30th June 2003

So it's off to the USA then, well some bits of it anyway. Only Liz and me too, no boys. Left behind to look after themselves for three whole weeks. I nominated David's girlfriend, Nicola, to be in charge since she is by far the most sensible one. Naturally we got to Edinburgh airport far too early and naturally we had to queue for hours just to check in and naturally some clots were late getting on to the aircraft. This meant we had to rush from Terminal 1 to Terminal 4 at Heathrow to catch our connecting flight. We made it safely though and after a pleasant 8 hours or so we landed in San Francisco.

I have to say I was amused by the form which we had to fill in on the plane. It contained questions like "are you a member of a terrorist organisation" and "have you ever murdered anyone". I kept waiting to find some sentence like "If you answered "yes" to any of the above you are too stupid to be allowed into the USA". Either that or instead of an 'anything to declare' channel at the airport one marked 'idiots this way'. I was disappointed on both counts.

After clearing customs we then had to take a monorail to the car hire centre which turned out to be a 6 story building full of cars. I have never seen anything like this ever. It was huge. We eventually managed to locate the car, which turned out to be a Mazda 626 (automatic of course) and after a few traumas found our hotel for the first night of our stay. We met up with one of Liz's many relatives, David Pope and his wife Joan (who comes from Glasgow), for dinner. Our first introduction to American portion sizes. We ordered Pork ribs and they came with half a pig each.

Having gained 8 hours on the way over we were now exhausted and retired

1st July 2003

Interestingly we woke up about 6.00am despite the tiredness, which I assume means our body clocks have yet to catch up with USA time. At any rate we were able to grab an early breakfast and find route 101, which at that point is an 8 lane freeway, and head south down the coast. We stopped for a wander around Carmel, where Clint Eastwood stays although we didn't see him. The town seems to be full of nothing but antique shops! I have never seen so many in one place, ever. Leaving the freeway we joined a more conventional two way road which twisted down the Big Sur coastline. We stopped for a while at Pfeiffer beach and dipped a toe into the (rather cold) Pacific Ocean.

On again passing some spectacular clifftop views of the ocean we arrived at our destination, Cambria, which is just about the only town for 100 miles in either direction on the coastline. Had dinner, wandered about a bit and went to bed.

Miles travelled to date 215

2nd July 2003

After breakfast we continued on Route 1 to Solvang. An interesting little town this, founded by Danes in around 1911. All of the houses have been built in the Danish style and the shops and restaurants sell typically Danish food, clothes etc. It was a nice pleasant little town.

Our next stop would be the Santa Barbara Marriott which the driver naturally assumed would be in Santa Barbara, about 50 miles or so further down the coast. After about 25 miles the navigator corrected the driver (who had also booked the hotel and planned the itinerary) informing him that the hotel was in fact in a place called Buellton which is about 3 miles from Solvang! Quick U turn and back we went.

After checking into our hotel we set off for a place called Lompoc, in the Lompoc valley. According to our guide book this area produces huge amounts of the worlds supply of seeds for various plants and vegetables. Unfortunately we were a little late in the season to get the full effect but what we did see seemed to back up what the guide said. Vast fields stretched for miles, full of growing plants. A few corners had sweet william, sweet peas and cornflowers of every colour growing in them and some were being harvested. It was well worth the visit.

We had dinner in Solvang dining on split pea soup (which for some reason is a speciality in Solvang) and Danish meatballs. Miles to date 425

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3rd July 2003

Straight run down US101 to Los Angeles today. This started out as a two lane highway and ended up as a five lane highway. Every so often another lane appeared complete with a full complement of traffic. Hugely busy road but everyone battered along at 70mph in all five lanes. Great stuff.

After finding and checking into the hotel we set off on foot to explore Hollywood. We took the Metro (once we had located it) to Hollywood Boulevard and did the touristy Walk of Fame. This goes on for miles it seems, down both sides of the road with stars in the pavement commemorating those that have made Hollywood famous and infamous. We visited the (rather naff) Wax museum and Ripley's Believe it or Not, which was entertaining. The Boulevard itself is in parts extremely seedy looking and there seemed to be only 3 kinds of shop, selling either tourist tat or tattoo and body piercing or clothing and shoes for strippers. I kid you not.

One shop we actually went into sold every kind of wig you could imagine (the sales assistant was a particularly butch looking transvestite, badly in need of a shave), as well as various rubber heads and stage makeup. It was actually quite interesting. Back to the hotel for dinner and bed. Miles so far 520.

Driving

Driving in America is great fun - not. First the car has an automatic gear box, and I have never driven an automatic before. It has taken me a while to learn that you therefore only need to use one foot. I have a tendency to use my left foot to depress the non existent clutch, which results in me jamming on the brakes. The car naturally comes to a very sudden stop for no reason at all and the driver and navigator are thrown through the windscreen. Most other road users are not amused by such shenanigans. It also means that your left foot has nothing to do. It just sort of sits there all redundant. It's a very strange feeling.

I have also concluded that the speed limit signs are purely advisory and can be ignored completely. The actual speed limit is the same as every other car is going plus 10MPH. Also it would appear that indicators are a purely optional extra on many cars since most cars never seem to use them. So far I have avoided driving down the wrong side of the road apart from one occasion. Naturally I picked Hollywood Boulevard to do so, causing the navigator to have a fit and swear a lot. No injuries were caused however and the police must have been looking the other way.

One other observation concerns the state of the Freeways in California. It would appear that they build these roads out of very large concrete blocks similar to a paving stone only much bigger. For added amusement value they place these blocks at different heights and with varying amounts of space between them. Once laid they then rough up the surface of the blocks to maximise the road noise. In order to give a more pastoral appearance they then allow grass to grow in the gaps between lanes. I am not joking here, some of the freeways are in a disgraceful state

None of this detracts from the fact that these monstrous roads do allow you to get from a to b most efficiently. Another factor seems to be the ability to overtake on either side. This latter does take a bit of getting used to however and is not for the faint hearted.

4th July 2003

Independence Day! So since it is a public holiday here we went to the number one theme park in Hollywood, Universal Studios along with half the population. Craftily we bought front of line passes, which meant that we could skip the queues, and the best seats in all the rides etc. Absolutely well worth the extra cost although there was a slight twinge of guilt when you walked straight passed a bunch of families that had been queuing for some time. The theme park itself was just great.

Everything was clean, slick, well organised and very cleverly done. We saw Terminator 3D, a combination of live acting and 3D cinematics and Shrek another 3D show where the seats move and you get sprayed with water and compressed air in conjunction with events on the screen. Then there was the Mummy returns, a sort of chamber of horrors, with various mechanical devices jumping out at you from every corner, and a back to the future ride where you sat in a DeLorean which hurtled through time, or at least it appeared to. In Jurassic Park we got soaked whilst "sailing" through a jungle which dripped water on you and various dinosaurs would leap up at you every so often. It had a great water splash thingie at the end which was great.

Waterworld was a spectacular stunt action piece with explosions, a crashing seaplane and other special effects. We say a musical Spiderman, a behind the scenes look at special effects and sound, Animal Planet with some clever and amusing animals, Backdraft which was based on the film and tried to roast us all and then the studio tour. This latter we went on twice because it was so good. Apart from just touring around the "back lot" the little trolley thing took us into some of the studios where they had set up various stunts and actions to take place, like being in the underground during an earthquake complete with crashing tube train and flood. We saw streets of houses all of which had been used in films and TV shows, including the Bates Motel and lots of others.

Altogether this was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone.

During dinner that night we saw from a bit of a distance the fireworks at the Hollywood Bowl. Very pretty.

5th July 2003

In contrast to yesterday, today was something of a let down. Long beach was one of the places we had wanted to see in LA and so we took the metro to it. This took an hour and a half through some fairly depressed looking areas and Long Beach itself was a complete disappointment. Maybe we were at the wrong end but there was no sign of "muscle beach" where we were. We had to take the metro back again and so this took up most of the day. Late afternoon we decided to take the car and drive around looking for the Hollywood sign, which we eventually found and then went looking for Mulholland drive where Michael Connolly's fictional hero Bosch lives. Great views of the city and a kindly policeman let me sit in his squad car for a photo opportunity.

Getting back to the hotel then proved to be a nightmare, since there was something on at the Hollywood Bowl and they had closed off some of the roads around it. It took us ages and we drove in circles most of the time. Not the best of days

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6th July 2003

Mainly a driving day today. We left Los Angeles behind and took the I15 eastwards to Las Vegas. The further away from the coast we got the more desert like the terrain became and the hotter it got. The Mojave desert appears to be just miles of scrub plain and mountains. One of the roads we were on was straight as a die for about 80 miles! Eventually in late afternoon we crested a ridge and there in this valley below us was the sprawl of Las Vegas, a city in the middle of a desert. After getting a bit lost due to the directions I had pulled off the Internet we found our hotel, the Luxor.

I just don't know how to describe this place and do it justice. The main part of it is a black pyramid the same size as the big one in Egypt, guarded by a replica Sphinx. It's hollow, with the rooms on the outside walls and everything else on the first two floors. We're on the 23rd floor and looking over the balcony it's a long way down. We spent 6 hours exploring it, yes that's right 6 hours, and we haven't seen it all. It has 10 restaurants, a couple of bars, shops, cinemas, feature rides, a museum and of course a vast gambling hall. This latter has something like 2,000 slot machines and dozens of gaming tables like Blackjack, Roulette and Craps.

It's just amazing. In the Jewellery shop I bought Liz a Lapis Lazuli and gold bracelet for our anniversary since the colour of the Lapis went with her nail polish. Miles travelled so far around 850 and it's bloody hot outside.

7th July 2003

Spent today walking down just one side of the Strip. We alternated between roasting outside and chilling inside some of the hotels. It's around 115°F outside today and in the air conditioned hotels it actually feels quite chilly at about 70°F or so. We visited Caesars Palace, done up like Rome complete with a forum, St Peter's Square, fountains, statues and a full size wooden horse, for some reason. The Mirage had white tigers (well actually one sleeping tiger, the others must have been having a day off and Circus Circus which has a circus theme naturally enough.

The older hotels like Circus Circus which are now over 40 years old are beginning to look a bit dingy, but it was much busier than some of the more modern ones. Interestingly enough the minimum bets in the Blackjack tables are $10 whereas in the Luxor I noticed it was $5. They are just fascinating places

Completely exhausted now.

8th July 2003

Did the same as yesterday, except that we took a taxi to the far end of the Strip and walked down the other side. We started at the Hilton and visited the Star Trek experience. This turned out to be a very clever theme ride using all sorts of techniques to make you feel really part of the Starship Enterprise, using live action and filmed scenes with some of the Next Generation actors, as well as a Trekkie museum with a complete timeline giving context to all the Star Trek series and films. Pretty slick

Next up was the Venetian, done up like Venice complete with a shop lined canal, with bridges and Gondolas and singing Gondoliers. The ceiling here was very clever, painted like sky with fluffy clouds. You really thought you were outside and actually in Venice, although the canal didn't stink. Then there was Paris complete with a mini Eiffel tower and done up like a Parisian street and then the MGM grand to see the lions.

These hotels are just fantastic places and it is so hard to get across just what the experience is like. All this splendour of course is just lost on the gamblers who sit at the slot machines dropping coin after coin into them.

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Food

The Americans like their food and it would appear that they like a lot of food. Portion size is just ridiculous. I don't think I have managed to finish anything that I have ordered yet. Most of the hotels we have been in so far have provided a buffet breakfast, which means you help yourself to all you can eat. The choice of food is enormous, from various fresh fruit, cereals, cold meats, cheeses and salads and then on to the hot stuff, bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages, pancakes, waffles, various sauces and jams. To follow you can have pastries , toast, croissants and even ice cream and custard. The choice is just staggering. Of course all this comes with endless cups of coffee and juice. We have fallen into a pattern of just having breakfast and dinner, missing lunch altogether.

Generally the food is very good, although Liz finds Sourdough unpalatable and we have both found that things like pastry have far too much fat in them and are very very sweet. The coffee though is good, very good. The only problem is that it comes in such vast quantities. The smallest carton we have had for take away was 3/4 of a pint! Like everything else, nothing is small here.

Of course all this food does have the side effect of expanding some of the locals to incredibly proportions. We are taking massive here, so massive that I can't see how they even manage to get out of bed. They can hardly walk! Also they insist on wearing entirely unsuitable clothing like shorts and T shirts, or tight fitting lycra outfits. As a society I think I would be worried as to the future health of the nation judging by the number of obese children there are too. Some very young children clearly weighed more then I do and that cannot be good

9th July 2003

An early start today, saying au revoir to Las Vegas and hitting the road to the Grand Canyon. The scenery started off desert, then rocky mountains as we climbed towards the Hoover Dam. Stopped there for a photo or two. For some reason I wasn't as impressed as I imagined I would be. Don't really know why. Crossing into Colorado we left the mountains and onto another one of these long straight roads that just go on and on, through a plateau surrounded by mountains. We stopped at one of those roadside cafe's that you see in American films and ordered a slice of cake that would have fed a horse and it's rider. Kinda strange place really.

The nearer our destination the higher we climbed and the more verdant things became until eventually we entered a huge pine forest. After settling into the hotel we set off to watch the sun set over the Grand Canyon. Now, we have all seen pictures of the Grand Canyon and even seen films about it on TV. Nothing however prepares you for the real thing. It is just an awesome place. It's overwhelmingly awesome, it's king of the awesome people in awesome land. And to think that the whole thing was created by one river, which from the rim looks like a trickle of water meandering through the gorge. Sunset was just magnificent

Miles to date 1200 or so and since we are a bit higher it's cooler, only 95°F or so.

10th July 2003

Ok, what are the chances of two people with exactly the same name, one from Scotland and one from America's east coast, turning up at 11.30 on 10th July 2003 to take a helicopter ride in a four seater helicopter, at Grand Canyon airport. Well, it happened.

The helicopter ride took us up the east rim of the canyon, along the middle and back to the airport via the west rim. I will never forget the experience of flying over forest with the music from 2001 A Space Odyssey playing in my earphones as we flew over the rim for the first time. One second we were 200 feet up and then we were over the rim and the ground was a mile below us. Everything about this experience was phenomenal, the rock formations, the colours of the rocks and water, the sheer magnificence of the play just took my breath away. Never have I or will I again experience something like this. I just don't have the words. Once again I just felt overawed by the whole thing, you just feel so utterly insignificant. Remember this canyon has been gouged out at the approximate rate of 5" every 1000 years and it's 1 mile deep and mainly 8 to 14 miles wide.

Back on land we spent the rest of the day shuttling between various viewpoints along the south rim of the Canyon, taking pictures and watching rarely seen Condors lazily ascending the thermals. Sunset was not as spectacular tonight due to the haze caused by a forest fire on the north rim. On the way back to the hotel a coyote posed for a photograph at the side of the road. We came to America primarily to see the Grand Canyon and we have not been disappointed.

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11th July 2003

Back to Las Vegas today, saying a fond farewell to the Grand Canyon. Instead of taking the same way back we took an alternative route along historic route 66. I'm not sure why it's historic but it is. We called in at the Grand Canyon Caverns which we thought would be like sort of stone age man caves, but which turned out to be the deepest dry caves in America. Dry caves are apparently very rare, and don't have the stalagmites and stalactites of normal caves. The most interesting part was that the caves were designated by the government as a nuclear shelter for 2,000 people during the Cuban Missile crisis. The food, water and supplies shipped to the caves at that time are still there today along with the 4 toilet rolls provided!

Further along the road we passed several trains, one of which we were able to measure at 1¼ miles long! Yes that's right 1¼ miles. Las Vegas was as we had left it except that the temperature had risen to about 117°F. Our hotel this time is the Excaliber, all medieval in theme, 2,000 slot machines and being a Friday it was mobbed with people. You can see the planes lining up to land on a Friday and they apparently all fly out again on the Sunday. The weekend gamblers are here.

This evening we went to see Penn and Teller the illusionist/magicians. Extremely entertaining show, and very funny. They were at the Rio which has a South American theme, very brash, loud place. Very glad we aren't staying here.

Miles to date 1450 or so.

12th July 2003

I'm sitting here at 6.30PM and it's 120°F in the shade. We are in Death Valley and it's like sitting in an oven. I am not exaggerating here, it is fantastically hot. In order to get the idea you could switch your fan oven on to about 200° and when it's hot stick your head in it. The wind burns, dries your eyes, nose and mouth out. The rocks burn, everything burns. Leave the car for five minutes and when you return you can't touch anything. The temperature topped out at 127°F today, it is incredibly hot.

The scenery here is magnificent however. From Dante's View, the highest point above the valley you can see it's whole length, complete with multi coloured rocks, salt flats and weird rock formations. We are staying at the aptly named Furnace Creek, an oasis amid the barren rock around us.

I have to come back to the heat however. Movement is exhausting and you need to constantly drink water. There is a story here in the local paper they give you about a guy who went for a walk which should have taken him 30 minutes with ½ a litre of water. He failed to return and his wife reported him missing. When the Rangers found him he was dead. The elapsed time from his departure until the Rangers found him was 1½ hours! There is no humidity, the air is very dry and draws the moisture out of you. A dangerous, but magnificent place. Miles to date 1600 or so.

13th July 2003

A long driving day today, leaving the incredible heat of Death Valley behind (it was already over 100°F by 8.00AM) and heading towards Sequoia National Park. We drove through some of the back roads winding through the Sierra Nevada's. The scenery changed with every crest, first desert and stark rock, then buckwheat and cactus, lava fields and finally pines forests. It was a beautiful drive along some of the quietest (and twistiest) roads we have yet travelled.

We got to Sequoia, just in time to visit some of the sights of the park including the biggest tree in the world. It is an immense specimen. The sequoia's are not the tallest or even the widest trees but the combination of height and girth make them the bulkiest. Thankfully it's cooler here, about 95°F or so, explained by the fact that we are back up around 5000ft and on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada's.

Miles to date 2050 or so.

14th July 2003

Sitting on the balcony this morning we saw a road runner and on the way to breakfast suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a heard of deer. Lots of wildlife around. Back on the road we decided again to take the back roads but this time it didn't work out so well and we got a bit lost. Naturally the navigator blamed the driver. We did find our way however to a beautiful little lake called Hume Lake. Very peaceful, fantastic location and a lovely rest stop.

We made it to Oakhurst eventually and managed to locate Skrill H.Q.. We took Colen to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and spent an entertaining few hours before he had to go back to work. Colen looks somewhat underfed but otherwise perfectly normal apart from the strange collection of plastic 3 litre coke bottles and the Black Widow Spider in a jar in the kitchen. Unfortunately that is all we will see of him since his Dad is over for a visit and he is off with him to Sequoia tomorrow.

Miles travelled 2250 or so.

15th July 2003

Our destination today would be Yosemite, just a few miles up the road. First stop was Mariposa Grove, Yosemite's Sequoia trees. The more I see and learn about these trees the more fantastic they become. They are virtually indestructible, nothing eats them and they are immune to diseases due to their high tannin content (which gives the wood the red colour), and even old age does not affect them. Most of the ones we have seen are over 2,000 years old. Their cones take 2 years to mature and stay on the tree for 20-30 years. They depend on squirrels and beetles to scatter their seed. They rely on forest fires to clear the ground debris to allow the young trees to develop, although fire does not kill the trees themselves. When they were chopping the trees down in the 1800's it took 2 men with specialised equipment 9 days to fell them. Their only weakness is their shallow root system which eventually gives way and they fall over. It then takes hundreds of years for them to rot away. Magnificent.

The rest of Yosemite was very busy, very hot and much the most disappointing of the national parks we visited. Certainly the scenery was magnificent as were the waterfalls, but somehow we didn't enjoy it as much as we had the others. The local paper warned of mountain lion sightings and advised that if attacked you should not run away but fight back. Naturally the inclination would be to stand there and let the thing chew your leg off!

Miles travelled 2350

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16th July 2003

Drove to San Francisco today, leaving behind the mountains and entered the fertile plains as we got nearer the coast. Plenty of orange groves and other fruit trees. It also got a lot cooler until in San Francisco itself it was actually cold!

After checking into the hotel we wandered down Fisherman's Wharf ending up on Pier 39. Lots of small fast food places, selling delightful seafood, crepes and pretzels. There were dozens of Sea Lions basking on specially made floating things in the harbour. We then climbed up Lombard St for views over the city and had delicious prawns for dinner. Browsed a few more shops, including the Rainforest Cafe where Liz could have bought the shop, on the way back to the hotel.

Miles travelled 2500 or so and is cold here!

17th July 2003

Drove over the Golden Gate bridge (you just have to do this don't you?) to Sausalito. This small town appears to have a lot of fancy boats in it and not a lot else. Nice views over the bay however. Back in San Francisco we took a boat trip around the bay, under the Golden Gate bridge and around Alcatraz. The captain kept us amused with a very funny commentary throughout the trip which was well worth braving the cold wind and sea spray for.

Back on dry land we then took the trolley from Fisherman's Wharf down to Union Square where we spent an hour or so wandering around Macy's where Liz managed to get an outfit for David's wedding believe it or not. I had visions of spending days looking for something at home. We took the trolly back to the Wharf and dinner again on seafood.

18th July 2003

Into the car today to explore some of the other bits of the city. Wandered around the Golden Gate park and then took the trolley to Chinatown. This was not what I expected. I had imagined lot's of little dim sum stalls and stuff like that but it was just shops really. Some of these were beautiful, selling silks, Chinese ornaments and antiques. All the signs, menus and price tags were in Chinese for some reason.

We had intended to get the trolley back to our hotel but none of them stopped because they were all full. Instead a chap in a stretch limousine offered us a lift for $3 a head and we took him up on his offer. Leather seats and seating 10 people it was great speeding through the streets of the city.

More seafood for dinner and crepes on Pier 39 rounded off the day

Now it is cold here, no more than 60°F or so and with a cold breeze. The temperature drop of at least 40°F or so is very noticeable. Glad we brought a jumper or too.

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19th July 2003

Short trip today to Livermore and the home of Rob and Madeleine Heal. Rob is one of Liz's relatives, descended from on of her Gran's sisters who emigrated to the States in the late 1800's early 1900's. Now on to the 3rd or 4th generation there are dozens of them all over the place. Many stay in and around California and Rob had managed to round up quite a few for us to meet.

We had a great day, teaching them Scottish words and trying to understand one another, working out which relative was which and discussing the differences between life in the two countries. They even fed us with food from their own garden!

19th July 2003

Our last day. After breakfast Rob took us on a tour of Livermore and a vinery. It's a great grape growing area this and there are many such wineries in and around the town. It also boasts the biggest wind farm in the world with nearby hills literally covered in electricity generating windmills. Sadly we had to leave their company for the airport eventually and begin the long journey home. A strike at Heathrow delayed us a bit, 5 hours in fact and so it was that 30 hours after we set off we arrived back in a cloudy Edinburgh. Total miles travelled 2630.

And that's it really.

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Postscript

So what was it like then? It was just great. We had a fantastic time. The people are wonderful, the hotels and service is excellent, the car was good, the scenery better and the experience definitely worth the trip. Would I live there? I don't know. It is a different thing altogether to visit a country than to actually live in it. One thing is for sure, we will go back.

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