LA

Calling Germany is horrible. I need to be awake very late to call the people in the morning and have a chance to reach them. So I decided to write and publish for my work in the evening and took the last day off. In the end not the best choice, I was in bed round 3am. At 8.30am Bossy stood next to my bed, one cat was liking my face, one lay on me feet, one was drooling around, one was screaming. "are you awake? You need to get up, we are going to L. A. This weekend! Hurry!" "grmblwhatthe... Coffee???" - That was my Friday morning. I ordered him to buy, at the next gas station, these 5 hours energy shots for me, tastes like syrup but very useful!

L. A. Here we come! We drove the way to the city along the coast. Why he is always so scared when I am driving these serpentines with at least 70mph? I am careful and like the roller coaster feeling. I really need to learn how to drive a motorbike. Maybe there is soon an opportunity for it. We stopped at a restaurant for lunch. Again seafood for me.

 

Did I ever mention that geocaching is a desperate and dangerous hobby? While climbing down a path, bossy was sitting and watching me to find the T4 cache. He ordered me by calling with his mobile to log him in, too. I was dying and slided a few meters this small way down on my reasonably big butt.

We went on, he was annoyed with me and my music, started to listen to his own on his iPad with earplugs. I told him, when he has a driving license, he can choose the music. This choice belongs to the driver. Maybe I should have told him, that music choice also belongs to the lady, and that he has to do everything to make the lady happy. If the lady is happy, everybody is. But he is used to my signs and took pictures when I waved around.

How closer we came to the city, the weather was getting worse. We couldn't decide if it was the weather or the smog. I try to think positive, so weather it is.

We parked the car on the hotel parking lot for 20$ and entered the hotel. First I told him I need a little time to refresh and take a shower. I was dirty after the geocaching, Black feet! It took some time to clean and wash everything. 

The hotel was only two blocks from the Hollywood walk of fame. It is a way more relaxed city than Vegas. Amazing all these stars of the people you know or even don`t. You can also be a cartoon character to get one. Also the home of the Scientology is there. On the next corner one guy was preaching about the salvation through Jesus.

I was wondering if there is a system of value where the star is located. By asking a security officer I was told that they apparently chose the spot randomly. But this is wrong: Locations of individual stars are not necessarily random or arbitrary. Stars of legendary and world-famous celebrities, the so-called "show business royalty", are mostly found in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Oscar winners' stars are usually placed near the Kodak Theatre, site of the annual Academy Awards presentations. Bossy has no clue who Alice Cooper or Ozzy are. He also is not used to Chuck Norris but Barbara Streisand. Am I really such a geek? We walked the road up and down, took lots of star pictures. I also saw Spiderman. We ate dinner in a French crepe restaurant.

Horrible noisy air-condition in the hotel room. I was awake at 4.30am and started to answer my mails and reading the newspaper. Around 7.30am I took a shower and after I decided to go to the pool. Not the perfect succession but anyway. My first swimming in America! 3'5" are 1,1m. The pool said so! In the hot whirlpool next to the pool I met two guys. After explaining what I am doing here and what my tasks are, I ask them for their professions: "farmer!" "sheep?" "no, marihuana!" actually it seems to be very easy to get a permit to farm this for medical reasons. They were here to give a speech at a local college. 

After bossy was also ready we drove to that universal studio theme park. Was it interesting? Yes. Was it huge? Yes. Was it necessary? Tourist attraction. Do I need more of this? Unless it is Disney world-land-whatever...

We did all rides, Simpsons, Shrek, water world .... And the terminator. I was wondering, what people from California see when they are looking at him: their governor or the terminator? I laughed a lot. But this is German too, there is a huge difference between a star and a politician, I think my German mentality can't deal with the mix, I think it is ridiculous the mix of it. For Reagan I am definitely too young but there were lots of songs against him, I listened to when I was young.

With the special passes we had we didn't need to wait, waiting time was never more than 5 minutes. We took the tour though the studios, saw King Kong in 360degree and also the Westeria lane from the desperate housewives and lots of more. The guide Nick was a bit too professional, but all inside there were. A little bit like robots.

Shrek ride and also the Terminator was in 4d, we needed the special glasses and there were also effects we could feel. Simpsons was a roller coaster fake like a comic, very nice!

Jurassic park let me curse like a sailor. Ok, I was used to be sputtered with water the whole time but this ... We got out I was completely soaked. Not only a bit! I was so annoyed by this. Dress, hair, shoes, sunglasses, hat.... Like in a monsoon. All of the stories were very imaginative at least.

Very good also was the blues brother show. Sadly they shortened the songs. We walked a bit around and decided to figure out where the Hollywood sign is, we had seen everything inside the park. But the batteries of my camera were empty, we drove back to the hotel to load them and I was trying to decide to take a nap or go to the pool again. Didn't I have enough water for today?

Finally we ended up at the Hollywood sign. Full moon, sunset, two times lost in directions.It is not easy to come close to it. There are no signs which are tellung you the right direction. Also the GPS and the 3g was failing.

The next day we drove to the Christal Cathedral. This is a Protestant Christian megachurch in the city of Garden Grove, in Orange County, California. The church's 273 rank, five manual pipe organ is one of the largest in the world. The name "Crystal Cathedral" is merely alliterative and does not mean it is a cathedral in the sense of being a church where one finds a bishop's official seat, or cathedra (the traditionally correct English language use of the term): the Reformed Church in America is governed by elders.

After we drove to the Queen Mary, a huge cruiser which is a hotel now. This is definitely not the kind of ships I like. Made of steel. Maybe I would be more impressed if I had seen the machine room. So I was thinking about: what would I do, if this would sink. Not at this spot, this would only gain wet feet but on the wide ocean.

The way back was very boring. Only freeways, I was listening and singing to my musig, Bossy did the same with headphone and his Ipad.

For One of the Thousands in Love with the Moon

 

So far I have seen 2 sunsets in the last week. There is still no chance I will turn into a romantic beeing in this lifetime. This time I was thinking: how to paint it, where is my canvas and where are my colors? 

After 2 very interesting and exhausting days I met up with Larry again. We met at Starbucks in a new part of San Jose, never been there before. Lots of half naked men. Did I ever mention that I am addicted to “Vanilla Frappuchino – Coffee, Vanilla flavor, no whip cream and large please! Thank you for liking my purse, her name is Emma, join her Facebook Fanpage if you like!”

We talked about our last meeting and what was new, after that I asked him to help me with some English stuff. We went on to a little restaurant where we spent most of the afternoon. I love my IPad and the mobile hotspot. After hours of working and tormenting the Thesaurus to find acronyms I was able to mail the result to the right person, the answer was in my mail 15 min later.
- Hurray to Gerd!

We drove along the road to a really great Geocache: It was a statue build out of an old VW. Till I got that – not what it was crafted out but what a VW is (Volkswagen!), I taught Larry how to say it in German (VW) and the rest of the alphabet. Finally a large ammo box! And a travel bug! Frogs for Claudia! - Hurray to me! I hope my skin will be growing back soon, I scratched myself by pulling this box out of the hippo!

Larry asked me out for dinner and mentioned a restaurant beneath the telescope I went with him earlier. He told me to go there to watch the sunset and the lights of San Jose. Again I needed to tell somebody that I am non romantic, never been, never will be. Not interested in chocolates, flowers, candlelight dinners, sunsets and so on. Maybe Sex-on-the-beach without sand and in a glass. If Chaed ever purposes to me, he should built a Geocache or something else technical attractive where I at least find the ring (or a check.)

So we drove again up this winding mountain road – fun, fun, fun! This time I didn't kill a Squirrel, only a ghost one. We drove to far, turned around (good joke there) and went into the restaurant. We talked a lot, here it is also political correct to not have an opinion about politics, religion, history and so on, completely different what I was told. Lucky with Larry I can talk about everything and am allowed to curse. It is relaxing not to take care of the No-Goes, just be a German-European-Cultural-Being.

We also talked a lot about Classical Music, I tried to explain how Wagner is working with the Leitmotif case (as Richard Strauss did and John Williams is actually doing), I couldn’t answer the questions why all great composers are from Germany – Mozart wasn’t! – and what the difference is to compose because it is your job (e.g. Bach and Verdi did) and for the pure fun. But that doesn’t mean they weren't a geniuses.

After two hours of talking, showing him pictures of my family and friends and my own paintings we went outside to have a look at the sunset. I took a few pictures, discussed the hazed weather, apparently you could also see the bridges at the horizon when the weather is better, I finally saw a few deer running around.

 

Back inside we ordered our diner . I ate so much seafood since I came here, I didn’t eat that much in the last few years. At the moment I rarely eat fruit or vegetables. Fruits and other green things to eat are extraordinary expensive here.

Every few minutes I jumped around to take new pictures. But it is as always: they are not even close to reality. He told me, the city down there is twinkling like diamonds, he is loving it. And I can completely agree with it.

Mama, ist das warm hier!

 

When I travelled around with my mother, I was allowed to say it once per day: Mama, ist das warm hier! While driving through the Sahara in an old R4 without air co I wasn’t allowed to complain about the warmth that much.

We had have busy two days. First we went to a cat exhibition. I was so afraid, Bossy is going to buy the 7th one here. But as in Europe, these kinds of shows are making me sad. Hundreds of cats in little cages, lots of kittens and most of them for sale. What is the need for it? They are looking so desperately, crying and seeking for hugs. But I also don’t like zoos that much or other kind of animal shows. Ok, one zoo was very nice, Emmen in the Netherlands. Plenty of room for the little critters. I am also not very attracted if animals can do kind of tricks, it is nice if they do them by choice but the training is definitely nothing for me.

We moved on, hit the road to Sacramento. There is the California State Fair at the moment. In San Jose, where we life it is warm but it is ok. San Francisco is mostly a bit too cold for my taste. But there I was thinking like I was melting. We got out of the car, walked over this huge area. There was a kind of amusement park and a bit further on the state fair. It was ok, nice objects were shown there. It is an independent state agency established by law and governed primarily by the California Department of Food and Agriculture codes. In addition to the annual fairs, Cal Expo hosts a number of other events such as the annual Dixieland Jazz Festival, car and RV shows, Christmas Tree Land, and doll shows. Also, the adjacent racetrack hosts harness racing meets almost year-round (with the exception, of course, of the State Fair dates that schedule thoroughbred racing), as well as motorcycle racing and concerts.

On our way back – which is the right way? – I was thinking of jumping into the fountain, Jacuzzi, to the turtles. Just into water to cool myself off. There was a shooting gallery too, but I was not allowed to try it. Bossy is to afraid I could get a taste of it. But I am not so in guns and rifles, I kill people with my crazy thoughts. There also was a little Cola Truck, driven by a Muppet!


We found our car back and I got burned my backside because of the hot seats. Maximum of air co, lots of water, and on the road to Lake Tahoe. On our way we passed a bridge and needed to pay toll. Robber barons everywhere!

Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains. At a surface elevation of 1.897 m, it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City, Nevada. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. It is 501 meters deep. The lake was formed about 2 million years ago and is a part of the Lake Tahoe Basin with the modern lake being shaped during the ice ages. It is known for the clarity of its water and the panorama of surrounding mountains on all sides.

Lake Tahoe is a major tourist attraction in both California and Nevada. It is home to a number of ski resorts, summer outdoor recreation, and tourist attractions. Snow and skiing are a significant part of the area's economy and reputation. Mountain and lake scenery are attractions throughout the year. The Nevada side also includes large casinos. Highways provide year-round access from Reno, Carson City and Sacramento. (The Ponderosa Ranch of the TV series Bonanza was formerly located on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe.)

Vegetation in the basin is dominated by a mixed conifer. There are not many deciduous trees like I know from Europe. From the side we entered, there is only one road. It was driving though the mountains, twisting road with lots elevation. It is interesting to watch how the Hybrid car is dealing with: how the engine goes into more than 5.5k rpm and also the battery tries to help. I am not allowed to drive too fast through so I let pass lots of cars during several spots.



At some points Bossy was screaming, as he got the feeling we were going too fast. (We weren't, I drive very carefully and slow, ask Jeff!) I can imagine that this roads are horrible to drive during the winter. Everywhere standing signs where you can put on or off your chains. We also saw a German, Swizz, and Italian restaurant along the road.

We found room in the Holliday Inn and moved on to the lake. It was 45 min before sunset and a bit colder than I expected so I only went a bit into the water. Sitting on the beach, watching the sunset and waiting for the last wave.





A nice huge sailboat passed through. Reminds me that I need to make my official sailing license. I saw jet skis but no windsurfers (that license I have already).

 


On our way back we did a few geocaches, one was really nice hidden, inside a huge grasshopper.




Next morning I took a shower in the huge bathroom. It had its own Jacuzzi and an open fire. The shampoo of the hotel made me smell like a cookie. Not very attractive. Also the mattress of the bed was sensitive like sleeping during an earthquake. Anyway, we hit the road again, more to the north to drive round the lake. I was later told, I missed a junction – but there was none - and we found ourselves back in Carlson City and needed to drive over Reno back to Sacramento. Reno was not that interesting, we saw a river, huge poker chips and a few large hotels.

While driving the hills up and down we discussed the topic what we would do if the breaks were broken and we played a bit “I spy with my little eye”. He lost. He couldn’t tell me, which green tree I meant.



 We drove again to Sacramento to have a look at the Capitol. We did a few geocaches and I burned my butt again while “take a seat” to find a nano. "Mama, es ist heiss hier!" At every water post I stopped. I think the weight I lost so far is only water i guess!



Inside the park there are lots of statues. "The sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone. [...] I hope you run into them, you who've been travelling so long." And I did!

We found a way into the Capitol. Like at every public place there was a security check and a scan of our bags. Fortunately they had have an air co inside. There were lots of little exhibitions and I found the original jacket of Buffalo Bill. Legendary! We also saw the office of the gouvernator. In front of his office stood a huge bear who shared his coolness with me.

On the road again I can tell you two things: driving dintances of more than 500 km per day is not so bad here, it doesn’t fell like that. And driving through mountains is more exciting than through the desert, even with the view of thousands of wind wheels.



Landscape of California and Nevada is still very beautiful in my eyes! So different places and views in so short distances. You are driving though a desert with more then 40°C and the horizon shows mountains with snow on the top.




Ok, for us European the distance is very huge, we have more different landscapes in-between shorter areas.  Let me say it is extra ordinary huge here. I got a real passion for this land and the people so far.

BBQ

During the last weeks I went to two Barbecues. 

The first one was held on the 4^th July. I was there with Suzanne, Mike and a part of their family. First we went shopping some ribs. They are really selling half of pigs there. 

Nobody there likes salad, vegetables, fruit – only the bread for the hot dogs – so it is real men food.  Suszanne and I decided to prepare some Mozzarella and tomatoes for us. We also bought oysters to put them on the grill. 

 

The friends of mine having a huge motor home. It is like a small flat, never seen such a thing before in Europe. My mother owns a VW bus but this is really hippie stylish if you see the other one. I think, she would love it. We drove with it to their son in law. 

 

Then they put a huge BBQ in the front of their house. With lots of denatured alcohol they put it into fire – Americans seem to love huge fire and explosions.

 

I didn't knew that you can grill oysters. I usually had them fluid. They are eating them with hot sauce. I ate also hot dogs, spare ribs and drank a kind of Sgt. Pepper coke.

 

Later the day, almost in the evening, we drove to a hill to watch the fireworks for the 4th July. Lots of people were sitting on the roof of their cars. During the days it is very hot here, more than 32°C, but during the night you see, that it is all next to the desert here. It is getting incredible cold.

Last Saturday I went to the next one.

It was located in a public area,  Coyote Point, a county park. You have to pay a fee for parking and then you can use the whole area there. There are lots of banks and public fireplaces. My friends were already there, I arrived later and was completely lost. After a few calls and sms they picked me up (thanks Jeff!).

It was Jeff’s Birthday Barbecue, organized by another Jeff. I still have no clue, why I was the only woman there. Lucky me, fire was already burning but I saw the video on Facebook how they tried to burn down the whole place.

They made me a very spicy hotdog. Also one of them, Roy, knew lots of German drinking traditions: Hirsch!






Later we went to the 5 Geocaches who are located in the park. There is a nice view to San Francisco.




Also the Airplains for the San Francisco International Airport are flying over your head to land.

I figured out that there is a beach too, but nobody likes to swim: To cold and dirty they said. But you can hire Windsurfboards. Maybe an option…