Home again......

Aug 26

Home again. You know you’ve arrived when you have to queue to enter your own country; it’s cold, overcast and not a smile of greeting anywhere whilst the officials carry on their private conversations with colleagues whilst processing your passport!

How to summarise a trip that has been so long awaited but sooo worth that wait…..

Well, we drove 5530 miles ourselves; add to that the approximate mileage that Laurie drove of 400 miles and we have covered some 6000 miles in a month. Not bad huh?

California is such a contrast of scenes from the big, steep city of San Francisco with the iconic Golden Gate Bridge to the sprawl of LA to the mountains and the Pacific Highway which takes you to Big Sur with its dramatic coastline and wildlife. The noise of the elephant seals will stay with us always. Traffic and smog will be the overwhelming memory of LA for now. Twelve lanes of vehicles going nowhere, fast…. But I know for David his time aboard the Queen Mary will be etched forever in his memory. Her grandeur and history is very special to him.

Crossing a small part of the Mojave Desert; Lake Havasu with the London Bridge in temperatures well in excess of 100 deg F in early evening, David feeling as if his nose and eyes were on fire, another of those moments. Driving through the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas in those temperatures too is not something we’ll experience often either. Many have tried, but how to convey the majesty and splendour of that ‘hole’ that is the Grand Canyon. To see the colours of the rock, the sheer depth and width is almost impossible to describe. Add the flight of a condor and it makes even an old verbose cynic like me struggle for words! Monument Valley and its environs is everything you imagine it to be but different. The distances between the mesas and buttes is much greater than you think and we travelled some 60 miles in a round trip and still we did not see them all. It is a little like the first time you view the New York Skyline, one of those surreal moments experienced when you know the view so well but can’t actually believe you’re there. Make the effort to drive though because, as well as the known sights, further on is the Mexican Hat which we would not have found had we just gone those first few miles into the valley. It is another paradise for a true photographer especially if you wait for sunset! Four Corners Monument, something and nothing but I’m glad I can say we went there. Four states intersecting is pretty unique after all.

The mid west states: Oklahoma with its softly undulating terrain, mowed meridians and its billboards for ‘Adult Superstores’ alongside those for the Church, Kansas for the hometown feel and terrific thunderstorms, Indiana, Idaho, Illinois, Ohio for the fields of corn, Missouri for…………… St Louis. Those of you who have followed our blog will know our thoughts on that city already! Litter fines are another striking memory. All along the I40 signs let you know that the penalty for littering will be financially severe; however, in New England they range from $219 in one part of Connecticut to $10,000 (yep, $10k) in Massachusetts! Focuses the mind somewhat! UK you have a lot to learn!! I’m just sorry we could not spend more time in these beautiful mid west states; there will be other trips though, so watch this space…

The great lakes and New England: Niagara and the Falls are, rightly one of the wonders of the world. Like the Grand Canyon water shows its power. No matter what mankind can do, nothing matches the power of nature! It really is a wonderful sight to behold. Another one of those sensory assaults which have assailed us throughout this whole trip. Finger Lakes region in upstate New York looks magnificent; like the mid west sadly not explored on this occasion. The best states of New England, in my humble opinion are: Connecticut for its contrasts of historic cities and towns and its coastline, Vermont and New Hampshire for their mountains and trees. Stowe in VT is so quintessentially New England with its clapboard houses and white church spires, New Hampshire with its unforgettable Mount Washington Cog Railway and last, but certainly not least, Maine for its coastline. Bar Harbor is like stepping back in time. The people are friendly and courteous, the stores are quaint and it is truly a place to relax. These four states, for me, are wonderful and I can’t wait to go back. Apologies to those friends in the USA who might read this but neither David nor I were particularly taken with Massachusetts or Rhode Island. Perhaps we went to the wrong places but, again, this review is purely my own subjective one!

And then, of course, there is the one and only New York City! We thank Laurie for driving us there (so saying after driving in RI I don’t think I will ever be daunted by NY traffic again!) and, for David, it was wonderful. He loved being in the Empire State Building and taking his beloved photos. He wants to go back to the city and do a lot more of that. The vibrancy and energy truly is something to behold.

We have been so very lucky to have been able to see and do the things we have on this trip. We have met some wonderful people, the lady in Monterey, Daniel who gave us the advice on drinking plenty of water in the desert, the ranger who showed us the condor in the Grand Canyon, our innkeepers, Julie and John in Vermont and the lovely couple from New York who were also staying at the inn, the couple we met in Bar Harbor who had driven there from Fort Myers in Florida. The list is inexhaustible really. Then, of course there is the traffic in the cities….the overwhelming memory though will always be Boston in the rush hour! 2 ½ hours to travel just 30 miles! A billboard, advertising a 5.7ltr engine vehicle ‘to get you there faster’. Faster where? 10 lanes of nose to tail in both directions wheels barely moving.

I wouldn’t have missed this trip for anything and I know for certain that David feels the same. You can find a song or movie quotation for almost anything but I believe that Woody Guthrie wrote the words: ‘this land is our land, from sea to shining sea’ and we have been fortunate enough to actually drive from sea to shining sea!

Ain’t we lucky?