Trek America Day 20 & 21: Death Valley and LA

Ahhh the final two days.  Sad times.

They were a bit of a blur and I was struck down with illness (drama) so this post may lack detail, sozzles.

We drove through Death Valley on our way to our campsite making some stops on the way. It's a pretty dramatic landscape - parts of Star Wars (original movies) were filmed there.  It's the lowest and driest part of the USA and also holds the record for the hottest recorded temperature in the world - 57.6°C in 1913, yikes!  In 2001, they had 154 days where the temperature was above 38°C.

We took a break at a ghost town which had a population of 5,000 in the 1920s until the gold dried up and everyone left, it was a bit eerie. 

We stopped at Badwater Basin, so named when an early explorer tried to get his mule to drink from the lake.  It refused so he assumed it was bad water, and the name stuck.  The mule refused because the water is very salty - when the lake dries up, what's left is a large salt pan.  Badwater Basin is the lowest point of the USA, being 86 metres (282 feet) below sea level.  

After Badwater we started a hike into a canyon, but I started to feel a bit funny and returned to the car, I think the heat made me a bit quiffy and I had a really bad tummy and spent the remainder of the trip with really bad stomach cramps, boo (or should I say poo!!) Shame really as the drive to our campsite was beautiful but I missed it all as I was a hot sweaty crampy mess in the back of the car too busy focussing on not being sick. Rubbish.

When we got to our camp the lovely Sarah set up the tent and I then lay down for a few hours, but I started to get a big FOMO rush so decided to join the others whilst they were making dinner.  I felt a bit better so joined them by the campfire where Julie told ghost stories in french, and I practised my french by trying to translate. C'était bien!

The following day we drove to LA, our final destination.  It's a pretty drive through a noticably greener landscape than we have seen previously. We drove up Mulholland Drive and took a photo of the Hollywood sign (and a selfie, obvs), and then on to Hollywood Boulevard.  This is really pants and I don't recommend it - there's nothing to do apart from look at the floor and try and spot interesting people, otherwise it's a bit like walking up your local high street.  It's not as glitzy as I expected it to be.

Ben then drove us to Venice Beach, where we dipped our toes in the Pacific (cold) and wandered up and down the beach.  Venice Beach has a nice vibe to it, and there's a lot of cool street art.  There's also an outdoor gym called Muscle Beach which is used by men built like brick shithouses who will happily pose for photos and literally pick up girls to show how strong they are.  We watched a street dance show which was quite impressive then Ben took us back to the final stop, where we said sad goodbyes and waved each other off.  

It was a whistlestop tour of the USA but I really enjoyed myself and there's places I would like to go back to - like New Orleans, and the National Parks.  I have met some wonderful people and I hope to reunite with them again in my life - we have talked about doing a Korea 2016 reunion (if Kim Jong-Il behaves himself and doesn't start a war) and maybe Denmark later on this year.  

Some things to remind me of the trip that probably won't make sense to anyone else but those in the Trek Fam:

Kam Sa

Ja Sku Da

Thank you, Much appreciated

All I want is you to be my bride

What time is it? Selfie Time

Good job guys

That's shit, because it's a Samsung

Roxanne

Moneeeyyyyyyyy

Danish Vikings, Korean Tigers, English Queen


Comments

  1. Now it's all over, check you can download and save this, just so you have a copy x

    ReplyDelete

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