Sunshine in San Diego

 

A great flight to San Diego on Alaskan Aiways and on to the Pacific Terrace Hotel which was exactly what we wanted and needed. We were warmly welcomed and shown a table in the sunshine while our room was finished off .....and it was so sunny and warm. We were impressed from the minute we arrived - nothing too much trouble for the staff and our ten days there were heavenly. We established a routine of breakfast - an hour by the pool, maybe a stroll on the promenade, lunch and then an afternoon excursion. we booked various restaurants - a favourite being an Italian just around the corner but we ate in he hotel a couple of nights too. American food is not really impressive and the munu was typical - steaks, burgers, fish goujons and fries and either a cob, wedge or caesar salad. We wanted to relax as much as possible as we knew Las Vegas would be busy so we didnt plan much. 

On our second day I met a lovely lady staying there and she gave me all sorts of tips of where to go and what to do and that night a lerter was puched under the door containing all of these and more so we used this as a to-do list and ticked them off. We went to;-

*    Mount Soledad is a veteran's monument to all who served in all wars. Its set high up on a hill with 360' of Sandiago. I very moving place with walls and walls of names, photographs - some with brothers and family menmbers who gave their lives in service which brought me to tears! We found Glen Millers name and dates and US President Gerald Ford. Although a somber day it was a worthwhile visit and Im glad we went.

*    We had a hilarious trolley bus tour of San Diego going over the bridge to Coronada Island and saw Mexico on the horizon. Our guide cracked jokes the whole time and one elderly couple told us they live in San Diego but do this ride regularly just to listen to the commentary and always check its this driver as he's the best - we dropped them at the end of their street!

*    Balboa Park a 1200acre park featuring 18 museums, renowned gardens and restaurants all laid out in the spanish style architecture. We spent most a day here and couldnt do everything but we had a lovely day and really enjoyed the various buidings, the Japanese garden and beautiful Botanical building. Its home to the San Diego Zoo but we gave that a miss - totally agianst caged animals!

*    Temecular Valley Vineyards. A great day exploring this ancient wine region. We went on a tour with theee other couples and we were all great friends by the end of it! An hours drive from San Diego we first stopped at the old twn of Temecular with bijou shops, boutiques and great coffee places - it was very pretty and full of history - the land first occupied by the Temecular Indians, then the Spanish and then American settlers - a real frontier town. We visited three artisnal vineyards with generous pourings, had lunch at one and ended the day high up overlooking the vines, glass in hand as the sunset. A perfect day!

*    On our last evening we bobbed around the bay with more interesting people with an expert lady skipper and saw dolphins and seals and agian a wonderful sunset. Wed booked dinner downtoen that evening at a trendy and very popular Italian which was really good.

San Diego was great - the perfect match of relaxation, sunshine and interesting places and we decided wed love to spend more time there by the ocean in the future. WE were sad to check out and head for the airport.

We had to leave though as our adventure was ending in Las Vegas - again I had zero expectaions as everything I'd heard about Vegas was just so not me! We'd booked a hotel off-strip and our taxi driver told us en route that we would like it as the locals go there. It was the Red Rock Hotel which has a casino - there is no hotel in Vegas that doesnt have a casino but the casino floor was surrounded by various restaurants . It had a massive pool are consisting of seven pool and spa. Our room was very nice and had a view of the red hills in the distance. it had a huge flaw though - no kettle ot coffee making facilities! We were expected to leave our room - go down 17 floors to the Casino level and visit Starbucks for our morning cuppa or pay $16 every morning for room service to bring us one! I asked at reception and they were unhelpful - so I ordered a cheap kettle on Amazon - we had brought teabags with us and it arrived before breakfast  - hey presto it paid for itself before we left when we presented it to the cleaning staff! 

Las Vegas was a very special end to our trip and in my next post I'll let your know how we spent our time there.

Motown to Jazz

 December in Detroit 

Ha Ha - I wrote the title of this blog on January 11th probably when  I was full of New Year's resolution and determined to keep up with my online diary - I hang my head in shame! Here we are coming to the end of March - I have excuses all valid but I cant travel and spend time writing at the same time.

Our trip to the US was a grat success and we enjoyed every minute. Our plans changed when Nick took one look at the traffic in Los Angeles and abruptly decided driving was not an option for him so we arrived in Detroit on 23 December knowing only that we had a hotel booked in New Orleans in January and as Christmas was looming we focused our energy else where. We truly enjoyed our family time in Detroit and also the excurtions we had which were a bit limilted because of snow on the ground affecting mobility but downtown Motown was wonderful - full of festive people all wrapped up and rosy cheeked families skating on a man made rink under the Chrsitmas tree with a warm lounge serving hot chocolate and other warming drinks for spectators. We toured the old train station which is newly rennovated and listenened to jazz and played 'UNO' the grandchildres favourite game when Mr Nick is around as they love to witmess his losing tantrums! We also went to a lakeside brewery - clad in wood and looking like something from the series Virgin River and the customary Costco shopping visit and the Skechers outlet - simple tastes - and our already full suitcases were even fuller as we set of the New Orleans.

January in New Orleans

It's difficult to describe New Orleans - a Euopean city in the centre of America on the banks of the mighty Mississippi river with a diverse population and jazz playing morning, noon and night sort of sums it up. A lot of craziness and I suspect a place where people go to be someone else - a carefree, creative person they busy inside them. In South Africa we used to have an arts festival every year in Grahamstown where you would bump into people you knew but didn't - lawyers in velevet cloaks, teachers in crazy knitted hats and neighbours in colourful garb - never seen on thier washing lines. We stayed in the historic French Quarter in an amazing hotel The Monte Leone  https://www.hotelmonteleone.com/ in Royal Street, which had a revolving Carousel Bar which opened at 10am and was full by 10.05 until closing time in the early hours! We sat on it one day and chatted to visitors who got louder and louder as the cocktails went down. Gals on bacherlorette weekends, friends on a reunion, a convention of health care workers, an anniversary couple reliving thier honeymood and telling us it was even crazier twenty years ago but in a classier way. There was live jazz in the hotel every lunch and evening and it was a constant hive of activity. We toured the city on a horse and cart, an open top bus, a trolleycar and by foot. We heard stories of famous celebreties that own property there - Nicholas Cage and Sandra Bullock - to name two. We learned of the history and the tragedy of hurricanes and floods and we admired the old French/American style architecture of Creole Cottages, American Townhouses, Raised Centre Hall Cottages and the early Spanish influence of internal courtyards, fountains and wrought iron balconies which made a fascinating backdrop to all day Jazz. 

Jazz suposedly started in Bourbon Street in the 1930s and the city has nurtured this genre ever since - you walk down Bourbon and there is jazz belting from every dooway together with dubious smoke odours and a rowdy appreciation for life. Like nowhere else sums it up! We were warned not to go there in the evening as fights can break out, so we chose an afternoon set at Fritzels tiny jazz venue which is free if you order a drink for every set you stay for - we did two and witnessed the resident band joined by friends who played improvised sets - it was amazing and I think as authentic as it gets. The nightly jazz in the hotel was pretty good too from traditional to modern and always the band had an additional member - a bucket that was passed around for tips which was how Preservation Hall started all those years ago - bands playing for tips.

On our last day we went on a river boat and enjoyed a relaxing cruise up the Mississippi and were reminded of a time when days were slower, the cocktails sipped slowly and laziness was approved of but there was a jazz band aboard and some energetic passengers danced the Charleston! Walking back to the hotel in the middle of the road we stopped in our tracks by a piano on wheels being played expertly, a singer with a megaphone, a banjo, saxaphone, trumpet and mobile drum kit - an impromptu jazz session (the group is called Dirty Rotten Vipers and member change regularly) a small crowd gathered - foot tapping, swaying, shouting appreciation - what an experience!

New Orleans was a once in a lifetime adventure - we left as Mardi Gras season was starting and already the streets were getting ready for the colourful parade and decked in green, purple, black and yellow and colourful costumes as rehearsals staryed. The party of the year was about to start but we slipped away and headed for the dessert - next stop Arizona!

Headspace in the Desert

 We flew from the craziness of New Orleans - YOLO as the locals call it to Pheonix, Arizona with great service from American Airlines including a check in facility at the drop off zone so our suitcases were in the airport before we were! We had arranged Broome Transport to take us on to Sedona, a favourite place of my Detroit family - Broome were prompt, efficient and in no time at all we were on the road into Sedona. Not many folk outside of America have heard of it but it is a most magical place.

Sedona is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino and Yavpal counties in the northern Verde Valley. It has a population of 9,684 and it lies within the Coconino National Forest. We arrived in the dark and checked into our appartment in a vacation club - main thing was it had a washing machine because when you are travelling for months you need laudry stops!  Sedona's main attraction is its array of pink sandstone formations. The formations appear to glow in pink when illuminated by the rising or setting sun. So we awoke to a room bathed in pink as the sun rose and opened the door to see we were surrounded by rose pink mountains! These rocks form a popular backdrop for many activities, ranging from spiritual pursuits to the hundreds of hiking and mountain biking trails. Sedona is also home to several vortex sites and a place that attract creative, spiritual people along with people who see UFOs. It really is a magical place and one of outstanding beauty - a perfect place to spend my birthday. We had ten days to explore and thought we had perhaps booked too long but not so, we enjoyed every single day and when we werent out riding around on pink jeeps we realxed in our resort and swam - yes the temperature were in the high teens and the pool was heated, 

We explored those pink hills with a guide called Snake - who wore one around his neck - well the skeleton of a rattler's head that is. He took us out on a Jolie Trolley and pointed out local businesses to enjoy and those to avoid and was very knowledgable about .....snakes and other wildlife. Thanks to him we found a great American Diner to enjoy a burger - one of the best we had in the US! We explored off road in pink jeeps going up to a chapel built into the rocks designed by Frank Lloyd Wright's grandson with panaroamic views which was worthy of the adjective 'awesome' and a perfect place for worship. It's still a working chuch but I am so glad we got taken up there in a jeep - even the walk from the carpark was almost vertical. We did one of the most challenging jeep rides right up into the red rocks a scenic rim tour where I hung on for dear life coming down the devils staircase - we were the eldest in our group of six and have the bruises to prove it! Oh but the scenery was so worth it! We explored by train too and took a day trip on the Verde Valley railway where we sat in comfort and watched the world go by - snacks and drinks provided and the company of some great folk - four ladies on a school reunion aged in their 70s and celebrating over 50 years of friendship - when I mentioned my upcoming birthday in two days - gifts appeared out of thier bags - chocolates and keepsakes that they insisted I took and then a bottle of champagne appeared and when the rest of the guest in our coach saw this a whole choir singing Happy Birthday surrounded us! It was a magical birthday memory...... A great day our!

Sedona is also well known as a food destination and we soon discovered Wild Flower bakery for breakfast and bought a delicious artisan loaf that looked like one of those moutains! We tried all the restaurants over the ten days we were there and were not once disappointed. However Mariposa - where where we had lunch on my birthday was a standout latino inspired grill that had the most magnificent views - it was a perfect place to celebrate another trip around the sun and following lunch we went out on another jeep to a sacred vortex site where we used divining rods which whizzed back and forth and my hair actually stood on end, For days I was electified and got shocked when I touched anything metal. We visited a replica Mexican village, Tlaquepaque a replica of a village of the same name in MExico. It was full of galleries, boutique shops and restaurants where spicey margueritas were enjoyed with authentic quesadillas. We found a great supermaket called Whole Foods full of amazing produce and also home cooked ready meals and a huge assortment of treats.

So our ten days flew by and we were packing again for our return trip to Pheonix - again we thought five nights in Phoenix was far too long but it turned out to be such an interesting place and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Our hotel was huge - and we racked up hundreds of steps just getting to breakfast and in the grounds - a JW Marriot property the staff were the epitome of great American service. Highlights here were the Botanical Gardens...... full of gigantic cacti and a great restuarant that served the best margherita of the trip! We went to a Japanese reataurant reccommended by my son - the best dinner we had of the trip with amazing food choices and we rode there in a driverless taxi just Nick, myself and the invisible man at the wheel - freaky but very efficient! Our last trip in Pheonix was to Canyon Lake where we had a great bob around the Lake after visiting Superstition Mountains where the community are still looking for the Dutchmans Gold fifty years after he took his gold find to the grave. We also called at Apache film studios where many of the Westerns of our youth were filmed including High Noon - we stopped up the road for lunch on a ranch and there was a real/mock gunfight in the street to remind us that we were in the Wild West!

A great stay and time to head for San Diego where the ocean awaited us.