Roadtrip, yee-ha!
Hiya! Phew, these last few days were a big blur… But let’s start with the beginning.
A couple of days ago, while still on project at the Grand Canyon, Manon and Kristina asked me if I would be up for a roadtrip, because they were both too young to rent a car. Of course I was! I was already contemplating joining another group to hike down the Grand Canyon to the Colorado river, but that didn’t work out in the end, so we decided on going to San Diego.
The next day, Manon and me were already fully thinking of it on our last whole day on project, and thought that we could also combine it with LA, which made sense, ’cause the car was going to be rented anyway, and we could save some time and money in combining the two cities in one roadtrip. Kristina, however, didn’t feel that way, and decided not to come along, because she had already planned a five-day stay in LA after her time at ACE.
Luckily, Bekki (Rebecca) decided to join us for a roadtrip, and she is also old enough to drive around here, which meant I didn’t have to drive all the way, yay! 😀
Before we got our car, though, we had no idea how frustrating the experience would be. We reserved a car in the morning through the Hertz website, but when we got there, the ‘agent’ had gone to another location to pick up a car. When she finally returned (at which point we were sitting there for 40 minutes already), she informed us that we couldn’t get a car, despite the reservation. Totally disappointed, we tried Avis, Budget and the airport rental agencies, but none of them would have one available the same day. Finally, we tried an agency called Enterprise, which informed us that they most probably would have a car for us starting 4:30, and that we should call them back then. 4:30 came, but no car. I called again at five, but still no car. Finally, at 5:15 (they close at 6), there was a car available, and they’d send someone to pick us up. Worried that we’d miss out on our car, I called again at 5:50, because our pickup wasn’t there yet. In the end, he showed up at 5:55, and got us there, and got us our car (a white monster called Dodge Avenger 2012). After grabbing a bite to eat, we finally got on the interstate by seven, on our way to LA, baby!
The original plan was to drive on Thursday, but due to our late departure, we were too tired to continue driving through the night, and after some very vague adventures involving a certain ‘Pirates’ Cove’, we found a place to get our heads down for the night. It was a standard motel, but a bed is always better than bunking out in the car! The outside temperature was blazing though, comparably to Yuma, and the A/C had trouble keeping up, which prompted me to sleep without blankets and still feel warm. Ah well…
The next morning we got on our way to LA again, after a traditional American breakfast, AKA a cup of coffee. When we got there at approx. 10, we were surprised to find our view of the city blocked by a frickin’ huge amount of smog. This wasn’t what we signed up for! Luckily, after paying our visit to the Hollywood blvd and the Amoeba music store, the smog disappeared, and we could grab pictures of the Hollywood sign (with, oh surprise, a Scientology sign in front). Satisfied with the buzz of Hollywood, we went to check out the beach at Santa Monica, and take our first dip in the Pacific!
Santa Monica pier was also a bit of a special thing, with a rollercoaster, a ferris wheel on solar energy, and some more funfair attractions on the pier. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach, and did some shopping (well, Manon did anyway, I refused to accompany both ladies into Victoria’s Secret) there in the evening. For the night, we booked a last-minute hotel room through the Apple Store’s wifi network. Oh Irony!
The hotel room was very comfy, and after a bagel-bacon-egg-muffin we tried our luck, and drove off to Long Beach, the starting point of the Pacific Highway. We visited the aquarium there, which was awesomely good with petting pools of baby sharks and other fish, and drove along the coast towards San Diego.
Peter and Kate gave us a very warm welcome at their home in San Diego, and took us to the Mexican quarters that night, where I had my first Mexican food, and it was a great experience! Before that, though they treated us with a swim in their neighbourhood’s pool and hot tub, which was really amazing after a four-hour drive.
The next day we slept in, had a great breakfast after an amazingly comfortable night on the fluffy carpet and sleeping pad, and went out to go relax and bodyboard at Del Mar beach. It was the first time I ever bodyboarded, but after getting the hang of it, it’s real fun! Not something you’d be able to do on the miserable North Sea miniwaves…
We were foolish enough not to reapply sunscreen, so after chilling out on the beach, we returned all bright and red… I’d seen sun before in Italy, so my burn was not that bad (after a day, only a few patches on my belly remain red), but Manon was really hurting that night and the next day. Ah well, it won’t happen again I guess 🙂
I can be short about the last day: we got up at 6:30, left at 8, and spent 8+ hours in the car driving back to Flagstaff, where I’m leaving for my next, and sadly last, project: back to the Canyon! We had to return the car by 6PM, and got there at 5:30, nice timing! In the end, it was a pretty dull ending of an otherwise amazing, fantastic roadtrip. Thanks to all who made this possible, and especially my two travelling companions, Bekki and Manon!
That was it, next post will be the last from Flagstaff, detailing my upcoming second tour at the Canyon. I’ve heard some rumours that we might be going backcountry, but nothing has been verified yet, so all cards are still on the table!