The crossing through the Virgin Mountain range was very scenic and at one stage we passed an enormous solar farm with some gigantic blinding panels. This area always seems to have nothing but cloudless skies, so I imagine the potential power that can be generated is huge.
After around 3 hours on the road we turned off for a visit to the Valley of Fire, a state park around an hour outside of Las Vegas. Here we paid our fees and drove in to the visitors centre to grab a map and plan out our day. The route in was very scenic, with frequent red rock formations rising from the desert on each side of the road. These rock formations ranged in size, but all had interesting looking patterns of holes across them, making for some great photos.
We decided on visiting two or three locations across the park, with the first only being 100 metres away from the centre. It was a smaller rock spire (only around 10 metres tall) but it had a very interesting appearance. Over time erosion had given it the illusion of being a precariously balanced rock defying the laws of gravity.
We then jumped back into our trusty hire car and headed out and around the Valley of Fire's very scenic route road. Stop two was at the Mouse's Tank trail. Here we hiked a short distance in amongst the natural rock formations and admired the scrubby desert plains. Tracks of small creatures were everywhere, some leading in to small burrows dotted around the area but sadly due to the heat rising, there was nothing to be seen.
The trail lead around some more huge rock formations before branching out over large rock plates covered in gravel. After around 40 minutes we reached our destination, the beautiful Fire Wave Rock. Here over millions of years of primarily wind based erosion, the rock had smoothed and shaped into a unique formation somewhat resembling waves in an ocean. Adding to the effect were the bright stripes of colour passing through the rock. There were reds, oranges and whites all causing a rippled kind of effect as it met the eye. We explored the area for a while before heading back to the main road and our car ready, to resume our journey.
We exited from the park down the long straight south road, across the expansive flats towards our stop for the night, Las Vegas. We were staying back at Circus Circus again, this time in the cheaper Western tower. After another delicious Vegas pizza for dinner it was an early night, ready for another big day on the road south to San Diego.
As is the case for much of the region, the terrain was very arid and dry with several scenic mountain ranges framing the road. We had originally planned to stop in at Joshua Tree National Park along the way, but decided against it as this would have made an already big day, 6 hours on the road, even bigger!
Instead at one of the small gas stations along the highway, we pulled off to the side and drove out amongst the nearby Joshua trees on a small dirt road. Here we jumped out of the car and did a quick exploration of the area on foot, getting some great photos of these unique looking trees. The Joshua tree is a plant that belongs to the Yucca family that is endemic to the deserts of the United States southwest. Joshua Trees are an important part of the desert ecosystem and a Joshua tree forest is a sign of a healthy environment.
After another quick break for lunch we continued the drive south. Between Los Angeles and San Diego the traffic was pretty hectic, resulting in slow progress for the last couple of hundred kilometres of the trip. As a result we finally arrived to our hostel, in the Point Loma area of San Diego, after dark. We checked in and went out to explore the area looking for a nice place for dinner.
A few hundred metres down Voltaire Street, we came across a small diner named Sessions that offered a great assortment of gourmet pub food and local craft beers. We just happened to be present for the weekly 'boozy bingo' night. This coaxed us to stay out longer than originally planned and resulted in a few more pints in our systems.
The next day due to a combination of a bigger than expected night and the action packed days that proceeded it, we did something that we hadn't done for quite some time, had a day in! This helped restore our energy levels and the following day we were ready to explore the main reason we had come to San Diego, the world famous zoo!
There are actually two zoo sites in San Diego, the original zoo located in the central Balboa Park, and the San Diego Zoo safari park, a bit further north of the city, originally filling the role of a breeding centre for the primary zoo. In 1972 this centre opened its doors to the public as an alternative location and offers a different experience, with larger enclosures and many animals mingling together like they would in the wild.
We bought ourselves a double pass and did the locations on two consecutive days, starting with the safari park. The park was divided into several different habitats, such as the Tundra, Southeast Asia and Africa. There was a huge variety of animals on show and many of the species are involved in breeding programs and conservation efforts aimed at repopulating and building up numbers of endangered species in the wild.
Some highlights included orang-utans, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, the red river hog, binturong, proboscis monkeys, gharials and the okapi, many of which were species that I had never seen before in zoos around the world.
The highlight was the African section of the park, through which you were driven around on a 'safari cart' in order to give you an up close experience. Scattered through several divided paddocks were a variety of species including zebra, wildebeest, rhinos and many types of antelope. In a very positive story we learned that the Safari park had been responsible for the successful births of over 90 white rhinoceros (some of which were out on the range), which had contributed greatly to the species' battle for survival.
The safari park has also done great work in the conservation and repopulation of the Californian condor, a species that became extinct in the wild, but now, thanks to a highly successful breeding program, boasts over 200 members of the species in the skies over California. Another great experience was to watch the mountain gorillas at feeding time. The zoo had a large troupe ranging from Winston, the dominant silverback, to Joanne, the baby of the group at 2 years old.
After a full day of animal watching at the safari park we drive back to the hostel completely satisfied. Even better we still had another full day of zoo activity to look forward to!
We arrived at the world famous San Diego Zoo at opening time in order to somewhat escape the anticipated crowds of people. Much to our surprise, perhaps due to the heat or time of year, for much of the day we hardly had to battle hordes of people at all! San Diego Zoo was established in 1916 and has, over time, built up a reputation for being one of the best zoos in the world, not only for the wildlife on display but also the quality of life offered to these animals as well the zoo's conservation and education programs.
Again the zoo experience we had was amazing, with a huge cross section of animals from all around the world. A particular highlight was the Panda exhibit, with the star of the show being Bai Yun. She is the panda 'super mum' who has given birth to six cubs while in captivity, in a time when world wide, successful panda breeding has proved to be a massive challenge. While both the zoos were excellent, we felt that we probably enjoyed the safari park a little more, as it offered a more unique experience. However, I would happily go back to both zoos for a repeat visit!
For our last morning we had set aside time to explore the famous San Diego beach area, however, sadly for us, the region chose to have one of its occasional banks of fog drift in over the ocean. This meant that at the beach we had visibility of less than a couple of metres in any direction. Certainly not what we were hoping for!
This drew to a close our time in San Diego and we hit the highway for our 2 hour journey north back to LA. Sadly this was the end of our time with our trusty Honda hire car, after close to three weeks and over 5000 miles covered!
We did have a new city ahead of us to look forward to exploring though, Los Angeles, the city of angels.
Adrian
