uninterrupted fortnight in hotels from Vegas to Los Angeles.
In the end we found a cheap hotel in San Diego, an hour's drive from
LA, and booked in for two nights. We decided that sitting on our bed in Harvey
with Chinese take out boxes would just be too sad and 'white trash'.
As it turned out we recreated this scene with the addition of a TV in our
room. The place we stayed in was basic, but clean and its advertising proudly
proclaimed the rooms had been 'remodelled'. What was not clear was when
this had been done, though the décor suggested the 1960s. The location was
good at least as we were able to walk into town and we spent the evening
looking at the Gas Lamp Quarter - the historic part of the town - and visiting a
small old fashioned cinema. We watched the hilarious festive film Elf and this
got us out of a funk that had descended during the last few days.
Partly due to being away for Christmas, this blue mood was also
caused by the fact we had arrived at the halfway point of our time in the
States. More than this the second half of our adventures were less planned
and so having 'done' New York, San Fran; LA; Las Vegas; Death Valley;
Redwoods; Yosemite and the Grand Canyon it felt like we were much further
on than half way. In order to cheer ourselves further we also indulged in an
expensive and calorific sundae from a Ghirardelli café - well we had walked
for an hour into town and had to walk back as well....
We spent New Year's Eve in San Diego’s world famous zoo, which was
featuring a few month old giant panda when we were visiting – Mei Sheng,
one of the few giant pandas that have been born in captivity in the USA. The
weather was sunny and hot, and a holiday spirit was again in evidence. The