No probs. When you are over and have the time - you can always drop me a line here. Duke of York is yards away from Hadskis for a drink. And then less than 5mins from Spaniard, Dirty Onion, National and The Merchant.

Looking forward to seeing the pics Nina.

Yeah, get those pics up Nina - I'm seriously missing California.

It's probably called Giovanni's or Luigi's.

Walls Funny Feet

Rome is on my bucket list but never been. I'd want to see Hadrians Villa, the Diocletian Baths obviously and the Pantheon, also obviously. I hear there are lots of sites just outside the city that are relatively quiet.

One tip I'd give. If you're going to go to the busy tourist sites (Vatican/Colossus) then it's worth booking ahead and getting the que jump tickets. A guided tour is a good idea too, but if not I'd definitely still buy the que jumper tickets.

dynamiteReady wrote:

Super T aside, does anyone have a quick list of things to do/see in and around Rome over 5 days?

Best ice cream I had in Rome this summer (and believe me I had a lot) was at Gelateria Ianotti. Best pizza was L’Isolla della Pizza. What more could you need?

Good time to book flights and hotels (and pay for em) in Japan right now. The yen has totally collapsed

Ok, here come the pictures, we've seen so much again.

First two day round trip:
East Jesus again. This is the art garden that's close to Salvation Mountain. He / she / they had done some work since the last time, saw some new things.




Yoshua Tree National Park. Always pretty. Didn't camp there this time, we did a couple of years ago and we heard the coyotes sing at night. Now we just did a drive through.


Next stop was more desert art. This piece of land was filled by someone called Noah, forgot the actual name of the outside museum.


After Noah we went to an old Western Town, Pioneer Town I think. They say it has been used as a movie set, they organize weddings and parties now.


Windmills in the desert, there's a lot of room for them here. Was already getting dark but we were close to home. They have much bigger windmill parks out there but we missed them this trip.


Next day the real trip started. Took the PCH north and went into the mountains North West of LA, just passed Ventura. Camped there for the night and had some great views the next day.




Just like Holland, only better weather...


All 3 of them were taken on the same day, and we also had cinnamon rolls as lunch in Pismo Beach. Don't have any pictures of that. Crazy how much difference landscapes you can see in a day here. We camped at Three Rivers, a couple of miles before Sequoia Park.

Almost impossible to take a good picture of the Giants, but B had a shot at it.


Loads of forest fires in California, but it's just a natural cycle here, this one's also in Sequoia. The big redwoods can handle them fires though.


Camped in Sequoia, quite cold for what we'd packed but we survived. All the warnings for bears seemed to suggest otherwise. First campsite we'd seen that had actual food lockers, where everything had to be stored. It's a long list, but basically everything that'd smell needed to be put in there. Didn't sleep too comfortable that night, but knowing the guys next to us where just sleeping in hammocks made it slightly more easier. They wouldn't do that if there as actual danger would they. Previous campsite in Sequoia we rode past had 3 bear sightings in the last 7 days.

Next day, warm up in the car, had a pumpkin spice latte in Fresno Starbucks and on our way to Yosemite.
The road into the park:


Bridal Veil Fall. Path towards the fall had a warning board, with a couple of x-rays of broken bones. That could happen to you too if you didn't stay on the path!


El Capitan. B just send me a link someone died there a few days ago, was climbing this mountain and a rock fell down on him. Bad luck that.


We'd booked a motel in Walker, so had the road that crossed Yosemite Park horizontal, some good views along the way.


Next day was basically driving day, the next stop would be Eureka and that was quite a bit away. Camped near Clear Lake. B got warned by a ranger when entering the park, as he was driving too fast and there's wildlife in the park. We didn't think much of it, but when we returned to our spot we saw a deer with two young ones walking around, searching for food. Didn't run away at all, but wouldn't come close either. 
We went to sleep at some point, and B points out a raccoon is searching our campground for food. He was really close to our tent, quite special and preferable to bears.

So, the Redwoods.
Did a drive through tree:


Saw wood carvings on our way to the Avenue of the Giants.


There was more crazy stuff along the way, but can't find the photo's now. There was a world famous log house, tree house, a house that'd play with gravity, Big Foo stuff... I don't remember it all, as I wasn't feeling too well that day.

Avenue of the Giants is very impressive to drive though and after that we ended in Eureka. Had some food in the place my mom and dad used to eat when they lived there, and I didn't know what to expect at all. B was all ready for some Beer and Burgers.
The Samoa Cookhouse:


Turns out that's where all the local workers get their grub. I knew it wasn't anything fancy, as my mom remembered long tables where you'd take a place that was free, everyone was eating together. Cookhouses where all for the workers in the area.
So we went in, got a place, and our server came. In stead of handing over a menu it was "soup, salad, pork, potatoes, peas, chickpeas with bacon and peach cake as dessert. I'll be right with you with the food, what would you like to drink?"
Turned out to be some decent food, and a nice change from everything we had before. Strange to sit somewhere my parents where 30+ years ago.

That night we camped in the redwoods (bear lockers again, this time there were also loads of Chinese campers who let their rice cookers out at night. Trying to get us all killed ehh!) and the next day we jumped onto the PCH South as soon as we could, direction San Francisco.


Even spotted some whales in the distance here.


Some housed just crash into the ocean. Rubble stays there and new ones are build behind it.


Camped just North of SF, but drove down to take a look at the bridge during sunset. B his mom not impressed. Doesn't understand why a bridge us an icon. We knew we wouldn't see much of SF after that, not interest in cities.



Very foggy the next morning, true SF experience.



Nice houses, steep roads, an ocean at the end and wires everywhere.


Camped in a state park just east of San Jose. Found out the car battery was empty the next morning (B his mom had slept in the car after two nights of sleeping in her tent. Must have turned something on by accident). No phone reception, but luckily a ranger came to check if there were any campers that tried to sleep without paying. Jumpstarted the car and off the Monterey.



Motel in Santa Cruz that night, next to the boardwalk but we didn't know it was closed during the week. Was a bit of a let down, would have loved to see it all once again.

Another driving day, plan was to camp in Red Rock Canyon, so that we could do a desert tour again the next day. Most beautiful campsite we've had. Took some time convincing B's mom that the "March of the Tarantula's" that'd starts in September wouldn't be something that'd hurt her. Still, I woke B up at night when I had to go to the restroom, needed someone to doublecheck for tarantula's, scorpions or rattlesnakes. Heard some howling close to sunrise, but the only wild animals we've seen at that site where rabbits.





First stop the next day, Randsburg, no pictures but it's a village if 46 people. Used to be a big city during the goldrush, but when the laws changed 17 years ago most people left. Spoke to a nice Indian lady who had some good stories about catching snakes with broomsticks and how her mom (a b-girl) shot her dad and asked his twin brother to bury him in the piece of land where a new road was being laid down. She pointed us to the next little gold / silver town and said we could get some coffee there so off we went. 

Noticed the Owl Bar next to the road, pretty sure that was what she was talking about. Used to be a bar, extra hut for the special ladies and loads of unlawful things happened their when the digging was at it's peak. No it was owned by a guy who grew up in Hollywood (my parents where famous, I used to be in a gang, but saw the light and now I just wanna dig for gold) and had loads of stories to tell too. And free organic coffee. He managed to cover about every inch of the bar, loads of old photo's, wanted leaflets, stuff about huge gold chunks that where found there, sold some supplies for golddiggers, and had a spy room where you could buy peppersprays and spy cams.


Had a chat, had some coffee, and the next stop was Elmer's Bottle Farm.
And old guy who bought himself a place in the desert and made some art.


Got to speak with him as well, as we had to use the restroom in his house (don't flush it, it can only be flushed in a very specific way.) Everything was leaking in his house I think. He really wanted us to show his kitchen, he made it himself, Found an old sink and a part of a hospital bed (the part with wheels) and put those two together, that was he sink, only thing he had the buy was the valve. You could tell he was proud of it. Good guy that.

We wanted to be at home tonight, so we continued our route via Big Bear Lake, not that we could see much of it.


The last planned stop was Tio's Taco's. Another art garden and Mexican food.



The next day we had a look at San Juan Capistrano, which is close by and is a little historic village along the El Camino Real, an important route in the olden days. Some adobe's where still kept how they used to be.
Decided to end the day with a rodeo. It was in Poway, next to Escondidos, another place my parents used to live. My dad was a volunteer with the firefighers there.
Popcorn:


And Cowboys:


Was a good way to end the entertaining part of the holiday, B his mom started to feel sick (partly stress about going home) so we went to Little Saigon the next day and that's about it. 

After she left from LAX we stayed in LA for the day, went to Grand Central Market for lunch (where we stupidly had Japanese food) and went to Little Tokyo after that (where we should have gone for lunch), chilled a bit at Angels Peak with a view of the city, and went the Echo Park to catch some live music in the evening. I'm starting to appreciate this city more everytime I visit. You really need to know the areas, just driving through might give you a bad feeling as everything smells and looks worn, but there's a lot of good stuff happening.
Also found the steepest road we've driven so far. Going up made the car jump a lot (automatic), on top was just a crossing, and going down didn't even show the road until we were level with it. Steeper than SF, and you wonder why anyone thought it would be a good idea to just build a straight road like that.

(Sorry for all the pictures, I can make links of them if anyone has any trouble).

Cracking.

That looks brilliant. Much more like the America most would love to explore, than just the big cities and Mickey Mouse

Wow, it was amazing reading that post and seeing those pics. You're so lucky to have had the experience. I'd love to do something like that.

Yeah, camper would be easy, see a lot of people doing that. Still, it's always recommended to use the food lockers, bears are smart enough to recognize and smell food in cars, and could try to break them open. There aren't many cases of people getting attacked though, and there's usually other people around. Might depend on the season.
Warnings are mainly there to protect the bears, if they smell easy food, they might go look for it and will be shot if they get to a campground. They're trying to prevent that. They don't like humans (probably because we shoot them) so usually don't approach.

Was talking to my mom yesterday what we could do if she can come over, was thinking of going to PAX West in Seattle next year, flying there then rent a camper to drive back via Oregon. She used to live in Seattle so might be a nice trip for her. Still not sure if she's allowed to come though, hopefully I'll known soon.

It's such a crazy country, it's full of contradictions. It's hard to explain, and something everyone should try to experience if they can. Wouldn't have wanted to miss this, even if I feel uncomfortable at times.
Like when you go through the car wash and have a full express wash, so you can park your car at the end and watch some Mexicans clean out inside and out (they do seem to enjoy themselves, have some fun with each other).
Or the people that pack your bags in the supermarket. It's not needed but it's something that's often done by people with a small disability, so I guess that gives them a job and they're always ready to chat. No one is in a hurry here.
Or when a homeless takes up way too much of your personal space, and you try to get rid of him by saying you don't understand him in Dutch. He must have thought I was making a fool of him, as he told B that I should either give him money or he'd cut my toe. He went away when B said we didn't have cash, but I did wonder if he even knew there are more languages out there.

Great pics mate.