Tuesday, June 12th 2007
Palm Springs
The Palm Springs hotel, which we found through Expedia turned out to be a really nice polynesian style motel. There is a huge pool, which is open until midnight, with a bar right next to it. Sourrounded by real fire torchs and Tiki masks for the perfect ambient. Actually I'm sitting on one of the lawn chairs and enjoying the warm (but not too hot) night while typing this. If you ever come to Palm Springs, give this motel a try. Check out their website. The rooms are pretty cool and up to date too.
We've spent the day at Knott's Soak City, by far the best water park I've ever been to! "Pacific Spin", the ride with the big funnel, is definately worth a try! Hint: Buy your tickets at Carl's Jr., they're 8 bucks below the regular admission for non-california residents and still 3 dollars below the so-cal residents admission.
Tomorrow we'll end our road trip and drive back home. weather.com forecasts a cooler but all sunny day for Santa Ana.
posted by zeek at 4:40 am UTC (0 comments)
Tuesday, June 12th 2007
Phoenix, AZ
Oh, what a boring drive! But let's start from the beginning: Right after we woke up, we packed our bags and went to downtown Phoenix. Even though it was Sunday, the place was pretty crowded as it was "Game Day" and the baseball stadium is right there. I honestly don't know if I should love or hate this city, so I guess I'll have to go there again to figure out. We were sitting in a nice Bar, having some drinks and enjoyed the free Wi-Fi. After that: Oh, what a boring drive! 280 mi. (450 km) from Phoenix, AZ to Palm Springs, CA. And there's absolutely nothing exciting to see! Well, maybe the inspection station at the state border, but that one was closed! The sign at the freeway "State prison next exit. Do not pickup hitchhikers" was kinda funny though.
Well, now we are in Palm Springs and going to stay here for about two nights.
posted by zeek at 3:06 am UTC (0 comments)
Sunday, June 10th 2007
The Grand Canyon
Early in the morning we went to explore the Grand Canyon. A really breathtaking experience. We took countless pictures but figured that the gorgeousness can't be captured to a picture. But we'll have it in mind!
Afterwards we continued our way to Flagstaff, AZ. The city had nothing to exciting to offer but a nice lunch. So we decided not to stay too long and to strike off for Phoenix, AZ. We're going to spend the night in a motel close to downtown. In Phoenix, by the way, it's unbelieve hot again (even during nighttime).
posted by zeek at 7:35 pm UTC (6 comments)
Sunday, June 10th 2007
Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon
After a quick stop at the Hoover Dam, we reached the Grand Canyon in the late evening. A cruel cold night, with temperatures around the freezing point, awaits us. But we're pepared: We zipped our sleeping bags together so we can keep each other warm.
posted by zeek at 6:20 am UTC (0 comments)
Sunday, June 10th 2007
Still Vegas
Following the tradition, we extended our stay in Vegas and have been there until friday. The sandstorm, which we encountered during the very first night, calmed down overnight and we had perfect pool weather. So we hung out at the pool pretty much all day long. But we also went up the strip to take some pics of us in The Venetian, we watched the fountains at the Bellagio and this time we've made it to the old town. There's nothing more to say but: Let's go to the Grand Canyon now!
posted by zeek at 5:47 am UTC (0 comments)
Thursday, June 7th 2007
Viva Las Vegas
The second night in Death Valley was much more comfortable than the first one. As we camped behind another mountain range, the temperatures were quite moderate and fell even below 86°F (30°C). After the heat of the deserts we were almost freezing. After the precedure of taking down the tent we were on our way to Vegas! Too early to check in to the hotel, we went to the "Las Vegas Outlet Center", just south of the Strip so Sina could satisfy her shopping needs. Then we checked in to the Tropicana where we are right now (next to New York, Paris, Luxor and Venice). Now it's time to do nothing but relax at the pool...
posted by zeek at 6:44 pm UTC (1 comments)
Wednesday, June 6th 2007
Somersault
Do you know these annoying requests for a "Purzelbaum" (somersault)? No?!? Well, you would if you knew Ben & Dennis. And there's no other way to escape but satistfying their demands...
posted by zeek at 6:16 pm UTC (3 comments)
Wednesday, June 6th 2007
Death Valley
It's the second day in Death Valley but it feels like we're here for ages already. Not that there aren't enough sights to discover, but the unbelievable heat kills us! 119°F (48.5°C) was the highest temperature we suffered so far. And at night it doesn't cool down any more than to 95°F (35°C). In addition to that a dry, hot wind complicated setting up the tent. And as tent pegs don't really clamp to the desert ground, we had to put all our stuff inside the tent so it can't be blown away. On one of our off road tours, which afflicted the TT extremely, we've lost our customized license plate at the front (as well as the crome frame). Guess you have to live with such losses on trips like that. We also figured that the AUDI service didn't manage to repair the A/C as they should. We had to switch it off everytime we had to stop, drive with low rpms or while going up the mountains. After all these stories about broken down cars and passengers who (almost) died in the heat (which the rangers love to tell you), I'm just glad that everything else on the TT works fine. In the breaks between exploring the rocks, the salt and the sand desert, we've tried to cool down in visitor centers or gas stations (where available). But - once again - we didn't have any showers.
We're going to spend the second night in Shoshone, right outside the National Park. They have showers and even a spring-fed pool (unfortunatly from a hot spring, we would have preferred a cold one!). Tomorrow we'll continue on our way to Las Vegas and we're really looking forward to airconditioned rooms and a refreshing pool.
posted by zeek at 2:30 am UTC (0 comments)
Wednesday, June 6th 2007
Side trip to Bishop, CA
The craving for a shower, a pool and an A/C made us driving farther north than actually planned. We were seeking for a nice motel. In Bishop, CA we've finally found one. On our way we made a side trip to Keeler, another ghost town. At the first look we thought that flys were the only living creatures there, but after a while we saw an elderly couple, equipped with fly swats, sitting on the porch of the least ramshackle house. They waved to us but as a precaution we didn't wave back. We took as many photos as allowed by the attacks of the flys. After that we went to the "Dirty Socks Springs", a hot spring pretty close by. It seemed as we missed a party that was going on there the night before. The number of empty beer bottles was outdone only by the numbers of insects on the water's surface. When the smell of sufur hit our noses, we decided not to take a bath there. But we took a bath in the pool of the motel mentioned before. A clean pool brang us the cooling we longed for. Afterwards we took one shower after the other.
posted by zeek at 1:49 am UTC (0 comments)
Sunday, June 3rd 2007
Lake Diaz / Mount Whitney
We relocated from very cold to very hot. Back in the Desert! 111°F (44°C) in the shade, but it's hard to find any. After leaving the San Bernadino National Forest, we went mile after mile through the Mojave. Except of the Mormon Rocks it didn't show us anything new. The next stop, the Red Rock Conyon State Park, had to wait a little longer as we decided to stop by a fast food restaurant. In the thinly populated desert this meant a detour of 65 miles (105 km). On our way we came through Randsburg, a real ghost town. Abandoned (gold-digger) towns are somewhat scary.
Finally, at the Red Rock Canyon State Park, we've found a closed visitor information. The sign read "Open on weekends only", but the Friday apparently wasn't considered as belonging to the weekend. So we explored the amazing rock formations without any guide. Of course we took some photos. Further in the north we came to a volcanic field. Following the signposts we had our first real off-road experience with the TT. He survived briefly. Up here in the north you can find lots of lakes, consisting of melt water from the mountains. However, some are dry. Tonight we reside at the base of Mount Whitney, directly at the Lake Diaz. Unfortunately once again with no showers! The camping guide explicitly referred them, but they seem to be put out of service several decades ago. Now, after the sunset, we still have pleasing 77°F (25°C). Tomorrow we'll take a bath at 111°F (44°C) in the lake while watching the snow covered top of the mountain. Must feel weird. However there are two things we've learned today: The Americans can put a stripe of asphalt to anywhere they want (and call it street then). And: They don't do it everywhere I want to drive! ;)
posted by zeek at 1:35 am UTC (0 comments)
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