Los Angeles

Hmmm. The less we say about Los Angeles the better. So here are some pictures of the best of it, with the shortest possible comments we can manage:

Day 1: Disneyland®. Here's Bec in front of the (surprisingly tiny) Sleeping Beauty Castle™:


Space Mountain™ is probably the coolest thing in Disneyland®, which means it's probably one of the best things in L.A. When a dated 80's ride which mostly takes place in pitch darkness is considerably more enjoyable than an entire city, that city needs to take a good hard look at itself...


Teacups™. Fun.



The Big Parade™. More teacups™:



Day 2: Universal Studios®. Spidey™ tries to activate Bec's WebShooter™, forgetting that neither of them actually has one:



Getting some ogre-love from Shrek™. (He's the one in the middle):



Day 3: A grind through various unsightly, overcrowded freeways, peering at smog-encrusted, distant "sights" of dubious interest. Oops, sorry, a guided tour of Los Angeles.

Bec discovers Johnny Depp's excitingly-large hand prints at Grauman's® Chinese Theatre™:



Bec discovers Hollywood™'s disappointingly-small letters are extremely hard to get close to:

Braving Death Valley

Continuing South and East, we headed into possibly the hottest, driest desert on Earth - Death Valley. A huge contrast from the soaring beauty of Yosemite, Death Valley includes the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere - at 86 metres below sea level. It is surrounded by enormous mountains however, which creates an oven-like environment where superheated air gets trapped and ludicrous temperatures (above 50°C) are not unusual. It also gets less than 2mm of rain a year. Nasty.


Luckily for us, it only got to 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35°C) as we crossed the valley, but it's still pretty scarily hot when you have to turn off your Air Conditioning! Apparently the extra load that A/C places on the engine can cause it to overheat. Better you than it, out here:

Yosemite Cram

After the hustle and bustle of San Francisco we were keen to hit the open road and see the "real" America, the way "real" Americans see it - the Road America, by car. We'd booked a Mustang convertible but with the usual rental car shenanigans we ended up with a Toyota Solara convertible - basically a soft-top Camry with droopy corners that somebody must think make it look "sporty". A pretty major let-down, but at least it was red.


After nipping down through Silicon Valley and seeing the lovely Carmel-by-the-Sea, we headed east - our destination, the legendary Yosemite National Park. Although we only had about half a day to see this magnificent park (people used to stay for weeks) we absolutely loved it.



We even took a tour with Ranger Greg and learnt about the art of Bear Management (or, as he kept reminding us: People Management). The rangers have been pitting their wits against the wily Black Bears for years - but every time they come up with a new ingenious "bear-proof" device, the persistence, intelligence and strength of the hungry animals comes out on top. The trouble is, when the bears get accustomed to the sugary rubbish most Americans feed on, they become reluctant to go back to berries and acorns...


We were slightly unlucky that the authorities had chosen this particular day to perform a controlled burn to prevent wildfires - thus making some of the views a bit hazy:


- but it was still a stunning place. As we departed Yosemite the sun was setting and the temperature dropped like a stone - but we braved the cold to get some snaps of the glacially-smoothed valleys at the eastern end of the park.

If You're Going To San Francisco...

...be sure to take a zillion photos there... Yes, after Chicago it was California, here we come! And our first stop was the trendy, laid-back San Francisco. Johnny had already been once before but for Bec, first impressions couldn't be better.

The tourist focus is mainly centered around Fisherman's Wharf and the Bay, so we naturally found ourselves there on the first morning and were rewarded with some amazing iconic sights:

Alcatraz Island, perfectly complemented by a passing flock of pelicans (the island was originally named for these birds, alcatraces being the Spanish word for pelican):

The Golden Gate Bridge in all its International Orange glory:


Following a strange honking sound around to Pier 39, we discovered its resident sea-lion colony which makes its home here for several months each year. The noise was incredible and they were so entertaining to watch, fighting each other for position on the wooden docks and then basking sleepily in the sunshine.

Our ride in an open-top bus across the Golden Gate was exhilarating, and very blowy! By then the trademark fog had drifted in to hang moodily around the bridge's towers.













We enjoyed riding the famous San Fran cable cars up and down the hilly streets:

And seeing how the beautiful old Victorian houses contrast with the nearby city skyscrapers (this particular row is called the Seven Sisters, one of which featured in the TV show Full House):

But the highlight of our stay was our visit to Alcatraz Island, otherwise known as The Rock. It has a fascinating history, best known for being the site of the most famous high security prison in the world, with notorious prisoners including Al Capone and The Birdman. The audio tour was awesome, with anecdotes from actual prisoners and guards to really give you a feel for what it was like.

Bec contemplating prison life:

View of San Francisco skyline from Alcatraz: