OK, we’ve settled in so I feel like I can write a little. The plane trip was uneventful - the usual annoying seat kickers and stuff, but all in all, it was probably the best long haul we've been on. Yay QANTAS and yay for some sleep. LAX was easy to figure out, and we jumped on a shuttle to our hire car place. The driver was Latino so I got to say gracias and understood her de nada reply (that’s pretty much the limit of my Spanish so I feel that I’ve had huge success). A right hand drive is a right hand drive, but we’re getting into it - or should I say Mark is resettling into it. I drove twice. I won’t say more than that.
We drove down to Venice Beach to have a look. Saw Santa Monica Pier off in the distance. Saw one of those Voltan fortune telling machines, so I got a bit excited. Then a strange lady came up to me and freaked me out. She was very much like that crazy eye Susan in Orange is the new Black, and she kind of really eyeballed me. We walked a little faster, and got out of there.
After much backwards and forwards, we made it on to the freeway. We ended up missing an entrance (ok, a few entrances), tried going around the block to get back on (ok, there aren't really blocks) and then ended up on some exits as we were in the wrong lanes (because they have like 300 exit lanes and you think you are far enough to the left, but obviously not). We had some lunch at a burger place, listened to a guy yelling down his phone to a Trump supporter, and were amazed at the size of the medium drink cups (their small is bigger than our large). Had to have a little kip in the car park before we went on, but made it to our hotel in Three Rivers.
Oh, can I just say, what's with these hybrid cars! As if right hand driving isn’t enough. We had to ask someone to show us how to start it. No ignition, no noise, a dial to choose park, drive and reverse. That in itself was a learning experience and today, getting ‘gas’. Sheesh. It’s pay before you buy, and there isn’t diesel or unleaded, but there’s three different ‘qualities’. We weren't sure what to put in it, let alone how, and when I asked the guy to help us as we didn’t know what kind of petrol to use and he asked if I wanted gas. I thought he meant LPG. I can be a bit slow. Mind you, everyone has been very helpful. I think it may have been a not so great neighbourhood when a lady just leant out of her car at the bowsers and vomited everywhere and then just shut the door again. o…..k….
Had a lovely dinner last night, and yes, one meal was more than enough for us both. Great sleep and up early this morning to head into the giant sequoia national park. Brekkie was strange, white butter, weird sweet bread (I should have brought Vegemite). I watched a lady make waffles, I might try this one day. We went to a cafe as Mark wanted good coffee. Uhm. But, there were hummingbirds. They are tiny - not what I imagined at all. They were beautiful to watch. I also picked up an acorn. I think the waitress was a little amazed at how amazed I was.
OK, off to the sequoias. OMG, how big are these trees! They are amazingly beautiful and huge. HUGE! The air was so crisp and clean and it was wonderful to walk around. We drove in a bit further to see the ‘General Sherman’ which is the biggest of them all. It’s taller than the Statue of Liberty (not that we’ve seen that for a real comparison, but it was an impressive comparison none the less). It is the world’s largest volume tree and is thought to be 2,200 years old, with its largest branch being seven feet in diameter. There you have it. Mind you, we were up at 7000ft, so the walk back up to the car park was a bit of a killer. That’s my exercise for the month. Oh, and squirrels. Lots of squirrels. Or maybe they were chipmunks, we don’t really know what the difference is.
We drove to Fresno, grabbed a SIM card and tried to get away from the security guard who wanted to talk our ears off about what he knew of Australia. We’ve just driven through Yosemite Village and seen many, many fast food joints (all pizzas and burgers), a few restaurants to choose from for tonight and a very large construction project, which was all made of wood. It’s like an old fashioned town. The laundromat was ‘Sierra Suds’ and the vet was called ‘Hooves and Paws’. Fabulous landscapes though, they've changed throughout the drive. Very long, yellow grasses, the beautiful sequoia thick forests, and then huge granite boulders in clumps along the road. Oh, and so far, America has incredibly high beds!
No comments:
Post a Comment