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

American Diary # 18 Lake Havasu

June 14th Left camp at 7.30am and leaving stuff on the van a group of us took a trail down into the canyon to experience it's depths. In this heat, people die (really) so we had only 3 hours to use. Not enough to get anywhere near the bottom, so we settled for the Kaibab Trail to 'Oo ah' point. This took 40 mins going down to a steep precipice above the canyon - truly incredible - and then an hour coming back up on steep and dusty ground. Well worth the effort. You need more time to fully appreciate the canyon, so I think I'll be back. Driving through Arizona we touched on the Mojave Desert and arrived at Lake HAvasu City. This is the location for the LONDON BRIDGE which was sinking and shipped to the USA and rebuilt. It stands across the Colorada and hase the Union Flag and stars and stripes on both sides. It's a great setting and with temperatures over 100 degrees I wanted to jump into the water. We just stopped for photos then continued on to our campsite on the river side at dusk, perfect for a swim in the cool waters. The group was becoming more familiar and we actually had a good laugh and a swim before bed time around 11pm. So hot we could hardly sleep.

American Diary # 17 Grand Canyon

June 13th - Grand Canyon and Kipper's Birthday! Left Vegas and to cut a long blog short, we drove for ages and crossed into Arizona. We stopped at Laughlin for a driving permit (not far from Hoover Dam) and Colorado River winding through a barren desert area. Strange to see patches of green grass and new housing, fuelled by the fresh water supply and local jobs in the hydro electric industry. At some point we stopped on ROUTE 66 and a place called Seligman, where the PIXAR movie 'CARS' was based. It's a great film, "If you get the chance , I highly recommend it... it is so choice" (direct quote from another movie, guess which one?). Anyway, I bought some tacky souvenirs from the museum and barber shop (famous) and took some photos. The shop owner told me about the BBC visit last year with Blue Peter, he even has a badge proudly displayed in the shop. Stopping for groceries in WILLIAMS we saw some British firemen from Portsmouth who were taking part in a transameric cycle challenge, West to East Coast in 10 days. I gave them all my loose change for the childrens hospitals, and wished them luck. After more driving, we arrived in a forested area near to the Grand Canyon and had achieved 7000ft without noticing. Myself, Chris and Nicole took a helicopter ride over the Canyon at 6pm just as the sun was starting to drop and gave us some amazing colours and shapes in the rocks strata below. With 'Jurassic Park' music in our chopper headphones it was a spectacular experience and I can't use enough words to describe it. Again ... I highly recommend it. The AP's watched an IMAX thing, which can't have been anything like as good, but they got free sticky stars and were happy. Camp was on hard dry ground near the Canyon edge, and after pitching tents we drove to a viewpoint for the sunset around 8pm. This too was amazing, and as we left there were over 50 astronomers set up in the car park offering free looks at the stars. After dinner ( I cooked) I persuaded a few people to come back with me to the telescopes by walking along the dark roads and we got to see some cool stuff. Big dipper ( Plough) North star, Jupiter and it's moons, Venus, Ring Nebula, Dumb bellNebula and Whirlpool Nebula, also Scorpio, Polaris, a constellation called M13 in Hercules (whatever) and some other stuff I forget. The Mily Way was bright and there were a few meterorite showers thrown in for good measure. Almost got lost in the dark getting back to camp but a brilliant evening.

American Diary Part 16 Las Vegas

June 12th - Death Valley to Las Vegas Another early shower and this time avoided any queues! yippee!. We left Bishop and the memory of the Deliverance trio behind (they tried again with me that morning, but sent a different wierdo to do the questioning, and later they stood by the showers and talked to the boys who also thought they were wierd!) Driving all day through dry sage brush desert and small towns on straight roads (Big Pine, Independence, Lone Pine) we started to descend into the DEATH VALLEY national park. The scenery getting noticably drier and more bare rock. Stopping at a high viewpoint it was startling how vast the park is, and the reality of being stuck here was evident all around you. An hour later we arrived in the middle of the valley at the visitor centre Furnace Creek. It's hard to imagine anyone wanting to work here, but once inside the air conditioned buildings with cold drinks you forget what's outside..... and what is outside? The HOTTEST, DRIEST, LOWEST place in the Western Hemisphere. on our visit it was only (only!) 90 degrees and can reach over 110 degrees. It is so dry you feel the moisture leaving your skin and feel thirsty all the time. The heat radiates from the bare ground and makes you entire body overheat really quickly, so any shop selling water or ice cream can name their price - and they do! Back in the van we drove on for a few miles to reach BADWATER BASIN and the lowest point - 282 (feet or metres I forget) below sea level (it was very low anyway!). We stopped here and the AP's moaned about the heat and didn't see the point of the visit, so those of us with brains got out and walked about on the salt flats which remain after all the moisture evaporates. It does rain in the valley A LOT - they have severe storms regularly and it causes the roads to buckle, rivers to form and erosion all around the place. the moisture cannot run off outside the valley so it collects and evaporates leaving the minerals behind. Interesting stuff don't you think? On this trip I have seen lots of amazing natural geological wonders and more were to come. Anyway, I made my visit longer than I should have just to keep the AP's waiting - when I got back to the van I could hear them singing along to the German version of the dance track 'Barbie girl' and I almost (almost) thought about staying in the valley instead of taking the trip with them, but realised that a slow and painful death on the salt flats would not be a nice way to go, and at least I had my Ipod on full volume to help me survive the environment inside the van! Thank heavens for Depeche Mode remixes, Van Halen and movie soundtracks to keep me sane....... Another short stop at a viewpoint overlooking the valley and then we carried on for another 5 hours driving through the desert towards Vegas, crossing the Nevada state line along the way. LAS VEGAS I found the Nevada desert interesting, mainly because I was looking at the ramshackle homes, rusting trucks, sage brushes, stuff. Other people slept. Vegas is huge and spreads wide across a vast dry plain. The distant skyline promises some excitement in the monotony of it's surroundings and after a slow crawl along the Interstate we were dropped at our Motel 'Best Value Inn' just off East Tropicana Street at the end of THE STRIP - Vegas's main drag where all the casinos can be found. The heat was stifling, and thank God for aircon! Meeting the group at 6.30pm we walked the short distance to EXCALIBUR casino for an All you CAN EAT buffet - so I ate all I could, and wished I hadn't. the AP's and boys had booked a Limo tour (stretch Hummer) and I chose not to join them surprisingly. Instead I walked the strip and photogrpahed all the wierd and wonderful sites in Neon and Stone, from the replica of New York, Pyramids and Sphinx, Venice (complete with gondolas and Bridge of sighs), Ceasars Palace, and the BELLAGIO - most famous now for the location of the Oceans 11,12 & 13 movies. Along the way I dipped my feet into a few fountains to cool off, until we (Nicole and me) got told off by security - but not before loads of other people had copied us and got busted too! At the Bellagio, there are amazing fountains which perform to musci every 20 mins. by 10.45pm tired and a little weary of the 'in your face' Vegas strip, we stopped to wait for the show. I managed to film some, before a woman prodded me in the back and asked me to move so she could have her photographer take her picture. I politely explained that I was filming it on my camera and thought that would be enough to end the matter. But Oh No... her photographer then had another go, and I still refused explaining that I had waited over 20 minutes and travelled from England and wanted to see the fountains. She then turned nasty, said it was her wedding day -called me a Bitch and said "F**k You'. I was charmed enough to stay there even longer than planned just to piss her off. I mean... what reason did she have to be so rude? There were other spots she could have stood, not just where I was. It did spoil the evening, but on reflection I realise she was a cow and I hope her husband files for divorce when he realises what he married! She looked like a ho anyway. (That's American for slut by the way). Back at the Best Value Inn, I took a cold shower then bed watching RODEO Live from somewhere dry and dusty with 2 guys on TV trying to make the show exciting... and failing.

American Diary Part 15 Yosemite again!

Sunday 10th June We arrived at the same campsite we had visited at Yosemite. Nicole and I put up out tent in record time whilst the newbies struggled with poles, pegs and fly sheets. I gave in and helped, it was too painful to watch. The next challenge was the first dinner. I had already decided not to do any shopping - 3 weeks was long enough. so, some of the au pairs did the work this time and cooked up some spaghetti, tomato sauce and hotdogs. Not gourmet but sufficient. We then chatted until dark and an early bed after the briefing about bears and food storage - this caused a lot of sreeching from the au pairs about being eaten alive, having their tents ripped open and general feeble behaviour about the cold, hard ground, no pillows, no hairdriers and bugs- WE ARE CAMPING OUTDOORS FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!! Monday 11th June Woke early (5.45am) to get a shower, only 2 cubicles and 12 girls. Already I was surprised to see it full with a queue. What takes them soooooooo long????!!!!! I lost patience a little with one girl doing makeup in the mirror and taking far too long. Anyway, by 8am amazingly we were all ready to leave. Our tour leader 'Pia' from Germany was excellent, getting more involved in the cooking and food boxes than Dan ever did. She even had oven gloves and a clever metal thing for toasting bagels over a gas burner! Having already visited the park last week, I planned to hire a bike and go cycling along the valley, or try to get on a horse. Once inside the park I took Nicole to find the stables. When we walked there we were too late, but just as well. The 'horses' turned out to be Mules - and fat mules too! so glad we didn't commit ourselves to going. So instead, we hired pushbikes and with the wind in our hair we cycled a few miles through the valley in search of Mirror Lake. We found it at the end of a steep path which had to be walked, and had just enough time for a photo before cycling back, returning our bikes and getting the shuttle to meet the group and move on to our next stop. The weather this time was much clearer and leaving Yosemite we left via the TIOGA pass which had been our entrance last week in the snow and grey skies. This time it was warmish, and clear so perfect for photos. We stopped at a great viewpoint for snaps, then again at a lake to have a picnic lunch. The pass itself is just under 10,000ft and once through, the road is pretty steep cut out of the rock winding through a granite valley. the next stop was MONO LAKE - another repeated visit (not happy with Suntrek for 2 days of duplication) and those of us who had already seen it, just sat in the sun whilst the au pairs (AP's) wandered around. Hardly interested in it at all, so they didn't take long. At least it was a chance to see the volcano again which we walked around before. Our camp site was to be at a place called BISHOP. A flat site with an entrance in the style of a wild western town. It would have been perfect except for 3 very creepy guys who could have been in the movie 'Deliverance' camping nearby with a red pickup and a habit of chewing something and spitting it out. One of them approached me and asked questions about our group - I was pretty economical and wanted him to leave, but he had a pervy sneer on his face which I really didn;t like and he go tthe message and walked back to his mates. Dinner was ok - Tacos from the Panama AP, then Pia took us all to a local creek in the desert where hot water flows into small pools from undergound springs. The group went in, but I didn't fancy it - it was a bit dirty to be honest and smelled and when I saw dog poo on the bank it really put me off so I stayed on dry land! the memory of creepy guy also made me want to stay fully clothed! It was an early nigh after that. Back at camp in the dark, some took showers