USA 2008

USA Day 18: Bryce Canyon National Park

David Jørgensen — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:53:05 GMT

Moab to Bryce Canyon (~265 miles)
Today we were heading for Bryce Canyon. I had absolutely no expectations about this place, but what an awesome surprise. More on that later.

The trip to Bryce Canyon was like the previous many many miles we had gone. It didn't feel long because of all the landscape changes taken place, and the weather was great.

In the beginning of the trip today we were mainly going on flat desert while you could spot mountains in the horizon. Then we went through some.. .. hmm.. i would not call them canyons but lets just say there were rocks on both sides of the road. Hard to describe the actual scenarie, so I will provide pictures.

Rocks

After 100 or so miles we came to Dixie National Forest. Instead of desert or rocks on each side of the road, we now had trees. The instant change in landscape happens so fast, you just think to yourself: "What the hell was that?"

View over the forest

This is one of the things I found really interesting about USA. The constant change of landscape. How fast it goes from rocks to big big forests to desert, to forest again. I think this is also the reason that these long trips that we have been on, never seemed so long and most certainly were never boring (apart from one time).

Anyways, Dixie National Forest is situated partly on a small mountain, and of course we had to go over the mountain. Not a problem. I like these wonderful trips through forests while having a kickass view. So we went all the way up the mountain, where we nearly reached 10.000 feet, then it went a bit down again, a little up again, and suddenly. A MAJOR change of scenarie. This one happened even faster than the one earlier today.

Canyon

Suddenly we were in the middle of a canyon (actually above it). It wasn't Bryce Canyon, but man, the view from up here was just amazing.

Finally we got to Bryce Canyon, and yet again, what an amazing and surprising sight. This was nothing like I could ever have imagined: "pfft. another canyon. just another hole in the ground". Boy was I wrong, and a good thing that was.

Bryce Canyon: Sunset Point

Bryce Canyon is filled with hiking trails, and if I ever get the chance to get back here again, I will make sure I have the boots and the time to go through them all here. It's such an amazing place. It's soo quiet in the canyon. So deserted. So desolate. So awesome.

We took one of the shorter trails, because this was a place I could not go to without seeing how it was like at the bottom. We went down from Sunset Point, and took the around 1.3 mile hiking trip. It took about an hour, and it was GREAT. Mia did great. She did not complain (that much), but I just knew she would be missing something if she did not come with me down there. And I was successful in talking her into it. I think she's happy I did convince her.

Down we go

We also went to some of the other view points located in Bryce Canyon, but neither of us needed to go on any other hiking trips, and the sun was beginning to set. It was time to find our hotel and relax a bit.

USA Day 17: Monument Valley

David Jørgensen — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 02:57:22 GMT

Page to Moab valley (~300 miles)
Today we were heading to a place that I was really looking forward to. Monument Valley. Made famous by the old western movies with John Wayne. It is said to be the most photographed place in the US.

The trip today was going to be long, as there were over 100 miles to the place we originally were going to sleep last night. So we were up early to get on the road.

There are over 100 indian families living in the valley right now, and it is quite an interesting place. It is owned and driven by the indians themselves. From the viewpoint on the top you can see a lot of the valley, but you are allowed to go down there, either with your own car or by paying for a ride in one of the jeeps taking tourists down there.

Monument Valley

We were warned before hand to not go down there in our own car, as the roads down there are not paved. But seeing the roads from above it didn't look that bumpy or anything. So naturally we decided to take the 17 mile drive in our own car.

Monument Valley

This has got to be the most crazy thing we have done so far. The roads here are so crazy you cannot believe it. These 17 miles were the ones on our entire trip that took the longest. From we started our "journey" down there and got back up again, almost 3 hours had passed. I have never driven a car so carefully as I did on this rather short "journey". Major holes everywhere forcing you to zig-zag your way through the valley, and you are forced to drive on the other side of the road to get past some places. 3 hours of sitting almost on the dashboard in the search for holes that would not cause damage to the bottom of the car. 3 hours zig-zagging in 120°F. I did actually hit the bottom of the car once or twice, but dont tell anyone.

Rain God Mesa

Since it was so hot, we decided to take the top off before driving down there. A bit of advice here. If you are driving a convertible KEEP THE TOP ON ALL THE TIME if you decided to go down into the valley. We quickly realized that dust from other vehicles quickly gave the inside of the car a layer of dust, so we put on the top again. I have never seen a white car so filled with dust as when we got back up again from the valley. We had to wash the car before returning it, or else they would know we'd been in the valley. haha.

A rock

We finally came back up from the valley. As I mentioned nearly 3 hours had passed driving those 17 miles. Sitting on the dashboard scouting for holes, driving 1 - 5 miles in hour and cramming so hard on the steering wheel that my hands were numb. I needed to rest, so we went into the gift shop (of course there is a gift shop) and bought a little gift.

We took the top off as we were heading out. We figured that the wind would probably take most of the dust inside the car, and then we'd find a carwash to take care of the outside of the car.

Parrot perhaps?

We moved on and as usual the road was long but it was also very inspirational when it comes to the view. Yesterday my father told me that there should be a place called "Hole in the Rock" which is supposed to be a danish guy deciding to blow a hole in a rock to build a house. When he got kids, he blew more holes in the rock to build rooms for them. My father was looking for it, because he believed it was near where we were at the time (Page).

As if by accident we actually found this place. Unfortunately it was closed, so we could not go in and visit the family. That was really too bad, but it did look nice from the outside.

Hole 'n the Rock

Moab was unfortunately a place we did not have a lot of time in. After around 9 hours in the car, we were beat. We could not do anything, and just needed to relax. I have no idea what is in Moab, but I know there is horse back rides and such. Because of our changed plans of going to Monument Valley today instead of yesterday, Moab unfortunately turned out to be a place to sleep. Nothing more, nothing less. However, neither of us had regrets for what we did. Monument Valley was fantastic. Too bad we were too late for Hole in the Rock.

Continue to day 18

USA Day 16: Page

David Jørgensen — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 04:13:41 GMT

Grand Canyon to Page (~180 miles)
We started the day by checking out the rest of Grand Canyon. We had only seen the west side (coming in from the south). Today we were going to check all the viewpoints on the eastern side as we were heading out the east entrance.

There is really not much I can say, so I will just leave you with some pictures and some facts.

Canyon

Grand Canyon National Park was founded in 1919, and some say that it is perhaps one of the most amazing beautiful natural wonders of the world. It was first occupied by the Indian Anasazi tribe, and is around 277 miles long.

The Canyon is generally 1 mile deep and varies from 0.1 mile to 18 miles across.

Yup. That's me.

Oh, we did come across a viewpoint where a watch tower is located. The downstairs is (of course) a gift shop, but the tower itself is actually, well, a watchtower. The inside of the tower is covered with beautiful paintings made by the original indians.

Just amazing

Leaving Grand Canyon we more or less accidentally found out that the place we were going to sleep was 100 miles from the place we originally we going to. The travel agent did tell me that some of the hotels we had to stay in were booked, so she booked rooms at other hotels. We were lucky to find out in time as the trip would have been 200 miles longer.

The original place we were going to was "Monument Valley", which is about 30 miles from the place we were going to sleep. Kayenta. From Kayenta there were 100 miles to our relocated hotel. So if we were to stick to the original plan we had to go 207 miles east to Monument Valley and then 130 miles back to the hotel in Page.

The Dam

That may not have been a big deal if not we were going all the way back past Monument Valley the day after. So we decided to skip Monument Valley today and go directly to Page. Turns out that Page has this very big dam, which we went to and it was really nice. There were also some very nice viewpoints along the Colorado river. Btw. Just a wee bit further down the river is where the Hoover dam is located.

View down river

The entire way to Page is actually Indian land. It's more or less owned by the Navajo Indians. All along the road to Page there are small shops where they sell beautifully made pottery and necklaces. Very pretty. And they are cheap. Do not hustle with the price. I believe that when rich cultures as ourselves, we must not hustle with those who have a lot less. It is our duty to take it up the ass and pay up. And with the prices they had here it was almost like they themselves were taking it up the ass. Give them what they ask. They need the money more than you do. That goes for the Indians as well as every other culture in the world that lives in a country where they do not have the kind of money and opportunities as you have at home. Wow, now you just got a lecture as well. haha. ;-)

On the way to Page we also passed "The Painted Desert". As you might imagine the desert got its name from all the different colors there are along the way. It was quite a sight.

Painted Desert

Continue to day 17

USA Day 15: Grand Canyon

David Jørgensen — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 02:22:01 GMT

Phoenix / Scottsdale to Grand Canyon (~230 miles)
A big day today. Grand Canyon was the target destination. With a quick stop in Sedona. I haven't heard much of Sedona other than it should be a small town surrounded by red rocks. Sounds awesome right? ;)

But first. The sandstorm and winds from yesterday left it's marking on this beautiful morning, as the tree right outside on the parking lot got one of it's big big branches broken off. Windy indeed.

Branch broken off the tree

On the way to Sedona we saw a lot of those big big cacti. They are actually named Saguaro (Sa WA Ro). I mentioned them a little yesterday but here are some more facts. These reside in the deserts of Arizona, California and Mexico. They can grow to a height of 17 meters, and can live to be two hundred years old. Its fruit (yes.. fruit on a cactus) has been used as medicin by local indians for centuries and its flower is the state flower of Arizona.

Sedona looks like something out of a movie. Indeed a movie was shot here in the town that was founded in 1902. The surrounding red rocks are said to change colors as the sun rises and sets. We were not able to check whether or not this was true since we had a lot of miles to go today.

It was however, filled with tourists who wanted to go on jeep rides, which made it somewhat sad. Too many people for such a small town. We went into some of the tourist traps (aka. gift shops) and got a little something for a little man whose birthday we missed.

Sculpture in Sedona

On we went and a couple of hours later we found ourselves at one of the biggest holes in the ground in the world. If not *the* biggest. This hole is huge and it is actually owned by the indians. I just learned prior to our trip to the USA that there had been a flooding in Grand Canyon wiping out two indian camps down in the canyon. Very sad to hear such news. I hope they do recover from this unfortunate event.

Hole in the ground

Amazing place. This is definately a place I will be returning to at some point.

Continue to day 16

USA Day 14: Phoenix / Scottsdale

David Jørgensen — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:55:21 GMT

Palm Springs to Phoenix / Scottsdale (~267 miles)
Today we were going on an even further trip. A really long trip, that was going to take around 5 hours in the car. Today was also the day we were heading into the state of Arizona. Our third state. Arizona has these kickass cactus things. You know the ones I am talking about. It is the ones from all the western movies and cartoons. The cactus that looks like humans.

Cactus

Apparently these cactusses (or is it cacti?) are protected by law, and they can get far over a century old. The first many years they only grow 1-2cm a year, and after they reach a couple of meters, they suddenly grow 10-20 cm a year. Fascinating.

We finally got to Phoenix when this blizzard appeared out of nowhere. A sudden sandstorm. It was wild. We did not do much here since the storm was totally crazy. We stayed in and today ended up being a relaxing day as well.

It got very windy

Continue to day 15

USA Day 13: Palm Springs

David Jørgensen — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:31:47 GMT

Los Angeles to Palm Springs (~147 miles)
Today we had a semi-long way to go. Palm Springs was the location we were heading and we would leave the big city and go out into the desert.

After yesterdays very long day in L.A. and Universal Studios, we were both so tired and all we wanted to do was to relax. However, first we needed to drive the 147 miles to Palm Springs.

Some Windmills on the way

Last week we went in and bought a couple of cd's for some entertainment on the road. I chose "Riding with the King" with Eric Clapton and B.B. King. Mia selected Bon Jovi's Crush CD. Today we were both tired of these cd's and we went into wallmart to shop and we found two more cd's. Well, I did anyways. Guns'n'roses "Greatest Hits" and Crash Test Dummies "Greatest Hits". You can always hear Guns, and I seriously needed some guitar rock. :-)

Anyways, we got to Palm Springs and located our hotel. Did not take us long to locate the pool, and just kick back and relax. I noticed a flyer in the lobby saying that "The Dark Knight" was running in town. In I-MAX format. Mia was with me and we went to see Batman on what I believe to be one of the biggest screens I have ever seen a movie on. The scenes in the movie where Batman is flying or the scenic views over the city made you feel like you were the one flying. It was just a big big screen.

The movie was even better the second time around. :-)

Continue to day 14

USA Day 12: Universal Studios

David Jørgensen — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 03:25:03 GMT

So I've found out why it is called "The City of Angels". Didn't even need to look it up. It really easy if you think about it. Of course it is City of Angels. In spanish Los Angeles means "The Angels". So there is the reason. ;-)

Anyways, the day today was going to be long. The tour was going to be around 11 hours consisting of a tour of the city first, and then ending at Universal Studios where we would be sent off alone to do whatever we wanted.

First stop on the trip was Rodeo Drive. The famous shopping street in L.A. Funny thing is that there is almost no-one actually shopping there. The shops are still there because it's a great advertising gimmick. "We have a store on Rodeo Drive. Thats how good we are". Most of the shops here are in the red, and are only there because their other shops make enough money to keep it running on Rodeo Drive. It is also on Rodeo Drive the shop where Julie Roberts get kicked out in Pretty Woman.

The famous sign

Next stop was Beverly Hills. Not really a shop, but more of a drive-through. Beverly Hills is a little community by themselves, and all the rich people there keep the money in Beverly Hills. They have their own police and fire department. They do not want to be a part of regular L.A., and you can tell. Everything is much nicer here. Even the roads are nicer as they have no holes in them. Not many celebrities here anymore as the houses here are way too close to the "public" roads. They cant live here anymore because of paparazzies.

Next actual stop was the Chinese Theater and the Walk of Fame. We all know more or less what they are. The walk of fame are all the stars on the sidewalk. There are around 2500 stars, and each celebrity can have a maximum of 5 stars. A celebrity pay 25.000 dollars per star for future renovations. Renovations are required often since stars tend to break when there are earthquakes.

Chinese Theater

The Chinese Theater is actually more special since it is privately owned, and very few celebrities get here. This is where the celebrities put their hand and footprints in the cement. And it is actually the only reason the Chinese Theater still stands. There used to be 12 or so theaters, but now only the chinese is left. Only because of the hand and footprints.

A star

L.A. protects every place where a movie has been shot. Even a toilet if a celebrity has been filmed or caught doing something. Like back when George Michael was arrested in the john.

On our way further we passed church with a parking lot. It turns out that this parking lot is actually the parking lot used in "Back to the Future", where George Mcfly comes out to the car to kick Michael J. Fox's ass, but it happens to be Biff. Funny how they made the parking lot appear like it was behind a school when it is actually behind a church.

Next stop was Mulhulland Drive. This is were all the moviestars live now. Where no-one can get to them that easy. It's an amazing place where you can see the "Hollywood" sign. The sign actually used to be "Hollywoodland" to attract people to buy houses on Mulhulland Drive, but an earthquake tore down the "land". Later it was scheduled to be taken down but some people wanted to preserve it. They were used to the sign, and the deal was that each letter would cost 28.000 dollar to restore. Alice Cooper actually bought the two O's. Not because his last name consists of two O's, but because of a friend. Cant really remember who. Sorry.

Hollywood sign

Btw. If you haven't seen the movie Mulhulland Drive. You should. It is a David Lynch film, and it is fantastic.

We were then dropped off at Universal studios where we would spend the remaining 6 hours. The place is really great. This is a theme park as well as the place they shoot a lot of movies and tv-series. The sad thing about being here now, at this particular place, is that Mia is pregnant, and ALL rides have this "expectant mothers" warning sign on them. So Mia was not able to try much of these rides. She's not a big fan of such rides anyways, but there was one particular ride I would have loved for her to join me in. More on that later.

Universal Studios

We arrived just in time to check out the Terminator 2: 3D short movie. This also had the "Expectant mothers" warning", but she was allowed in there anyways, because they have stationary seats that does not move. The very first time those flying things flew out in your face was amazing. 3D that actually WORKS. Wow. This thing is flying right in front of me. How crazy is that? The show itself was actually a combination of live action and 3D movie. It was COOL!

Taking a ride

Next up was the Jurassic Park ride. I had just read that it has a 68 foot free fall slide. Whooo.. Even the thought of that terrified me, but I just had to try it. It was great. I believe Mia filmed my sorry little ass right when I got down from the 68 foot slide. Haven't seen it yet but I probably look like a ghost. haha. Mia was not with me in this one.

Then there was the Mummy ride. A small rollercoaster lasting about 30 seconds. In almost complete darkness. You could not see anything. I was practically laughing the entire time. I think the 3 people beside me thought I was crazy. It was fun though.

Then we came to "The Simpsons ride". A newly created ride. The folder said it was new, but how new I dont know. This ride was sooooo amazing. It was simple the coolest thing I have ever tried. Here you are sitting in some kind of car. It lifts up to a big big screen like "Planetarium" in Copenhagen, and then you are on the ride. The car itself is moving, shaking, jumping a bit, but never moving away from its original position. Then on the big screen you have the ride. And what a ride it is. This was soooo amazing I cannot even begin to describe it. You have to try it for yourself to believe it.

Simpsons ride

Next ride on the agenda was Shrek 4D. Once again Mia was lucky to be able to get in. This ride is, just as Terminator 2 3D, a 15 minute or so movie. The difference between T2:3D and S:4D was that the seats were moving a lot more in S:4D and you also got splashed in the face with water every time donkey sneezed. This ride was also very nice.

We came by "The House of Horror" afterwards, and even though Mia was allowed she did not want to go with me. She is terrified of these things. I went in and the settings in there was amazing. Really nice. The only thing really making the ride really terrifying was the live actors in there, jumping out from dark corners scaring the hell out of people. It worked very well.

It was now around the time that the live action and stunt show "Waterworld" was about to begin. So we went overthere. They only play twice a day so this was the last show today. The show is based on the movie with same now, and the live action was fantastic. A lot of banging and explosions and fire. Pretty darn good actually.

Waterworld

Now we were done for today. Most of the rides were closing but we still had an hour before we were picked up, so I decided to go try out the "Simpsons Ride" again. It was so amazing, I just had to try it again. I wanted Mia to share this experience with me, but they folks said it wasn't a good idea so I went in alone. Again. The second time was also superb.

We were picked up and brought to our hotel. We were so beat that we went straight to bed. The day was over.

Continue to day 13

USA Day 11: Los Angeles

David Jørgensen — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:57:52 GMT

Santa Barbara to Los Angeles (~100 miles)
Today was kinda a big day. Today we were going to "The City of Angels". I'm not really sure why they call it that. Perhaps it is because of all the drug overdose victims here. Perhaps because all the people there are so religious? Hmm. I guess i'll find out after I've done this post.

We were actually warned about this city before going here. "DO NOT go out at night-time", we were told. Apparently it is a great city during the day, but at night the scum of this place come out and fill the streets with dope. I have no idea whether or not this is true. I hope it isn't true, and would like to hear otherwise.

Anyways, we were going to stay in Santa Monica, which isn't really in the city of L.A. but rather in L.A. county. However, when you and I think of L.A. we are actually thinking about the county as well as the city. So if any are unhappy that I call Santa Monica for L.A. it is just too bad. ;-)

However, the first place to go to was a local guitar shop. Since they did not have a guitar in San Francisco I searched the web for another place, and found this store. The guy there was a very nice guy, but the guitar itself was a used 2005 model. The finish was a bit wrong, so I decided not to buy it, and maybe return to the store if It would grow on me while in L.A.

We checked in at the hotel, and decided to get out and see some of Santa Monica. We went straight to the water. There we immediately saw the Santa Monica pier, which is rather famous. A lot of movies have been shot on this pier. "Falling Down" with Michael Douglas comes to mind. Excellent movie by the way. I've heard a rumor that the end of Titanic was also shot here, but whether or not this is true I do not know.

It was already getting late. It took an hour to walk down to the pier, and we had to get back again. We ordered a "tour" from the hotel for the next day. A tour of the city, and a trip to Universal Studios.

We found a place to have some dinner, and went back to relax at our hotel afterwards. We needed rest for the around 11 hour tour tomorrow morning.

Rodeo Drive

Continue to day 12

USA Trip

David Jørgensen — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:23:26 GMT

I've written a post of each day in our vacation. I will be adding them as we go along, so check back for more.

USA Day 10: Santa Barbara

David Jørgensen — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 23:50:10 GMT

Monterey to Santa Barbara (~246 miles)
Today was going to be a long long long day on the road. Around 246 miles or just around 400 km. I was really looking forward to continue our trip on highway 1. I knew it would be long, very winding and up and down the sides of the mountain. Also the view was supposed to be amazing from up here.

Unfortunately we were gravely disappointed. Highway 1 was nothing but a haze of fog. We could not see that far ahead, let alone see anything of the water. On top of that, most of the way in the mountains on the winding highway 1 you are only allowed to drive 35 miles/hour. This was going to be a very very long trip.

Highway 1 haze

It was a good thing that I was beginning the day with this abnormally winding and hilly road. I bet this road would be a totally different matter if you had already driven 200 miles. This was my first stretch so I was rested and ready to rock. I dont think I have ever driven a road that winding and that hilly before. It was crazy.

After around 200 miles, getting a bit further away from the beaches of highway 1, we more or less stumpled upon a town called Solvang. Solvang is a danish community, that has established themselves through the years. There you can eat and drink a lot of danish stuff. Danish pastries, hakkebøffer, medister pølse.

How corny is that?

There was a lot of americans as well as germans checking out this little piece of danish history. Unfortunately, I thought that they were trying way too hard to create a danish culture that they failed. Everything was way exagerated and that is what made it so non-danish. I got myself a good hakkebøf, and although it tasted nothing like home, it was okay. I also got a chocolate topper or a chokoladebolle in danish. It too, was a bit disappointing. Mia got herself a snegl, and believe it or not, there were raisins in it. There is not supposed to be raisins in any kind of food. You get them on the side. If you push it you put it in a wok, but you dont put raisins in anything else. Period.

We did not see or hear any other danish people in this place.

After a long long trip we arrived at our destination in Santa Barbara, were we could do nothing but relax the rest of the evening.

Continue to day 11