Make way, make way! The president needs to have lunch!

Well I saw my first presidential motorcade today! This is what it looks like when the president decides to have a $1000 per head fundraising lunch at a hotel....







He's not a popular man here at the moment (or anywhere i think). That didn't stop one lone Bush supporter from provoking a heated and violent debate with these people who had gathered to boo the president. The guy was kind of funny, someone asked him why, if he liked the policies so much, was he not in the military. He replied "Because i have a wife and two kids and they would end up with a dead father". It actually got quite scary for a while, all i wanted was a pic of the motorcade!


They had been setting up for it all morning, blocking several streets off. These three guys are secret service agents. On some of the taller buildings around you could see snipers poking their heads over the edge every couple of minutes, and airforce helicopters flew overhead.





Then, after much waiting, the traffic dissappeared and the whaling of sirens began to come down the street. The crowd's booing got louder and louder...







This may have been the car the presidennt was in! There were three identiical limosines, alll with blacked out windows. Only one of them drove into the tent outside the hotel, then the curtains were closed and i assume Bush went in for a feast.
Following the limosines were a whole myriad of vehicles, buses, armored trucks, ambulances.



In other news, I scored a job interview today so i have that to do tomorrow morning. Its not a job i originally wanted that much, but i gotta earn a buck somehow so that i can keep seeing these wonderful sights. If they tell me i have the job in time i might go down to texas for a few days til i start. I also have applied for a couple of other jobs and am feeling really positive about where things are standing. Kind of feels like i'm slowly integrating into society, rather than just watching things happen around me.

A couple of special visitors

Doh! I left my camera at home so i can't upload any new photos for this post. Actually i don't have many, was too busy freezing my behind off to take many today.

I did have one photo of a lone protester on a corner near the capitol. "Hillary Kills Folks" his plackard said, and i found out that he was refering to future president Hills Bills Clinton who was in Denver today. I'm not sure who he was talking about, or if he knew how many folks President Bush has killed lately.

Actually president Bush will be in denver tomorrow, word has it he's going to be at the Capitol, just down the street from my place. If I had a nicer place, i would invite him over for a coffee! I might still invite him over to watch the game and share a pretzel... hehe.

Well i spent today trying to apply for jobs. One was in littleton and after getting all the way there i realized i had forgotten my resume. Smart. I didn't really want the job anyway, it was a callcenter for a cable tv company and i thought maybe it would do til i found the dream tv news job that i moved to america for. Then when i started filling out the application form i decided i didn't want it. Then i remembered that they give you free cable. I might go back tomorrow to finish my application.

Then i went to apply for a job in Parker, Colorado which is way out in east Denver. I didn't know where it was when i got on the bus, but i also didnt realize that i had left it to late to get a bus back to the city! So i had to get a $50 taxi ride all the way back downtown, which took like an hour to wait for and then an hour in the car. But i did meet a cool taxi driver who had immigrated from Ethiopia. He was full of advise about where i can look for jobs. He thinks i should get on a bus first thing tomorrow to go out to DIA (i was like DIA?? i used to work there! - but here it stands for Denver International Airport) and apply for jobs at all the rental car companies. Thats what he did when he first moved here. He says they are always hiring and they dont pay too bad. Maybe i will do that, cause i really need a job, even if its not the job i really want, so i can establish myself and buy a car etc. Going to Parker and taking the taxi home really reminded me how much i need a car. This city is so hard without a car, even though the public transport in most subburbs isnt too bad, being in the taxi let me see how big this place is, and how you really only get to experience it with a car. Job, then car, then better place to live is the order of business.

Parker seems nice.. Kind of ugly infill housing developments as far as the eye could see, and after trying to walk to somewhere i could get back to denver from, i finally gave up when i found myslelf walking through the Canterbury Crossing Controlled Golfcourse Neighborhood. Sounds really nice if you're retiring or trying to bring up kids, but not when you want a taxi to drive past within the next few minutes.

It is only 20F here tonight, which is below freezing. Last night there was snow in parts of the city and high winds in eastern colorado. I saw on the news that after more than a dozen accidents including a 20-25 car pileup, they closed an interstate between metro denver all the way to the kansas border. When i got home last night there was a couple of banged up police cars down the end of the street, the remains of a car chase which had ended there. I really must get out of that neighborhood, but its quite fun really!

Well i'm gonna go now. Lots to do tomorrow! If i get time i will try and get some photos with, or of George, but something tells me he will be well hidden.

Boulder, Littleton, and the tourism of the disturbed

Hello! I am very pleased to report that i have found an even better place to steal wireless internet from, and it is a brewpub. This means that i can now sample the local brew while writing emails and updating the blog!

Ok. Yesterday I rode the light rail all the way south to Littleton. I have no excuses. I was looking for Columbine High School, scene of the infamous 1999 school shooting. While this is wrong on many levels, it is not the first time this vampire tourist has gone in search of blood. I also visited Aramoana a few years back, just to see the sight of that massacre. I can't explain why, its just interesting! Unfortunately, i was not able to get to Columbine High as i had no car and no map. I had a vague idea where it was, but after it took me nearly ten minutes to walk out of the car park at the train station, i decided it wasn't worth the walk. Instead i sampled the delights of Littleton, which really is very quaint. If nothing else, i valued an hour or two of not being asked for spare change, which makes a change from the my new neighborhood, which i hope to be leaving shortly. I went to probably the biggest stripmall known to man, had a mexican lunch and left, slightly dissappointed: not even any evidence of the once-previlent Trenchcoat Mafia.


Today I visited the illustrious Boulder, Colorado. Its really part of Denver, the urbaninity thins out on your way north but only for a short time before reaching Boulder. Its only about an hour north-westish of downtown Denver and has small town charm with big city hipness, possibly courtesy of the campus of Colorado University. I walked up the pedestrian mall that makes up much of what downtown Boulder has to offer, then walked towards the mountains, which is where i came accross this little critter.


Walking up a track just north of the town center, i found out why Boulder is called Boulder. This picture only shows part of the 'Boulder' the city is named after, and i'm going to take this opportunity to be honest and call it more of a mountain than a 'boulder'.





As if my fear of the Rocky Mountain rattle snake wasn't enough, after seeing this sign, i quickly descended back into the relative normalicy of downtown Boulder.







Then i came across this dude, who had attracted quite a crowd in the middle of the walking mall. He juggled those flaming jugglinig sticks while unicycling on a 6ft unicycle. I was impressed!







Storm clouds are a gathering around Denver. While it still feels comfortably warm, word on the street is that we may have snow in the city by tomorrow. Its already snowing in the mountains and you can feel the electricity in the air. If it does snow, or rain, it will be the first precipitation i've had since landing in America two weeks ago! Not bad!



Still no job, but it is thanksgiving weekend. I've given myself the weekend to continue to spend money unchecked an enjoy the holiday lifestyle. I'm out all the time. The more time i spend away from my new place, the less roaches i have to kill before sleeping, the better!

Thanksgiving

Not too much to add today, its the day after thanksgiving and things are still pretty quiet, but today is the day all the shops have their huge holiday sales and sell things at crazy prices.. Shame i don't have a job yet!
The following post i wrote last night but have only got to a starbucks today to upload it. I'm stealing free wireless internet from the Marriot across the road! Normally it costs me 10c a minute.

---
Today was thanksgiving, and i had a rather lonely day. Sarah left for New York City this morning and i have been all alone... i moved into my room, which is in the Capital Hill neighborhood on the edge of downtown Denver. The building is in a weird area, the main street is called Colfax and strikes me as a 'dangerous' street, but all the side streets are full of nice historic apartment homes. This is with the exception of my building which is a bit of a crapheap. But i'm still quite pleased with it as its just rent by the week with no lease so i can leave once i get a job (assuming i get one) and know where exactly in this sprawl i want to live.
So anyway, back to lonliness, i was trying to kill time by getting out there and experiencing my new neighborhood, so i was out walking and i went around the block a few times. This woman who happened to be a rather butch lesbian woman (i'm just speculating, mind you) asked if i'd eaten and i just said yes and kept walking. This was not unusual as random people on the street talk to you here, some of them are a little odd, some of them a lot. Most of them are just after spare change. Anyhooo, on about my 3rd time past (i'm not sure i really knew i was walking around in circles) this woman said "How many more times am i gonna see ya'll walk past without coming in and getting some food?". She then proceeded to grab me by the arm and walk me in to the bar she was standing outside. I said, "i might come back, i don't have my wallet", then she said "thats not neccessary, the food is free today!" And with that my Thanksgiving took shape as i enjoyed a turkey dinner on the house and the company of strangers as i ate it. I even went back to my room to get my wallet and went back to have a beer with them. In one of the scariest streets i've ever been on, i found a great bar with fantastic hospitality and people who were ready to bring the spirit of thanksgiving to myself, and to people from all walks of life walking down that street tonight.

Denver!

Well we came to Denver a few days ago. The bus ride was long! We came through Wyoming and it was snowing there. Great scenery though... so wide and empty. We we got to Denver we checked into our motel - a cheap dive with a housekeeping service that only seems to come once every two or three days.
This is the view from the motel parking lot.




This is me, in front of downtown Denver.









This is me infront of the Colorado state capital.












Me again. Exactly one mile above sea level!









Not me.








Well now i have to kind of face the music and get a job. Its not going to be easy! I've been looking for two days now and nothing has lannded in my lap. I'm also in need of a place to live before Sarah goes to New York tomorrow. Hmmm i'm not sure how i'm going to do that in time!

A step back in time...

Ok I finally raided Sarah's camera to get a few pics i didn't have earlier.
This is the Santa Monica pier just after we arrived in LA.







This is that 'Arlington West' thing i was talking about. The photos a bit blury but you can get the idea.









Me and my car.... my rental car.

A real 'American' day

Today, marking the end of my first week in the United States, I spent my day doing very American activities.
Sarah and I went to Walmart and shopped til we dropped. I like Walmart, I am only slightly ashamed to say that I have visited 3 times since i've been in Salt Lake. This Walmart had heaps of cool stuff to look at, but we ended up in the supermarket section buying all this food that we didn't need. The goldfish crackers which we have loved since we were kids, Sarah got some of her favorite soup which you can only get here... It was really just a supermarket, but the shelves were full of so many possibilities! We decided on our cereal (its rare that Sarah and I agree on anything, so this must be good) - it was Reece's peanut butter and chocolate cereal! Just what you want to wake up to!

It is clear why America as a nation seems to strugle with its body weight. The food is so cheap and the portions so large. We have seen bottles of coke bigger than i ever imagined. Two 2 Liter Dr Pepper for $1.00. On top of this, the food tastes so good! Its liike every snack, every meal has been perfected, every time. Also, we have become aware of a 'super-ingredient' which seems to lurk in American food. I only need to eat once a day and it fills me up for the whole day. Sometimes we can have half a meal each and still both be completely full.

I have learnt one lesson in my first week in America. When at a McDonalds or similar restaurant, always, always, always have a 'small' combo. Small combo's here are the equivilent of larges in New Zealand. I accidently ordered a medium the other day and the size was just ridiculous.

Anyway, i have deviated. After Walmart, we went to a sports bar/pool hall with a guy from our hostel who had a membership (you have to be a member of a bar in Salt Lake if it serves anything harder than beer - membership costs about $4) . I had outregeous good fortune on the pool table, almost completely clearing the table in a couple of turns in my first game. Sarah sat there, jaw hanging there in amazement, "do you actually play this?" I don't, but i enjoyed winning. Then I sunk the white ball right behind the black ball and lost.

After that we went to the basketball. When we walked into the stadium, hawkers were selling tickets at huge prices on the street outside. It was so much fun i can hardly tell you what happened in the game - the off-court entertainment was just so good! We ate pretzels and nachos and enjoyed the mascot making a fool of himself. The mascot kept firing cannons into the crowd with prizes and just all kinds of things, people were singing and dancing in the aisles! I did get really into the game towards the end, when Utah was behind but looked like it was going to do a spectacular comeback. Unfortunately it was more like a craptacular comeback and Memphis won it. When we left the stadium there were people pouring out everywhere, preachers preaching loudly and holding bibles, homeless people asking for money and Salt Lake City seemed to really come alive.

Leaving for Denver early tomorrow. We'll talk later!

Salt Lake City

Good day from Salt Lake City!









This is the Grand America Hotel. I'm staying in the penthouse suite.



Just kidding. We're in a hostel down the street.



This is the Delta Center, an indoor multi-sports stadium in downtown SLC. At the recommendation of several Utahns, Sarah and I are going to a basketball game between the Utah Jazz and the Memphis somethings (i can't remember) tomorrow night. I'm not much of a sports fan, but I figured its a cultural experience i should do at least once! And tickets are only $10.



This is a 'Trax' light rail train. In the subburbs they work just like the TranzMetro trains in Wellington, and one of the lines goes quite far out into the 'burbs. When the trains reach the downtown area they become like trams, with the tracks in the middle of the street and stopping at traffic lights with all the other traffic.
The system works really well and the trains run every 5 - 10 minutes, so you're never waiting long. Need more tracks to go in more directions though, becuase this city is hard to explore on foot! And i have sore legs from walking so far!


The Union Pacific station. When I was walking miles away trying to find the Greyhound terminal (which took me 2 hours!) i saw a Union Pacific freight train. It was HUGE! It must have been about 10 city blocks long and double stacked with freight carriages.




Well only two more nights in SLC. Might go to a movie tonight, and have the basketball tomorrow. I was thinking about renting a car because my legs are so sore (i think i strained my knee! is that possible?) But it was gonna cost like $100 and i would have had to return it before 4pm tomorrow... Earlier in the Salt Lake City leg of the trip I had ideas to drive either to the Canyonlands National Park in south Utah, or to Las Vegas. Both of these ideas were shot down when i looked at a map and realized how big this country is, and how long it would take me to drive there (about 9 hours to Vegas) - i thought it was just down the road!

Email: cjbeggs@hotmail.com

Sarah and I in Salt Lake City yesterday morning.

The Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City's Capitol Hill district. It is being refurbished, which is why its covered in scaffolding.







Walking down from Capitol Hill looking at downtown Salt Lake City







Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Down the end you can see the temple of the mormon church.







This is just a park with a pond in it in SLC. When i took the photo yesterday morning, the top of the pond had frozen over.

I'm not sure whether to be disturbed or amused. This was on a hospital opposite the Beverley center.








This is me on Mulholland Drive, looking down on Hollywood.









Downtown Los Angeles









The Beverley Center









Having a beer at LAX. We had a bit of time to kill at the airport.

Heres the planes i was talking about, they just line up in the sky ready to land all day and night.







On our way to Malibu we took a wee detour into the mountains.









Picnic at Malibu









Me at CBS.... yeah i was trying to get a job ;)

Photos

Me on Sunset Blvd. Just like the movies really.



















Me at the Kodak. If you look carefully, you can actually see the Hollywood sign over my shoulder










Our first view of Downtown Los Angeles









Marilyn Monroe's hand and footprints at the Chinese theater in Hollywood.

First leg...

Hi everyone!

I had intended to stop in at a netcafe quite frequently and update the blog and email, but there just doesnt seem to be many netcafes here. So thats why you haven't heard from me in a little while.... and i'll start at the beginning (warning: this might take a while to read).

Well after a 12 hour flight we finally arrived in Los Angeles and set right out enjoying ourselves. LA lived up to is seasonless reputation, and we had 80-90 degrees farenheit most of the time we were there. Sarah and I couldn't remember the conversions but i think its around 25degrees C.

After getting the keys to our rental car i had to simultaneously learn to drive on the right-hand side of the road while trying to navigate to our hotel. The rental company gave good directions and we arrived at the hotel with no damage to the car or ourselves, apart from our sanity. The hotel was located about 5 miles from LAX, with one runway's traffic flying to the right of us and the other's to the left. The planes line up to land for miles and miles. You can see ten or eleven planes flying in at any one time.

After calming down and psycing ourselves up for another drive [driving is a little scarier here] we cruised down to Santa Monica. After finding ourselves on the 405 freeway, we found that the freeway was nothing to be scared of: average speed was only 30 miles an hour. All the traffic in both directions did make for a spectaular view. Once we got to the coast we parked the car in front of Venice Beach and walked to the Santa Monica Pier. There was a themepark/carnival thing on the pier and thousands of people around. We just walked through all the stalls and rides and soaked up the vibe.

Next to the pier there was a free film screening and exhibition right on santa monica beach. It was a protest against the Iraq war. They had laid out 2000 white crosses on the beach - one for every US soldier killed in Iraq since the war began. The sea of crosses against the glowing orange sunset was very moving, and we took our time to walk around the crosses. And take photos, which i will show you as soon as i find a computer that will handle my camera!

My goodness i can really talk. I will try and keep this brief. Next day we did Hollywood Blvd, the walk of fame and chinese theater etc, took our photos in front of the hollywood sign and did that all-important cruise down the length of Sunset Blvd. We then retuened to Santa Monica to shop and eat along 3rd street promenade, a really really fun place with thousands of people out in an open air walking street mall. The shops along the street are open till 11pm 7 days a week and there is really fun street theater and buskers etc all the way down.

We visited the Museum of Tolerence, a museum all about america's and the world's racist past - and present. They had some really good exhibits, especially on the Los Angeles riots, exploring their causes and advocating racial harmony. The museum of tolerance wasn't terribly tolerant of us, we had to be wanded down for metal and were sent back to the car to leave our cameras behind. Once inside, it was very good indeed.

Then we visited the Beverley Center which is just a really big upmarket mall in Beverley Hills, we only stayed about an hour as a mall is a mall is a mall. After that we went for a drive up Mulholland Drive, which is a really nice area, kind of semi rural rich houses at the base of the Santa Monica mountains. On the way down we struck a bit of evening rush hour and started crawling our way back to the hotel. We ended up passing through the Sunset Strip, and Sarah would like everyone to know that we went to the Viper Room, whch is a hangout of Paris Hilton. Actually we just drove past.

Still stuck in traffic and faced with hours of driving to get back, we decided to take a detour and try to stop for dinner until the traffic died down. We tried to eat at UCLA and went in, but could not find any real restaurants so we ate in Westwood, which is a neighborhood near UCLA. Like many subburbs in Los Angeles Westwood had skyskrapers many times taller than Wellington's Majestic Centre, yet another reminder of the sheer size of the city. Ali, our car rental rep said that living in LA you hardly get to see all of it, he drives the same route to work everyday and stays in his own little part of the city. Unfortunately he still has to pay for the privilege of living near, well everything he could ever need or want: he says he and his wife pay $900/month in property tax alone.

Well it all sounds rather boring without photos. Photos are worth a thousand words. I will upload them as soon as i can. Also, its too soon to say what i think about salt lake city. I'm going to do some more exploring and get back to you on that one. :)