I am pleased to share some of my concurent thoughts, feelings and observations while traveling around and engaging in various activities during my visit to western states of the USA in the summer of 2004.

Departed towards Vienna at 12.30 PM. Arrived at the airport without problems at 16.00 hours. Good drive. Being there before made the trip feel shorter. Caught BA flight to Heathrow, terminal 4 at 19.00 hours. Went smoothly. Baggage was tagged to LA and to our amazement it actually arrived in LAX on the same plane with us the next day. Took the UG for Hounslow central to Lynch guest house to spend the night. The place was Ok apart from the lobby – cheap worn down look – and there were no handles on windows in our room which were half open. Well the receptionist was kind enough to took my advise to get pliers and we managed to pull-close the windows. Not to forget – the noise! Hounslow is close to Heathrow or actually directly underneath the flypath for domestic plane’s landing so that we were awoken at 6 AM sharp when landings begun. Fortunately at least the flight activity during the night was low.

Departure on Wednesday 21^st July at 7.30 AM towards Heathrow. Took taxi but it took just as long as with the UG – half an hour at a much greater cost – 14 quid. We got to Terminal 1 in time and got boarding passes from the fast bags drop of desk where the queue was shortest. Flown on Boeing 747-400 in economy class. Had seats by the window right behind the wings! Departure was half an hour late, as usual on such flights, but we eventually got rolling and after about 45 seconds on the runway finally clear the ground. Rest went alright. The flight was 10 and a half hours long but passed fairly quickly , thanks to the onboard personal entertainment. This could be even more enjoyable had all the listed radio channels been playing at some movie channels were cutting sound. Movie schedule was lousy i must say – nothing blockbuster style that is worth watching. Comedy clips were Ok although lifted from UK domestic television. Food was edible although the break between the lunch and the final snack was too long with not many refreshing drinks in between – at least not in our section of the cabin. Arrived at LA at 13.20 local time, which is 23.20 CET. Immigration was smooth – a nice Chinese lady gave us visas along with a (out-front) friendly chat. Had to wait a while for the shuttle bus to the Dollar car rentals. After half an hour wait for my turn learned that the Dodge neon is not available (not many of them seem to be in California anyhoo). Between the choice for economy Suzuki Air and Chrysler A300 took the later for a surcharge of 9 dollars per day. The car turns out to be awesome – big , heavy, powerful and typical gas guzzling monster. Looks like Bentley or Rolce Royce with 300 BHP and leader interior. May possibly echange it for a smaller vehicle as gas prices have gone up substantially – from 1.60 to 1.70 USD last year in Cleveland to 2.20 to 2.40 USD per gallon. (in part also due to being in California). Spending first night at Furama hotel near the airport. Found it fairly straightforwardly. Got lunch across the street at Taco bell and found a local supermarket for tomorrows’ breakfast. Now at 7 PM local time (4AM CET) we feel tired but not all that sleepy I was expecting. Decided not to drive aorund much tonight. Possibly an early morning tomorrow and drive around at 5 AM or so.

Thursday, 22^nd July – Los Angeles, Venice Beach, UCLA

After a short and frequently interrupted night we woke up at 4 AM. The plan to go and drive around was ditched as it didn’t light up until 6 AM. We decided to go across the street to Albertsons to buy biscuits for breakfast then at 7AM, I went back tot he Dollar dealership to exchange the car for a smaller and cheaper to run model. The exchange went smoothly and I’ve opted for the compact – Suzuki aerial with plenty of scratches all over the place. Reasoning was that it is better to take this small car for the city drive and later, before heading for the desert, perhaps exchange again in San Diego for a bigger car. At 9 AM we headed towards Venice beach. By taking side roads instead of the 405 freeway the drive was longer but scenic. Got to the beach – large fine sandy beach, like Copacabana or Waikiki beaches. Bought some souvenirs there as they turned out to be cheap. At about 10.30 headed along sunset boulevard to get to the UCLA. Well with no detailed maps on hand (they were in the back of the car in the luggage) we headed in the wrong way along the sunset boulevard and got well into the Hollywood before turning back for the ucla. On the way cruised around Beverly Hills and Bell Air. Lots of space and expensive property around with a heavy car in front of every house as a must. Turns out later we were one block to far north – so we missed the famous avenues of Beverly drive and Rodeo drive. Plan to see this later. At the UCLA the parking was metered and very expensive – a dollar for half an hour. Unfortunately our coins didn’t work so we had to use quarters. The UCLA campus is really large – no wander they have internal bus grid to shuttle people about. In the half an hour of available time managed to see a bit of it - saw the merchant store which is huge! Found ticket centre where we purchased discount tickets for Universal studios and Seaworld. Still they were not half prices but did get them at 10 and 15 USD cheaper respectively. At 1300 hours headed back along the sunset boulevard to the metropolitan hotel. In the afternoon spent time walking along the Hollywood boulevard to see the famous sites. Again the size of this stretch of boulevard is much longer then expected. The same may be said for the whole Hollywood – large flat place tucked beneath the hills. What to expect from the Hollywood boulevard – lots of merchant stores and little to see in terms of famous places at least for free. The entrances to places like Ripplies or Guinness book of record or Hollywood wax museums are really tacky. Interior was given a miss – typically the entrance fee to any such place is above 10 USD plus tax. Too expensive. The whole section of the boulevard is lined with stars – about half of them are still available for us! J . The famous names are in front of more renown places – wax museum, Kodak theatre, Man Chinese theatre etc. Highlights were the Kodak theatre plaza with a local band playing and the front yard at the Chinese theatre where each tile was hand signed by stars in tribute to someone. After a couple of miles returned to the hotel at 6.30 PM loaded with souvenirs and much lighter of cash. I bought a battery charger with batteries for 21 USD as I will need it. So far on the two days I did about 350 photos on the original set of batteries. Went for dinner to Danny’s while Nadja had a yogurt from a local store. Plan for tomorrow – see the Hollywood sing close-up and universal studios in the morning.

Friday 23^th July – Universal studios Hollywood

Started off at 5.30 AM with a misty and dull morning. Plan to see the sign was scarped – couldn’t even see the city from the hotel window all morning due to late sunrase and smog!!. Went for a run at 6 AM along sunsetn bulevard and then had breakfast at 7 AM. At anbout 8 AM we took the red line MTA train from Hollywood/western to Universal city and spend the rest of the day at the Universal studios. From the MTA station a pick-up tram comes arund every 15 minutes or so and takes you to the univwersal city. By being there at 9 AM sharp the crowds were realy small, although some larger attractions didn’t start with the shows until later- midday. First thing on the agenda was studio tour – a 45 minute narated tour where you are visked around the sets from well known movies and some special effects are shown to impress the audience. Perhaps it works for under 10s but come-on… so lame and obvious and predictanble. Alright there was one effect from the Mummy set – a spinning tunnel that fulled as both. An interresting thing to see nontheless and a must if you are there already. From there the Shrek 4D was a complete change of scenery – with a prequal at the entrance to the main theatre where the story is conveyed before the main event. Although the story is for children the 4D special effect made it cool for adults as well. 4D includes sense of touch and feel by injecting streems of air onto your neck or lower feet in coordination with the events on the screen. Nice and fun to experience. We headed down to the lower level next to see special effects stage and the Backdraft stage. Special effects – nothing special to us. Nicely told how the effect have been done but this is realy way to old. Backdraft is a stage from the new movie anbout firefighters , fueled by 9-11, again a lot of talk from the producer Ron Howard about the story. The special efects here inlcuded a factory where all the fire is breaking out. Again all our senses were engaged with the visual display, explosions, heat from real fire, and the smell of burning gas. At the end as a surpise the podium we were on partially collapsed pulling us right into the fire. After some 20 min of wait we got on the Jurrasic park – the ride. They put you in a large raft (run on the rail) , six people per row. We set in the second row on the end and got realy nicely wet. Water was sprayed on us all around the tour where they show dinasours in the habitati from the movie – when they get loose and hunt for humans., The storyline is that we (visitors) are suppose to feel like the movie characters by trying to escape from the park. The grandfinale is a 80 feet plunge down a very steep slide into the pool of water. Thrilling for me who haven’t experienced such gravity defying drops before – my stomack was up in my throat., Got nicely wet from the splash as well but enjoyed it. I like this hands on (or better put feel on) experiences, as compared to lesorus sitting in the cinema. The evidence material of our slide raft experience was way too expencive : 20 dollars so we skippet it. Terminator 2 3D was a mixture of real actors and 3D movie. The story is set in the Cyberdine headquarters where we are visitors on their display of new defence technoigoly. During the demonstration terminators come back from the past to pick up John and take him in the future where he finaly distroyes the (central computer). Esential for T2 fans as the introduction to the whole series and the eminent conclusion are eventually shown with this show.

The most entertaining I think was the water world show – where real movie and TV actors reenact the scene from the movie. After somewhat boring half an hour wait we were hearded into the theatre split into sections with green (wet) and silver (dry) seats. And boy this green seats got wet. The theatre was split in three sections and each section had its own animator. His job was to warm up the crowd buy splashing inocent bystandards with hose and buckets of water from our own stand and at the neighbours stand. Very funny and entertaining. Once the show got under way we saw plenty of explosions, stunts on the water scuters and fights and for a finale a plane flying into the poll again soaking the poor souls sitting in the front rows. I’ve taped the most part of the show and took photos in between.

Overal what to thing of Universal Studios and Universal city? Very glitzy and commercialised, fabricated and dummed up, with the main aim to extract lots of money for some entertainment. We were fortunate enough to get a student tickets from the UCLA desk which was 38 dollars. I think the experience is worth the 38 USD , but not the listed regular price of 49 USD. Food and refreshements can be found on every corner at a ridiculously high prices> a bottle of water or any bottled drink for that mater for 2.60 USD + tax. The place to eat is the Oriental express - a Chaniese cousine with 6 set menues in a fast food style. One menu + additional plate of BBQ pork was plenty for both of us at a cost of 12 USD, which inlcudes a medium coke. Cheap compared to other prices at this place. Would I go again: yes if I had time to throw away and could get a ticket for less than 30 USD. For what is shown it is not worth the money, apart from the Water world and Jurrasic park (the final slide). But that can be seen and experiecnes in just about any theme park with a ride. I was also dissapointed with the studio tour – note for future: Sit on the left of the tram ! Everything is on the left and we set in the middle of the very first row behind a glass. Not good for photos as light relfected of the windows. The active studous are all closed sets so you cant go enyvhere near to them. A large portion of the park is dedicated for visitors where the sets from some old movies are displayed. The renown scene on the NY undergroung getting distroyed is in reality so tacky and unconvincing and we didn’t even get wet with all the water splaching aorund. This was dissapointing and threw a bad light on the whole tour. As the saying goes – TV maks everytgnihn look so much more realistic than it is in reality.

After returning we took the car and went north towards in search of the Hollywood sing. Not succesfull thought as many roads were dead ended or we must have missed the one going close enough. Eventually we got stuck on the 101 rush hour trafic and that was that. Did get some nice pictures of the sign from the car though, although not as close up as wished for or with us in the shot.

Left the metropolitan hotel at 8.30 AM towards San Diego. First we saw the Hollywood cemetery and some remarkable tombstones. Next to it on the Melrose Avenue we drove past paramount studios – apart from the main gate nothing much to see. Then along Melrose and Santa Monica Bulevards towards Beverly drive and the famous Rodeo Drive. Not excatly but close to what I have expected., A very wide street lined with just about all famous names in fashion. We were there at 9.30 AM on Saturday so all shops were still closed. As there were no prices in the shop windows we couldn’t check them out. But in all honesty after being around Hoillywood for nearly three days and seeing all the luxury cars and houses and the life style these very few people can afford, I was getting fed up and jellous and I think nadja also had enoiught of it all. It was high time to head out of the city. First we went to the west coast and along the pacific coast to Malibu. Hilly terrain on one side and sea on the other, lined with sandy beaches and loads of cars – swimmers, surfers, etc. Malibu is nothing much – we passed it before really realising what it was. There were several remote haciendas where ritch and famous live their secluded lifes, but otherwise nothing that spectacular. Scenery was very scortched in part form the summer heat and in part from frequent fires. At about noon we finally stopped for a lunch at Nadja’s favourite joint: McDonalds . A note for the future: A full combo meal and an extra burrger is plentifull for both.

Drive towards San Diego was envisaged along coastal route 1 (pacific highway). As it was all going fairly slow comapred to our expectations for the weekend, we sneacked on the 405 in Santa Monica and got a nasty shock: it was jam-packed. So back to Highway 1 along the Manhatan and Rodondo beaches to Long beach. Another new city just like all of them. We did get a close up sneak peak of the Queen Mary 2 ship anckored in the harbor. Seal beach, next town on the route, was much smaller and nothing spectacular, appart from loads of people and very crowded main road. After some search we eventually got back onto the 405 in hope for a rapid journey to San Diego. After all it was already 4 PM, taking as more than 3 hours from Santa monica, with another 70 odd miles still to go. As it turns out 405 was very busy just like in the morning. Close to every larger city on the route the trafic backed right up creating long queues. At least we were crawling slowly. Heard from some guy at the rest station that this freeway ussualy packs up on weekends as LA peopple head south , to san diego and mexico. At 6 PM finnaly got to San Diego city limits and found the Hollyday inn express hotel on la Jolla boulevard. It turns out to be rather a long drive from the Hyatt hotel, which is right next to I-5 freeway. At check-in had probem with the Mastercard, which got declined. Need to chase this up. Fortunately the VISA worked, although it was supposed to be cancelled – Thank you bank of scotland people. La Jolla is at a first glance just another small community. Was expecting glitzy tourist resorts with loads of large and small hotels. What we found were our hotel and Travel lodge (right across the road) and a bunch of other motels. The beach is nice – a mixture of slick rocks and fine sand and it’s a block away. Also have a small swimming pool right in front of our room.

Well today we took it easy. Slept till 7 AM, had breakfast and eventually got out and away by 9.30 like headles chicken – we forgot water, sunglases, sunscrean, etc. The plan was to get down into downtown. First stop were the sunset cliffs whihc in a misty morning did not provide with spectacular views they pormise. Road onwards took us close to Point loma on the west side of Coronado bay where lots of army personel resides. The place is elevated and offers a good view on the active military instalation down in the bay (saw a supply ship and a submarine just being docked). Unmissible here are the white tumbstones in the navy graveyard, where lots and lots of navy personel and their families are burried. Next after some missed turns we eventually got to Albertsons on Washington street where lunch and dinner for both of us was only 8.75 + some supplies from previous days. The road to Balboa park was straigthforward and not all that crowded. Balboa park houses several museums in buildings from late 30’s which were built for panpacific convention and are all in spanish style. The park is free and operates a free tram service from the car park to the main housing complex. Entrance to museums is however for a fee, although we unintentialy sneacked into the Museum of flight. The supposedly original Apollo 9 capsule was there on display. It is a very small craft considering it took three people and is covered with switches and dials. At 2.30 PM we left Balboa park with the plan to see Coronado bridge and island and head back. Well needles to say the navigation got us down (again) and we took the wrong turn. We ended up in Downtown and at the Harbour. "Lady of the sea" pasenger sip was docked and looked from a distance like a floating city (which it is). Nadja was surprised and found it funny to see people draging suitcases onto the ship - a sight reserved for airports. The trafic jams were murder on the harbor drive, but we fought on and eventually drove to and under the Coronado bay bridge. The objective here was to take a photo of the bridge as it curves onto the island, but we couldn’t see those postcard views – they must be seen from the ship I guess. Next the drive over the bridge onto the island was a brease (had luck to find the junction that took us to the bridge in the first attempt). But getting around the island and eventually finding the way back was way more complicated without a map (as ussual for us these days – all our navigation is on very crude maps). Not to mention the traffic jam again – not realy worth mentioning anymore, they are so common in a place like this especially in the high season or rush hour. What to make of Coronado island – looks like a very posh part of San Diego with several lush housing with large driveins and expensive cars – much like Beverly Hills. Heard later that it is just that –BH of SD. On the way back on I-5 I’ve stopped by the Hyatt hotel to pick up my registration vouchers for the meeting and bumpt into Andy and David. At about 6 PM we were back at the hotel and I took a jaccussy for the first time. Although very hot it was pleasign and relaxing for a dozen minutes. A switch to the regular pool was right in place. Had dinner from lunch leftovers and other food in the fridge and at about 8 PM took a walk up the street and down and arund the shores.

After lunch we payed Seaworld a visit. Parking was 7 USD on top of 38 USD for ticketcs for each. Park is one large, but managable, theme park with plenty to do for under 10s. The main exhibit/shows are the Dolphin show and of course Shamu the killer whale. The pools these animals are large and typically consist of 5 to six deep habitable ponds and one for the shows. The arenas are semicircular with the inner pool wall made of glass such that the animals can be seen under water. The shows are introduced by a moderator for Dolphin show or by a large screen showing higlihts from Shamu’s show. The shows themselves are following the same pattern although the tricks animals perform are not entirely identical. Each show lasted approximately 15 to 20 minutes. We saw dolphin jumps four at a time to open the show and then individually during the show. The famous dolphin/Shamu – human jump is also shown every time as well as the high jump, where the animal jumps rather high from the pool to grap a flag on a poll. The kids in the first ten-twelve rows are well soacked which makes the whole show more so entertaining. The Shamu show is 3x a day while dolphin show was four times a day. There are other animal exhibits – pinguin habitat, shart and manxxx habitats. These animals don’t perform for the public as are mostly orphans being brought up and on display to visitors. Apart from animals they have four rides/theme events. Atlantis ride is the newest and with the longest queues, We waited for about an hour to get well soaked on a 5 minute roler coaster ride. After dark, starting from eight a clock we enjoyed a parody show on the main attraction of the Seaworld where the star of the show is a sea lion. In summer at nine o clock Shamu has a final show of the day with plenty of soaking and some nice jumps. Fireworks and a theme dance – acrobaticts – conclude the day.

What to make of it all? I think it is overrated at 49 USD for a regular admision for what you get, uncless you are very fond of dolphins and other sea animals. Rides are not all that spectacular to merit the expense. A student ticket is about right priced. My feeling of the seaworld and the shows: I felt a bit sorry for the animals to be exploited in such a way for human entertainment and somewhat humiliated. I encourage the training and upbringing of orphant animals but they should be tought to fend for themselves and released in the wild again and not used as entertaining monkeys. Left the show at quarter past ten and after getting lost on the roads (again) got home at eleven.

Final day in San diego. I must say am glad to be going away. The city is just so large it makes car necessary to get anywhere and it is not all that pleasant to drive around in large cities. Roads are marked but often signs are not in sight until it is too late to change the lane due to heavy traffic forcing you to make a detour. It gets particularly entertaining at freeway junctions. The beaches (at least the ones we’ve seen) are either very rocky (cliffs) or with soft sandy beaches but surfing waves. Got in the waves twice Monday and Tuesday. Had lots of fun standing in shallow waters catching the waves. Until the wave caught me– like it happened to Nadja. Her very first encounter with the pacific and before she even got proper in the sea a large wave got here and took her under and tumbling to the shore. Very funny. She had enough of it there and then. Soon after though a similar faight got to me. A wave , must have been about 2 meters, cought me of guard and got me under with a nasty fall. The second wave finished the job giving me enough of pacific’s wrath for now. The hotel was nice with pool on the dorstep and all. Rooms were surprisingly quiet given the location and the type of the hotel in a motel style.

In the afternoon at 13.l00 hours we checked out and after take away lunch headed for Palm springs. That went smoothly first on 52 east and then on I-15 north up and past Escondio. We took a a turn onto a more local roads 79-north up to Hemet and back country proper and then 74 east and 79 north again to finaly get to I-10 and along towards 111 east to Palm springs. The drive was sceninc althoug there is not all that much to see. A very dessilate scenery with rocks and scrubs and busches and not much greenery. That litle bit of it was all irrigated. Near to Palm springs encountered vast fields of wind farms with typicaly three–winged veternice. At the entrance to the Palm springs the visitor centre is a must to get a local map for free and they provide guidelines to find your hotel. 111 east runs throught the downtown of Palm springs which sports lots of shops, boutiques, renown hotels and diners. Prices in gift shops are comparable. Had bought a cap with palm springs sign cause it is needed for the rest of the trip. Was 9.99. Also found pool slippers for 7 Usd. Again another very needy thing. We were here on Thursday evening when they have a fair – with all that constitutes – selling, purchasing, eating, having fun and spending money on unnecessary things. Palm springs is obviously a new city which becomes apparent from a quick glance on the map – all streets are in grid like pattern, which makes places easier to find. The stores and buildings are also very spread appart typicaly with a section with shopping malls and segments of residential housing. Not to forget – IT IS VERY HOT OUT HERE IN THE SEMI DESSERT!!! 112 F was the high today which translates into around low forthies celsius. Haven’t been to such a hot place before. The heat feels like standing next to an open oven or a stove. Even in late aft / evening you can feel the heat radiating from the ground. The place itself looks like an oasis with palms and grass. Most of it being watered regularly.

Left Palms springs for Phoenix today at about 8.30 pm. After an hour of driving reached Joshua tree national park. Do fill up the gas tank before entering as there are no fueling stations in the park. Can't miss the renown Joshua trees - a mixture of a common tree and a cactus. These dominate the western part of the park together with semi desert and interestingly shaped lumps of large boulders. Along the well tarmac ked road there are several well marked exhibits – usually dealing with life in the park at some stage of evolution. A hill view road is well worth a detour. Although it is a dead end road it gives spectacular views on the Indio valley: Mexico on your left, San Andreas fault pass straight in front and mount San Jacinto on the right. Los Angeles and the smog from it is venting in the valley on the far right. Overall impression of the park: alright, interesting new botanic species, scenery is much the same as outside. More or less worth the 10 USD entrance fee. However you do see the Jopshua tree while driving on 62-east from Palm springs – they are scattered along the road. Next we took the road across the park , towards the Cottonwood and I-10. This took quite a while as the roads are very twisty. Once on I-10 at about 11.30 AM, we had 200 miles drive to Phoenix ahead. Rest stop and some food to eat was at Blythe rest station. If heading to Arizona don’t fill up with gas there, it is way so expensive at 2.29 USD. Over in Arizona and at phoenix area we found gas for 1.85 per gallon!! Finally arrived at Phoenix at about 4PM. We took the loop around the city –route 101 – which turned out to be a very long detour since our hotel was in Scottsdale, much closer to the downtown. Checked-in at 5 PM followed by a quick dip in the pool. Next we headed into the downtown proper, towards the airport in search of Dollar rent a car dealership. It turns out there should be one right next to our hotel and one is at the airport, but not on the street with everyone else. Well, we did drove through downtown – skyscrapers and the lot. Spent some time in a nice park dedicated to the victims of WWII – Arizona sunken ship at Pearl harbor.

Left Days Inn in Scottsdalle early at 8.30 AM and headed for Phoenix airport where we exchanged the car for Dodge stratus – a bigger brother of Dodge Neon we had last year. So far so good (Supelment note: awsome car: roomy, good looking, powerfull, , yet with good milage – go for it!). The car is somewhat longer than Suzuki but handles better and gives good millage on a tank of fuel. At about 9.30 we were on I-10 heading east (moreso south) towards Tucson (Tuson). First stop where Old Tucson studions where admission was to high at 12.95 for what we saw. We saw sets where western movies were shot. The sets more or less represent a typical mid 18^th century wild west settlement with a bank, a sherrif, a doctor, a saloon and a town major and other lot. There are theme shows scattered throughout the day. We caught the bank robery show at 12.15, which was in the spirit of the place (tacky) but still entertaining. At 1 PM the train took us around the set although we have seen most of it on foot beforehand. A guided tour into thre southern part of the set, which was destroyed in fire back in 1994, was interesting. The knowledgable guide pointed out all the films that were shot at a particualr sets, how the sets and the studios got to be here so far from hollywood and the like. A must for avid western fans. We had to leave the place at 2PM to see the rest of Tucson area. We drove past the basebal stadium and took some photos from the outside. The next major stop was Pima air force and space museum. Several old aircrafts were on a display there, but unfortunatrely non of those still serving in active duty appart from F14-and B52 and A10s. Non of the aircrafts are open to the public to see the interior or to sit in the cocpit which is a shame realy. The whole place has much more of a feel of walking around an airforce junkard with all the absolete aircrafts. At least they are named with a simple plaque. The highlight was the real S-71 Blackburd U2 spyplane. It certainly is a uhnique and thriving peace of engineering for its time. Again nothing open to the oublic, not even engine inlets and exhoust outlets – those are all covered up on all aircrafts. Couple of B52s where also there – man this planes are big – real flying fortresses as they are known. The admision for the museum is 9.95 USD PP which is again a bit high for what u see but its fair. We spent quite a bit longer there than envisaged at at 5PM headed for Bisofere 2 complex. It was some drive to it only to find that the place closed at 4 PM and that the gates are very remote from the spheres themselves. So we only got a distant glimps of the spheres. We are spending the nigh at the Blue mist motel in Florence which has so far reasonable rooms and a nice pool for 60 USD. It feels got to stay in water in this 40 C heat and after seating / walking all day. All in all the day passed by very quickly. We saw about half of what we would like to see – the place is simply too wast to be everywhere and to spend some quality time at each site.

In the morning we saw Casa Grande national monument, which is one semi demolished mud built building supposedly housing prehistoric habitants. Next we spent a lot of time drivign from Southern Phoenix to the Grand Canyon along the I-10 and I-17 and 79 from Flagstaff. Close to Flagstaff is the Montezuma castle ruins – a settlement in the cliffs high above the ground. Nothing much to see realy – as it is all unaccessible appart from the façade. There are exhibits about the life of the native tribe that resided there and disapeared in 1400 AD. On the northern side of Flagstaff we visited Sunset crater and lava fields. However appart from a scenic view we haven’t seen much up close as the storm with heavy rain drove us away. Eventually we got to the Grand canyon at about 4 PM – we’ve entered the park on the east entrance close to the desert view and watchtower – awe inspiring first glance of this grand monument to mother nature,with all the differently coloured rocks and clif formations and the colorado river down in the distance. Checked in the Bright angel lodge at 6.30 and headed for a short excursion along the Brite angle trail into the canyon to see the sunset from within. Alright although not all that spectacular as some people have it. In part also not because it was cloudy with an intermitent rain all the time. The lodge room is alright, cheap and decent. Not to forget – we opted to buy the annual park pass and not tempt luck with the old one that expired at the end of july anyho. We bought the pass at montezuma castle. It turned out to be a smart choice as at the entrance to the park we were asked for IDs.

At 5.20 AM got up to catch the sunrise over at Yaki point. Cloud cover and incoming rain have spoiled that – only got a short glimpse just as it was coming over the cliffs. The main objective of the morning exercise was a hike along grandview trail. The objective was to get down to the Barryies mine, but half way or so down I got caught in the rainfall and decided to turn back up. Started the hike at 6 am and got down to the turning point at 6.30 or so. Interestingly got back up in about 15 minutes plus some 10 minutes for taking pictures along the way. Comments on the hike: the trails shout be more clearly marked. It would help if distance and elevation markers were posted frequently throught the trail such that hiker know how far has gone and how far is it to the destination and back up again. Although am in decent physical shape I did however feel the thinner air during the ascent - after all we wer 2300 m above sea level. At 9 pm we both went on another short and partial hike on Bright angel trail, which is realy the easiest of them all – the trail is very wide and with lots of mule droppings…. Conversely the grandview trail is much narover with occasional edgy corners and large steps / rocks. Overall allright experience although am dissapointed to have had bad / rainy/ weather all along both days. The stay at Bright angel lodge was comfy. The room is very basic but has its own wash basin and toilet. Communal showers are down the hall. Alright for 55 USD given the location – a few yards from the ledge of the canyon!

At 11 am left Grand canyon and after some drive through Williams got to the Hoover dam at 4 PM. Took a discovery tour which in my opinion is not worth the 10 USD they ask for. On it we heard the history of the dam, the reasons for its built and the economical benefits to the country. Very patriotic and on ocasions boring for foreigners. From the engineering view point we heards lots of lame facts – like the amount of concrete in the dam could pave a highway from NY to SF. Since 9/11 the security is like at the airport and all we see nowdays are generators from a distance, of course. In the past they have let people wonder out at the bottom of the dam.

Arfrived in Las Vegas at about 7 pm and spent lots of time wandering around the Motel 6 complex in search of Roadway inn motel. It turns out it is surrounded by Motel 6 and has only a small sign on the Tropicana avenue. At least it is close to the Southern strip : MGM, which in turn is connected with walkways to NYNY , Excalibur and Luxor. All of these venues are virtualy the same! Each is on the exterior and in the loby to a given theme – luxor is in egypian theme, excalibur is medival casle, etc. but on the inside most are identical: huge casions, with slot machines, poker tables, rulletes, the works basically. All of them are realy huge inside and have exits very poorly marked so be prepared to get lost and wonder about searching for the exit. This policy of unmarked exits is deliberate to keep the punters inside. Buggers!

Wandered about the strip and up to mirage where I had my first (hopefully not the last) win – the jackpot for Vegas – broke even while still enjoyed trills of gambling. On a slot machine of course. Spend the rest of the day at the pool, which was in fact closed and dirty enough to give me herpes. Shit! At sunset retraced the path up the strip to see the glitz of vegas at night. Well there was something to see … animpressive watershow in the huge pool at Belagio where water jets were dancing to the music, and the Sirens of TI show at the Tresure Island. It represents a pirate battle with the sirens vegas stile- with plenty of hip dance and music and pyrotechnics. There are some attempts of battle and nice fire effects. Well at least it was free.

As for wining the jackpot – I had luck. At high noon walked into Mirage for the second time, found my lucky slot machine and won 12 quarters with my single quarter!. All in all havent played much – not nearly to as high amounts like 100 USD I was thinking beforehand. I wanted to leave the vegas with a wining hand – and I did – lost 5 quarters and won 12. Not bad.

Thought on Vegas – very artificial and glitzy cash and girls frenzy place. Everything is just so nonlife like – even the hostesses are all plastic. Casinos are all the same, huge and rather caotic. Well had to see them someday….

Today we had a long drive from Las vegas, through Death valey to the western side of Sierra Nevada mountain range. Death valley is nice as far as deserts go… from Dantes peak you get a good view of the place and the taste of heat yet to come – only 40 C at abouthn 1500 metres. The salt deposits on the bed of the valley are very visible from the peak. As you descend into the valey it gets hot – we only got up to 48 C due to the colder !!!! front above us those days. Still I took several stops and short walks in the desert and it is so sureal … so hot with strong gusty wind and again hot. Especially close to the ground – like after a few minutes felt the heat around my ankles getting unconfortable. How did and do people live and choose to live in there I don’t know… good luck to them! The drive throught the valley is long – around 95 miles which concludes with a climb so make sure you fill up the gas tanks before entering the valley. The price at the bottom of the climb in the valley was an awsome 2.99 !!! which is 50% more than outside the valley! From the valley we had a long and uneventfull – unattractive drive south and towards the sierra nevada range. We took the US 150 which turns out to be shorter on the map but it is a winding mountain road which guzles gas and takes its time. I should have taken the I-14 route which is further south but much straighter and all in all possibly faster and more relaxed. We spend the night at a run down motel in a room for 30 dollars. It was bad to say the least . Looking at some other properties today, 4^th august I see that what you pay is what you get is very much in place. Other motels in the 40 USD range are much the same – perhaps a tad better. A decent motel really must start at 50 USD - anything below that is crap.

Visited sequioa tree national park, Kings Canyon national park and Yosemite ntl park. All in one day so you can imagine how little we gto from them. From Delano, where we spent the night it took as about an hour to the Sequoia park where a very winding and climby road took us inside the park. The annual park pass was very handy and it was checked on both entrances. We were not asked for proof of ID, I suppose as we had a "fresh" pass, bought this month. The giant forest of seqauias is awsome … the sequioia trees are realy tall, thick and just awsome. However they are mostly logs with small branches (krošnje). Seen auto log and the famous tunnel log although

somewhat artificial. Unfortunately didn’t have time for more than a 10 minute walk away from the main road into the forrest. The smell in the forest is much like the burning oil from a motor chain – I don’t think they were sawing anyting though! The park is a national monument where any forrestign activities are prohibited and mother nature takes its course.

Kings canyon along generals highways is nothing much too see… Kings canyon is realy to be explored by hiking and camping in the back country. Left the canyon at 12 PM and it realy took three hours to get up to Yosemite as it said in the guide. The drive up was again a looong winding road which took its time, arriving in the valley at 4 PM. We took the bus from day parking to the visitors centre and from there another bus to the yosemite falls. It turns out later that all these locations are soo close but out of sight that it is a shame and just plane absurd to come to the park and have to take the bus around! The fall was nothing more than a trincle which is not surpising given the drought we saw around here – the lakes / water resevoars are at a low levels. I did a short of the trail hike up the boulders closer to the water. Found a nice lagoon where tasted the water – pure although warm. I suppose due to small voloume it worms up on the rocks. The place is very similar to the Logerska Valley in Slovenia and very inviting for backountry hiking. Since only had an hour and a half in the valley it at the end almost didn’t pay off to come all that way for such a short time. I would much like to do a hike – perhaps an upper yosemite fall hike – but that is way up and takes a full day plus a hiking parter/group.

My recommendation – don’t attempts doing all three parks in a single day!! It is possible as I’ve proven, yet you’ll have little of ot all. After all we don’t go the the national parks just to drive through and slap them on the "have been" belt – the purpose of visit should be to hike out of civilization and get closer with the inner peace of nature. While in my case was like a drive-through visit with dozens of snapshots through the window for to-go. In that respect Yosemite should be better left out and we shoulkd have headed to san francisco. Or on a subsequnt note – San Francisco should have been delayed by a day as it turned out later (below).

Deaprted towards San Francisco. Took the freeway towards the west coast and up the I-280 with a stopover at Stanford univeristy. Campus is much similar to UCLA – huge to say the least. Builings are interestingly in a very mexican style, which was not expected this far up north. Eventually arrived at San Francisco at 2 PM and headed straight to the Golden Gate bridge along US 101. It was half way up in the mist but by the time we drove over and walked half way over it and back to the vista point the mist has cleared, giving us nice photots from the adjacent hill (GGB rec area). Took US-101 southbound over the bridge back into the city and had to pay 5 USD bridge toll! A lot.! Than the fun started – from 4 PM to 5.30 Pm walking up and down thre Lombart street, where most motels are located , looking for a decent room that is worth the price. And boy were we in for a surprise – room that normaly go for 40 USD outside the city were at 75 USD + tax. With a lot of luck we found a room at Presidio Inn hotel for 78 with tax which is still a lot but compared to what others had to offer, a good deal. The hotel manager was very nice and helpful too – I recommend the place. At 6 PM left for the city by bus. It took us some nerves and searching around to find the No 30 bus stop at our street and again later downtown (it is on 3rd street near to market st!). The fare at least is cheap at 1.25 Usd and the buses are interesting in that they run on electricity much like trams. Disembarked the buss at Fishermans warf stations and walked around FW, through the Chinatown to Union square. Be prepared for a substantial walk as the city is huge and bus stops for your line may be difficult to find!. Chinatown is interestign in that really is a little China in Francisco. All street signs were bilingual – in english and chinese. Union square is not exactly what I have expected – a placa where cable cars are turned for one line. It is just a placa with plenty of flowers and siting area. Anyho it took us another hour to find the bus station for No 30 bus to get back up to the Chensut and Price street stop, which was close to our hotel. First impression – not kind at all. The city is jamed with cars, parking slots are difficutl to find . The place is huge making it difficult to navigate by foot, and public transpoirt is not that well marked. Street signs at junctions are also posted on one corner of the junction only, and in some cases on non at all.

Spent the day in San francisco. We had plenty of time as we have seen a lot on Friday and realy were in no hurry. In the morning drove down to the Fishermas warf and parked for a flat rate of 15 USD !! which is a lot but still cheap for SF. I mean the place is crazy – so overcrowded with tourists now in high season, parkings are hard to find, even pay parkings are scarce if you are not an early bird. On the way down we drove through the crookedest street – the Lombard street section. Alright and worth the trip – but do it early in the morning when traffic is low, allowing for stops and photo opportunities. From the parking lot we took the walk up to the Coit tower and got some nice views of the city. Didn’t go up the tower – I’ve seen the city from the air before and it wasn’t worth the 4 USD they charge. On the way stopped over at chinese restaurant in Chinatoiwn for a surpise lunch. We ordered chicken in black mushroom souse and to this day we still don’t know what we really ate. Meat was very od looking and questionably from a chicken – maybe the rat from the basement… J In the afternoon took the boat trip for 10 USD per persion to and under the GG bridge and around the back side of the Alcatraz island. I must recommend these boat tours – the guide told us just enought facts about the city and what we were seeing, was very knowledable concerning the Alcatraz island and for 10 USD is the best deal in town. As the boats are not too large they give the tour a more cosy feeling. There were like 20 odd people on the boat with enought space to move about. The trip was one hour and a bit and we got the cold pacific trade winds in for sure. It doesn’t feel so in the bay but our there on the open it is very !! cold and gusty. The back side of the rock is much more to be seen than what you see from the front (from the land) – there are several building at the back – from laundry and sport facility to the wardens quarters, etc. The tunel famously featured in "the rock" the movie was also visible. Since I culdnt get a boat ride to the island itselt, although I’ve called them 4 days in advance, this trip was the next best thing – as we got realy close to the island. Unfortunately these privateers are not licences to dock there, as blue&gold fleet has monopoly over the place. What kind of capitalism is that ?? and in the birthplace of capitalism!!! AT 4 PM returned ashore all frozen up and gettign into the super heated car was pleasant J . In the late aft we drove up north, away from SF area and found a motel at Palentino for 60 USD. Again for the second night running my MC from Banka Celje packed up again. This is now the third time in the last two weeks and the second night in a row. At least it is happening now and luckily I got my bank of Scotland visa with me. Recommendation – don’t head to the states with only one credit card and don’t get CCs from some secluded god forsaken countries (excluding tropical tax heavens of course). Subsequent note: the credit on the MC was way too low for such a trip.

Overall was not all that impressed by San Francisco - it all started off bad when heard on the phone I can’t visit the Alcatraz island. Than it continued with search for the motel and for bus stops to get somewhere in the place. Herds of tourists getting in the way also didn’t help. The prices are ridiculously inflated and the area is swarmed with tourist. Stay away from the SF in high season – it’s much more comfortable, enjoyable and cheaper to be in Las Vegas or Los Angeles at that time of the year. At least girls are more naturally looking in SF compared to the plastic fantastic LA or LV.

All in all these two and a half weeks have passed by very quickly, we travelled a lot, almost too much. I see now at the end that we wanted to cover too much in the too short time and came out like typical tourists. Take the Yosemite NP as an example – got in and out in less than three hours which is down right ridiculous!. And the irony of it al being that now on Saturday I have a day to spare which I could have spend in Yosemite for example. Otherwise being here now for like a fourth time I am gettign the hang of the American way of living – even got used to have a soda drink in the car’s cup holder all the time! From travelling through three states I found people to be friendly in about all places. Interestingly though and very much more obvious in southern parts, Mexican people don’t seem to be friendly to strangers while black people were realy nice. Whites are so so in the middle, much like in Europe. Traffic and driving around was surprisingly very orderly – people stick to speed limits and other restrictions fairly rigorously Exception being interstates and freeways where speeds do rise up by 10 % over the limits. Another exception being the state of Nevada which is the most lawless state where everything goes. Traffic was chaotic. I liked the southern parts (Arizona – Sonora) with their vastness and isolation. If had opportunity I’d visit Arizona again – got plenty to offer – from southern Sonora desert to northern hills and the canyon. A short hoop away or a 250 mile drive is the Las vegas which is not soo bad after all – when you are winning !!

Travellers: Bostjan and Nadja Bezensek

Written from daily thoughts and observations by Bostjan Bezensek.