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Published: April 7th 2007
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Los Angeles
From Mullholland Drive. Writing this in a public library in a town called Paso Robles, so again no pictures...
Well we arrived in LAX (Los angeles airport) and eventually got through the US security, it wasn't that they were particularly stringent, just incredibly unorganised...We had a mad taxi ride for nearly an hour to get to the depot where we were picking up our motorhome (or RV as everyone calls them) and that was us on the road....
We decided just to go to the nearest RV park, and then were able to explore Holywood the next day. LA is all freeways, six lane highways and busy traffic, but we eventually negotiated our RV through it all to be able to park up in Hollywood where we witnessed almost the last day of the Hollywood sign, the hill behind it was on fire and huge plumes of smoke were rising and people were out in the streets taking pictures. Reminiscent of the bush fire in Tasmania, we could see helicopters dumping water on it. "The sign will burn" stated a security guard at the back entrance to the cemetry where they were shooting a film (of course)
But it didn't
Bush fires following us from Australia
Trust us to arrive the day the Hollywood sigh nearly burns... and we got the requisite pictures of the sign, which is high on the hill above the town. You cannot get near it and funnily enough the best views of it are from a residential area, there is no 'official view point' for it...
We walked down sunset boulavard where the stars are on the pavement, and found a lot of stars we had heard of, as well as many we hadn't. There were a few street artists, and a silver statue guy who was very good.
We took a drive up the first part of the famous Mulholland drive, where there was an amazing view over the city, then we headed back for a second night at the RV park, ready to head north the next day.
Unfortunately we had to go back through LA on the interstate 5 road, which was bnusy and slow, and it took us ages to get anywhere, but eventually got north to Bakerfield on the free way which was pretty bumpy and not the most relaxing of driving. From Bakerfield we headed for a National Park near lake Isabella where we holed up for the night, after a drive through
Iconic and Absurd
Bit like California.... a gorge which was starting to get 'more like it'.
From Lake Issabella we drove along a very twisty road up to 6000 ft and down again past ranches and horses and very beautiful spring blossum flowering trees, down to a plain, and then back up to the Sequoia National Park where we spent two nights. Sequoias are just immense trees, not as high as redwoods, but almost up there, but just much bulkier with huge trunks, and very beautiful. One of them the 'General sherman tree' (they name the big ones...) they claim is the biggest living thing in the world. Apparently one years growth is the bulk of an ordinary big tree... They are very beautiful and we did some short trails around them. We also met a father and his two sons who were RVing next to us, so joined them around their campfire and for a walk to some beutiful waterfalls the next day. I discovered that drinking alcohol at altitude (we were at 6000ft...) gives me a head ache the next day The highest we drove to was in fact 7000ft all on quite tiring bendy roads... We also took a walk up a
There are over 2000 Stars
So I thought I should photograph one who everyone has heard of... very scary rock called Morro, which had very small handrails that were between you and probably 3000ft drop into the valley, very similar to Yosemites half dome mountain, but more accesible....!!!!
All the RV camp grounds have bear boxes so that tented campers can store their food in safety so they will not attract bears, who apparently can cause a lot of damage looking for food.
Next stop was Yosemite, we drove and camped close to the entrance, in readyness for visiting the next day....
Well it has all been said about Yosemite, the scenery certainly lives up to expectations, vast, vast, vast...huge monoliths of rock, tall trees, and unlikely waterfalls, plunging hundreds of feet, Spectacular but almost a little over awesome, made more so by the odd surreal like crowded valley floor, with people wandering around in the very 'sanitised' park area. It would be great to get out into the wilderness here, but it was still very worth it to see the awesome scenery...
We left Yosemite, but had time for a train ride on a real old steam loggers train, a brilliant tourist trip through the woods, and of course Talitha managed to get
to drive the thing in the cab, and blow the whistle as we wound our way through the woods...
Heading back south, we aimed for the coast but got as far as Paso Robles, and I suspect this will be our last blog before home
It is amazing to think that it is nearly all over.......
I will return to these blogs when home and put up pictures....
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