Brunch with the Fields

On Sunday we took the train out of the city to Summit in New Jersey. Back in New Zealand I'd sent a postcard to the family in NJ who I spent some time with (back in the 80's!) being their au pair, saying that we'd be in the New York area in September and did they want to meet up. Anyway, Scott (the father) got in touch and we invited us out to their place for Sunday brunch.

So here we were, the train taking us past towns that I recognised from my time there and Scott was waiting at the station, not looking very much older despite the years that have sped by.

We had a lovely time, a delicious brunch and really enjoyed meeting up and sharing stories with Scott, Nancy and the 'boys' - all grown men now of course, with the exception of Christopher who was away for the weekend.

Thank you Scott, Nancy, Andrew, Matt and Tim!

An interesting scene awaited us back in Harlem. We came out of the subway and there were police vans and NYPD everywhere. We were only about a block away from the hostel when we finally asked a policeman what was going on. He told us it was the aftermath of 'Africa' day (actually it turns out it was the African American Day Parade - the largest in the US) and to go back to our hotel immediately. Then he repeated it several times in such a way that we did exactly as we were told.

Orlando

We arrived in Orlando on Friday night. Luckily we had somewhere to stay, despite me. I'd booked a hotel weeks ago, but when I went in to check the reservation it wasn't there so I'd clearly made the whole thing up in my head. Cliff found another place that looked better than the original place and for cheaper so it was all good.

We had a good five nights in Florida, we didn't go to Disney (no stand against commercialism, just been there lots before) but we did visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal. They really have made a good job of it, right down to the butterbeer.

Later in the week we went to Universal Studios (Simpsons ride, Jaws - still scares the life out of me and a huge rainstorm which made us look like we'd taken baths with our clothes on).

We went back to Winter Park and visited the farmer's market and Petebrooke where they do really good chocolate covered popcorn and freezer truffles (still trying to work out that recipe).

We played mini golf next to the baby crocs on International Drive. And ate lots of salad all over town.

Vasquez Rocks

You may recognise Vasquez Rocks from Bonanza or The Flintstones. Or probably Star Trek - the episode 'Arena' where Kirk is fighting the alien Gorn. We drove north out from LA, stopping for lunch at a tasty Panera Bread on the way. We started making our way up the jagged sandstone rocks - only Cliff & Liam making it to the top. We then took a short hike around the base, looking out for snakes and mountain lions. We didn't see any.

LA

First stop was the La Brea tar pits. We had a good look around the museum and surrounding park and tar pits.

Then it was over to Hollywood for lunch in a huge mall that was just a car park when we last came, passing good old Kermit on the way.

Onto Grauman's Chinese Theatre to have a look at the footprints. Liam had been there before but he was only 9 months old so it was worth a return visit.

Here's Liam posing by his own star - just waiting for it to be engraved...

Then, just to be jolly, we drove over to the Hollywood Cemetary. It's a beautiful place with some of the most stunning gravestones. Johnny Ramone's was pretty impressive.

Finally, we went over to Randy's Donuts, and although my preference remains with Krispy Kreme, you've got to admire their advertising.

A thoroughly enjoyable day, despite following the tourist track.

Green Day

We could only get hold of one ticket for this, so Cliff and Liam went to the dollar movies (yes, every movie a dollar; they watched two - Karate Kid and Shrek) and I went to see Green Day and AFI at the Irvine Ampitheater (for a bit more than a dollar). It's an outdoor venue, it was warm, the sound was great, they played for 6 minutes short of three hours (always get your money's worth with this lot) and they were superb. They always get people up on stage to sing, etc but at one point Billie Jo gave away the guitar he was playing to someone from the crowd. Here's the setlist. and the review from the local paper.

Thanks to the LA Times for the picture - I was a bit further back!

Scream for me Long Beach!*

*apologies to Iron Maiden for borrowing the quote

On Monday night we had tickets for the American Carnage tour at Long Beach arena - Slayer, Magadeth and Testament. I watched amused at the rather odd mosh pit; a swirling mass of people just running around it circles. And right in the middle a guy in a wheelchair giving as good as he got during Testament's set.

Megadeth played the Rust in Peace LP. But as I said to Cliff; Dave Mustaine does need to come out of his shell a bit and become a shade more confident!

I really enjoyed Slayer's Raining Blood and Angel of Death. Here are the set lists for Slayer, Megadeth and Testament.

The Emmys

It was the Emmys on Sunday so we (at my bidding; you can imagine how enthusiastic Cliff and Liam were about this) headed over to the Nokia Theater to see if we could spot any of the cast of Lost. Oh god, I've just realised how stalky I sound. I had them pegged for a least a win for Matthew Fox, but they didn't come away with any awards. Very disappointing. Anyway, I got lots of pics of overdressed people getting out of limos (bearing in mind it's only 4pm) - some nice dresses though. Although at least I didn't go to the extent of this lot!

Watching the ceremony on tv back at the hotel, I realise that host Jimmy Fallon is pretty unfunny. And to top it off he does a bad impression of Billie Joe Armstrong.

Joshua Tree, big dinosaurs and free fireworks

Liam was feeling much better, so we drove out from Palm Springs to Joshua Tree National Park. We drove a loop through the park, starting at Joshua Tree and ending at Twenty Nine Palms. We encountered magnificent scenery all the way through and we also went down to the Cholla (pronounced 'choy-a) Cactus Garden - not really a garden, just a huge expanse of cacti waiting to pounce. No joke; here's a report on Tripadvisor: 'I SLIGHTLY brushed by one (did not even feel it) and a piece of cactus broke off and grabbed onto the inside of my lower leg (through pants and hiking socks) and left about 20 red welts, also the only way to get the piece of cactus off of my leg was for my husband to kick it off with his hiking boot as he could not touch it. The spines have microsopic barbs at the end which make it really difficult to remove.' - we didn't get too close after reading that!

We also kept seeing lots of little balls at the side of the road and when we stopped to investigate, found they were actually some kind of desert squash or pumpkin.

Heading east towards Los Angeles, we passed by the two giant dinosaurs at Cabazon. Built by Claude Bell in the 1960's to attract people to his diner, there's a small museum in the belly of the apatosaurus selling tacky souveniers. There's also a T Rex with a slide down it's tail, which was only partially completed before Bell died in 1988. He had planned a mammoth too. The new owner is using the dinosaurs as a platform for his creationist viewpoint and aims to transform the Cabazon Dinosaurs 'from tourist stop to place of worship'. Mmm.

Arriving in LA with no place to stay (we were a day early and our booking for Newport Beach wasn't until Sunday night) we parked by a hotel to get some free wifi to book something online. Turns out we were literally the other side of the wall to Disneyland (not a planned stop, as we intend to go to at least one theme park in Orlando) just about 9.30pm when the fireworks start. So we sat searching for a hotel (plenty to choose from around there) whilst oohing and aahing at the display. We ended up staying just around the corner at a hotel that had a special light in the room that displayed the night sky on the ceiling when the lights went out.

Palm Springs

On the day we planned to leave Phoenix we noticed that Liam's lymph glands were really swollen and coupled with his complaints that he was finding it hard to swallow, we headed for the nearest clinic. $175 later we had a diagnosis of Strep Throat and a $58 prescription for some antibiotics. Prescription filled and having loaded up the car with plenty of fluids, we headed to Palm Springs, California. Initially we had planned to spend one night here, but with the doctor's orders for Liam to rest, that's just what we did; ending up spending four nights, not doing very much at all.

Palm Springs is amazingly hot - 114 degrees. I had imagined the town to be quite small, but it seems to have merged with lots of the other places surrounding it (Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert), so you do end up driving for miles to get anywhere. It has lots of palm trees, as you'd expect and lots of golf courses. And a penchant for naming roads after it's famous residents - Bob Hope Drive, Frank Sinatra Drive, Gerald Ford Drive - you get the idea. It was great to just hang out and recharge our batteries a bit.

Happy Birthday Liam!

Well, where did those 12 years go?! I'll let Liam tell you about his day:

Well, I had a very good birthday. I woke up and wasn't feeling too good. I received two books (about Magic), a tripod for my video camera that I got a few days ago (it was an early birthday present as we were going to the Grand Canyon and I wanted to take some pictures) and a notebook to write my ideas in. I also got lots of cards from relatives that mum had carried around with her for the last couple of months.

We went for luncheon at the Hard Rock Cafe which was very nice. We sat under a blue shirt worn by Elvis Presley and the manager gave me a Hard Rock Cafe badge when he found out we were from so far away and it was my birthday. It's the badge that only staff get to wear. Since it was my birthday the waiter also brought me dessert for free.

After lunch we went to see Dispicable Me, it was a funny film; although some parts were funnier than others. All in all, a fantabulous day.

Sedona and Phoenix

Leaving Flagstaff and after a bit of a diversion where we thought we'd missed the road to Sedona, we finally reached it. We were really glad we persevered because it's a beautiful place; lots of red rock and earth and known for it's spiritual and metaphysical pursuits. After going up to look at the church carved into the rock - the Chapel of the Holy Cross - we wandered around for a bit in the searing heat, looking for some food (hunter gatherers, us) and after finally eating at about 3pm, we headed onto Phoenix, with a quick stop at the UFO store (sadly closed) who offer UFO tours and sell a good line in bumper stickers.

I'm sure that Phoenix is a lovely city, but it's so hot that you don't actually see anyone on the street; they're all inside with the air conditioning. We arrived at the motel and turned down the first two rooms offered to us because they were dark and dingy and despite being 'non smoking' rooms absolutely stank of smoke. Third time lucky and we bagged a 're-freshed' room. Although considering all the places we've visited in the last 8 months, it was here that I felt the least safe. Something to do with the unsavoury types hanging around in the parking lot and the regular police patrols (which I'm sure are meant to make me safer?) That night I dreamt that we were in the hotel room but it didn't have a door and I was saying 'isn't it a little unsafe to sleep in a room without a door?'. To top things off, in the middle of the night Cliff overheard a man outside saying 'Yo yo baby, you got sumthin fo me?'. We're not sure what the something was though; maybe the lastest copy of Horse & Hound?

We missed out on visiting TaliesinWest, the Frank Lloyd Wright 'campus' because it's closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It's a shame, but Liam cheered me up by telling me that Lego now do a 'Falling Water' set. Not quite the same, but it's a consolation.

Monument Valley and dinosaur tracks

We stayed a couple of nights in Flagstaff and on 21st August we drove the two hours north east to Monument Valley. We weren't allowed to take our rental car into Utah (and Monument Valley straddles both Utah and Arizona) so in no way did we cross over into Utah or take the 17 mile off-road loop round the valley.

Again, it was incredibly hot. The visitor's centre had a good exhibition on about the Navajo code talkers, whose war-time codes were never broken.

On the way back, close to Tuba City, we passed a sign saying 'Dinosaur tracks'. We came off the road and was led around the site at Moen-avi by a Navajo woman. It was amazing to be so close to these tracks but a bit weird walking over them. I'm sure they'd be fenced off anywhere else.

Grand Canyon

For much of the trip in Arizona we followed the famous Route 66. It's a bit of a sad story, or certainly a tale of 'progress', in the way it was superceded by interstates and how the economies of the communities it originally passed through were decimated.

We stayed overnight in Williams, I described it as a two-horse town when we drove in and Liam later confirmed this by spotting two life-size models of horses on the high street.

The next morning we drove out to the Grand Canyon, just over an hour north of Williams. Words cannot accurately describe the scenery here, so here are some photographs instead. We parked up at the South Rim visitor centre and took advantage of the free shuttle bus that runs along the rim, stopping at the lookouts. We walked some of the short trails between a few of the stops because it gave us the chance to look a bit closer at the wildlife (squirrels and some really big ravens) and spend all the time we wanted at the rim

It looks pretty inhospitable and it is. Temperatures down at the river top out at the low 100's in August. At the start of each of the trails, there are plenty of signs about preparing for hikes. One was about Margaret L. Bradley, a 24 year old medical student who died of dehydration during a run in 2004. She was a keen athlete, who'd completed the Boston marathon in under 3 hours. She was running with a friend (who survived) and they'd made a series of what turned out to be fatal mistakes. They thought the hike was 15 miles (at 27 miles, it was almost double that), they didn't take a proper trail map or enough water or food. Her friend became severely dehydrated and exhausted and their last mistake was for Margaret to leave him to find help and water. She never returned. And when he was rescued, he didn't raise the alarm that she was missing.

Hoover Dam

After a leisurely morning in Las Vegas, we headed east towards the Grand Canyon. We stopped off at the Hoover Dam on the way. No matter how many times you see it, it's still a pretty impressive creation. The bridge seen in the above picture is new and under construction and will take all but visitor traffic away from the US93.

It straddles the mighty Colorado River and also the two states of Nevada and Arizona and it was mighty hot today. Here's Cliff (in Arizona) and Liam (still in Nevada) at the top.

A brilliant day

We'd told Liam that a taxi would be collecting us to take us to the chapel for our renewal ceremony, so the look on his face when the white stretch limo arrived was priceless. He looks right at home, don't you think?

Robert, our driver took us smoothly to the Graceland Wedding Chapel, where we'd got married in February 1998. Watch the video. We had an absolutely brilliant day.

Vegas!

On Sunday 15th, we flew into Los Angeles and picked up our rental car, with a stop for lunch at Sweet Tomatoes (why oh why aren't there any of these at home?) - we headed straight out to Las Vegas, a 4-5 hour drive. Our plan was to spend 4 nights here before starting our loop around Arizona and Utah. BUT slight problem is that we discover that we can't take the car into Utah :( So we will have to amend our itinerary slightly.

The cheap motel we've booked literally 5 minutes from the Strip has just been tastefully renovated, so happy faces all around. We phoned the wedding chapel and booked our renewal for the 18th, it took about 3 minutes to sort - if only all weddings were as easy to organise.

The heat here is incredible, it's been hitting 106 degrees, but it's a very dry heat with very low humidity so it's bearable and it's good to feel the warmth on your skin (with sunscreen of course).

The development here has continued unabated; there are new hotels every time we come. Happy to see the Luxor still standing, because that's where we stayed in 1998.

One evening we took in all the sights; the fountains at the Bellagio, the volcanic eruption at the Mirage and the pirate show at Treasure Island (which is certainly a little more risque than I remember). We also went to the auto collections at the Imperial Palace (which happens to be the very first hotel that I stayed at in Las Vegas with my mum and dad, when I was 18 - so quite a long time ago!).

City Trails, San Francicso

Today we took the bus over to Haight-Ashbury because Liam wanted to go to the Kid Robot store and we'd missed it the last time we were in San Francisco. Liam seemed a little wary of bumping into a hippy. I'm not sure what he thought would happen if he did encounter one. No chance of that, although there is a lot of tye-dye about.

We hopped back on the bus to Chestnut Street, Cliff wanted to get some leg supports for his shin splints. Ouch. We didn't have lunch here, although there are some really nice looking delis and cafes around this part of town. I saw some girls eating musuli - that's breakfast, not lunch!

The bus ride back into the centre was eventful, there was some kind of treasure/scavenger hunt going on so the bus was really full and kept sailing passed bus stops; much to the annoyance of the very vocal people waiting at them. There are lots of 'characters' here in SF. There was one guy on the bus who started accusing another passenger of touching him, using a lovely turn of phrase. He then accused the other passenger of having pressed the stop button and not actually getting of the bus. Very entertaining (when you're not actually involved or being accused of touching people or pressing the button and not getting off).

After getting off the bus and following a man down the road who was shouting 'I want the whole salami', we had lunch in Little Italy (pasta, of course) opposite the Stinking Rose, a restaurant that uses garlic as it's main ingredient. I believe they have garlic ice cream too. Unfortunately we missed the garlic festival.

I think we spotted a Banksy - 'If at first you don't succeed, call an airstrike'.

After lunch we wandered through Chinatown.

Muir Woods

Just 12 miles north of San Francisco lies Muir Woods, part of the National Park Service and home to the coastal redwoods. The average age of the trees here are between 500 and 800 years old with the oldest being at least 1,200 years old. It's just a beautiful, peaceful place, even though it was more crowded than the last time we came here in 2009.

A little history....before the logging industry came to California, there around 2 million acres of old-growth forest containing redwoods growing in a narrow strip along the coast. By the early 20th century, most of these forests had been cut down. Just north of SF Bay, one valley named Redwood Canyon remained uncut, mainly because it was difficult to access. U.S. Congressman William Kent and his wife Elizabeth bought 611 acres of land for $45,000 with the goal of protecting the redwoods and the mountain above them. In 1907, a water company in nearby Sausalito planned to dam Redwood Creek, thereby flooding the valley. When Kent objected to the plan, the water company took him to court. Kent out-manouvered the water company by donating 295 acres of the redwood forest to the Federal Government.

On January 9, 1908, President Roosevelt declared the land a national monument, the first to be created from land donated by a private individual. The original suggested name for the monument was the Kent Monument but Kent insisted it be named after naturalist John Muir, whose environmental campaigns helped to establish the national park system.

Thank you Mr and Mrs Kent :)