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We left Ridgecrest this morning after driving passed the China Lake Naval Weapons Center - as we are in the middle of the desert we thought this was a bit odd! Apparently 85% of the Navy's land weapons are there and it is used for research, development, testing and evaluation. I think you would feel ripped off if you joined the Navy to see the world and you ended up at China Lake Naval Weapons Center - after all, they don't even have a lake!
The first town we came to was Inyokern which didn't seem to offer much but the scenery just outside the town was great. Red Rock Canyon lived up to its name with layers of red throughout the sediments of the ranges. As we drove on towards Jawbone Kerrie started snapping photos through the car's windscreen of the lake that we were approaching. As we got closer however she had to rethink the captions for her photos because 'the lake' turned out to be Beacon Solar Plant. The field of solar panels glistened in the sunshine and spread over a wide area on both sides of the road. The panels cover 1,240 acres of land.
No sooner had we left Jawbone and the solar panels behind than we came across the largest field of Wind Turbines we have ever seen at Mojave. They stretched over the hillsides beside the road and there appeared to be thousands of them. Some were the tall ones you most often see but interspersed with the tall ones were smaller ones - I guess to catch the wind currents closer to the ground. These turbines are owned and operated by Alta Wind Energy and is the 3rd largest wind energy project in the world There are over 3,200 acres covered in the turbines some as tall as 200 feet.
Opposite the Wind Farm was a graveyard - not your typical one though with headstones and flowers. This graveyard was for disused aircraft all lined up side by side. We drove on towards Los Angeles, our destination for the remainder of the trip.
Before going to our hotel we decided to drive up and have a look at Griffith Observatory just north of Hollywood. Well that was the plan! The closer we got, the heavier the traffic became. Kerrie snapped a photo of the Observatory from the car but we could not get up close to it. The traffic was directed back down the hill before you could get to it. We think everyone in Los Angeles had decided to have a picnic in Griffith Park this Sunday!
We continued on to our hotel in Culver City which sets us up nicely for our car return and flight home on Tuesday night. Once again our hotel room is large and we have a great view of the pool and 405 Freeway from our window. Right next door is a huge Westfield Shopping Centre - not a bad location at all. We chose this hotel on the recommendation of Terry and Shirley Parker (friends from home) who are also staying here.
After checking in we met up with Terry and Shirley and decided to go in to Hollywood Boulevard for dinner and a walk along the Star Studded Pavement. Terry volunteered to drive - he didn't hire a Yaris. Our transport for the night was a Chevrolet Camaro Convertible - with the roof off! Greg and I settled in the back seat, Greg with his Manly hat on and Kerrie in a scarf and sunnies - 'Thelma and Louise' style.
After finding parking we set out to explore the Walk of Fame stopping to take photos of our favourite stars. We found TCL Chinese Theatre (formerly Grauman's Chinese Theatre) and tested the size of the hand and footprints in the concrete slabs. We decided to have dinner at Hooters, just across the road. Philly Cheesesteaks, nachos and a build your own burger were washed down with a cold beer. After a little more walking and watching some street performers we returned to our hotel - with the top down in the convertible of course. What a great night with good company, good food and a magnificent car!
We slept in on Monday and then set off to do a bit of shopping at Westfield Culver City. This shopping centre is three levels high and occupied us for a couple of hours. Yes we did do a little shopping as well. We then decided to drive to Santa Monica Pier, about 15km away. We avoided the freeway as it was still choked with traffic and followed backstreets until we got to Venice Beach. You can't drive right beside the beach but we decided not to stop as we might go back there for dinner tonight. When we got to Santa Monica Pier we drove down and parked right on the boardwalk beside the pier. The pier was crowded with people taking happy snaps and enjoying the sunshine. The beach below us was also busy - Kerrie commented that this was her sort of beach as you could walk on a boardwalk almost to the water's edge - no sand between her toes - or anywhere else thankyou!
After lunch we returned to the hotel to do a bit of packing for our trip home tomorrow night. Greg had a little nap and we had a lovely swim and spa before dinner with Terry and Shirley. Once again we were spoilt and got to travel in the convertible with Terry as our driver. We had decided to go to Venice Beach , also known as Muscle Beach, for dinner. When we got there we walked down the beachside but there were no muscles on show tonght - very disappointing. The area was a bit run down and didn't offer many choices for dinner so we returned to Culver City for dinner at an Olive Garden Restaurant near our hotel. Greg and I have eaten at Olive Garden in a few cities and the Italian food had always been terrific. Terry and Shirley were Olive Garden virgins but I think they will also become return customers if they get the chance. Our dinner was delicious, the service was great and we enjoyed a couple of drinks before returning to our hotel for a nightcap in the bar. Altogether a great night again with great company. Over our drinks we discussed how we would fill in our last day in Los Angeles as our flights are not until 11:30 pm - could be a long day.
After our last breakfast in USA, checking out and parking our rental car for later pick up we left the hotel about 11.00am. We were again being driven by Terry in the convertible and were headed for the Los Angeles Police Deparment Academy for a look around. We drove through the city - first time we had ever been to downtown LA. The only building that we recognised was the Westin Bonaventure building which consists of 5 interconnecting cylindrical towers.
The Police Academy was on the north side of the city not far from Dodgers Stadium. After checking out the accoutrements (Police talk!) shop we bought a couple of things in the gift shop before having lunch in the Academy Cafe. We checked out the pool from the Police Academy movies and visited the shooting range. Back in the car we crossed over the street and drove around the outside of Dodger's Stadium. We were on our way out of the parking area when a security vehicle pulled up beside us and told us we shoudn't have been there and wanted to know how we got in. When we showed her the open gate for Police parking she wasn't overly impressed! We apologised profusely and Terry gave her a big Aussie smile and she let us go on our way.
We then headed back towards our hotel via Bartels Harley Davidson Dealership near Santa Monica for the boys to have a look at the toys. There were some really good buys available but none of them would fit in our suitcases.
After returning to the hotel we said our farewells to Terry and Shirley with a promise to visit them in Harvey Bay early next year. We then headed to the airport as we had exhausted our ideas of how to fill in the rest of the day. We returned our trusty little Yaris and took the shuttle to Terminal 2. Our flight was not until 11:50pm so we had a bit of time to relax before boarding.
During our time here we travelled just under 5,500 miles, visited 10 states of the USA (2 of which we had not visited before), stayed in 10 different hotel chains ranging in price from USD$45 to USD$300 per night (including taxes!). The average price of fuel at each fill was USD$18. Average cost of food per day was USD$100 including alcholic beverages. We met friendly people wherever we went, almost all of them want to go to Australia one day. We were able to tick a few things off our bucket lists and took advantage of the unexpected opportunities we were presented with - how many people can say they shook Mike Tyson's hand?
As we still have 4 more states to visit to complete the 50 we guess we will just have to come back to USA again one day!
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