Los Angeles - Wrong turnings but a good destination!

Given the traffic, I thought that Sunday would be the best day to drive around LA. I first set out to drive up Sunset Boulevard to Hollywood. This I did, but I didn't find much at the end (although I passed some big houses along the way) - possibly there wasn't much to look at there, possibly (or probably) I took some wrong turnings and missed the good stuff!

I therefore headed downtown. I parked at the Walt Disney Concert Hall (above) which is a Frank Gerry designed fascinating building. I then had a wonder around the downtown area (which was fairly deserted as it was a Sunday) before going to the first site of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in LA. Here there was a great permanent collection, plus an interesting additional display of a LA artist.

To get to the second site of the MOCA I had a stroll across town. It was by the Japanese area of town, where there were several restaurants, shops and a Japanese garden. The second MOCA location was in a big warehouse type building, which had a display of graffiti art and artists in it. This was quite popular, with many people visiting, and also included British artists such as Bristol's Banksey. Whilst it didn't quite have the shock display of either the RWA or Banksey exhibitions in Bristol a few years back (as perhaps the location was more "suited" to it) there were some interesting and witty pieces there.

This steam roller looks a little shocked that it is about to run over a small girl!

The final leg (Las Vegas, NV - Santa Monica, CA)

The final leg of my journey took me through the mountains and the desert from Las Vegas to Santa Monica, just outside Los Angeles in California.

On the way I met Route 66 at Barstow in California. Here there was both a Railroad museum and a Route 66 museum, both of interest but not fully telling a story! I also passed a turning for Zzyzx road, which looked intriguing!

As the road neared Los Angeles (which has huge outskirts) roads became those wide American roads - 6 lanes either way - and still some of the heaviest traffic I have been in on the journey (and on a Saturday too!)

Las Vegas, NV - What happens...

Having arrived in Las Vegas, I didn't go the most direct route to my hotel (didn't quite understand the signs quickly enough). This meant I ended up driving down a long length of Las Vegas Boulevard on Thursday evening, and saw many sights such as the collection of wedding chapels at the north end of the road and a large Bass pint glass!

Friday I took a walk up the Boulevard to look at the different hotels and resorts that line it. Along the way there were many different (and bizarre) sites such as Paris (including an Eiffel Tower and an Arc de Triomphe) and Venice (with canals and a St Marks Square - inside!).

Later up the road I made it (through the heat) to the Stratosphere hotel, which included a large viewing tower. Going to the top gave some very clear views of Las Vegas, and showed how it is ringed by mountains out here in the desert. It also showed how the tourist area is just a small corner of the town! The tower itself also had a number of rides at the top, which dangled you over the edge - not something that I fancied doing!

As the tower had a little look of Seattle's space needle from it, it was only right that I should take a monorail from it back to the other end of the Strip. Here, I later looked round some more resorts, including the MGM which had live lions inside (in an enclosure!) and the Luxor which was a giant glass pyramid.

Overall, some interesting things to see, in some ways almost as alien as the Grand Canyon!

Cleaning up with some more sights (Grand Canyon, AZ - Las Vegas, NV)

There were two major highlights on the route from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas. The first was possibly the last bit of classic Route 66 that I will see on this trip (the fact of going to Vegas means I deviate off the route - again - as Route 66 didn't go to Vegas). Here there were some classic signs in the town of Seligman and a trip through the countryside where I came across a cloud of dust moving across the road which on reflection may have been a very small tornado.

The second (and a benefit of detouring to Vegas) was getting to see the Hoover Dam. This is reputed to be one of the 10 best feats of engineering in the world and you can see why. It solves problems of water, generates electricity and was completed ahead of schedule over 75 years ago. (you think I learnt something from the visitor's centre?) It was also incredibly hot - probably 112F or more - so time outside was limited!

Grand Canyon - Out of this world

The Grand Canyon is something that has to be really seen to be believed. It is unlike anything that you have seen before, even the Canyon de Chelly from the day before. The landscape has an almost alien quality about it, the outcome of millions of years of erosion. The scale of it is vast. To give an example, a new attraction for the Grand Canyon is a glass viewing platform where you walk over the canyon. It is 250 miles away from where I am today!

Visiting the desert view point on my way into the park from Chinle was with hindsight a very good thing, as it is over 25 miles from the main visitors centre. Here there was a lookout tower (see below) which looks old but was only built within the past 100 years (and is currently undergoing repairs).

Today I didn't drive for once and took the bus into the park. Within the park there is a good network of free buses to take you around this part of the south rim. Having watched a movie on the canyon I went to take my first look of the day out at it. From there I took a succession of buses further up the side which gave some different views, including clearer views of the Colorado river which is the key driver of the erosion that has caused this. I also, despite the heat, did some walking along the rim (not too close!) between different viewpoints.

Having gone back to the hotel for a cool down I went back in the evening to watch the sun set. This nearly caught me out as Arizona (alone in all the states) has no summer time and therefore the sun set a little earlier than I was expecting! However, I was there in plenty of time to see not only the sun go down, but the impact on the rocks of the different light as it was doing so. A real privilege to see it.

Primary Colours - (Chinle, AZ - Grand Canyon, AZ)

The drive from Chinle to the Grand Canyon took me through all sorts of stunning scenery. From forests, to mountains, to plains, to canyons it went through a wide variety. Early in the journey it was very yellow, almost Cotswold stone, but later it turned red like driving through Mars! Unfortunately I was too busy driving to grab many photos but here are a couple.

Along the way there was a set of roadworks (the road was down to one lane for more than a mile). Rather than having a stop/go board controlling this, they had a stop/slow board to tell you how you should be driving through it!

Arriving in the Grand Canyon, I had to drive through the park to get to my hotel. I had a look at one stop (very impressive) but missed the rest so as not to spoil myself! Usually there is a charge to drive through, but as it was midsummer's day it was free!

Canyon de Chelly (Chinle, AZ) - Lucky 7

There is only one attraction at Chinle, but it is a very attractive one. The Canyon de Chelly is a national monument, part of the National Parks service, and 131 square miles of canyon. The main route to see it are drives along the north and south sides of the canyon. There is only one walking trail that can be taken - as it is the land of the Navajo people.

I took the south trail, which gave 7 different viewpoints over a 15 mile or so journey. As hopefully you can see from the photos, there were some spectacular views to be had...

On to the green - (Albuquerque, NM - Chinle, AZ)

Leaving Albuquerque this morning the weather was a little cooler and a little less windy than it has been of recent days - still very warm though! The route through New Mexico took me past the continental divide (as you can see below) - the point at which the ultimate destination of draining rainwater changes. Some of the views along the way were also quite stunning as the interstate passed through the mountains.

The last stop in New Mexico was the town of Gallup. Outside town I visited the Red Rock State Park, which enabled a closer look at some of the dramatic rocks I had seen from the car earlier. However, the complex there was almost deserted - I think possibly some work was being done on it, but there was not a lot going on at all.

I then drove into the town itself. This had a number of good examples of neon signs (and even a large model cowboy) as you can see below. I also (naturally) visited the art gallery at the town's cultural centre which was located at the train station. This was all very practical as there was only one train in each direction each day (although a lot of goods trains also passed through).

Crossing over into Arizona, again the scenery changed almost at the state line. This time it become much more green, with a forest the first thing you passed through. Later on it really opened up, with great wide stepped plains that were quite breathtaking. Unfortunately there was nowhere to stop to get a photo - will try again tomorrow!

Albuquerque, NM - Through the ages

Albuquerque is a sprawling city, now the capital of New Mexico, but it has an old town at its centre from the 1700's. Actually it is not quite at the centre - when the real development started for the city around the coming of the railway it was a couple of miles from the old town. It was only in 1949 that the two Albuquerques were combined, with the old two reluctantly being brought into the new.

I found this out at the Albuquerque museum of art and history which, following the usual luck of my tour, had free entry on Sunday morning! This was bigger than I expected and, as well as histories of the area (including a film which brought us up to the "modern day" - 1980!) had some good art displays and an interesting exhibition on Tiffany glassware and the women behind it.

I then had a walk around the old town which had some very old buildings (including this church), lots of small art galleries and people dancing in the bandstand!

For a contrast I drove down the other end of town to the University of New Mexico. Here the architecture was much more modern, but still in the local style. There was also another art museum there which had an architecture exhibition amongst other displays.

My journey back was along the central avenue in Albuquerque which is the old route for Route 66 through the city. This led to some traffic congestion in times past! There are still signs, including the reproduction signs you can see below and another which said there are 790 miles to go to LA! I'd better get moving...

Back at the hotel I saw the end of the remarkable US Open (I had also been listening to it on my travels over the past few days) and the stunning victory by Rory McIlroy - definitely head and shoulders above the rest and a star for the future.

Coming round the mountain (Santa Fe, NM - Albuquerque, NM)

The journey between Santa Fe and Albuquerque is probably the shortest on my trip (although the hotel I am in is a long way out of town) but to do it I took the scenic route. This is a road known as the Turquoise Trail which goes through the mountains and has some impressive scenery as you can see...

Santa Fe, NM - Oasis in the desert

Santa Fe in New Mexico came as something of a surprise to me. This town in the middle of the desert (almost) was a very art-focused town. As you walk around the centre of town there are multiple small galleries with every different type of art available. It was like a bigger version of St Ives in Cornwall or a town in Cape Cod - without being anywhere near the sea!

The first official gallery/museum that I visited was the Georgia O'Keefe museum. This had some of her work within it (close-up paintings of flowers in the main) but was mainly a special exhibition looking at the links between photography and painting in American art, which had some interesting pieces.

On another positive accident of timing, Friday evening saw free entry to the main museums in Santa Fe. I therefore looked round both the New Mexico Museum of Art (which included an exhibition looking at photography of the environment) and the New Mexico History Museum, which tells the story of the state from Spain to Mexico to part of the USA. The museum is partially situated in the Palace of the Governors, which is the oldest public building in the United States. It dates from the 17th century, although has been remodeled several times over the years, and first became a museum 100 years ago. It is the penultimate photo below.

Saturday saw more positive coincidences. First of all, it was both free entry at the SITE contemporary art gallery, it was also the first day of two new exhibitions there, the pick of which was work by Pae White. Secondly, the main square in Santa Fe had been taken over for an Arts and Crafts fair, with lots of small stands. Overall, a very interesting place to visit, and plenty that I did not have time to see whilst I was there.
The architecture in Santa Fe was also interesting. Many buildings were built (I guess using sand) in a style which means that they don't have many straight lines, but instead look very old (although I guess in many cases they are not as one building looking like this was a car park!)

These chillies were drying in the courtyard of the New Mexico Art Museum.

The fish found it slightly dry in Santa Fe...

Laundromat

Perhaps not the most exciting of photos, but I know it is a popular topic in the comments to this blog (hey, it's the only topic in the comments). The above is the laundromat I visited this morning to do my mid-trip washing (you can see I was there as my car is in the photo). No exciting stories I'm afraid, just the use of a lot of quarters in the machines!

In the desert (Tucumcari, NM - Santa Fe, NM)

The journey through New Mexico to Santa Fe was not too long, but was of interest. Route 66 went through Santa Monica which had some more traditional buildings (inducing the Laundromat below!). However, it was a bit empty - at one stage tumbleweed genuinely blew across the road (a bigger piece blew across the interstate later on!)

As it went on, the road became more desert-like. Generally, the roads open out a long way - at one point I worked out that the point in the distance I could see was 8 miles away - and it was straight road all the way! As I got nearer Santa Fe there were more mountains around meaning it was really dramatic (and different) scenery to drive through.

Tucumcari, NM - Tonite! (or last night actually)

Next stop along the trip was Tucumcari in New Mexico. This is a traditional Route 66 town which advertised itself under the slogan Tucumcari Tonite to encourage people to stay. Route 66 is still the main route through town, and has lots of traditional buildings as part of it (some of which unfortunately closed now). There is also a large collection of murals about town, many of which have Route 66 links.

Whilst there I visited the Tucumcari Historical Museum. This was a strange museum (like small town museums sometimes can be) which was more like 12 people had emptied their lofts into the museum than something that actually told you something. As I have often told people in my job - you need to tell a story!

I also visited a display of Route 66 photographs, which was in a spare room in a furniture store of all places. This showed the journey from LA to Chicago (i.e. the opposite way to which I am doing it). Whilst I recognised some of the sights, there were many that I did not - just shows that I haven't been completest!

Halfway there (Amarillo, TX - Tucumcari, NM)

The journey from Amarillo to my next stop in Tucumcari was only a short one, but it had some main Route 66 sights along the way. You will already have seen the Cadillac ranch just outside Amarillo, and another key point is the MidPoint Cafe. This is at the town of Adrian in Texas which claims to be the middle point of Route 66. Now, over the years, distances change and whether it is or not is a moot point. But still, it was nice to mark it and I called in for some Apple Pie and Iced Tea.

Crossing the border to New Mexico there was a very helpful tourist information place and then a couple of miles on a truck stop which had a display of vintage cars. Mainly it was interstate driving again, with the landscape of wide open plains. A few mountains have come into view as well, but it is very dry (and still very hot!)