stewie:

It's my birthday. I'm the birthday queen! You have to do everything I say today.

Brian:

You know what, I'm fed up of people thinking that their birthday is the most important thing in the world. The idea that one person's birthday is more... hang on, what did you say?

Stewie:

It's my birthday. I'm the birthday queen!

Brian:

Er, don't you mean birthday king?

Stewie:

Sorry?

Brian:

You said 'queen'

Stewie:

Did I?

Brian:

Yup.

Stewie:

Ah, awwwk... ward.

Stewie:

Tell you what, I'll give 'King' a go, see how I get on with it.

Brian:

Yeah, good luck with that...

Palm Springs, daddio

Right.


Before we start this lovely little tale, put on the Best of The Rat Pack (or something with Sinatra, Davis Jr and Martin et al) on in the background, 'cuz we're going back to a time before hotels became many, many stories high and 'cool' became uncool.


Now, wave your hands over your head and cue the wibbly wobbly, timey wimey effect....

We rolled into Palm Springs after many hours driving through the Mojave Desert, a good chunk of which included that bastion of cool, Route 66.


We had a single stop on our way, at a tiny little Mom 'n Pop restaurant where we had a home-made burger, and some chili and fries.


The first thing that hits you about Palm Springs are the palm trees. They define the place (and give it half it's name). Somewhere there must be some springs too

Then the 26-foot tall Marilyn Monroe figure sidles into view, and you're reminded of it's place in cinema history. This is a place where the Rat Pack would come to relax, where Elvis got married and where numerous dalliances were... dallied.


We got to our hotel, and were transported back to this wonderous time - two stories tall, with a generous pool (and hot-tub sitting next to it). A balcony view of the San Bernadito mountains greeted us with open palms. This was a fantastic place to mark the halfway point of our holiday.


The hotel was good too - a little old-fashioned, but with lovely views and a balcony (for the first time on this whole trip). I loved the balcony, at about 8am the cool/ warm balance was perfect.


We spent the next three days relaxing by the pool, going out to various Indian Canyons and wondering why no bars near our hotel were open after 10pm.


It's a very relaxed place - hot again though... mid-90s most days, which if like me, you're not a big fan of high temperatures, can start to get to you in odd ways.


What also got to me in a big, bad way was altitude sickness. I got a little of twice before on this trip - at the Tioga Pass and at Bishop. We went on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway - a 2 1/2 mile ascent to the top of Mt. San Jacinto (at 10,834 feet high - the highest point on the holiday), with the intent to get a meal at the restaurant there.


It didn't happen. What did happen was 15 minutes of me feeling progressively worse and worse, to the point where I was out of breath and had pins and needles in my hands and feet. Lindsey asked what the best thing to do was... 'get off the mountain' was the answer. Well, duh... I had that figured out pretty quickly.


Which is a huge shame as the views from the top are spectacular. You can see for miles and miles - the whole of Palm Springs is visible below you.


L: It's was a good place to relax and work on my tan! Actually there's more here than just sitting by the pool....  Original Indian Canyons..... walking trails, water falls, hot springs,  spas etc. We stayed 3 days, I reckon you could chill out here for at least 2 weeks before having to repeat things......


We only had 3 days but I loved every minute and would definitely go back for more........

Lake Havasu... MEEEEOW

D: As our time at the Grand Canyon ended, we were faced with a huge drive to Palm Springs. It was too much to do easily, so we broke it up into two days. The stop-off point was Lake Havasu. Home, fact-fans, to the original London Bridge. 

The story goes like this: many years ago, a businessman thought he was buying Tower bridge - the pretty one, instead he ended up with London bridge... made of concrete and stone. It's not 'ugly' per se, but it's nothing to write home about (oh, the irony). We got a few pictures at 'Londontown' (or whatever it was called) and moved on.


What needs to be mentioned is the heat. There was lots of it. It was everywhere. You couldn't escape it... Even though it was night-time, it was still in the '80Fs - too hot to go out, too hot to do anything except knock back a few beers in a bar.


Which is exactly what we did. At Mc-Irish-bar (the name escapes us both). It was a 30 second stagger from the hotel.

We met an Irish guy called John that'd settled in Havasu after travelling the world as an engineer for the RAF. He also helped repurpose the Back To The Future ride at Universal Studios (more to come). It became The Simpsons 'coaster'.




Oh, and then there was the catfight...




Wassat? More details?


Actually, that's tricky for me - my back was turned to them both... over to Lindsey for the blow-by-blow account...


L. The funniest thing for me about this fight is that one minute they were all over each other - "you're my favourite daughter-in-law ever... blah blah blah... They were a family of four, two sisters, about 50-ish, one son - about 25 and his wife - a very pretty and sassy 20-something. 


They were steaming drunk when they arrived - about 6pm on a Sunday. They were having a good, loud time for a while but then the sister said something to the daughter in law and they started punching it out and the girl shoved the older lady, she went down, backwards and hit her head. She was out. The mother/sister noticed a few seconds after and went for the daughter - it was Catfight central. The mother was screaming "I'm going to fcuk you up real bad you *%*:^ bitch!! 


There was hair pulling and clothes ripping, it was ugly, yet engrossing... like a car crash.


Cue the bartender running out to break it up, all the while the poor woman was out cold on the floor. 911 was called. Two police officers arrived, accompanied by two paramedics and two fire officers - I don't know why it needed six people, but it was mad. The ambulance was also the fire truck. Odd, eh?


After it had been cleared away we were about the only people left in the bar. The bartender told the manager she had to buy us a pitcher of beer to make up for it. We told them it was no problem, we weren't offended and besides it was better than TV and less dangerous than Turnpike Lane days - people who remember them!!


But, we got free beers so we stayed and became at home there.

The Grandest of Canyons

L: We were both excited about going to the Canyon but honestly, nothing prepared us for seeing it in real life. 


We arrived at our hotel mid afternoon and after checking in and orientating ourselves we spent about an hour trying to get a park pass and the bus stop. We missed the bus so had to back track for the car and I felt a teensy bit annoyed at this point. 


However, as we entered the park boundary the anticipation was mounting. We parked the car and followed the general stream of people heading for the humongous precipice ahead. By this time it was about 5pm and when I caught first glimpse of the Canyon all I could see were panels of purples, pinks and blues. As we got to a full view it was truly breathtaking.  


The colours developed as the early evening progressed. It became a view so wondrous in its natural  beauty that I almost cried!! It certainly is one of the Seven Wonders.

As we walked along the canyon edge we dipped in and out of the view points. As it got to near sunset we were still looking out and taking photos. Just then I glanced out to the next outcrop and I saw the silhouette of a couple who had dared to inch their way to a solitary edge, backlit by the setting sun. I turned away but then heard a woman next to me say "ooh look there at that couple, has he just proposed? I think so, he was just down on one knee and now they're hugging!!" 


I turned round to see a classic embrace being played out in silhouette and the sound of applause drifting across the gap. We (almost) witnessed an engagement at the most magical place on earth!!


After that I was just in love with the place and we did our best to explore it as much as possible in the next day and half that we had left. 


There are 277 miles but we only managed to see about 10 at most. The feeling I took away was the sense of total insignificance I got from being such a minute speck in such a huge and ancient place.

D: As Lindsey's said, words and pictures can only 'describe' the Canyon. What they can't properly portray is the 'feel' of it: it has an immediate effect on you... you suddenly realise how small you are, and how fleeting your time on this rock actually is. 


Politicians should be made to go there to put them in their place, and to make them realise their place in the world.


I could've spent hours photographing it, with every passing minute, the colours would change, new rock formations would reveal themselves while others would hide away, seemingly with the intention of surprising someone else the next day.

I'm very certain I annoyed Linds - I was stopping at every outcrop as they presented a new and different nuance that I HAD to photograph. 


The colours, the size, the sheer beauty of the Grand Canyon will stay with me 'til my dying day. 


I came away from it a different - a better - person. 


Someone that realises that this planet of ours can surprise, intimidate and reduce you to tears with a turn of its axis. 


Someone with images and sounds in their head that will provide a lifetime of joy.




Not bad for a hole in the ground, eh?