Death Valley - September 30th - October 2nd, 2016

We touched down in LA late on a Saturday night. We then hailed a cab to the cheap AirBNB accommodation we had booked due to its great location near to the airport. The next morning we left early and picked up our hire car from LAX - our set of wheels for the next 3 weeks!

We had booked the smallest available size (compact) and the rental agent tried to convince me that an upgrade would be ideal, but I held out and was then very pleasantly surprised to see that our 'compact' class car was actually a Honda CRV! We tackled the LA traffic head on which was crawling speed along the highways, as we headed north out of the city on a 5 hour drive to Panamint Springs. A place located on the western fringes of Death Valley National Park.

Once we were out of the city itself we travelled through a scenic and dry mountain range, only sparsely covered with small scrub-like plants. The area was a lot more barren than I had expected and we soon learned that Southern California was currently enduring a 16 year drought. We passed over the edge of the hills and headed through the flats running perpendicular to the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Included amongst this range is Mt Whitney, the highest point of the lower 48 states at 4,417m above sea level. What made this more interesting was that Badwater Basin, less than 2 hours away and one of our planned stops the following day. It is the lowest point in the lower 48 states!

We pulled over at a small parking lot to admire the flat expanse over towards the surrounding northern mountains. The view was spectacular providing a great panorama shot. It was also very interesting to learn that this whole area had once been swampy wetlands many millions of years ago.

The final hour down to Panamint springs brought many more scenic viewpoints over amazing canyons, as we wound our way down to the valley floor. Some of these viewpoints included Crowley Vista which provided a great vantage point right down to the salt flats below.

We arrived at Panamint springs at about 5pm. We were a little surprised that rather than the small town we had envisioned, the whole place consisted of a petrol station, a campground and a small restaurant! It was quite exciting to spot a coyote running through the 'town' illuminated by our headlights as we pulled over to check in. We then utilised a small permanent tent in the campground for the night as well as dinner and a few local drinks at the restaurant. Then it was time to settle in for a good nights rest in order to prepare ourselves for a big day of exploring the valley.

As we only had one day to explore the valley, we decided on a North to South approach, hitting all of the major highlights before finally crossing over to Nevada for the night. It promised to be a big day but we were already excited by what we had seen so far and were packed and ready to hit the road at 8am the next morning. It helped that we were still operating on New Orleans time which was a 2 hour difference in our favour! We drove along the long straight road, crossing the first salt basin which gave us the opportunity for some amazing shots of the road and surrounding mountains with minimal traffic, before driving up and over the pass in to the primary valley itself.

Death Valley was named in 1849 by gold rush prospectors after 13 pioneers perished in the harsh conditions while trying to cross the valley. The scalding temperatures run nearly year round and even on this early October day the temperatures were sitting at around 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). Our first port of call was the Mesquite sand dunes, looking a little odd and out of place occupying their relatively small section of the valley. In truth it looked like somebody had scooped up a section of the Sahara desert and deposited it smack bang in the middle of several mountain ranges that provided a very photogenic backdrop.

Once we had parked our car and set out into the dunes on foot, it was obvious that the area covered by nothing but sand was deceptively large. It was easy to lose yourself amongst the massive dunes and you soon felt like you could be the only people out there, despite having seen all the cars already parked in the lot. We climbed several dunes and snapped some pictures before heading back to the car and making our way to the next stop on our little road trip.

We had entered the park at approximately the middle point and needed to head around 75km north in order to reach our next destination, Ubehebe crater. Afterwards we knew that we would be turning round and driving back past the dunes on our way south but from the research we had done it would be worth pursuing the 3 hour round trip. Once we arrived at the crater we were certainly not disappointed. The size and patterns were incredible.

We were very interested to learn that this crater had not been caused by meteorite strike, as we had speculated, but instead by underground magma bubbling to the surface and exploding violently. We hiked a short half mile trail to a viewpoint overlooking the crater from the west. A hike that was made more difficult than expected by a strong breeze that had started to blow up with the occasional gust threatening to push us in to the crater itself! Sadly due to our time constraints we didn't have enough time to circumnavigate the entire crater (roughly a 3 mile walk), but we got back on the road very satisfied with our choice to make the detour North.

After a couple of hours heading southwards through the valley we arrived at Furnace Creek, the main town/tourist hub of Death Valley. Despite the dry and barren surrounds the town did boast and extremely green and luscious looking golf course which looked very out of place! We had a quick bite to eat in one of the small diners before our third major landmark of the day, Golden Canyon.

Golden Canyon consisted of a 3 mile (5km) return journey hike through an old riverbed flanked by huge brightly coloured rock formations. This truly was a wondrous place and due to the heat most tourists did not attempt it, which meant we had large portions of trail to ourselves. At times we felt like we were trekking on a distant plant from Star Wars, such were the amazing and unique sights round each corner.

The end point of the trail was a rock formation known as the Cathedral. The heat grew as we hiked along the canyon floor and we were covered in sweat by the time we made it to the end viewpoint. It was around this time as well that we started to regret leaving our water bottles back in the car!

The Cathedral itself was a very impressive sight, with the bright red rocks lifting to create spires and towers that did resemble what you would see on an historic church.  After a quick scramble up a side dune for some panoramic views, we headed back to the carpark and guzzled down the liquids we had remaining in our water bottles. With temperatures like these it was very easy to believe that Death Valley holds the record for the highest accurately measured world temperature of 134 degrees Fahrenheit (57 degrees Celsius),  recorded in July of 1913. By these standards, this was just a pleasant autumn day!

We backtracked down the road slightly to buy some more water in Furnace Creek, before moving onwards to our next stop, the Artists Palette. This was an small 8 mile driving loop that branched away from the main highway. Along the loop were glorious vistas showing a multitude of varying colours covering the nearby hills.

It did indeed resemble a giant paint board with many colours of the rainbow being mixed in together. Some colours were along the lines of what you expect to see, varying reds and browns, but due to the rich mineral layers in the local rocks, there were also some spectacular whites and greens to be seen.

We did attempt a short hike up to a lookout but the strong winds from earlier had progressed in to a full on gale and it was difficult to keep ourselves upright let alone try to get a good look at the hills! The wind was so strong that at one point it blew the sunglasses right off my face! We retreated from the winds and continued South to the sight that is regarded as the number 1 attraction in Death Valley, Badwater Basin.

The Basin is the lowest point in mainland America with the flats sitting 84 metres below sea level. The sea level marker was painted on the cliffs overhead which drove home how low we currently were. When there is any rain in this general area the rainwaters naturally run to this point, where they start baking in the high temperatures. Evaporation comes in to play and soon all that is left behind is the minerals that were contained in the rain, most notably salt.

The repetition of this process over long periods of time has left the surrounding area covered with small salt formations, all rock hard and unique. These formations run on along the valley floor for as far as the eye can see resulting in quite an impressive sight.

Having said that, we were surprised to see a couple of small pools of water that do beat the odds and remain year round. These pools are actually the reason for the name 'Badwater Basin'. At some point in history an early explorer rode to the area and was amazed to find water in the scorching conditions. He tried to get his tired horse to drink, but no matter what he did the horse refused to go near the salty water. Hence the deduction that it must be 'bad water'. Amazingly there is life in this salty environment and as such, we were advised not to go out on to salt formations around the pools due to an endangered and endemic snail species!

The sun was just starting to touch the  peaks of the mountains to the west and we knew that we still had a good 3 hours ahead of us on the road to Las Vegas. We jumped back in the car and continued to head towards the southern exit of the park. We still had one unexpected sight to see though, a couple of wild coyotes were out and about just off the road including one very friendly fellow who approached the car as if he expected us to hand out some food. No doubt previous travellers had done just that! We were very satisfied with our massive day in the valley and we headed onto our next adventure, Las Vegas!

Adrian.

New Orleans: September 26th to September 30th, 2016

After a long and arduous Greyhound bus ride from Miami, Florida, we had finally made it to New Orleans. The heat of the city immediately smacked us in the face, as we stepped out of the bus station and hailed a cab to our Airbnb. On our way there, it was still obvious from our surrounds, that ‘The Big Easy’, was still feeling the effects of Hurricane Katrina. None the less, the place was intriguing and after checking in, we couldn’t wait to see what the city had in store.

After a little down time and a night in, the next day we made our way to the local markets near the French Quarter, and caught the Hop On - Hop Off bus tour. We decided to catch the bus around the city on the first day, just to see what we would like to revisit and what we would have to skip. Immediately the old cemeteries peaked our interest, as did the French and Garden districts, the harbour area and the Mardi Gras Museum.

However, we decided to first get off and explore the one and only Bourbon Street. For those unfamiliar with New Orleans, Bourbon Street is the fun, if not slightly seedy bar area of New Orleans. It is quite literally teaming with cocktail bars, strip clubs, pubs and any bar that might tickle your fancy. It is also ultra famous for it’s involvement each year in Mardi Gras. For lunch we opted for just a regular old bar, serving creole food and local beers. I had the Jambalaya (delicious) and Adrian had a sampler dish of all different kinds of New Orleans traditional fair (also delicious).
Once we had finished up there, we made our way back to our accommodation. We walked via the Mississippi River and the French Quarter. Still a hub of activity, even later into the evening.

The next day, after a little sleep in, we made our way back to the bus stop and caught the first bus to the visitor information centre, which was the stop for the infamous cemetery tours. In particular the Saint Louis Cemetery Number 1. It is famous for a number of reasons.

One – it has famous New Orleans people buried there such as Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen, Etienne de Bore, pioneer in sugar development, Daniel Clark, financial supporter of the American revolution, Homer Plessy, the plaintiff from the 1896 Plessy v Ferguson Supreme Court decision on Civil Rights, and Paul Morphy, an apparent world famous chess champion.

Two – actor Nicholas Cage has purchased a plot, or three, and has built a monstrosity of a pyramid tomb for when he dies.

Three – it is in the traditional style of the Spanish who once ruled over New Orleans, so it is all grandiose tombs, built for not just one person in the family, but pretty much all the family.

Lastly, it is famous due to the fact that it is sinking. See, New Orleans is built quite literally, on a swamp. So things such as buildings, pavements, roads and cemeteries tend to sink. The infamous Donald Trump had previously made up his mind that he wished to build a 50 story Trump Tower in the midst of the city, only to be informed by his no doubt frustrated architects that this would require a concrete foundation 50 stories deep, in order to counterbalance the sinking! Needless to say, Trump moved his focus elsewhere! It really was a very interesting place, much like our guide who hailed from Detroit, but had written many best selling books on New Orleans. So, he knew a lot.

Once we had fished our cemetery tour and had sweated buckets, we made our way back around the city to a restaurant by the name of Mulate’s Cajun Restaurant. Here they sold all manner of traditional New Orleans Cajun food. We decided to follow the advice of a local and chose to share a dozen Cajun style, Mississippi oysters and a platter of traditional Cajun seafood. The delights  on the platter included, frog legs, alligator, fried crawfish, catfish, garlic balls, and stuffed mushrooms. Let me tell ya, we were like stuffed mushrooms when we left. I’ve never seen so much food, not to mention the gigantic bottomless soda cups which were always refilled before you were even halfway through the cup. Anyway, it was scrumptious! Especially the oysters!

We then decided to walk off lunch, by strolling along the Mississippi River boardwalk. There were multiple steam boats and cargo ships cruising up and down the river. It was a cool sight to see. We then eventually made it back to our place and crashed for the evening in a food coma.

For our last day in New Orleans, we decided to start the day with a walking tour through the French Quarter. New Orleans has a rich history, in that it was settled not only by the Spanish, but also the French and the Americans from the North.

However, it was the French who left quite a distinct mark on the city, with their architecture and some distinct customs. So a walk through the French Quarter was quite fascinating. Especially the old churches and the architecture of the buildings. Also quite interesting was the inhabitants of the area.

Many years ago, a very rich doctor and his wife lived in an exquisite French style mansion called the LaLaurie Masion. All seemed well, however, Mrs LaLaurie was doing the most horrendous experiments on the slaves of the house. One day when there was nobody home, one of the slaves, rumoured to be the cook who was chained to the stove, set fire to the house in the hopes of rescue from the monstrous acts being carried out on them. It worked. When the fire fighters arrived they discovered a secret experiment room where there were slaves who had undergone various levels of torture. Such shame was brought on ‘the good doctor’ and his wife, that they fled and were never seen again.

The Door of the LaLaurie Mansion

Of course, the sad and creepy history of the house attracted the attention of a number of famous buyers. In recent times, one of those buyers was goofy ‘ol’ Nicholas Cage. He had it and another house in New Orleans, that is until he lost them both by not paying his taxes. Also, it is a common place to be taken on the night time ghost tours, where the tourists are fed the story of how even Cage was too frightened to ever sleep there. That is until one night when the ghost tour was taking place and Nic Cage popped his head out and stated that he was actually trying to sleep there right at that moment. Totally debunking the myth.

Then there was a bidding war between Johnny Depp and a rich Lawyer. Depp wanted to buy it and open it up as a museum in order to honour the victims of the house, however, he was out bid. Now the rich childless and his wife, live in the 12 bedroom mansion.

During our walking tour, we also learned of another famous family who until very recently, due to divorce, resided in the area. The once famous Jolie-Pitt clan. Naturally I lived in desperate hope that I would bump into Mr Pitt (my all time celebrity crush), but alas it was not to be. We did however learn that Pitt loves New Orleans, choosing to make most of his movies there and donating a lot of money and effort to rebuilding New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. Also, that a poor unsuspecting plumber once made a visit to the Jolie-Pitt home. He didn’t recognise Pitt, as Brad had full beard and long hair for a movie and the plumber figured all the various children playing there must have been part of a day-care. The plumber did however notice all the pics of Angie and proceeded to say to Pitt, ‘jeez someone here sure has a thing for Angelina Jolie’, to which Pitt replied with a simple, ‘yep, I certainly do!’

Once the tour was complete, we made our way through the French Market, where we stopped to have a Po Boy sandwich. The Po Boy garnered it’s name from when it was one of the only thing poor boys could afford to buy and eat. They were delicious, filling and cheap. The sandwich makers would see the poor boys coming and yell out ‘here comes another po boy for a sandwich’, thus it stuck and is how the sandwich got it’s name. Anyway, we opted not for the traditional shrimp Po Boy, but instead for a soft shell crab Po Boy. Well, what a grave error this was. It was vile!! No amount of hot sauce, or ketchup could hid the muddy fresh water fish taste of the crab! Yuck!

Once we had washed down the taste of the Po Boy with a Coke, we jumped back on the bus and made our way to the Mardi Gras Museum. This place was unreal. Not only did we learn about the history and tradition of the New Orleans Mardi Gras, the beads and it’s spectacular floats, we also got to see the artists preparing for the parade next year. Preparing the floats is a full time, year round job, so you can just imagine how big the floats are! Harry Connick Jr. even has a float in the parade each year. Also, each year there is a theme for the floats, next years looked like Disney Villains. We also sampled Mardi Gras cake , also known as King cake. It was delicious.

Once the tour was over, we once again ventured to our new favourite restaurant, Mulate’s, where we devoured some more delicious local delicacies. We then ventured on over to the Garden District. This was a beautiful mixed style area where only the wealthy and often famous tend to reside. We joined another walking tour and once again learned quite a lot about the local inhabitants.

First on the list of famous residents was John Goodman. He bought his beautiful mansion in New Orleans off none other than Trent Reznor from 9 Inch Nails fame. See, Reznor realised that a quiet suburban upper class mansion, probably wasn’t the best fit for a rock and roll lifestyle. So, Goodman purchased it after making his fortune in the movie game.

John Goodman's house

A funny story relating to Goodman and his house was also shared to us by our guide. When Goodman is away shooting a film or as it were at the moment, performing on Broadway, his mother in law would often stay at the house. One day when the guides friend was doing the tour, he was giving his spiel about what a great bloke Goodman is, how he’d come to purchase the house, how much he had paid, and why Goodman liked New Orleans so much. The guide also noticed at that point that there was an elderly lady standing and listening in to the tour. He didn’t mind as this often happens, so once the guide had finished, the lady piped in and said ‘you need to get your facts straight! He actually paid such and such for the house and I know this, because I am his mother in law. She then proceeded to walk into the house.

Sandra Bullock's house 

We also saw where Sandra Bullock sometimes lives and also apparently plans to reside full time once her children, whom she adopted from New Orleans, begin school. Nic Cage also used to own a home in the area, until he had to give that house up also due to not paying his taxes. Now Anne Coulter resides there. All in all, it was an interesting and gorgeous area.

Hurricane Katrina memorial 

We eventually made our way back to accommodation, feeling that we had seen most of what New Orleans had to offer. It really is like no other place in the USA. The people have their own endearing kookiness about them, the food is excellent and the scenery and the history of the place is just a world of it’s own. We just adored New Orleans.

Holly.