Prologue

Yes, the trip Westward was long overdue, but finally it has come. A bit of New Amsterdam and West we go in a modern day stagecoach. With an RV for three weeks through the Southwest of America. Heehaw!

The agenda:click to enlarge and The route: click on the map to enlarge

New York City

People go to New York, the unofficial capital of the USA, for a million different reasons: to get famous, to be a face in the crowd, to escape, to chase dreams. Her magnetic pull continues to draw millions of new admirers. Manhattan, only 13 miles long and 3 miles at its widest, has it all in the priciest real estate known to man. People built New York, even Central Park was landscaped over 150 years ago.

The Lenape tribe was happy to sell Manhattan to the Dutch in 1626 for 60 guilders in what must have been the first real estat scam. And so New Amsterdam was able to grow as a trading post. In 1654 the Sepharic Jews, fleeing the Spanish Inquisition, established the earliest Jewish community in the new world. By 1664 English warships didn't even pay a penny when they took over the prosperous colony and New Amsterdam became New York after the Duke of York, brother of King Charles II.

Thursday, 13 May.

We get up early and leave under a grey sky and 7 C° temperature to the airport to queue in the longest line we have ever seen. It takes an hour and a half to get to the check in counter where we are told to hurry to the boarding counter. When we finally get there we are told there is a 1-hour delay, which suits us fine, as we did not have a breakfast yet.

Hammering on a jet engine is not a reassuring sight if you are about to fly with the plane

Already for weeks the Iceland volcano is messing up flight departures and we have been really worried that our flight would be cancelled, so we are more relaxed after the news that everything is ready to go. Or not… coming back from breakfast we see some technicians hammering on the jet propeller and we are announced another delay. This time a vital part needs to come from Paris. The delay is now already 4 hours but we will get meal vouchers. As the program for today is only night photography I am not too worried.
The time delayed is 5 hours. Instead of leaving at 11.15, we leave at 16.15. We are given a ghastly meal of a couple of B movies from the eighties. Delta is cheap in more than 1 way.

The arrival in New York is swift and before we know it we are in a taxi to our hotel. We cross the bridge and the noise of the wheels remind me of the Soprano theme song. Check in is quick and we crash in a great hotel room on the 14th floor. As we are close to the Brooklyn Bridge we decide to do a little stroll to see the bridge and have a Big Mac just because that is American. And indeed they taste better than they do at home. “Terroir”?

Hotel : This one

The way to book a hotel in the US is via priceline! The nice part of it is that you can decide what to spend on a hotelroom. Then priceline will check around if a hotel is willing to give a room at this price. For the hotel it garantees a higher percentage of occupation. We offered 100 usd a night + taxes and got this hotel.

Friday, 14 May.

“I have more time than money” -  “Then you are not from around here!”

I have more time than money is a Dutch idiom meaning we do not mind waiting. So when I use the phrase I get the reply “well, then you are not from here”. And indeed, although the Americans look like Europeans, we are indeed in another world…. that is, the new world!
So we start out by buying a week ticket for the metro and slowly we figure out the meaning of the different lines and colors. I will never be completely happy with the connection between the different lines and it is a far cry compared to the efficiency of the London subway.

The famous clock at Grand Central

Today we will just plan to walk around the main sights, after a visit to the photography temple of B&H of course. Indeed I see stuff I need I was not even aware existed. What a place!

After a 5-dollar Chinese meal we walk to Grand Central Station where we have a 5-dollar foster beer. It is very cool in the basement and we meet a nice couple from Connecticut. They had not been in New York in more than 10 years and admit it has improved a lot in that time. We also notice a lot of blue on the street and feel very safe walking around. When we walk back from Brooklyn after our night photography we find ourselves in disturbing alleys, but everything is cool and nobody is waiting around the corner to cut our throat.

Saturday, 15 May.

On the – free - ferry to Staten Island we meet some Belgians that went to the Southeast of the US last year and we get some nice advise about places to see and things to do. Wall street is deserted on a Saturday and it does not impress me that much. I thought it would have been a bigger place where they stash all that cash.

We have a lovely meal in little India (Banjara restaurant) and go for a visit to the Metropolitan in the afternoon. I do not want to sound snobbish, but we are a bit disappointed by the quality of the exhibits, compared to, say the British Museum or the Louvre. I guess those institutions got their collection by colonial plundering at the time the Americans were still busy killing the Buffalos and the Indians. The pieces on display are a ramshackle of bits and bob left over by the European Museums, or are gifts from collectors. In fact the nicer pieces are loans from these museums.

To be fair we did find the Temple of Dendur impressive. This was a gift from the Egyptian Government for American aid with the relocation of the Aswan Dam. Overall the Egyptian part is quite extensive, but the biggest place of the museum is the gift shop with several pricy books and artifacts.

Museums : I only visited the Met. The Roman-Greek section ofcourse, and a bit of the Egyptians with a visit to the Temple of Dendur. Also we had some time left for the 3000+ european paintings from the Middle Ages through the fin de siècle, including works of Titan, Rubens, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Goya and Degas. Guggenheim and MoMa will be for next time.

We end the evening at the Rockefeller Center to watch the sun set over New York.  We start to Like New York.

Sunday, 16 May.

Mayor Bloomberg endorsing his DA candidate

Again a beautiful day, we get up a bit later and start with a walk to the Brooklyn Bridge. At the city hall we see a lot of police around. When I ask a police officer if we are allowed to go closer he answers in a New York accent “sure, it is just the mayor coming and we gotta make sure nobody robs him while he’s here”. So we watch a press conference by Mayor Bloomberg endorsing his candidate for the election of attorney general for New York.

www.italiantribune.com

After a walk on the bridge we take the metro to Mulberry Street, better known as little Italy. I was not expecting much, but I have to admit it is a little bit like Italy. We have a lovely lunch in Cha Cha’s place ‘In Bocca al Lupo” (the wolf’s mouth). The owner has played in several mob movies and the walls are full with photos of him with famous actors, from Anthony Quinn to Tony Soprano.

I play Lou Reed’s “Sunday morning” on my ipod in the metro to Central Park and suddenly it says Lexington Ave – that I know from “waiting for my man”. It all fits together. It is a warm Sunday afternoon, the Italian wine we had for lunch is making us feel very mellow and Central Park is abuzz with people who are in need to exercise.  It is like a traffic jam, the car free roads are full with people walking, running, skating, bicycling through each other while the horse carts and pedal-taxis roam around looking for customers. A bit further the pond is full with little rowboats, we even spot a genuine gondola! Everywhere street performers show their art, musicians, jugglers and statues ply their trade all over the park. We love the walk and get lost several times on the little, winding paths.
We are very tired when we get back to the hotel and decide not to go to Times Square for night photography. Time to pack, but we’ll be back!!!

Continue: Next day, see LA

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Arizona

I guess I am going to skip sun City in Phoenix and go directly further to Tucson.

Tucson

Map of Tucson area: click on map to enlarge

• Sleeping at: Gilbert Ray Campground (8200 W. McCain Loop Road, Tucson, AZ 85735). No reservations possible
• Visiting :
  • Saguaro National Park: home of the giant Saguaro Cacti

East: The Rincon Mountain district has an 8 mile Cactus Forest drive. Spectacular views. Located at 3693 South Old Spanish Trail, Tucson, AZ 85730. Mica View and Javelina are not to be missed. At Javelina there is the nice walk to the Freeman Homestead Trail of 1 mile round trip. Follow it clockwise

West: The Tucson Mountain District han a 6 mile Bajada loop drive and offers spectacular views of the Sonoran Desert. Located at 2700 North Kinney Road, Tucson, AZ 85743.The loop is best done in the late afternoon or early evening when the warm sun lights up the ocher mountains and provides a wonderful texture to the cacti. At the signal Hill picknic area, there is a short trail to the Hohokam petroglyphs.

• Mission San Xavier: a beautiful and impressive Spanish Colonial style church.Simple lunches are served up by Pima women who prepare Indian tacos in front of the mission at very reasonable prices. Visit tribal owned crafts shop. The white structure, outlined by the deep blue sky make a classic photograph!
• Old Tucson Studios, 201 S Kinney Road, watch a shoot out at this Wild West theme park
• Sonora desert museum



• Visiting Bisbee and Tombstone for the OK Corral action at 2 pm, have a look at theBoothill Graveyard, off Hwy 80 a quarter-mile north of town.
• Heading north via Hwy 79 - stop at Biosphere. Have a look at Tortilla Flat
• Phoenix, sleep at Lost Dutchman State Park, 6109 N. Apache Trail, Apache Junction, Arizona   85219. In the superstition mountains.

Sedona

The town and it suroundings offer a lot to people of all sorts of interests. New-age folks come for the Vortex, artists look for inspiration and then there the art galleries and music festivals. Add the golf resorts, restaurants, and the natural and archeological sites. Visits are possible by jeep or in a hot air balloon.

No Red Rock Pass required if you have the "America the beautiful" annual Pass. Place it in view of your windshield.

• Montezuma Castle and well, off I-70, 3O miles south of Sedona, exit 289. The castle is a multi-stoied limestone dwelling, built high into a cliff recess. Best photos are made in the mid to late afternoon for minimum shadows. Enterance is forbidden and the ladders have been removed, need a telelens to make the photo.The well is located 11 miles northeast of the castle and is best shot in the morning with a 24 mm lens.

• Bell Rock, about 5 miles south of the Y. There is a 4 mile loop, but in the sun. Better climb a bit up the Bell Rock

• Cathedral Rock is Sedona's most photographed landmark. Shoot the west face of Cathedral Rock across Oak Creek! The photo spot is located in th e park called Red Rock Crossing-Crescent Moon. Evening is the best time for photography. Take the US 89A west for about 4 miles from the Y.

• Airport Road: a great view of the town, south of US 89A, about 1 mile west from the Y. This is the most accessible Vortex in Sedona, and a great spot for sunset. Early morning or late afternoon is best for photography

Flagstaff

• sleeping: Woody Mountain Campground, 2727 West Route 66 (Exit 191 off I-40), Flagstaff, AZ 86001. RV at 29$
• It is saturday night, so a pub crawl must be done!
• Meteor Crater, located about 35 miles east of Flagstaff. about 50.000 years ago a meteor crashed, blasting a hole about 550 ft deep and nearly a mile across.

Grand Canyon

• sleeping: Mather Campground
• Sunrise - sunset May 23 at 5:17 am and 7:34 pm
• Mather Point is and excellent sunrise location and also great for sunset
• Hopi Point is one of the best sunset locations
• Yavapai Point is a great all-round location at any time, sunrise or sunset. The view west is quite open and a cliff with juniper trees make a good foreground on the photo.
• Yaki point is a sunrise location. The view is ver open to the west. Look at the little tree sticking out in the foreground.
• The South Kaibab trail has several good vantage points. The Ooh-Aah Point is only 0,75 miles from the trailhead and after another 0,70 miles is the Cedar Ridge.

Page

• Photo tour of the antelope canyon: Roger Ekis - 2 hrs 40 minutes, start at 11.30am, be there 30 minutes prior to departure for payment etc. Office at Dam Plaza. See Brochure

Upper Antelope Canyon is only 200 yards in length. The superb ight beams that are the trademark of Upper Antelope Canyon occur from April to October only, with the best months being mid-May through Mid-July when the sun is at its zenith. High Noon indeed

• And for a different photo: the Navajo Generating Station is located southeast of Page, Arizona, on the shoreline of Lake Powel. On of the worst CO2 contrib utors in the world.

• Viewpoint Lake Powel: The scenic overlook loacated about two miles north of the Glen Canyon Dam on the US89. The overlook sits on top of a little butte reached by a short gravel road to the right. At best late afternoon, view of the Wahweap Marina with the Kaiparowits Plataeu in the background.

• Horseshoe Bend is a few miles to the southwest of Page, where the Colorado River forms one of it's most spectacular bends. The bend is very wide and requires a 24 mm, even better a 21 mm. Include a little bit of rock in the foreground in obtain the dept of the canyon. Use a small aperture for the DOF.

On the road from from Page to Monument Valley lies the Navajo National Monument - Betatakin. This is a well preserved ancestral Puebloan ruin, tucked away under overhanging sandstone cliffs in a beautiful settong of pastel colored canyons. The visitor center has a scenic viewpoint. Fom this visito center, the 1-mile round-trip Sandal trail has spectacular, though distant, view of the alcove under which the Betatakin "town" as archeologist call it, is located.

Monument Valley

Monument Valley provides some of  the most enduring and definitive images of the American West. The isolated red mesas and buttes surrounded by empty, sandy desert have been filmed and photographed countless times over the years for movies, adverts and holiday brochures.

The valley is not a valley in the conventional sense, but rather a wide flat, sometimes desolate landscape, interrupted by the crumbling formations rising hundreds of feet into the air, the last remnants of the sandstone layers that once covered the entire region.

The Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park (entrance $5 ), is reached along a short side road directly opposite the turn-off to Goulding. From the visitor centre at Lookout Point there are good views across three of the valley's most photographed peaks - East and West Mitten Buttes, and Merrick Butte

Valley Drive: The view from Lookout Point is spectacular enough, but most of the Navajo Tribal Park can only be seen from the Valley drive, a 17 mile dirt road which starts at the visitor centre and heads southeast amongst the towering cliffs and mesas. The road is dusty, steep in a couple of places and rather uneven, but does not need 4WD - unless after recent heavy rain, the journey is suitable for the majority of family cars, and small to medium sized RV’s. As well as eroded rocks, this area also has ancient cave and cliff dwellings, natural arches and petroglyphs, all generally away from the Valley Drive at more isolated locations and viewable only as part of guided tours.

The Valley Drive passes 11 numbered stops at the most scenic places, and a typical journey around the loop takes at least 2 hours. Tourists are not allowed to hike away from the road closer towards any of the formations, but even so the trip is very enjoyable.

Photography: You can photograph just as well in the morning as in the second part of the afternoon. John Ford's Point offers an excellent view of the three Sisters, best in the morning, in the afternoon you shoout against the light. Artist's Point has a fanastic panorama of the valley. Also best early to mid morning.

• Sleeping at the primitive campground
• Make a photo at milemarker 13 on Hwy 163, on the way to the Mexican hat. To be made in the morning
• Full Moon on the 27th of May

Colorado

mesa Verde

• Sleep at Morefield campground
• Make reservation Cilff Palace

Utah

Arches National Park

Close to to the city of Moab.

• Park Avenue trail: moderate, 1.6 km one way
• Balanced rock trail: easy, 0.5 km - make the photo with a 200 mm lens to isolate it against the backdrop of the mountains. Late afternoon or night photo with full moon!
• The windows: easy 1.6 km round trip
• Delicate Arch:Tis arch is almost 14 meters high and 10 meters long and is the most famous arch in the park.Best time is before sunset, a 4.8 km strenuous walk
• The Devils garden loop is located at the end of the 18 mile scenic road

In the area: dead horse point overlook offers two panoramic views; to the southwest; the bend of the Colorado River with its superb mesa at the center and on the opposite side, a view of the canyons with the Manti-La Sal Mountains in the background.

On the road to Bryce: Horseshoe canyon, visit the Archaic rock art dating from 2000 BC to 500 AD. Especially the Great Gallery has well-preserved pictographs (painted figures) and petroglyphs (figures etched in the rock with a sharp stone)

click om map to enlarge

Bryce National Park

Bryce Cayon, along with the Arches is the preferred park by the majority of visitors to the southwest. Named after Ebenezer bryce

• Sleeping: North campground
• Rodeo's are held nightly, Wednesday - Saturday, through the summer at Ruby's Inn Rodeo Grounds
• Sunset point to Bryce Point views. Sunset Point is arguably the best spot to admire and photograph Bryce Canyon. Despite the name, mornings and late afternoons are both excellent for photography. Sunrise Point doesn't offer such a spectacular panorama and the formations are not as densly packed. It is however easier to isolate individual formations from Sunrise Point.
• Queens/Navajo combination loop, moderate 4.6 km walk. Start in clockwise direction. To really absorb the magic of Bryce, a descent into the canyon is a must

Zion National Park

Close to springdale

• Sleeping: watchman campground
• Angels landing trail, a strenuous 5 miles, 4 hours walk.

Nevada

Las Vegas

Map of Las Vegas - Click to enlarge

It took a mobster like Bugsy Siegel to create a gambling paradise in the Mojave Desert. Today, Las Vegas (Spanish for meadows, fertile plains) welcomes more visitors each year than Mecca receives pilgrims. It is the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the USA.

Again a city that never sleeps! Still we plan to catch some zzz's at Sam's Town - RV Park - 5111 Boulder Highway, Las Vegas, NV 89122.

We will do some casino hopping and admire the free attractions along the way. Still we have to try some of the slot machines, and I can make photos there, apparently this is not allowed at the other tables (Poker, blackjack, etc.)

Place we want to visit on the Strip

The Mirage: The mirage is the place where a volcano erupts every night since its opening in 1989. The lobby is a huge atrium of  27 metres high and is modelled as a huge tropical jungle. A sea aquarium that houses sharks and other exotic sea life are behind the reception and there are some white tigers to be seen.

Ceasars Palace: houses a huge Forum Romanum.

The Bellagio, openend in 1998 is again modelled on an Italian town. This time a town above the lake Como and it shows a great water fountain. Ocean's 11, the 2001 remake was partly filmed on the casino floor.

The beam of the Luxor cuts 16 km into the air

Place to visit in Downtown

The Golden Nugget

Freemont Street

California

Los Angeles

Monday, 17 May

Mexican food: is it good? – We’ll they have a lot of food.
No, I a mean is it tasty? Puzzled look – What do you eat in Belgium?
Now I am puzzled! What do we eat in Belgium?

We decided that a taxi to the airport would be more comfortable than dragging our luggage trough several metro and train revolving doors, so in less than half an hour we are at JFK.

Again we enjoy the American custom of having a host at every place to help you find your way, so we are shown our check in line. 5 hours and 4000 kilometers further we touch down in LA. It is a cloudy and rainy day. Strange, sunshine in New York and rainy in LA! Again the local host/ambassador of the airport helps us greatly in finding out where the shuttle to our hotel can be found. Upon arrival we find ourselves in the biggest hotel room we have ever stayed in. Rita loves the enormous spring bed and the lovely bathroom.

Rita, dazzled by the seize of the room

The plan was to go to Venice beach in the afternoon, but bad weather, jetlag and just plain tiredness make us decide to stay and enjoy our room. We then go for a walk around the block and walk into a small shopping center. When we see two African Americans leave a Mexican restaurant with a smile we ask if they have good food in there. The eldest replies with a smile “oh, they have a lot of food”.  So I rephrase my question and ask if it is tasty food. Now this question puzzles him and I begin to think that there is a cultural difference in defining “a good restaurant”. “What do you eat in Belgium” he asks back, trying to figure out how we can survive in LA. Yeah, what do we eat in Belgium? I fail to give a proper answer and say proudly “we eat a lot of French fries!” LOL, they do not have that in here, but they do nice all you can eat buffets he says. So we give it a try and indeed the food is good!
We head back to the hotel with a nice bottle of Californian wine and sleep like Angels on a bed of clouds.

Tuesday, 18 May

Today our road trip will start. We can only collect our RV at 3 in the afternoon so we decide to  visit at Hollywood Blvd. It is raining a bid and there is a dull gray sky. We take a day card of the metro and go for a combination of train, bus and underground before we arrive at the Hollywood station. We walk a bit on the Boulevard and maybe due to the weather, but we have a feeling of decay hanging around the area. The street is full of closed shops and strange folks hang around the dirty streets. Not a very enjoyable place, more of a Hollyweird place. I do get to see the Hollywood sign and by the time we are back at the hotel it is time to pick up our RV.

It takes some time to go through the paper work, followed by a mandatory video about RV driving and we are off. First a quick stop at Wall mart for supplies and already the evening traffic out of LA is building up. We are unable to make in to Phoenix as planned and we decide to sleep on one of the truck stops along the road. It has been a long day but we are very happy to have our own wheels to see this big country.

Continue : next day in Arizona

Mono Lake

Mono lake is an alkaline and hypersaline lake in Mono county. Lee Vining.

Bodie

Bodie State Historic Park (website) is a genuine California gold-mining ghost town. Visitors can walk down the deserted streets of a town that once had a population of nearly 10,000 people. The town is named for Waterman S. Body (William Bodey), who had discovered small amounts of gold in hills north of Mono Lake. In 1875, a mine cave-in revealed pay dirt, which led to purchase of the mine by the Standard Company in 1877. People flocked to Bodie and transformed it from a town of a few dozen to a boomtown.
Only a small part of the town survives, preserved in a state of "arrested decay." Interiors remain as they were left and stocked with goods. Designated as a National Historic Site and a State Historic Park in 1962, the remains of Bodie are being preserved in a state of "arrested decay". Today this once thriving mining camp is visited by tourists, howling winds and an occasional ghost.

Bodie is a ghost town. Today it looks much the same as it did over 50 years ago when the last residents left. To preserve the ghost town atmosphere, there are no commercial facilities at Bodie, such as food or gasoline.

Yosemite

The website of Yosemite

• Enter via Tioga Road is a 39-mile scenic drive past forests, meadows, lakes, and granate domes. It is generally open from late May or early June through sometime in November. The road's elevation ranges from 6.200 to just under 10.000 feet.
• sleeping: Wawona campground
• sunset at half fome, Glacier point
• Mariposa Grove: can be reached by a free shuttle from Wawona. About 500 large mature Sequoias.

San Fransisco

Discovered in 1769 by a scouting group from Mexico, Yerba Buena (good herb) joined the USA in 1846. in 1848 San Francisco had a population of 800, 1 school and 1 newspaper. In 1849 gold was discovered and the population grew to 90.000 forty-Niners. In 1906 an earthquake destroyed 514 blocks, leaving 250.000 people homeless. The last 50 years San Francisco has been home to the “outcast of society” from the disaffected beat poets in the fifties, to the idealistic flower children in the sixties and the gay liberation and feminism in the seventies. Silicon valley is very close by and brought over the nerds. Nearby Nappa Valley is home to some of Calfornia's most prestigious wineries.

• Transport to and from the airport: BART, Bay Area Rapid Transit
• Newspaper: www.sfgate.com
• Sleeping: Super 8, O'Farrel street 415, Union Square

The tenderloin – this is a reference to the bygone days when policemen were paid more to cover the dangerous streets and thus could afford more expensive cuts of meat. Damn, I only learned about this after I booked our hotel in this area.

• Things to see
  • Golden Gate

  

  nr. 6 is the bridge vierwpoint

  • Fisherman's Warf: an area of shops, eateries, and attractions set on a mile long stretch of waterfront (along Jefferson street and the Embarcadero between Van Ness and Kearny st.) Six Piers offer everything from carousel rides and shopping on Pier 39 to maritime history on Hyde street Pier. Here you can take a ferry to Alcatraz or have a bowl of fresh clam chowder. Almost 12 million people make their way to the Wharf each year. It ranks as the No. 1 destination for SF-bound visitors, right ahead of Chinatown and the Golden Gate Bridge.
  • Telegraph Hill At the eastern edge of North Beach, the 274 foot Telegraph hill is named after the long vanished semaphore that used varicolored flags to signal the arrival of ships through the Golden Gate. The 180-foot high column of Coit towers tops Telegraph Hill and has great views of the city.
  • Russian Hill offers some of the best views in the city. The Powel-Hyde cable car and the Powel-Mason lines are the best way to get to the top. Lombard street a.k.a. the crookedest street, winds past ornate and lush, flowering bushes and has a 16% grade between Hyde and Leavenworth. Russian hill has its own website
  • China Town: one of the oldest and largest in de US got its start around 1849 when thousands of cantonese treasure seekers came to search for gold. Even Mc Donald's is Chinese. Chinatown gate is at Grant Avenue (at Bush street) and Grant Avenue is Chinatown's main street in archetectural Chinoiserie and on Stockton street the fresh produce are being sold.
  • Haight-Ashbury – this is where it all started more than three decades ago with the human Be-In and the summer of love. The sixties countercultural centered on Haight Street between Central Avenue and Stanyan Street, just west of the Castro.
  • Union Square: Hyde street, Cable Car Turnaround: The Mason and Hyde lines terminate at the intersection of Powell and Market streets, where drivers gets out and turn the nearly 8-ton, 18-foot-long relics around so they're pointing in the direction they came from. Get there early in the morning to experience this San Francisco treat with minimal fuss.
  • rent a bycle
  • Fort Mason is a former military enclave - Good spot for a photo of the bridge
  • View points: Twin Peaks, Alamo Square (Green street/Scott Street), Marin Headlands (Conzelman Road to the top of Hawk Hill )