California
to Southern Arizona - Page 1 |
In February 1992 Jens participated in a one week symposium on glutamate in medicinal
chemistry held in magnificent surroundings just south of the Mariposa entrance to the
Yosemite National Park. In a rented car and accompanied by a colleague from his company
the drive from San Francisco to Yosemite gave the opportunity to see some of the wonderful
animal life and breathtaking natural wonders of this National Park and a closer contact to
the American way of living. A travel exhibition in Copenhagen during the winter with
special focus on USA travels further inspired us to the decision to spend four weeks the
following summer in the great Southwest of the USA. Tickets were bought for a flight via
London to Los Angeles with British Airways. We also made reservation for the first night
at the Marriott Airport hotel in Los Angeles and for KOA cabins in Flagstaff and
Yellowstone. All other accommodation were left open which gave us much welcomed freedom to
make changes to a planned tour. Furthermore our Danish tour operator, Difborg, made
reservations for a Hertz rental car, a Ford Tempo.
| In Denmark we had made arrangements with
Anna's brother and his family from Slovakia that they would look after our house and our
best friends Picasso (dog) and Brutus (cat) so we felt very comfortable when all three of
us left Jęgerspris in the morning. The flight was timed perfectly and we arrived late in
the afternoon in Los Angeles and got the keys to our rental car. We were were excited to
start our tour so despite the fact that we had not slept for more than 20 hours our first
sleep during the night was unstable. The Marriott hotel was perfect though not at a very
exciting location just outside the airport.The picture shows the view from our room. The
following morning we decided to leave early. As we had planned that Tucson in Arizona
should be our next destination for the following days, we had quite a long drive. Probably
about 800 miles. From the airport we went north just to get a glimpse of the Hollywood
area but soon |
Marriott airport hotel, Los Angeles
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| we turned east following the Interstate 10 which would
lead us all the way across California to Arizona. At lunch time we reached Palm Springs.
We had read about this famous holiday resort for rich celebrities but the town was quite
deserted when we arrived, probably high season is later in the year when it gets cooler.
When we got out of our air-conditioned car we really felt the desert heat, well above 100
degree F. Some restaurants attempted to cool the air ---- Quite an impressive look.
The mountains rising above the roofs to the south stands out in very clear and beautiful
shapes as they are almost without vegetation on the dry north slopes. We went to a Mexican
restaurant in the center of the town. We had a very spicy chicken dish. Very delicious
except Michael did not agree. It was an agreeable relaxing atmosphere in Palm Springs so
we have returned on many later trips to California. We continued due east on Interstate
10. |
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LEFT :
Restaurant in Palm Springs with fancy cooling (large photo). RIGHT : Main street in Palm Spring with view to desert mountains
(large
photo). |
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At Blythe we passed the border to Arizona crossing the Colorado River. To our surprise :
yes there was a real border posted mainly for fruit control as it is prohibited to bring
fresh fruits into California. They evidently try to limit the spreading of fruit pests. |
Border signpost - Arizona/California
(large photo)
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On the picture you see the
first official Arizona welcome signpost in a very deserted landscape. These surroundings
gave inspiration to some country music. So we went into a gasoline station and bought a
couple of cassettes. When we reached Tucson we had learned all the songs and sang along.
These tapes followed us on all later trips to America as well as tapes we have bought on
later |
| tours. A few miles from Blythe
we saw the first Saguaro Cactus which are unique to the Sonoran Desert. This was quite an
impressive sight compared to the small cacti we have grown inside in our windows in
Denmark (though now we have learned to grow them in our Spanish garden). Later on these
cacti and other types became numerous. It is quite curious that these giant cacti are only
seen in Arizona. West of Phoenix we have chosen highway 85 southwards to Interstate 8.
This was quite a relaxing drive through beautiful mountainous deserts. South of Casa
Grande we met our first desert storm ever. The rain began pouring down and the sky became
dark as in the night. For a short while we had to pull aside |
Lonely cactus at Arizona border
(large photo)
|
| as the visibility on the road
became too bad. Fortunately we were close to Tucson and north of the |
Motel 6 in Tucson north
(large photo)
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city
we found a nice Motel 6 with a very reasonable price as you see on the left picture. The
following day we went for a tour around Tucson. In the morning we went northwest to the
Saguaro National Monument. It was very hot when we climbed up the mountain to the visitor
center among giant saguaro cacti and other desert plants. We were quite impressed by these
huge plants and took a lot of photos where you can get an |
Saguaro cactus
(large photo)
|
| impression
of the heights of the giants. They can grow as high as 50 feet. Around lunch time we
went to down-town Tucson to get some lunch. However, as it was Sunday the center was
totally deserted. After a couple of sandwiches we wanted to find the Eastern Saguaro
National Park. We took a wrong road and ended up in the Eastern mountains on gravel roads.
This was a very picturesque countryside with very relaxing views toTucson. |
Rattle snake
|
At one pull out
from the road we were lucky to spot a small rattle snake who was relaxing in the sand and
enjoying the warmth from the sun. As you see we were lucky to approach close enough
for a photo. We followed the dirt road to the north crossing a lot of cattle guards on the
road and quite a number of uncomfortable dips to drain water away during thunderstorms.
Finally we ended up at Biosphere 2, which is a closed |
Anna and Michael among impressive cacti outside Tucson (large photo).
|
| experimentarium
where people was living in a closed eco-system for a 2 years experiment. We decided to
return the next day when we would be heading north to get a closer impression of this
interesting experiment. The 3 acres glassed dome consists of several sections (from
tropical rain forest to deserts and ocean shore and including fields with rice and corn
and gardening with |
Part of the impressive glass dome :
Biosphere 2.
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banana palms) and is completely
sealed off from our Biosphere 1. For the entrance fee of about 15 $ you are allowed to
follow a path all the way around the complex, where we could watch the inhabitants doing
daily work duties. We have read later on that the experiment was not completely sealed as
the bionauts were allowed outside for medical treatment. Artificial supplies were also
allowed inside during the experiment. The place is fully privately funded and thus
unfortunately does not function as a prototype center for future space stations. |
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