Tag: #california

Joshua Tree National Park

12 March 2018

Today I left the lovely Alarcon family and Rancho Santa Margarita and I drove 460 km almost 290 miles to my next stop. I drove part of this road on the i10 with Dion three years ago and the second time around the scenery was just as captivating.

The terrain changes from grassy mountains, to rock studded hills, to boulders, snow topped mountains, and many wind turbines.

My first stop was at the Joshua Tree National Park which is located between the Colorado and Mojave Deserts.

I spent two (2) hours walking and driving around Hidden Valley

Barker Dam

Skull Rock

and stopped several times to take photos of the rock formations.

The photos just do not do it justice. I haven’t been to Uluru but everyone says the same thing, that you have to be there to really feel the beauty.

There were many people rock climbing and bouldering as this sport is welcome here. Can you see the person on the rock face below? Not abseiling!!

Today I drove through Arizona, California, Nevada and now I am staying in an air bnb in Arizona.

Something I got very excited about today was I drove on Route 66 three (3) times. You can’t drive the whole road because it has been closed off in spots but I will try as many sections as possible on this trip.

I stopped at this gas station “Roys” as it reminded me of those sometimes creepy road stops in movies. It was a little creepy but the man who ran the stop was lovely. He told me he served in the South Pacific with Aussies so was very welcoming.

The photo above is Clark Gable and the story is that he dined there many years ago. Richard Gere also worked at this diner on Route 66 when he was young.

I stopped and refuelled at the second Route 66 gas station

I recently read a pschological thriller called Dead Stop which covers the dangers of railway crossings in the USA as many do not have boom gates or flashing lights.

This crossing had a train waiting while one was passing and I loved the colours of the carriages against the mountain (you will need to zoom in) This crossing did have flashing lights

At one stage while driving from Joshua Tree to Needles (a 2 hour drive) I did have 10 minutes of slight panic as I forgot to download an offline map of where I was going and lost my GPS totally. I was on this pretty remote road which is just desert, straight with occasional signs of life with houses which look abandoned homes and in a worse than some of the poor peoples homes in Brasil. Petrol was getting low and I knew I had enough to the next petrol station for 150 km (100 miles) but not if I had to turn back because I was going the wrong way. I really believe I have an angel who looks after me because just as I was starting to worry, up ahead was a San Bernadino County officer in his pick up truck, on the side of the road and I stopped and asked him “am I going the right way?” that shows how worried I was as he had to say “where are you going?”. Luckily I was going the right way and had plenty of fuel.

When I arrived at my air bnb in Bullhead City Arizona, my hosts told me about the casinos in Laughlin Nevada 20 minutes away. I went there to check the music and I enjoyed a listen to some country and western. I learned that the Las Vegas strip is 1.5 hours from the Laughlin Nevada casino strip and Laughlin is situated on the Colorado River.

You know you are in an NRA US state with these signs.

Brunch Rancho Santa Margarita

11 March 2018

Brunch at the Alarcons is incomparable. From bloody Marys with bacon celery chili and pepper to biscuits and gravy (cooked up by Jack) waffles (made by Rebecca) with cream, chocolate, caramel sauce,strawberries, mimosas (made with Michael’s ratio of champagne to orange juice and he uses the excuse, that he doesn’t drink them so is unsure what the correct amount of champagne is required). I had 2 mimosas which were sufficient for the whole day.

There was a bit of a Commonwealth theme as there were 2 Canadians and 2 Aussies including myself. Greta from Gippsland was lots of fun. It was so funny to hear her strong accent and everyone insisted my accent was exactly like hers. I don’t get it. There is no way I have an accent like a rural Victorian 🙂

The brunch was also to celebrate Michael and Rebecca’s son, Chase’s, three week break from the military.

Other family from Colorado joined the fun as they were in town for the Ellen show. Did you know you have to go in a “lottery” draw to get tickets and people have waited for years.

I will be sad to leave this wonderful family as tomorrow I will be off to Joshuas Tree Park and Needles California. This was my third visit to this family and will not be the last.

Cheers!!

Dancing

10 March 2018

I got my fix for dancing tonight.

Dancing Hilton Irvine

I went on the Meet Ups app to see what was happening around Rancho Santa Margarita. I found the Meet Up group “10 cent dances” @OC Singles dance for the cure fighting cancer at the Hilton Irvine/Orange County.

It was a 20 minute drive and I was concerned the dance would be for young people. I was thrilled that the place felt like a typical Saturday night at either Burwood RSL or Concord RSL, except with different accents :).

I met some lovely people who made me feel very welcome. Although the difference between them and Sydney dancers, the dancing slowed down at 10:00pm. They don’t have the stamina our Sydney people have 🙂

As my friends know, 10:00pm is way too early to stop dancing on a Saturday night so I found another venue at Laguna Beach. Salsa!! Romeo Cucina Italian Restaurant has a DJ from 9:30pm till normally 2:00am but as their daylight saving ended this night, their dancing ended at 1:00am. Much better time to end a Saturday night.

The drive back to Rancho Santa Margarita was a bit scary as there was heavy rain and I am still not totally comfortable with driving on the wrong side of the road, in the dark, with rain, and everyone drives at least 15km over the speed limit.

San Diego Zoo

8 March 2018

I drove down to the zoo from Rancho Santa Margarita. In daylight the roads are so different. Did I count the number of lanes correctly? 15 at one point? I have only had one incident of driving on the wrong side and that was luckily a back street. So long as I have someone in front of me I am fine lol.

This zoo has been on my bucket list for a very long time. I have had many people tell me over the years that it is one of the most beautiful zoos in the world. It is up there with our beautiful Sydney Taronga Zoo, although I may be a little biased. Taronga has one of the most spectacular views.

The most popular animal at the Zoo was the panda. It was the only part of the zoo which had a queue today and both pandas were asleep with their butts facing everyone.

I was impressed with the polar bears, flamingos, giraffes and the resort the gorillas play in.

The zoo has an outback Australia section. Home away from home

San Diego Gaslamp quarter

7 March 2018

After picking up my car, I made arrangements to meet up with Chris and Alex whom I had met on a plane from Honolulu to Sydney a couple of years ago.

Before I met the boys for dinner at the Rustic Root (get your head out the gutter my Aussie friends!!) I parked my car at their place out of downtown and took an Uber to the San Diego Central Library.

I was told to check out the 8th floor which is known as the “poor man’s penthouse”.

It became apparent what this meant. There were many homeless people throughout this beautiful library. As one of the security guards stated “it is a public place and so long as they abide by the libary rules, all are welcome”. Does anyone know of any other library who accepts homeless in this way? If we don’t allow it in Sydney, it should be.

I then went for a walk around the Embarcadero and Harbour and watched the sun set behind a naval ship with helicopters and F18s buzzing around.

The gaslamp quarter has so many restaurants, bars and nightclubs with all types of themes I had trouble understanding how San Diego could sustain so many with a population of 1,400,000. The answer, San Diego has more than 34,000,000 visitors a year.

Chis Alex and I at The Rustic Root rooftop.

This was a very long day for me as I only had 3 hours sleep the night before. I left Alex and Chris at 9:00pm and had my first night time drive alone. The 85 miles (130km) drive took me 1.5 hours and I was very proud of myself 🙂

San Diego by train

7 March 2018.

Today I picked up my hire car from San Diego. Jack and Norma dropped me off at San Juan Capistrano station so I could get the train to San Diego.

What a wonderul trip on the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner train. If my plan wasn’t the road trip, I would seriously think about a trip around USA just on the train. Amtrak is so easy to book online.
https://m.amtrak.com/h5/r/www.amtrak.com/home.html

I had to change my reservation because the traffic getting to the station was heavier than expected and it was easy to modify the ticket without penalty and quickly online. I booked an unreserved seat as I was travelling a week day and not during peak hour and there were plenty of comfortable seats. Cost $USD23 is only a little more expensive than a train trip from Sydney Central Station to the Blue Mountains but the Amtrak train is much more comfortable.

The 1.5 hour trip from San Juan Capistrano to San Diego was so scenic and interesting I would like to do the whole Pacific Surfliner trip from T Luis Obispo.

There is so much to see on the train trip – surfers, beach fishermen, naval ships, helicopters which appeared to be loading supplies onto the ships, landscape which changes from beach, grassy hills, piers, parks, RV sites and houses which get more and more Adobe style as you get closer to the Mexican border. I needed to have a nap and thought the train would be perfect but the scenery is worth foregoing sleep.

I took the train to San Diego Old Town and then an Uber to San Diego Airport Alamo car rental office. A friend recommended I use a broker site https://m.billiger-mietwagen.de as they have the best deals for car rentals worldwide. The earlier you book the better the savings.

I booked and paid for a Mitsubishi Mirage (the smallest vehicle available) on 31 December 2017 and saved $AUD2000. I would have saved another $AUD1000 if I booked 2 weeks earlier. You can cancel the reservation and get a full refund up to 24 hours before the trip.

One problem I had when picking up the vehicle was the sales agent was trying to sell me additional insurance I didn’t need. The car hire includes all insurances as well as the excess. I don’t even need the additional travel insurance to cover this, although this is automatically covered in my Cover 1 travel insurance. You can’t have it removed from the policy.

If I didn’t know this information I could have very easily paid all these extras again. He tried to tell me that he would give me a triple upgrade as the Mitsubishi Mirage didn’t have bluetooth and it was too small a car to hold luggage. He was upsetting me and made me doubt myself but I insisted that I did not need any of the extras he was trying to sell me and I was sure that all new cars have bluetooth now.

When I went to pick up the vehicle upstairs, I advised the manager what I was told and she reassured me I didn’t have to pay anything extra and that I had a choice of cars and I chose a Toyota Camry. There are scammers everywhere.

I have the vehicle for 160 days and need to go to any Alamo office to swap the vehicle each 4000 miles.

I have to admit that I had worked myself up into a panic about driving on my own, on the wrong side of the road, without my navigator, Dion (the last trip I did to the USA included a road trip with Dion where we drove the Interstate 10 from Los Angeles to New Orleans in 28 November 2014 to 20 December 2014 around 3000km or 1900 miles ).

Today I drove out of the airport and just drove for an hour turning right and left geting used to whatever signs possible.

I ended up in a pretty suburb called Mission Hills and decided to have lunch there. It is so difficult to find parking in San Diego that even in this small suburb I parked about 5 blocks from the restaurants. But the walk was worth it. I had Clam Chowder for lunch.

Balboa/Newport/ Rancho Santa Margarita

5 March 2018. Manny dropped me off in Irvine on the way to his work. I had breakfast at iHop (pancakes with lots of butter) and then got a lift to Balboa Pier and Newport Beach.

A drink at the local bar Class of 47

In the afternoon I met up with Rebecca Alarcon and her beautiful family. Carlos Dion and I have always been treated as family by the Alarcons who looked after Carlos when he broke both feet after competing in the Cheerleading world Championships in 2012 in Orlando. This time I get to spend time with Rebecca and Michael at their home in Rancho Santa Margarita with their daughters Jordan and Reece, son Tyler, daughter in law Caitlin, grandson Thatcher and Rebecca’s parents Jack and Norma (aka Morna). Four generations under one roof.

I am once again very spoilt. The spa photo says it all

West Hollywood

Today the Californian sun was out. I strolled around Rainbow Harbour to Long Beach Harbour which is the resting place of the retired RMS Queen Mary. This ship is permanently moored in the harbour and used as an hotel.

Next to this majestic ship passengers were boarding the Carnival Imagination.

Long Beach is getting ready for the Grand Prix in April

Next stop was The Abbey in West Hollywood. Manny and Leo wanted me to experience this famous gay bar and their gogo boys. We had an unexpected surprise that the bar had an Oscars viewing party happening.

My drink for the afternoon was a hot chocolate with Baileys and Frangelico. Yummy.

Of course I couldn’t leave without getting a photo of the gogo boys.

Stopped out the front of Pump for Karen.

Entrance to Elton John’s Oscar party. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a way in.

I can now say I have been on Route 66.

Thank you so much Manny and Leo for showing me so many fun and interesting places. I look forward to when we meet again.

Naples Island

I think I have found where I want to live outside of Australia. I wonder how many times I will say this on my trip?

Today (3 March 2018) I walked down the main shopping strip of Long Beach to Naples Island.

I walked across the bridge over the Rivo Alto Canal into an area of beautiful homes which are built on canals similar to the canals of Venice and Venice Beach.

I went into 2 open homes. A 3 bedroom home off the canal area for $USD1.5M and a 3 bedroom apartment for $USD800,000 with no canal views.

Cute gardens and a house with a USA/Italian flag.

T

I enjoyed an afternoon at Manny and Leo’s friends’ housewarming at Westmont.

Then authentic Mexican food from Tacos El Gallazo diner. Did you know what we have as tacos in Australia are American? Tacos are actuaĺly more like our tortillas but thicker and much more delicious.

Long Beach has a high population of Mexicans. Many of the people I have met are teachers or work in the education system. The majority of the children they work with are from very low socio economic areas (projects in USA – housing commission in Australia). The children in these areas are lucky to have the support of these committed teachers who work in very difficult situations. Not to mention the real threat they all have with gun violence in schools. The schools all have drills they carry out in case of these situations. This includes preschool aged children. The solution the government has to arm teachers does not appear to have much support amongst the people I have met.