Next Stop LA

Friday 31 August 2012 – Next stop LA

Day 141 and 17 days to go

Hard to believe we have been here for a month already. Where has that time gone?

Today’s adventure saw us on the road again with our destination two hours north; Los Angeles.

Once we were up and ready we unhitched from our camping spot and began the drive, stopping first of all for fuel and then onto Balboa Park 15min away. This park is home to the San Diego Zoo and many of their museums and galleries. Paul was able to get us there with little fuss and we were able to park up in the Zoo carpark. We then ventured into the park walking towards whatever took my fancy and eventually stumbling across Casa Del Prado; a large Spanish influenced building that sprawled out across the park. We wandered through the botanical garden and admired the ponds as we strolled down the covered walkways. We stopped at the Globe theatre, then continued to walk through the different gardens admiring the various water features, plants and architecture.

We finished up in the rose and cactus gardens, The roses smelt divine while the cacti looked menacing. We made our way back to the van where I made up rolls to eat for lunch and once they were eaten we were back on the road and heading to LA.

The concrete highways are crap, making the car vibrate and shudder as if driving amongst the traffic isn’t bad enough. At times we were driving with 7 lanes of traffic. It was best to just to pick your lane, keep doing what you’re doing and let the other drivers sort themselves out. If you look left and right you just freak your self out with the amount of spaghetti they call highways winding, wiggling and flying around you. I had sweaty palms and a racing heart and I wasn’t even driving.

At 2.30pm we finally arrived in Pomona, having driven through Orange County and Anaheim. We pulled into the campground, checked in then found our spot and just enjoyed the fact we had stopped.

At 3.30pm we decided to go and check out the area. Turns our Pomona is where the LA county fair is held each year and at 3pm today it opened. YAY. So we found our way to the ticket booth, bought discount entrance tickets for $1 each and then joined the crowds also happy to receive cheap entry.

The fair is a bit like the Royal Show with stalls, animals and rides but it is HUGE. We weren’t sure where to start so we decided to wander the market stalls. There was plenty on offer but after a while you began seeing the same things. We were able to buy two LA Lakers shirts for $10 so that was great.

After getting our fill our of the stalls and saying “we’re Australian” to get the timeshare mob and heavy sellers off our back we wandered out into the thick of the showgrounds. We were passed by a procession of classic cars that were very cool. We navigated the carnival alley with all the usual rides, noises and lights. It was all very exciting.

I was fascinated with the foods on offer; chocolate covered bacon, huge turkey legs, maple bacon donuts, mountains of curly fries and anything you can imagine has been deep fried; snickers bars, peanut butter and jelly rolls, frogs legs, spam and giant ice cream sandwiches. We know why there is an obesity problem here.

We opted for prawns and rice served in half a pineapple and even that came with a tub of oil to dip it in, in case you needed more fat!  We followed this with a drink and then continued our walk entering the Red Barn animal exhibit. As soon as we entered we could smell the animals. Poo!

I dodged the 5 year olds as we all clambered for viewing spots. There were plenty of cute farm animal babies to have us all cooing. Once we escaped we went in search of a corn dog that proved harder to find than we first expected. We did eventually track them down and Paul happily devoured one as we made our way back out the gate and back to the RV camp. It was going to be a long night as the noise from the fair was reverberating loudly through the suburb.

We made ourselves at home in the van. I loaded the photos and then made dinner before we decided to go for a spa to relax and unwind. Ahhh.

When we returned I wrote up the blog and we looked at some of the pictures from the trip.  Many of the places now seem like a whole lifetime ago.  We cranked the Ipod to drown out the concert noise from the fair; The Wanted were playing and there were plenty of teenage girls screaming. Tomorrow they have Carly Rae Jepsen who sings Call Me Maybe playing. 
By 11pm it was time to call it a night.

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