West Coast Epic

by Maxine Bates

On 30 April 1996 my friend (and fellow Travel SIG member') Helen and I flew into Los Angeles to begin a 20 day backpacking tour of west coast America. We travelled around using Amtrak and had planned an itinerary beforehand to ensure we saw and did as much as possible during our 'vacation'. No lazing around on beaches for us!! On arrival we caught bus 220 to downtown Hollywood - a fact that amazed both our penpals as they never dream of using public transport! The journey took the somewhat scenic route via Marina Del Rey and Culver City, but as we were the only passengers for most of the time the friendly driver gave us a running commentary! We finally arrived at the Hollywood Palm Hotel, but, starting as we meant to go on, freshened up and went out to dine in the rooftop revolving restaurant at the Holiday Inn - despite it being 6.00 am by our time!

Our hotel was situated close to Universal Studios, Hollywood Bowl, Mann's Chinese Theater and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, so we visited all these places as well as taking a tour around Beverly Hills to see how the other half live. Highlights at Universal were the Back To The Future and E.T. rides and, of course, the backstage tram tour. I don't want to spoil the surprise for anyone planning a visit to Universal, but just pay attention at the end of the E.T. ride! The shows were excellent too, but you need to plan your day if you intend seeing everything.

We had to pay two visits to Mann's Chinese Theater, since the handprints in the concrete were covered by red carpet the first time for the film premiere of Great White Hype. If we'd waited we may have caught a glimpse of Jeff Goldblum, but we had a dinner date with Helen's penpal. We ate at 'Dive' - Steven Spielberg's new restaurant in the shape of a submarine - followed by a spot of window shopping along Rodeo Drive. We even got to pose for a photo where Julia Roberts and Richard Gere filmed Pretty Woman in the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel!! Unfortunately there was no time to take up the offer of free tickets to see American sitcoms being filmed at one of several Hollywood studios, but anyone interested can obtain them from outside Mann's Chinese Theater.

Day 3 found us moving on to Anaheim to visit Disneyland. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Buena Park, which provided a free shuttle bus to Disneyland, though the hotel was actually nearer to Knott's Berry Farm and Medieval Times. We caught the first bus in at 9.00 am and the last one out at 10.00 pm meaning we had time to try just about every ride, including the new Indiana Jones ride twice - it was excellent! And we had our photos taken with Mickey Mouse and Goofy!! The electric light parade at night was as spectacular as ever, but you'll have to hurry if you want to see it for yourself as this is the last season. Apparently it is to be replaced by something better - the mind boggles! We missed our train out of Anaheim by about 30 seconds - thanks to a taxi driver who didn't know where the station was! We had to wait two hours for the next train, so decided to look around the baseball stadium near the station - home of the California Angels. Unfortunately we missed the guided tour by five minutes!

Despite arriving in San Diego later than planned, we found a Best Western Hotel one block away from the station, booked the last room, dumped our rucksacks and were soon on the trolley to Mexico for the grand sum of $1.75!! Tijuana is not typically Mexican, but we wanted to experience another country and had time to visit the Cultural Center before it began getting dark and looking seedy. Back in San Diego we spent the evening shopping in Horton Plaza and eating in 'Planet Hollywood'. Is there any American city without one of these restaurants!?

The next day we went to the famous Sea World, where we foolishly sat in the soak zone for the Shamu killer whale show. We realised we may get splashed, but drenched would be an understatement! Imagine someone throwing a bathtub of salt water over you and you get the picture! We dashed around drying off and looking at the penguins, dolphins, otters (rescued from the Exxon Valdez oil spill), turtles, etc. Again, you need to plan your time to see all the shows. We also managed a harbour cruise past San Diego's naval base, marina and the Coronado Bridge before leaving to take a train back to L.A.

We had an hour or so between arriving in L.A. and leaving on our first overnight train to Phoenix, so we walked to Olvera Street (the oldest street in the city) to watch the 'Cinco de mayo' celebrations, where Mexicans were enjoying themselves on the ferris wheel, singing, dancing and eating tacos. Sleeping on the train was nowhere near as bad as we'd expected and we were very impressed with Amtrak staff, who woke us in the morning by telling jokes over the intercom! Not at all like British Rail!! Because we were travelling off-peak there was no need to reserve a sleeping car since there was usually room to stretch out anyway.

In Phoenix we discovered that most tourist attractions are closed on Mondays. Guess what day we were there? Yes, Monday!! Even the shopping malls were deserted, but maybe the locals just found the 100 F temperatures as tiring as us! We did manage to catch the free shuttle to the State Capital Museum, where we learnt about Arizona past and present, including a display on the USS Arizona, which now lies under Pearl Harbour. By 3.00 pm we were glad to board the air-conditioned Amtrak bus (all included in the price of our Far West Rail Pass) to take us to Flagstaff for an overnight stay at the Days Inn on famous Route 66.

Early next morning, we travelled the 80 or so miles to Grand Canyon and were surprised to find that the Quality Inn we had booked was right next to the IMAX theatre, close to the airport and on the shuttle route into the National Park. Since we were only staying one night, we were not able to book accommodation actually within the Park. We dumped our bags and with perfect timing got straight on a shuttle bus! Helen and I decided to take the four hour Desert View Tour around the West Rim. Well worth it for the indescribable views, though we took far too many photos!

Returning late afternoon it was cooler, so we hiked the Bright Angel Trail. Well, that is a slight exaggeration. The trail leads to Phantom Lodge at the bottom of the canyon and takes nine hours to reach. We descended about 1/2 mile, took one look at the red-faced huffing and puffing people hiking back up and turned round!! In the evening we watched the IMAX film and tried to clean our very dusty hiking boots! Next day we booked a plane flight over the canyon. Though turbulent, it was an amazing experience presenting yet more photo opportunities!

Then it was another overnight train back to L.A. from where it was easy to catch the Metro to Long Beach and our accommodation for that night - the Queen Mary floating hotel. We toured the ship from bow to stem and from engine room to sundeck - very interesting! We decided against doing a 'mega bungee' on the quayside and instead opted to take the ferry to Catalina Island, which lies approx. 26 miles off the Californian coast. The island is very quaint and not at all American. We had a leisurely time walking along the beach, sitting on Green Pier, strolling around the shops and eating at a lovely restaurant overlooking the harbour. The main form of transport around the town of Avalon are golf carts, though you can take numerous coach excursions inland to the Wrigley Botanical Gardens (as of chewing gum fame!) or out to sea on a glass bottom boat. Back on the Queen Mary we donned our 'posh' clothes and sipped cocktails under the stars in the Observation Bar.

Unfortunately we had to leave early the following morning to catch the Greyhound bus to Las Vegas. That train route only ran every other day - and not Friday the day we wanted! We managed to sleep most of the way in preparation for a night out in the casinos and, besides, there was not much in the way of scenery. It was easy finding accommodation in Las Vegas - after all there are so many rooms! We stayed at Circus Circus right on The Strip and it only cost about $20 each per night. The hotel is so big we had to catch a shuttle from reception to our room!!

Feeling energetic, we thought we'd walk to the end of The Strip and look in all the major casinos, but forgot it is about three miles each way! Our feet were aching by the time we returned, but we did manage to see Siegfried & Roy's white tigers in The Mirage, travel on the moving walkway into Caesar's Palace, step back to medieval times in Excalibur, walk through the pyramids to the Luxor casino, watch the Buccaneer Bay show at Treasure Island - and all without leaving town!!

Whilst in Las Vegas we took a tour to Hoover Dam, the cactus gardens and Ethel M's chocolate factory. Be sure to check for tour discount vouchers in your hotel room! We could have bought front row seats to see Barry Manilow, but at $70 each quickly changed our minds! And as Tears For Fears were sold out at The Hard Rock Cafe we went to see Legends In Concert at the Imperial Casino instead. The show was like a glorified Stars In Their Eyes, but quite good and we got to meet 'Elvis' afterwards! About 1.00 am (well, Las Vegas is a 24 hour town!) we decided to go downtown to see the Fremont Street Experience and $1,000,000 in cash on display. Then it was back to Circus Circus for a 4.00 am snack, despite stuffing our faces at the $4.99 'all you can eat buffet' earlier on!!

Before leaving Las Vegas we just had to go up the recently opened Stratosphere Tower. At 1,149 ft and over 100 storeys it is higher than the Eiffel Tower. Not only that, but it has the world's highest roller coaster at the top - only in Las Vegas! The lift to the top costs $7, but is well worth it for the aerial view of The Strip. Las Vegas is a crazy place - and constantly changing (the New York New York Hotel/Casino is currently under construction and due to open in December 1996) and you don't have to gamble to enjoy the free shows and attractions.

In total contrast to Las Vegas, our next stop was Salt Lake City. We arrived at 3.00am and left at 1.00am the next morning, so had chance to see almost everything! The best part was that the Mormons are not short of money, so nearly all the attractions are free! We did cultural things like tracing our family tree and watching a film on the pioneer Mormons in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, listening to an organ recital in the Tabernacle Choir building and exploring the Visitor's Center in Temple Square. I would recommend the two block self-guided walk encompassing all the major attractions, a map of which is available from the tourist information office or railway station. Neither Helen nor I are religious, but Salt Lake City was a pleasant experience and the locals were so incredibly polite and friendly! In the evening, we visited the planetarium for a laser show.

After our final overnight journey we arrived in Reno, where my penpal was waiting to greet us. During our two day stay she took us to Virginia City, which is a wild west town where we saw Mark Twain's residence, toured the Ponderosa mine and went in the 'Bucket Of Blood' saloon. We also drove to Lake Tahoe on the California/Nevada border, where we took a lunch cruise aboard the MS Dixie paddle steamer whilst admiring the snow capped mountains. A shock after the 107F heat wave in Las Vegas! Evenings in Reno were spent eating, drinking cocktails and gambling (only 5c slot machines!) in the casinos and, of course, we saw the famous Virginia Street arch proclaiming Reno to be 'the biggest little city in the world'.

We were supposed to travel by train from Reno to San Francisco, but the rain (we were told the region had just suffered a six year drought!) had flooded the track. So, we went by bus halfway to Sacramento and finished the journey by train - arriving two hours early! We found a room at a lovely Victorian hotel practically on Fisherman's Wharf - the San Remo Hotel at 2237 Mason Street. It pays to read Fodor's Guide before setting off. Since it was still afternoon we managed to see Lombard Street (the crookedest Street in the world), Chinatown and the noisy sea lions at Pier 39 and unknowingly walk up Hyde Street - the steepest in the city!

The following day we decided to walk to the Golden Gate Bridge - it didn't look too far, but was miles! The bridge itself spans two miles, so we just walked halfway across, especially as it was really windy up there. On our way back we stopped in Ghiradelli Square to gain some energy from delicious chocolate sodas! Ghiradelli is a famous American chocolate company.

We also splashed around in the fountain in Levi Plaza (where jeans were 'invented' during the gold rush) from where we walked the 382 steps (guess who was counting?) up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower for fantastic views of the city and bay. The 210 ft tower was funded by Lillie Coit and is designed in the shape of a fire hose nozzle in her admiration for the firefighters who risked their lives during the 1906 earthquake.

Our last evening had arrived, but we were lucky enough to get tickets for Phantom Of The Opera. Though we arrived at the theatre looking very wet when we discovered taxis don't always turn up when it rains and we had to catch the cable car at the last minute! On our last day we visited the free Cable Car Museum and caught the ferry to Alcatraz. A word of warning: Be sure to buy ferry tickets well in advance if you intend visiting the island.

You can also pre-book the self-guided audio tour narrated by former prisoners and warders. Stepping into solitary confinement is an experience not to be missed! The airport shuttle was almost as unreliable as the taxi and we began to think we would miss our flight home but, of course, we didn't. Have a nice day.

First published in VISA issues 22-23 (autumn-winter 1996)