States: 2 Days: 16 Miles: 11,893
The final few days in Hawaii were heavily weighted towards the scenic. The second part of the Road to Hana was a windy road around the coastline interspersed with views of rolling hills and the occasional pit-stop for coffee and cake. I don’t actually like cake, but I felt it was the thing to do when you’re at ‘Grandma’s Coffee House’. This second part of the road was much more as I expected, given as the Road to Hana has been variously described as ‘hair raising, with hairpin bends and one-lane roads’, ‘rocky with deep potholes’, and something that ‘under no circumstances should you attempt to drive in the dark’. In reality, the ‘hair raising bends’ were akin to a windy, but well-marked, two-lane British country road and the rocky potholes were pebbled dips in the road. Although I suppose if you are used to tarmacked, wide American highway blocks where all you have to do is drive straight and occasionally turn 90 degrees, I can imagine it is quite a difficult drive.
My final morning on Maui was spent atop Haleakala volcano desperately trying (and failing) to take pictures of the stars at 3am. My failure at astrological photography was mediated later that morning by some incredible sunrise shots over the volcano. Appetite for volcanoes and sunrises sated for another few weeks.
Now it was time to hop on another Mokulele flight to ‘The Big Island’. First impressions were of a black volcanic rock wasteland, as I had landed on the west side of the island, which received very little rain. On the journey to the East, things became a lot more green and tropical. The reason I added the Big Island to my Hawaii-hopping adventures was to see the red lava flows from the most active volcano in the world. I’d even booked a helicopter tour to experience it from all sides. On arrival to the Big Island, I immediately checked the National Parks website, eagerly anticipating what my trip had in store for me… “There is no red lava to be seen anywhere in the park”. Unfortunately, my timing was not good. Despite being the most active volcano in the world for the past 40 years, the recent eruption had expanded the island by 700 acres, changed the shape of the coastline, destroyed homes, stranded communities… and left no lava for me to see from the air or any other vantage point. Nevertheless, stunning views were to be had from all angles. Just not of red lava.
Aside (4): More things I have learned:
Roads are much better than people think they are. This makes me feel better about the next 12 months of driving!
Growler refills are not as fun as they sound.
Asking for a clothes horse will be met with a blank stare.
A Milky-Way is a Mars Bar and a Whatchamacallit is yummy delicious!
A Hotstopper is an implement to stop your coffee from spilling from the sip-hole (I’m still not sure that this is a problem that needed a solution).
It is illegal to use “The Star Spangled Banner” as dance music in Massachusetts. OK, that one was from a Snapple cap, but it still counts.
From Hawaii, I flew to Los Angeles to start Part 2 of the journey: the mainland route from Los Angeles, anti-clockwise through to Washington, where I fly to Alaska next August. In my planning stages, I had it in my head that LA was a massive city and therefore there must be so much to see and do. I had planned to visit Venice Beach, Santa Monica Pier, the Walk of Fame, the Hollywood sign and Candy Cane Lane (thanks to a Christmas episode of New Girl!). What I had not planned on, is that you could probably do all of my planned activities in a day or two. I had four. Which actually has worked out well, as thanks to the hospitality of family friends in Playa del Rey, I have had a base to stay (with a washing machine!) and have taken full advantage to repack, wash clothes, plan next steps, and buy camping gear and supplies for the days ahead. I also went to Venice Beach, Santa Monica Pier, the Walk of Fame, the Hollywood sign and Candy Cane Lane.
LA is a place where the names and places are burned into our consciousness from film and TV and I don’t know about everyone else, but I had imagined something spectacular (or at least interesting) at each of the famous locations: Beverley Hills, Sunset Boulevard, Bel Air… But they are just streets and housing communities. Even the Hollywood sign is a remnant of an advertising campaign for a new housing development: Hollywoodland. Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier are nice – a good walk, but it’s just a beach and a pier (with a fairground on it). The Walk of Fame was fun, if only for the hustle-and-bustle of people selling tours of the stars’ houses, hawking their latest single, or trying to charity-mug the tourists (yes, I got charity-mugged by Spiderman and Deadpool). The Hollywood sign was clearly a must-do, but after an hour of walking up a fairly steep hill to get a photo in front of the sign, I decided it wasn’t worth my while to carry on for another hour to get the view from behind it. Perhaps if it was a sunny day, or if it was evening and I could see the lights. But neither.
There have, however, been some really lovely moments during my LA tourism. One was Candy Cane Lane, which was a beautiful, family-fun-friendly street where all the neighbours try to out-do each other each year with their Christmas decorations. It was lovely to see and lived up to all expectations. Another was learning how to fold my own chop-stick rest from the paper chopstick packet. Seriously. I was very impressed.
So now I am leaving LA and also leaving the planned section of my trip. Until today, I have had flights booked, morning and afternoon activities, and reserved places to stay. From today, all that it says on my spreadsheet is ‘Joshua Tree’, ‘Mojave Preserve’, ‘Las Vegas’. I don’t know exactly where I’ll be staying, and I don’t know for how long. But I have a car packed with camping gear, food for at least a week, and a 15-hour Spotify playlist. What could possibly go wrong?
P.S. Please contribute songs to my Spotify playlist – I will be driving for 18 days in total over the next year, so will need more music!