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Rod starting training for the next 24 hour race
Riding along the Santa Barbara beach path on cruiser bikes Hi y’all,
(Quick note: New photos on r-and-r.fotopic.net not quite ready yet, so we'll let you know when they are!)
(Quick note #2: After several failed or interrupted attempts, we've just found a wireless signal in the small Peruvian coastal desert town of Nazca)
Here’s our final instalment for the US west coast (as we sit in the Lima clubhouse of the South American Explorers Club, planning the Peruvian leg).
Since leaving San Francisco over 2 weeks ago (complete guess - we’ve lost track) we meandered our way down to LA, via the California desert and San Diego.
First stop was Big Sur, the last bit of spectacular unspoilt coast. The camp site was amongst yet more redwood trees (who said they were a rarity?!) The rain also returned minutes after we packed up camp (in the nick of time for a change!) Unfortunately, that rain brought with it fog, which obscured some of the alleged great views.
Onto Santa Barbara and more mild cloudy weather…this is not how it’s supposed to be! One edible highlight was the incredibly cheap Mexican fare at a chain pub called Sharkeez (strangely, the best Mexican we had on the
Sunset at the Coachella festival
Sun setting over fabulous festival setting (shame about the beer laws!) entire west coast). Unfortunately, the Margaritas were also very cheap and potent, and the price was paid the following morning. When the sun did appear, we rented some beach cruiser bikes to ride along the beach path. It was Rod’s first time on a bike in about 4 months and mine since about 1988! It took some getting used to (for me, obviously), but it was a very relaxing day and the sun had his hat on for the best part of it….we even happened across the local baseball park, where Santa Barbara were playing. We stayed and watched for a while….a true bit of Americana.
SB was probably the last really relaxed place we went to, and things got pretty stressful (relatively speaking) on the drive along the LA freeways towards the Coachella Valley in the California desert. Unfortunately Californians are fond of undertaking and tailgating in their gangsta boy pickups….
En route to the Coachella festival, the temperature ramped up from around 55 to 85 Fahrenheit. We spent two and half days in searing heat (which topped 100 degrees on the second day) doing our annual festival thing, but US-style. Unfortunately that meant drinking (hideously expensive)
Crowds starting to build for Madonna at the Coachella festival
Madonna mania starting to build up - imagine this crowd to the power of 10! beer in high security enclosures, capitalism gone mad, and massive queues for everything. Still, the music was good on the whole (highlights being the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, My Morning Jacket, the Magic Numbers and Scissor Sisters). The biggest event was the first festival appearance by Madonna, which was brief (only a half hour set!)… about 30,000 crammed round the dance tent to catch a glimpse of her - we couldn‘t see a great deal, but the hysteria was good fun. The most memorable thing about the festival, though, was definitely the setting….. lush green polo fields fringed by palm trees and with a desert mountain backdrop - enjoy the photos. Rod coped with the heat a whole lot better than me, due no doubt to his swarthy complexion.
Next stop: Joshua Tree National Park, which felt like being in an oven although it was actually cooler than the Coachella festival. Despite my reservations, this ended up being a definite highlight of the US trip. The scenery is spectacular especially in the late-afternoon sun, and although we didn’t see any scorpions, rattlesnakes or tarantulas (phew), we still saw more wildlife in the Mojave desert than anywhere else. The one thing
Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs putting on one of the best performances at Coachella we weren’t expecting to see was an endangered desert tortoise, which wandered across our camp pitch at breakfast time. We named him Dave (Rod reckoned he reminded him of Dave Flanagan, which I’m sure is a compliment Dave, honest ;o). We also got pretty good views over the Coachella Valley, the Salton Sea and the San Andreas fault line, despite the smog drifting inland from LA.
From Joshua Tree we drove South West to San Diego. Not a lot to say about San Diego, really: nice enough place, but (we thought) a bit nondescript….the clouds (yes, more!) didn’t help our photos of the local surfers either. We did manage to get a very cheap ‘happy hour’ dinner in Balboa Park, and in a somewhat more up-market establishment than our budget generally permits.
Final stop: LA. We stayed in Santa Monica, which is apparently full of British expats, hence the ‘Ye Olde’ British-style pubs. Despite Santa Monica’s upmarket feel there are still a fair few homeless people around (apparently despatched there from other parts of the US, so they don‘t freeze during winter), although the rougher parts of LA have a lot more fruit-loops and hobos.
Believe it
Jumbo Rocks, Joshua Tree NP
Us on the Jumbo Rocks in Joshua Tree National Park or not, we actually spent most of the first morning in Santa Monica standing in a queue for the opening of an REI store (big outdoor equipment shop). But, hey, we justified it with the free breakfast and freebie posh water bottles and sunglass cases. The yanks definitely know their marketing!
We had a fairly relaxing time in LA and restricted our sightseeing to Venice Beach (where I put the bodybuilders to shame at Muscle Beach…top photo too!), Rodeo Drive and Hollywood Boulevard. Clearly, Rodeo Drive wasn’t a patch on the Trafford Centre and we didn’t have the regulation miniature pooch in a handbag to accessorise any potential purchases. We did manage to find a good sale though: half-price, ‘happy hour’ beer at a nice little courtyard café just off Rodeo Drive (attached to Tiffany & Co no less…not that Rod took advantage by buying me any bling!). It was quite fascinating watching the ‘more money than brains/style’ brigade pass by…..and in stark contrast to the bus clientele on the way to Hollywood.
The Hollywood photos speak for themselves, but I got to see Gregory Peck’s feet and handprints outside of the Chinese Mann Theatre, which was cool.
Keys View, Joshua Tree NP
Rod with views behind to the Coachella valley, the San Andreas faultline (the line near his shoulder), and hazy views out to the Salton Sea and Mexico to the left Also, it turns out that Rod has the same sized feet as Johnny Depp (and bizarrely, Darth Vader), though unfortunately not Johnny’s dosh. The Hollywood sign was a little hazy in the LA smog, but hey we saw it and photographed it, so that’s another tick on the list.
The US West Coast was many things: often spectacular, often wet (!!) and, by turns, mellow and manic. We’ve really enjoyed it, and now we’re looking forward to something completely different, namely Peru. Only 5 weeks until we return to the Motherland for our brief, er, holiday from the holiday….and we look forward to seeing many of you then.
Take care everyone,
R&R
XX
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Phil H
non-member comment
What the hell!
Heh Rod I bet you had to lift rach onto that bar didn't you. What type of glue did you use to get her to stick there. I need some good stuff to put up a mirror in the bathroom at home!!