Los Angeles september 1996
I landed in LA at night, was picked up by friends at LAX, my first time in America. Out we went onto the freeways that are the serpants of LA, coiling around the city, squeezing all the air out of it. We made it to the valley, where we were staying in mobile homes infront of the San Fernando mountains which looked dry and lifeless in this season. The night was spend sleeping, then the next day was a visit to Venice Beach, ofcourse. I actually really liked venice, apart from all the touristy shops the side streets were interesting and there was never a dull moment, from the fortune tellers and prophets to the army of preachers cursing everyone that did not bow to their doctrine. We ate some pizza and washed it down with coke, and wandered off to look at cd stores. In the afternoon we sat on the beach and watched some people playing volleyball, and the others rollerblading at the waterfront. We stayed there until sunset and then walked to 3rd avenue Santa Monika to eat and relax. This street was rather nice, although after walking the length of it twice there is nothing else to really see, so we went to Moby Disc and found some really cheap cds. We then had some coffee at starbuxs and left.
The next day we went to pasadena, explored that area fully, then onto burbank where we ate and spent the rest of the night relaxing.
I spent two weeks in LA and saw alot in that time, spending many nights walking hollywood blvd and talking to the strange characters that congregated around Manns Theatre, drinking Arizona green tea and enjoying the great weather. I also went to sunset blvd, staying in a shady area, stopping for a beer and sitting and drinking it in a parking lot which our friend told us later we are lucky to still be alive.......after sitting in THAT parking lot......... Anyway, we also went to see Portishead play in Santa Monika, an amazing concert.......in an inside venue packed with 6000 people. We had a great time. We also went to some beaches down south, went to tijuana for two days, which i did not enjoy.....revolution street was just full of drunk people and made me feel insecure......a nicer part of mexico was driving down to ensenada the next day, seeing the coastline down there and eating tacos......that was an experience i remember. But mexico was not my cup of tea, although i should return one day and see more of it.
It was then time to leave LA. We piled into the car and drove towards New Mexico, passing arizona and sleeping in a forest after parking in a hotel car park, we then saw the meteor crater in arizona which was amazing, and were about to see the grand canyon when there was a snow storm which forced us north, so we missed it. We then slept in some large campsite in New Mexico, eating noodles in the canteen and watching tv. The next day we headed for Colorado and were amazed to see the rockies barely ten minutes after entering the state. We ate, and breathed in some fresh air. Colorado was beautiful.
We made it to Colorado Springs before sunset, then ate there and continued on to Denver where we had some friends we could stay with. It took us about an hour to find the address but eventually we did and were treated to warm showers and a nice bed for a change. The next morning we woke up early and drove up into the rockies. We got stuck in the snow, had to push the car for about a half hour to get it out, ate in the mountains, had a snowball fight, and just enjoyed the nature...it truly was beautiful. That night we got back in the car and headed out of denver, up to nebraska which was as boring as the name suggests, and through some other states until we reached Minnesota !
It was dark when we reached there but we continued up to Brainerd where we finally got to where we were to stay for a week. It was a fun time, visiting my roadtrip pals friends and family, and being invited around and going snowmobiling on the lakes.....it was definately a great time. We also managed to squeeze in a trip to Minneapolis/ St. Paul to see the Mall Of America which was insanely boring, and that night we drove to Wisconsin to visit another friend and stayed the night.
As soon as the week was up I packed my stuff and flew back to LA to catch my connecting flight to London.
America had been what I expected.....big, uncultured but friendly. .
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