American Diary # 19 Los Angeles

June 15th LOS ANGELES An early start from camp - lots more driving. We hit the road and crossed back into California, stopping on the way to see the plants and wildlife at JOSHUA TREE national park. The Mojave and Colorado deserts meet here and offer different ecology, but the highlights are the trees (remember the U2 album) which look like loo brushes on the end of stumpy branches. We took a short hike here to see the animals, but the AP's chattering scared everything away! It was god to get out though. Getting to LA we hit heavy traffic and made straight for the sea. VENICE Beach is known for it's freaks and rollerblading superbabes and body builders. Walking the strip we saw them all! with time to spare some of us took our towels onto the Baywatch beach and enjoyed the pacific ocean (a lot like Bude) before joining the van again and taking a short trip up the coast to Santa Monica. Here we stopped at the BUBBA GUMP restaurant (see the movie Forest Gumo for the scene on Santa Monica Pier)for dinner before eventually arriving at our LAX airport Holiday Inn. Thank the lord for a soft bed and hotel room! It was a good week though. June 16th This morning I dined at a local cafe on muffin and yoghurt with an apple 'to go'. Good to have healthy food again. Then Pia drove us on a site seeing tour of the highlights of LA starting with HOLLYWOOD. Stopping for photos of the famous sign, then onto Hollywood Boulevard for photos at the famous Chinese theatre (where the stars put their feet and hands in the cement). I put my hand into the George Clooney hand print (he was here last week for Oceans 13) and took photos of the rest - best one for me was Star Wars from 1977, including C3P0 and R2D2 footprints! Next door is the OSCARS location inside the KODAK theatre which was nothing more than something to take a picture off. There are shops, but nothing I was interested in. The sidealk along Hollywood Blvd is lined with the names of people in a golden star - I spotted Bugs Bunny, Whinnie the Pooh, Kermit the Frog as well as some human stars too - no sign of anyone famous in person though. Next stop was Beverly Hills for some home spotting - we pulled outside Ozzy Osbourne's Tom Cruises, and the Beverly Hills Hotel, but didn't see anyone. after that we cruised down Rodeo Drive and then a very long journey in traffic back to the hotel. Tomorrow I will spend the day by the hotel pool (too much traffic to get anywhere by taxi) then fly to Seattle on Monday morning. Hope all is well in Blighty - or wherever you are reading this from! BFN