Hot stuff

Feeling hot, hot, hot?   You don’t know hot till you've been to Death Valley.  If we did the conversion right, it was about 52 celcius.  Our first real stop was Badwater Basin, the salt lake that is well below sea level.  There's a sign up on the cliff showing where sea level is.

I've been to salt lakes in S. America.  These were very different.  If you jump on the Basin, the water from below seeps through.  It's also a bit dirtier-  I guess because the water and mud is so close to the surface.  We had a bit of a wonder around but it was too hot to stay out of the van for long.  It is so hot that the sweat evaporates off you before you realise it is there.  How do I know this?  Because when we got back into the van we were suddenly dripping with sweat.

Next stop was Devil's golf course which is kind of like walking along a shore of craggy rocks except they're made of salt.  I think they'd hurt just as much if youy slipped though.  Our destination was a whole in the salt where the crystal clear water sparkled through.  Once I heard the water was cold I just wanted to jump right in.  Chemicals on human skin are bad for the water so I had to resist.

The heat drove us back into the van for our final stop-  ice cream!  Two pots of Ben and Jerry's and 8 spoons.  Mmmmm. 

Universal Studios - aka Americans scare easily

On the back of numerous recommendations, I stepped into tourist central and visited Universal Studios.  It is a bunch of themed shops (including the travel book shop from Notting Hill, which is weird because I'm pretty sure that was filmed in the UK) and a bunch of movie related shows/rides.

Universal is known for its horror movie, especially in the early days, so they have a house of horrors.  It is very very lame, but you wouldn't know if form the shrieks that surrounded me.  The special effects stage was kind of cool but I had expected a lot more from it...where's old Pete Jackson when you need him?

There is quite a bit of 3D and 4D stuff.  Terminator 2 combines live performance with 3D, moving seats and timely sprays of water.  Apart from the mediocre acting, it was enjoyable and even got a little jump out of me.  Shrek was all on screen but also quite good - moving seats and sprays of water again.  The final 3D was the King Kong part of the studio tour, complete with moving bus (which we were sitting in).  It's the biggest 3D screen in the world and you are in a tunnel with screens on both side.  Tres cool.

The studio tour also featured a trip into a revolving rock (The Mummy); an earthquake in a subway complete with gas tanker falling through from the road above, crashing train and flood.  An episode of Bones was filmed on the set.  Water is definitely the theme of the day so we also had a flood in a mexican town.  None of these are particularly scarey - unless you count the other passengers who I was worried were going to have a heart attack from fear.  Bunch of wusses :P

 The tour drives past a lot of outdoor sets - Desperate Housewives, Back to the Future, the hotel and house from Psycho, the crashed 747 in War of the Worlds.  The sets are re-used over and over again so many of these famous sets have made appearances in other movies/tv shows.  If you thought America always looks the same in movies - it's true.  They're all filmed on the same set.  The Back to the Future set, for example, is now the town in The Ghost Whisper.

Waterworld was on of the better shows of the day.  Great pre-show where they warmed up the crowd by throwing buckets of water at you if you didn't shout loud enough - good incentive.  The show had lots of water going everywhere, excellent explosions (I love explosions) and stunts.  The acting was pretty bad - just like the real thing I guess.

There were two more exciting rides of the day  The first was the Mummy which is a roller coaster through mostly pitch black tunnels.  I may have made a sharp intake of breath or two (okay and a small scream).  I blame it on hanging out with too many Americans :)  The reaction of some others on the ride was a little over the top.  Some sensible fellow finally said "the ride is over, you can stop screaming now".

The second ride was Jurassic Park.  A gentle ride through a canal of water with small squirts of water from dinosaurs on the shores (there is NO need to scream people, it's just a little water).  The ride ends with an almost vertical drop down into a pool of water.  I will forgive those who screamed - I, of course, was far too cool (and wet) to scream.

I didn't see everything, but I saw everything that I wanted to and had thoroughly enjoyable day.  If I did it again, I would only change one thing: do not wear a white t-shirt!

A strong woman with a blood nose goes to the hot springs

Sharp changes in altitude can give you a bloody nose.  This is a new fact I have learned after our descent from Yosemite to the town of Bishop.


We had a brief stop at Mono Lake which I think supplies LA or Las Vegas with water.  But I'm not sure which city and I may be making the whole thing up.  Anyway,  it has a crater from a dormant volcano that we had a short walk around for views over the mineral (especially borax - although, I could be making that up too) filled lake.  The crater is full of obsidian and pumice.  According to the son of the father/son duo walking by, they are the same rock except the pumice has cooled quickly and is therefore full of air bubbles and much lighter than the slower cooling obsidian.  It is here that I did my strong woman act by lifting a large pumice rock over my head and impressing the father of the duo (until his son spoiled my fun...)

Our camp for the night was in Bishop.  I was merely admiring the sunset and drying the dishes when I got a blood nose.  It stayed bleeding for bleeding hours - while someone else dried the dishes for me (thanks Stef), while we piled into the van and drove to a backroad off a backroad to natural hot springs, and while I sat on a rock while everyone enjoyed their beers in the lovely warm waters (feeling sorry for me yet???)

It was well dark by the time it finally stopped and I was able to also enjoy the springs.  Another Intrepid tour group had arrived.  Luckily we'd already scared off the locals and an inter-Intrepid tour group water fight ensued.  I'm pretty sure that we won - but virtue of greater size to their greater numbers.  Both groups were Vegas bound and so we arranged for a re-match in the Bellagio fountain the following night.  The yellow-bellied cowards never turned up...

Sitting on dock of em bay

Written yesterday evening:

Here I sit in front of Muscle Beach waiting for sunset.  Santa Monica that is.  I've just come from Venice Beach and watched men working out in their undies, girls on skateboards and a game of basketball.  There are also mini tennis/giant ping pong courts and for some reason there was snow on the footpath. 

You can buy all sorts of things at Venice.  I've been very tame and settled for a bikini, a dress and a few t-shirts for presents.  I could have paid $1 for pyschobabble, shitty advice or for some dude to scratch my butt.  Or there a multitude of doctors who will prescribe weed for any number of medical conditions.  I'm pretty sure that PMS was even on the list.  Tattoo shops abound -  henna or the real thing.  I think i'd like a tattoo of the world with the places I've visited shaded in.  Not sure where to put it though.  Only place that I can think of that is big enough and discreet enough is my arse.  "I'll show you the world" takes on a whole new meaning....

I know my last post was from just after Yosemite, and I'll get to those stories too, but I wanted to write a post in the moment rather than from memory. 

I arrived in LA yesterday evening where I am staying with friends of friends.  We went out to Larchmont Grill last night for a very nice meal.  Seafood chowder, salmom w mushrooms and sweet potato fries followed by shared desserts of peach pie, strawberry shortcake and red velvet cake.  It was my first red velvet experience and it is divine.  I'm going to have to find a recipe.

There's a ferris wheel at the end of the pier in Santa Monica.  I may have to explore.

(addendum:  I love ferris wheels, but they wouldn't let you ride if you were by yourself (one of the disadvantages of travelling along).  I could have gone to trapeze school on the pier but they were all sold out.  Don't think I could manage the splits like that anyway.)

National Parks: USA's best idea?

According to Forest, the US invented the concept of national parks. Now Americans often say 'world' when they mean 'country' (world series etc) but I'm prepared to believe him on this one. Yosemite in late 1800s was the second after Yellowstone and (possibly) Death Valley the most recent in 1995. We left one on Friday, stayed overnight in Bishop, then continued on the the other on Saturday.

Yosemite is full of trees - such as the Grand Sequoia, Sugar pine and Pondarosa pine that we went for a gentle walk through on our first day in the park. There are gentle (ish) meadows such as those near our campsite that we cavorted in on our last day. All we wanted was a jump shot, but Ben with the camera confused us with his uneven count to 3. The can can, bennie hill and look like an idiot shots were much easier to compose.

Our drive out of Yosemite (with obligatory photo at the park gate and sign) and into Death Valley was marked with ever changing scenery. We dropped from the snow topped peaks at Tioga Pass (9945 feet) to Badwater Basin at 282 feet below sea level
But wait, I haven't yet told you about my strongwoman act and my blood nose...

To be continued when I'm not paying $2 for 8 mins internet.

Clouds Rest aka day two at Yosemite

Clouds Rest. Sounds like a lovely place doesn't it? And it is. The views are spectacular as you look out across the granite carved structures that are Yosemite Park. Including Half Dome, which looks like a giant thumb. People rock climb up the side- I even know one of the nutters who has done it that way. Not as bad as El Capitane though, which you need to sleep in a hammock because the rock face takes more than one day to climb.
Bugger the rock climbing. The last 200 metres of the 7.5 miles of the track to Clouds Rest is bad enough with sheer drops just a couple of metres either side of you. The trek up had been pretty brutal in one part so I wasn't sure my legs would make it either. I was channelling my sister and freaking out a little. Forest took pity on me and took some photos with my camera from the edge.

Only four of us, Forest, Ross, Sarah and I made it all the way but we shared the peak with two women dancing to Lady Gaga 'baby I was born this way'.

It had taken us 4.5 hours to make it to the top, 2 hours for the first 2.5 miles alone which was just up up up. It was also stinky hot and mosquito filled. If anyone ever does this track my key piece of advice is to bring the Bug Off!!! We did cool down part way up when we encountered snow. I cooled my butt off for a bit getting a photo in the snow, followed by the obligatory snow fight, the boys practicing their baseball pitching and a wee challenge to Ross the competitive welshman.
Once we conquered this first hurdle and had some lunch, most of the group turned back but I really wanted to make it to the top. The walk along the way made it worthwhile. Tree and boulder filled meadows, a mirror lake, tree dotted granite mountains and views for miles and miles. It is a track definitely worth doing.

The only bugger is that once you've made it to the top, you have to turn around and walk 7.5 miles back again. It took us about 3 hours down so it was after 7pm when we reached the road again. We once again had to run the gauntlet of the mosquitos.  The only thing that kept us going was the thought of the nice lake at the bottom.  We couldn't wait for the van to arrive with swimming gear so in our underwear we went.  It was sooooo nice/freezing.  We sat still in the water and it was bearable - apparently, according to science teacher Harvey, the water acts like a wet suit - until we moved then it was freezing again.  And of course, we couldn't get out cos the mossies would find us. 

Eventually the cold got the better of us and we headed out to the waiting van take us back to camp.

Intrepid travellers head to Yosemite

Tuesday morning dawned with mouldy toast and the worst coffee I've ever tasted. USA hostel San Francisco might have a great name but I was not impressed. When I asked at reception for a place to buy coffee, she said the aussies and kiwis always wanted decent coffee.

After meeting the group and signing my life away on multiple forms we piled our gear into a covered trailer and 9 of us piled into a Ford 14 seater van.

 

Let me introduce to the group.  Forest, our tour leader, is learning to play the piano and throw knives; Harvey and Kate are Brits on their honeymoon and the entertainment for the tour; Ben the artist from Wimbledon, doesn't like tennis; Sarah from Belgium with a past life as a punk rocker, now sings classical music; Gabriella from Germany; Steph a German Australian auditor; Ross from Wales who just narrowly missed out on a job at MI5 (at least so he says); and me, of course.

Our first day was a slow steady climb up to Yosemite. Much of the countyside waas brown grass dotted with trees. I expected whathisface Landon to step out at any moment.

The campsite was pretty rustic for America - flush toilets but no showers. We are sleeping in pup tents and because Yosemite is bear country we had to make sure everything with a sent was packed in the trailer or special bins at night- including my backpack with the leaked shampoo on it. Dinner made over cookers was spaggetti bolognaise the first night, cooked by the honeymooners and delicious- not just because I was starving.

The campsite- Tuolomne Meadows- is quite high up, and very very cold at night. Thermals in the sleeping bag were a must.
Our first full day in Yosemite were spent in the valley for a latte and a muffin then up the to Vernal falls via the mist trail then on to Nevada falls. Track was quite steep with lots of steps. I looked wistfully at the sign to half dome at the top. Next time....

After Iguassu, waterfalls are mostly umimpressive, but these were quite high and spectacular in their own way. I particularly liked the Silver Apron that looked like a water slide. Usually the waterfalls have dried up by this time of year but we were lucky that they have had lots of snow and late rain.

I went down the John Muir trail which is also a horse trail so much more gentle downhill. I almost saw a bear! I did see the photo of the bear that the people before me took. Gutted to have missed it.

Dinner was pizza at a restaurant in the valley before heading back to camp.

San Francisco the beautiful

Today I had to leave behind my lovely hotel and move to the accommodation provided as part of the tour.  It's not nearly as nice (woe is me...)  Actually, it's not too bad, and will no doubt seem luxurious when I'm in a tent in the days to come.

I thought I'd been to Chinatown before.  I remember it as a mostly authentic and almost magical place.  Unfortunately, I realised when I got there that my memory was of Chinatown in LA.  Chinatown in San Francisco is memorable for other reasons.  It's mostly run by Italians, one of whom (Gino) took a bit of a shine to me.  He was a very forward young man who told me 'they' were beautiful and asked if 'they' were real.  I made the only appropriate response and cracked up laughing.  At which point he told me I had a lovely laugh and it made him want to.....  Now you all know that my laugh can be heard from three blocks away so it's just as well not every man has that reaction.  I warded off one more attempt to give me a hug, shook his hand and thanked him for an entertaining 5 minutes and headed for the San Francisco Musuem of Modern Art today. 

I've been to a few of the best art galleries in the world so I'm a bit hard to please.  I suppose the best comparison for the SFMOMA is the Tate Modern and it held its own.  Like most modern art museums, it was a combination of the beautiful and the brutal.  I'm often disappointed by the paintings in modern art museums and the first few exhibitions were of the same tenor.  However, the Stein collection was on display with paintings by Picasso, Matisse and a few other artists, including a couple from my favourite, Renoir.  Renoir loved women; you can tell by his paintings.  No awkward or uncomfortable poses - just curvy (chubby?) happy looking women.  Of the the girl in dappled light does look a little bruised with the effects of the light through tree leaves... but still, she looks happy.

I've never been a big Picasso fan, but this exhibition changed my mind.  Getrude Stein bought many of his early works and then couldn't afford his later pieces.  His early stuff is much more appealing to me than the wierd faces etc that he later painted.

There was a really interesting photo exhibition of the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. The artist had taken a series of pictures of painted words on buildings.  "Dont try. I am sleeping inside with a big dog, an ugly woman, two shotguns and a claw hammer"; "family home $200K, classic jaguar $5k, insurance won't pay - worthless." and the killer final photo "destroy this memory".

Another installation was a rather brutal murder scene which had been filmed 73 times at different times of the day and replayed at those exact time of the day.

A taxi ride reminscient of Mario Andretti in a toyota prius got my heart rate racing before I hopped on the cable car to take me to the ferry.  A sunset cruise out on the bay, past Alcatraz, Angel Island, a place I can't remember where the rich live - you would not believe the houseboat I saw, and under the Golden Gate Bridge.  I took way too many photos.  A glass of wine and a bite to eat were included so it was a lovely way to spend my last evening in San Francisco.

San Franscisco is a lovely city and I will be sad to leave it.  The architecture is amazing; the bay window suburbs, the old buildings, the beautifully designed new ones - even the glass montrosities surprise you with a square full of flowers and water features in their midst.  I have only one question left: are you going to San Francisco....?  If not, you should - complete with flower in your hair.

hey batter, batter, batter

I have no idea if they say that or not.  It's hard to hear from 5 stories up.  Which is where I watched Sunday's Giants v Phillies baseball match from.  Mind you, the guy next to me was certain he could see well enough to dispute the ref's calls.

Baseball is even more boring than Cricket.  Basically it's a bunch of guys standing arount watching two guys playing piggy in the middle with a guy from the other team.  At least for the first three innings.  I'm told that it was so dull cos both teams are really good with great pitchers and to the unsuspecting (ignorant??) individual it would seem boring. 

Things heated up in the 4th.  A dropped ball, loaded bases (more than once) and a few runs on the board. Exciting stuff (:P).  The bat slipped (?) from the hands of one Phillies's batsman and hit the pitcher - much booing ensued as the pitcher (Lincegum) pulled a hollywood.  The back stop (catcher? My baseball lingo is failing me) chased down a Giant who had strayed a little too far from third. A few more runs; the Wilson came on to pitch; and the Giants won.

My day had started with a walk down to pier 45 to see a statue and live music that Mum had recommended.  Neither were to be found so I walked down and saw a sub and a navy ship built by Rosie the riveter.  I resisted the urge to tell the man in the navy uniform that his boat had holes in it.  Just as well as I soon after read that it was supposed to be that way.

A side trip to get coffee afforded me the funniest part of the holiday so far.  A homeless guy (sadly there are a lot of them around) had set himself up on the footpath with a couple of bushy branches that he held up and hid behind before jumping out at passers by.  The squeals and starts were hilarious.  There are, sadly, lots of homeless people in the city.  Today I say one very clean cut young man with a sign saying 'homeless Iraqi war vet'.  I'm not exactly a fan of the war in Iraq, but I don't understand how people can go from being soldiers to being homeless. Am I missing something here?  (*Gets off soapbox*)

Then it was a nice walk along Embarcado past all the piers to the baseball game.

I'd had a couple of tips from a local about places to eat so after the game I headed to the cheesecake factory on top of Macy's.  The service was mediocre but the food made up for it.  I know how much my sister appreciates my detailed food descriptions (:p) so here goes.  One chocolate tuxedo cream cheesecake is made up of a choc brownie base topped with choc cheescake topped with vanilla marscapone mousse marbled with chocolate topped with chocolate topped with cream.  It was amazingly yummy!  Only problem was that I could not eat it all.

After popping back to the hotel for the wine evening, I headed for his other tip - Lefty O'Doul's irish pub.  Lefty was a baseball player so it seemed appropriate.  The food was ok - a roast; the whisky was excellent (Glenlivet); and the piano player was very entertaining. I had a nice chat with a chap from New Zealand who I just happened to be sitting next to and a fellow from Nottingham who told be stories of jousting and tunnels under Nottingham.

5 lovely inches and a wet t-shirt

I was going to call this post 'things the travel agent has done to make me mad', but I thought a more positive note was called for at the beginning of the trip.

My flights were reasonably good - had a seat empty next to me on both flights and I'd paid a little bit extra to get 5 extra inches leg room on the Sydney - San Francisco leg. It made such a difference - I think I even got some sleep on the flight. I did snicker at little when I went for a walk round the plane and saw tall people squashed into the regular size seats.

The only hitch was when I opened the bottle of water I had bought at Sydney airport. Unbeknownst to me, I had bought sparkling water. Bubbles + altitude = water spraying all over me and people in the rows in front of and behind me. Luckily they saw the funny side - and luckily I was wearing one of my merino tops that dried in about 10 minutes.

Paying for the extra night in the hotel was worth the extravagance. I arrived and was able to do straight up to the room for a nap. I made myself get up and go out after about a couple of hours. I walked down to the Ferry Markets for a very late lunch of gruyere cheese and pinenuts empanadas and kaffer lime donut. I think it was Antje who suggested that - great tip. Next time I'm going to book a place with a kitchen so I can cook something with all that amazing looking food.

A walk along the waterfront and a walk up up up up the hill back to the hotel. The Half Dome is going to be a breeze after this city. Beautiful architecture - streets and streets of apartments thats seem to be made entirely of bay windows - the bay city in more ways that one.

I made it back to the hotel in time for the free wine hour. They had a chardonnay (bleck!) and a cabernet savignon. The red was ok so I had a couple of glasses and a chat with a couple of other guests, before heading out for a quick dinner at a Thai restaurant one of the other guests recommended.

Now I'm off to my room to eat a wee pottle of hagan das ice-cream.