DISNEYLAND – THE ORIGINAL

We’re posting in flashback from England again. This is our last post about the USA. Our last day was spent at Disneyland and what a fantastic way to end the trip this was.

Disneyland was the brainchild of Walt Disney, wanting to create a place where children and adults could have fun together. The other reason for its existence is the fact that the general public wanted to meet Mickey and Minnie and all the other wonderful cartoon characters. After a lot of hard work by many people, the most by Walt himself, and for the cost of $17 million the park opened on July 18, 1954. Although, the first day was an absolute disaster, dubbed Black Friday forever. LA was going through a heat wave and the recently laid tarmac melted as people were walking on it. The plumber couldn’t complete the water fountain installation meaning there was no water for people to drink. Counterfeit tickets were created meaning 30,000 instead of 15,000 guests turned up and the catering was insufficient. To top off all that there was a gas leak causing the shutting of half the park. All in all a disaster but in the days to follow all was sorted and it has been a success story ever since.

It really is a place to have fun with children, even big ones like us. We thoroughly enjoyed a day and night of wonder looking around and riding as much as possible. It is always packed with people so a lot of time is spent in queues but you get there in the end. Half the fun we had in the day was watching little children light up in wonder as a favourite character would pass, especially during the daily parade, at this time of year Christmas themed. We loved Mickey’s Toon Town and Fantasyland, getting lost in these make believe worlds.

We went home to rug up for the evening and to eat dinner and then headed back in for the night. The lights were just gorgeous creating the magical atmosphere that Disney is famous for. We were treated to a spectacular show called Fantastica which is the dream world of Mickey Mouse projected onto a misty water screen and includes appearances of lots of wonderful characters. Between shows we fitted in a our last few rides and in our opinion the best rides in the park. The New Orleans style haunted house was just the right amount of spooky and we loved the Indiana Jones Adventure ride, although our absolutely favourite was the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The fireworks were just spectacular and a very fitting end to our time in the USA. We all decided that as much as we had really enjoyed our Disney adventure we would not plan a holiday around it, it was just good to do as a part of our LA adventure. Universal Studios we felt was a much better adventure along the theme park line with much better rides for us adults, a win to Florida.

Well, this was the last night for our USA adventures as we settled down to a lovely hotel stay, free from our Wyndham rewards, and woke to do our final pack. We had talked our way into a late check out at 2pm so perfect for our then trouble free trip to the airport to drop off the car. Alamo is a rental car company I would recommend to anyone, they have been a trouble free experience and have gone out of their way to make it so. We have completed 13,100 miles of travels through this amazing country of natural wonders, big cities and very interesting people. Time to return to Blighty to see our family before returning to Australia so do stay tuned for more fun to end our world adventure, or part of it at least.

We had a trouble free flight and were met by Graham right on time, helped by following our flights progress on the good old iPad. It is a bright but cold sunny day and we enjoy the last minute views from flight over England of the green fields and hedges. Back on the ground we spend our time catching up on what has been happening over the last 3 months and reliving some of our adventures. The Bells welcomes back with the Christmas lights shining and fire glowing bright, just gorgeous. It is so good to be back.

Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album DISNEYLAND.

HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES AND BEVERLY HILLS

We’re now back in England getting ready to spend another wonderful Christmas with family. This post is about the rest of our time in Los Angeles, Hollywood and Beverly Hills up until our last day in the USA at Disneyland.

So, what else did we get up to? Next stop was Hollywood where we spent most of an afternoon at the Hollywood Museum that is housed in the Max Factor Building. Yes, you are right, this is the building purchased by Max Factor in 1928 and eventually opened as the place of business and creation by the man himself in 1935. Hollywood’s ‘make up king’ was considered the father of modern “make-up”. Born in Poland, Max Factor became the beautician/make-up artist to Russia’s Czar Nicholas II and his family. After immigrating with his family to the United States in 1908, he fulfilled the American Dream. Through his innovative ideas, and hard work, Factor built a cosmetic empire. From Hollywood royalty to housewives of America, Max Factor’s stylistic genius changed our vision of beauty. He created silver screen gods and goddesses as well as a new look for the everyday woman. I cannot imagine that there would be any woman who has not had a Max Factor item in their make up bag at some point. This is the place where it all began.

Max was a pioneer that recognized that the make up and skin tones must match the hair colour, something especially important once the camera is rolling. He was the person who made Marilyn Monroe blonde and Lucille Ball a red head and proceeded to create the makeup to suit. He is also the creator of lipstick. Where would we be without this amazing man? The most bizarre thing to see is his beauty calibrator. Max invented this scary-looking machine to aid in the perfect application of makeup. The contraption helped identify the areas of a person’s face that needed to be enhanced or disguised. The beauty micrometer became a huge hit in the movie industry. It actually looks more like a sophisticated object of torture and apparently ended up being used in horror movies. Not his greatest success but you have to admit he went to all sorts of lengths to get the perfect ‘look’ for the women, and men, of the world.

It is a fabulous Hollywood Regency Art Deco building that greets you with the gorgeous white and rose marble lobby complete with chandeliers and gold leaf. On this floor one can browse through the original make up rooms designated by hair colour. There are four floors of photos, memorabilia, horror, costumes and so much more from days of old and modern movies. It was a pleasure to be lost amongst all these treasures.

We are lucky enough to be in town for a movie premiere for Inherent Vice, so we spend a couple more hours just wandering around Hollywood Boulevard, soaking in this surreal world and checking out the stars on the pavement, that make this the Hollywood Walk of Fame, before securing our spot outside Hooters opposite the TCL Chinese Theatre, hoping it is the one that will give us the best view of the stars. We are not disappointed as the evening unfolds and we get to see the stars, our favourites being Reece Witherspoon, Jena Malone from Hunger Games fame and Maya Rudolph from Bridesmaids fame. What a fabulous day in down town Hollywood.

Another day is spent touring around and exploring Beverley Hills, Rodeo Drive (just gorgeous but a little out of the adventure budget) and the Hollywood Hills. No more stars spotted on this day. In daylight this is not really that spectacular, it does tend to sparkle a bit more in the night. You can see lots of big gates to big properties but privacy is the issue here, and who would expect anything less. The views over LA are great from up on the hill but it is just a sprawling urban mass with a surprisingly small high-rise district. We pop into the centre of town to the Town Hall and are able to pop up to the 27^th floor that offers a wonderful view of the inner city and surrounds. All in all we soak up as much as we can before we head back in the atrocious traffic to get to our beds. We all decide that unless we were to be stars we would not want to live and commute in this city, it would drive you absolutely crazy tackling the traffic on a daily basis.

Time is running out very quickly now but we have one more adventure planned for out last day and night, a trip to Disney Land. We have done all the packing and are moving into a 4 and ½ star hotel right at the gate so we will have a fantastic day of adventure and childhood fun followed by a lovely evening before we head off to the airport tomorrow. We’ll tell you all about it later.

Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES AND BEVERLY HILLS.

LAKERS IN LOS ANGELES

We have been making our way to LA for this specific day for a very special reason. We have tickets to a Lakers game tonight. We spend our day sorting out our plan of attack for between now and the end of our journey in the US on the 14th, accommodation, what we want to see and experience, getting in supplies and generally doing the house keeping and taking a little time to rest before the big night.

Off we go into the heart of LA to the Staples centre. The traffic is horrendous causing tense moments as the minutes tick past, even though we know we have left ourselves plenty of time. We are just as excited to see the venue as the game. This is a state of the art venue lit up to thrill and excite and we are excited. We find our seats, way up high, and look down with anticipation wondering why there are so many seats vacant. This does not last for long as people suddenly start to fill nearly all the seats, a great crowd of fans. The game is about to begin and the players hit the court.

On a sombre note, during the warm up the Lakers players are wearing black T shirts printed with ‘I Can’t Breathe’ in support of a young black unarmed man, Eric Garner, tragically chocked to death by a police officer whilst being arrested for suspicion of selling individual untaxed cigarettes, his last words shown on CCTV video being ‘I Can’t Breathe”. Another recent case in the news is the death of another young man, Michael Brown, shot and killed by police while unarmed and holding his hands up. It seems that in both cases there was a felony committed and both seemed to be resisting arrest, although neither deserved death. In both these cases the officers involved have been cleared of any wrongdoing. This has caused hot debate in the news during our travels and there is a growing protest amongst high profile sporting identities, black and brown communities and across all sections of society in general. Some of the reports I have seen highlight the need for change on how the young community and the police view each other and how both need to reflect that the police are there to protect the community and neither is an enemy to the other.

Earlier in our trip I met a woman serving in a remote US Post Office who was a victim of crime, her police officer son having been killed by a young man running from a crime, eventually caught and now serving a jail sentence. These incidents highlight an ongoing issue that, by all reports, is in a very heightened state of conflict at this moment in time. I do not presume to know enough about any of these issues to comment, and we all know how the media inflame these situations, but we hope for a peaceful resolution and better understanding on all sides. Understanding cannot be reached overnight and requires years of education and reconciliation, acceptance and a desire on all sides to live within the law, respect ones self and each other and each other’s property. Is this achievable in any country in the world? I hope so.

Watching the warm up is fun and they seem to not miss a shot as they practice, especially Kobe Bryant. The crowd erupts into what will be a continuing hub of excitement as the Lakers take on the Sacramento Kings. Game on, and the Kings are off to an early lead that the Lakers spend the entire game trying to catch, sometimes levelling but always dropping back again. The crowd is enthusiastic to say the least and they are very vocal when certain players miss their shots. We are impressed by the actual presence of an official Lakers band that play great music fitting to the moment getting all the fans cheering on their favourite team.

During the game we are reminded that Bryant is getting closer and closer to overtaking Michael Jordan to becoming the third highest points scorer of all time behind Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. These four giants of the game are the only players to have scored over 32,000 points. Tonight is not the night but with only 31 points now required the next game is going to be crazy, sadly it is not a home game, tragic for the fans (Note, next game completed and now only requires 9 points but it’s still an away game next). This guy is awesome to watch, poetry in motion, not showy or flash, just brilliant and has an impact on the game as soon as he steps on the court. We are so glad we have had the chance to see him in person. How far will he go up the points ladder in his career and will he catch Kareem on 38,387 or Karl on 36,928. It is a big ask for this 6’6” 36 year old, who has played basketball professionally since he left High School and always for the Lakers. I feel it is more likely that he will retire a champion and give his battered bodied a rest. Good luck Kobe, we will be watching closely to see how far you will go.

Also on offer to all the fans is free Taco’s if the Lakers win the game and the Kings are kept under 100 points. At the last break we decide together that even if they win it would be highly unlikely that the Kings would not score 100. WRONG. Lakers come up with only minutes to go winning the game 98 to 95. Very exciting to say the least, and not only because we get free tacos!

Game over it is time to leave the stadium. Here is where we have to congratulate the efficiency of the staff at this venue. We have been to many sporting events, concerts etc. and crowd control is always an issue. Not at Staples. It was quite magical how a large number of people were ushered effortlessly out into the street and beyond, all receiving their taco vouchers, within seemingly minutes of the end of the game. Congratulations Staples.

We linger on outside to get photos with the bronze statues of some great sporting heroes, boxer Oscar De La Hoya, hockey star Wayne Gretzky, basketball stars Kareem and Magic Johnson and Jerry West, and long time broadcaster for the Lakers, Chic Hearn. There seems to be plenty of room out there for at least one more sporting giant, good luck Kobe. Our evening is coming to an end as we soak up the atmosphere and the lights of LA. Sadly it is quite a long drive home but at least at this time of night it is a steady flow. What a fabulous start to our LA experience.

Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES AND BEVERLY HILLS.

JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK

Our airbed has deflated overnight for the second time, must have a slow leak so lucky this is the last time we intend to camp out. Off to an early start, made even earlier by going back a time zone, we head off to the other side of Lake Havasu to see the Parker Dam. This is an interesting structure that is not that large but has created so much. On crossing over to this side of the Lake we are back in California and we are in for a treat, a wonderful scenic route through the rolling hills and steep volcanic mountains.

We are warned of the presence of burros and sure enough within a short distance we have our first wildlife encounter. A mum and offspring are waiting on the edge of the road and come right up to the window of the car as we slow to pass. Stopping to take photos like any good tourist we are an annoyance to a local driver. The Burros that inhabit this region are literally cast offs. They were brought to the area as hard workers during the mining boom in 1858. This short-lived boom was then accompanied by the arrival of the train leaving nothing for the burros to do so they were set free. They have adapted to this harsh environment quite easily, their ancestors having evolved in the harsh North African deserts. We see mainly grey coloured burros with some leg baring but also spot a white one and some black ones. The babies are just so cute, would love to have seen them when new born. Apparently their numbers are kept in check by monitoring the vegetation, once showing signs of overstocking the burros are offered to the public for adoption. Seems a good working program and it is lovely to see these friendly critters along our way.

We arrive at our destination for today, Joshua Tree National Park, quite early, the bonus of a leaking airbed and that extra hour earned. We like this travel back in time but wonder how it is going to hit us when we make the big journey in the opposite direction back to Perth. I think we should all just keep going anti clockwise making life just that little bit longer.

Back to Joshua Tree National Park. Having already experienced the weird and wonderful shapes of the Joshua Tree, thought to have been named by the Mormons as it symbolized to them the arms of Joshua stretching toward the promise land (we relate more to the Dr Seuss analogy), back in Death Valley we had thought that if we ran out of time we could give this Park a miss. What a mistake that would have been! This is a diverse environment where two different deserts meet, the higher elevation of the Mojave desert, famous for the Joshua Tree, and the lower elevation of the Colorado desert, part of the greater Sonoran desert. These two different eco systems come together to form such a rich and wonderful landscape. It is believed that people have inhabited this area for about 5,000 years, from the time of the Pinto Culture through to the miners, homesteaders and ranchers, all leaving evidence of their occupation, some of which can still be viewed throughout the park. This park is home to a surprisingly large and diverse range of plants, bird life, reptiles and wildlife all surviving in the harsh elements of the desert.

We start our visit entering from the south, the Colorado Desert end, stopping at yet another Visitors Centre to grab our last map and valuable advice on how best to see the wonders of this park. We take a couple of short hikes to see one of the five oasis in the park, home to the towering Desert Palms so wonderful in such a harsh world, and also to see a most extraordinary plant called the Teddybear Cholla Cactus; it looks cuddly but certainly not one to get up close too with its sharp needle like spines. There is an area easily accessible which is a veritable sea of these interesting cacti. In the south of the park we also see the Silver Cholla, both are a quite spectacular and different. The south side is a more low level vegetation and gives the feel of the arid world that early inhabitants endured.

As we move northwest, we move into the Mohave side of town. The Joshua trees here are quite large and it is incredible that they can reach this size with the lack of water. They really are a unique tree and in this park there are so many to greet the eye. This end of the park is also a visual wonder because of the rocks. At one time this must have been a violent world of upheaval as the earth pushed and exploded leaving piles of granite rubble in all sorts of shapes and forms. Time and the erosion of wind and water have rounded off the rocky and craggy landscape to form some of the most spectacular and diverse scenery one is likely to see. This park is famous for its perfect rock climbing and is always full of climbers doing their thing. We take a few hikes out, and sure enough, nearly every straight up wall is inhabited by a climber. These are not like the serious climbs up in the mountains, such as Yosemite but I am sure they are still great fun.

We head to one of the highest vantage points in the park at Keys View atop the crest of the Little San Bernardino Mountains, providing panoramic views of the Coachella Valley and as far away as Mexico, and we are lucky enough for it to be a clear day and can see Signal Mountain. Below us we have spectacular views of the shinning Salton Sea, which is 230 feet below sea level, and around us the mountain ranges of Santa Rosa, Indio, San Jacinto Peak of the Peninsular Ranges and the San Gorgonio Mountain topped with snow at 11,500ft. WOW. We are looking over a section of the San Andreas Fault and all its work over millions of years. It truly is a wonderful view. We then head out to the Barker Dam and see that it is just a puddle now after the years of drought. On the rocks one can see water level marks of days gone by and we try to visualize what this area would look like with all that water. Our long day is coming to an end and it is time to leave this fantastic environment.

We are in luck again and as we traverse through the last part of the park we come across a Desert Kit Fox, a rare creature that calls the park home. He is happy to stare at us as we stare right back at him and take photos of this cute little fellow. We stop to chat with a Ranger and ask about the effects of the drought upon the park and its inhabitants. We are advised that all species are adapting to the dry conditions but that there are some losses. Sadly one of the most effected species is the Joshua Tree, apparently if the lack of water is a permanent situation the tree could become extinct within 200 years. This information is quite shocking really, more evidence that we must see what we can while it is still here, and while we are here, for everything changes eventually. Lets hope for a break in the drought and big falls of rain this winter.

Well, this is the end of our National Park journey within the USA. What a journey it has been. We are working on a list of all that we have seen and how we rank these wonderful treasures, be sure to watch the blog for this post. We pop into Palm Springs for a quick look and discover the most enormous wind farm with more turbines than we have seen through Europe, UK and USA put together. This is the San Gorgonio Wind Farm and it is here because of its unique location in the valley that has fantastic winds funneled by the mountains as they rush toward the desert, though tonight there is hardly a turbine moving. This farm is the oldest in the US, built in the 1980’s, and is a history lesson in itself. You can literally see the development of the turbines as the old and new stand together to form a sea of man made structures. There are actually 2,700 turbines producing enough power to run 300,000 homes, three times more power than Palm Springs requires. It is quite a sight to see. Darkness has descended as we hit the highway to join an extraordinary amount of traffic. Tonight we will sleep in the sprawl of Los Angeles.

Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK – CALIFORNIA.