My South West USA Roadtrip, June 2010
Discussion
Hi all,
I went on a 2 week roadtrip taking in LA, Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite NP, San Francisco and back to LA via the Pacific Coast Highway at the beinning on June and it's only now that I've finally had some time to sit down sort through and upload some of the many pics I took - approx 3000, a new personal best!
I've cut down the number of pics as much as I can, but there are still a fair few, so the page may take a while to load.
So here we go....
Day 1
After staying overnight at the Holiday Inn M4 J4 and leaving the car with them, I had a pretty short trip on the shuttle bus to Terminal 1 where I'd be getting on an Air New Zealand flight to LA. It was my first flight with them and I would deffinitely fly with them again, I had plenty of legroom, the food was good and there was free wine with it
Just about ready to go (click pics for full size)
Passing over the Isle of Man
Passing over Greenland
Many hours and a few films later, my first look at LA and boy is it big, all I could see was buildings stretching off into the distance.
After queuing for a while to get through passport control, by which time my luggage was already slowly rotaing on the carousel, it was off to pick up the hire car, check in to the hotel (LAX Hilton) and sleep.
Day 2
Despite not sleeping on the flight out I only managed about 4 hours sleep at most so decided to make the most of the early start and head for Mulholland Drive and do a few laps of Coldwater Canyon Drive, Mullholland Drive, Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard (the route Jay Leno drove in this video) before it got too busy - something it turned out I didn't need to worry about as it was Memorial Day and LA was dead quiet.
The start of Coldwater Canyon Drive
Views from Mulholland Drive
And whilst up on Mulholland I thought I'd take a few pics of my transport for the next 2 weeks.
I'd booked an SUV as I was planning on going down a few trails in Death Valley, but they were out of the size I booked and they gave me a Chevy Suburban instead and I have to say I quite liked it.
And finally... I had to have a look under the bonnet when I got to the hotel at the end of the day - 5.3 litres of V8 goodness
Next stop Hollywood, although I didn't stop for long as I got sick of being hassled to go on a tour of the stars homes pretty quick and decided to go and find a Walmart and stock up on snacks, drinks and a map for the trip instead.
After stocking up on crisps and beef jerky it was off to Long Beach where I'd be spending the next 2 nights, when I got there I was glad I'd decided to stay in Long Beach rather than near Hollywood or Downtown LA as what I'd seen of LA so far was just a huge soul less expanse of concrete. It was quite novel to get to Long Beach and find everything was within walking distance of the hotel (Best Western at the Convention Centre)
I spotted this down by the marina, anyone know what it is?
Day 3
The Aquarium of the Pacific
The shark petting pond - I passed
Their bigger brother
More fishies
I headed out of the aquarium and over to the bus stop for the free bus to the Queen Mary in time to see this lot and 2 police cars arrive and all for a drunk guy who fell on his arse!
The Queen Mary
Steam Turbines and Prop Shaft
And one hell of a big prop
On to the Scorpian, a Russian Foxtrot class diesel electric sub, how the crew lived on these for 3 months at a time is beyond me.
Day 4
Time to leave LA and head out to Las Vegas...
Out into the desert and a stop off at the Calico Ghost Town on the way, wasn't really much of a ghost town as quite a lot of it was built in the 50s, but it was as good a place as any to break up the journey and the Philly cheese steak I had there was pretty good too
I came back to the car park to find that the beast had found a friend
Back on the road, got to love how low revving these things are.
I think that these next lot of pics are taken within the Mohave Desert, but I'm not 100% sure
Home for the next 3 nights, The Excalibur
And the view from my room of the Area 51 shuttle planes (tin foil hat on, waiting for the black helicopters to arrive
)
as well as what I could see of the strip by night
Day 5
Off to Hoover Dam....
A big ole bolt
Down in what was originally one of the by-pass tunnels while they were building the dam, but now houses a 25 foot diameter steel pipe that takes water to the turbines. You could actually feel it vibrating from the force of the water passing through it.
Diagram of the tunnels, I was in the 2nd one down from the top
Picture of the dam full to the top and water overflowing in to the spillways in the 80s, I don't think there;s any danger of it doing that again any time soon!
Another diagram showing the dam's plumbing
back to the lift...
and into the Nevada side power station...
then on into the dam itself...
out to one of the air vents in the face of the dam, built in apparently to help cool the concrete as it set
The view through the vent down to the river
and back into the dam
view straight down the shaft you have to walk over to get to the vent
Close up of the different layers visible in the concrete due to it being poured one eight cubic yard bucket at a time.
Access stairways, every couple of months engineers walk the entire dam inspecting it for cracks, from what I've seen of it, they've got a fair old walk!
Back out into the sunlight
You could actually feel the dam shake when this thing passed by, a fact mentioned by the guide whilst down inside the dam, it's due to the lack of reinforcing steel, somthing which if present would not allow the dam to flew enough under the pressure from the water apparently.
I seen a program the other day where it mentioned that the level of Lake Meade is now 150ft below the top of the damn and that if the current level of water use continues it could be empty in 10 years, how true that is I don't know.
Back in Vegas and off for a walk up the Strip on the first 100 degree Fahrenheit day of the year - I made it as fair as Cearar's Palace before giving up.
Day 6
A trip out to the Grand Canyon, courtesy of Pappilon Airways - an absolutely fantastic trip, well worth the money!
Out to Boulder City Airport and on to a DeHavilland Twin Otter for an hour flight, most of which is over the canyon, out to the South Rim
Then into a Bell Longranger
Then finally on to the South Rim for a look from ground level
I spotted this from the plane on the way back, there appears to be people living there, they're miles from anywhere and there doesn't seem to be anything to attract them there!
Back in Vegas in time to see the sun set, I was going to head out up the Strip and pick up where I left off the day before, but I made the mistake of deciding to have 5 mins rest before getting moving and fell asleep instead.
Day 7
Back on the road again today and heading for Death Valley...
Spotted this nutter when I stopped for petrol in Pahrump
I was half expecting to see Wile E Coyote chasing the Road Runner down this road
Into the Valley of Death
Zebraske Point
Telescope Peak in the distance at 11,000 feet above sea level and yes that is snow
Furnace Creek
The Devil's Golf Course
Kicking up some dust on the trail
It's beginning to look more like a 4x4 should now
Badwater Basin (the Yanks sure know how to come up with a cracking name!), 284 feet below sea level
Out onto the lake bed, it was gettign hotter and hotter the further out I went, I took a bottle of water with me, but I polished it off on the way out, the walk back seemed about 5 times longer than the walk out!
Yet another dead straight road heading off into the shimmering distance
Artist's Pallette Drive
Back out onto the valley floor near the Ranger Station
Harmony Borax Works, closed in 1888
A big car in a big country
This is the point where I decided that a 30 mile drive down a dirt track followed by a 2 mile walk to get to the Racetrack Playa to see the sailing stones wasn't a good idea - that'll be 46 in Celcius!
Stovepipe Wells
A few less bugs in the world
and a critter's eye view
Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes aka Tatooine
There was a sign a couple of miles before this saying "Turn off air conditioning for the next 30 miles" apparently it's to stop the engine overheating, I still wasn't happy about it though!
Out of Death Valley and on to Lone Pine, my stop for the night
The Sierra Nevadas in the distance
I went on a 2 week roadtrip taking in LA, Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite NP, San Francisco and back to LA via the Pacific Coast Highway at the beinning on June and it's only now that I've finally had some time to sit down sort through and upload some of the many pics I took - approx 3000, a new personal best!
I've cut down the number of pics as much as I can, but there are still a fair few, so the page may take a while to load.
So here we go....
Day 1
After staying overnight at the Holiday Inn M4 J4 and leaving the car with them, I had a pretty short trip on the shuttle bus to Terminal 1 where I'd be getting on an Air New Zealand flight to LA. It was my first flight with them and I would deffinitely fly with them again, I had plenty of legroom, the food was good and there was free wine with it
Just about ready to go (click pics for full size)
Passing over the Isle of Man
Passing over Greenland
Many hours and a few films later, my first look at LA and boy is it big, all I could see was buildings stretching off into the distance.
After queuing for a while to get through passport control, by which time my luggage was already slowly rotaing on the carousel, it was off to pick up the hire car, check in to the hotel (LAX Hilton) and sleep.
Day 2
Despite not sleeping on the flight out I only managed about 4 hours sleep at most so decided to make the most of the early start and head for Mulholland Drive and do a few laps of Coldwater Canyon Drive, Mullholland Drive, Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard (the route Jay Leno drove in this video) before it got too busy - something it turned out I didn't need to worry about as it was Memorial Day and LA was dead quiet.
The start of Coldwater Canyon Drive
Views from Mulholland Drive
And whilst up on Mulholland I thought I'd take a few pics of my transport for the next 2 weeks.
I'd booked an SUV as I was planning on going down a few trails in Death Valley, but they were out of the size I booked and they gave me a Chevy Suburban instead and I have to say I quite liked it.
And finally... I had to have a look under the bonnet when I got to the hotel at the end of the day - 5.3 litres of V8 goodness
Next stop Hollywood, although I didn't stop for long as I got sick of being hassled to go on a tour of the stars homes pretty quick and decided to go and find a Walmart and stock up on snacks, drinks and a map for the trip instead.
After stocking up on crisps and beef jerky it was off to Long Beach where I'd be spending the next 2 nights, when I got there I was glad I'd decided to stay in Long Beach rather than near Hollywood or Downtown LA as what I'd seen of LA so far was just a huge soul less expanse of concrete. It was quite novel to get to Long Beach and find everything was within walking distance of the hotel (Best Western at the Convention Centre)
I spotted this down by the marina, anyone know what it is?
Day 3
The Aquarium of the Pacific
The shark petting pond - I passed
Their bigger brother
More fishies
I headed out of the aquarium and over to the bus stop for the free bus to the Queen Mary in time to see this lot and 2 police cars arrive and all for a drunk guy who fell on his arse!
The Queen Mary
Steam Turbines and Prop Shaft
And one hell of a big prop
On to the Scorpian, a Russian Foxtrot class diesel electric sub, how the crew lived on these for 3 months at a time is beyond me.
Day 4
Time to leave LA and head out to Las Vegas...
Out into the desert and a stop off at the Calico Ghost Town on the way, wasn't really much of a ghost town as quite a lot of it was built in the 50s, but it was as good a place as any to break up the journey and the Philly cheese steak I had there was pretty good too
I came back to the car park to find that the beast had found a friend
Back on the road, got to love how low revving these things are.
I think that these next lot of pics are taken within the Mohave Desert, but I'm not 100% sure
Home for the next 3 nights, The Excalibur
And the view from my room of the Area 51 shuttle planes (tin foil hat on, waiting for the black helicopters to arrive
) 
as well as what I could see of the strip by night
Day 5
Off to Hoover Dam....
A big ole bolt
Down in what was originally one of the by-pass tunnels while they were building the dam, but now houses a 25 foot diameter steel pipe that takes water to the turbines. You could actually feel it vibrating from the force of the water passing through it.
Diagram of the tunnels, I was in the 2nd one down from the top
Picture of the dam full to the top and water overflowing in to the spillways in the 80s, I don't think there;s any danger of it doing that again any time soon!
Another diagram showing the dam's plumbing
back to the lift...
and into the Nevada side power station...
then on into the dam itself...
out to one of the air vents in the face of the dam, built in apparently to help cool the concrete as it set
The view through the vent down to the river
and back into the dam
view straight down the shaft you have to walk over to get to the vent
Close up of the different layers visible in the concrete due to it being poured one eight cubic yard bucket at a time.
Access stairways, every couple of months engineers walk the entire dam inspecting it for cracks, from what I've seen of it, they've got a fair old walk!
Back out into the sunlight
You could actually feel the dam shake when this thing passed by, a fact mentioned by the guide whilst down inside the dam, it's due to the lack of reinforcing steel, somthing which if present would not allow the dam to flew enough under the pressure from the water apparently.
I seen a program the other day where it mentioned that the level of Lake Meade is now 150ft below the top of the damn and that if the current level of water use continues it could be empty in 10 years, how true that is I don't know.
Back in Vegas and off for a walk up the Strip on the first 100 degree Fahrenheit day of the year - I made it as fair as Cearar's Palace before giving up.
Day 6
A trip out to the Grand Canyon, courtesy of Pappilon Airways - an absolutely fantastic trip, well worth the money!
Out to Boulder City Airport and on to a DeHavilland Twin Otter for an hour flight, most of which is over the canyon, out to the South Rim
Then into a Bell Longranger
Then finally on to the South Rim for a look from ground level
I spotted this from the plane on the way back, there appears to be people living there, they're miles from anywhere and there doesn't seem to be anything to attract them there!
Back in Vegas in time to see the sun set, I was going to head out up the Strip and pick up where I left off the day before, but I made the mistake of deciding to have 5 mins rest before getting moving and fell asleep instead.
Day 7
Back on the road again today and heading for Death Valley...
Spotted this nutter when I stopped for petrol in Pahrump
I was half expecting to see Wile E Coyote chasing the Road Runner down this road
Into the Valley of Death
Zebraske Point
Telescope Peak in the distance at 11,000 feet above sea level and yes that is snow
Furnace Creek
The Devil's Golf Course
Kicking up some dust on the trail
It's beginning to look more like a 4x4 should now
Badwater Basin (the Yanks sure know how to come up with a cracking name!), 284 feet below sea level
Out onto the lake bed, it was gettign hotter and hotter the further out I went, I took a bottle of water with me, but I polished it off on the way out, the walk back seemed about 5 times longer than the walk out!
Yet another dead straight road heading off into the shimmering distance
Artist's Pallette Drive
Back out onto the valley floor near the Ranger Station
Harmony Borax Works, closed in 1888
A big car in a big country
This is the point where I decided that a 30 mile drive down a dirt track followed by a 2 mile walk to get to the Racetrack Playa to see the sailing stones wasn't a good idea - that'll be 46 in Celcius!
Stovepipe Wells
A few less bugs in the world
and a critter's eye view
Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes aka Tatooine
There was a sign a couple of miles before this saying "Turn off air conditioning for the next 30 miles" apparently it's to stop the engine overheating, I still wasn't happy about it though!
Out of Death Valley and on to Lone Pine, my stop for the night
The Sierra Nevadas in the distance
Edited by BigS on Friday 30th July 09:45
Edited by BigS on Friday 30th July 09:50
Day 8
Continuing north to cross the Sierra Nevadas into Yosemite National Park
The view from the hotel (Best Western in Lone Pine) before I set off
Views from the drive up to Lee Vining
Another little detour that Dollar probably wouldn't approve of
...down to the shore of Mono Lake, a lake with no outflow, it's all lost due to evapouration, so it's very alaline, so much so that only Brine Shrimp and one species of fly live in it.
Up and over the Tioga Pass which only opened after the winter the day before, I'd been watching the ploughing updates on the Yosemite National Park website like a hawk since April hoping it would open in time as the alternative would have been a 10 hour drive via Bakersfield and would have been nearly all highway.
Forest recovering from a fire
My first look at Half Dome
All that melting snow is certainly feeding the waterfalls
My home for the night, one of approx 500 tents and cabins that form Curry Village
More views from Yosemite Valley, I had to try not to walk around with my mouth hanging open in awe of the place, I could have quite happily spent the entire 2 weeks just in Yosemite!
Upper Yosemite Falls
Lower Yosemite Falls
Day 9
The view from the window of my tent in the morning
Thanks to the dawn chorus I was up and about early, so went out for a bit of a wander while it was still quiet and spotted these Mule Deer alongside the path
The cliff that towers over Curry Village
Wildlife aplenty
I spotted this wee beastie on the river bank as I was driving over the bridge, by the time I'd abandoned the car and got the big lens on it had already started swimming.
It was soon carried away downstream by the current and into a clump of trees where he came to an abrubt halt and was washed under
Soon to reappear having hauled itself out onto a log
It must have gone back into the river and carried on accross after this as it dissapeered from sight behind the branches and didn't reappear.
This was sighting number 2 for me - another one came barrelling down the mountain through the trees and accross the road about 100 yards in front of the car the day before on the Tioga Pass, I'd been wondering if I'd be lucky enough to see a bear, so to come away having seen 2 meant I was a happy chappy
El Capitan
Now it looks like a 4x4 should
A few more views
And a few more from up on Glacier Point
I spotted this little critter almost at my feet
One thing I found odd even when I was stood up there looking at it with my own eyes is that it looks kind of like looking at a painting
On to Marriposa Grove, one of the places where the Giant Sequoias grow
The Fallen Monarch
The Grizzly Giant, 209ft tall and 1800 years old, not the tallest of them, but still pretty big.
The California Tunnel Tree
Burnt forest
The cone of a Giant Sequoia with my size 10 for comparrison
Looks like prime Ewok country to me
Day 10
After spending the night at the Shilo Inn in Oakhurst it was time to hit the road and head for San Francisco.
I passed mile after mile of fields like this, I thought it was nice of them to put signs up tellign you what they're growing.
At the risk of sounding like the Doobie Brothers - a long train runnin'
Home for the next 3 nights, the Royal Pacific Motor Lodge in Chinatown
A couple of pics for the film buffs - Steve McQueens house in Bullitt and the grocery store opposite.
General views
And finally, my dinner - a sour dough pizza from Macy's, bloody nice it was too
Day 11
Woke up to find the famous San Franciscan fog had descended, but it wasn't going to put me off!
This came tearing past and screeched to a halt as I was walking down to Fisherman's Wharf, I couldn't help but grin like a little kid.
San Fran in the fog
Spotted this parked up near Fisherman's Wharf, it's a Studebaker Golden Hawk
An F Line Street Car
My first view of Alcatraz
Time for a look around another sub, this time the USS Pampanito, a WW2 Balao class fleet submarine, well worth a look if you're in the area, the audio tour is narrated by former crew and I came away wondering how the hell they could live in such conditions.
Mmmm opposed-piston engines
Controls don't get much simpler than this!
A quick stop in the Boudin Bakery, source of the San Francisco sour dough, for a look around and lunch
And then off to the cable car museum
The winding mechanism for the cables
Lombard Street
The Coit Tower and the view from the top of it
And to finish the day off, a walk over the Golden Gate Bridge
I turned around to head back just in time to see this being towed past
A ride on the running board of a cable car
A close up of the brakes, which are made of pine - you can smell them burning going down the hills
I got of at this stop as it was the closest to my hotel and was wondering why there were workmen standing around waiting for the cable car to arrive, I soon found out
They were waiting to fit a new "grip"
Whilst they were working another car arrived and slowed down too much whilst looking to see what was going on and had to be helped on it's way
10 mins later, it's off on it's merry way
Day 12
Another day of sight seeing in SF
Market Street
They don't mess about when they build a security van out there!
View of the Golden Gate from Pier 39
The S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien - one of only 2 WW2 Liberty Ships still afloat and sailing
A huge floating crane
The sea lions of Pier 39
Dinner in the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company - a very cheesy chain restaurant, but some damn nice shrimp and southern fried chicken, so nice in fact I ate the lot, then had to go back to the hotel for a lie down!
A couple of hours later, I no longer feel like I'm going to explode and I'm back on the streets...
Back down to the waterfront in order to catch a ferry to Alacatraz for the evening tour
The ferry company's latest fancy hypbrid powered boat - I was already sat on the top deck of one their normal boats
A seagull hovering overhead looking for food
The boat did a loop of the island before docking, it's a very forboding looking place
Onto the Rock and on up to the prison
The Hole
The prison library
A typical cell
Damage from The Battle of Alcatraz
Broadway
The administrative side
One of the cells that the escapees made famous by Escape from Alcatraz escaped from
The Dining Hall and kitchen
One of the tear gas canisters in the dining hall
The Prison Operating Theatre - no prisoner left the island, unless deador transferred to another prison, unless they escaped of course
The Pharmacy
Robert Stroud's cell within the hospital - he wasn't actually allowed to keep any birds on Alcatraz so he's more accurately The Birdman of Leavenworth Penitentiary
Hospital Wards
The X-ray Table
The sun set from the recreation yard
After dark
Continuing north to cross the Sierra Nevadas into Yosemite National Park
The view from the hotel (Best Western in Lone Pine) before I set off
Views from the drive up to Lee Vining
Another little detour that Dollar probably wouldn't approve of
...down to the shore of Mono Lake, a lake with no outflow, it's all lost due to evapouration, so it's very alaline, so much so that only Brine Shrimp and one species of fly live in it.
Up and over the Tioga Pass which only opened after the winter the day before, I'd been watching the ploughing updates on the Yosemite National Park website like a hawk since April hoping it would open in time as the alternative would have been a 10 hour drive via Bakersfield and would have been nearly all highway.
Forest recovering from a fire
My first look at Half Dome
All that melting snow is certainly feeding the waterfalls
My home for the night, one of approx 500 tents and cabins that form Curry Village
More views from Yosemite Valley, I had to try not to walk around with my mouth hanging open in awe of the place, I could have quite happily spent the entire 2 weeks just in Yosemite!
Upper Yosemite Falls
Lower Yosemite Falls
Day 9
The view from the window of my tent in the morning
Thanks to the dawn chorus I was up and about early, so went out for a bit of a wander while it was still quiet and spotted these Mule Deer alongside the path
The cliff that towers over Curry Village
Wildlife aplenty
I spotted this wee beastie on the river bank as I was driving over the bridge, by the time I'd abandoned the car and got the big lens on it had already started swimming.
It was soon carried away downstream by the current and into a clump of trees where he came to an abrubt halt and was washed under
Soon to reappear having hauled itself out onto a log
It must have gone back into the river and carried on accross after this as it dissapeered from sight behind the branches and didn't reappear.
This was sighting number 2 for me - another one came barrelling down the mountain through the trees and accross the road about 100 yards in front of the car the day before on the Tioga Pass, I'd been wondering if I'd be lucky enough to see a bear, so to come away having seen 2 meant I was a happy chappy
El Capitan
Now it looks like a 4x4 should
A few more views
And a few more from up on Glacier Point
I spotted this little critter almost at my feet
One thing I found odd even when I was stood up there looking at it with my own eyes is that it looks kind of like looking at a painting
On to Marriposa Grove, one of the places where the Giant Sequoias grow
The Fallen Monarch
The Grizzly Giant, 209ft tall and 1800 years old, not the tallest of them, but still pretty big.
The California Tunnel Tree
Burnt forest
The cone of a Giant Sequoia with my size 10 for comparrison
Looks like prime Ewok country to me
Day 10
After spending the night at the Shilo Inn in Oakhurst it was time to hit the road and head for San Francisco.
I passed mile after mile of fields like this, I thought it was nice of them to put signs up tellign you what they're growing.
At the risk of sounding like the Doobie Brothers - a long train runnin'
Home for the next 3 nights, the Royal Pacific Motor Lodge in Chinatown
A couple of pics for the film buffs - Steve McQueens house in Bullitt and the grocery store opposite.
General views
And finally, my dinner - a sour dough pizza from Macy's, bloody nice it was too
Day 11
Woke up to find the famous San Franciscan fog had descended, but it wasn't going to put me off!
This came tearing past and screeched to a halt as I was walking down to Fisherman's Wharf, I couldn't help but grin like a little kid.
San Fran in the fog
Spotted this parked up near Fisherman's Wharf, it's a Studebaker Golden Hawk
An F Line Street Car
My first view of Alcatraz
Time for a look around another sub, this time the USS Pampanito, a WW2 Balao class fleet submarine, well worth a look if you're in the area, the audio tour is narrated by former crew and I came away wondering how the hell they could live in such conditions.
Mmmm opposed-piston engines
Controls don't get much simpler than this!
A quick stop in the Boudin Bakery, source of the San Francisco sour dough, for a look around and lunch
And then off to the cable car museum
The winding mechanism for the cables
Lombard Street
The Coit Tower and the view from the top of it
And to finish the day off, a walk over the Golden Gate Bridge
I turned around to head back just in time to see this being towed past
A ride on the running board of a cable car
A close up of the brakes, which are made of pine - you can smell them burning going down the hills
I got of at this stop as it was the closest to my hotel and was wondering why there were workmen standing around waiting for the cable car to arrive, I soon found out
They were waiting to fit a new "grip"
Whilst they were working another car arrived and slowed down too much whilst looking to see what was going on and had to be helped on it's way
10 mins later, it's off on it's merry way
Day 12
Another day of sight seeing in SF
Market Street
They don't mess about when they build a security van out there!
View of the Golden Gate from Pier 39
The S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien - one of only 2 WW2 Liberty Ships still afloat and sailing
A huge floating crane
The sea lions of Pier 39
Dinner in the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company - a very cheesy chain restaurant, but some damn nice shrimp and southern fried chicken, so nice in fact I ate the lot, then had to go back to the hotel for a lie down!
A couple of hours later, I no longer feel like I'm going to explode and I'm back on the streets...
Back down to the waterfront in order to catch a ferry to Alacatraz for the evening tour
The ferry company's latest fancy hypbrid powered boat - I was already sat on the top deck of one their normal boats
A seagull hovering overhead looking for food
The boat did a loop of the island before docking, it's a very forboding looking place
Onto the Rock and on up to the prison
The Hole
The prison library
A typical cell
Damage from The Battle of Alcatraz
Broadway
The administrative side
One of the cells that the escapees made famous by Escape from Alcatraz escaped from
The Dining Hall and kitchen
One of the tear gas canisters in the dining hall
The Prison Operating Theatre - no prisoner left the island, unless deador transferred to another prison, unless they escaped of course
The Pharmacy
Robert Stroud's cell within the hospital - he wasn't actually allowed to keep any birds on Alcatraz so he's more accurately The Birdman of Leavenworth Penitentiary
Hospital Wards
The X-ray Table
The sun set from the recreation yard
After dark
Edited by BigS on Friday 30th July 09:34
Day 13
Time to leave San Francisco and head for the Pacific Coast Highway...
But first a little detour to Fillmore Street, between Union and Broadway - yet another Bullitt filing location, where I may have given in to temptation and accidentally got the truck air borne
On to Highway 1, heading south
I'd seen loads of birds of prey circling alongside the road, but this was the first one that didn't bugger off as soon as I stopped to take pictures
Time to stop for the night at the Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay KOA (Kampgrounds of America) in my very own log cabin
Time for dinner and beer
Whilst sat on the porch sipping beer and wishing I had something to whittle or a banjo to pick, I heard a rumbling in the distance, then this rig appeared and blocked out the sunlight - it even had a garage with a lifting tailgate at the back.
Day 14
On the road again...
Carmel-by-the-Sea - I drove in, failed to find anywhere to park and then drove out again
I think this may be in the Big Sur area
I did a double take when I seen this bus
The mist is starts to roll in, luckily it never developed into more than a bit of a haze in the distance
I spotted these 2 Cobras flying past, unfortunately this was the best pic by the time I'd stopped the car
A little detour to the high ground in order to get....
this picture - sometimes standing on the running board just isn't enough
Elephant Seals doing very little
And it seems wherever people gather there are critters looking for an easy meal
Heading in land to Santa Margarita Lake for another night in a KOA cabin
The cabin
Settled in for the night - wish I'd thought of buying some fire wood for the fire pit before the shop closed!
The neighbours - it's even bigger than the last one!
Day 15
The final leg...
Santa Barbara
Malibu
And back at the LAX Hilton all that remains to be done is to give the car back and get on the plane home the next day - it seemed like it was a very long time since I'd left LA, but also like it was over too soon
Time to leave San Francisco and head for the Pacific Coast Highway...
But first a little detour to Fillmore Street, between Union and Broadway - yet another Bullitt filing location, where I may have given in to temptation and accidentally got the truck air borne
On to Highway 1, heading south
I'd seen loads of birds of prey circling alongside the road, but this was the first one that didn't bugger off as soon as I stopped to take pictures
Time to stop for the night at the Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay KOA (Kampgrounds of America) in my very own log cabin
Time for dinner and beer
Whilst sat on the porch sipping beer and wishing I had something to whittle or a banjo to pick, I heard a rumbling in the distance, then this rig appeared and blocked out the sunlight - it even had a garage with a lifting tailgate at the back.
Day 14
On the road again...
Carmel-by-the-Sea - I drove in, failed to find anywhere to park and then drove out again
I think this may be in the Big Sur area
I did a double take when I seen this bus
The mist is starts to roll in, luckily it never developed into more than a bit of a haze in the distance
I spotted these 2 Cobras flying past, unfortunately this was the best pic by the time I'd stopped the car
A little detour to the high ground in order to get....
this picture - sometimes standing on the running board just isn't enough
Elephant Seals doing very little
And it seems wherever people gather there are critters looking for an easy meal
Heading in land to Santa Margarita Lake for another night in a KOA cabin
The cabin
Settled in for the night - wish I'd thought of buying some fire wood for the fire pit before the shop closed!
The neighbours - it's even bigger than the last one!
Day 15
The final leg...
Santa Barbara
Malibu
And back at the LAX Hilton all that remains to be done is to give the car back and get on the plane home the next day - it seemed like it was a very long time since I'd left LA, but also like it was over too soon
Edited by BigS on Friday 30th July 09:36
I can't see the pictures here but will read when I get home.
We're doing a similar trip in September but plan to take in San Diego. Is there any reason why you didn't? I'm not entirely sure we need to, and it's 130 miles out of our way when we're going to Vegas afterwards.
I've hired a 'Nissan Xterra or similar' so hope we get an upgrade like you.
We're doing a similar trip in September but plan to take in San Diego. Is there any reason why you didn't? I'm not entirely sure we need to, and it's 130 miles out of our way when we're going to Vegas afterwards.
I've hired a 'Nissan Xterra or similar' so hope we get an upgrade like you.
Matt.. said:
If you're going to make a thread with hundreds of pictures, at least make the effort to make them smaller than ~3mb each!
No one is going to bother reading this if you don't sort it
I've changed them to thumbnails, and made a mental note not to use their suggested forum links again, but they're still not great on the old loading times, I think imageshack is just crap.No one is going to bother reading this if you don't sort it
Arese said:
I can't see the pictures here but will read when I get home.
We're doing a similar trip in September but plan to take in San Diego. Is there any reason why you didn't? I'm not entirely sure we need to, and it's 130 miles out of our way when we're going to Vegas afterwards.
I've hired a 'Nissan Xterra or similar' so hope we get an upgrade like you.
It was mostly due to time that I left out San Diego, 2 weeks (well just over) was the most I could take, I would have loved to have gone for longer and driven out to the Canyon and on to Monument Valley as well, but had to cut it down to what I could fit in.We're doing a similar trip in September but plan to take in San Diego. Is there any reason why you didn't? I'm not entirely sure we need to, and it's 130 miles out of our way when we're going to Vegas afterwards.
I've hired a 'Nissan Xterra or similar' so hope we get an upgrade like you.
You may be lucky with the hire car, the smaller SUVs seemed quite popular out there, so they may run out, I saw a fair few out on the roads and the return lane at Dollar had a few in it too, plus I only remember there being 2 in the car park when I picked mine up, both Suburbans, mine and the one they told me was mine - confused the hell out of me when the boot wouldn't open, but the one in the corner of the car park that I hadn't spotted until then had lit up like a Christmas tree
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