Thursday 25 October 2012

Joshua Tree NP

Love this place!! It's like nothing anywhere else on the world. Feels like you could be the only one living on the earth. No need for chatter here - I will let the pics do the talking.

No Joshua Trees yet - but look at these little plants.
Our camp spot for the night.
This is the unpleasant side of RV-ING. This is how you empty waste. Grant is very.multi tasked these days with use of all limbs.
A Joshua Tree!
Skull Rock.
 

 

The steep climb to Mt Ryan.
We haven't introduced this guy yet. He was won out of a machine in LA and now sits up proudly on the front dash. Introducing Elmorado.
Elmorado helping out in his share of the driving as we head over to Las Vegas.
We are now sitting in Las Vegas airport about to depart to NYC. Very excited to be heading over to the East Coast for a change of scenery. Catching up with a few mates over there so will be seeing you all soon! As for the rest of you - will make sure I keep our 3 weeks in NYC updated on here. Yey!

Monday 22 October 2012

Balmy Palm Springs

I always knew this was going to be planned stop on our trip due to the abundance of golf courses here. To be honest I wasn't expecting much so when we arrived I was pleasantly surprised. A whole city has been left in tac from the rat pack days. The architecture, the soaring mountains surrounding, the heat and all those palm trees make up a pretty cool little place.

Before I keep babbling on - I will hand you over to Grant to report in on the main object here - GOLF.

A lot of the private residences are gated and usually built around resort style golf courses of up to 36holes. Golf is cheap, the courses are immaculately manicured and bearing on fluorescent green from tapping into the huge underwater aquifer sitting under palm springs (in itself in the middle of the desert). So water is the lifeblood of this little oasis. That and cosmetic surgery.

I had rounds with residents, continuously talking of the Hollywood fame which has graced their courses, a lovelymexican bloke who insisted I try and keep up with him whilst feeding me more amber nectars than I usually consume on a Friday night, let alone a golf course. There was another old bloke who spent nearly 20 years travelling to and from Penrith for business. Ha! Penrith. He says to me "man I had a lot of fun at that place....what was it..." me:"panthers world of entertainment" 75 yr old:"amen". He was also telling me of how he used to rort the cabcharge checks they used in the day. "man I loved it down there". Any guy who laughs at the old cabcharge rort, loves Panthers and putts with a hybrid gets my vote. Back to the gasbagger.

Whilst Wearin was off amusing himself I had a lovely old time. One day was spent at the Rancheros de Palmas pool area which included access to their day spa area. Bliss. Second day was catching a chick flick, doing the mani/pedi thing and shopping along El Paseo in Palm Desert. The third day was spent around the pool again at Ace Hotel (more on that lately).

Much appreciated with the temp searing at 37c
Love all the ladies in a row catching up on the trash mags. They were there for three days just having treatments and cocktails. Tough.
The locals. Plastic Surgery clinics line the roads.
El Paseo - much to Grants delight. Managed to have the Escada ladies in quite the tizz with his flirtatious activities. Ha!
My pos at the Ace Hotel. Live DJ and great cocktails.
One night we ventured out for some free entertainment and ended up at the Fantasy Springs casino. Classy place. So much so that we were entertained by a AC/DC tribute band. Rock on.

After two nights in the sweltering Walmart carpark we were very excited to checkin to the Ace Hotel. After some confusion with two randoms walking into our room and them accidentally sending champagne to our room and taking it back, we were offered a suite upgrade and a free bottle of wine at dinner. WINNING! Very cool hotel that captures Palm Springs perfectly. A must stay if you ever come here. Definitely have dinner at the diner and soak up some sun with some cocktails and DJ tunes.

The lounge room
Look a bed. A real bed!!!
The mow somehow works here. Somehow.
Back into trusty Sheila as we are heading for Joshua Tree NP.

 

Friday 19 October 2012

Passing the time...

As the great man Darryl Braithwaite once hollered "things don't seem to be like they used to be...as the days go by". Basically our rat race now consists of the following activities.

1. Driving. I guess we are averaging 120km's per day. Generally split up to a few small drives daily to sight see and then one long drive (350km's+) every 4-5 days.

2. Reading. Jasmine has already read a carry on bag full of novels and just bought a stack load more. Everyone of 'em by some Picoult broad. Not sure what she writes about but she'd be loaded. I've read my way through 3 novels, all of which I'd highly recommend: bill brysons notes from a big country, jack kerouac's modern classic on the road and hunter s thompsons gonzo journalism epic, fear and loathing in las Vegas.

3. Puzzling. We crank out the old school entertainment as well. Both 750+ piece monsters capable of bringing out the best and worst of you.

4. Campsite snobbery. Finding the best spot for your afternoon and evening is a must. Waterviews generally the most sort after feature of this high flying couple.

5. Bath time. A humorous period usually between 8 or 9pm where we constantly bicker and argue for the top honour of who has used the LEAST amount of water after waiting for it to heat up for 10 minutes with the fitted flamethrower that is attached to our Sheila.

6. Afternoon treats and obligatory sundowner. I'm currently enjoying a snake river brewery pale ale, bought fresh from their brewery in Jackson, Wyoming. Jas a Napa Valley Pinot Noir or a G&T (although currently has a band on herself). Our favourite discovery on the snack front has been lime flavoured tostitos with fresh salsa.

7. Morning coffee. Can be hit and miss in the more rural areas but is great in all cities. As a flat white man I've worked out you've got to ask for an espresso in the smallest cup they've got and filled with warm milk.if the barista looks puzzled and says "you mean a latte", I just concede defeat and agree. Apparently I now drink latte's! I should also add that we take breakfast very seriously as well. Omelettes, some overpriced muesli Jasmine insists on buying with a rainbow of fruits and of course some serious pancakes.

8. Exercise. You have no choice in the US unless you want to sign up for channel 10s best rating program upon return. Jas much more diligent than myself though when I surf she's napping.

9. Reminisce. We often strike up a conversation about people, places and things we miss about home. Wouldn't swap our position for the world though. Holiday bliss. Everyday.

10. Talk talk talk...my tonsils hurt...


... and so do my fingers.