Day 15 - Murder!!!

As said in the previous days blog (are you listening?!) today was going to be more of a chill day as we took a very leisurely drive up the Pacific Highway to Long Beach and hooked up with an old (not in age) friend I hadn't seen for years. A big thanks for Matt Moore for putting us up and letting us wash our undies at his wonderful place!

Before we set off from the motel I did a quick inspection of the car, oil, water, washer fluid and tic-tacs etc. I thought I would inspect the front of the car for 'fly damage' and, to my horror - we had killed I think half the population of flies between Greenwich and LA - should we wash them off or wait to see how many more join the splat party in the next few weeks - what do you all think from looking at the pictures below - wash the car or carry on?

We got into Long Beach around 3pm, went for a stroll around and then met up with Matt about 5pm. We are now kicking it back whilst Matt cooks us a Spag Bol - what a couple of lushes we are!

Matts apartment is very close to the harbour - seriously - it is a right slum he must be gutted living and working in this place - look at the pics below of where he lives - he must cry each morning when he wakes up!

That's the 'Queen Mary' harboured up in the middle of the picture above - its now permanently moored here and used as a hotel, conference centre and restaurant.

So it look like a tough life ay! He said to Steph and I we could stay as long as we like - big mistake - ha ha!

One shout before I sign off - A restaurant over the road named after many of the famous Dave's we know - go Dave Winter, Dave Burke, Dave Nguyen, Dave Moore, Dave Knapp, Dave King etc etc

We will be eating there tomorrow night - ye-ha!

Day 14 - Animal invasion!

The animal exhibits started a little earlier and a little more close up than Steph wanted this morning. When strolling around the motel, bare foot - she stood on a big ol cockroach!!! I must admit, it was pretty grim and the little fella put up a good fight, but, alas - he ended up being knocked out in round 5 of the contest. Also despite me wanting to apply CPR it came to rest in the motel car park - shortly to be pecked to certain death by a bird like creature - poor thing.

After pulling it out of the bag with a parking space when we got to the San Diego zoo (as we drove around for the first time someone pulled out of a space right near the entrance! The other people that had been driving around for hours were very jealous indeed) we entered the park and set about making funny noises at the vast range of animals on display. A few of them are below...

A camp bird...

A swimming pygmy hippo....

Mr snake....

Chilling pig type things....

A snake - wheres the head?!

A monkeys butt!

The funniest animal on the planet - The Meerkat - hilarious!

Peek-a-boo!!

We caught this wildebeest 'leg licking' - The is outlawed in Africa but acceptable in San Diego as what the hell else are they going to do?!

The missing link has been found! (Or it could be my dad?)

An elephant interrogates a post - it was a long conversation - but a little one sided.

An ant-eater - minus ants - something he was most displeased about.

The star of the whole zoo - The panda. He has to put that make up on every day for the staring public - what a star!

I have been attempting to teach Steph the various settings on her camera and what they do whilst we have been on our travels - welcome to the 'Macro' setting - great for close up shots of flowers - good work Wife!

Sadly - the nicest picture I took all day was of an animal I could have seen 100 yards from my home in England! - oh well - The duck posed nicely for this picture. Cheers Duck.

Tomorrow we have an 'Open day'. We are going to meet an old friend of mine in the evening to stay for a night or two who now resides in Long Beach, LA (cheers Matt Moore!) - so we are going to drive up the Pacific Coast Highway and do some people watching.

Day 13 - California dreaming...

Today was HOT! It hit 86F so I broke out the shorts and ankle socks and we took a short 5 mile trip down the road to the PIMA air and space museum (this was on my list of things we wanted to see on our trip and not Stephs!). We managed to arrive in time to sign up for the 'first come and first served' tour of the Boneyard as well. This is something you may have seen on various documentaries in the past - it is basically where the US Air Force stores all of its equipment (obviously this is mostly planes).

The museum had some amazing pieces from world war 2 to more current aircraft. It had sea planes, helicopters, air force vehicles and even some planes from films! I took 166 pictures today - sad ay ;o). Below are a few of the pieces on display.

There was one plane that was stealing the show though - how cool is this! A Lockhead Blackbird SR-71A.....The only piloted plane ever to go faster than Mach 3 and sustain flight above 85,000 feet. It also did New York to London in 1 hour and 55 mins!

We then boarded the tour bus for a brief trip down the road to the 'Boneyard'. As far as the eye could see there were planes and helicopters galore. The equipment here is either scrapped, put back into service or sold off as parts - but many can hang around for years in a frozen stasis before being put back into action.

After the excitement of today Steph was very tired (she fell asleep on the boneyard tour - criminal! ;o) - we drove over the border and finally made it into California- we have drive across America in 13 days and seen a lot of great stuff - now we are driving 'up'! We are another couple of hours away from our first destination - the San Diego Zoo! Can't wait for tomorrow - might finally get to meet some distant relatives ;o)

As we entered California we were met with a lovely sunset - hope this is the sign of things to come.

Day 12 - The Good, the Mad and the Snugly....

Both Steph and I seem to be noticing that almost on a daily basis the towels in the motels appear to be getting smaller and more snug each time - we are sure this has nothing to do with the copious quantities of bad food we are eating?!

After our daily towel discussion we jumped in the dream machine and powered off towards Tombstone, Arizona. It was again quite a nice 4 and a half hour journey, as we continued through the similar breath taking landscapes we had witnessed the previous day. We experienced 2 unexpected stops on our journey too and away from Tombstone - Official road blocks by the US border patrol! Luckily I took my passport with me - otherwise they might have been chucking me over the Mexican border without so much as a taco for company!

We arrived in Tombstone at around 2 - or is it 3, or is it 1? No-one seemed to know what timezone we were in! Luckily we don't care even what day of the week it is - ha ha! Walking around the town, it has been kept as traditional as possible, which is excellent - bar the obligatory gifts shops, themed actors strolling around and the odd horse that is.

To keep things as "traditional" as possible there is a gunfight every couple of hours in the middle of the street. To announce this they fire a shotgun in the air as a five minute warning - if you are weak of heart or constitution you should be very aware of this fact - as it is booming loud! The gunfight is preceded by a brief act set in a bar - in the middle of the street (these were odd times you know!). Below are a couple of action shots of the main event, including the main man getting it in the face from the Sheriff......

After suffering a few mild cardiac arrests from the gunfire we toddled off towards Tuscon. We decided to stop in at the Sagauro national park as it was only a minor detour - famous for its plethora of Cacti. There is a nice loop you can take from the comfort of your car which only takes about 45mins. The scenery again is stunning to look at with cacti galore everywhere!

The sun was beginning to set by the time we left the park so we pointed the GPS towards the nearest motel - on route we luckily passed a Target (a shop like Tesco for the UK readers) - so we stocked up on sweets and water and headed off into the night in search of a motel.

Tomorrow we are visiting the Pima Air Museum in Tucson to see one of the largest air and space museums in the world. Steph is so excited!

Day 11 - Are we alone?

After a shaky night of sandstorms, power outages and rattly windows - we woke up safe and sound, packed the car up and set off for the Carlsbad Caverns just up the road. I must admit it was Steph that persuaded me that we should check this place out - and we were not disappointed. We jumped in the small lift and it descended/plummeted 800 or so feet into the caverns. The moment you step out of the lift and into the first cavern your jaw just hits the floor - it is like something from a fairytale or an enchanted and mythical place you can only dream about. You feel like you are on a movie set - the cavern is colossal and the internal landscape is just awe inspiring. A few pics are below but they really do not do it justice. Still here they are!

I particularly liked this stalagmite - I call it "The Booby" ;o)

The drive up to the cavern and the view point from the visitors centre is pretty amazing too.....

The road getting there is about 8 miles and loops and snakes pretty much all the way....

After dribbling uncontrollably in the cavern at the scenery we set off towards Roswell (still in New Mexico). It took a few hours and when we arrived, headed straight to the UFO museum and research center. When entering the building, it looks like an old derelict cinema and the internal displays appear to have been put together by a bunch of gibbering, confused 12 year old kids - however, we firmly put our tongues in cheeks and had a snoop around. Turns out the place, whether you believe in the story or not - has pretty much everything in there from the days/weeks around the original incident other then the spacecraft wreckage and the little green men themselves! It was quite fun, but I get a feeling the town might wish all the hubbub would just go away now so they could get on with other things. Judging by the number of people who were there though -that wont be for a long, long time.

Unfortunately the crash site and Area 51 (Which is a lot further up north past Las Vegas) are accessible to no-one other than Army peeps - so all you get is a picture of the dude who found the original Roswell crash site (which contained remnants of a weather balloon if the army are to be believed)

Whilst we did not see anything alien (Steph's budding southern accent excluded) on the way out of Roswell and heading towards south west New Mexico we did start to see some strange cloud formations........Spooky!

We were heading towards Arizona to Tombstone and Tucson - but at about an 8 hour drive we were never going to make it. The few hours we drove though we witnessed some spectacular landscapes with backdrops a post card would not be ashamed of. We drove through sand dunes, past snow capped mountains and broad, as far as the eye can see, desert landscapes - until tomorrow.