Wednesday, November 25, 2009

California or Bust Part 2


Nestled between palm-lined beaches and sloping foothills, we overnight in the prosperous resort of Santa Barbara. Its most distinctive attraction is the graceful Spanish-Moorish style Old Mission founded in 1786.


The colonial art collection of this mission is rich and varied. Most of the pieces are of the baroque or neoclassical eras, and nearly all are imported from Mexico and South America such as this lovely painting of St. Francis.


In San Luis Obispo we sneak a peek at the Madonna Inn, a remarkable example of what architecturally minded academic types like to call vernacular kitsch. Along with the uber-pink dining room it offers over 100 unique rooms, each decorated in a wild barrage of fancy motifs.



More quirkiness found in Bubble Gum Alley where kids (and adults) write their names and allegiances on the brick walls with gum rather than the more contemporary spray paint.


Few places on earth compare to Hearst Castle. The 165-room estate of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, high above the village of San Simeon, atop a hill he called La Cuesta Encantada (The Enchanted Hill), is an ego trip par excellence—an astounding, over-the-top monument to wealth and to the power that money brings.


The breathtaking outdoor Greco-Roman Neptune pool, flanked by marble colonnades that frame the distant sea, is one of the mansion’s most remarkable features.



We explore the Big Sur coastline where dozens of happy sea lions take advantage of the warm, sunny weather on the beach.


A slender waterfall drops crisply down into a nearby circular turquoise-blue cove in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.


We spend the night in the exclusive enclave of Carmel-by-the-Sea (where Clint Eastwood once served as mayor) and take the scenic 17-Mile Drive past Pebble Beach and the famous Lone Cypress, the legally trademarked subject of so many Carmel postcards.


The outstanding Monterey Bay Aquarium is home to more than 350,000 marine animals and plants. It is rated as one of the best in the world and truly a hypnotic experience.


Amazing anemone.


Cute cuttlefish are among the most intelligent invertebrates.


We thought this was a piece of floating seaweed until we read it was a leafy sea dragon, part of the seahorse family.


And oooh, the jellyfish!




In the town of Leggett grows the 315 foot high, 21 foot in diameter, 2400 year-old Drive-Thru Tree which had a hole cut through it in the 1930s.



We drive the Avenue of the Giants through the redwood country of Humbolt County, lined by pristine groves of massive trees which provide boundless opportunities to come face-to-face with one’s own insignificance in nature’s greater scheme of things. Confusion Hill is one of those places where water runs uphill and the rules of physics seem not to apply as Tim tentatively demonstrates.


Hard to miss are the massive statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox looming over the highway.


Life on the road means waking up with a different pillow hat every morning.

We’re beelining through Oregon and Washington now as Sandi is desperate to be in Vancouver by November 30th for a long overdue haircut, not to mention an appointment with the pastor of The Chapel at Stanley Park to discuss the all important upcoming nuptials.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

California or Bust Part 1


Viva Las Vegas! We're stoked to win big on twenty bucks.


So into the Treasure Island Hotel we go because they give us the best room deal under $100. With more than 150,000 hotel rooms, the city has more than New York and Chicago combined. In the wacky and wicked world of Las Vegas 40 million people lose more than 10 billion dollars in the casinos every year.


Is this one of them? No way! In the end our biggest win is $6.25 - we blow it but still walk out with our original twenty bucks.


Sacre bleu! Paris comes to Vegas complete with its own Eiffel Tower and, but of course


its fountains flowing with le vin rouge.


Onto Italia at the Bellagio Hotel with its exquisite Murano glass flower petal ceiling.


Bellagio also offers a dazzling choreographed water ballet extravaganza - the best free show in town.


Love it or hate it, one thing you can't do about Los Angeles, California is ignore it. Thanks to Hollywood in all its many guises (movies, television, the music industry), the city is always in the headlines. We were ten feet away from Paris Hilton at the Grove Theatre but she didn't see us and neither of us made the headlines.


Venice Beach - the surreal assemblage of every LA stereotype. Among stalls and stands selling everything from cheap sunglasses to Mexican blankets swirls a carnival of humanity that includes bikini-clad inline skaters, tattooed bikers, muscle-bound pretty boys, panhandling vets, beautiful wannabes, talking parrots, the occasional apocalyptic evangelist and plenty of tourists and gawkers (we're in the later category).


You can feel and look beautiful in minutes right on the beach.


Daydreaming on a beautiful November day.


Old Route 66 had its western terminus at the edge of the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica on a palm-lined bluff a few blocks north of the city's landmark pier. We have driven approximately 4,000 miles across the country and will now begin our journey north along the Pacific Coast Highway.


The pier holds a small amusement park and a lovely old Loof carousel (as seen in the movie The Sting).


Cirque du Soleil returned this year to the Santa Monica Pier, where the Montreal troupe first pitched its tent in 1987. Stay tuned as we've got a lot more of California to discover.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

The Great Grand Canyon


We're cruising the dreamy open road heading towards our next destination, Durango, Colorado but not before


passing over the dramatic 11,000 ft. Red Mountain Pass and through Silverton, a gritty, little mining town with Victorian pretensions.


We hunker down for a couple of nights at Durango's most famous lodging - the 1887 Victorian Strater Hotel.


In it's Diamond Belle Saloon author Louis L'Amour gained inspiration for the western heros in his novels.


Outside of Durango we visit Mesa Verde, known for its spectacular cliff dwellings (structures within caves and under outcroppings in cliffs), built by the ancient Pueblo people, the earliest known inhabitants of the US which date as far back as AD 1300.



Their handicrafts are outstanding as in this imaginative example.


As we descend from Mesa Verde the temperature plummets to -5 centigrade and we are in the midst of a major snow storm. Tim is wishing the snow would carry onto Whistler.


Ahhh, we're glad to be back in the sun at Monument Valley which is located on the southern border of Utah and northern Arizona. Monument Valley is characterized by a cluster of vast and iconic sandstone buttes, the largest reaching 1,000 ft (300m) above the valley floor. It has been the setting for more Western movies than any other site in the US.


"Whoa, take 'er easy there pilgrim."



One of the wonders of the natural world, the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River - two hundred miles long, a mile deep, and anywhere from five to 15 miles across - defies description.





We hike 8.5 miles along the South Rim from Grand Canyon Village to Hermit's Rest. At times the trail is dangerous and scary despite the awe-inspiring views.


As the sun sets over the canyon we admit this place is up there in the most amazing sights we've seen on the planet.

Tomorrow takes us to the biggest, brightest, brazenest boomtown in the history of the world - Las Vegas, Nevada.