Newsletter 1 – April 2013

Newsletter 1 – April 2013

Our return to North America.

So we arrived safely after five movies, two meals and a nap. However due to staffing cuts the lines through immigration, (fingerprints count these days) took nearly two hours. We felt like walking zombies at 10.30 am when my head was telling me it was really 3.30 am. Picked up the hire car and looked for the hotel we stayed in last year – you could walk to Disneyland. An early dinner and we hit the sack before it got dark.

Well, the light switches still flick upwards to turn on, the water in the sink goes anticlockwise, the ground floor is the first floor, the temperatures are in Fahrenheit, the road speed signs in MPH and they are still driving on the RHS of the road, but we very quickly coped with all that and as it was drizzling – not a good day to go to the California Park – we headed south.

Followed the coast - a pretty trip. We stopped at an info site at Oceanside for maps etc 

Oceanside - Beachfront

 and the lady there suggested we stay in her town 

Oceanside Marina Suites

and the following day to catch the train to San Diego for $5.50 each, which we did. 

San Diego Train

The weather improved over the day and we really enjoyed the city tram tour.

Old Town Trolley - San Diego

We visited the Balboa Park, sight of the 1915/16 Expo (commemorating the opening of the Panama Canal) and the 1935/36 Expo (held to boost the local economy during the depression,) and named after the first European to see the Pacific Ocean.)

Spanish Renaissance style buildings in Balboa Park

Many of the original buildings (they were never intended to last,) have been saved and rebuilt, and now house museums, theatres, restaurants and shops. 

Gardens in Balboa Park

The gardens and trees are a delight 

Balboa Park Conservatory

and we enjoyed a ranger’s tour of over an hour. 

Inside the conservatory

The Timken Museum was funded by the industrialist who invented roller bearings. It houses the three Putman sisters collection of European masters and Russian icons. Just wonderful!

Timkin Museum of Art

The USS Midway has been mothballed to the harbour wharves and is manned by volunteers from the services. 

Welcome Aboard

It has a deck space of about four acres – or eight house blocks, 

Deck of USS Midway

and has numerous planes on the deck as exhibits. 

The Launcher

From the deck we could see the "Nurse and the Sailor"

Unconditional Surrender

San Diego offers a lot for tourists, 

San Diego Harbour Bridge

including wonderful weather (in 150 yrs it has never rained on Independence Day). We really enjoyed the city and the Coronado Island over this bridge.

Hotel Del Coronado

A typical home on Coronado Island

Sea World was better than we expected with killer whales, 

Sharmu the Killer Whale

Sea Lions Show

Goodbye from the Dolphins

sea lions, dolphins and domestic animal shows. 

Cat on a wire

We saw skipping dogs, ladder climbing cats, 

Trained kangaroos

kangaroos and pigs that can roll down blinds. We also visited "The Arctic" exhibition to see the polar bear - in case we don't see one in Alaska.

Polar Bear

Flamingos at Sea World

There were some rides but the”$5 drying out cabins” convinced us there were more fun things to do other than getting wet.

View of Sea World from the tower

Palm Springs in the Sonoran Desert has a huge range of mountains behind the city. We took the revolving cable car to the San Jacinto Mt National Park (10,000ft) 

On the cable car with Palm Springs below

and went for refreshing walks to lookouts through the tall Pinion Pines and Jeffrey Trees.

Walking through the Pinion Pines - San Jacinto Mt National Park

The last of the snow wasn’t too far away. Thursday nights are the Palm Canyon Drive markets – four blocks.

Palm Canyon Drive Palm Springs

Beautiful strawberries - with samples

"Dress your doggie" stall - an outfit for every day

Another oversized statue- this one of Marilyn, was prominent in the park.

Marilyn and Jen

So cross country now, past wind farms, 

Over 600MW of wind turbines of every size

more big hills and went into the flowering Joshua Tree N P. 

Joshua tree NP just outside of Palm Springs

A walk into Hidden Valley was like being in a “western” - a narrow pass opened out into a small valley surrounded by high rocks. Just the right place for rustlers.

Hidden Valley

More passes through more desert to Needles on Route 66. 

Needles California

We asked the girl on the desk about the name. She was not sure but it could have been the “spikey” range of mountains to the south.

Next morning a quick trip to Havasu City on the Colorado River, a “young” town founded in 1963 by Robert McCullough of “chain saw” fame. He bought up the land north of the Parker Dam, where a huge lake formed, 

Lake Havasu City with London Bridge and a couple of nice runabouts

and being able to supply water – the only thing the desert lacks- many  people  from Chicago moved there when he offered sunshine,  land and a job.

Lake Havasu

Easy care front lawns

To impress the tourists he bought London Bridge in 1968 for $2.5K when, due to its sinking slowly into the Thames it was offered for sale.

Old London Bridge

And so to Las Vegas to check out the van. Looked good except the battery was flat. So booked it in for a service, and to fill in the four days we extended the car hire and took a trip to North Nevada.

Cactus flowers

Cactus flowers

We didn’t get very far that day just made it to Beatty – a real wild west cowboy town, originally settled because of mining in the area.

A good reason not to go off the road

The only wildlife we saw was a truck carrying metal horses 

Metal horses

and Indians, for artistic structures at motorway intersections. 

Welded warrior

In the morning we visited the ghost town of Rhyolite. It once boasted 10,000 people, a three storey office building, 

Rhyolite ghost town

opera house, hotels, school, and three railroads etc in the early 1900’s but soon after the boom came the bust when the mines proved unprofitable.

"The Last Supper" at Rhyolite

Now some great outdoor artworks and ruins are the only things there.

Ghost rider

Virginia City is “near the site” of the fictitious Ponderosa Ranch on the TV Western, Bonanza.

Virginia City street scene - note the fancy drainage from the upper floors

As such, the show's characters made regular visits to the town. BUT, the Virginia City depicted in Bonanza was really a "set" in Hollywood. 

Virginia City wooden sidewalk

Still the town, located on the side of a hill, lives in a time warp. 

Bucket of Blood Saloon Virginia City

The Bucket of Blood Saloon, the shops, hotels, gaming houses and museums in C Street have wooden sidewalks, big wooden doors and pretty lead light windows.

Silver Queen and "Duke" 3261 silver dollars

There are some lovely mansions built originally by the mine owners back in 1850/60’s when this area had the largest silver lode found, 

Savage Mansion 1861

a four storey school 

The Fourth Ward School

and an opera house.

Virginia City Opera House

We were convinced to stay in Virginia City, when, while chatting to a classy cowboy at the saloon bar and telling him we were looking for accommodation, he offered us a good discount at his motel – it was nice.

Reno Nevada

Onto Reno the next morning and the Sierra Nevada Mountains all came into view.

Sierra Nevada Mountains

Spring is late here or perhaps winter has lingered, with a snow fall along the mountains last week. So the mornings are crisp and the days are 15-25C. Checked out the Reno Casinos, did the Truckee River walk 

Truckee River at Reno

and took photos of the City Arch. 

The original arch at Reno

But the best thing we will remember Reno for, is the little shop that sold Gourmet Pot Pies.  www.z-pie.com  We bought a steak cabernet and rosemary lamb and were not disappointed.

Then came the scenic part of the trip, up over the mountains to Mt Rose Ski Area (8500 ft) 

Mt Rose ski area at the end of the season

and onto Lake Tahoe in brilliant sunshine. 

Lake Tahoe

Garry would keep stopping at all the “overlooks” to take photos as we drove down the east side of the lake - brilliant blue clear still water.

Lake Tahoe

We were so lucky to be doing this trip when snow still covered the peaks. It made the side trip into June Lake (where we saw a coyote), so pretty.

June Lake ranch

June Lake

Ski Lodge opportunity - suit the handyman

Most of the road trip was 6000-8000 ft. With all the photo stops we only made it to Bridgeport for the overnight stay.

A busy day in Bridgeport Ca.

We were welcomed by an Aussie flag outside our room, 

It just happened that the guy gave us the room with our flag out front

so we sat in the late afternoon sun and watched it set over the snow tipped mountains. Someone had to be here.

Bridgeport Court House

The Tioga entrance into Yosemite is closed until the end of May as the pass is over 10,000ft. 

The closest we got to a golf course for a long time

We wondered what the skiing would be like at Mammoth Lake. It’s a city with thousands of ski lodges.

One of the Mammoth Lakes

 

And so into Death Valley from Lone Pine. Couldn’t believe the land 100 miles east was so bare. 

Death Valley inflow

Sandy base scattered with rocks and an occasional low sage bush.  In many places you could imagine rushing rivers, and even glaciers forming wide flows. It’s all left as if the water just dried up recently. 

Bottom of the Valley

The volcanic activity is also visible. There are areas of lava flows, black and brittle, and sandy outcrops that look as if they’ve been sprinkled with a crumble topping (rocks of varying sizes).  Huge uplifts from earthquakes, show colourful strata and folds of the rocks. 

Bottom of the valley - 245 ft below sea level

Then a series of valleys and passes to go up and over until you get to the salty Death Valley that is 250ft below sea level, near Furnace Creek. No wonder our ears were popping.

A hot place on a warm day

Furnace Creek Lodge - for those who want to get away from it all

The lack of vegetation shows all these geological phenomenon, and in the afternoon sun colours range from milk chocolate, honey brown and Kimberley red, to black, and every shade in between. The wind has formed the Mesquite Sand Dunes below Stovepipe Wells Village and in the valley, there are salty flats.

Mesquite Dunes - Death Valley

After four hours of travelling east through the national park, the Pahrump exit showed a little green and some wildflowers. We travelled down what we thought looked like an ancient glacial flow. 

Heading into the valley

Down, down, down we went for about 7 miles in a straight line from 5000 ft to 1650ft averaging about 6% gradient. We were rather glad that we weren’t coming up in the RV for that distance looking into the sun. A short stop to check out the site of the movie "Zabriskie Point" (1970).

Zabriskie Point

Back in Vegas to have the RV serviced, a new tyre, AC replaced and new batteries. All done, and now travelling across Arizona, New Mexico to Texas just north of the Mexican border to catch up with friends in San Antonio and Housten, to  re-register the van before heading north to Alaska.