Adventures in the USA: Rachel's Travel Diary

Hello Hello!!

It’s been another busy couple of weeks since I last posted. Our friend Ralph has been with us since 6th June and, even though Chris had to work for most of that time, Ralph and I have been all over the city in the Ford Mustang he hired!

I forgot to write in my last post about my final Book Club Meeting on 3rd June – we read Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar and whilst it was a heavier read than some of the others, it was one of my favourites! I made cherry Bakewell Tart to take along – usually people bring snacks themed with the book, but I just went for a British classic as it was my last meeting, which no-one else had heard of before! It went down a treat though and I even had a few requests for the recipe. I spent the rest of that first week in June tidying, starting a new sewing project (making a patchwork cushion from scraps of fabric I’ve used on my projects so far), working on my Switzerland Trip shopping list and enjoying the sun!

Ralph arrived on Friday and we spent that first afternoon going for a walk around the area, then we ordered some nice pizza and pasta for a relaxed first dinner. On Saturday we went for a diner breakfast, a walk along the boardwalk at Venice Beach, then we drove up the coast to Malibu. The Pacific Coastal Highway has reopened after the fires now, but you can still see lots of burned out houses and cars lining the highway around there. We drove with the top down and had a swim at Malibu Lagoon, then headed back to Santa Monica at sunset to get burgers for dinner.

On Sunday we went to Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park. I’m not a huge fan of roller coasters, so I went on some of the gentler rides whilst the boys did all the big coasters. We went on a few all together though; Ralph got soaked on the River Rapids, we got thoroughly rattled around on a rickety wooden coaster called Apocalypse, and my favourite was a ride called Ninja where you sit in a carriage almost like a ski-lift gondola, which is suspended from a track above – the carriages then swing up to 90 degrees each way! We were there from just after the park opened until it closed, then we headed to one of our favourite restaurants for dinner which specialises in schnitzel and German beer.

During the week we settled into a rhythm – dropping Chris off at work (we only have one parking space so Chris left his car at the office), returning home to get coffee, breakfast, catch up on emails etc., meeting up with Chris for lunch or a walk , then Ralph and I went exploring for the afternoon. On Monday, we hiked to the Hollywood Sign via the Wisdom Tree! It was quite steep, rocky terrain under beating sun so we had lots of suncream on and plenty of water – the views were worth the effort though! Between the Wisdom Tree and the Hollywood Sign (located at the top of Mount Lee) we crossed over the highest point in Griffith Park – Cahuenga Peak. Hiking to the Hollywood Sign was one of my bucket list items so I’m glad we found a time to do that!

On Tuesday, we went to The Getty Center, following a recommendation from some of Chris’s colleagues. The Getty Center is stunning in itself, with more incredible views over the city, and a very clear view of the I-405 highway! The gardens are beautiful and full of colour, and there’s also a huge collection of paintings and sculptures, including Van Gogh’s ‘Irises’ and several Monet, Manet and Cézanne. 

On Wednesday, we drove down to Long Beach. There were a few things in Long Beach I had wanted to see back in April when Chris and I went to the theatre there, but the Grand Prix was happening, so we avoided the surrounding area. Ralph was open to suggestions of things to see in the area and didn’t mind driving, so off we went! We parked up a little to the east and walked along the (very long) beach towards Shoreline Village – full of brightly painted restaurants and gift shops – and towards the RMS Queen Mary ship – a Cunard Ocean Liner which operated from 1936 to 1967 but now has a permanent mooring – it’s still used as a hotel though!

On Thursday we visited the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. A new exhibition had opened since I last went, all about production design and set dressing, focusing on Disney’s Beauty and The Beast from 2017, and Barbie from 2023. I also spent more time in an exhibition about the origins of the Hollywood studios and production companies, many of which were founded by Jewish individuals or families, which was very interesting. In the evening, Chris and I went to see Mumford and Sons at The Hollywood Bowl (Ralph kindly dropped us off and picked us up) – I’ve wanted to see Mumford and Sons play for a long time as I love several of their songs, but they took a break from touring to work on new music. It’s an amazing venue as well! Like an amphitheatre with wooden benches, surrounded by the Hollywood Hills! Then on Friday we went to the Gagosian Art Gallery in Beverly Hills which is still showing an exhibition of photography by Paul McCartney in 1963 and 1964. 

On Friday evening, we started our road trip, heading north out of LA to a small town called Barstow. We stayed in a motel about halfway to Las Vegas. It was a pretty quiet town surrounded by desert, but we found a small sports bar nearby with a friendly, relaxed atmosphere and a pool table, so we played a few games with a couple of beers before turning in for the evening.

We were up fairly early on Saturday as we wanted to get our free breakfast at the motel before hitting the road, then we stopped again a few miles further north at Calico Ghost Town – this was a town founded in 1881 when silver ore deposits were discovered in the area but was then largely abandoned in the mid 1890s after the value of silver dropped. Many of the buildings fell into disrepair, but the town was restored in 1950s and later became a state historic landmark.Then we kept heading north and arrived in Las Vegas at 2pm. This time we were staying at Planet Hollywood, in the middle of yet another extreme heat warning – 42 degrees! After we got checked in and had settled into the room, we spent the rest of the day moving between different casinos. We were brave enough to try out some of the betting tables this time and had a go at Roulette and Blackjack. We had good fun, but sadly no great winnings. We went back to Gordon Ramsay’s Hells Kitchen for dinner though and had some delicious steaks and red wine. 

On Sunday we had a steady start to the day and went for brunch at a French restaurant in the Paris hotel, before continuing our road trip. We stopped again at The Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. We hadn’t realised our route would take us across the bridge next to the Hoover Dam so this was an unexpected bonus to our trip. The dam was narrower but much higher than I had expected, and the water level was quite low to the north of the dam (as you would expect after weeks of intense heat and no rain). The state border between Nevada and Arizona passes through the middle of the dam and there are clocks either side labelled ‘Nevada Time’ and ‘Arizona Time’. The states are in the same time zone though so they read the same! After taking many many pictures, we kept driving until we reached our destination around 6.30 pm – Grand Canyon West. We had booked a cabin to stay over night on the Hualapai Ranch, but when we checked in they said the on-site restaurant had already closed for the night, so we got back in the car to drive to a ranch with western decor which we had passed along the way for dinner. This was another unexpected gem with great food at reasonable prices and a great view of the sunset. It was so peaceful staying in the cabin, with incredible views of the stars overhead.

We decided on an early start for Monday, waking at 5am so we could see the sunrise over the canyon on the horizon! By 6am, we were packed up and headed out on a hike to the edge of the canyon and honestly, words cannot describe how breathtaking the views are. It’s truly an incredible place and you can see why it’s called one of the seven natural wonders of the world! After our hike we got some breakfast and has intended to book in for a zip line, but there was some miscommunication from the site staff about logistics and opening times so we would have needed to wait around an extra hour to find out what availability the zip line had that day, so we decided to move on and headed to the Skywalk at Eagle Point – a glass cantilevered walkway 5000ft above the floor of the canyon! We got there about half an hour after it opened for the day so it was still quite quiet and we had plenty of time and space to pose for photos. Then the next and final stop at the canyon was Guano Point which has even more breathtaking views of the canyon. Standing at the Point, you have views of the canyon on three sides. There is a derelict cable car station at Guano Point which dates back to the 1957; a cave was discovered below the Point which was full of Guano (bat poo). This was mined in the late 50s and 60s as an ingredient for fertiliser. The cable system was subsequently damaged in the late 60s though when a plane crashed into it, but they’ve left the two cable car stations largely untouched. By this point, it was about 12pm so we decided to start the long drive back through Arizona, Nevada and California to LA.

What an incredible trip! When I did research before coming to the USA, I thought going to the Grand Canyon wouldn’t be possible as it’s 6.5 hours drive from LA, but with Ralph’s rental car which all three of us were insured on, we were able to share the driving. This weekend has definitely been one of the highlights of my trip!

Signing off now from the across the pond,

Rachel