Oct 2006

From Flagstaff we took the old Route 66 through to Kingman where we stayed one night (nothing going on there on a sunday) and then on to Las Vegas.

We arrived late afternoon at the Stratosphere, our home for the next 5 nights. The place is big. Downstairs is all flashing lights of the slots, every corner is taken up by some sort of gambling opportunity, it's madness!

We ate early dinner and then went down the strip for a walk. It's longer than it looks and it took us about an hour to get down to the Ballagio where we planned to go for birthday (mine) drinks. Unfortunately all the bars in there were closed for private functions so we went across the road for a margherita and to crowd watch. We got a bit more than we bargained for when this massive SUV hit a van, slid across the road straight into a palm tree which crashed down on top of the car. Luckily nobody was hurt, only the tree.

The rest of the week we did what everyone does in Vegas, ate, drank and gambled (I lost all of $5 and Laura won $20!).

Laura Says:
Petty values in Vegas terms, we know, but you can't win much when you've nothing to gamble with in the beginging.

We drank in Coyote Ugly and the Big Apple in New York New york. We had a posh birthday meal in Tao in the Venetian (the same night Britney Spears came in but we'd left by then!).

Laura Says:
Coyote Ugly night was great. We managed to make friends with a guy from Ohio who bought us drinks for the rest of the night (shame we didn't meet him earlier, we'd already spent about $30). We left the New York New York hotel about 5.00am & managed to get lost in our own hotel lobby trying to find the elevators - no, not cause we were drunk, because it's sooooo big!
Managing to stay up till 5am drinking also gave J9 the perfect opportunity to contact all those loved ones that she thought had forgotten her birthday on the Monday "to discuss"!

We saw all the free hotel displays including the Fountains at the Bellagio (impressive), the earthquake at the Mirage (rubbish) and the pirates show at Treausre Island (pretty good).

We had a blackjack lesson at the Hilton but we were still to scared to actually play with real money.

We ate all you could eat buffets at the Monte Carlo and Stardust and stole as much as we could for breakfast the next day!!

We also did a horse ride in the desert which was a bit rubbish. I think my horse was about 80 as it kept tripping up the whole way.

We rode the roller coaster at the New York New York and the Xtream at the top of the Stratosphere - you are already 800ft up and you sit at the bottom of the tower and get shot up into the air at 70mph and then drop back down again. 3 times. It was good!

Laura Says:
To give you idea of the speed of the roller coaster at NY NY - when I got off my hair was straight!!

So that was Vegas.

We went back to LA and dropped the car off which was a bit disappointing!! Then we caught the greyhound back to San Fran and chilled there for a few days. We had a night out where a very dull swiss guy bought us our drinks all night, which is the least he could have done seen as he was so dull.

Laura Says:
My god was he dull. I don't think you realise the sacrifices we make for free drinks!

Then we caught our flight here to Miami. This place is full of beautiful people so Laura and I fit right in. It was about 85 degrees yesterday but today it's raining so I am spending a lot of time here in this internet cafe!!

Laura Says:
Not only are the people round here beautiful they are dead skinny too. People keep staring at my hips like I'm some sort of freak

So, that's it for the USA for now.

Next stop, Lima, Peru.

Grand Canyon National Park, a World Heritage Site, encompasses 1,218,375 acres and lies on the Colorado Plateau in northwestern Arizona. The land is semi-arid and consists of raised plateaus and structural basins typical of the southwestern United States. Drainage systems have cut deeply through the rock, forming numerous steep-walled canyons. Forests are found at higher elevations while the lower elevations are comprised of a series of desert basins. The Canyon, incised by the Colorado River, is immense, averaging 4,000 feet deep for its entire 277 miles. It is 6,000 feet deep at its deepest point and 15 miles at its widest

We were picked up by Rob, our guide, at 7am and set off for the Canyon, about an hours drive from Flagstaff. On the way we picked up Letrice, an older lady who was also accompanying us.

We arrived at the Canyon and took some photos as we drove to park the car. It was a lovely sunny day. It had said it would rain but the blue skies gave us confidence.

Rob kitted us all out with all our gear, including rather heavy backpacks and walking sticks. I laughed and said I wouldn't need the sticks but Rob told me that they really help lessen the pressure on your ankles and knees when walking down and aid pull ourself up on the walk back out of the canyon. Really glad I took them!!

The walk down was nice and slow paced as Letrice was a little slower than the rest of us. We stopped numerous times to take picutes - it's a really impressive place, the scenery and colours are amazing and it is sooooo big.

We stopped to have lunch and whilst tucking into our chicken wraps a rather large spider came to join us. Rob informed us it was a tarantula. Then it's mate turned up too and I decided that lunch time was over and moved on!

They were big spiders.

We got to our camp about 3pm and set up our tents. Then Laura and Rob went further down the canyon to collect some water whilst Letrice and I waited at the top for them - it looked too steep for me and it would have taken Letrice about 3 days to climb down and back out!!

It had started to cloud over a little and we did have a few spots of rain which gave the canyon a totally different appearance and resulted in a number of rainbows.

That night, Rob cooked Teriyaki tuna with courgettes and mash potatoes on a small gas fire and we finished off with chocolate pudding. No beans and sausages for us!!

No showers either and only a pit for a toilet which smelled like nothing I've ever smelt before and was surrounded by flies. It was the bush for us then, good job we only needed to pee!

As there's not that much to do in the Canyon after dark we were all in bed by about 9pm. At around 11pm it started to rain and didn't stop.

We were up around 7am for breakfast (choc chip pancakes!) and then we cleared everything up and set off walking about 11am. The rain was still coming down hard and we were all a little achey from the day before so the going was a little slower!

Laura and I made quite good time but unfortunately Letrice was more than a little slow and Rob had to wait for her. We managed to get to a spot where we'd stopped the previous day on the way down. We decided to stay here and wait for Rob so that we could get the car keys off him. We figured it would be warmer here than higher up in the carpark. We waited for just over an hour, getting colder and colder as time passed. When Rob rounded the corner we were absoltutely frozen and soaking wet. We grabbed the car keys and off we went.

The last bit was the worst for me. It was really steep and there were quite a few points where if you stumbled you'd be an obsolute goner. I don't know why I didn't notice this on the way down but it just seemed much higher and steeper climbing back up!

We got to the car, changed into some dry clothes and then sat with the heating on waiting for Rob and Letrice. They emerged about 2 hours later!!!

It was a really good trip. Even the rain didn't spoil it that much!

For the next 2 days we could hardly walk!!

Next stop, Las Vegas!

So, we picked up the car and we were off, almost. As main driver, Laura got to take the wheel first. It didn't start smoothly!! Not having driven an automatic before she didn't know not use both feet on the pedals, there's no clutch on an automatic so your left foot becomes redundant. Using your left foot on the brake and your right foot on the accelerator results in a lot of bunny hopping... It wasn't until after nearly hitting the Porsche behind us and the car hire bloke offering to drive as around the states himself that he mentioned just using the one foot for the brake and accelerator and everything went smoothly. Obviously I should have mentioned this too but was just too excited to be sat in a car to notice!

So, we were off. We took the Pacific Highway up through Malibu, missed the turn to Santa Barbara and nearly ended up in Pasadena. This has nothing to do with my awesome navigation skills I hasten to add, it's just that we didn't have a proper map and the road signs in the states don't mention the nearby cities you want to get to, they only mention roads. So, on a main highway, you'll come across hundreds of signs saying 'Red Rock Boulevard' or 'Ashton Road' without the slightest mention of which town they are in...

Anyway, 8 days later we arrived in Santa Barbara. OK, 4 hours later (only 2 hours longer than it should have taken us!)

We stopped off at the Tourist Office and got a map of the area, found the hostel and then I drove Laura to the doctors again for her poorly ear (deafness). I love driving!

That night we partied with the locals at a bar down the main street and got followed home by a guy from our hostel who was slightly strange to say the least.

Laura Says:
It may seem that the only people we meet on this trip are ALL strange. I would just like to assure you that they're not but it doesn't make such interesting reading to write about the normal, nice people.
That said I wonder if we get a mention in anyone else's blog????

We spent another day in Santa Barbara walking around, Laura saw the sights and I went shopping. Bought 3 CDs for our new car as the radio here is awful. Best of Eurythmics, Keane and Monty Python soundtrack - awesome!!! They were cheap!

Laura Says:
The idea of having a Monthy Python CD in the car doesn't bare thinking about. Can you imagine J9's continuous hysterical laughter whilst driving round America?! Luckily it was The Full Monty CD, so I only had to listen to her rendition of Tom Jones instead.
Normaly I would've just edited the above paragraph for her but seeing as I had to endure complete humiliation at the start of the blog, re: my driving, I thought it best to point out her mistake :-)

The next day we headed for Palm Springs, another 5 hour drive. It gets a little bit hectic when you drive on the city ring roads because the 2 lane highway suddenly changes into a 6 lane highway and nobody her indicates so you have no idea what anyone else is doing until they cut you up.

Palm Springs

As there are no hostels in Palm Springs (far too posh) we opted for Motel 6 which ended up being cheaper than our hostel in Santa Monica. What luxury to have our own room, with TV and a clean private bathroom. And there was a pool outside too, it felt 5 star to us!

Laura says:
You will notice the facilities do not include a kitchen... ho hum, take outs for 3 nights then.

We hung out in PS for 3 days. We went to the Joshua Tree National Park and did a little hike and saw all the smog coming in from LA obscuring the view. We then spent a good couple of hours at the hotpools with all the old people.

The next day we rode the rotating cable car up to the top of Chino Canyon (8,516 ft) and had walk around there and then drove to another park and had a walk around there. Lots of desert here.

And that was Palm Springs.

We drove to Phoenix and spent a night there so didn't see any of it and so won't comment on it. Doesn't look too exciting though.

Then we took the scenic route up to Flagstaff through Prescott, Jerome and Sedona which was stunning.

And then we were in Flagstaff, ready for our Grand Canyon trip.

Venice Beach

So, after a week in the heart of Hollywood, some much needed R&R was called for and we headed for Venice Beach, only to be disappointed again!!

Another place that looks totally different when you see it in the magazines. It's a bit like Blackpool but weirder. And that's all I've got to say about Venice Beach, even the policemen we got chatting to that live there think it's a shit hole. I'll let Laura fill you in.

Laura says:
mmmm, harsh words J9.
I have to admit the real appeal for me, to visit Venice Beach, was the mention of it being home to the infamous 'Muscle Beach' - a kind of outdoor gym where buff men work out - what more reason could a female singleton have to go to a place, I ask ya?
OK so admitedly no one had actually described Muscle Beach like this to me but that was the picture I had in my little dreamy head.
Try aging over tanned leathery looking men in speedos sweating collectively on a Sunday morning...... I know it's not a pretty description but think yourself lucky, you didn't have to see it!

Santa Monica

Only a couple of miles up the road and things vastly improve. The beach is nicer and the loons have dispersed somewhat.

Our first stop was the omellette parlour for a massive breakie and then we had a wander around the area. Lots of nice shops and bars and restaurants that we won't be going in. I like it!

Despite it having a lovely beach, and it being deserted and the sun shining, we haven't actually done any sunbathing. We've been far too active and cultured for that!

We've hired bikes and spent 5 hours riding up and down the beach road. We were promised that it went on for 18 miles but it seems that the nice bike hire man was a little confused because it seemed to stop after about 1.8 miles. We tried in vain to ride around and find a new route but the 4 lane highway was a bit off putting and we didn't have our helmets on so we turned back and headed in the other direction! This time we tried to cycle to Malibu but again, the cycle path runs out just before you get there and turns into a SUV clogged super interstate. Oh well, we still managed to spend about 5 hours cycling around and getting sore buttocks.

The bikes were handed back and we went to play on the original Muscle Beach (the one down the road in Venice is the new sight), swinging on the bars and rings, or in Laura's case, watching me acting about 8 years old whilst she struggled to reach the rings. The little legs don't help.

The next day was Getty museum day. Just up the road but obviously it took us 2 buses and about 3 hours to get there. Again the bus driver was lovely and pointed us in almost the right direction when we got off the bus and it only took us 30 mins to find our way to get the tram to take us to the top of the mountain where the museum is. Nothing is easy here without a car...

Nice museum though.

And that's about it for Santa Monica. Our hostel was nice apart from some shitbag who kept stealing our food, not the brocolli or the grenn beans, but the nice big slice of choccie cake and the cookies. The things that you are really looking forward to eat... I did call them a rude word but this is a family blog so I'll leave our reaction to your imgainations!

I also got into a fight with a girl in our dorm, well almost. She kept putting her suitcase and her 2 other bags by my bed and not her own. I moved them and when she came in and moved them back I politely pointed out that it was blocking the way to my bed and the girl above me and was generally causing a mess and that she had ample space by and under her bed.

She in turn pointed out that she wanted her bed area clear....!!

Interersting.

I got a little cross at this and said that this wasn't possible and to please move her stuff. She ignored me and turned her back. So I grabbed her bags and put them by her bed.

She didn't like this and she told me not to touch her stuff. I said I wouldn't have to if it were not in my way and again pointed out that in a hostel room where there are 8 people, you sometimes have to forego the space that you are used to at home and SHARE. I was quite stern but didn't raise my voise too much.

Her response was to storm out!!!! For the rest of our stay we played a fun game of moving her bags back and forth.

Laura says:
I was very impressed with the way J9 handled the witch, she was very adult & calm about the whole thing....
To add a more interesting twist to the tale, I had actually swapped beds with J9, on arrival, giving her the bottom bunk & I was on the other side of the room on the top bunk. Therefore, when a note was placed on her bed for her to come to reception to discuss the situation it read: 'Laura Pagden, please come to reception as soon as possible', so anything J9 did was under my name anyway!
I din't mind though, the guy on reception had a smirk on his face the whole time, I think he found it pretty amusing.

Luckily we checked out the next day and hired our car, hooray!!

Next stop Santa Barbara

Well, after a lovely time in San Diego we caught the greyhound back up to LA and a cab over to Hollywood where we were staying for a week. The hostel was nice and right between Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard.

The first thing I wanted to see was the walk of fame, where all the stars have their names in stars right along the pavement. Unfortunately it was a little disappointing - the walk of fame section of Hollywood Blvd is full of tacky shops selling tat that no self respecting tourist would buy like maps of the stars homes (yep, got one of those) and plastic Oscar statues (knew there was something I forgot!). There's also an awful lot of kinky lingery shops, selling outfits that only hookers would wear really, or maybe if you were going to a kinky sex party...

Anyway, we took a pic of Tom Jones star for my mum and walked along pointing at random stars asking each other, "Who's he?" and "Who's she?" Not heard of half of them.

Laura says: We were told that neither Al Pacino or Robert Deniro have their names on the Walk Of Fame? Apparently there is a commitee which organise the placement of the names but they require a contribution/payment - How bad is that?! Our cheque's in the post!

We also had a quick look outside the Grauman Theatre where some of the more famouse celebs and have had their hands and feet imprinted in the cement there. Johnny Depp has really big feet....

The next day we spent at Univeral Studios going on all the rides and taking a little look around the studios where they film lots of TV and films. It sorts of spoils it a bit as all the houses are all just fronts and they film loads of different films using the same props and just decorating them a little differently. Interesting though. We did get to drive along Wisteria Lane from Desperate Houswives. Didn't see anyone famous.

The best rides are The Mummy and the haunted house, where there are some actual people dressed up and they chase you around. I had to hold Laura's hand the whole way round and we screamed a lot!

We were also introduced to chilli chees fries, very nice!

Laura says: J9 gets very excitable at these theme parks, it's like spending a day with a toddler. She waved so hard at Spong Bob & Shrek I thought her elbow was elasticated. She even chatted to 'Donkey', from Shrek, & kissed him full on the mouth errrrrggghh.
If we make it to Disney I'm thinking one of those straps you tie to a childs wrists to keep them attached to you.

The next day we spent the WHOLE day on various buses. We couldn't find a decent map for love nor money so we guessed where we thought things would be! Everybody says you need a car to get around America and so far we've been fine and decided that if there are buses around LA then that was the way to go. Unfortunately, LA is huge, so spread out it takes hours to get anywhere, as we soon discovered. It took 2 buses and about 2 hours to get to Rodeo Drive and even when we got off the bus when we were told to, Rodeo Drive was about another 15 min walk away. Although everyone wants to be helpful, no one really knows how to get anywhere when you're walking or taking public transport.

But Rodeo Drive was nice, full of very expensive shops that we couldn't afford to go in, never mind buy anything!!

We then spent another 3 hours getting back to Hollywood via Santa Monica. It was a long day.

Laura says: the whole reason for going to Rodeo Drive was so J9 could live the 'Pretty Woman' experience, I seriously think she beleived she was Julia Roberts for the day. Luckily it was too hot for her wig & thigh high boots that day, so I didn't have to get her out of any awkward street corner situations.

We got back just in time for the hike up to Runyan Canyon to get a good view of LA and the smog and got back for the all you can eat barbie for $3! I did worry that I might see my half cooked burger again sometime during the night but luckily we were fine!

Laura Says: Every hostel, so far, has had a map of the area available but not here, hence it taking so long to get anywhere. I think it's all a huge ploy to get you on their tours: The Runyan Canyon Trek was $6.00 & the Bel Air Tour $7.00 which isn't much money but having to pay to follow someone round the streets seems a little harsh - It's just like doing it yourself (if you had a map) but with Germans.

Hollywood is full of wannabe actors, more so than San Fran, including our Australian guide on the hike. He starts shooting a film in January next year, so we instantly made him our best friend just in case he becomes famous.

The night ended with a few glasses of wine as we watched various new stand up comics try out there material on us. Some where funny, others were not.

The next few days we did the typical Hoolywood things:

We went to a showing of Jay Leno which was pretty good. Ashton Kutcher was on and and someone I've never heard of that is part of the american Office cast.

Laura Says: Again, she was like a child! before the show Jay comes out & chats about what's going to happen through out the filming, as it's live & there are no retakes. Then some people from the audience put their hands up to be chosen to have their picture taken with him, I couldn't believe that the hand that shot up next to me & the "me, me, me" chant was coming from J9?? I had to get her out of Hollywood asap!

That night we went out on the famous Sunset Stip. We got talked into going into The Roxy (apparently the place where a lot of famous bands first perform in LA!) by an old guy who we presumed was promoting the singer currently doing her set. And he promised to buy us drinks! It all went a bit weird from there - we found out he was some sort of mortgage man and he was there with his mate who was also in the money business, and the guy who was producing the singer currently performing.

We got chatting and they asked us what we did back in the UK. As always, we both made it very clear that we had given up our jobs and currently have the status of being unemployed. This did not deter this old chap. He started going on about how we could help to promote this singer in the UK through our jobs!!! Obviously this guy had heard the words "work in TV" only and thought bingo, these girls will make our singer famous in Europe!! After insisting on taking our phone numbers so that we could meet up the next day (we both made a mental note to switch them off) the guys left and me and Laura were left wondering whether we'd just stepped in and out of the twilight zone.

I know he was old, but his selective hearing and his own imagination was truely stretched.

But he did buy us a beer so we fogive him for being strange.

Laura says: However odd the experience may have been, I have to admit liking the sound of this guys translation of my job title, on introduction to his collegue, from Accounts Manager at Eurosport to "This is Laura, she finances film"... How cool

We also did a walk of the stars homes. There are so many of these offered around town and they cost about $50 but we did it with the hostel and it was $7 plus $3 for a bus pass!! You don't really get to see much as all the houses have massive gates and lots of security. We did see Aaron Spellings house as the security guards opened to gates for us so we could have a proper nosey!! It was very nice. We also got to chat to the security guard at the Playboy Mansion but he wouldn't let us in, spoilsport. The whole area of Bel Air and Beverly Hills is so plush, such a difference from Hollywood with all it's homeless peole. You can't really believe that all these magastars live in these $10 million plus houses and yet there are more homeless people in the state of California than there are in any other US state.

Firday night we went to watch our new friend Ashton Kutcher in his film, The Gaurdian and then we went out on the hostel bar crawl. Bit disappointing that all bars in LA close at 2am. We saw a fight in a pizza parlour which rounded the night off nicely!

Next stop, Venice Beach and Santa Monica.