My friends, family and work colleagues (especially my long-time former PA, the saintly Claire) will tell you that they are extremely lucky that I do not have moods. But if I did, then this morning’s would not have been one of the best. I woke early (which is good) realising that I was in this grotty…
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Beep beep, beep beep, yes! Or no?
I was out in Joshua Tree National Park at 615am this morning – before the desert got hot. My hope was to come across a Road Runner although my hopes weren’t that high as the official National Park Service website suggests there may not be very many of them in Joshua Tree. This seemed to jar with…
No ‘Beep beep’ but better luck with wrens
I neglected to say yesterday, so I’d better get it in quick now, that yesterday’s soundtrack was The Eagles, and Hotel California was playing as I crossed the State line. Today I played another CD for the first time and it was, of course, the Beach Boys. I did some coastal mooching and then headed…
Flagstaff to the Ocean
I’m writing this with the sound of the Pacific waves near Carlsbad, California in my ears. I could live in Flagstaff it’s the most agreeable American town I’ve met. It provided me with breakfast in the Grand Canyon Diner, whose waitress was a bit slow, and whose booths seemed full of English people – me and…
Flagstaff
I drove into Flagstaff on a fragment of the ‘historic’ Route 66, which I last touched near its other end south of Chicago many days ago, hoping it would be nice as my ‘Rough Guide’ says it is – and it is. I’ve spent very little time in towns you would have heard of since New York and it’s…
Condors again
I woke later than usual and strolled down to the Navajo Bridge to see what time California Condors get up. #54 was still sitting on his or her metal girder and his or her companion resolved himself or herself to be #73. They looked quite perky together but the world was still ignoring them so…
Marble Canyon
Marble Canyon, Arizona is not much to look at – but it is great to look from. I arrived at the Chevron gas station and went inside to pay in advance – the permutations of paying for gas in the US are seemingly endless – and listened to John telling two young drivers that in this…
Hummers
Hummers are gas-guzzlers to most Americans – but they are hummingbirds to some. Hummingbirds seem exotic to the UK birder because we have nothing really like them – and because they really are exotic. My first hummingbird ever was about 30 years ago when I was sitting on a log in Ontario, looking at a…
Mom’s place
I didn’t know much about Utah before I started driving through it and I’m not an expert now. Brigham Young and Donny Osmond came to mind but I have tried to blank out both. Before I left the UK I met the Independent’s Travel Editor Simon Calder in a TV studio and his advice on my trip…
Yellowstone
Yellowstone National Park is an amazing place – it really is. People have written books about it and I can only scratch the surface in this blog. Here are just a few thoughts to be going on with; – visit yourself if you can – in the very early days two tourists were killed by…