The Wild Wild West

(2 for the price of 1 today, don't miss the first of two instalments below. Also, alot of photos have been uploaded so have a look at them here and here. If I get a chance in the next few days I'll link a few of them to the blog but in the meantime enjoy the read)

Monument Valley is the iconic image of the Wild Wild West (as Emer like to call it) and we were finally on our way to see it. It's on of those endearing images of America and one I was really looking forward to seeing. So much so that I wanted to go in when the park opened at 6am to see the sun rise over all the monuments - I was told that this is the best time to get photos of the park, I hope you agree. We drove to within 10 miles of the park entrance and found a sandy lay-by to park for the last few hours of the night. I set the alarm clock for 5.30 am and off to bed we went.

The alarm clock seemed to go off 10 minutes later but a quick check out the window confirmed that the sun was rising. We got dressed and drove the last few miles up to the entry booth. $6 each and we were in the park. We were given a map and sent on our way. Monument Valley contains those big red sandstone buttresses that are seen in all the cowboy films. To see these you drive around them on a dirt track. It's basically a trail that has been dug out of the desert that vehicles have compacted over time, exposing rock in places. It is said that most vehicles can drive it when it's dry so we reckoned Ita was up to the challenge. The speed limit is 15 mph but I doubt we ever went over 10, crawling at 3-4mph at times. There are a number of viewpoints along the way and the fact that it was so early meant that we had each of them to ourselves and didn't have to worry about holding people up along the route. We had booked horse riding for the afternoon so we went back up to the visitor centre, parked up and went for a nap.

We awoke around midday and cooked some dinner. We then headed down to the horseriding booth to pay for horse riding and (well we assumed anyway) be brought to the horses. It turned out if we wanted a lift down it was another $20 so we declined that offer and took Ita down for tour 2 of the valley. Again, the whole thing rattled for the whole journed but we made it down to the horses safe and sound.Ther are two versions of what happened next:

Emer's Mam's Version:

It was great. Nothing out of the ordinary happened and we returned safe and sound.

The real Version:

We were introduced to our guide for the afternoon. Rob, a Navajo (native Indian) teenager just out of high school, showed us the ropes and introduced us to our horses. I was on Hairy and Emer had JW. It soon became apparant that these horses weren't as well trained as ones in Ireland would be and soon into the ride Rob informed us that the horses in their stables are wild horses that have been tamed (some better than others). They stopped whenever they felt like it sometimes to chew on herbs, Emer's even showed her who was boss early on by rolling her. Also, since this was Navajo territory, there was no such thing as helmets. The trail brought us well off the beaten track and into the desert to other formations not seen on the self guided motor tour throught the park. We saw some natural arches, listened to some Navajo songs been sung under natural arches, viewed some Navajo stone markings, met some wild cows, walked through empty river beds and generally had a wonderful three and a bit hours. Near the end we went for a bit of a gallop and Emer's horse had had enough of her and started acting up. Emer had to hit the deck to avoid being kicked off and she swapped horses with Rob, riding Mohawk back to the trailers. We took our sore and sandy bodies back into the RV and over the bumpy road back out of the park.

Monday brought the next natural feature in the Navajo region - Antelope Canyon. Every year the Colorado River floods and area of the Arizona desert near the town of Page. This water meets a section of rock and finds the easiest path to get through this. What has resulted is a breathtaking section of canyon with curving walls that look different at every moment of every day due to varying amounts of light that penetrate it from above. We paid $3 per person to get into the area where you book your tour for another $25. This brings you through the desert on the back of a modified pick up truck. When I say modified I mean it's had a couple of benches and a bit of a roof welded onto the bed of the truck. Our driver/guide brought us through the 1/4 mile section of the canyon showing us the best places for photos and explaining a little how it occurs. We were then given our own time to go and take photos on the way back. The amount of photographers there jockying for tripod space was unbelievable but when you see the amount of incredible photos that can be taken you understand why. Thankfully on the way back through it was alot quieter than on the way through so we got to setup some photos but an hour really wasn't enough for me. We headed back over the bumpy desert run to the RV and then headed to an RV park close to the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately it had been damaged by fire a couple of years ago and they still hadn't replaced the pool or hot tub and their internet was terrible.

We tidied the RV and did our laundry and other non-fun things that seem to build very quickly and hit the hay. We watched the first episode of season 5 of the wire. For those of you who know the show I am talking about it has really gripped us over the past few weeks - both of us wish this wasn't the last series. The following morning we hit the road before ten in order to get a full day at the Grand Canyon. We drove the hour or so up the highway, went through the entry booth (we bought a annual national parks pass so we no longer have to pay any entry fees into national parks) and headed on to the RV parking lot. Now I have seen numerous photos of the Grand Canyon, both amateur and professional, but nothing can prepare you for the jaw dropping site the first time you look over the rim into the valley below. It is just incredible.

We walked along the rim route for a couple of miles, stopping a good few times to take photos and just soak in the awsomeness of mother nature at work. We stopped in the shade of a tree to have our packed lunch and I had a bit of a wander down the rocks to the edge. The view that I had of the canyon was just amazing and is filed in with those other experiences we have had along the way on the "will never forget" shelf. We took a shuttle bus back to the RV, relaxed for a while and then went into a bar in the hotel to watch the Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets in the first game of the Western Conference Finals. It was especially sweet as we were sitting beside some very vocal Denver fans and I was in my Kobe Bryant shirt. It was only the first game of 7 but a sweet victory none the less. We then hit the road into the darkness towards Vegas.....

Into the West - Heading East

So after returning back into the US safely we started our trek east. First on the list was Carlsbad Caverns, a cave system I have wanted to see ever since they were featured on the Planet Earth series of documentaries (if you haven't seen them yet make sure you put that at the top of your to do list, they are incredible). 900 miles seperate San Diego from Carlsbad so we had quite a journey on our hands. It was Monday evening at this stage and we had planned to go to the caves on Wednesday so we needed to bash through a good few miles.

The first few on the I-10 were like most of what we had done before but slowly the terrain started to rise in front of us and the vegetation became more sparse. Soon we were climbing and reached over 4000 feet elevation. We began to see Joshua Trees, a very exclusive tree that only grows between altitudes of 2,600 and 4,300 feet. Very soon the vegetation was being replaced 

with rocks, some deep red in colour. The interstate cut through some of the mountains and before we knew it we were on the other side and we were greeted by an amazing sight - desert as far as the eye could see and the highway cutting straight through it.

Since it had been a week sice the last one and we had 90 miles to drive we decided to book into an RV park the following day. Which meant we needed to put a big hole in the 900 odd mile trip this evening. So we rolled down the windows, turned up the music and stuck Ita into cruise control. Even though it was 6 in the evening it was still 100 degrees in the desert (around 38 in real temperature). As the miles ticked away so did most remnants of civilisation - it was us, the truckers and the odd petrol station just off the interstate. We were treated to an amazing sunset in our mirrors as we continued east into the desert. What happened next was even more spectacular - a moon rise. About half an hour into darkness (and it gets really dark out in the desert) Emer pointed to the right slightly and asked if that was the moon. Instead of the usual full round white moon, there was a bright yellow eliptical moon which slowly transformed to the usual round white one over the course of a couple of hours as it rose from the horizon. And the miles ticked by. Along the interstate there was a police checkpoint which was manned by border patrol. A couple of questions, a check of our passports and visas and we were on our merry way

into the Arizona night. And the miles ticked by. Deep into Arizona the moon was creating silhouettes of the giant pitchfork cactii in the desert either side of the road. And the miles ticked by. On our trust worthy sat nav we entered rest areas along the route and chose one. And the miles ticked by. Around 500 miles from San Diego we rested our weary eyes (Emer rested 

hers about half an hour before the rest area (After I had driven a couple of 100 miles myself!) in preperation for the remainder of the journey.

We were woken by the alarm at 8am and hit the road again. The cactii were gone, replaced with the odd bush, some thick tufts of grass and alot of sand. The I-10 continued into New Mexico (we lost an hour here with the change of time zone - this will be explained later) and on into Texas where it hugged the Mexican border. Another border patrol checkpoint so. This time we

showed our visas and were requested to exit the vehicle and have a seat while a sniffer dog gave it the once over. No drugs or Mexicans were found on board so we headed on our merry (and hot) ways again. We bid farewell to the I-10 at El Paso and joined the Texan highway network. I thought the interstate was through the wilderness but it was nothing to the Texan highways. The 2 lane highway cut straight through the desert, for stretches of up to 40 miles at a time. Gas got pretty low at one stage, a single gas pump in the middle of nowhere providing relief. This highway continued through Texas and brought us over the Guadalupe mountains in the north of the state. About an hour later we were in Carlsbad, unfortunately the RV park was another half an hour the other side. We eventually arrived after 5pm, 24 hours after leaving San Diego. We did a few things but I was so wrecked from the heat and the drive that I was in bed by 9. I barely even remember putting my head on the pillow.

The follwoing day brought what I had been looking forward to for a long time, Carlsbad Caverns. For anyone who has seen Planet Earth, they know how spectacular they are. For anyone who hasn't, go and watch the caves episode. We started with the natural entrance tour - a self- guided tour that descends 800 feet from the wide opening of the cave a little over a mile of a walk. The change in scenery is incredible as you descend into the darkness. The scale of the various features created by the dripping calcite water are the most amazing I have ever seen. The tour ends at the concession area 800 feet below the ground where you can get water, a small snack or use the restrooms. There is also an elevator here for the fat and lazy to descend into the cave system. From here we went on the Kings Palace ranger led tour. We went through 4 rooms in this tour, each filled with densely populated features. In one of the rooms we all sat down and they turned the lights out to experience complete darkness. The ranger then lit a candle to show the amount of light the person who discovered the cave system had when he was exploring it originally. At the end of this tour we ran back to do the big room self guided tour which closed 10 minutes after our previous tour. This is the most popular tour  - probably because it's free, you can take the elevator to and from it and it is realatively flat. Apart from that, it is an incredible experiance to walk through this massive room. At some parts the height difference between the roof and the floor is in excess of 800ft (that's over 250m to those of use who are normal and use the metric system). At the end of the tour we took the elevator up the 75 storeys and had some dinner in the RV before the bat flight program (or as Mark said to the Ranger the 'Bat Show' and he got pretty offended). 

From April until October (weather dependant) thousands upon thousands of Mexican Free Tail Bats live in Bat Cave in Carlsbad Caverns. And every evening at dusk these bats leave the cave system to go and eat. And they all leave through the natural entrance. At around 7pm a park ranger started giving a talk in the stone amphitheater. During this he talked all about the bats, what they eat, how they go about it, how they breed etc. until the gasps of the school children above us informed everyone that they were starting to leave. Everyone sat in silence as the bats flew out of the cave in a counter clockwise corkscrew direction and into the distance. We stayed and watched for about half an hour until it was getting quite dark. It was a natural spectacle that I will not forget for a long time and made the 900 mile trip worth it. From here we hit the road

north to our next planned stop - Petrified Forest. We drove back along the highway, through Roswell (it was dark and quite forgetful - maybe better during the day) and back onto the interstate system. This time I-40 and we stopped at the first rest area we met.

The following morning we woke late and took our time having breakfast and hitting the road. It was midday before we left and we had a three hour drive ahead of us to get to Petrified Forest. We stopped at a trucker stop and had Laguna Burgers - big half pound mince burgers). As we got close to where we wanted to be we realised it was going to be quite late and we wouldn't get to see what we wanted to see so we headed for an RV park. The RV park was situated on route 66 which we had been driving on/beside for a good few miles. It was nice to drive a bit of it to say we were there but it's a road in a really bad state of repair, some of it is just a dirt track and some of it is totally gone, replaced by interstates. Alot of towns along the way really sell themselves using the route 66 brand and Winslow (where we were staying) was one of them.

We woke early-ish the next morning. I had a chat with the RV park manager to try and get my head around what time zone we were in. The maps tell you once you head west from California you are on Mountain Standard Time. Mountain Standard Time doesn't follow daylight saving time so during the Summer it is the same as Pacific Standard Time. However, the Indians and 

everyone else in Mountain Time (basically not Arizona as far as I can make out) follow Mountain Daylight Time which is an hour ahead all the time. So we basically spent (and will spend) the last (and next) few days losing and gaining an hour.Now having the full day meant that we could see something that I had wanted to see but didn't think we would make - Meteor Crater. It was formed about 50,000 years ago when a meteor struck in the middle of the Arizona desert. It's completely in the middle of nowhere in the flat Arizona desert. As you approach the land starts to rise and when you get out on the viewing platforms it becomes pretty aparant why. There is a unbelievably big hole caused by a rock coming in from outer space. It is the best preserved crater in the world and NASA use it to train astronauts as it so closely resembles a lunar landscape. We spent a while here and then headed on to Petrified Forest.

I didn't quite know what to expect here but it had been recommended to me by a few people before we left. The easiest way to describe it is a park full of fossilised trees. Back in the day (150 million years or so) these logs were being carried by rivers and were deposited. Shortly after a volcanic eruption covered the logs in silica rich ash causing them to fossilise, thus preserving them in the process. They all turned to stone, creating some incredible coloured rocks in the trunks. Over time they split exposing these colours and they lie strewn across the park, hiking trails allowing you to get up and see them. At first I thought they were still wood like as the bark is so well preserved but when you touch them they are all rock. It really messes with the mind for a while. A thourougly enjoyable time was had here and we left the park just as the sun was setting. We hit the road towards our next stop and stopped in a different rest area on the I-40.

Another alarmless start to the day and we hit the road. Next up was Mesa Verde in Colorado, home of the only National Park in the United States created to preserve historic artefacts (all other parks are to protect natural phenomenon). This park is home to the old homes of the Ancestral Puebloans. They lived on top of the hill for alot of the 700 years they spent in the area but near the end of this time the crops didn't grow as well and tribes were fighting and killing for food. This forced the Puebloans to build the cliff homes that are on view in the park to defend themselves. A granny with a stick could defend the places they are so hard to get to. We took the Cliff Palace tour which brings you into the largest of the cliff dwellings. You walk down stone steps in between massive rocks and around the edge of a cliff to access Cliff Palace. And what

greets you is nothing short of extraordinary. A whole vilage was built into the cliff, completely hidden from above. Families lived together in this area for years before the colder climate forced them south. Another thoroughly enjoyable tour (the beauty of national parks is that the rangers can't take tips) to a truly incredible place. We hit the road stopping at a couple of viewpoints on our way out of the park and headed for 4 corners.

4 corners is the only place in the US where 4 states touch. By the time we arrived the area was closed. There was a guy from Belfast there who showed us a hole in the fence where we could go through to go down to the area. We did this (bypassing the booth where you pay - really, you have to pay for everything in the States) and took some photos just as the sun descended. We strolled back up to the RV with a couple of bats flying over our heads and headed into the Wild Wild West for the next adventure..... 

All The Way South

I'm aware that we have fallen a bit behind on this so for those of you that await each update with baited breath I apologise. You will get another one quite soon after this to bring it all up to date. Well, here we go:

So on the second night at the RV park the opposition for the LA Lakers in the Western Conference Semi-Final was finally decided. They were due to play the Houston Rockets with the first game of the series in LA on Monday night. I went online to buy tickets - Ticketmaster provide a service where people with season tickets can sell tickets to individual games if they are not attending. I picked out the tickets I wanted and went to pay but found out I had to have an American Credit Card to purchase them. A few phone calls later and I was in touch with Brian, a friend of Jack's girlfriend. He bought the tickets for me, printed them out and we organised to go and meet him to pick them up.

Brian worked in Long Beach and our next port of call was Huntington Beach so we stopped by on the way and gave him the money and a big bottle of Grey Goose vodka to say thanks. I was really excited but had to contain it as the game wasn't until 7.30 on Monday and it was Sunday afternoon at this stage. We continued on south to Huntington Beach, or Surf City USA as it is known by the locals. We found a parking spot for Ita and strolled down to the beach.

It was early afternoon so there was still a good bit going on. We walked along the beach to the pier past all the beach volleyball players, cyclists, skateboarders and roller bladers to the pier where we passed a good few people fishing all the way to the end. When we walked back to the start of the pier a street performance was going on. We arrived near the end but we still got to see a guy doing a front somersault over 7 people!! We went back to the RV for some dinner and I persuaded Emer to hang around for sunset so we went down to the beach and were treated to a great one. We stayed in Huntington Beach overnight and spent the following morning chilling out on the beach. Once we had lunch it was time to go and see the Lakers. Finally.

After coming so far south we didn't want to have to drive back into LA for the game so we drove a small bit North and parked in Long Beach. The blue line metro goes from downtown Long Beach to right outside the Staples Centre for $1.25 so it was ideal. Finding parking close to the stop proved a little tricky as there was street sweeping starting at 7 in the morning but a little bit of driving around and we found a space on a road with Wednesday morning sweeping and space for an RV to park so we took it.

We grabbed some food, had quick showers and then headed for the train. The metro (a tram over the length of the journey we took it for) took us north through the heart of south LA. And if there is one piece of advice I can give you it is never visit any of it - it's a run down area with nothing going on but windows with bars in front of them. Nonetheless the metro is a good service and it got us to the Staples Centre at 5.30. Doors didn't open until 6 so we had a quick stroll around to see what was going on. There was purple and yellow everywhere and a good few people queueing to get in so we headed back to our door. At 6 they opened and we went in.

We had the usual metal detector check and a quick search of our bag (thankfully quick as they only allow camera lenses up to 3.5 inches long - I had my big long one with me but hid it well). We were then given a free XL lakers t-shirt to wear and make the arena look comletely yellow. A nice touch I thought. We went to check out our seats - they were incredible, well worth the money. We were in line with the basket on the right as you look on TV (where the Lakers play into in the 2nd half), 17 rows up from the floor. We watched the players go through a bit of their warm up routine and then went to do a bit of shopping. I got a Kobe Bryant jersey and a couple of other bits and bobs. We got some food and a couple of $10 beers and before we knew it the national anthem was being sung. And then tip off.

The atmosphere was incredible as I expected it to be for a playoff game. The match we were at was similar to an All-Ireland quarter final in football but they play a best of 7 game series. This was game 1 and the Lakers were favourites for the series. Kobe had been a bit sick over the weekend and started a little slow to let the Houston Rockets take an early lead. They clawed this back and took the lead in the 3rd quarter but the Houston ROckets finished the stronger and ran out 100-92 winners in the end. Yao Ming (the massive Chinese fella) and Ron Artest both played amazingly well for Houston and despite "only" scoring 32 points Kobe had an average game by his amazing standards. He had a couple of incredible moments (including a self pass off the backboard that he scored a slam dunk with) but they were just too few and far between. Despite losing it was an incredible experience which will live with me forever. We got the blue line back and hit the hay.

We woke the following morning to find a parking ticket on our front window. It turned out that it was Wednesday sweeping on the other side of the orad and Tuesday on the side that we parked on. We filed it away and hit the road. Next on the list was Laguna Beach - another picturesque Californian seaside town. We parked in a free parking lot, made some lunch and walked down to the beach for the afternoon. Here we just chilled out, threw some disc and watched the dolphins fishing and jumping out of the water no more than 100 yards from where we were sitting. We strolled through the town with some ice-cream and then rejoined I-5, our old friend from Seattle. This interstate was still going strong and we drove it to Carlsbad.

In this town we went for dinner and had a couple of drinks watching the basketball. Since we saw so much of Laguna Beach we decided to skip the long walk around Carlsbad and hit the road again in the morning. We were due to hit San Diego so booked into an RV park on the outskirts to empty and recharge. On the way to San Diego we drove through La Jolla. It's another nice town but there was nothing that really intrigued us enough to get out of the RV so we kept driving. This enabled us to get to the park relatively early so Emer went online while I prepared the BBQ. After food we went into the TV room and did our kettle bell workout while watching the Boston Celtics beat Orlando Magic. We then got into the hot tub for a while, grabbed showers and watched the second half of the Lakers game (game 2 of the series). Thankfully they won this one to tie the series at 1-1. I managed to stream the last 10 minutes of the Chelsea v Barcelona semi-final 2nd leg which seemed to be all that I needed to see.

The following day had us at the most South Westerly city in the US - San Diego. We had a few things to do in the RV park so we didn't hit the road until lunch time. We headed straight for Pacific Beach, found some parking and just took it easy at the beach for a while. There were alot of surfers out in the water and there is beach as far as you can see both ways. It's a pretty nice area and there is a very good lifeguard presence with them doing patrols in jeeps and having water skis, surf boards and rescue vehicles at every outpost. On the way back to the RV we took a stroll down towards the pier where they have a hotel setup, well a number of 1 bed houses for rent which looked like a nice place to stay. We drove out to the zoo that evening and parked by the entrance to give us a good chance to see the whole place.

For those that are unaware, San Diego Zoo is one of the best in the world (and probably one of the biggest). We had a thoroughly enjoyable day here viewing all the wildlife on show. There really were too many to list so have a look at the photos. We spent the majority of the day here and headed to check out what was around Sea World for parking as we were going there the following day. We had dinner in their car park and ended up going back to Pacific Beach as it was only a mile away and had plenty of parking. We went to "Pacific Beach Ale House" to watch the third game in the Lakers Rockets semi final series. The Lakers won 108-94 to take a 2-1 lead in the 7 game series. We headed back to get a decent nights sleep to be up early for Sea World.

And up we were. We made it to the gates at just after 9 and enquired about the swimming with dolphins program they run. There was space in the afternoon but it was almost $200 per person so we just settled for the behind the scenes tour which was starting at 11.45. We had a couple of hours before this so we went to see "Believe", the Killer Whale show, featuring Shamu (the parks famous killer whale). It was really good, the funniest part being when Shamu swims around the edge of the tank and soaks anyone within 10-15 rows depending how far he fires the water up.

We then participated in our behind the scenes tour. During this we were brought to where they care for animals and do all their testing and rehabilitation. It was really cool to see the dolphins up close and all the work that goes on behind the scenes to make the place tick. We then headed to the Sea Lion and Otter stadium and had some lunch while waiting for the show to begin. The stadium was full about 25 minutes prior to the scheduled start and it became apparant why. A guy came out and started miming TV show intros to the music. It was really good and setup what was a very entertaining show. It contained a number of sketches parodying various TV shows, all involving sea lions. After this we headed over to dolphin stadium for what we expected to be a higher octane show.

And it gave us exactly what we expected. Fast swimming, some flips and high jumps from the dolphins and people in the front few rows getting soaked. Again, a really entertaining show and exactly what we came to Sea World to see. We headed over to the Arctic Area to see some polar sea animals and were treated to a simulated helicopter ride before going into the area. The whole place was done really well to make it look like an Arctic outpost and while walking through there were various viewing areas to see the polar bear, beluga whales and penguins. They cool sea water from the bay before pumping it into the various enclosures which is nice to see. The enclosures are done really well and the animals look well cared for. We finished the day at the shark encounter which culminates in a moving walkway that goes through their massice tank and you get to look up at all the sharks as they swim around. After this we went to the same bar to have dinner, watched some more Basketball and drove downtown to find parking close to the water. As we took the freeway downtown, an airplane was landing in San Diego airport. For anyone who hasn't experienced it the planes fly really low over the freeway to land just past it - a spectacular sight which we were treated to.

The first time at the bar in Pacific Beach I saw an ad saying the Red Bull Air Race was on over the weekend so we went online and got tickets. The tickets were for the SUnday so we got up and headed down to the water and joined all the locals and tourists alike to watch the race. It's basically a stunt pilot race against the clock where the pilots have to manouvere their stunt planes around the course over the water in the quickest time possible. The planes reach speeds of 230 mph and the pilots experience up to 12G forces as they navigate around the course. It was a really fun day and one of those things we just happened to be lucky enough to be in the right city at the right time. Afterwards we strolled around the Gaslamp Quarter, stopping for massive burgers and some more televised basketball along the way. We had to be up at 8am the following morning to avoid getting a parking ticket so we didn't go too mad.

After our early alarm we hit the road. Unfortunately something went wrong with our brakes so we spent a couple of hours getting them repaired. We then stocked up on supplies in the various shops before heading to the outlet malls south of San Diego. We did a small bit of shopping and grabbed some lunch. We were only a couple of miles from the Mexican border so I thought it would be a great idea to head over and see what it is like. Probably wasn't my greatest idea. The quality of life and standard of public services deteriorated rapidly the second we crossed into Mexico. The Sat Nav refused to work as she had no Mexican maps so we drove for about 5 minutes before turning around and joining the massive queue of vehicles to re-enter the USA. Here we had all sorts of vendors trying to sell us stuff before going through two checkpoints (it's alot easier to leave the US than to get back in, we didn't even have our passports checked leaving). The photos will give you an idea of what it was like (up until I was informed I was not allowed to take photos, quite sternly at that). I didn't feel comfortable for one second while in Tijuana and I was quite happy to be back in the US. From here we began our journey East.....

Into and Around LA

Well lets start off with where we left off - we awoke in our bogey RV park and hit the road as soon as possible. We headed down to East Beach and parked after a little bit of searching. Again, it's out of season so even though it was a Sunday it was quite quiet. We walked over the path running parallel to the whole beach, under the incredibly tall palm trees and past the cyclists and down onto the sand. We found a spot and chilled out for a while. There were alot of people playing beach volleyball, others fishing, some sunbathing and even a couple getting married. This beach area was an awful lot less comercialised than Santa Cruz and we had a nice afternoon relaxing. It was nowhere near as warm as Santa Cruz (they had record temperatures that day in Santa Cruz) so we left the beach in the early afternoon and hit the road.

We arrived near Magic Mountain pushing 6pm. We drove up to the entrance to find out all the details about the following morning of fun. It opens at 10.30 until 6 and it's $60 per person. Thankfully we had some Coca Cola in Solvang and the can had a voucher for a free entry when you buy one. We parked a few hundred yards down the road past the hard shoulder in the dirt beside the white picket fence and tumbleweed and hit the hay in anticipation of the following day. And what a day it was!!!!

We got to the entrance just after 10.30am, parked the RV and headed towards the entrance. There was no problem with the can (we even gave our spare one to a Father and his son heading in who couldn't believe it - the father thought we were taking the piss until it actually worked and then was thoroughly grateful) so we got in for half the usual cost and then had pretty much no lines to deal with for the whole day. This meant that we got to go on all the good roller coasters twice. And they had plenty of them. We started off on Goliath, a standard bar over the legs jobbie that had a massive start ramp that descended undergound and just tore around the track up, down and sideways. A brilliant start. After that we went on Colossus. This was a real old school wooden ricketey roller coaster that was quite uncomfortable. Didn't get a second go from us. We then went on Scream which is a leg danglie one where the restraints come over your shoulders. It was good but the track was below so you so it wasn't as good as it could have been. Again only one go of this. Next up was the Batman ride. This had a deadly entrance through the underground of Gotham City. Since there was next to no queues we didn't have time to admire it but it was a fun entrance none the less. The ride was just like scream but the track was above you so you had a real sense of leg dangling action. Load of twists, turns and loops and thoroughly enjoyable.

We then headed through Gotham City to the other Batman themed coaster - Riddler's Revenge. You stand up during this one, your strapped in like the Batman ride but instead of sitting into the restarints you are standing up. Much more twists and turns and loops, to the extent that Emer had to have a quick rest to gather her thoughts (and belly) before the next ride. Which was Deja Vu. An absolutely mental ride. You are seated facing what you believe to be the forwards, then it hurtles you backwards, vertically up in the air. You then fly past all the people in the queue where you got on and through a series of loops and twists and up another vertical section like the very beginning. And then you do the whole thing backwards. Like I said, absolutely mental. After this we took a bit of a break and then headed to the next few rides.

The next one that we went on was Revolution. This was the first ever roller coaster to incorporate a loop the loop. By today's standards it was boring, the whole thing led up to this single loop the loop but I am sure back in the 70's it was a major thrill ride. Next up was Tatsu. Nothing prepared us for how good this was. We strolled up and straight into our "seats" as there was no line. It was similar to Batman in that it seemed to be a leg danglie one but as we pulled the restraints over our shoulders, other ones were coming in around our ankles. It all became clear as just before the ride began we were flipped over so we were now facing the ground and we did the whole coaster in the Superman flying postition. Unbelievably good, and one of the best things I have ever done. Loads of twists, turns and loops but a whole new way to experience it. We obviously did this one twice. We then went onto Viper which was really disappointing. The restraints seemed to be designed for really short fat people and were thoroughly uncomfortable. You go upside down seven times during the ride, but unlike all the other times it was painful and you were just looking forward to the end so you could get off. After this there was only one left in the park - X2. This opened last year and looked amazing so we left it until last for a reason.

And we weren't disappointed. Each person gets strapped into their own "pod". You go up the starting ramp backwards and there is music playing building the tension, laughing at you, telling you how high it is and generally just getting your nerves going. And then you reach the top and slowly start going down. But each pod can move independently so they turn around and you are greeted with a straight drop. What follows is a blur of twists and turns and loops and music and fire and fog and lights as all your senses are totally disorientated. You think you are approaching a loop the loop until your "pod" turns and puts you upside down so you experience the loop completely skew ways and not like your brain expects it to. Whoever designed it is an absolute lunatic and I commend him or her for it. The future of roller coasters... We drove into LA afterwards, had some In N' Out Burger and found a place to park for the night, our bodies were crying out for sleep but didn't quite expect the semi stable surroundings. As we nodded off to sleep our brains were telling our bodies to expect to go backwards off a drop and then upsdie down before being jolted around a couple of times. A strange sleep is being generous to what we had.

We slept in and got up around midday, had the usual breakfast and went about trying to find a bus to bring us downtown. This was alot harder than we expected. Everyone drives a car in LA so nobody uses the bus and therefore knows nothing about the bus schedule. We found a stop, asked the next bus driver how to get downtown and he brought us to the bus we needed to get. Now downtown LA is not like most other downtowns. It has the financial and administrative buildings but very little else. LA is made up of numerous smaller cities over a massive land mass, all connected by numerous highways and freeways. Downtown LA does have city hall which offers unspoilt views of the city from the top floor which you can go up to. It's amazing to look out and just see city sprawl every way you look. After this we strolled up to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, another Frank Gehry designed building with crazy shapes on every corner. We then went and got some info on the bus network which proved to be very useful. We headed back to the RV, did some shopping and then parked close to the NBC studios to get up early and get tickets for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

We were up at 7.30 the following morning and made the short stroll to guest relations at the studio. We got tickets for the show and had a look at who the guests were due to be. We didn't recognise anyone but the following day were people and a band we knew. So we decided to come back again the following morning and go for that show instead. I suppose I should point out that just because you have a ticket it doesn't guarantee entry to the studio, they give out much more tickets than there are seats so that they can guarantee a full house every night. So we headed for Hollywood to have a look for some famous people. First up the walk of fame on Hollywood Boulevard where all the bronze stars of famous actors, singers and rasio personalities are in the sidewalk. It's nothing amazing once you get there - there are a couple of thousand of them and most of them are outside very non-descript buildings and areas. Around the main part of Hollywood Boulevard we saw the Kodak Theater (where the oscars are held), Gaumann's Chinese Theater (where all the big premiers are held and some stars have left their hand and footprints in the concrete. After that there is very little to see, you are constantly hounded by people trying to sell you maps and souveniers and trips of the stars homes.

We went into an office away from all the madness and booked one of these bus tours. It was actually quite enjoyable. We started off by driving up Mulholland Drive and into the Hollywood Hills. Along here we saw massive houses every way we looked, the most memorable were the house from Lethal Weapon 2, Britney Spears (old and new), Denzel Washington, Jack Nicholson, Meg Ryan, John Travolta as well as many others - the list is just too long to put here. At the end of Mulholland we went into Bel Air. I didn't think it possible but the estates grew in size as we entered. First up we passed Harvard Westlake School, made famous as the High School that Will Smith went to in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. It's where the rich send their children to be educated and at $12,000 a year you would like to think that they get that there. Through Bel Air we saw some amazing houses, the ones that stick out were Elton John's, the house from Fresh Prince of Bel Air, the house being built for the Sultan of Brunei and the Playboy Mansion. Here's the photos of the only piece of the mansion that you are able to see from the road, it has massive walls and bushes the whole way around to it to make sure that you can't see in.

We also passed a few estate entrances with security that have a number of houses in them but nobody famous was coming in or out when we were there. After Bel Air we entered Beverly Hills. I don't think I have ever seen so many Bentleys and Rolls Royces in one place before. They were as common as Renaults and Fords are in Dublin. Here we drove down the famous shopping street, Rodeo Drive. It really is like another world, and one we chose to come back to to explore a bit further after the tour. The bus continued through Beverly Hills and headed back to Hollywood along Sunset Boulevard. Here famous nightclub's start side by side with top end restaurants and cheap motels. An odd mix but the street has a bit of character because of it. This street takes on a whole new persona at night though. We were then dropped back to Hollywood, tipped the driver (grrr) and then headed for Beverly Hills. This required a bit of a walk to the bus stop so we sat in the sun and had some lunch first. We then got the bus and hopped off at the edge of Beverly Hills. The money in this area is unbelievable. We passed City Hall which is the building from the Beverly Hills Cop movies. We walked down Beverly Avenue to Rodeo Drive and walked down looking in the windows. As we passed some of them were closed, obviously for a private shop for someone with alot more money than any of us have. We strolled around touching elbows with the upper class and then got a bus back to the RV.

Another 7.30 start for Jay Leno tickets, this time it was busier because of the better guests. We decided that we would need to be outside the studios no later than 1.30 to give ourselves a chance of getting seats at 3pm when ticket holders are let in. We had some time to kill so we drove Ita up to Griffith Observatory. From here there is a great view of the city. We had a look around and decided to come back after the show. We headed back to our parking spot, had some food and joined the queue. The hour and a half wait was quite nerve wrecking as we weren't sure how many seats were available to the public until people on the guest list turned up. In the end there was no need to worry too much as we comfortably got in. We went throught the metal detector, down the hall past all the lighting rig ropes and into the iconic studio. We were toldd to hang on a minute just as we were about to be seated and were then directed to the right. And seated in the front row!! We couldn't believe it, right beside the house band and in front of where the guests come out.

We sat back and watched the studio fill up. At about 20 to 4 Jay Leno came out in his denims and had a chat with the crowd, took some photos and then headed in to get ready. The guy who writes all the monologue then warmed up the crowd with some jokes and threw out some free things - I caught a Tonight Show beach mat which was nice. And then the band started playing, the lights went into TV mode, the applause sign lit up and Jay Leno came out to start the show. The show airs for an hour and it takes an hour to shoot, no retakes, no cuts, nothing. When it breaks for ads, the break is as long as the ads are going to be when it goes out. The house band play during these breaks and they are really good. The first guest on the show was the first contestant voted off American Idol - Matt Giraud. There was a short piece with him and Carrot Top (who is performing in Vegas at the moment) and then Jay did a comedy piece at his desk. After the break the first guest of the night came out - Matthew McConaughey. He looks very young for a 39 year old and Emer noticed how little his forehead moved during the whole interview. 2+2=botox, and lots of it. He was a good guest though, quite entertaining. After him brought Magic Johnson, one of the best basketball players of all time and a home town legend after playing with the Lakers during his distinguished career. He was very good, funny and well spoken. These two interviews formed the bones of the show. Every show finishes with a band playing and this one was no different. A large screen on the other side of the studio lifted and Starsailor played their current hit to finish the show. A brief trailer was shot and then it was all over. The show is all recorded by 5pm and goes out on the East Coast at 11.30 pm (which is 8.30 on the West Coast).

After our brief brush with fame we headed back up to Griffith Observatory to watch the sun go down over the Hollywood Hills. I drove Emer mad taking loads of photos and afterwards we explored the Observatory (which amazingly, the majority of was free). They had some really good exhibits - a tesla coil, a pendulum powered only by the spinning of the earth, a periodic table of elements with a sample of each element in it's respective position and on the roof a really powerful telescope that we could view the surface of the moon through. We then headed to Santa Monica to park and relax on the beach the next day. We strolled down the 3rd Street Promenade and then had a look at the pier and the beach. Again, some of the houses on the beach front were simply stunning. We searched to find a place to park the RV for the night which was difficult as nearly every space had restrictions or meters. Eventually we found one and headed off to sleep.

The morning brought overcast skies and since our water tanks was running seriously low and Ita was in dire need of a recharge we decided to go to an RV park for the day instead. We consulted our directory and chose one in Pomona which was about 40 miles east, still in the heart of LA. The journey brought us along the much fable LA freeways and was quite an experience. The junctions here and like nothing you have ever experienced before. Roads come from nowhere to join and lead off, one minute yosu might be driving on a 3 lane highway, next thing there are 8 lanes and 5 different route options in front of you. And the traffic! There is always traffic on these roads no matter when you are on them. I don't know how people managed this before without Sat Nav's but ours has really earned it's value the last few days. Having a slow 24 foot box on wheels isn't the ideal way to navigate the roads but it is an experience and one that is enjoyable one you get into the lane you need to be. It's an experience that is hard to describe but the few that have done it probably know exactly what I am talking about.

The overcast skies didn't clear so we decided to stay another day at this great RV park. Nice to recharge the batteries and take a quick break before continuing south towards San Diego.