US road trip blog/diary/writeup thing
As it was so amazing, I should probably regale you all with tales from mine and Ben's mega awesome road trip in America. There is a map here: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF8&split=0&ei=j1EVSrehApi5jAe46ZzlDA&hl=en&msa=0&msid=108094202751242272757.00045f983b972c8ab6409&z=6
and the photos are here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?aid=281960&id=538510493
http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=538510493&__a=1#/album.php?aid=281968&id=538510493
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=282009&id=538510493&__a=1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=282044&id=538510493&__a=1
--------------------------
SAN FRANCISCO:
After possibly the most turbulent flight i've had, but the 10 hours flew by thanks to virgins films tv shows and games (easily pleased!) San Fran was pretty hot hot by the time we'd got to our hotel near fishermans wharf the sea breezes were making it a bit chilly. Despite feeling like it was 2am at 4pm we managed enough energy to head to our first appointment: burger and a pint at hooters. Ace. Then we were pretty knackered so had an early night at half 7 SF time. Whoever said you dont get jetlag going that way is a liar.
We spent a good few days in SF, wandering around the various parts of town like the chinatown and little italy areas, the touristy fishermans wharf and the amusingly named nob hill. We went on a WW2 liberty ship but didnt get to alcatraz as the earliest trips were 2 days ahead :( We did go to the vans warped tour though, which was ace - less than jake, bad religion, nofx, ataris and others. Just a shame it was a SF heatwave day in the 80s with no shade as the venue is usually a car park. We also met the most awesome barmaid named Heidi who is ace (you have to go to california dream'n in nob hill if you're ever there).
Then we got pick up our hire car. chrysler sebring ahoy we thought, but then we got.. A convertible red ford mustang! GET IN! Cue a slightly scary first trip out of SF down the pacific coastal highway with Ben driving a wrong-side-of-the-road-automatic for the 1st time and me navigating. The drive had amazing views though (well, when it wasn't misty, and theres a lot of mist along that coast!)
SANTA CRUZ:
Very touristy with a Thorpe Park-like boardwalk and a beach full of beach volleyballers.
SANTA BARBARA:
Took a long drive down from SC, again along coastal route 1, with more great views. Santa Barbara is very very pretty and posh with gorgeous beaches and a very meditarranian-style feel to it. We also found a great sports bar which without us knowing sold us some very very strong (10%?) beer. It was not a good idea to find out how cold the sea is at midnight.
HOLLYWOOD:
Through some very scary Los Angeles roads we arrived at Hollywood, with a hotel literally behing the hollywood&highland shopping mall which leads straight to the hollywood walk of fame. Cue much photo taking by the stars of dick van dyke, the osmonds and so on. And police urging people to keep moving past the michael jackson star. Plus went to universal studios with some good behind the scenes tours and a very wet jurassic park ride and a simpsons rollercoaster.
LAS VEGAS:
Oh. my. god. its like nowhere else in the whole world. Temperatures in the 90s at night-time, enormous casinos with flashing lights, rollercoasters, fountains, volcanos and lions. Lost $100 on blackjack, won $260 on roulette - woohoo! Also went to the coyote ugly bar which was great fun and had bargirls dancing on the bars, and saw an awesome fireworks display at caesers place for independence day.
GRAND CANYON:
From Vegas we actually stayed about 80 miles away from it in Flagstaff, where we met a guy in a pub who drove us round to some other bars and got us to speak with our accents to one of his friends on his phone. The canyon itself is jaw-dropping, and photos can't do justice to just how big and vast it is.
CANYON TO YOSEMITE:
Via a very long route to yosemite we drove via Kanab in Utah, a strange tiny place full of mormons and some locals who seemed a bit scared of us. Then along empty nevada desert roads and along the extraterrestrial highway (near area 51), stopped off at Rachel (population 74) for an alienburger and ended up in Tonopah, a tiny ex-mining town with very scary locals.
YOSEMITE:
Stayed by the south entrance in the old colonial style wawona hotel. All the scenery is stunning. Lakes, trees, mountains but sadly saw no bears. We did a 7 mile, 2700m gain hike up yosemite falls which was incredible (plus we did it in 5 hours including lunch, wheras the book said allow 6-8 hours, so there)
LAKE TAHOE:
Mainly going there because of the song by A, this was also gorgeous, plus it borders Nevada so we got to do some more gambling, go up on the cable car which usually takes people up to the ski runs in winter, and went to cabo wabo, a tequila bar run by someone from van halen.
BODEGA BAY:
Where they filmed the alfred hitchcock film 'the birds'. A bit chilly but good to see some japanese tourists throwing loads of chips at the seagulls to get them to fight over them
SAN FRAN AGAIN:
Back to SF, including driving over the golden gate bridge, which we hadn't actually got to see yet because there is so much sea mist/fog! Then after one night rediscovering the same bars as last time, we had our flight home the next day. Leaving at 5.00 SF time, flying for 10 hours and arriving at 11 UK time is rather strange, but somehow I managed to stay awake around 26 hours to go to bed normal time. Am still knackered though!
A FEW THOUGHTS:
>>A lot of people moan the americans havent travelled outside america. Yes, that's because it's ENORMOUS! And there is so much variety between the states, and even within states, that you can see so much.
>>People in the bars are friendly - there are mainly stools up at the bar which means you actually speak to other people and the bar staff
>>Air conditioning is the best thing in the world, especially in nevada
>>American news is opinionated newscasters, not actual news
>>Also I was unimpressed by Fox interrupting their adverts with some pesky formula one race
and the photos are here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?aid=281960&id=538510493
http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=538510493&__a=1#/album.php?aid=281968&id=538510493
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=282009&id=538510493&__a=1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=282044&id=538510493&__a=1
--------------------------
SAN FRANCISCO:
After possibly the most turbulent flight i've had, but the 10 hours flew by thanks to virgins films tv shows and games (easily pleased!) San Fran was pretty hot hot by the time we'd got to our hotel near fishermans wharf the sea breezes were making it a bit chilly. Despite feeling like it was 2am at 4pm we managed enough energy to head to our first appointment: burger and a pint at hooters. Ace. Then we were pretty knackered so had an early night at half 7 SF time. Whoever said you dont get jetlag going that way is a liar.
We spent a good few days in SF, wandering around the various parts of town like the chinatown and little italy areas, the touristy fishermans wharf and the amusingly named nob hill. We went on a WW2 liberty ship but didnt get to alcatraz as the earliest trips were 2 days ahead :( We did go to the vans warped tour though, which was ace - less than jake, bad religion, nofx, ataris and others. Just a shame it was a SF heatwave day in the 80s with no shade as the venue is usually a car park. We also met the most awesome barmaid named Heidi who is ace (you have to go to california dream'n in nob hill if you're ever there).
Then we got pick up our hire car. chrysler sebring ahoy we thought, but then we got.. A convertible red ford mustang! GET IN! Cue a slightly scary first trip out of SF down the pacific coastal highway with Ben driving a wrong-side-of-the-road-automatic for the 1st time and me navigating. The drive had amazing views though (well, when it wasn't misty, and theres a lot of mist along that coast!)
SANTA CRUZ:
Very touristy with a Thorpe Park-like boardwalk and a beach full of beach volleyballers.
SANTA BARBARA:
Took a long drive down from SC, again along coastal route 1, with more great views. Santa Barbara is very very pretty and posh with gorgeous beaches and a very meditarranian-style feel to it. We also found a great sports bar which without us knowing sold us some very very strong (10%?) beer. It was not a good idea to find out how cold the sea is at midnight.
HOLLYWOOD:
Through some very scary Los Angeles roads we arrived at Hollywood, with a hotel literally behing the hollywood&highland shopping mall which leads straight to the hollywood walk of fame. Cue much photo taking by the stars of dick van dyke, the osmonds and so on. And police urging people to keep moving past the michael jackson star. Plus went to universal studios with some good behind the scenes tours and a very wet jurassic park ride and a simpsons rollercoaster.
LAS VEGAS:
Oh. my. god. its like nowhere else in the whole world. Temperatures in the 90s at night-time, enormous casinos with flashing lights, rollercoasters, fountains, volcanos and lions. Lost $100 on blackjack, won $260 on roulette - woohoo! Also went to the coyote ugly bar which was great fun and had bargirls dancing on the bars, and saw an awesome fireworks display at caesers place for independence day.
GRAND CANYON:
From Vegas we actually stayed about 80 miles away from it in Flagstaff, where we met a guy in a pub who drove us round to some other bars and got us to speak with our accents to one of his friends on his phone. The canyon itself is jaw-dropping, and photos can't do justice to just how big and vast it is.
CANYON TO YOSEMITE:
Via a very long route to yosemite we drove via Kanab in Utah, a strange tiny place full of mormons and some locals who seemed a bit scared of us. Then along empty nevada desert roads and along the extraterrestrial highway (near area 51), stopped off at Rachel (population 74) for an alienburger and ended up in Tonopah, a tiny ex-mining town with very scary locals.
YOSEMITE:
Stayed by the south entrance in the old colonial style wawona hotel. All the scenery is stunning. Lakes, trees, mountains but sadly saw no bears. We did a 7 mile, 2700m gain hike up yosemite falls which was incredible (plus we did it in 5 hours including lunch, wheras the book said allow 6-8 hours, so there)
LAKE TAHOE:
Mainly going there because of the song by A, this was also gorgeous, plus it borders Nevada so we got to do some more gambling, go up on the cable car which usually takes people up to the ski runs in winter, and went to cabo wabo, a tequila bar run by someone from van halen.
BODEGA BAY:
Where they filmed the alfred hitchcock film 'the birds'. A bit chilly but good to see some japanese tourists throwing loads of chips at the seagulls to get them to fight over them
SAN FRAN AGAIN:
Back to SF, including driving over the golden gate bridge, which we hadn't actually got to see yet because there is so much sea mist/fog! Then after one night rediscovering the same bars as last time, we had our flight home the next day. Leaving at 5.00 SF time, flying for 10 hours and arriving at 11 UK time is rather strange, but somehow I managed to stay awake around 26 hours to go to bed normal time. Am still knackered though!
A FEW THOUGHTS:
>>A lot of people moan the americans havent travelled outside america. Yes, that's because it's ENORMOUS! And there is so much variety between the states, and even within states, that you can see so much.
>>People in the bars are friendly - there are mainly stools up at the bar which means you actually speak to other people and the bar staff
>>Air conditioning is the best thing in the world, especially in nevada
>>American news is opinionated newscasters, not actual news
>>Also I was unimpressed by Fox interrupting their adverts with some pesky formula one race