Category: USA

Once upon a time in Hollywood

March 2nd, 2023

A short post about our short stop in Hollywood!

On our loooong jump from Chile to the Philippines, we landed in the morning in Los Angeles and had our next flight at 11 in the evening. We originally thought of just hanging out at the airport, but after all, it was a good opportunity to take a stroll on the Walk of Fame!

We just needed to find a luggage locker -conveniently located at an unwalkable distance from the airport- and shell out a hundred bucks just to Uber out of the airport and back in. All that just to walk over the names of Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson, or Mickey Mouse. Mary didn’t think much of the idea, but we went anyway. We didn’t have anything better to do.

We also walked down the famous Sunset boulevard strip, which turned out to be extremely boring. There’s nothing there.

So long LA, we’re off to the Philippines!
5654 kms later

September 27th, 2022

That’s about 2 thousand kms more than the total width of the USA, that we drove in 15 days!

Our tour of the great south west ended with a very cosy week end near Lake Tahoe, in an exquisite country house lent to us by our friends ❤️

We bathed in the lake and Leo learned to stand on a paddle board.

After this relaxing bit, we returned to SF where we could spend one last evening with my cousins Abhishek and Abhinav. We had a great time cooking pesto sauce and tiramisu while drinking some cognac 😋

We only slept for a few hours and at dawn we left for the airport to our next destination : Mexico city ✈️
Last days in the USA

September 26th, 2022

We ended our US trip in Lake Tahoe in a stunning house belonging to friends and went back to SF for one last night with the Panday family before hitting the road. Mexico here we come!

Lake Tahoe

Léo learnt to ride a paddle board
El Portal to Death

September 24th, 2022

The last leg of the trip from Grand Canyon back up to Lake Tahoe is 12hrs by car, so we’ve split it in two and slept in motel at the entrance of Death Valley: “El Portal Motel” in Beatty, NV.

If it’s not a bit shady and you don’t fear that some Tarantino character will come to shoot everyone, you’re not having a proper motel experience. Ours was perfect! 🙂

Oh and on the way to the motel, I had to stop for coffee and took the first random exit, only to end up in a historical café on famous route 66!

Of course that road into Death Valley was closed again, so we could only see a little ghost town near the entrance. That and some old gold mining heritage towns.

Route 66

Dead chicken!

The road to Death Valley in early morning light

Joshua tree

Joshua tree

The ghost town

The bottle house

The ghosts of the town!

Some modern art outside the ghost town

Outside the saloon
The most greatest biggest on earth!

September 23rd, 2022

Americans lOove their superlatives and everything big in the US has to be the biggest thing on earth!

But every time I travel across this immense country, I feel that I understand a bit better their relation to space and size. Americans think big and everything is huge, just because there is plenty of space.

For instance, similarly to the way we travel with one big backpack, and a day-pack for our day hikes, Americans often travel with a gigantic RV, to which they attach a day-car for their day rides!

Now I’ll just use this post to dump a few random clichés that I collected on the way 🙂

No guns allowed in the Grand Canyon museum of geology, I’m glad!

The day-car

I stand for the flag and kneel for the cross
El canyon muy grande

September 22nd, 2022

Well.. you try to find an original title for this post! I mean, what else can you call that thing? It’s a canyon, and it’s grand! There’s no other word for it. It’s huge, it’s gigantic, but none of these words capture how majestic it is; it’s just grand!

The main difference I noticed with our other hikes is that, usually, every turn gives you a different perspective and a different landscape. Here no. It’s so big that you can walk for hours inside and around it and always look at the same thing!

Only the passing clouds and the changing light allow for a change in scenery.

So of course, you end up taking 50 times the same photo, and now I have too many to choose from!

Our first view of the canyon on a cloudy evening

A little campfire to beat the cold night

Going down the beast the next morning

A little break, we come from the ridge up there

As we pass under a stone arch

Under the mid day sun, only the clouds draw shadows

Back on the rim to admire the sunset
Wild wild west

September 21st, 2022

My mum’s love for westerns began with the movie “Mackenna’s gold” when my dad took her out to watch it. I wish she could be here today in Monument Valley. She’d have looooved it!

After some confusion over the time zone (it’s Utah time in summer and Arizona time in winter) & visiting hours, we realized that it was too late to get in. So we decided to drive through the Valley of Gods which is a dirt road that takes you through some fabulous landscapes. The Routard guide recommended that we should avoid going late as there aren’t many lampposts in the area. So we did just that 🥴
Step on my Horse Shoe

September 21st, 2022

Horse Shoe Bend is one of the highlights of Glen Canyon, you’ve probably seen a picture of this tight curve of the river around a big rock.

It was a rainy day and the 10$ parking fee made it look like a tourist trap, but the rock formations are fantastic and we loved the place 🙂

Just outside the park. I loved how the clouds were clinging to the mountain.
Leo’s first days notes

September 20th, 2022

Day -1: I was a bit scared and nervous .I thought we would have a big problem during the trip,like we will be kidnapped.

Day 0: I was very tired in the plane. The flight was 11h and 30 mins. I watched 3 movies (6hours): Luca, Sing2 and the bad guys. Then i slept for the rest of the flight.

Day 1: we arrived in Abhishek’s palace it was amazing. I slept sooo well in the most comfortable bed of my life!!! I also loved the pool.

Day 2: We had a pool party to celebrate Roopal’s birthday .Then we went to Abhinav’s house and i finished the series scissors 7 on Netflix.

5/9: We went to the botanical garden to meet Jasen, and His son Aiden. Michelle met us with their other son Ian. I was getting a bit annoyed with Aiden and lan! In the evening we went to Greg’s house to have dinner and we had delicious tacos 🌮. I talked of drawing with Sailor who is about my age.

6/9: I loved visiting Alcatraz with the cells and the fake head that was used for an escape! I was disturbed by the people who were in jail for no reason.

7/9 downtown broadway. I had to walk all the way across San Francisco because maman wanted to see the houses of the richest neighborhood.

8/9: We saw beautiful murals and just at the right timing jasen proposed to eat in a tacos restaurant (and i wasn’t allowed to drink coke).

9/9: My parents left me alone so with Abhishek we walked a bit next to the lake. Then we ate KFC and we were all set.

10/09: We talked at home then we went to the pool with Abhinav. And we went to a park and we ate indian food.
Avant avant avant hier…

September 20th, 2022