West Virginia

I ended up getting up earlier than I wanted Sunday morning (thanks to very thin curtains and a 5.30am dawn) and I was not happy about it. The amount of wine the night before didn't help. And my legs hurt. A lot.

After breakfast at the hotel, I started the drive to Blackwater creek falls in West Virginia. I wanted to see the falls as I have seen so many amazing photos of it. The drive was longer than I expected (~2.5 hrs) so I amused myself by singing to the radio (well iPod), often in funny voices. Because I could!

The drive all day Sunday was interesting. My GPS/SatNav had a mood on and took me some interesting routes. Lots of sharp 180 degree turns, usually after the rise of a hill to keep you on your toes. I think I scared the shell off a tortoise out on his Sunday morning constitutional. He was in the middle of the road thankfully so I managed to passed over him without harming him. (I might have been imagining the "WTF?" look on his face but I doubt it.) I saw very few cars for most of the trip which was a good job as I have no idea how 2 cars would pass on those roads. Someone would have to reverse for quite some distance.

I don't think I killed anything on the trip! :-) Bar some bugs and a few butterflies. Though it was a close called with the baby bunny. Luckily he/she ran the other way.

The weather was not as nice on Sunday. Another factor making the drive more interesting. When you can't see in front of you, no matter how fast the wipers are going, there are random detours, and in one case a jeep reversing towards me on the highway (thankfully in a detoured area so I was going slow enough), well, all in all, I was happy to get there.

Bug!

The main waterfall is at the end of a short set of stairs (though given how badly my legs hurt, they didn't feel very short at the time).

Nearly there. 

Blackwater Creek falls

View from the lowest viewing platform

Other side of the creek

I have to say it looked nothing like the photos I have seen but I think they were from creek level, which the average person can't get down too.
Of course there were lots of people taking selfies. So I thought I would give it a shot. (Don't know why I bother!)

Best Selfie attempt

The original plan was to do a few walks in the area but my legs hurt too much and the weather was not good, with frequent and heavy showers in between sun. However I did find a short 0.25 mi trail to Elakala falls and had the place to myself. Sadly the bridge goes across the top of the falls and there isn't really a good place to view it. Still it was nice to sit and relax, listening to the water.

From the bridge above Elakala falls

water

I did hike a bit around the trail and found an ok view. But the ground was soaked and it looked like they have had a lot of the woodland falling into the creek so I didn't want to go near enough to the edge to get a better photo.

Best view of Elakala falls (without risking death)

After the hike, I ended up at the park lodge, which was empty, for lunch before starting the drive back.

Last view in the park

After about an hour, I decided to break up the drive and as I was only likely to be out here this once, go to the Green Bank National Radio Observatory. Thankfully it wasn't too far out of the way. And stayed open late. They had a small display section which I wondered around until the tour started.

In Infra-red

Heat hand print

Radnom galaxy art

I wish all mirrors made me look like this!

 The tour consisted of a video and short talk. There were a couple of others which was good as I didn't have any questions to ask. Then we went to see the telescopes. They have about 8. You can only take photos outside the limits, but the bus did drive around all the telescopes. They were a lot bigger than I expected (given that it is West Virginia).

The main Green Bank Telescope

After finding my lost car keys (one of those days) and getting a very large coffee, I headed home. At this point, the GPS/SatNav decided it wanted me dead.
I couldn't convince it to take me on the interstate (a fact I only realized when I had no clue where exactly I was so at its mercy). Instead it was small country roads all the way. Which was fine. Until the County Highway. I was happy to hear the name, until I saw the road. It might have been a highway in the 1800s but little had changed since then. Think: gravel and mud road (using the name road loosely), 180 degree bends often up or down hill on 45 degree slopes, random cabins with a LOT of "no trespassing" and "Mind the guard dog" signs (I am guessing more than a few meth labs). Oh, and the occasional torrential downpour, making the road even more fun to drive. My back end slide out a few times trying to get up a 180 degree uphill bend. I would have taken photos but I was to busy trying to stay on the road.

So I was a little tense by the time I got home at 8pm. But I lived. And I did say I wanted some adventure. But it might be time to wipe the GPS and start again. (I threatened it which such and it didn't listen so I may have to follow through with the threat.)

Over the 36 hours I was away, I drove over 400 miles. Quite impressive I think for my last Virginia?US road trip! (At least for a while.) :-)

Driving police cars!

This week on Monday for the police academy, we were doing vehicle operations, i.e. deriving police cars as fast as we could around an obstacle course. :)
We went out to the local airport to do the course which was a sharp 'S' followed by a 'light bulb' (like a painted on roundabout for the British readers) and then back through the 'S'.
First we went through the a cop driving slowly, and then at high speed with them driving. I was sitting in the back. There is not a lot of room there; I now have some impressive bruises on my knees. :(
Then it was our turn. First time was low speed to get used to the course.

Checking things out

 Then all bets were off. It was as fast as you wanted and with lights going.

Caning it.

 The final time was the same but with the sirens. That was a serious adrenaline rush!

All out.

I waited until most people had been so no one was really watching just in case I took out a whole heap of cones. However this meant it had the added problem of it then being dark. Still it was great fun and I would happily have gone through a few more times. I might not have gone as fast as some of the others (though I think only by a second or two) but I didn't hit a single cone! SO I might not get there as fast but everyone will be in one piece. 

Most people hit the cones on the roundabout but I have driven in Gornal, Dudley. That was not a tight turn!

Night driving

Then a couple of the police went, competing. Obviously much quicker than us! And Tony Haga, who loves his driving, did the course in reverse. In the dark.

After picking up the cones, we got the mobile command unit (a huge RV) back to the VT police department. Which has no seatbeats, which was interesting. (Until someone sitting on a rolling chair rolled per my toes when we went around a bend. Then I was not so impressed.)

Night scope in the mobile command centre.

Blue Ridge Parkway

On Friday I hired a car for the weekend. After a somewhat epic grocery shopping trip (they had my favorite wine on sale 1/2 price - what's a girl to do?), I headed to Staunton along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It takes a lot longer this route as the speed limit is ~45mph but the view is worth it.

Unfortunately the weather wash;t great for the first half of the trip. But the views were still pretty. 

Cloud hidden mountain

View

It seems like summer is definitely over now. Some of the trees have already turned.

Fall colors.

Still there were some flowers out to remind me of summer.

Daisies. 

I stopped at a few of the overlooks. Some were more like lay-bys - the view was just the woods. Others had little walks to get to the view. I decided to go on the one which was a 6min round trip. My kind of hike!

Waltz through the woods.

For my little walk.

The sun eventually came out and made the views a lot prettier.

Sunny!

My favorite was at thunder ridge. For the most part, thanks to being a Friday I had the parkway to myself. Thunder Ridge was a few mins from the road and the view was amazing. And it was so quiet! It has been a long time since I have heard that kind of silent. Just an occasional bird and acorn falling off a tree. It was rely peaceful just watching the view.

On top of the world

Across Virginia.

There was this great viewing platform that jutted out of the hill to give a better view. Maybe it's because I have been reading the Narnia books, but it felt like there should a throne or something up there.

A view to rule a kingdom!

I could have sat up there all day but I left after about half a hour. Partly because some other people showed up (and I was feeling anti-social - it was a view best appreciated in silence I thought; they did not), and partly because I had forgotten to pack bug spray. And the bugs were loving me. Thankfully no bites but I think I eat a few flies. Yuck. Also I did have to get moving.

My next stop was crossing the James River. It was beautiful! I am hoping to go kayaking down it in a few weeks when the rest of the leaves have turned. Fingers crossed.

James River

James River

The Blue Ridge Parkway ends just as the Shenandoah begins but I took the road west to Staunton to crash for the night. I had packed some goodies in a cool bag for the evening (to save money) so chilled out in my hotel room with one of my favorite wines (seriously R collection wine is amazing!), cheeses, cured meats and crackers. Oh and anchovies. (I like them!) With all that and catching up on Sons of Anarchy, it was a very good night. :-)

Dinner!

Monterey + Big Sur return trip

On the way back to LA on Sunday morning, we stopped in Monterey to have brunch with Rachel's cousin and her husband. The sea front at Monterey is quite touristy but lots of fun. We walked down to the front, sampling the clam chowder from every restaurant along the way to decide which was the best.

To the sea front

Parrot display

Monterey Bay

 The marina was very pretty (and finally the weather started to clear a bit).

Sea Lion pile

Poser!

Shark imitation competition

 Lunch was very nice on the harbor front.
After lunch we started the drive back. It is ~400 miles from San Francisco to LA and Sunday we did the whole drive. It took about 10 hrs in total. But it was along the Big Sur again and the weather was a lot better this time. So we stopped at some of the vista points on the way for photos.

Little flowers

The Big Sur 

In the sun

One of the many beaches

 At the base of the Big Sur we stopped at Morro Bay before getting on the Highway.

Morro Bay

 There wasn't a lot there. They had a nice little restaurant on the bay front with a live band and we stopped to try some BBQ oysters which were a lot tastier than I expected.

Live music at the restaurant. 

BBQ oysters

 We had a little walk around to stretch our legs and get an ice-cream.

Confused pigeons.

 The way back took a bit longer than expected mainly due to a fire. I think everyone was stopping in case it was a wild fire. It turned out to just but a gas company burning off some excess we think. Still everyone had to stop and look and delayed us ages!

Fire!

The trip was a very long weekend but worth it! I want to go back to the Big Sur and spend more time there. It's so pretty and wild. I loved it!

The last few days on LA were working and getting everything sorted. I am going to miss the suns and warm. It's raining already back home! :-( But now to start planning the next trip!

San Diego

On Friday night, we drove over to San Diego for part of the weekend. We underestimated the traffic a little, but eventually (after some confusion about toll roads), we got to the Air B&B we were staying at. People rent out their spare rooms and it is a lot cheaper than staying in a hotel. We stayed with Peter, who suggested a great Mexican place to eat at in nearby Little Italy. (I have no idea why it was called Little Italy as I never saw anything Italian. ) 

Enjoying Margaritas

Strawberry margarita

The bathroom of the restaurant was cool. I know it's weird taking a photos of a bathroom ceiling but it had loads of little birds on it.

Bird ceiling

 After food, we headed to meet Peter and some of his friends at a great brewery tasting room and then on to a bar. There aren't many open late in this area so it was pretty busy. We ended up playing doubles pool with a group of guys. (We were getting better and even came close to maybe winning at one point.) And it was fine until a group of suits turned up. They just wouldn't get out of the way and were really annoying, at one point jumping the line to play pool. But  other than them, it was a great night out.

Waterfront bar, playing pool

 We got up a bit later than planned Saturday morning (thanks to a few drinks and late night) and spent some time playing with Peter's cat before heading out for breakfast.

Pretty eyes.

 We got the trolley into town instead of attempting to find parking. It was the Gay Pride parade and a lot of the roads were closed or would be later for the parade. (If we had known about it before it would have been fun but we had things booked.)

San Diego downtown

 We had breakfast at a San Diego only chain, the Broken Yolk. It was very nice and they even had a man v's food challenge (which we didn't even think about trying!).

a LOT of food.

We walked through town and over to the marina to go to the USS Midway. They have a statue of the front of the picture taken as WWII ended. I think they called it unconditional surrender but that could be wrong.

40's glam (and me!)

The USS Midway was commissioned 2 weeks after the end of WWII but has been in every major combat between then and dessert storm except the Korean war.

USS Midway

We got discount ticket online so took the tour. You got a headset and audio tour. We managed to do some of it but hadn't left enough time to get through it all. You could easily spend all day there.

Anchor chains

Checking out the sailors bunk (minus the sailor!)

I would get completely lost. Never ending corridors. 

The Midway is an aircraft carrier. Each squad has their own ready room, which they decorate themselves and their own insignia.

Ready room

My favorite insignia

We then went up onto the carrier deck to see the planes which were really cool.

Folding plane

Shocked plane

 My favorite one was a helicopter you could have a look around inside. It was used to rescue people for the ocean. Even better, it was the helicopter, flown by Chuck Smiley, used to collect the astronauts from Apollos 8, 10, 11, 12 and 13 after their trips to the moon! And occasionally as Marine One!

Looking out.

Just grinning

 The views across San Diego were really cool. (And the sun came out a little as well, after raining earlier - I am singlehandedly ending California's drought!)

View over San Diego

Back in the hangar we were super lucky and privileged to meet a WWII veteran, who landed on Omaha beach. He was a really sweet guy. As soon as he heard I was English, he launched into a story about after the landing, he was wounded 3 times, so was sent to London to a hospital with some buddies. (Their things would follow later.) There was a pub over the road and they were 18. So of course they went over the road and decided to drink all the beer in London (as he put it).

The next morning they were carried back to the hospital, with extreme hangovers. And he had a tattoo on his arm. He was no memory whatsoever of getting it. And he was been back since. And there is no tattoo parlor anywhere near the hospital. And as they hadn't got their things, they had no money. So he has no clue where he got his free tattoo!

Showing off his tattoo!

After the tour, we had booked a harbor cruise on the advice of some friends. I was a little concerned when we were shown down the dock and asked to wait in front of a questionable "boat".

Our cruise boat?

Then a few more came in. Including this one which a brave/crazy sailor seemed to be trying to pull in.

Heave!

But ours pulled in and we got good seats at the front (and coffee!). The narrator was an ex-Marine so he knew a lot about all the boats. I never realized San Diego was such a military town.
The views over the city were nice. It was a shame the weather wasn't better - we ended up going inside after a while. It was just too cold.

San Diego

Some interesting shaped buildings

Rachel sporting her new patriotic sunglasses.

One thing we wanted to see were the seals.

Sunbathing on the buoy 

Nap time

The last thing we wanted to do was go to Ja Jolla and see the sea lions. However we completely managed to miss the beach they should be on - maybe next time - but found another beach anyway to watch the "sunset" i.e, one light on clouds. We aren't having the best of luck with the weather and sunsets.

La Jolla pier

Surfing

Sunset.

We stopped in La Jolla for some food as we were starving. And found a propped up tree on the way back. Which Rachel had to test.

"Hold me up!"

I got a very large coffee (with extra expresso shot) for the drive home. It was all freeways. I am amazed that more people don't killed themselves or other people. But I finally figured out the rules for the freeway. 

- As long as you aren't going to take out the front or rear end of another car, changing lanes is fine. Closer the better. Wy waste space?

- Checking mirrors and blind spots is ok but not really necessary. 

- Driving close is encouraged. In fact if you can see the whites of their eyes,  perfect!

- It is best to be in the outer lane for as long as possible before realizing you need to take the right exit, whereby making the most of the dramatic lane crossing as possible. 

- There are no fast/slow lanes. Do as you like.

- Beware of the slow/right-hand lane - sometimes it will just disappear off to the right while the rest of the freeway continues elsewhere leaving you very confused. 

- And stay left/right could mean anything from the left/right hand lane to any of the possible 5 lanes you can get in.

It was long drive but I have now done LA traffic, 6+ lanes, in the dark. And not died! I felt accomplished and rather brave! (And very tired!)