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Published: August 7th 2007
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Downtown LA
Sunset from our hotel window. Los Angeles
We got 2 flights from cancun to get to LA , the first went without hiccup we got on the plane early and to Dallas with no problems, we then had 1.5 hours before the connecting flight. We spent 50minutes at the immigration centre then rushed to grab our backs before more security checks to get us to our gate in the nick of time phew. We landed in LA then Jons bag came off, no sign of mine after waiting in the chaotic baggage room for an hour. I went to the American Airlines lost baggage counter and came across the rudest man I have ever met, he was plain nasty! I managed to give him my details and after another 40minutes we went to try and get our tickets sorted for Chicago. I dont know if we wrote in the blog but when the tickets were reissued in Mexico city they couldnt print out our flight from Chicago to New York. We went to the American Airlines desk and again they were rude and refused to print off our tickets- needless to say we wont be flying with American airlines again!So we went to
BA and they were fantastic, at last someone that was willing to help us, and was friendly just as we were about to tarnish all americans with the samebrush!
Later we picked up the car and off we went. As we werent particularly organised at booking accomodation(huge mistake in usa)we ended up in the historic mayfair hotel in Downtown. Nice hotel but downtown is really rough at night. We went to macdonalds for a quick meal and were scared to death , loads of homeless peolple everywhere, a definate no go zone. The next day we got a message from the porter my bgag had arrived, I nearly kissed the bloke behind the hotel desk! We did some sight seeing in the afternoon we went to el pueblo de los angeles where the city was founded, very mexican feel with Olvera street full of little stalls and shops with mexican stuff. We went to the New catherdral of our lady of the angels, very impressive buildings! We accidentally walked past the court where Nicole richie was sentenced that morning, cant believe we missed it!!Latert we went to the MOCA Design center which was very pretentious!Jon liked it of course!
Our car
Look at this glamourous model... Then we moved on to HOLLYWOOD which again is a bit rough but I believe its better than it used to be, lots of very strange peolple talking to themselves. Mels drive in was just how I had pictured a 50s diner, good food too!. We managed to see all the sights around hollywood, the sign , the stars on hollywood boulevard walk of fame. I didnt manage to find Johnny Depp though only some guy dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow!he did look like him!
The following day we drove through Beverly Hills mega rich around there on onto the Getty Centre an art museum with beautful gardens , they have Van Gogh irises there. It also has fantastic views of LA. Next we drove down Wilshire Blvd and to Rodeo drive then shops there were amazing. Lots of girls carrying small dogs so its not just Paris Hilton! We didnt see any stars though! Later we went to the Kodak theatre where they have the academy awards- not as plush as I imagined- and the grauman chinese theatre where they leave their hand/footprints.
Next stop SANTA MONICA where we stayed for the night. We had a few
Downtown LA
Taken from the getty centre hours on the beach , went for a Sunday lunch in an English pub which was delicious!Then we walked down to Venice Beach we saw muscle beach and walked around the shops and stalls they have down there, its madness peolple rapping, playing guitars on rollerblades, preaching , hippies you name it eveything goes down there.It was fab!
Las Vegas Nevada
We started off on the route 66 then took a detour to Las Vegas-it was unbelievably hot. We managed to get in to a casino hotel circus circus on the strip for cheap so it worked out well. Vegas is bigger than I thought but just as tacky yet interesting. We did a bit of betting and came out just about even which isnt bad!The hotels are spectacular you could spend 4 days looking around them all. Mandalay bay, caesars palace,luxor and the venetian were our favourites. We jut about caught the water show at the Bellagio but would liked to have seen it again but it was cancelled on our last day due to the wind.
Arizona
After vegas we set off for the HOOVER DAM which is huge 726ft tall,
it gave Jon vertigo looking down it!We drove up to Kingman our overnight stop, it a historic mining town, very 50s!There were lots os relics od route 66 along the way. Next we drove on to the Grand Canyon, it absolutely massive even when you are there it doesnt seem real as it that big- 10 miles across. You cant even see the Colorado river at the bottom!Next stop was the college town of Flagstaff a funky little town, I got a bit carried away and ended up being sick in the hostel sick, Jon came to the rescue and unblocked it with his hands, nice he must love me!! In the morning we went to Oak creek canyon it was absolutely beautiful with the forests and a narrow canyon, there was a 60ft water slide but we couldnt go in it as there was e coli in the water!Jon was gutted.
In the afternoon we drove to Meteor crater through horrendous rain, its a meteor crater 3/4 mile across 210m deep and was the first proven meteor crater in the world. Here we saw our first star Sgt Cryer from the Bill!! not reallya claim to fame but
Rodeo drive beverly hills
Women with small dogs are everywhere!! there you go, all that celeb spotting in LA and we see someone from back home, typical!
New Mexico
Our next stop was Gallup a very Indian town with a bit of a rough edge, we managed to find a motel next to a railway line- so a disturbed nights sleep was the result. We enjoyed watching the tv though, simple things that you miss when you are away for so long. In the morning we drove to Santa Fe the route 66 was parallel to the interstate for most of the way so we hopped on and off it. We went to the Silver saddle motel, the guy there Ted was really friendly. We wanted to go out and noticed that the door wouldnt lock, he came to fix it and told us that it has been kicked in by 2 male dancers 2 nights before as they had left the key in the room as it didnt fit in their thongs while they were dancing! Ted tried desperately to fix the lock with glue matchsticks and sellotape funnily enough it didnt work! He gave us our money back so we were happy, we just left our
Hollywood
Outside graumans chinese theatre where all the stars make hand prints in the pavement. stuff in the car and locked it from the inside while we were asleep. We met a lot of friendly people in Santa Fe considering it where Billy the Kid lived!!
The town plaza was beautiful a real mexican looking place and there were arts and crafts markets all along the square, its a very arty kind of place. We had a look inthe fine art museum and the palace of the governors then spent a few hours in the pool.
Texas
We are currently in Amarillo further along the 66 ,The route was full of 66 stuff and we visited the 66 automuseum loads of old american cars in mint condition, the engines were immaculate. We have a couple of days here staying in a Kabin on a camp site, its quite nice no tv though but we are right next to the pool!we listened to is this the way to amarillo on the i pod ha ha! This morning we went to the cadillac ranch, 10 cadillacs buried in the middle of a field that people go and spray paint, bizarre. We also went to the stockyards where they auction all the cattle it
was interesting, we couldnt understand what the auctioneer was talking about though! PHOTOS NOW ON MEXICO BLOG TOO!
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Mum
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system overload!
Glad the blog is back up. We will have to look at the photos when we have got broad band - our poor system is struggling to cope! Really looking forward to seeing you soon. Gran has been here for 3 weeks - waterless in Cheltenham because of the floods. All back to normal now, so taking her home on Sunday. Enjoy the last couple of weeks of freedom!