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California: Best of
After one week in California and 1'068 miles in a rental car it is time for a short review. These are the things I enjoyed most:
1) Scuba Diving in Santa Catalina Island
2) Hiking in Muir Woods
3) Driving the Pacific Coast Highway (State Route 1) between Morro Bay and Monterey (driving from North to South offers the better view, as you are on the correct side of the road ;) )
4) Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park
5) Six Flags Magic Mountain
All pictures from California can be found in my webalbum.Labels: road trip, round the world, traveling
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Pacific Coast Highway: From LA to SF and beyond
After leaving the ferry from Santa Catalina Island I picked up my rental car and started driving North. But rather than getting there as fast as possible, I chose the more scenic Route 1, which is also known as Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). Sections of this Highway were first constructed in the 1930s and most of the bridges built back then are still standing today.
Since it was already late afternoon, I followed the PCH to Oxnard. On the way I passed many beautiful beaches and a lot of traffic...
Early the next morning I continued North, making a first stop in Santa Barbara to admire a gigantic fig tree, which is 138 years old! Next to the tree you can see a historic rail car.
The PCH then continued mainly inland through common countryside, which wasn't too remarkable. At Morro Bay, we reached the ocean again and the landscape started to become very intriguing. It reminded me a bit of the Swiss mountains, just with an ocean next to it.
After this picturesque stretch the road flattened out again and we came to a beach with a big Elephant Seal population and very inquisitive squirrels.
Then we came back into the hills again and in the Julia Pfeiffer Burns Statepark I saw a beautiful small beach with a waterfall.
But also the regular coastline offered spectacular views.
After so many natural wonders, I stopped in Castroville to marvel at something man built. The World's largest Artichoke!
I drove all the way North past San Francisco to San Rafael, where I met up with friends from Carnegie Mellon University and spent a relaxing Sunday.
Early the next morning I went to the Muir Woods, a State Park with a large population of impressive Redwood trees. In addition I also spotted a shy rabbit and a couple of grey squirrels.
Muir Woods is well known as a location for famous movies, such as Return of the Jedi and Vertigo.
After a strenuous 1.5 hour hike, I joined the PCH for a last time to drive back in the direction of San Francisco.
Labels: pictures, road trip, round the world, vacation
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Goodbye USA
After three thrilling days in Las Vegas it was time to return to Switzerland. But first I had to drive back to Phoenix. That's 300 miles or 5 hours 40 minutes: Not an ordinary one-day distance for a guy from Switzerland! ;)
Thus I left Vegas early in the morning and made a pit-stop at Hoover Dam to take the full tour. I already stopped at Hoover Dam on my way to Vegas, but alas I was too late for the tour then. The tour first took us to the Power Station, which was quite interesting and then led us into the Dam itself. This was terrific. We had a small group and an extremely knowledgeable guide, she practically grew up on site and knows every nook-and-cranny! At one of the stops inside the dam we could look out through a ventilation grill and take an awesome picture of the dam itself.
Hoover Dam as seen from a ventilation grill in the middle
Driving the rest of the way back was very long, especially because I ran into rush-hour traffic in Phoenix itself, but I managed to keep my dinner appointment :).
I had no clue where to stay for the last night, so I headed towards the airport and kept looking for a motel. Fortunately, I found one after only a short bit of driving around. And the best part? It was just next to a gas station! Thus I could fuel up my car early next morning and arrive at the airport well in time.
Since I'm fond of statistics I wanted to share the following, my distances covered in cars in the last four weeks in North America:
2'236km in Pennsylvania, New York and Canada.
1'880km in Arizona and Nevada.
The return trip, with a stop at Washington DC, was very uneventful and I arrived in Zurich on time. And this time my luggage arrived completely as well.
Breezing through Customs I immediately spotted a very special welcoming committee: Michaela, waited for me in full fantasy-armor! :)
My welcome committeeLabels: pictures, road trip, usa
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Las Vegas
Arriving a day earlier as planned in Las Vegas, I first headed Downtown. After all, I had two nights booked on the strip and thus decided to check out the Fremont Street Experience.
I was lucky to find a moderately priced hotel just around the corner from Fremont Street.
Fremont Street hosts some of the oldest Casinos in Vegas. To compete with the Mega-Resorts on the Strip they covered part of Fremont Street with a huge screen. During the evening hours music videos are shown there every hour. While I was there I saw American Pie, a Tribute to Queen and a Tribute to Kiss. This was very impressive. I also tried my luck at the slot machines. However, it wasn't meant to be and I left after twenty minutes, once my five dollars were spent.
In addition to the video show, Fremont Street also had a stage where an Army Band played popular Rock songs.
Fremont Street ExperienceDay 2 - Exploring the Strip The next day I relocated to the Excalibur, one of the Mega-Resorts on the Strip which chose medieval times as a theme.
After settling in I ventured to explore the Strip. The Excalibur is situated at the South End and thus I started heading north, checking out the Resorts on the way. My ultimate goal was the Stratosphere, the highest building in Vegas; because I heard that on its top one could ride four high-thrill rides. On the way, I made a short detour through Planet Hollywood's Miracle Mile Shops and witnessed the Indoor Thunderstorm, which is very bizarre ;).
The Strip is much longer than I expected, but I finally arrived at my destination. Fortunately, there weren't too many people so I didn't have to queue up to get to the observation deck or to join the rides. The rides were ok, but not really something I would have done multiple times a day.
On the way back I checked out the rollercoaster in the Sahara. It was also rather short, so not much to write home about.
Then it was time for the big highlight of the evening: The Blue Man Group. I had organized tickets that very morning at one of the many half-prize ticket booths. The show was incredible. A mixture of light, sound, comedy, information and art which was thrilling to behold. It was definitely worth the price of admission.
My next stop was Treasure Island and its outdoor Pirate Show with two full ships and some pyrotechnic. A must-see if you are in Vegas.
On my way back to the hotel I stopped to observe the exploding Volcano at the Mirage and the Fountains at the Bellagio.
Excalibur by NightDay 3 - Looking for Sharks Paying five dollars extra a day as a resort fee, I thought I should at least check out the swimming pool, which was huge! Or rather, they had three different pools. One of which with short water slides! Unfortunately, my day was packed again so I didn't linger for long.
First on the program was a trip south to explore the last Resorts on the Strip. So I walked through the Luxor, which is very impressive both inside and outside and onwards to Mandalay Bay. There I took some time to visit their Aquarium. That was very interesting, especially because every visitor received an “Audio Wand", which played short sequences about the different exhibits. The highlight was of course the big shark tank located in a shipwreck.
Heading back North I went to the shopping mile at Cesar's Palace, to acquire the latest iPod Nano in the Apple Store. Nearby I stumbled into a breathtaking gallery and ended up buying the book to the exhibition.
Then it was already time again to go back to the hotel. On the way I rode the rollercoaster in New York New York. The best one I saw in Vegas, but still a very rough ride.
The highlight for this evening was The Tournament of Kings: A medieval dinner show at the Excalibur. I was seated in the Dragon section, so we could cheer for the bad guy. Unfortunately, he lost in the end :(. Nevertheless, they did an excellent job in delivering a good show and I enjoyed it a lot.
Next was a show of The Sin City Comedy Club. It was a fun event, but I was a bit distraught by two things. First, by my neighbours who ended up talking amongst themselves more than paying attention to the show. And second, the fact that every comedian repeatedly pointed out that it was all Comedy and shouldn't be taken seriously. Come on, that's supposed to be self-evident!
Even though it was a long day, I felt like going out to party. So I headed over to the New York New York and paid the Coyote Ugly a visit. That was fun. There were lots of girls dancing on the bar and some of the songs they played were actually good.
Visiting Vegas was definitely worth it, even though I ended up spending a lot of money on entertainment, food and shopping ;).
Luxor
All pictures from Las Vegas can be found in my webalbum.Labels: Fun, pictures, road trip, usa
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Arizona - The Grand Canyon
Williams and the Grand Canyon Williams is a tiny little hamlet which has two distinguishing features. First, it is the start of the Grand Canyon Railway and second, it is on the historic Route 66 and has a well-preserved city center.
As you might have guessed, I took the Grand Canyon Railway to the Grand Canyon. That was a very nice trip, both because we could enjoy nice views of the landscape and we received a lot of information about the railway as well as on-board entertainment.
The Grand Canyon was truly impressive and a little bit frightening. After all there were many places where it went straight down and there was nothing to keep you from falling off!
On the way back our train was stopped by train robbers! Fortunately, the Marshal was tight in pursuit and guaranteed us that justice will be done ;).
Grand Canyon National ParkSunset Crater The next day I backtracked to Flagstaff to visit Sunset Crater National Monument. Sunset Crater is a volcano which erupted around 1100AD (in geological terms: yesterday) and around it are magnificent lava flows and semi-barren landscapes.
Lava Flow in front of Sunset Crater
Just next doors is the Wupatki National Monument. This area contains multiple well-preserved ruins from the Sinagua Native Americans. They built their homes out of clay and often leveraged natural rock formations as walls for parts of their buildings. A very impressive sight.
Wupatki National MonumentRoute 66 and Grand Canyon Caverns On my way back West I followed the historic Route 66 for a while. The funny thing was that the route was even adorned with the old-school Burma-Shave Rhyming Ads.
The highlight, besides the road that is, on this stretch of Route 66 is Grand Canyon Caverns. A natural dry cavern system that is connected to the Grand Canyon, which is 40 miles away. When the caverns were discovered by Walter Peck in 1927 he though he found the first combination Gold, Silver and Diamond Mine! After the core samples were analyzed though, it was revealed that it was just iron oxide and selenite (a completely worthless mineral). So Peck decided to earn money by letting tourists into the caverns. And that's what survived till today, even though the infrastructure has been drastically improved since 1927. Another fun fact is that the US Government stored emergency rations and water in the caves during the Cuban Missile Crises to last 2,000 people for 2 weeks. These rations are still present in the caves today and would still be edible!
Grand Canyon CavernsGrand Canyon West and the Skywalk On my way to the Grand Canyon National Park, I first heard about the Skywalk, a huge glass platform which allows visitors to walk on top of the Grand Canyon, at Grand Canyon West. It was immediately clear that I had to see this ;). And so that was my next stop.
If you check reviews online you find a lot of people bitching about the terrible road leading to the spot and the high prices. Granted the road was rather bad and uneven, but they were doing major roadwork so this should improve in the future, and I was able to drive the whole way with my Ford Focus without problems. As for the price issue, everyone has to decide this for themselves. In my book it was totally worth the price of admission.
The first stop at Grand Canyon West is the Skywalk at Eagle Point, a rock formation which does look like an Eagle. For safety reasons cameras were not allowed on the Skywalk itself. In a way that was good. Because it allowed me to completely absorb the experience, the view and the other people. It was so much fun watching the other people holding on to the railing for dear life or avoiding the clear glass part at all costs! There is also no time limit on the Skywalk itself, and so I spent a good 45 minutes enjoying it.
The Skywalk
Next stop was Guano Point. This section offered a terrific view of Colorado River and had a short but neat hiking path leading up to the top of a small hill. The only problem I had, was that it was an extremely windy day. First this was bad because my hair always covered my eyes, and second because I'm not too firm when it comes to unprotected heights and then feeling the wind trying to push me over the edge was not very comforting...
David with hair all over ;)
From this I learned that I have a rational fear of heights. If there is anything between me and the abyss, even a glass window, I'm fine. If there is nothing in between I start getting uncomfortable.
All pictures from my road trip through Arizona can be found on Picasa.Labels: grand canyon, pictures, road trip, usa
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Arizona - Around Sedona
Before leaving Phoenix I made a short pit-stop at Alice Cooperstown. The restaurant owned and sometimes operated by Alice Cooper.
Cooperstown
The next day sight-seeing started in earnest. I visited Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well, two National Monuments and former settlements of the Sinagua people. They lived there from 1000 to 1400 AD and built their houses out of clay and into the cliff walls.
Montezuma CastleSedona Continuing on my way I came to the famous Red Rocks near Sedona. Most of those rocks have names such as Cathedral Rock, Bell Rock, Snoopy Rock and so forth.
Sedona is also famous for its Vortexes. A vortex is a place of energy and tourists from all over the world come to these spots to strengthen their potential.
During my second day in Sedona I first took part in a nature walk in the Red Rock State Park, this was extremely educational and we could observe many hummingbirds.
From there I went to Tuzigoot National Monument, another early settlement by the Sinagua people. This one however, was situated on top of a rock and roomed many hundreds of people.
Driving back into Sedona I noticed a lot of water on the street. Some time later I learned that they were hit by an extreme rainfall, so heavy that you couldn’t see your hand in front of your eyes. One section of town was even hit by a Spring Flood! Lucky me, that I was out of town at the time!
To end the day I joined a Hummer Tour. This brought us onto the western back roads of Sedona and offered spectacular views of the mountains. We also saw a javelina, it looks like a wild pig but is more closely related to the hippopotamus, hurrying across the road.
Cathedral RockOak Creek Canyon The route from Sedona to Flagstaff leads through Oak Creek Canyon, a very scenic route. It also offers multiple hiking opportunities and so I made a stop at the West Fork Trail. This trail leads for 5 kilometres into a side-canyon along a cute little river. The trail ends when the canyon becomes so narrow that the creek fills it completely. This hike was wonderful; very scenic and also quite shady, a bonus in these high temperatures.
At the scenic overlook at the top of the canyon, I ran into a number of old-timers: Ford motorcars from the 1920ies.
Oak Creek Canyon
Pictures from Arizona can be found in my webalbum.Labels: pictures, road trip, usa
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Exploring Canada
Wednesday morning we drove further North along Lake Erie towards the Canadian border. We were a bit surprised by how late Canada was actually mentioned on the road signs, but fortunately we had a good map and did find the border crossing. Actually crossing the border was a breeze, there were no cars in line, only spent two minutes chatting with the border guard and were then directed to the customs house, where our passports were stamped within a minute. So all in all we spent about ten minutes crossing the border.
Our first stop in Canada was Niagara Falls, because everyone told us that the Falls are much better on the Canadian side and I can whole heartedly agree. For one you get the frontal view of the falls, which is very impressive, for another we got the chance to walk behind the falls in a tunnel and look out at the thundering masses of water flowing past. At first we were afraid that we had to postpone our visit to Niagara Falls. Because for most of our trip northwards we were following a huge storm which produced torrential rainfalls. However, fortune was with us and as soon as we cleared the Canadian border the weather cleared up and the clouds disappeared.
From Niagara Falls we took the scenic route to Niagara-on-the-lake a very picturesque village at the border of Lake Ontario. On our way we passed through many wineries and we even stopped at one to sample the exquisite ice-wine produced there. We were a bit surprised by the hotel prices in Niagara-on-the-lake. Because as it turned out it seemed to be a retreat for wealthier Canadians and thus almost exclusively sported very expensive hotels. Consulting the Lonely Planet my friend carried finally directed us to a cute bed-and-breakfast with two exquisite hosts. The place was decorated with bunnies in all shapes and was aptly called Bunny Hutch. To keep in line with the birding theme of the week I discovered a couple of bird watching magazines in the bathroom!
Next morning we were served a delicious Canadian breakfast and after some sightseeing continued northwards towards Toronto.
In Toronto we again used the Lonely Planet Guidebook to find an exquisite bed-and-breakfast. Located in Chinatown it occupied two old Victorian houses which were immaculately kept and featured impressive rooms and a very big breakfast. We did a lot of sight-seeing and walking around in Toronto and spotted a wide variety of interesting buildings. We also visited CN Tower, currently the structure sporting the highest public platform in the world. We had a great view in all directions and even saw Niagara Falls on the horizon. What we will never forget however, is our trip down the tower. Just when we wanted to take the elevator down, it stopped working. After some debating the guide agreed that it might be better to take the stairs down to the main observation deck (33 stories down). However, we were not allowed to descend the stairs alone. A security guard had to escort us. Of course this security guard first had to climb the 33 stories to reach us! After a notable wait, a couple of tourists started complaining, the security guard arrived with the elevator, that lazy bastard ;), and claimed it safe now. And thus we were finally able to leave the tower using the elevators.
On our trip back to the US we ran into a fair amount of traffic, delaying us almost a full hour, this was then made up at the border crossing where we again breezed through in under ten minutes! And silly me had been worrying about this border crossing for weeks before we started the trip… ;)Labels: Canada, city trip, road trip, vacation
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Exploring Pennsylvania
The first part of my road trip I undertook with my parents and two of my friends from Switzerland who coordinated their vacation so that it coincided with my graduation.
On Monday we drove South-East in the direction of Fallingwater, a very famous building from Frank Lloyd Wright. We found lodging in nearby Ohiopyle, a national state park, and since we were early for the tour we booked, we went for a "short" hike around a "small" peninsula. The peninsula turned out to be much bigger than expected and we had to hurry back a bit to not be late!
Touring Fallingwater was very interesting and enlightening. The building is truly awesome in the way it is integrated into nature and the way the furniture is built in.
At night we had a very interesting experience. We were sitting outside our motel and heard a high-pitched sound for a while when suddenly dozens of bats started crawling out of the woodwork and flying around our heads! What made the experience even funnier was the fact that I started reading a book about bird watching that very same day!
The next morning we toured the other Frank Lloyd Wright house in the neighborhood: Kentuck Knob. It wasn’t as big or impressive as falling water, but still an interesting experience. We then headed a couple of hundred kilometers north to an area in North-West Pennsylvania well-known for its Amish community. The notable thing about this is that they are well integrated into the larger town-communities and we saw multiple horse buggies as well as Amish people minding their business in and around the towns. We then took a small detour and drove by a couple of Amish farms, which was also very educational.
We continued on our way North to Erie Pennsylvania, where we looked for a lighthouse and found a Lighthouse Inn. For dinner we went to the lakefront where we got good food and a surprise that every restaurant closes at 10pm. Fortunately, we were early enough to be served.
Pictures can be found in my web album.Labels: pictures, road trip, usa
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Road Trip roundup
My road trip was a complete success and I’m immensely happy that I undertook this adventure. Here are some facts about my trip.
Days spent travelling: 5
States visited: 6 (Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri)
Hours spent driving: approx. 27 hours 16 minutes
Pictures published online: 132
Kilometers driven: 2'565
Longest Distance covered in one day: 1'125 km (Saturday)
Shortest Distance covered in one day: 9.7 km (Sunday)
Money spent on Trip: 1'174.25 US$
- Car Rental: 344.06 US$
- Accommodation: 274.99 US$
- Gasoline: 244.45 US$
- Fun: 110.97 US$
- Clothes: 106.44 US$
- Toll: 7.50 US$
Audiobooks listened to: 3 (Enders Game, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Prisoner of Zenda)Labels: Fun, pictures, road trip, statistics, usa
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Cedar Point
The next two days (Sunday and Monday) I spent at Cedar Point. At first I was shocked by the amount of people who were there and the length of the queues, but I soon discovered that the park was big enough and the queues were only bad for the most famous rides. The longest I had to wait was about 1.5 hours. Nevertheless, by the end of the first day I had been on all the mayor rides and many of the older ones as well.
The second day I focused on the high-thrill rides and so I went straight to Maverick the newest and wildest roller coaster. After a short detour to the Mantis, I queued for the Millennium Force, the longest roller coaster in the park. But just when I was at the head of the queue it broke down and so we had to wait for 30 minutes till the problem was fixed and it ran again. On the plus side, I then had second row placing and that was extremely exciting!
Back I went to the Maverick where I managed to get first row seating, which was another thrill :)
Then I went over to the Top Thrill Dragster, a roller coaster which accelerates to 120 mph and then goes 240 feet straight up and down again. There I got first row seating as well and that was just indescribable!
After visiting some of the smaller rides I hadn’t done the day before, I visited the Raptor for a couple of rides.
By nine pm I was thoroughly tired but extremely pleased with my decision to come here. The only thing that separated me then from bed was the 3.5 hours drive back to Pittsburgh... which was quite uneventful.
A helpful hint if you visit an amusement park alone: Bring a book along and wear cargo pants in which you can store said book. This was invaluable to me and made the hours I spent queuing bearable.Labels: amusement park, Fun, pictures, road trip, usa
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1'125 kilometres to get to an amusement park
Being on a road trip I wanted to see some things on my way back, so I studied the Lonely Planet. Unfortunately, there weren’t too many interesting things on the way, but then I noticed a mention of a Six Flags Amusement Park located 25 miles South of Cleveland. Granted this was not directly on my way, but I had time after all.
First came some local sightseeing and so I stopped in Downtown St. Louis and took the tram to the top of the Arch where I had a stunning view of St. Louis and its surroundings.
A couple of miles outside of St. Louis were the Cahokia Mounds, a UNESCO World Heritage site, containing huge mounds which remained from the largest Prehistoric Indian community in America north of Mexico. Another interesting sight there was Woodhenge, a circle of wooden poles rebuilt according to excavations that were done at this place.
Next followed a couple of hours driving which were interrupted by a short lunch break in the historic Downtown of Greenup, IL.
Besides a couple of small bio-breaks I then drove straight on to Aurora. By the time I arrived there it was dark and raining heavily. Without a map and no sign of the park, I was slowly getting worried about being in the wrong place so I stopped at a gas station to buy a map and ask for directions.
When the guy at the cashier’s desk told me that Six Flags has closed a year ago, I was quite thunderstruck, he then recommended me to drive to Sandusky instead and visit Cedar Point which would be a much better amusement park anyways and it would be only about a two hour drive… After driving for almost 10 hours I wasn’t too concerned about driving further, so I got in my car and continued my trip.
And indeed after about two hours I finally arrived at Cedar Point. I drove all the way up to the park to make sure I was in the right place. Of course it was closed and I then had to backtrack to find a place to sleep, because as I found out, it being weekend before school started it was a very busy time and many hotels and motels were already fully booked. Fortunately I found a moderately cheap place which wasn’t too far away 20 minutes later. After driving 1’125 kilometers in 17 hours I was very glad to get into a bed :)Labels: Fun, pictures, road trip, traveling, usa
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1'059 kilometres for "Weird Al" Yankovic
After missing "Weird Al" Yankovic's concert in New York last year, I was extremely eager to go to one of his gigs this time round. However, the closest he was about to come to Pittsburgh, within the next couple of months, was St. Louis which is slightly more than 1'000 kilometers away. Since air travel on such short notice was quite expensive (about 1'000 US$ for a return ticket) I rented a car and undertook an American Road Trip.
The first day I left Pittsburgh in the evening and drove till I got too tired to continue, which was in the middle of Ohio. Just when I was about to turn into a motel driveway the cars control panel made a beeping sound, I didn't know what was going on so I drove on for a couple of minutes. When I got out of the car I heard a loud hissing noise and knew immediately that one of the tires was going flat...
The next morning I called roadside assistance from my rental agency and they sent AAA to exchange the tire. That went pretty smoothly. When I started the car the beeping sound came again and I discovered that it warned me of low air pressure in one of the tires. This time round the warning occurred because the spare tire was smaller and the system got confused. So there was nothing to do for me but to drive on.
In Illinois I made a short detour to visit Vandalia, one of Illinois' early capitals. Once in St. Louis I had some time to kill so I looked for and found a car service garage which put switched my spare tire with a real one, now the car was ready for the drive back.
Then it was finally time to go to the Family Arena where "Weird Al" would play his gig. And what a gig it turned out to be. During 2.5 hours he played a fantastic sets featuring his newest hits along with several old favorites, some of which he combined into funny medleys. A big part of the show were the costumes, "Weird Al" and his band regularly changed their clothes to fit the music. During these intermissions short episodes of interviews "Weird Al" prepared for MTV and appearances in famous cartoons were shown, these were hilarious. The two most memorable moments of the show for me were when "Weird Al" was stripping during the performance of "You're Pitiful" and in the end was standing on stage in a Spongebob Squarepants t-shirt, a pink tutu and boxershorts with hearts on them! The other thing was during the encore when he sang "We all have cellphones" and everyone waved their cellphone in the air! (After all pocket lighters are so passé ;) )
In short seeing "Weird Al" Yankovic live was worth every kilometer I had to drive ^^Labels: Concert, Music, road trip, usa
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