Week 19 (Panguitch to Los Angeles)

Well this blog is early as we are flying from Saturday night and arrive in Brisbane on Monday morning.  Still trying to work out how we will get home, but that will sort itself out.

Before leaving Panguitch, we spent another day looking around the Bryce Canyon area and I went for another little walk.  1-2 hours was completed in 30 mins with some stunning views of the Bryce Canyon landscape.

The following day we drove down to Zion National Park.  Having an annual National Park Pass has saved us quite a bit of money.  The trip down was about 1.5 hrs and once we got into the park we took another 2.5 hours stopping at another breathtaking landscape.  I haven’t travelled around Australia, but the USA definitely has some amazing and spectacular landscapes.  When we got to the main gate of Zion there was no parking available and the suggestion was to drive into town and catch the shuttle back.

When we arrived in town there were long queues for the shuttle to get back to Zion so at that stage we decided we had had enough so we would head towards San Diego (500mls/800kms away).  Now remember we had already driven 60mls/100kms.  Off we went deciding to determine how far we would travel when we got to Las Vegas, 160mls/260kms further down the road.  It was no surprise that we drove all the way to San Diego that same day, with most of the driving after lunch. According to Dr Google we travelled over 560mls/900kms in just over 11 hours, with stops for photos around Zion.  The first 60mls/100km took us from 08:30 to midday to complete, with the rest of the drive (500mls/800kms) taking a further 7.5hrs.  That’s an average speed of 67MPH or 107KPH, which is not too bad when you include stopping for lunch, fuel and two driver changes and stuck in a few traffic jams.

The drive down to San Diego wasn’t too bad as we used the I15 most of the way with Google Maps and Apple Maps both agreeing (sort of) on some diversions around accidents and slow traffic on two occasions.  Most of the driving had a speed limit of 70MPH (110KPH), with some up to 80MPH (130KPH), but we were sitting 5MPH over that limit and still holding up much of the traffic.

What amazes me about driving anywhere, including Australia, is the number of people who can’t/don’t use cruise control.  It is so frustrating to pull up beside a car and have them accelerate away from you leaving you stranded in the fast lane.  The other thing is with roadworks when you have to slow down, they continue on with their usual speed, even with the threat of doubled fines in the roadworks area.

As we were stuck in traffic on the I15 in Vegas we decided to book accommodation in San Diego as we had found a place online right near the harbour.  When we arrived, we should have paid more attention to the bad reports about the place.  It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t a place we wanted to end our trip so the next day we found a nice apartment about 200mtrs from the beach.  The only problem with the place was getting the car in the garage.  Both mirrors had to be folded in and we had to pack/unpack before entering the garage.  It’s a really tight squeeze, but it just fits.

On our first night in San Diego we found a really nice and well priced seafood restaurant right across the road from where we were staying called Mitch’s Seafood in the marina.  If you are in San Diego we can recommend this place…if you like seafood, and people, as it is popular.

Once in the apartment we immediately unpacked and did some washing, and then some final grocery shopping.  It was really nice to just sit back and relax for a few days.  We did take in some sights on the last day, but most of the time here was spent out of the car.

Our final day in the US was a drive up to San Bernardino to see another friend and then off to LAX to drop off the hire car.  Unfortunately I contracted some sort of tummy bug which made the trip into LA “interesting”.  We are now relaxing in the lounge before a 13 hour night time flight to Auckland, followed by a four hour flight to Brisbane.

Some of the things we have noticed on our travels in the US are:

Elections for everyone

Everywhere we go there are signs, big billboards and ads for electing people to roles from Janitor to President.  Well not quite Janitor, but it seems like jobs in public office in the US require an election.  Judges, Chief of Police, Supervisor (whatever that is), and so on…

I like the Australian system.

Road noises

The noises you get when driving from the many road surfaces continues to amaze me.  I have given up slowing down when I think I have a mechanical or a flat and instead check the instruments and pick another part of the road to drive on to see if that negates the noise.  There are some roads that seem like a rollercoaster to drive on.  These usually have the sign BUMPS.  You can hold your speed if you are not concerned about getting air under the wheels.  I think we have been close a few times.

NBA Game Anthem

I forgot to mention that before the NBA Finals game we saw the anthem performed by Carlos Santana on guitar with his wife, Cindy Blackman, on drums.  Check it out on YouTube if you haven’t seen it.

Veterans

At least the US does something right.  They have so much respect for their military personal, both current and past serving members.  Everywhere you go they appear to get discounts and special service and attention.  That is something Australia could learn from.

Indicators

The turn indicators on cars in the US are their brake lights flashing which makes it a little confusing at times working out whether they are breaking or turning, or both, or they have turned on their emergency flashers.  The other thing I saw was one taillight not working so when they applied their breaks I thought they were turning.  I like the orange turn indicators in Australia.

Radio Stations

On our travels we have frequently resorted to the local radio to keep us amused, but I am surprised by the number of country and religious stations we find and there are very few who have a news break.

US States

The US States we have visited (some more than once) are:

New Jersey

New York

Pennsylvania

Delaware

Maryland

District of Columbia (technically not a state, but I’m counting it)

Virginia

West Virginia

Ohio

Indiana

Illinois

Wisconsin

Michigan

Ontario (I know it’s Canada, but I will count that as well)

Utah

Washington

Oregon

California

Nevada

Arizona

Well Darlings I am being rushed to finish the blog. So this will be short and sweet.

I have had a great time but it is now time to come home. I am very much looking forward to my bed and my pillow.

Some of the places we have been to, have been absolutely amazing. The number of people we have been to able to see from our Volunteering excursion had been wonderful.  We have met new friends in South Korea, caught up rellies and generally had a wonderful.

Please it I have sounded ungrateful, I’m very sorry.

In our road travels in the US (and Canada) we have driven over 11,000kms (6,800mls) with the longest day being over 900kms (560mls).

Hugs and kisses everyone, take care and catch up on our next adventures

Denise and Peter

xxx

Week 18 (San Francisco to Panguitch)

Well what a night.  The NBA game (game 2 final between Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers) was everything I expected and more.  The only disappointments were the cheering (so boring and tame compared to the EPL), and the blowout score at the end, but there was no way I was leaving early.  The place was electric, and I was amazed to discover that the couple seated beside us were locals and she hadn’t been to an NBA game, while he had only been to one NBA game.  We had accommodation about 1.5kms from the arena, so walked there and back saving parking fees of $40 (ouch!!).  We also saved time sitting in traffic at the end of the game.  My issue was with sitting in the traffic it was everywhere!  And if you ask Peter, he received a bit of a fright, when he had all these ramps and freeways to get on various roads.  Mind boggling!

The referees did OK, but with a few dodgy calls that didn’t impact on the result.  Always the Referee!

I was trying to work out why people were using the term the Dubs, so asked a person instead of Dr Google.  It is short for W.  Sound it out Double U – Dubs.  I on the other hand had two young lads from Ireland, they told me what it meant!  They were hilarious and told me things crowd wise!

On the way back to our accommodation at a set of traffic lights, a policeman stopped the traffic for us and escorted us across.  The only problem was one driver didn’t see him and the policeman yelled at him to stop twice before he stopped.  When we made it across safely, I handed the policeman a game poster we had picked up.  This definitely made him happy again.

Our meal at a nearby pub after the game reminded me of Kiribati.  I had a lump of rice and some green stuff beside my (dry) salmon, while Denise got her beer in a plastic cup.  When Denise said “what no glass” the response was they had run out of clean glasses.  The place was nowhere near full, and in fact only about 15-20% full.  The thing that really annoyed me was having to leave a tip.  Tight!

Before the game we drove from San Francisco to Oakland via many of the steep streets.  We followed the cable car route, and then looked up the steepest street in the city before going to see the home where “Mrs Doubtfire” worked.  On the way over the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge we stopped in at Treasure Island just to see what was there.  We should have just checked Dr Google.

The next day it was off to Yosemite National Park.  What a stunning and amazing place.  This place is compact so you can see it all quickly (not really, just humour him), but to see it properly you need weeks.  We were staying about an hour away, so the following day we set off early.  Denise did the lower falls of Yosemite, while I decided to challenge the top of the Upper Falls.  It was a tough walk, graded as Strenuous (steep and long).. At 11.6 km round-trip; 6 to 8 hours; 1,000m elevation gain, the challenge had been accepted, and after 4 hours I returned totally spent.  Amazingly, I didn’t have any pains the next day.  Must have been the ice cream cone I had as my reward.

On our way to Yosemite, Denise made a great choice of coffee places.  Check out the website for Bottoms Up Coffee.  It is a drive through and when I check it out I was pleasantly surprised.  Great choice Denise.  We can go back there any time.  This is one of those choices that will Haunt me for the rest of my Life.  I was surprised his eyes didn’t fall out of his head.  Very close to a biff in the ear!!!

Drivers here don’t know, or don’t care if they are holding up traffic, particularly on steep windy roads.  When you have signs to say to allow faster traffic to pass and places to pull in to allow this, many just ignore them.

The roads we have driven on create some amazing road noises.  Some sound like you have a mechanical issue or a flat, and one even felt like a theme park ride with all the undulating bumps in it.

We are now on to our second car on this part of the trip after two warning lights came on.  After reporting this to Budget we were going to drive to Las Vegas to replace it, but as we were going through Death Valley in summer, I erred on the side of caution after reading the extreme heat warning.  We took a 200km detour to replace the car (another upgrade from a Passat to a new Chev SUV), and in the process we missed out on the remainder of Yosemite and Mammoth Mountain (ski area).

On our travels we have passed groves of Eucalypt trees.  According to Dr Google, they were introduced during the Gold Rush days.

We have discovered that in the US, Apple Maps is better than Google Maps, but we still use both as we travel to confirm and validate where we are going.  I am surprised at the number of places that have no mobile phone reception, and even more surprised when we do get reception in some out of the way places.  One of the problems with this is as we use our phone for navigation, if we don’t have the full journey, it sometime proves impossible to get the next set of directions.  We haven’t got too lost yet.

I was surprised I didn’t hear from any of you about the Blues win.  I did wake up at 3am (accidentally), but didn’t realise the game was on.  That will have to be a first! (Him not saying anything)

Well I think summer has arrived.  Since the beginning of this week I haven’t touched my long pants, and in fact packed them away in the pile of things I don’t believe I no longer require on this trip (includes ski clothing).  Our first day in Yosemite saw the car displayed the outside air temperature reading at 38c (100f).  With the replacement car it took me until the second day to discover the outside temperature reading.  At one point I put sunscreen on my ear as it was hot and I thought it was in the sun, only to realise that it was the heat from the window.

Death Valley is another amazing place.  I expected flat wasteland, and instead encountered some beautiful colourful scenery.  I think I have said before, that you can have your cities and old buildings, I want to see the sights, and scenery.  The temperature in Death Valley reached 103F (40C) according to the car, but one of the visitors centres was showing 109F.  The drive to Las Vegas was still through some nice country.

The only reason for us going to Las Vegas was to see the Grand Canyon.  Las Vegas is all I thought it would be and more - very tacky.  We had booked an all day trip to the Grand Canyon that departed from our hotel at 05:50, only to have it cancelled the evening before we were due to depart.  Not having too many options we agreed to do a sunset trip, which meant we couldn’t do any shows.  Although disappointed with missing out on our preferred tour, this still proved worthwhile.  We were picked up in a Mercedes limo/bus, and on the way home got the driver to drop us off at the water fountain display (Fountains of Bellagio), which was very underwhelming for what I expected.  It is nothing compared to Dubai but what is the problem!

The flight was great, going over Lake Las Vegas (home to many stars), Lake Mead and Hoover Dam, and finally a small part of the Grand Canyon.  The canyon is over 400km in length so we were never going to see it all.  Our pilot said we saw about 5%.  We actually landed in the canyon and had about 40mins to wander round before heading back to Vegas, via a fuel stop in the middle of the desert.  Apparently we wouldn’t have made it back without that stop.  Flying back in to Vegas was at sunset so we had a great view of the lights.  If it had been just a little bit darker the colours of all the hotels would have been on display.

The thing that got me most about Vegas was the smoking and drinking.  You couldn’t go anywhere without the smell of cigarette smoke (with the exception of the chopper flight), and even when I went out for a walk at 8am, there were many people still drinking in the street, but very little litter on the ground, so they must have a great cleanup crew.

If you hadn’t already guessed, I was glad to get out of Vegas.  The next part of our trip was to see Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks in Utah.  The trip up held another surprise when the highway went through Virgin River Gorge in the NW corner of Arizona.  Another place with spectacular scenery.  The trip up also gave us our fastest speed limit yet at 80MPH which makes getting to places so much quicker.  I suppose it was at the expense of fuel economy, but I enjoyed the drive.

On arrival at our accommodation we decided to check out Bryce Canyon before sunset and discovered Red Canyon on the way.  Once in Bryce we went to the end of the road and called into the places on the way back.  Bryce Canyon is another amazing park.  He is hoping not to have to go back again tomorrow but I have a little surprise for him. Hehehehehe

We are now into our final week and are starting to think about our own house and bed, and no more travelling, but that won’t last too long.

So, it is goodbye from him and tooroo from me

Big hugs and kisses

Denise and the Boy

xxxxxx