Automotive

Hello everybody!

When I last left you I was getting my bearings in LA, and after reading back over my last post, it seems my opinion of that city has not changed one bit. A bit bright exciting place with a million things to do... if you have endless patience and all the time in the world.
Highlights include: a terrible faux Japanese restaurant that did everything wrong- especially the food. This scarring experience was followed up by one of the best Thai meals Ive ever eaten, at a place right next door to the hostel.
We also had a great night out at a nearby bar- a free gig by California hip-hop maestro Peanut Butter Wolf. After seeing him play a couple of times in Perth, it was great to check him out on his home turf, at a genuinely cool venue.
Also, the quality of light in LA is stunning- you can really understand why it became the world epicentre of film-making...

We bailed on LA a day early feeling mangled- both of us exhausted and with sore throats which quickly evolved into full-blown coughing fits. We quickly made our way to beautiful Palm Springs, a true desert oasis- where we proceeded to sleep, eat, lay by in the pool soaking up sun, and do as little as possible.
We managed to fit in a couple more architecture tours- one a day trip down to San Diego and another day of driving around Palm Springs itself- a haven for Desert Modern houses built in the 50s and 60s. Take a look at the photo set- living in Palm Springs is kind of like living in the Flinstones cartoon, with loads of retro style and palm trees lining every street.

We left Palm Springs much healthier and in higher spirits- the extremely warm weather helped out a lot in that regard. We drove through Joshua Tree National Park and also through the Mojave National Reserve on our way to Las Vegas- both extremely arid yet very beautiful places to visit. What has amazed me about our whirlwind tour of different national parks is how each one really has a unique look, feel and atmosphere to it.
After a couple of wrong turns and a false alarm (where I thought we were WAY off course, but we ended up being on an even better road closer to our destination) we made our way into Las Vegas, once again meeting up with our merry band of travellers who had booked in earlier that day.

Las Vegas is different to what I has in mind. At once much bigger and broader than I had expected, it is also much more disney-fied... Everything is so clean and polished and... constructed... and yet there is less outright sleaze than I had expected. The strip really is like a giant amusement park: where there are always interesting characters wandering the streets, people walk in public drinking beers and giant margaritas at all times of the day and night, and there is always someone trying to sell you overpriced merchandise.
Our first attempt at wandering the strip during the daytime was quickly cut short due to the ridiculous heat- we ended laying by the pool at another hotel until the late afternoon.
A couple of big nights and a lot of neon later, we were again ready to move on to some rest and quiet. We managed to squeeze in a day trip to Death Valley (one of the driest and hottest places on the planet) and also out to Hoover Dam- which surprised me with its beautiful art deco architectural stylings.

We are now staying in Flagstaff near the Grand Canyon, and have spent the day exploring the South Rim. Flagstaff is another lovely small university town, where I would love to spend a week exploring the town and meeting some locals... but we are heading back to Vegas in the morning, and then catching a plane to New York City!
We are in NYC for almost two weeks, and it will be so nice to relax and have a stable home for a while- to be able to explore at a better pace and try to take in every aspect of such a massive city.
Its also just over a week until I head to Rhode Island for the transformers convention... Weve been so busy travelling Ive forgotten to get excited about that bit

Please take some time to check out the photos on my flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/legham/ I haven't had the chance to put many descriptions yet, but they say a picture is worth a thousand words...

-Liam

On Monday morning we packed up our ever-increasing bags of gear, left our 5 person hostel room (which was beginning to smell quite ripe due to miminal ventilation over 4 days and many different room-mates) and picked up our hire car. Luckily navigating back to our hostel was easy, and I was familiar with the streets we had to take- although I was pleasantly surprised that driving on the right wasn't so difficult after all. Here we are almost a week later and it feels as natural as driving on the left

We headed out of San Francisco over the Golden Gate bridge, stopping to take photos and walk out a short way. Our friends Mel and Fi rode over on bicycles, so we met them at the other side, chauffering our still-recovering resident cripples Caz and Layla to meet them on the other side in beautiful Sausalito. It's amazing how such an idyllic small town place like Sausalito can exist so close to a big dirty urban centre like San Franciso, it was like a little hideaway...

After saying goodbye to our fellow travellers (who were staying on an extra day and driving down the coast) we headed inland to Yosemite. One thing I've really come to appreciate while travelling are recommendations... whether it's food, shopping, or things to see- every place that we've checked out on a personal recommendation has blown us away. Well, it's mainly the food actually- after a day of walking around and building an appetite, there's nothing better than getting enormous servings of extremely tasty local fare at excellent prices. San Fran was almost exclusively a 2-meal-a-day stay, since we'd eat such huge lunches, or save ourselves for huge dinners.

Anyway, our Yosemite accomodation was no exception to the recommendation rule; the beautiful Yosemite Bug hostel located about an hours drive outside the park. Thanks Brie! We took the opportunity to stock up at a local grocery store and make ourselves a massive homecooked meal consisting of 2-inch thick steaks, grilled vegies and a giant salad. Going a week without a homecooked meal really makes you appreciate fresh food We've done really well in terms of food so far, probably eating more fresh vegetables and fruit than I would at home.

Unfortunately for us, the one day we had in Yosemite was miserable, against all weather forecasts. Our intended drive to the very top of the mountain was interrupted by the clouds clinging to the peak- driving became near impossible. We went back down into the valley and settled for some short walks. The next day as we were leaving the hostel, the sun was shining and the sky was clear

The next couple of days were a blur of driving and delirium- Sonia had managed to get sick again, and spent a few hours in Santa Cruz holed up in the hostel with a fever while I wandered the town in search of ginger and lemon to cook up some sore-throat remedy.
Santa Cruz had a great laid-back vibe, and another brilliant hostel. Hostelling International is truly a great organisation, and all the hostels have a very welcoming and homely atmosphere.
The next day we drove Highway 1 down Big Sur and for the first time i felt really homesick for the landscape of Australia. The winding coastal drives reminded me so much of the southwest and the natural beauty of Oz.
After 4-5 hours of winding roads, the effect of the constant turning and change of speed was having an affect on both of our stomachs, heads and temperaments. Luckily the highway eventually levelled out into a coastal plain, making the drive into San Luis Obispo much more bearable.

SLO was another area small town, and we rocked up just in time for the weekly Farmers Market, which turns the main street into a street party with market fresh fruit and veg, live local bands, tasty local food stalls and lots of fun things to look at. Since we were both feeling quite retched by this stage, we cooked up some more ginger tea for the next days' drive and had an early night.
We set off at 6am the next morning for the trip into Los Angeles- we were told that the trip could blow out to 4-5 hours, and we had to meet our friends at lunchtime for an architectural tour of LA by another friend's mother who lives in the area. We made great time, and the edge-of-seat freeway driving I'd heard about turned out to be true, but we managed to scrape through.

LA definitely has a lot of character, but in many ways it's an urban nightmare. It's jut so spread out over such a massive area, and traffic is horrendous. It's like what I imagine Perth could slowly turn into if they just keep building low-density housing and more freeways, pushing everything out further and further. We did a great architectural tour; visiting the Eames case study house, Eames office and Edgemar arts centre in Venice, then onto the Getty Centre- taking in a drive down Sunset strip through Hollywood and Beverly Hills on the way. But to spent almost 4 hours driving to get to all these places wore me out to a point of sleep-deprived exhaustion, especially when so much of it was spent stuck in freeway traffic and trying desperately to stay behind our guiding car when other drivers (mainly in the car by themselves chatting away on cellphones) insisted on cutting in.

We crashed early while the other girls headed out for the night, and managed to sleep through the loud music and all-night shenanigans happening at this hip hostel in Hollywood.

I'm struggling to upload photos at the moment- the computers alternate between being CD-less and USB-less- but will try and get some more up ASAP.

Have been thinking of you all fondly! Lots of love.
-Liam