LA - hello and goodbye

July 15

 

Made it to LA!  We drove from Flagstaff up 89 to visit the Grand Canyon.  Highway 89 is full of waves, the road has these 6 to 12 inch ups and downs that deliver a sinusoidal input to the camper with a frequency of about too hurts (normally that would be 2 Hz, but Devin’s laptop suffered two dents in the top from a hurtling jar of spaghetti sauce and a descriptor denoting pain seems more appropriate). 

 

The north rim of the Grand Canyon really is worth the extra time it takes to get there.  There’s a whole different story to go along with that comment, something to do with Escalante, but I won’t go into details to save the driver some embarrassment.  Awesome, awesome, awesome is the view and the drive up there at eight thousand feet is totally different than the desert leading to the south rim.   The road is a lot like the parkway in Virginia, with gentle curves and lots of grassy fields edged by pine forests and little groves of Aspens here and there and wildflowers everywhere.  The fields are so big you really need binoculars to see any wildlife and I kept scanning them because I know it’s perfect bear country.  

 

After the Grand Canyon, we drove to a little campground called Blue Water Lake in Utah.  It was hard to sleep that night because it was so hot, but it was a good stop-over and I figured if Aidan could overcome her fear of wild bears to sleep in the woods, I could keep my fear of Mormon fundamentalists at bay for one night.

 

We drove through Las Vegas all the way to LA where we camped at Golden Shores RV Park less than a mile from the Hyatt in Long Beach.  The Hyatt is where we rendezvoused with Helmet.  We visited the Aquarium of the Pacific and ate at Bubba Gump’s seafood restaurant.  How strange to meet up with family from Germany on the West coast.  We had a great time, and as usual, Helmut knew more about the city we were in than we did.  He was so cool, he let the kids experience the Swiss team accommodations that night while he slept in the camper.  They got a hot shower, a nice big bed, TV, and Starbucks in the morning to give them a taste of business travel.  I wonder if they'll end up doing that kind of thing as professionals in another ten years.

 

We left Helmi just before noon and drove to Hollywood where we walked down the avenue of the stars and took pictures with the sign on the hill as a backdrop, and then we drove through Beverly Hills and down Rodeo Drive.   We ended up staying in McGrath State park that night and were surrounded by what we think may have been victims of the housing bust.  We’re calling ahead now to check the availability of campsites to lesson the stress now.  That night at McGrath, I booked a site at a nice RV camp called Flying Flags just to give everyone something to look forward to.

 

Today we stopped in Santa Barbara to hang out at the beach.  A long, grassy park stretches for several miles on the beachfront southwest of the city and cyclists, in-liners and walkers are in constant supply.  We saw the latest Harry Potter film there, checked out the really cool downtown area, which is a little touristy, and then headed out.  Now we’re at Flying Flags.  It’s an impressive operation (a little expensive but worth it to recharge our batteries, psychologically speaking). 

 

The air is getting cool now.   Ursula is wrapped up in two blankets and even suggested going south again, but the kids called her prissy and we’re not turning around, we’re headed to Big Sur and San Francisco.

 

Oh yeah, Devin ended up getting her camera and she’s taking photos of everything, even bread on the sofa.  It’s little annoying but she gets some great shots.  Also Vickie the GPS is working fine now (the problem was the charger) and she’s really saving our butts.  Thanks mom.