8 - 20 August, 2014
Hello everyone! Long time no chat!
Todays blog is a little different and comes from the depths of the USA. Whilst Kath prepares for her yoga instructors course in Costa Rica, Damo and Dalbs have embarked on an epic road trip across the states, starting in San Francisco and ending up in New York. Sure, it is ambitious. Maybe even a little crazy. But that is what happens when you combine two guys, a camero ss convertible, and a 7 week timeframe.
So, here is the story of the first 10 days of our trip so far:
The highlights
- We managed to receive an upgrade when picking up our car. That is a win! Although this came with an old guy yelling at us from the line at the car rental counter. Turns out some people can be impatient when two aussies are taking their time. Good lesson to learn.
- First couple of days in San Fran were fun, with the exception of the girl that slept above Dalbs in the bunk bead dorm. Poor thing must have eaten plenty of beans for dinner. It was like a brass band for most of the night. Needless to say, Dalbs did not get a whole bunch of sleep, lying there wide eyed, in shock, and breathing through the sheets.
- San Fran was all about walking tours, driving around, checking out the bridge, and enjoying the scenery.
- Then on to LA where we met up with a good mate Alex Vivien. Had a ball, plenty of exercise, sun and relaxing. We even skateboarded and rode a bike about 10km down to the beach. Word of caution, not a good idea. It is way too far.
- LA then took us to Vegas. Bright lights, clubs, pool crawls, 48 degree heat and a penthouse suit at the MGM. We proudly conquored Vegas.
- San Diego followed Vegas with a major change in pace. Surfing, driving around, findind obscure bars, and checking out Grouplove (a rock band) perform.
Bonus extra story: On the way from San Fran to LA, we stopped off at Silicon Valley to check out the Google office. This included "borrowing" some staff push bikes to get between campuses (the place is seriously huge), as well as somehow finding our way into the staff cafeteria where we were able to sample the fine, staff only, food. We were proper Googolians(?) Googlers (?) Googlians (?), for the day. We had a great time!
The Summary
Weather: Perfect. Although through the desert at one stage we hit 48 degrees!
Surf: Had a cheeky surf in San Diego. Was a blast! Although I was the only sucker not wearing a wetsuit. Does that make me tough, or foolish??
Food: Sporadic. With our long driving and some late nights, we have eaten at different times of the day. However we have managed to cook here and there and eat reasonably healthy. Surprisingly.
Beverages: Plenty. The Dalbs specialty, Jack and Coke. Plus a couple of beers here and there.
People: Have met a whole bunch of cool, interesting people along the journey. Americans are so welcoming of Australians, it is really incredible!
Accommodation: Mixed, from a backpacker dorm in San Fran, to a house from Airbnb in LA, to a penthouse suit in Vegas and a nice hotel in San Diego, we are keeping things interesting!
Budget: What is a budget??
Overall: Fantastic, having a ball and enjoying the open road as well as the sites, sounds, smells (especially Dalbs from San Fran) and activities. The states is building up to be an epic trip!
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| Driving along, top down, enjoying the sun. |
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| A strange high five in front of the Hollywood sign. |
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| Practicing my levitation technique |
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| Levitation + reading the news = multitasking! |
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| Catching up with an old mate Alex at Venice Beach. Good times. |
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| After witnessing a 12 year old girl climb this rope, we had to give it a go. I made it. Just. Little girls dont scare me. |
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| Our competitiveness meant Dalbs also had to climb. He made it look easy. And by easy, I mean a struggle. Unfortunately he copped some pretty crazy rope burn on his foot on the way down. Poor guy. |
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| Cruising from Venice Beach to Santa Monica. Gotta love this boardwalk. |
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| Nearly kicked Dalbs in the face with this shot... Totally worth it though. |
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| Trying out best to look cool in super cool Santa Monica. Pretty sure we failed miserably |
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| Iconic location. End of the trail, strart of the journey! |
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| Many hours already spent with the top down and tunes playing. Nothing but Nsync. Dont judge. |
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| We found the Google campus, using Google maps of course. Believe it or not, it actually took us the wrong way getting there. Google. Pfff. |
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| We found these google bikes. Just laying there. On a bike rack. We looked after them though and politely retuned them after our adventure. |
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| Dalbs with his google bike, and a basket. We wanted streamers, but beggers can not be choosers. |
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| The muffin man on dreary lane, aka the Android office. |
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| We did a walking tour with this budding cinematographer in San Fran. And it was cold. As Mark Twain once said, "the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." |
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| We made it to Vegas. Arriving around 10pm, we were tired but sleep can wait. The city never sleeps! |
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| Vegas, in all its lights and glory. |
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| We got into a club at the Bellagio where we had rockstar views of the fountain. This thing goes off every 20 minutes and is just incredible, As it turns out, the following night, a guy from Australia bought $80,000 worth of beer in this club and built himself a fort. When in Vegas... I guess...? |
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| This is the view from our penthouse apartment, right on the strip. Bliss! |
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| We did a pool crawl and this was the final destination. The water was pretty filthy, and a girl threw up in the limo on the way there. Keeping it classy Vegas style. |
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| There is not a lot to do by day in Vegas, so we just drove around the pyramids. |
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| After a long drive from Vegas, we made in to San Diego in time to see Grouplove perform at the university. They seriously rocked. Although there was a guy next to us, of about 45 years old, that had taken the wrong meds that morning and was bouncing off the walls. We missed half the concert to watch him. Nuts. |
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| We hate standing, much prefer jumping. In San Diego, all the cool kids are doing it. |
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| Shout House in San Diego, where two pianists dual against each other for tips. Request a song, any song, and they play it amazingly well. Naturally, we got them to play Land Down Under. They nailed it. We were happy. |
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| Our new hobby is cloning ourselves in panaromas. Can never have enough Damo right?? |
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| Dalbs and the brightest singlet you can buy. Cloned. |
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| There are also seals in San Diego. Real ones. |
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| After a long trip through California, it is nice to sit back and relax every now and then. |
