So, some people have been requesting a sort of after-trip post.
To be honest, I haven't gotten around to posting anymore simply because I'm lazy and just wanted to relax and kick back for the rest of my vacation.
Getting back into my normal sleeping habbit has proven to be quite a pain, but I'm just about there (at last) and just in time for work (which will start again this coming Monday).
But anyway, in retrospect I really loved the US. If I could, I would probably move there. And while I'm dreaming of that I might just as well wish I could move to San Diego :p Which was my favorite spot and felt like a little bit of heaven. Of course, it helps to have a close friend there as well.
I'm not sure if I ever will, since as soon as I mention it in all seriousness I get nothing but stern looks from (of course) my mom, but also from a few friends who'd rather keep me here. Now, I've always disregarded those things and went on and did my own thing anyway (like when I moved to Wales) but since after this trip I won't have the money for travel for a little while yet I'll still be here for most likely at least a number of years still.
But to get back on the topic of our vacation!
Most of the hotels we had were good/passable. There were a few exceptionally good ones (such as the Radisson Woodlands in Flagstaff or the Marriott in Santa Maria, Shilo Inn in Palm Springs) and some that were less than pleasing (such as, surprisingly, the cleanliness at the Warwick Hotel in San Francisco, though their reception desk service was top notch). All in all, since the hotels were only for sleeping at anyway it didn't matter all too much but still, those little things can really add or subtract from the overall vacation.
Other than that, I was able to get used to the long drives near the end but it's something I can't really compare to here. I hear people in Belgium complaining about a 2h to 2,5h drive to the coast, but that's really nothing anymore now. During our roadtrip I think 2,5h drive was the shortest trip and we only had it that short once on a whole day if I remember right.
On another note, as far as the casino's in Las Vegas are concerned, there really only was one where we received in a less than openhearted/friendly manner and that was the Paris Casino. I do prefer the south end of the Strip over the north end though. The MGM Grand, Excalibur, Bellagio, New York New York, Planet Hollywood (former Aladdin),... were all more on the south end of the Strip and those I really enjoyed. On the north end of the strip there really was only one casino that I really liked and that was the Venetian, the most beautiful of the casino's (in my opinion) on the whole Strip.
And lastly, well, now that we're back home.. Christophe was already back to work the second day after we returned and I haven't really heard anything anymore since (which is pretty much normal outside of work anyway) and it seems that the post cards have finally started arriving as well so our journey has pretty much come to an end at this point.
Whether or not I will ever do a tour of the East Coast and if anyone will join me is still open for the future. Though I still have friends I need to visit in New York, various places in Michigan and other states, but we'll see how it goes in the future. Nothing is certain yet.
Anyway, should anyone want to know anything about any part of our trip that wasn't covered in the blog, feel free to ask or just drop an e-mail or sms or whatever you like :-)
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Day 16: More of San Diego
Our final day of the trip!
Today we went to see the USS Midway in the morning. It was a nice de-commissioned battleship. Nothing really too bad, it was fun to walk through. Christophe took some nice snapshots.
After that we met up with my friend again, drove over to his place... Damn what a big house they live in.. American standards indeed.. Very nice parents, everyone was trying so hard to be such nice hosts!
After changing into swimming gear we collected a cooler box, a frisbee and some other thing (don't really know the name) to throw around and a couple of boogie boards. We left out the surfboards and kayak. They dropped us off at the beach so we could avoid parking, we had some fun tossing the second thing around to each other in the water for a little while before eating some sandwiches on the beach. After that we took the boogie boards and had a lot of fun with those once we figured out how to use them properly and how to glide along the waves with those.
When that was done they came to pick us up and we drove back to their place, changed back into regular gear and I drove us off to the Oldtown district of San Diego where we strolled around, enjoyed some shops, had some icecream, bought a cutlass, more tourist purchases for Christophe as well, had a few drinks,.. We wanted to go see the forgot-its-name-monument since it had a great view but apparently it was closed at 5 and we were already near 7, so a bit too late.. We skipped out on Balboa Park and just sauntered around Oldtown a bit longer before heading back and eating more than generous leftovers of a wonderful meal made by my friend's parents since they had family/friends over for dinner earlier.
And to close the evening we just finished with some games and watching a bit of tv before driving back to the hotel now, packing our bags and getting ready to leave.
It's about 2:15 in the morning now of the 17th and we'll drop the rental car off around 4:30 and catch our flight a couple of hours after that to finally arrive back home a little bit after 8 in the morning on the 18th.
I'm glad I have the rest of the month off to rest because I feel in need of a good rest. All that driving and constant activity without too much sleep is pretty much a killer after a couple of weeks without any real rest.
Anyway, this is the last post for the vacation itself. I might post something afterwards to compare the hotels we visited as well as the casino's in Las Vegas :-)
Today we went to see the USS Midway in the morning. It was a nice de-commissioned battleship. Nothing really too bad, it was fun to walk through. Christophe took some nice snapshots.
After that we met up with my friend again, drove over to his place... Damn what a big house they live in.. American standards indeed.. Very nice parents, everyone was trying so hard to be such nice hosts!
After changing into swimming gear we collected a cooler box, a frisbee and some other thing (don't really know the name) to throw around and a couple of boogie boards. We left out the surfboards and kayak. They dropped us off at the beach so we could avoid parking, we had some fun tossing the second thing around to each other in the water for a little while before eating some sandwiches on the beach. After that we took the boogie boards and had a lot of fun with those once we figured out how to use them properly and how to glide along the waves with those.
When that was done they came to pick us up and we drove back to their place, changed back into regular gear and I drove us off to the Oldtown district of San Diego where we strolled around, enjoyed some shops, had some icecream, bought a cutlass, more tourist purchases for Christophe as well, had a few drinks,.. We wanted to go see the forgot-its-name-monument since it had a great view but apparently it was closed at 5 and we were already near 7, so a bit too late.. We skipped out on Balboa Park and just sauntered around Oldtown a bit longer before heading back and eating more than generous leftovers of a wonderful meal made by my friend's parents since they had family/friends over for dinner earlier.
And to close the evening we just finished with some games and watching a bit of tv before driving back to the hotel now, packing our bags and getting ready to leave.
It's about 2:15 in the morning now of the 17th and we'll drop the rental car off around 4:30 and catch our flight a couple of hours after that to finally arrive back home a little bit after 8 in the morning on the 18th.
I'm glad I have the rest of the month off to rest because I feel in need of a good rest. All that driving and constant activity without too much sleep is pretty much a killer after a couple of weeks without any real rest.
Anyway, this is the last post for the vacation itself. I might post something afterwards to compare the hotels we visited as well as the casino's in Las Vegas :-)
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Day 15: San Diego!
Alright folks.. Getting to the end of the vacation. There's just tomorrow left.
But for what we did today! Drove early out L.A. to San Diego. Good thing we didn't need to go the other way around, a huge traffic jam to get into L.A. with some lanes closed and a pretty bad accident happened while we were watching the other side of traffic..
Anyway, after arriving in San Diego it was too early to check into the hotel yet so we went to Sea World! I didn't bring my camera since I wasn't sure it would withstand the wet so no pictures.. And am I glad I didn't bring my camera! We got absolutely soaked on some rides! In the Shipwreck Cove ride I was sitting in just the wrong (or right, depending on your point of view) place and got literally EVERYTHING the course got throw at us.. From the first few little waves to the waterfall and more.. I was soaked through.
We did have a lot of fun in the park though, it's a very nice place to visit and spend the day. Of course, no visit to Sea World can be without seeing Shamu.. The show with the orca's. We did sit in the soak zone, but unfortunately it was just a bench or two too far off to get really really wet. But the show itself was very nice, the orca's were very well trained and performed amazingly well, it was very nice to watch.
Afterwards we went to the hotel and checked in, waited a few minutes for my friend to come by before heading into town again, walking along the docks and coastline and into the Gaslamp Quarter before eating at a very nice Thai place. We walked around a bit more afterwards before slowly heading back to the hotel.
Tomorrow we'll be visiting the USS Midway before meeting with my friend again and we might head off to the beach with this heatwave here. He'll be bringing some surfboards and other kinds of things for on the beach.
After that we might walk along Balboa park and Oldtown and finish the evening and night with playing some games at his place before flying back home..
But for what we did today! Drove early out L.A. to San Diego. Good thing we didn't need to go the other way around, a huge traffic jam to get into L.A. with some lanes closed and a pretty bad accident happened while we were watching the other side of traffic..
Anyway, after arriving in San Diego it was too early to check into the hotel yet so we went to Sea World! I didn't bring my camera since I wasn't sure it would withstand the wet so no pictures.. And am I glad I didn't bring my camera! We got absolutely soaked on some rides! In the Shipwreck Cove ride I was sitting in just the wrong (or right, depending on your point of view) place and got literally EVERYTHING the course got throw at us.. From the first few little waves to the waterfall and more.. I was soaked through.
We did have a lot of fun in the park though, it's a very nice place to visit and spend the day. Of course, no visit to Sea World can be without seeing Shamu.. The show with the orca's. We did sit in the soak zone, but unfortunately it was just a bench or two too far off to get really really wet. But the show itself was very nice, the orca's were very well trained and performed amazingly well, it was very nice to watch.
Afterwards we went to the hotel and checked in, waited a few minutes for my friend to come by before heading into town again, walking along the docks and coastline and into the Gaslamp Quarter before eating at a very nice Thai place. We walked around a bit more afterwards before slowly heading back to the hotel.
Tomorrow we'll be visiting the USS Midway before meeting with my friend again and we might head off to the beach with this heatwave here. He'll be bringing some surfboards and other kinds of things for on the beach.
After that we might walk along Balboa park and Oldtown and finish the evening and night with playing some games at his place before flying back home..
Friday, September 14, 2012
Day 14: L.A. Re-visited
After a fairly early start from Santa Maria we drove close to about 3 hours towards L.A.
Along the way we drove partially along the Pacific Coast Highway and let me tell you, that's a sight to behold and drive along.. Absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately I couldn't really look a lot or take any pictures as the driver but Christhope snapped a few shots.
After coming close to L.A. traffic hit and we were confronted by a busy L.A. Sadly the GPS didn't quite steer us the right way so we made a little trip around LAX airport before it finally got on the right track again.
After checking into our first hotel again we rested up a bit before heading over to the nearest IMAX theater. In the close neighbourhood I only found two IMAX films available, The Dark Knight Rises and Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. Chris really didn't like Indy and I wasn't into the whole new Batman movies ******** so it was a tough choice and we just decided to go for the closest theater so I didn't have to drive too far and it became Batman in the end.
Now, after the coming of digital film I didn't really find anything special about IMAX anymore. Sure, the screen is 3 times bigger and the picture is probably clearer. And yes the sound was deafening enough to give me a splitting headache at the end. But did it really add that much extra value to the movie? Not really.. True, it was an experience, but I didn't really find anything too special about it. I can just as easily enjoy the regular movie at the regular price.
Just one thing America, salted popcorn is not as good as sugared popcorn :-p
Just 2 days left now.. Tomorrow we're heading to San Diego, finally my last long drive. We'll be visiting Sea World first on Saturday and we'll see what else.
I'll let you know tomorrow!
Along the way we drove partially along the Pacific Coast Highway and let me tell you, that's a sight to behold and drive along.. Absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately I couldn't really look a lot or take any pictures as the driver but Christhope snapped a few shots.
After coming close to L.A. traffic hit and we were confronted by a busy L.A. Sadly the GPS didn't quite steer us the right way so we made a little trip around LAX airport before it finally got on the right track again.
After checking into our first hotel again we rested up a bit before heading over to the nearest IMAX theater. In the close neighbourhood I only found two IMAX films available, The Dark Knight Rises and Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. Chris really didn't like Indy and I wasn't into the whole new Batman movies ******** so it was a tough choice and we just decided to go for the closest theater so I didn't have to drive too far and it became Batman in the end.
Now, after the coming of digital film I didn't really find anything special about IMAX anymore. Sure, the screen is 3 times bigger and the picture is probably clearer. And yes the sound was deafening enough to give me a splitting headache at the end. But did it really add that much extra value to the movie? Not really.. True, it was an experience, but I didn't really find anything too special about it. I can just as easily enjoy the regular movie at the regular price.
Just one thing America, salted popcorn is not as good as sugared popcorn :-p
Just 2 days left now.. Tomorrow we're heading to San Diego, finally my last long drive. We'll be visiting Sea World first on Saturday and we'll see what else.
I'll let you know tomorrow!
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Day 13: Monterey, Carmel and Santa Maria
Cherry's Jubilee Motorsports Festival. Our main attraction of today. I personally don't care anything for cars but it's something Christophe really likes and wanted to do while we were here, since Monterey is his dream town. By the sea, focused on cars and with Pebble Beach also being a big location for cars and of course the Laguna Seca Raceway.
There were a lot of nice looking cars and hotrods of which Christophe all took pictures. We spent a few hours there. I wanted to try the 17 mile drive around Monterey and Carmel but traffic was horrible due to roadwork being done almost everywhere and there were nothing but traffic jams so I decided to skip out on it and just ride to our next destination.
Rode through Carmel for a little bit, home of Clint Eastwood where he has his restaurant as well (a bit too expensive, but nice to look at). After that we rode on to Santa Maria where we didn't really do anything special. I wasn't feeling up to much more since today was another 5-6 hour drive in total so it ended with a nice headache from having to concentrate a lot since leaving San Francisco was almost as bad as entering it. We'll see how L.A. is the second time around and what San Diego will be like.
We were looking to visit Universal Studios in L.A. tomorrow but a ticket is 80 dollars, which is a bit expensive, especially this late in our trip so we're going for an IMAX experience instead, to see what that's like, in L.A.
More about this tomorrow!
There were a lot of nice looking cars and hotrods of which Christophe all took pictures. We spent a few hours there. I wanted to try the 17 mile drive around Monterey and Carmel but traffic was horrible due to roadwork being done almost everywhere and there were nothing but traffic jams so I decided to skip out on it and just ride to our next destination.
Rode through Carmel for a little bit, home of Clint Eastwood where he has his restaurant as well (a bit too expensive, but nice to look at). After that we rode on to Santa Maria where we didn't really do anything special. I wasn't feeling up to much more since today was another 5-6 hour drive in total so it ended with a nice headache from having to concentrate a lot since leaving San Francisco was almost as bad as entering it. We'll see how L.A. is the second time around and what San Diego will be like.
We were looking to visit Universal Studios in L.A. tomorrow but a ticket is 80 dollars, which is a bit expensive, especially this late in our trip so we're going for an IMAX experience instead, to see what that's like, in L.A.
More about this tomorrow!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Day 12: More San Francisco
Alright, so for today, we visited what we left undone yesterday.
Unfortunately we had to miss Alcatraz since it was booked full before we even arrived here so that's a bit of a disappointment. But other than that we went by the crossing of Lombard Street and Hyde Street, so named the crookedest street for it's sharp turns in such a small area, with cars lining up a bit just to ride down it for the fun of it. For pictures of SFO you'll have to wait until I can upload them from Santa Maria tomorrow but this street really is the crookedest...
Other than that we walked along Fisherman's Wharf, as I feared it was the tourist trap I expected it would be, but with little else to do it was a sight to see as any other and it had some nice shops and places to eat and drink. Though the boats were all closed and no tickets were sold to go on them due to repairs and reconstruction and renovation and all that.
After that we went through Little Italy. Not much Italy to see there apart from the Italian flag painted on the street light poles so we didn't stay there for very long.
Last up for today to visit was a more in depth visit of Chinatown, where we went for dinner yesterday with Johan. Too a picture of Chinatown Gate (smaller than I expected) and it's quite big to walk through, about the same size as New York's Chinatown apparently. I saw a very nice dao I wanted to buy (it's a type of Chinese sword, in case you're wondering, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dao_(sword), used in wushu and by the shaolin monks) but to my GREAT dismay it was too large to fit in my suitcase! :-( So I had to leave it behind since using FedEx or the like to ship it would have tripled the price and that's just too much... Really disappointed about that, since it was very nicely done.
After all that walking we rested up a bit at the hotel, went for some dinner at Carls Jr. (on reccomendation of MacKenzie, the hotel clerk, she helped us out a lot) and now we're just spending the evening at the hotel for now, maybe watch a movie or so. We wanted to go to a Best Buy for Christophe's birthday but it was a bit far off to walk and we didn't really wanna take the subway to get there so we'll look for something else sometime.
For tomorrow, visiting Monterey and Carmel before heading on through to Santa Maria. Will be some nice scenic views and for Christophe: Cherry's Jubilee Motorsports Festival.
Oh, by the way, upon entering San Francisco we reached the 3000km mark in our journey. I wonder how much more I'll be able to add on before we finish on the 16th since we still have 3 moderate to quite long drives ahead (San Francisco to Santa Maria to L.A. to San Diego). Anyway, tomorrow at Santa Maria we should have free hotel WiFi again so hopefully I can post some pictures of San Francisco then for you and tell you about what we did while in Monterey and Carmel-by-the-Sea.
Unfortunately we had to miss Alcatraz since it was booked full before we even arrived here so that's a bit of a disappointment. But other than that we went by the crossing of Lombard Street and Hyde Street, so named the crookedest street for it's sharp turns in such a small area, with cars lining up a bit just to ride down it for the fun of it. For pictures of SFO you'll have to wait until I can upload them from Santa Maria tomorrow but this street really is the crookedest...
Other than that we walked along Fisherman's Wharf, as I feared it was the tourist trap I expected it would be, but with little else to do it was a sight to see as any other and it had some nice shops and places to eat and drink. Though the boats were all closed and no tickets were sold to go on them due to repairs and reconstruction and renovation and all that.
After that we went through Little Italy. Not much Italy to see there apart from the Italian flag painted on the street light poles so we didn't stay there for very long.
Last up for today to visit was a more in depth visit of Chinatown, where we went for dinner yesterday with Johan. Too a picture of Chinatown Gate (smaller than I expected) and it's quite big to walk through, about the same size as New York's Chinatown apparently. I saw a very nice dao I wanted to buy (it's a type of Chinese sword, in case you're wondering, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dao_(sword), used in wushu and by the shaolin monks) but to my GREAT dismay it was too large to fit in my suitcase! :-( So I had to leave it behind since using FedEx or the like to ship it would have tripled the price and that's just too much... Really disappointed about that, since it was very nicely done.
After all that walking we rested up a bit at the hotel, went for some dinner at Carls Jr. (on reccomendation of MacKenzie, the hotel clerk, she helped us out a lot) and now we're just spending the evening at the hotel for now, maybe watch a movie or so. We wanted to go to a Best Buy for Christophe's birthday but it was a bit far off to walk and we didn't really wanna take the subway to get there so we'll look for something else sometime.
For tomorrow, visiting Monterey and Carmel before heading on through to Santa Maria. Will be some nice scenic views and for Christophe: Cherry's Jubilee Motorsports Festival.
Oh, by the way, upon entering San Francisco we reached the 3000km mark in our journey. I wonder how much more I'll be able to add on before we finish on the 16th since we still have 3 moderate to quite long drives ahead (San Francisco to Santa Maria to L.A. to San Diego). Anyway, tomorrow at Santa Maria we should have free hotel WiFi again so hopefully I can post some pictures of San Francisco then for you and tell you about what we did while in Monterey and Carmel-by-the-Sea.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Day 11: San Francisco and a surprise visit!
For today's trip: San Francisco!
We drove out of Modesto (very original street names.. Horizontal: 1st Street, 2nd Street, 3rd Street, 4th Street,... Vertical: "A" Street, "B" Street, "C" Street, "D" Street,...) for about 2 hours to get to San Francisco. Strangely enough, instead of taking the direct route through Oakland the GPS had us go through San Jose to get here instead.
With L.A. having been fairly quiet due to Labor Day weekend I got a taste of real city driving in San Francisco. It's a bit stressful since I was used to just driving on mostly empty roads, or when busy roads the route was fairly straightforward so the twisting and turning of San Francisco was quite a surprise and I had to watch out carefully.
After finally finding some parking space (expensive, but every parking space I find here is expensive) near the hotel we checked in and I am surprised to say, for being the most expensive hotel on our trip it is the least well kept one. It's cleaner than some other rooms, but it has a very rundown feel to it.. Again the shower could have used a bottle of Antikal (sorry, can't come up with the English word right now) to get it clean, but it was in pretty bad shape with dents and small damages to the renaissance style cupboards and the top cover on the bed had a few rips (not that we use it anyway) and also the first room with only one bed (the other bed pulling out from the couch).
But anyway, it is San Francisco after all so after we checked in we looked around for a reservation for Alcatraz but to our great dismay, everything was sold out for the days we stay here! :( So no Alcatraz for us... We'll be using the 2 days then to mostly explore the city. I want to post pictures, but sadly I can't as this is the second hotel where we have no free WiFi (they'll charge us 12,95 dollars + tax per day if we want it) so I'm using the computer in the lobby to make this post.
What we explored today.. We visited Union Square. We walked through part of Golden Gate Park, viewed some things, watched a game of Jeu de Boules (which they call Lawn Bowling here), not to be confused with Petanque and walked around the various sights and scenes this large 3 mile by 1 mile park has to offer. After that we headed on with our tour to some other sightseeing places and of course.. The Golden Gate Bridge. I wish I wore more than just a T-shirt, the wind on it was SO freakin' cold, especially compared to the constant heat we've been through. But it was a nice sight to behold.
While we were there I was contacted by Johan! Thomas' (my best friend) father, who by accident (of business) was in San Francisco and we met up for some dinner in Chinatown. We had a very good meal at Danny Ho's with good service. It was very good, authentic (not touristy) Chinese food.
We're not thinking of still taking a late tram ride on the cable car system tonight before we continue our trip tomorrow with visits to Lombard Street, Fisherman's Wharf, more of Chinatown (since we only walked through it to get to the restaurant tonight) and we'll see what else we encounter, maybe Little Italy?
Anyway, I'll try to post on this PC again tomorrow and if not you'll have to wait until we get to Santa Maria on the 13th. And of course, not to forget, tomorrow on the 12th is Christophe's 25th birthday! So we need to look for something special for him.. I'm open to suggestions :-)
We drove out of Modesto (very original street names.. Horizontal: 1st Street, 2nd Street, 3rd Street, 4th Street,... Vertical: "A" Street, "B" Street, "C" Street, "D" Street,...) for about 2 hours to get to San Francisco. Strangely enough, instead of taking the direct route through Oakland the GPS had us go through San Jose to get here instead.
With L.A. having been fairly quiet due to Labor Day weekend I got a taste of real city driving in San Francisco. It's a bit stressful since I was used to just driving on mostly empty roads, or when busy roads the route was fairly straightforward so the twisting and turning of San Francisco was quite a surprise and I had to watch out carefully.
After finally finding some parking space (expensive, but every parking space I find here is expensive) near the hotel we checked in and I am surprised to say, for being the most expensive hotel on our trip it is the least well kept one. It's cleaner than some other rooms, but it has a very rundown feel to it.. Again the shower could have used a bottle of Antikal (sorry, can't come up with the English word right now) to get it clean, but it was in pretty bad shape with dents and small damages to the renaissance style cupboards and the top cover on the bed had a few rips (not that we use it anyway) and also the first room with only one bed (the other bed pulling out from the couch).
But anyway, it is San Francisco after all so after we checked in we looked around for a reservation for Alcatraz but to our great dismay, everything was sold out for the days we stay here! :( So no Alcatraz for us... We'll be using the 2 days then to mostly explore the city. I want to post pictures, but sadly I can't as this is the second hotel where we have no free WiFi (they'll charge us 12,95 dollars + tax per day if we want it) so I'm using the computer in the lobby to make this post.
What we explored today.. We visited Union Square. We walked through part of Golden Gate Park, viewed some things, watched a game of Jeu de Boules (which they call Lawn Bowling here), not to be confused with Petanque and walked around the various sights and scenes this large 3 mile by 1 mile park has to offer. After that we headed on with our tour to some other sightseeing places and of course.. The Golden Gate Bridge. I wish I wore more than just a T-shirt, the wind on it was SO freakin' cold, especially compared to the constant heat we've been through. But it was a nice sight to behold.
While we were there I was contacted by Johan! Thomas' (my best friend) father, who by accident (of business) was in San Francisco and we met up for some dinner in Chinatown. We had a very good meal at Danny Ho's with good service. It was very good, authentic (not touristy) Chinese food.
We're not thinking of still taking a late tram ride on the cable car system tonight before we continue our trip tomorrow with visits to Lombard Street, Fisherman's Wharf, more of Chinatown (since we only walked through it to get to the restaurant tonight) and we'll see what else we encounter, maybe Little Italy?
Anyway, I'll try to post on this PC again tomorrow and if not you'll have to wait until we get to Santa Maria on the 13th. And of course, not to forget, tomorrow on the 12th is Christophe's 25th birthday! So we need to look for something special for him.. I'm open to suggestions :-)
Monday, September 10, 2012
Day 10: Yosemite National Park
On today's menu was.. Yosemite National Park. Definitely the most
beautiful of the National Parks we visited.. Sadly, we didn't have
enough time to really see a lot, since this place is just HUGE. It's as
big as Rhode Island, it's the size of an entire state. To do a lot here
you really need more than one day, especially since it has hikes that
can take up to 6 to 8 hours even for experienced hikers.
Not to mention climbing up the sheer cliff face of El Capitan. A rock climbers dream. It took a little while to drive to the entrace, then another hour to get to the central Visitor Center.
Since we didn't have too much time because I still had another 2,5-3 hour drive ahead of me to Modesto, we couldn't drive to every important point so we took the Valley Floor tour which passed the more important sightseeing points and managed to get a few good pictures.
I don't really know what to say about today, since nothing special really happened other than our visit through Yosemite. But enjoy some of the pictures :-) I wish I could post more shots, but as I'm always driving I unfortunately can't pay too much attention to the scenery and take no pictures of it. Once Christophe makes all of his pictures available I can see what I'm missing every day :-p
Oh, to give you a scope of what we've been through so far, up to today I've driven pretty close to 3000km already in less than 2 weeks and still more is to come..
But enough, enjoy today's pictures :-)
Tomorrow, on to San Francisco!
Not to mention climbing up the sheer cliff face of El Capitan. A rock climbers dream. It took a little while to drive to the entrace, then another hour to get to the central Visitor Center.
Since we didn't have too much time because I still had another 2,5-3 hour drive ahead of me to Modesto, we couldn't drive to every important point so we took the Valley Floor tour which passed the more important sightseeing points and managed to get a few good pictures.
I don't really know what to say about today, since nothing special really happened other than our visit through Yosemite. But enjoy some of the pictures :-) I wish I could post more shots, but as I'm always driving I unfortunately can't pay too much attention to the scenery and take no pictures of it. Once Christophe makes all of his pictures available I can see what I'm missing every day :-p
Oh, to give you a scope of what we've been through so far, up to today I've driven pretty close to 3000km already in less than 2 weeks and still more is to come..
But enough, enjoy today's pictures :-)
It's really hard to see, but you can some rock climbers making it up the wall, next to the shadow of what looks like a champagne glass or golf tee. I personally couldn't really make them out but there is a small dot that's them.
Bridal Veil Falls. It's hard to see, but down that black-ish patch is a small waterfall.
Bridal Veil Falls from another location. If you look closely you can see a rainbow forming. Blue on the bottom going up into green and further until it's red about halfway the waterfall. We were just at the right time to see this, though sadly there wasn't much waterfall so this was one of the better shots I was able to take.
Tomorrow, on to San Francisco!
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Day 9: Death Valley and Sequoia Forest
Loooooong day today.. I had to drive for 8,5 hours straight with just a three 2-minute stops and one 10-minute stop. It was long, especially in Sequoia Forest.. Nothing but steep, short, VERY sharp hairpin and u-turns where you constantly had to step hard on the pedal to even get up or constantly brake to avoid crashing into the rock wall (which started where the road stopped, so had to be careful not to hit it) or going off the edge (same deal as with the rock wall) and into the forest abyss.
But, first things first.. Death Valley National Park. This place was so damn hot.. At one point, Christophe's watch read the temperature as 54 degrees Celsius. We made 2 short stops for photo moments and 1 stop at the Visitor Center. After the first short stop already, barely outside for a few minutes and we were both already parched, sweating and feet cooking in our shoes (my feet really felt as if they were burning, it became unbearable after walking in the sand dunes later). We couldn't wait to get back to the car fast enough and breathe in the airco and drink some water. The wind out there feels like a furnace blasting into your face.. The name Furnace Creek was very appriopriate for the Visitor Center. Not to mention the golf course smack in the middle of Death Valley... Yes, there is a golf course in Death Valley. It's called Devil's Golf of course. There is a lot of Devil things in there.. Anyway, driving through it became even more of a hell when we saw a sign that said "Turn off airco for the next 20 miles" (that's 32 km) and the next parts brought us from below sea-level to up all the way in the mountains, which went slow going uphill. It was hot but quite an experience.
We also saw some dust devils and tumbleweeds. All in all, it was fun to do, for just once... Not again, thank you very much.
Enjoy a few pictures:
After somehow making it out of Death Valley alive (strangely enough, doesn't matter if you're 80 meters below sea level or more than a kilometer above it, in Death Valley the heat always kills) and finally cooling back down with the airco back on, we moved on to Sequoia National Forest for a visit.
Sequoia National Forest... Such steep uphill roads and short turns. You can only crawl up and down those roads and be VERY careful. On one end, steep cliff wall and falling rocks if you're not careful, almost driving against the wall. On the other end, sheer drop down deep into forest as there's no fence or rail to stop you. Small mountain roads, paying a lot of attention and driving very carefully... But beautiful sights though!
Such a long drive eventually, it's really tiring when you haven't eaten anything all day. But it was good. Here's a couple pictures of our Sequoia stops.
We're in Three Rivers (near Visalia) now, and will be visiting Yosemite National Park tomorrow before driving on to Modesto (last stop before San Francisco).
But, first things first.. Death Valley National Park. This place was so damn hot.. At one point, Christophe's watch read the temperature as 54 degrees Celsius. We made 2 short stops for photo moments and 1 stop at the Visitor Center. After the first short stop already, barely outside for a few minutes and we were both already parched, sweating and feet cooking in our shoes (my feet really felt as if they were burning, it became unbearable after walking in the sand dunes later). We couldn't wait to get back to the car fast enough and breathe in the airco and drink some water. The wind out there feels like a furnace blasting into your face.. The name Furnace Creek was very appriopriate for the Visitor Center. Not to mention the golf course smack in the middle of Death Valley... Yes, there is a golf course in Death Valley. It's called Devil's Golf of course. There is a lot of Devil things in there.. Anyway, driving through it became even more of a hell when we saw a sign that said "Turn off airco for the next 20 miles" (that's 32 km) and the next parts brought us from below sea-level to up all the way in the mountains, which went slow going uphill. It was hot but quite an experience.
We also saw some dust devils and tumbleweeds. All in all, it was fun to do, for just once... Not again, thank you very much.
Enjoy a few pictures:
Of course you know by now I don't want just regular pictures. So I had to walk into the desert for a little bit for a better shot. Yes, that little dot in the middle is me having walked into the desert (damn it was hot!). Click on the picture for a larger view.
After somehow making it out of Death Valley alive (strangely enough, doesn't matter if you're 80 meters below sea level or more than a kilometer above it, in Death Valley the heat always kills) and finally cooling back down with the airco back on, we moved on to Sequoia National Forest for a visit.
Sequoia National Forest... Such steep uphill roads and short turns. You can only crawl up and down those roads and be VERY careful. On one end, steep cliff wall and falling rocks if you're not careful, almost driving against the wall. On the other end, sheer drop down deep into forest as there's no fence or rail to stop you. Small mountain roads, paying a lot of attention and driving very carefully... But beautiful sights though!
Such a long drive eventually, it's really tiring when you haven't eaten anything all day. But it was good. Here's a couple pictures of our Sequoia stops.
We're in Three Rivers (near Visalia) now, and will be visiting Yosemite National Park tomorrow before driving on to Modesto (last stop before San Francisco).
Day 8: The last of Las Vegas
Our second night in Las Vegas!
After heading back out onto the strip (even though it was still way too hot, the main reason why Vegas doesn't come to life until nighttime, it's the heat) we looked around some various shops, acting all tourist-y and Christophe got himself a nice t-shirt, zippo lighter and some postcards. This place is good for him to kick his smoking habit though! He had to pay 21 dollar for just 2 small packs of cigarettes and he didn't even really like them :-p If that's not a good incentive to stop smoking, I don't know what is.
Anyway, after visiting a few more casinos and having a few drinks it became dark and the city got crowded again. Working our way through the crowd we made it to the place where our show took place. After getting assigned our VIP seats we had some complimentary drinks and waited to get guided/ushered to our assigned seats; which gave us a great view of the stage!
The show we went to visit wasn't a crazy expensive Cirque de Soleil one but rather one that was so funny I was a bit hoarse from laughing at the end of it and thankfully Christophe enjoyed himself thoroughly as well once all apprehensions were cleared. The show we saw was Marc Savard's Comedy Hypnosis and it was really great. I almost doubted to volunteer as well (since he didn't turn anyone down) but afterwards I was VERY glad that I didn't, after seeing what those people went through... Still though, for us it was incredibly funny to watch and the crowd was laughing all the time. Very much a show to greatly enjoy and have a good time with.
Another late night now and early morning coming up since tomorrow will be a lot of driving.. 7-8 hours of driving through Death Valley with a stop (fairly quickly after 2 hours of driving) to visit Death Valley National Park. This is going to be a tough one, especially since I won't sleep much tonight. I don't sleep much any night here anyway so it doesn't make much difference, just makes it more difficult.
Also, for Thomas: I'm sorry, I tried to find you some Vegas whiskey. It was called Sin City Whiskey, but it's proving very elusive to actually find for buying. I can find the Sin City Beer easily enough, and some bars serve the whiskey, but a place that sells the bottle is hard to find and most bartenders don't know where it comes from either, for some reason. Though apparently it's not that great (one of the Sin City store sellers compared it to motor oil) so I'll just skip out on this for you.
See you all from Three Rivers next, we'll be leaving Las Vegas behind for now.
After heading back out onto the strip (even though it was still way too hot, the main reason why Vegas doesn't come to life until nighttime, it's the heat) we looked around some various shops, acting all tourist-y and Christophe got himself a nice t-shirt, zippo lighter and some postcards. This place is good for him to kick his smoking habit though! He had to pay 21 dollar for just 2 small packs of cigarettes and he didn't even really like them :-p If that's not a good incentive to stop smoking, I don't know what is.
Anyway, after visiting a few more casinos and having a few drinks it became dark and the city got crowded again. Working our way through the crowd we made it to the place where our show took place. After getting assigned our VIP seats we had some complimentary drinks and waited to get guided/ushered to our assigned seats; which gave us a great view of the stage!
The show we went to visit wasn't a crazy expensive Cirque de Soleil one but rather one that was so funny I was a bit hoarse from laughing at the end of it and thankfully Christophe enjoyed himself thoroughly as well once all apprehensions were cleared. The show we saw was Marc Savard's Comedy Hypnosis and it was really great. I almost doubted to volunteer as well (since he didn't turn anyone down) but afterwards I was VERY glad that I didn't, after seeing what those people went through... Still though, for us it was incredibly funny to watch and the crowd was laughing all the time. Very much a show to greatly enjoy and have a good time with.
Another late night now and early morning coming up since tomorrow will be a lot of driving.. 7-8 hours of driving through Death Valley with a stop (fairly quickly after 2 hours of driving) to visit Death Valley National Park. This is going to be a tough one, especially since I won't sleep much tonight. I don't sleep much any night here anyway so it doesn't make much difference, just makes it more difficult.
Also, for Thomas: I'm sorry, I tried to find you some Vegas whiskey. It was called Sin City Whiskey, but it's proving very elusive to actually find for buying. I can find the Sin City Beer easily enough, and some bars serve the whiskey, but a place that sells the bottle is hard to find and most bartenders don't know where it comes from either, for some reason. Though apparently it's not that great (one of the Sin City store sellers compared it to motor oil) so I'll just skip out on this for you.
See you all from Three Rivers next, we'll be leaving Las Vegas behind for now.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Day 8: More of Las Vegas
Another day of Las Vegas. And damn is it hot... A scorching 39-40 degrees Celsius, it's unbearable to walk down the strip right now. After an hour or so you just start sweating and it feels too hot. This is desert heat alright.
Anyway, after sleeping in from our late night escapades we took off to find yesterday's elusive "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas"' sign. It was quite a bit further than we expected so it's a good thing we decided not to try and find it on foot since it was still 2 miles past the last casino on the South End.
Anyway, here we both are, with another icon of Las Vegas :-)
After our short visit to the sign we looked around the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop from History Channel fame. After a bit of driving around we found it, but unfortunately people were lining up until past around the corner outside and we didn't want to wait that long in this unforgiving heat so we might try again later, after peak hours.. Though chances are small of catching any of the main members but we'll see.
We're staying out of the heat a bit for now since we've seen most of the strip and casino's already by now. We'll head back out a bit later for some last souvenir hunting before we go to attend the show.
We'll try not to leave Vegas behind like this once we're done with this town. ;-)
Anyway, after sleeping in from our late night escapades we took off to find yesterday's elusive "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas"' sign. It was quite a bit further than we expected so it's a good thing we decided not to try and find it on foot since it was still 2 miles past the last casino on the South End.
Anyway, here we both are, with another icon of Las Vegas :-)
After our short visit to the sign we looked around the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop from History Channel fame. After a bit of driving around we found it, but unfortunately people were lining up until past around the corner outside and we didn't want to wait that long in this unforgiving heat so we might try again later, after peak hours.. Though chances are small of catching any of the main members but we'll see.
We're staying out of the heat a bit for now since we've seen most of the strip and casino's already by now. We'll head back out a bit later for some last souvenir hunting before we go to attend the show.
We'll try not to leave Vegas behind like this once we're done with this town. ;-)
More of day 7: The Las Vegas Nightlife!
Alright! After the last post about daytime Las Vegas, now it's time to see the real face of this place during nighttime!
The whole strip is lit up with a lot of lights, every casino trying to attract more people than the rest. Also a lot more people are out now than during daytime. I would say that night makes the town alive, but a lot of shops still close at semi-regular hours so while the casino's (and the dozens and dozens of annoying card-slapping strip club/whore/escort services hawkers which really get on your nerves) are active, the rest of the town feels somewhat more dead/normal during the nighttime.
Of course we had to place a few bets... Christophe played slots and did win some, but lost out a bit in the end. I did some slots with him, though I have HORRENDOUS bad luck with those.. After a while I wanted to bet a little bit more as well so I went to play some blackjack.. As expected it went pretty good at first and I played for quite some time (all the while with Christophe watching the skimpy dancing happening on stage behind the blackjack tables) but didn't get any major winnings in the end so just played it out for fun.
Oh, George, you don't know what you're missing.. You would have loved it here ;-)
Anyway, we had a few drinks at the various casino's again, and Christophe took some pictures of nighttime Las Vegas (unfortunately my camera seemed to be acting up and kept giving very blurry pictures, even on Night Portrait and Night Landscape, so no pictures from me this time).
All in all, it was a good, busy, fun, long day. Tomorrow after sleeping in we'll visit the Welcome to Las Vegas sign; sneak in a visit to the famous Gold and Silver Pawn Shop from the show Pawn Stars on the History Channel (and recently on 2BE), tour the strip some more and catch a show in the evening. Did I mention yet we have VIP tickets for the show?
Anyway, time for some sleep in a little while. Another busy day ahead tomorrow.
The whole strip is lit up with a lot of lights, every casino trying to attract more people than the rest. Also a lot more people are out now than during daytime. I would say that night makes the town alive, but a lot of shops still close at semi-regular hours so while the casino's (and the dozens and dozens of annoying card-slapping strip club/whore/escort services hawkers which really get on your nerves) are active, the rest of the town feels somewhat more dead/normal during the nighttime.
Of course we had to place a few bets... Christophe played slots and did win some, but lost out a bit in the end. I did some slots with him, though I have HORRENDOUS bad luck with those.. After a while I wanted to bet a little bit more as well so I went to play some blackjack.. As expected it went pretty good at first and I played for quite some time (all the while with Christophe watching the skimpy dancing happening on stage behind the blackjack tables) but didn't get any major winnings in the end so just played it out for fun.
Oh, George, you don't know what you're missing.. You would have loved it here ;-)
Anyway, we had a few drinks at the various casino's again, and Christophe took some pictures of nighttime Las Vegas (unfortunately my camera seemed to be acting up and kept giving very blurry pictures, even on Night Portrait and Night Landscape, so no pictures from me this time).
All in all, it was a good, busy, fun, long day. Tomorrow after sleeping in we'll visit the Welcome to Las Vegas sign; sneak in a visit to the famous Gold and Silver Pawn Shop from the show Pawn Stars on the History Channel (and recently on 2BE), tour the strip some more and catch a show in the evening. Did I mention yet we have VIP tickets for the show?
Anyway, time for some sleep in a little while. Another busy day ahead tomorrow.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Day 7: Las Vegas !!!
We've arrived in Las Vegas! And what a town it is! It's a burning 38 degrees Celsius hot right now and according to the forecast it will be even hotter tomorrow! Luckily the heat here is drier than in Palm Springs so it's a bit more bearable, albeit still quite hot (it is in a desert after all..).
So, after checking into our hotel we immediately went down to the Strip to check out the fame of Las Vegas.
After the shuttle from the hotel dropped us off near the Bally's we explored the south end of the Strip first.
Sadly the "Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas" sign was a bit too far off (still 2 miles past the last casino and that was already a long walk..) so we'll do that by car tomorrow since the south end one has a parking near it anyway.
So, south end of the strip.. We saw the Bellagio, Paris, Planet Hollywood, Monte Carlo, Hard Rock Cafe (which of course we had to enter for a drink; it's very nice looking and has some big multi touch screens with some cool history on it. Not to mention we were served by, according to the ticket, Papa Awesome.. And he did look like the veteran of the place), New York New York, MGM Grand, Excalibur, Lucor, Tropicana,...
We went for a drink and small gamble in a few of them. We started with the MGM Grand, and Christophe played 1 dollar and immediately on his first try won the money we spent on drinks so far back already. Just 1 pull on the handle and his 1 dollar turned into 20 dollars right away...
The Excalibur looked pretty cool as well, taking the theme even as far as the shows (jousting shows and the like..
After a while and doing a lot of sightseeing around the south end we walked back up and this time started to explore the north end.. There we visited the Ceasar's Palace, Imperial Palace, Mirage, Treasure Island, Venetian and the Palazzo.
Hands down, the Venetian is easily the most beautiful of them all.. Wonderful interior, very authentic looking and at one point both Christophe and I were fooled for a second by the interior as the ceiling was so well painted that it almost looked real if you didn't pay close enough attention. Of course, that only lasts a very short moment, but still the surprise was there.
As far as gambling goes, the north end of the strip definitely seems like the poorer man's casino's where you can bet as low as 30 cents, whereas the south end of the strip starts at 1 or 5 dollars. Nevertheless, of what we tried so far with gambling we like the MGM best.. The Bellagio is very nice looking as well and had a very nice water show along the waterfront in front of the hotel (which stretches out for literally like half a kilometer) and has a nice mood, the MGM just feels better and the Venetian is much more beautiful.
After make some more various stops for drinks and a bit of gambling in trying to recuperate our drinking money (which Christophe is fairly good at, the slots really suit him.. whereas I just kept going bust on every single try.. 20 tries and I didn't get one single win...) we had a little bit to eat and did a brisk walk back to our hotel. We're resting up a little bit now and waiting for dark to settle and the nightlife come to life before heading back to the strip to enjoy the night view.
Oh, we also bought tickets for a show :-)
For now, enjoy some daytime pictures of Las Vegas.
So, after checking into our hotel we immediately went down to the Strip to check out the fame of Las Vegas.
After the shuttle from the hotel dropped us off near the Bally's we explored the south end of the Strip first.
Sadly the "Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas" sign was a bit too far off (still 2 miles past the last casino and that was already a long walk..) so we'll do that by car tomorrow since the south end one has a parking near it anyway.
So, south end of the strip.. We saw the Bellagio, Paris, Planet Hollywood, Monte Carlo, Hard Rock Cafe (which of course we had to enter for a drink; it's very nice looking and has some big multi touch screens with some cool history on it. Not to mention we were served by, according to the ticket, Papa Awesome.. And he did look like the veteran of the place), New York New York, MGM Grand, Excalibur, Lucor, Tropicana,...
We went for a drink and small gamble in a few of them. We started with the MGM Grand, and Christophe played 1 dollar and immediately on his first try won the money we spent on drinks so far back already. Just 1 pull on the handle and his 1 dollar turned into 20 dollars right away...
The Excalibur looked pretty cool as well, taking the theme even as far as the shows (jousting shows and the like..
After a while and doing a lot of sightseeing around the south end we walked back up and this time started to explore the north end.. There we visited the Ceasar's Palace, Imperial Palace, Mirage, Treasure Island, Venetian and the Palazzo.
Hands down, the Venetian is easily the most beautiful of them all.. Wonderful interior, very authentic looking and at one point both Christophe and I were fooled for a second by the interior as the ceiling was so well painted that it almost looked real if you didn't pay close enough attention. Of course, that only lasts a very short moment, but still the surprise was there.
As far as gambling goes, the north end of the strip definitely seems like the poorer man's casino's where you can bet as low as 30 cents, whereas the south end of the strip starts at 1 or 5 dollars. Nevertheless, of what we tried so far with gambling we like the MGM best.. The Bellagio is very nice looking as well and had a very nice water show along the waterfront in front of the hotel (which stretches out for literally like half a kilometer) and has a nice mood, the MGM just feels better and the Venetian is much more beautiful.
After make some more various stops for drinks and a bit of gambling in trying to recuperate our drinking money (which Christophe is fairly good at, the slots really suit him.. whereas I just kept going bust on every single try.. 20 tries and I didn't get one single win...) we had a little bit to eat and did a brisk walk back to our hotel. We're resting up a little bit now and waiting for dark to settle and the nightlife come to life before heading back to the strip to enjoy the night view.
Oh, we also bought tickets for a show :-)
For now, enjoy some daytime pictures of Las Vegas.
It's Siegfried and Roy!
It may not look like it in the picture, but when you first enter this hall, the sky can really have you fooled..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)