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EAST MEETS WEST Part 2 (September 09, 2007)
Lazy days of summer in the small town near Warsaw with mandatory "after dinner rest" and cousin Michal reading "Lemonade Joe." Joe was a character in a popular book based on a Czech film from 1964. It was a parody of western movies. He drinks "kolaloka," and cleans the town out of whiskey-drinking cowboys.
What a role model…
It was at that time for us to play the role of great explorers almost like Lewis & Clark, and we pretty much traveled across the States, and sometimes all in one day. I (an artist) was in charge of legal issues like passports as it required drawings of our likeness …and we thought that we needed passports to cross from one state to another. Michal (creator and technician) set up our RV. It was actually a group of small blankets neatly lined up on a grass on the "polana" with a cab and each blanket representing different room. To get from one room to another we moved as if there were some invisible walls.
Grandma's dog, Ajax, did not understand the rules at all and often walked through the walls, laying down halfway in and halfway out.
We used old wooden apple crate as our seats. Grandma set up a rule that we had to take our RV in before the rain.
Cousin Michal was "Mike," and I was Jackie. My idol was …Jackie Kennedy whose style I knew (and adored) from copies of old French Paris Match magazines. My grandma got those from her sister who lived in France, and at that time there were lots of pics from Jackie's wedding to tycoon Ari Onassis.
We traveled each day, fulfilling our dream, while... not moving at all.
In 2007, it took my family three days to make it to New Mexico.
Although we did not need passports, there were two checkpoints, one at Hoover Dam and another when we entered California. An officer from the California Department of Agriculture asked if we had any fruit plants, cherries or live animals. Our daughter's cat stayed in Boston and was going
to be shipped later. Would they take away Frosti if he were with us? He could just play dead. Would he be allowed to fulfill his lifetime dream of becoming a Californian cat? We will never know.
On the sixth day of our trip, we drove from Prescott, a rodeo town in Arizona to Peach Springs (last town before the canyon), on the edge of the Hualapai Indian Reservation. Hualapai people traditionally inhabited an area of … 5 million acres. It stretched from the canyon southward, all the way to the "pine forest of the San Francisco peaks." The area was rocky with Joshua trees scattered all around. Our Honda's rusty orange complimented the color of the sun burnt terrain.
There were times that we drove alongside the endless line of train with every car marked CHINA SHIPPING, the biggest container vessel from…Shanghai. It was one of two sights that I did not appreciate during our trip. The other one was the sight of the Exxon sign all throughout every state. Sometimes in the least expected places.
It was one long dusty road after another with only cattle resting at water towers. They seemed to be there from the very first day of their lives, breathing fresh, untainted air, roaming the steppe…till the very last day, the trip to the meat processing plant day. How different their life is compared to animals squeezed tightly at factory farms and fed hormones. If I have to come back as a cow, I want to return as Angus, 1 st Quality! Before I became Certified Angus Beef, I'll spend my lazy days in the Arizona prairie.
We paused at another "shortcut," which was unpaved surface for the next… 60 miles.
Thanks for the warning.
Of course we turned around.
The afternoon sun reflected in our car's windows.
It was the last intersection, and we were heading straight into one of the seven natural wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon.
The only other route had a sign " unpaved surface for the next 20 miles."
Soon we discovered what it meant. The road was long, bumpy and unbelievable dusty. And we were on it…completely alone. Where was all the traffic? We passed one of those Chinese buses that ship spectators from Vegas. They got flat tire.
And again, nothing for miles. Our tiny Honda jumped on every bump, our teeth grinded, and Karolina was close to tears as her father stubbornly steered her new Honda toward the canyon. At this point there was no turning back. Turning back meant losing another day which we could not afford since we booked the flight back for July 4 th. It also meant looking for a hotel etc.. That could be a problem, this is a brand new site, and we are on an Indian reservation. So we kept on driving. When we passed a… Porsche, we knew we could make it all the way. We noticed that driving faster caused less turbulence; we just had to avoid the boulders.
After 20 miles of this roller coaster, we arrived at the place where buses and helicopters take off. The parking lot was spotted with oil leaks from the other vehicles.
At the ticket booth, silly me, I thought that I will just buy a ticket for $25 and jump on the Skywalk. No sir, first you buy a package that enables you to get a bus ride. The cheapest package is $50 but does not include the skywalk!
For that you pay $75 altogether! Included is the shuttle to two sites (Eagle Point and Guano Point), a meal, a photo opportunity with a Native American and a souvenir at the gift shop, which turned out to be a "certificate" proving your visit.
The bus driver was fun but also a maniac, he displayed his sense of humor by driving on the edge of the canyon facing the passengers and telling jokes at the same time. If you ask if walking on the glass with 4,000 feet of abyss below was scary, I'll say no, but that bus ride was!
The skywalk itself is a glass bridge shaped like a horseshoe, hanging over the canyon, and overlooking the majestic Colorado River. To get to it, you need to leave you camera behind (get your money ready for this photo opportunity!), in the locker that will cost you …4 quarters. That's right…so now make it $76 all together per person plus tax. Then, they make you put those funny shoe covers so you don't scratch the glass floor. And now feeling so much more attractive, you can waltz and spend as much time as you want and enjoy the mesmerizing views. The tiny moving point from your left to the right that is disappearing in the caves is … a helicopter. There is another one and another, every couple of minutes…and all seem to disappear into the mountains. But that's a pleasure strictly reserved for those with time and money.
To give you an idea of how much 4,000 feet is: the Empire State building is 1,250 feet high.
Later we enjoyed quite a nice dinner (choice of chicken or beef BBQ, rice, coleslaw and a brownie) sitting at the table on the edge, overlooking the Colorado River. The sinking red sun created a deep warm glow as a background, turning the peaks of the mountains orange where it shone and the mountains below that were surrounded by shade appeared blue or even purple.
It was simply breathtaking…
If only I could snap my fingers and miraculously move us from this divine place to Vegas without driving those 120 miles that were still ahead of us...
The bus driver proudly showed us the future site of the airport and a fancy hotel that will one day pop up here. An airport? What about some pavement on the roads?
Las Vegas at night… Endless crisscrossed rows of lights, bouncing beats pouring out from the arcades, $99 wedding chapels, (Wladziu -Valentino) Liberace museum, "a drive through chapel", hot girls, cold beer, mud wrestling live or bikini bull riding, and casinos, casinos, casinos, what not to like?
Who needs Venice, Paris, or Rome when Vegas has it all!
There was a casino at every corner but what we really needed was a …car wash.
All right, it does make an impression but why, why, why would anyone build a city in a desert? For the view from the Stratosphere Tower? From 1,149 feet above, it's a nice view of the Strip with
planes landing and taking off. A panoramic view of architectural planned concrete lava.
As if the sight wasn't enough, there are three rides located on the top of the tower for those who need a big boost of adrenaline. They either shoot you in the air (Big Shot Thrill Ride), spin you (Insanity) or plunge you (X Scream), all three are located at 909 ft. Or you can just relax and sip coffee at the tallest Starbucks store in the world.
Vegas food is cheap, and parking is free. Everywhere you go, the old from the 70s mixes with new technologies, and massive screens scream with Sin City's upcoming attractions.
Dingy hotels are being replaced with brand new ones. You can hear the clicking noise of the slot machines coming from the bottom floor of almost every one of them. Take a look at seniors with walkers pushing their tokens in, again, and again. Quite a sight. Hot new clubs attract "in "people in the entertainment business and the young crowds that follow.
The climate is the worst possible. I couldn't breathe, and parking underground gave me an idea of how it feels to be buried alive. There are no greens, no parks, definitely a shortage of palm trees, the sun is the enemy, and you spend as much time as possible indoors.
Now the fun part begins, you drive through the Mojave Desert with …the air conditioning shut off. That's what they advise you to do. And after a short while you see why. Traffic is slow, and every now and then you see a car sitting on the side of the road with the engine steaming …from overheating. You see people trying to avoid the
sun, lying down under makeshift canopies, pulled together from jackets, towels or blankets. Young children among them. Some nice new cars and no towing truck around.
Mojave desert is where old aircraft go to die. Some car engines follow the path…
Our Honda passed the test, and on the seventh day of our trip, we are in CALIFORNIA!
We are heading for the City of Angels, a city where fortune cookie and plastic Frisbee comes from so does Barbie, Bugs Bunny and Minnie Mouse.
Where whitening toothpaste was invented and what else? …a Hula-Hoop!
While driving in L.A, our Honda caught the attention of several people. A black man with a funny hat and a dog wearing a "lampshade" by his side pulled down the window of his old Mercedes station wagon, and asked, "What kind of Honda is that? Do they sell them here?" We fit right in! Between trips to IKEA and Target, setting up furniture in Karolina's new home, and checking out Pasadena's neighborhood, we found time to drive to Santa Monica, walk the Pier and dip our feet into the Pacific Ocean even though it was 9pm. The place was full of life with the Bubba Gump Restaurant and the only solar powered …Ferris wheel in the world.
In nearby Venice beach, a surfing Rabbi makes a splash and offers Kosher Surf Camp.
But my only extravaganza was a grain of rice with my name on it, created accurately by a young man from Mexico, our trip was going to the end and so were our financial resources.
The first resident of Pasadena, our good friend, Marty C. gave us quite a tour of the area and took us for lunch.
Betsy was a no show, but I believe she paid for our lunch so THANK YOU BETSY! Your husband behaved well and we had a wonderful time!
.
In retrospect, when we left Massachusetts we had lots of challenges to face… we were chasing time and tried to see as many sights as possible in the short time to get a glimpse of this great country.
We accomplished all of it, except one, which was the rodeo (I'll never forgive them!!!), so I can say that we definitely won!! And we already collected the prize, which is…the extraordinary experience.
From all my thoughts that came to my mind during the journey, two are worth sharing.
One is this quote from Georgia O'Keefe, a great American artist whose museum we visited in Santa Fe:
"Where I was born and where and how I have lived is unimportant. It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest."
And the other one is: Girls, do not let your fathers pack your shoes or you are going to end up with shoes that not only do not match in color but also in style…
EAST MEETS WEST Part 2 (September 09, 2007)Lazy days of summer in the small town near Warsaw with mandatory "after dinner rest" and cousin Michal reading "Lemonade Joe." Joe was a character in a popular book based on a Czech film from 1964. It was a parody of western movies. He drinks "kolaloka," and cleans the town out of whiskey-drinking cowboys.
What a role model…
It was at that time for us to play the role of great explorers almost like Lewis & Clark, and we pretty much traveled across the States, and sometimes all in one day. I (an artist) was in charge of legal issues like passports as it required drawings of our likeness …and we thought that we needed passports to cross from one state to another. Michal (creator and technician) set up our RV. It was actually a group of small blankets neatly lined up on a grass on the "polana" with a cab and each blanket representing different room. To get from one room to another we moved as if there were some invisible walls.
Grandma's dog, Ajax, did not understand the rules at all and often walked through the walls, laying down halfway in and halfway out.
We used old wooden apple crate as our seats. Grandma set up a rule that we had to take our RV in before the rain.
Cousin Michal was "Mike," and I was Jackie. My idol was …Jackie Kennedy whose style I knew (and adored) from copies of old French Paris Match magazines. My grandma got those from her sister who lived in France, and at that time there were lots of pics from Jackie's wedding to tycoon Ari Onassis.
We traveled each day, fulfilling our dream, while... not moving at all.
In 2007, it took my family three days to make it to New Mexico.
Although we did not need passports, there were two checkpoints, one at Hoover Dam and another when we entered California. An officer from the California Department of Agriculture asked if we had any fruit plants, cherries or live animals. Our daughter's cat stayed in Boston and was going
to be shipped later. Would they take away Frosti if he were with us? He could just play dead. Would he be allowed to fulfill his lifetime dream of becoming a Californian cat? We will never know.
On the sixth day of our trip, we drove from Prescott, a rodeo town in Arizona to Peach Springs (last town before the canyon), on the edge of the Hualapai Indian Reservation. Hualapai people traditionally inhabited an area of … 5 million acres. It stretched from the canyon southward, all the way to the "pine forest of the San Francisco peaks." The area was rocky with Joshua trees scattered all around. Our Honda's rusty orange complimented the color of the sun burnt terrain.
There were times that we drove alongside the endless line of train with every car marked CHINA SHIPPING, the biggest container vessel from…Shanghai. It was one of two sights that I did not appreciate during our trip. The other one was the sight of the Exxon sign all throughout every state. Sometimes in the least expected places.
It was one long dusty road after another with only cattle resting at water towers. They seemed to be there from the very first day of their lives, breathing fresh, untainted air, roaming the steppe…till the very last day, the trip to the meat processing plant day. How different their life is compared to animals squeezed tightly at factory farms and fed hormones. If I have to come back as a cow, I want to return as Angus, 1 st Quality! Before I became Certified Angus Beef, I'll spend my lazy days in the Arizona prairie.
We paused at another "shortcut," which was unpaved surface for the next… 60 miles.
Thanks for the warning.
Of course we turned around.
The afternoon sun reflected in our car's windows.
It was the last intersection, and we were heading straight into one of the seven natural wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon.
The only other route had a sign " unpaved surface for the next 20 miles."
Soon we discovered what it meant. The road was long, bumpy and unbelievable dusty. And we were on it…completely alone. Where was all the traffic? We passed one of those Chinese buses that ship spectators from Vegas. They got flat tire.
And again, nothing for miles. Our tiny Honda jumped on every bump, our teeth grinded, and Karolina was close to tears as her father stubbornly steered her new Honda toward the canyon. At this point there was no turning back. Turning back meant losing another day which we could not afford since we booked the flight back for July 4 th. It also meant looking for a hotel etc.. That could be a problem, this is a brand new site, and we are on an Indian reservation. So we kept on driving. When we passed a… Porsche, we knew we could make it all the way. We noticed that driving faster caused less turbulence; we just had to avoid the boulders.
After 20 miles of this roller coaster, we arrived at the place where buses and helicopters take off. The parking lot was spotted with oil leaks from the other vehicles.
At the ticket booth, silly me, I thought that I will just buy a ticket for $25 and jump on the Skywalk. No sir, first you buy a package that enables you to get a bus ride. The cheapest package is $50 but does not include the skywalk!
For that you pay $75 altogether! Included is the shuttle to two sites (Eagle Point and Guano Point), a meal, a photo opportunity with a Native American and a souvenir at the gift shop, which turned out to be a "certificate" proving your visit.
The bus driver was fun but also a maniac, he displayed his sense of humor by driving on the edge of the canyon facing the passengers and telling jokes at the same time. If you ask if walking on the glass with 4,000 feet of abyss below was scary, I'll say no, but that bus ride was!
The skywalk itself is a glass bridge shaped like a horseshoe, hanging over the canyon, and overlooking the majestic Colorado River. To get to it, you need to leave you camera behind (get your money ready for this photo opportunity!), in the locker that will cost you …4 quarters. That's right…so now make it $76 all together per person plus tax. Then, they make you put those funny shoe covers so you don't scratch the glass floor. And now feeling so much more attractive, you can waltz and spend as much time as you want and enjoy the mesmerizing views. The tiny moving point from your left to the right that is disappearing in the caves is … a helicopter. There is another one and another, every couple of minutes…and all seem to disappear into the mountains. But that's a pleasure strictly reserved for those with time and money.
To give you an idea of how much 4,000 feet is: the Empire State building is 1,250 feet high.
Later we enjoyed quite a nice dinner (choice of chicken or beef BBQ, rice, coleslaw and a brownie) sitting at the table on the edge, overlooking the Colorado River. The sinking red sun created a deep warm glow as a background, turning the peaks of the mountains orange where it shone and the mountains below that were surrounded by shade appeared blue or even purple.
It was simply breathtaking…
If only I could snap my fingers and miraculously move us from this divine place to Vegas without driving those 120 miles that were still ahead of us...
The bus driver proudly showed us the future site of the airport and a fancy hotel that will one day pop up here. An airport? What about some pavement on the roads?
Las Vegas at night… Endless crisscrossed rows of lights, bouncing beats pouring out from the arcades, $99 wedding chapels, (Wladziu -Valentino) Liberace museum, "a drive through chapel", hot girls, cold beer, mud wrestling live or bikini bull riding, and casinos, casinos, casinos, what not to like?
Who needs Venice, Paris, or Rome when Vegas has it all!
There was a casino at every corner but what we really needed was a …car wash.
All right, it does make an impression but why, why, why would anyone build a city in a desert? For the view from the Stratosphere Tower? From 1,149 feet above, it's a nice view of the Strip with
planes landing and taking off. A panoramic view of architectural planned concrete lava.
As if the sight wasn't enough, there are three rides located on the top of the tower for those who need a big boost of adrenaline. They either shoot you in the air (Big Shot Thrill Ride), spin you (Insanity) or plunge you (X Scream), all three are located at 909 ft. Or you can just relax and sip coffee at the tallest Starbucks store in the world.
Vegas food is cheap, and parking is free. Everywhere you go, the old from the 70s mixes with new technologies, and massive screens scream with Sin City's upcoming attractions.
Dingy hotels are being replaced with brand new ones. You can hear the clicking noise of the slot machines coming from the bottom floor of almost every one of them. Take a look at seniors with walkers pushing their tokens in, again, and again. Quite a sight. Hot new clubs attract "in "people in the entertainment business and the young crowds that follow.
The climate is the worst possible. I couldn't breathe, and parking underground gave me an idea of how it feels to be buried alive. There are no greens, no parks, definitely a shortage of palm trees, the sun is the enemy, and you spend as much time as possible indoors.
Now the fun part begins, you drive through the Mojave Desert with …the air conditioning shut off. That's what they advise you to do. And after a short while you see why. Traffic is slow, and every now and then you see a car sitting on the side of the road with the engine steaming …from overheating. You see people trying to avoid the
sun, lying down under makeshift canopies, pulled together from jackets, towels or blankets. Young children among them. Some nice new cars and no towing truck around.
Mojave desert is where old aircraft go to die. Some car engines follow the path…
Our Honda passed the test, and on the seventh day of our trip, we are in CALIFORNIA!
We are heading for the City of Angels, a city where fortune cookie and plastic Frisbee comes from so does Barbie, Bugs Bunny and Minnie Mouse.
Where whitening toothpaste was invented and what else? …a Hula-Hoop!
While driving in L.A, our Honda caught the attention of several people. A black man with a funny hat and a dog wearing a "lampshade" by his side pulled down the window of his old Mercedes station wagon, and asked, "What kind of Honda is that? Do they sell them here?" We fit right in! Between trips to IKEA and Target, setting up furniture in Karolina's new home, and checking out Pasadena's neighborhood, we found time to drive to Santa Monica, walk the Pier and dip our feet into the Pacific Ocean even though it was 9pm. The place was full of life with the Bubba Gump Restaurant and the only solar powered …Ferris wheel in the world.
In nearby Venice beach, a surfing Rabbi makes a splash and offers Kosher Surf Camp.
But my only extravaganza was a grain of rice with my name on it, created accurately by a young man from Mexico, our trip was going to the end and so were our financial resources.
The first resident of Pasadena, our good friend, Marty C. gave us quite a tour of the area and took us for lunch.
Betsy was a no show, but I believe she paid for our lunch so THANK YOU BETSY! Your husband behaved well and we had a wonderful time!
.
In retrospect, when we left Massachusetts we had lots of challenges to face… we were chasing time and tried to see as many sights as possible in the short time to get a glimpse of this great country.
We accomplished all of it, except one, which was the rodeo (I'll never forgive them!!!), so I can say that we definitely won!! And we already collected the prize, which is…the extraordinary experience.
From all my thoughts that came to my mind during the journey, two are worth sharing.
One is this quote from Georgia O'Keefe, a great American artist whose museum we visited in Santa Fe:
"Where I was born and where and how I have lived is unimportant. It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest."
And the other one is: Girls, do not let your fathers pack your shoes or you are going to end up with shoes that not only do not match in color but also in style…
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