USA West coast road trip - Part 7 - Los Angeles

Day 17 
We arrive around 3pm at Greg's. He lives in a lovely old-fashioned flat of Santa Monica with two flatmates. After 5 hours in the car, we need a stretch and go for a walk around Venice beach. The girls go Alert of Malibu style while I get nostalgic thinking about the Brighton pier. We wave again at the end of road 66 before going to the Big Dean. We sit next to a group of big Mexicans covered with scary tattoo. We learn that they are acommon reference to the Día de Muertos. Warmed up by the beers we shared with them, we go to the Basement . It has a warm wooden decoration but is not as friendly and fun as our previous stop. We then move on to another bar which I forgot the name of (nothing to do with the amount of alcohol I had by then).

Day 18
We have a big and delicious brunch in the garden of the Omelette Parlor then drive around LA with Greg. The streets are wide and if it's hard to believe I'm in the same State as San Francisco. Compared to the smaller city, Los Angeles looks like a concrete maze. After a drive through the boring Beverly Hill we end up at the Drag Queen Bingo in West Hollywood. If you have to do one thing in LA, this is it! The host were just hilarious, food was good and Caroline even won a basket of Dvds and stuff. Great night!

Tag rugby at Venice beach

Day 19
We spend the day at the Universal Studio. I love the 3D attractions especially the Transformers which is so fun. I am disappointed that the train just goes through the decors. Even if seeing a tube station get flowed is impressive, I wish you could actually play hide and seek in them. At the end of the day, it's not really worth the price. 
To compensate we have cheap Hot dogs with Greg in a delicious Hot dog bar of Santa Monica. 

Day 20
Shopping day! That was a big discussion, how much time we would allocate to shopping etc..In the end, we nearly did no shopping before we reach LA. So a day on the 3rd street was quite a change. We don't spend nearly as much as we tought we would. Greg takes us to the Backstage to do a little spending there (of food no drinks of course).

Day 21 
We have breakfast at The Coffee bean and tea leaf, which will become my favourite coffee shop (their cakes are just so good).
Then finally walk the Hollywood boulevard. So disapointing. People are just gazing at stars on the pavement. They are only few hand prints, even less than in Cannes.

"Charmed" house

We hit the road again to see the Charmed house. Even if you are not a serie's fan, the street is lovely and its houses are a good occasion to play "which house shall I buy?". Of course, "none" is the answer.
We have Thai food at Greg's before heading to a Mexican restaurant (very hungry girls we are). We then hit a hip hop bar (don't ask me why) before going to the Circle bar which his really nice American friends.

Day 22
Last day in LA. We have breakfast at the Omelette Parlor again before heading to the aiport. 
Glad, we decided to do SF to LA as it is much easier to leave LA than it was to leave SF. 

As it turn outs, the girls' flight will be delayed and they will stay one more night in LA.  

In the end, everything went well, we had fun, saw beauties and were enchanted by our holidays in the States. Three French girls on the road for three weeks. Two of them hardly knew each other. I didn't do much of the planning, I kind of jump the train. I'm very happy I did.

THE END 

(If you read French, it's not really the end, there is one more post ;)

USA West coast road trip - Part 6 - On the road to LA

After Vegas, being back in the wild is pure pleasure! 
This week is filled with beauty, the hundred colours of the desert are amazing. We move every night from one town to another. With three drivers it doesn't feel like a chore, we split nicely. And we can really enjoy what feels like more than ever like a road trip.
 
Day 11 - Valley of Fire
We drive allong the Valley of Fire scenic drive to admire Rainbow Vista, walk up to the Fire Wave, play at the Piano Rock and the Arch Rock. 
We spend the night at the Super 8 Hurricane hotel in Zion.


Day 12 - Zion Park
An early breafast, drop some cards at the post office and we're off to Zion Park. Riverside walk; Court of Patriarchs viewpoint; 
Pic-nic at the Emerald pools trail; Checkerboard  Mesa;
I love it all! Desert and so green at the same time, it's like an oasis. 
The girls also did the Canyon overlook trail. I tell them to check out if the trail is dangerous (as I'm completly scared of heigths!) so they take off...with the car keys (which equals house keys during a road trip) ... Instead of walking back they just give them to a stranger asking him to bring them to me (hum..no comment...)
They come back, and, as the man did give me the key back, we head off to the Bryce way motel in Panguitch. Laundry time, yeah! 

Day 13 - Brice Canyon
We walk the Queen's trail and Navajo loop (I go crazy from the heat and the fact that we're walking up. I don't enjoy it much but the girls cope nicely). 
Then drive to Natural bridge; Bryce's point; Inspiration point. 
We stop for a coffee and off to the Holiday Inn in Page. We cross the road to have a fun diner with country music. 

Day 14 - Antelope canyon/ Monument Valley
At 8.30am we get tickets for the 11am tour. We head to Horseshoe bend so the girls can make videos of me being scared again... 
The Antelope Canyon tour starts around 12.30pm and last one hour. Lorie, our Navajo guide, is friendly and  knowledgeable. There are far too many people for my taste but we manage to ignore them and enjoy the breathtaking canyon. 

We hit the road again and after a lunch break on the side, we reach Monument Valley around 3.30pm. We do the scenic drive which nearly drive Caroline crazy and our bottoms through a lot of pain. But we have fun. We definitely agreed that the American natives smoked some good stuff to see Elephants, Camels,
Spearheads etc..when we only could see big rocks. As a western fan, I do love it and expect John Ford to be riding a horse as we walk on the red sand. By 7pm we are back on the road and an hour later at the Hat rock Inn in Mexican hat. We walk to the only  restaurant (a little walk during which a stone manages to make a hole in my foot) but it's expensive so we buy ready meals instead.

Day 15 
We drive to Mexican hat (funny); Valley of Gold; Mulley point; Gooseneck State park and arrive at the Grand Canyon to admire the sunset. The Plazza hotel announce they are giving us a suite, great! If we were not waking up at 5 the next day...

Day 16 - Grand Canyon
We watch the sunrise but the lights are not great so we are a bit disappointed (Death Valley was def better).  We have breakfast at the Village park lodge. I take the bus to the view points (Maricopa; Hopi; Mohave; Pima and Hermits rest) while the girls walk closer to the canyon. It is so huge, it's hard to belive it's a canyon, it looks like two mountains embracing each other. The river at the bottom seems thin as an hair. I spend a hell of a time watching the eagles and vultures fly around.
On the road again, we stop on the road 66 at Solignan where there is us and a bus of French tourist. We spend the night at the Mirage in Needles after eating ribs in a bar close by.  

Day 17
We leave Needle at 10am and drive to our final destination : Los Angeles.

To be continued...

USA West coast road trip - Part 5 - Las Vegas

Day 9

I didn't care about going to Vegas but it was a good stop for the week-end before another week filled with sightseeing. The girls were keen on seeing the famous city build in the desert. It's true that going from full sand to full concrete is visiually impressive even though technically logical. 
Day light is not a good time to reach (or be in) Vegas. Everything's cramped, desorganised, even the beautiful Eiffel Tower looks like a fake kid's toy. As we drove in, I started to think my intuition was right.
The girls wanted to taste the "real" Vegas and had booked a famous hotel on the Strand. Again, I wasn't bothered. I thought (and was proved) it was a waste of money but I could afford it and they really wanted it so I didn't go against it.
At 1pm, we parked in front of the Mirage. A flat tower from the 60s dressed with a shiny gold ruban. We were tired and wanted to enjoy the evening life so we decided to take a short nap. 
Once alive and kicking, we bought sliced pizza and went to see the pirate show of Treasure Island and water show at the Bellagio, both entertaining. The girls were keen on seeing the Thunder from Down Under show. I told them they go could and I would be happy to wait for them in a bar as serioulsy, whats the point in seeing naked guys if you can't play with them?! They tried to convince me, gave up and we all went to the Jimmy Buffet's bar. Caroline left early but Ju and I stayed til closure. It was fun but not the party I was expecting. I had crazier nights in my local in London...

Day 10
We go down to the Casino so that Julie can burn 10 dollars in 20 secondes. I am not a gambler (you can see by now why Vegas is not for me) but was impressed by all the kind of people who were sitting around us hoping to gain a few bucks. 



I headed back to the bedroom where I was hiding most of the day. Caroline had gone for a shopping trip (which turned out like hell) and Julie wanted to try the swimming pool (in which you can't swim). I saw my non interest for the city as a good thing: I could charge up my battery for the coming week. When they both come back, Gregory arrives (he's a friend of Julie and our future host in LA). We all go for a walk around town then to the Venitian which italian interior is actually impressive, making it my favourite hotel on the Strand. 
After diner we take the tram from the Mirage to the Treasure Island and head to Gilley's saloon. I'm keen on trying the rodeo but I'm not wearing a mini-skirt and a string which seem to be the fashion for the girl who are testing it so I decide against it. The girls again, are really keen, and I again, am the party killer. But we still hit the dance floor and have a few drinks to save our honor and show to the local (if any) population that you can be shy on a bull and fun on a mule (oh come on give me credit for the rime!).

Day 11
Jumping in the tram again we taste a disgusting breakfast at the Treasure Island's restaurant. The gambles are already up, sport is on. We enjoy a breakfast filled with shouting, swearing and highly annoying machine noises. 
Another walk in a hotel, another expensive drink. We finally escape from the maze like casinos where exit sign and night do not exist, the noise of coins dropping and the view of half-naked female dancing on tables. Time to hit the road.
Saying that I'm happy to be back in the desert is an understatement. And I don't even know yet, the beauties we're about the see. 

To be continued...