Advertisement
Published: October 12th 2006
Edit Blog Post
vh53
Rainbow Ranch - who said Americans have no sense of humour. When we got back from our road trip it was Labor Day, so we followed the the traditions it being a bank holiday - sat around, ate too much, watched old movies on TV. Jess went back to work and said I could have the car, the thought of driving around on my own scared me a bit, so I said I would just walk into Woodland. Jess told me I was mad and it was a long way - but I am English, we walk.
I duly walked into Woodland - 2.5 miles each way, in the heat of the midday sun with no shade. Luckily I use factor 45 so I didn't burn, but it was 97 degrees, it nearly killed me, but you cannot tell those who will not listen!! After that the car seemed a good idea. A very good idea, although it has to be said that Woodland has a nice downtown area - a bit of a main street with quaint little shops.
Wednesday I was going up to Lake Tahoe for the day, until I got on the highway. A 5 lane highway with cars leaving and joining, switching backwards and forwards.
vh54
Sacramento old town. Sacramento has the largest number of listed buildings in the US. I got off the highway after half an hour and decided this would be a good day to see Old Sacramento instead. Old Sacramento is quite pretty, it looks right out of an old cowboy movie, so you can't help think that you are on a movie set. I walked down to the river and got there just as they were opening the swing bridge to let a ferry boat through. Just as I got there a little seal swam past - I tried to get a photo, but by the time I had got my camera out, he wasn't so close, but very cute. Apparently the bridge doesn't often open and the seals are a very rare sight, so I was very grateful they all came out for my entertainment.
Then I wandered around the old town expecting to see John Wayne getting off his horse any second. However the only grizzled hammy old actor you are likely to see in Sacramento is the state governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. I got a picture of the state capitol building, but it was too hot to walk all the way up there - and I have seen an Arnie movie before,
vh56
Sacramento also has old trains. he doesn't look that great close up. He may think the same about me, so I spared us both the experience.
Thursday I went to the Sonoma wine valley which was not as picturesque as I had imagined - and I had forgotten my camera, so you can't see how picturesque it may or may not have been, but its wine - who cares about the scenery, just drink. Ah - but I was driving, and my driving isn't brilliant sober, so I just enjoyed what scenery there was. Sonoma is a very pretty little town - and yet again one of those towns which only has very expensive shops. I wanted to buy a little pan for making Danish apple fritters, but it was heavy and I didn't want to carry it around for ever, but it entertained me just finding it a shop in California wine valley country. I visited a couple of the missions - good old catholicism, bringing our bible preaching to the uneducated masses. Sadly we brought germs as well so it killed most of the poor pagans - but at least they got to have the last rites.
In the evening we
vh58
And it has old boats and even has old bridges to let the old boats through. went to the movie theatre in Woodland to see Little Miss Sunshine with Toni Colette. If you haven't seen it - do. Right now. Just get up, leave your desk and go and see the film. It is a very black comedy, but really really funny. There weren't many people in the cinema, but the laughter almost took the roof off. Before the film started Jess and I had to move. A couple behind us clearly, from their conversation, go to the movies every Thursday night. They compared this cinema to the others they regularly visit, discussed whether or not they liked the popcorn, what they thought of the seats, whether or not they may enjoy the movie and concluded they should have gone to Davis. Sadly they didn't go to Davis, so we moved before I had to throttle one of them. Travelling has not yet taught me tolerance.
Friday we went out for a Mexican meal - the margaritas were made with wine and not with tequila. Wine with lime and salt - it didn't sound too good, so we settled for beer. Saturday I did my laundry, packed and packed and repacked, took some stuff out,
vh59
And lastly it has a dirty old man. California state capitol building - Arnie's gaff. packed again, took some more stuff out, rearranged the backpack and finally it closed. Jess took me to the airport. We left hours early - but needed to because the traffic going over the bridge into San Francisco was horrendous. Poor Jess had to drive right back through the traffic too, whereas I just hung around until my flight to LA. People do this every day - are they mad? Hold on, I did this every day - that is why I dropped out. But somehow you expect California to be more hippy less city.
LA airport was far busier than San Francisco - San Francisco is a really nice airport, not as nice as Brisbane I have to say with hindsight, but nice. LA is a really horrible airport - and you wouldn't want to spend too much time there. Air Pacific clearly had other ideas as they condemned me to spend 24 hours there. The staff were rude and unhelpful to all 40 stranded passengers. they snapped at everyone, could not have been more unhelpful and told every passenger a different story when asked the reason for the delay - you would have thought we were the
vh60
A sacramento seal - an award winning shot of one of the rarely sighted seals - the award being for the least obvious photo shot. cause of it the way they treated us. Most of the passengers they had sent on an Air New Zealand flight, but the 40 remaining passengers who had been delayed - tough. One couple had to reschedule their wedding in Fiji. No compensation was offered because they were putting us up in a cheap motel in an industrial area of LA. A common enemy unites and I met some really nice people in the queue. One young girl suggested we all hire a minibus and go to Disneyworld for the day - frankly I would rather eat my own liver but it was a nice suggestion.
Sunday when I should have not existed because of the international time difference I could either hang around the industrial area of LA, or find something better to do. So I went off to Manhattan Beach, hired a bicycle and spent the day pottering up and down the various beaches. They have a side walk / cycling path / skating path which is divided into two lanes, southbound and northbound and you have to keep to your side and keep to the speed limit. All of LA seemed to be out exercising. There
vh61
Welcome to LA was even one old biddy who looked to be well into her 80's power walking - she was doing the motions, but so so slowly. Fair play to her though for keeping up the exercise.
My flight was at 11 so I checked in at 4 p.m. - so did most of the delayed passengers. 24 hours and an aircraft that actually worked had done wonders for our mood. Sadly the same could not be said of Air Pathetic's groundcrew. The couple who had there wedding delayed asked if they could be upgraded (it was a 10 hour flight) as they were going to get married and Air Pathetic had delayed them - and it would have been a nice gesture. Not compensation by any means, but a gesture. Response, "first class is full, move along ... NEXT".
Economy was almost full, but I moved to where there were two seats free and slept most of the night. The aircrew were much nicer than the ground crew but really I didn't care, I was headed for Fiji finally and that was all that mattered.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.148s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 7; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0467s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb