Back in LA (and Flying Away)

So now we're back in LA again... or more precisely: Hollywood(Land). Our first day of return we spend on doing/seeing things we "forgot" on our first visit. We cruised through Malibu Beach and took a long walk along the Santa Monica beach boardwalk all the way up to Venice Beach. At the Santa Monica beach, there was a traveling exhibition about the war in Iraq which was very impressive. For every dead American soldier, a white cross was planted in the sand plus you could read all the names (AND stories!) of those fallen. Our respect to all of them because no matter if you do/don't support the war, these people stepped up to the plate when they were asked.

On a lighter note, our final days in LA also enabled us to visit the famed Universal Studios (there are some pics in the slideshow). As with everything in LA, it was an exagerrated and overhyped thing. The rides basically sucked except for the studiotour. This tour really showed that Hollywood is so disturbingly fake it's not funny anymore. Especially when we saw Desperate Housewives' "Wisteria Lane" which is so small and ugly in real life you wonder if they weren't just kidding. What was impressive though, was the set of Steven Spielberg's "War of the Wolds" (you know the one were the plane has smashed a suburban neighborhood. Anyways, after the park, we got everything ready at our sleazey motel (the same were Jim Morrison spent his days boozing, shooting up, and snorting) to go the FIJI! Yes... away with the concrete bunkers, crowded streets, but also the beautiful nature of California. We had a blast now on to the next!!! See ya!

Other California Coastal Explorations

Well, because we already completed our loop through Cali (except the north), we decided to go the land of the Orange County Chopper builders (see Discovery Channel) and the guys and gal's of Laguna Beach (MTV) and of course, the OC. We drove through stunning coastal scenery all the way up to the famous Laguna Beach (which its residents compare to the French riviera. It doesn't look like it though but it is very nice). We took a short beach and town walk. We drove back to LA via Long Beach which is were Snoop Dogg originally comes from.

Other coastal meanderings of ours include the one-and-only surf capital of the USA: Huntington Beach (not Santa Cruz, this is a common mistake simply because the O'Neill clothing originated there). It was a again a small place with some nice surfshops but the coolest thing was that at one point there were surfers as far as you could see. We watched them from the pier and it was great. All races, genders, and ages seemed to be able to surf. Maybe we can take it up some time (Australia perhaps). Overall, however, it wasn't all that exiting so let's move on to other posts :-) Ciao!

Breakfast "CA" style

Breakfast-on-the-go on the beach. Sure as hell beats sitting at for instance the local Subway. Sunny greetings (it's +25 Celsius here)!

The Big Sur

Forget Santa Cruz and the "bird" incident, say hello to Monterey Bay, 17-mile drive and the Big Sur. We first visited the acclaimed Monterey Bay Acquarium. This is a great place that supports the preservation of an enormous stretch of marine life across the Monterey Bay Area. This area is reason enough alone to visit the Central Cali Coast. But... we didn't take any picture while we there. We didn't fell like it, especially after the bad experiences with tigers in Vegas. Still, if you want to get an impression, visit the Aquarium's website on and check out the great webcams they have of for instance the sea otters.

From Monterey Bay we did the 17-mile drive along the towns, beaches and nature of Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, and Carmel. The latter two are beautiflly located a famed retreat for the rich (and the to a lesser extent the famous). Golf courses and cozy but useless shops are abundant. Still, we got a sort of "cult" feel in these "resorts" (yes the grounds are privately owned by a corporation that protects its "citizens" with verve). Mainly stuffy old people but an experience nevertheless. As with everything in California, it was highly overrated and overpriced. Just remember that in California, there is no real glamour. There's only real superstar here: Mother Nature.

Anyways, we decided to make the long and winding drive along the stunning Highway 1 to Santa Barbara. Man, Sois has turned so many tight corners already during our trip but this was again challenging. But after both feeling dizzy and lightheaded, we still got constant rewards from the scenery with the culmination of Piedras Blancas where there were large colonies of elephant seals. We went on a bluff (verhoging) to see them dabble around and watch them play, fight, swim, and sleep (much like Sois in the famous "walrus"-houding"). So Check those pictures out.

Our final stop before Santa Barbara would be the Hearst Castle where an eccentric millionair spent more than 3 decades building his ultimate palace in the hills along the sea. Guess what, this was also a "spoof" and for those of you still interested in some modern kitsch, just watch the National Geographic documentary (it's probably out there somewhere on the Web).

Great, so now we're in Santa Barbara, relaxing from all the driving and as you might have noticed updating the blog. Stay tuned for more soon... (PS. The Big Sur is not a place, but an area that stretches from the end of Monterey Bay along Highway 1 to the collegetown of San Luis Obispo).

The "BIRD" Incident

The following pic is not for the faint of heart. Here's how the caper went down: After discovering that Santa Cruz was as alive as Elizabeth Taylor, we had a little "pick-nick" at the beach. We bought some supplies at the supermarket and were gobbling down our beachmade sandwiches. This under the strict supervision of a small group of seagulls (zeemeeuwen). After a couple of scare-aways, they realized that were not going to get anything from us. I guess they thought that Chel was mainly responsible for this (don't know why but she has to stop making seagull noises) and so they got their REVENGE. WHRSTSSTSTTTTWHIZZZZZ!!!! A big fat, juicy, green white slimey, poopie on Chel's shoulder, pants, and hair. Now, I don't know what these foul animals eat but it can't be good. Loudly laughing (Cox's can demonstrate you this noise quite accurately) they flew away. So of we went to the seas to rinse off and get the hell outta there. Finally, the pic convey more than a 1000 words.

Santa Cruz, CA

Nevermind... it sucked.

Off to Muir Woods

So after a decidely longer stay in SF-town, we headed up north towards the John Muir Woods (which is a small national park). Since the effort to go up all the way to Northern California to see the REAL Redwood National Forest was too big and probably too unrewarding (or we were short on time ;-) for a 5-7 hour trip, we decided to settle for something smaller. Hence, the Muir Woods. And guess what, we did see some impressive "twees" after all. Did you know that these babies can grow up to approximately 120 meters! (300 ft) They are the highest trees in the world as opposed to the Sequoia's which are the largest in sheer size. The Muir Woods provided a small escape from the busy city and we did some hiking there to find inner peace again... yeah right! On to the next location!

The IMAX Experience

For all you movie buffs out there... here's a good tip. Whenever you have the chance go see an IMAX movie. Because of that one day of bad weather in SF, we went to see Superman in a 3D IMAX-theatre. WOW! VERY entertaining, VERY big screen and incredibly loud. Also, check out the cool glasses we got. We have to create a signature petition to get one of those in Maastricht as well (and Star Wars IMAX movies too!). Some other movies we saw so far were Borat (a MUST-SEE for EVERYONE) and Babel (which was 50/50 actually). Hopes this helps. Peace, we out!

Biking the Golden Gate Bridge

This video was shot (as the title already aptly mentioned) at San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. We were both on bikes and the wind was blowing quite heavily so forgive us for the shaky camerawork and turn up the volume to hear this mumbo-jumbo. See you for now!

San Francisco, CA

After the splendor of Yosemite National Park, our next destination was the city of San Francisco. Guess we went from Diego to the Bay as Dr. Dre once rapped. Anyway, after some hellish traffic along some steep hills, we arrived at our destination WITHOUT our navigational system (goe gedaan!). We spend 5 night and 4 full days in "Frisco" (never say this to the locals though) and it was one of the nicest cities we visited so far (and at a great hostel called Amsterdam Hostel). We systematically explored all the different neighborhoods of the city (e.g. China Town, Haight-Ashbury, Mission, Fisherman's Wharf) on foot and probably in total walked more than a marathon. On our final day, we rented a couple of "cruiser" bikes and decided to go see the Golden Gate Park and the Golden Gate bridge (BTW which is NOT the one we describe on our DVD-footage. That was the Bay Bridge... come on, it was dark!)

We ended up biking the entire day from 9:00 until 17:00 and covered well over 35 miles of steep and less steep terrain. We almost got run-over a couple of times and both our asses hurt like hell but it was worth it, especially the route over the Golden Gate Bridge. The slideshow also includes some pictures of that trip as well. But wait! There's more. Yes, we also shot a little video while bike the bridge for your enjoyment. Check the "Biking the Golden Gate Bridge" post for that one.

Finally, we went to the most famous chinese restaurant of the city: House of Nanking. We actually had to wait in two lines for half an hour to be able to eat something. But, if everybody was this crazy, it must be good and it was. Still, it was an, oh say, swift experience. When it was our turn we got pulled into what can best be described as a tile shack, a menu pushed in our hands along with two soda cans and bang... there was the food. It tasted great and was relatively cheap but we were out of there in 15 minutes! Talk about fast food! They were more efficient than any McDonalds ever even hopes to be. Ok, got to stop yapping. More stories and impressions when we return. Vaya con dios!

Gentlemen, Welcome to the Rock!

Famous movie quote uttered by Sir Sean Connery. Yes, we went to Alcatraz. Some quick facts:

(1) Alcatraz was not only a maximum security federal penitentiary (= prison) for people the likes of Al "Scarface" Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, and Robert "The Birdman" Strout. It has also been a military fortress during the civil war, and after the Alcatraz era, "Indian Land" as it was occupied by American Indians for political reasons. Now it's part of the National Parks in America and a protected area for flora and fauna;

(2) There were a total 34 escape attempts but it said that none ever succeeded to really escape to the 1.5 mile shore because of the treacherous and cold waters (rip tides), scharks (which aren't man-eaters but sand shardks btw), and fog. Still, nobody knows what happened to the two brothers and their accomplice that escaped through their cells' ventilation shafts (Go rent Clint Eastwood's Escape from Alcatraz and you'll get a great idea of what the prison system was like and how it looks in there);

(3) The way the cells open in Alcatraz is a very ingeneous mechanical lever-operated system with which individual and groups of cells can all be openend and closed separately. Mind you that each of the doors weighs approximately 250 lbs (=85 kg) yet still the system culd be operated by a single man. Man, when those prison doors slammed shut, you needed only a little imagination to picture yourself inside;

(4) Total lockdown occured at 5:10 PM (17:10) and everyone was sealed in tight until 7 the next morning. Now, this seems like a long time, but when you're in such a hostile environment, prisoners and guards alike were generally happy that they were "safe" and live to see another day.

(5) Finally, just a little bit on Al Capone. At present nobody knows which "normal" cell he occupied at Alcatraz. The most of his 4 and a half years before his death were spent in a hospital isolation cell. He died of syfillis, not murder (SOA).

We hope the slideshow gives you some idea and feeling about a world famous former prison which still looks haunting today. So whenever you have an "off" day, think about what it would be like sitting in Alcatraz, listining to the sounds of the city of San Francisco resonating through the Bay knowing that you'll never see go there for the rest of your life. G'day and good night!

First Day of Rain!

So we've been traveling now for what, oh say... a little over 3 weeks. And we only had a little rain so far. Well, not today. We almost got fully soaked in " Frisco". But thanks to "Leo" (you know who you are) and his plastic Halfords rain ponchos, we made it through the day. Thanks Leo!

Waking up in San Francisco

Amongst the laundry line and the double-decker bunk beds, you might discover a tiny winy sleepy critter called Chel. And she salutes you after our first night in San Francisco. Another city, another adventure!

Biology Lessons with Chel - Part I

This video was shot in front of the third largest three in the world: the "General Grant" Tree or as many Americans call(ed) it the "Nation's Christmas" Tree. See what your professor has in store for you today!

Yosemite National Park

Right, after 5394 bends and turns we arrived just before nightfall in Yosemite Valley. This would become our basecamp to explore one of the most famous NP's of the U.S. It is one of the UNESCO World-Heritage sites and boy, did it look impressive. This would become the ideal place to do some serious hiking and perhaps even biking. Now, most people do not go beyond Yosemite Valley, but there is so much more to the park. So for those interested in visiting it, prepare yourself go in late summer (it does get crowded) and try to check the full greatness (we think it great enough to come back to at least). Check amongst others.

Now that these formalities are cleared, let's talk about our experiences. The first night we spend in a cosy barrack with a mountainview. Sois even tried to spot some bears with the Mag-Lite but all he spotted was our ugly next-door neighbor. After a good rest, we rented some bikes next morning to explore the area. And guess what we caught on tape?! A wild coyote wandering through the streets. And ofcourse, we have video footage of this "hot" pursuit and amazing animal. The rest of the day we spent hiking a very steep hill towards Boulder Rock where we got an amazing view of the valley. We were constantly on the lookout for bears and mountain lions but all we got was Bambi (which is also cute I guess).

The second night we did not have room so they put us in place called "Curry Village" in a tiny crooked shack (think Evil Dead style). It was creeping us out that we couldn't open any windows with the bears (who were supposedly very active in that area: we had to constantly lock away all our food) and all. Plus, we had one of those old-time heaters that cause carbonmonoxide poisoning (at least, that was my theory) if you couldn't vent the room. So because we didn't want to die in our sleeps, we decided to turn it off. And guess what: we FROZE our assess of that night!!! I mean really, really cold... Sois looked like a white popsicle (= ijsje) when he got up. Nervertheless we survived and set out for another day of hiking from Glacier Point. Now that was impressive. Look at the pictures and nod agreeingly. It was a BLAST! In the afternoon, we decided to continue or journey. Fully stocked up on supplies and gas, we headed of further into the great unknown... (you gotta love some drama)

Sequoia & King's Canyon National Parks

After Lone Pine and Mt. Whitney, we wanted to actually cross the mountain range to get to either Sequoia/King's Canyon National Parks or go directly to Yosemite National Park. Fortunenately, (except for the long but again beautiful drive), this road passage was closed so we decided to go to Sequoia/King's Canyon National Parks first. Now, why do we name the both. Well, because they are adjacent and according to the Lonely Planet both worthwhile so we therefore included both in our schedule (even the free maps depict both).

Sequoia NP contains the so-called "Giant Forest" where many of the largest trees (in volume) on the entire planet can be found. The "General Sherman" Tree is the world's largest living tree. Now that was one impressive three! Well, all of them were actually, just look at the slideshow to get an idea. Here are some Sequoia facts: they can grow up to 311 feet (100 mtr), reach ages of 3200 years, can weigh to 2.7 million lbs (1.3 million kg) and can reach a 40 feet base diameter (14 mtr). More than 20 people are necessary to hug those babies! Overall, a very impressive forest. There were more amazing sight like you can probably infer from the pictures taken at Moro Rock, a great viewpoint where lighting and weather storms have already cost some visitors their lives.

Moving on, because we were there in the off-season, only the village of Grant Cove had some lodging options. After a hard day of hiking we expected (from the pictures) that it would be great lodge, cozy, warm, just "gezellig". Nope, didn't think so. Instead it was clean and steril and abandoned. It felt like we were living in a smaller version of that hotel in The Shining (Here's Johnny! But only after I called him the next day). Furthermore, there was no village, just a couple of lodges. So, after a game of Cluedo (people do crazy things when bored and in a very dark, silent forest) we good a good night's sleep and headed of to Yosemite the next day. (PS. If you still see some fear in Chel's eyes in some pictures, it's because we had an encounter with some bloodshot-eyed "killer" deer who apparently mistook us for juicy grass and were intent to chase us down. For more details, you only have to come watch our DVD upon return...)

Lone Pine & Mount Whitney

Where are you guys?! We haven't heard from you in ages! Well, because of the internet difficulties and remote locations afterwards, it was difficult to update the blog and even text message/call home. We are now in Lone Pine, CA which is the portal town to the highest mountain in the contiguous U.S., Mount Whitney (appr. 14420 ft.). Here are some nice people with the full Internet hook-up so we also took some time to update the blog. Anyways, this is one of the most beautiful places we visited over the two weeks that we're on the road plus they shot 400+ movies here in the Alabama hills (mostly westerns). See for yourself in the slide presentation how impressive it is here. Yesterday, we hiked a little part of the famous Mt. Whitney trail which many Americans hike each year. It is a real challenge 10.2 miles to the top. We didn't go that far because the season is over (we just hit the snow border). It was a great experience and we hope you enjoy some of the pics as well. We're off to Sequoia AND Yosemite National Parks now so, there will be a radio silence again for some time. Our thanks and greetings go out to all our loyal viewers. See ya'll soon!!!

Welcome to Death Valley National Park

Welcome to one of the most hostile environments to "life" in the world. Dry, hot, cold, treacherous, diverse, salt, windy, sandy, and all of the other things that can be too much. But it's so damn beautiful too!!! Check out this link for more information about the park if you fancy a visit some time: / We really had a great time just driving and hiking through this park. And we slept at the Furnace Creek Ranch, an oasis in the middle of the desert (yes, they DO exist). En route!

Video greetings from Death Valley

Here's another digital greeting from your dynamic duo from Dante's View at Death Valley National Park. The place where we are standing is right on the edge of two earth plates that are still moving. The mountains in the back are called the Black Mountains. There are even vulcanic craters and salt plains present. This, in combination with the extreme temperatures in summer (all time high of 134F/56C!!!). All in all, a hostile environment that already cost a lot of human lives. Brrr... glad we had a map and plenty of water.

The Hoover Dam

During our stay in Vegas, we also visited Hoover Dam: a great demonstration of human engineering built during the U.S.' Great Depression in the 1930s. Some quick facts we remembered about this great structure:

(1) Every generator produces enough hydro-electric energy for approximately 100.000 people.
(2) The dam is built in an arch because the water of Lake Mead behind it presses the arch tighter in the valley rocks by the enormous pressure;
(3) The dam is also nowhere connected to these rocks. The arch presses itself in the wall and can therefore also withstand "earthquake country"; it simple moves along with the tremors and realigns itself (now that's smart thinking);
(4) Finally, but more honestly we don't recall at anythinh more at the moment, the dam is built with so much cement that you could buld a greater pyramid than those Pyramids in Egypt.

That's enough selective history class for now, we don't want to put you all to sleep just yet. See ya soon!