Obviously, this....

...is not in the netherlands!! this was back in march, on our way to yosemite in california. it was such a beautiful ride!! here we had lunch in the hot sun, and that one little cloud just kept hanging there, haha. we took a little too long during lunch and arrived in yosemite pretty late (but still had a nice hike there. just too bad that we left the park while it was dark).

yesterday we again wanted to go to the cinema here in amsterdam. and again didnt go, since it was... yes... raining again! taking public transport takes too long, and sitting in the cinema all wet from biking in the rain isnt fun either. maybe next week... so different from the us, where we wouldnt even have to go out, but just had to walk down to the garage underneath our apartment, hop in the car... (i once walked home from the cinema there; it took an hour....)

Self portrait

nooo, this is not in the netherlands, this is yosemite, where we were back in march!! but we didnt take any self portraits recently. or many other photos, for that matter... it was so pretty there, and we had so little time. just one afternoon. we did one hike, and didnt know exactly how long it would be. with all the warnings for bears and whatnot, that was a little scary to me... and it was indeed getting dark when we finally got back to the car (i already saw ourselves stranded somewhere high up, with a bear taking our last food. hmm, actually we didnt bring much. yes, we were really not that well prepared). 

lif here in amsterdam is quite different! :) no bears for sure..... but the weather at the moment is really good. jipppiiieeee!!

Empty roads

see how endless that road is? in the middle of the desert, with nothing else than this road.... no shop, no mc donalds, no gas station, no houses, no people. just heat, somewhere in california. we have driven through quite some desert by now, but i continue to be amazed. how ever changing the landscape is, how empty... something we definitely do not have in the netherlands... such enormous stretches of empty land, of desert, of crazy heat....

this was back in march, during our road trip.

blogger is acting strange the past few days, it often does not allow me to upload photos, so i have to open another internet browser to get it done... grrrr. but at least tim is coming back tomorrow, after 3.5 weeks, so i can try on his computer... :)

Blooming desert

in california we drove a bit through the desert (i like that so much!), and the cacti were blooming, so very pretty! so red, yellow and purple..

Cattle feedlot

during our last big drive we passed by a lot of weird things. deserted buildings. empty desert. forgotten statues and even an entire town, abandoned not too long ago. usually we just drove by, saw something weird, stopped, took some pictures and drove on again. sometimes that was a little scary, as we had no clue whether the places were really deserted, or whether we were allowed to walk around, etc (not that we did anything illegal, just looking, from a distance.. :) ). so, sometimes it was just a drive-by shooting, like above. we would turn around, and from the window of the car i would take some pictures... here, we suddenly saw literally thousands of cows on a very small place. something i never have seen in my life. just alongside the road. the cows were obviously curious when we drove by slowly and took some pics, but i didnt dare getting out of the car and inspecting it from a little closer. 

i just looked it up. this is a "cattle feedlot", and this particular one, named "superior cattle feeders" (the name alone, yuck!), houses 80,000 cows. 80,000!!! can you imagine? i actually had never heard of a feedlot, but wikipedia tells me that the cows here most likely have spend the first months of their lives on a normal pasture, eating grass, until they are around 300 kgs. then they are transferred to such a feedlot and are fed mostly corn by-producsts, which makes them gain weight (and especially fat) very quickly; about 180 kgs in the 3-4 months they are in the feedlot. when they are fat enough, they are brought to the slaughterhouse...

we dont eat too much meat. i guess thats better for both the cows and us...

Easter colors

some easter colors for easter sunday! this is actually named the artists palette, in death valley. isnt that amazing? these are volcanic deposits colored by mineral pigments. just a little further outside death valley we actually saw many green mountains. so funny to drive through such a wonderful landscape that is constantly changing..

it was very hot there, around 94F (almost 35 C!!), but in the coming months it will only get hotter here.... 

happy easter!

California hoax

yesterday we visited sequoia national park in the sierra nevada mountains, where we looked at giant trees. here you can see part of such tree, with me next to it, to indicate how huge they are... ;)

these trees are around  50–85 m (160–279 ft) in height and 6–8 m (20–26 ft) in diameter. and the largest trees have been measured to be 94.8 m (311 ft) in height and over 17 m (56 ft) in diameter!! and they can be as old as 3500 years! its just so weird to imagine that they are standing there that long... having survived forest fires and whatnot... many trees actually have burn marks from fires that occur every now and then and in fact are necessary for new trees to grow. the cones of the tree need the extreme heat to open and release the seeds, and fire also clears the ground of debris and other plants etc that compete for growth!! so... years ago fires were always put out, until researchers discovered that it inhibited growth of new trees... now they let fires roam, and sometimes even set fires intentionally to restore natural growth...

the other funny thing i learned was even though a tree was cut down, chopped into pieces and reassembled at the 1893 world fair in chicago, some visitors did not believe those trees really existed! they called it the california hoax... :D

Shoreline highway

yesterday we drove through the redwoods (amazing! picture another time), and then along the coast of california, on highway 1, also named the shoreline highway. winding roads with tight curves, sometimes right along the shore. high up and then down again. and up. and down. curve after curve after curve. i didnt drive, i wouldnt have dared. the roads were narrow too. we didnt go too fast, and also stopped at every amazing vista (there were too many), and took some little detours to see even more, like this lighthouse above.

this coast is really so different from the east coast!! i think i prefer this one....

Mobile devices

this was in the getty museum in los angeles where we were back in may. actually tim say these girls first, immersed in their phones... hmmm. now i look at it i wonder whether the blond one really is looking at her phone, but the other one defenitely is! :) 

here in boston in the subway most people are on their phones too. i think at least 50% of the passengers spends the entire ride tapping on the thing. then there are some with e-readers (or whatever you call them), and then there are just a few that have a real book or magazine... i just read that newsweek will go digital only from the new year onwards!! im glad i discontinued my subscription, because i dont have an e-reader or a fancy phone... so how would i ever be able to read their articles on the train or while im in the gym..?!

sometimes i wonder whether i dont miss something, without a fancy phone. but then i try a game on tims phone and i am just horrible at it (and dont enjoy it), or the other day i needed to retrieve a specific email while using his phone; it drove me crazy as i mistyped my password i dont know how many times on the little screen. so i guess no 800 dollar new iphone for me... i use a very simple prepaid without camera, without T9, and unfortunately usually without very good sound (i.e. when someone calls me i usually dont hear what they are saying, so i prefer not to pick up and send texts instead). am i getting old...?

Another street...

after a boston and new york street the past 2 days, now a "street" in california.... :) i dont know exactly where we were here, i think somewhere in the mojave desert, back in may. it was simply amazing driving there. the emptiness, the landscape. really, really amazing. and yes, i just had to sit on the route 66 sign, as probably all tourists do.... it was extremely windy (later we got into a sandstorm), so i couldnt see much with my hair blowing into my face, haha!

now i want to go again!!

Long shadows

i am going through our photos from the las vegas-san diego trip. above is at venice beach. glad to stumble upon it, as i had no clue which picture to post this evening... :) 

its tims, not mine. i cant even remember seeing such long shadows!! (once again he takes the better pics...)

LA sunset

we enjoyed the sunset on venice beach in los angeles, on saturday......

now its monday and we spent the entire day getting back home again.... we had a great time and im not done with showing you pictures of it just yet.. :)

at the airport i could not take our spray bottle of deodorant. it was too big. aarrrghhhh!! at boston airport the officer was very nice. i had not even taken out the toiletries. he did that for me and deemed it all harmless. in san diego the lady did not like the bottle. it was too big. "oh, they allowed it in boston? they shouldnt have. its too big." "but we imported it from europe, and its a brand new bottle!!" (deodorant is one of the things i have not been able to find a good american subsitute. i think there is none and thus we get it from the netherlands, haha) "well, its too big". and there it went, into the trash.... :( had it been 2 smaller spray bottles; no problem. really. grrrr....

ever since a recent south park episode where they install "toilet security", which they call the TSA, i think of them like the toilet security administration (instead of transportation). my goodness, they can be so anal!! (pardon my language). once an officer complained because the plastic bag i had my toiletries in was double the allowed size; even though i had filled it only halfway and had folded it. "but im not taking too much, right?" "thats right, but the bag is too big". "i folded it, essentially its half a bag". "the bag is too big, next time bring the right size bag". problem ofcourse starts with the stupid airlines that ask for a fee for checking bags; ofcourse now most people only bring carry-on, leading to all this nonsense. then at the gate its always the same story: "this flight is fully booked, space is limited, we will not to check-in bags, it wont fit, but now its free of charge". blablablabla... flying is becoming more and more complicated...

enough ranting, we had a great time! :)

Getty center

yesterday, saturday, we drove from san diego to los angeles to visit the getty center. sylvia and me had gone there last year already, but i was so impressed that tim had to see it too! it was very bright and sunny, a perfect day for some more hours in the car... ;) 

the getty center is situated on a hill and from many balconies from the 4 (or 3?) floor building you have an incredible view of los angeles and the ocean. it was built in 1997 and cost only 1.3 billion dollars.... it is a huge museum with lots of art, but just the building itself is already very impressive. the entrance fee is just 15 dollars per car regardless of the number of people... but well... mister getty owned 2 billion dollars at the time of his death, in 1976. we went to a photo exhibition of the work from herb ritts, an american fashion photographer who often shot in black and white. his photos really made an impression on me. you can take pictures of the human body, or you can make art of it.... and that is what he did.....so, if you are around los angeles; definitely go see the museum itself, as well as the exhibition! other than that, we walked around a bit aimlessly, which is not bad at all in this museum (just frustrating that we always seem to get lost in any museum...)

above, to the right you can see tim and sylvia enjoying the view.... the view from the terrace was endless yesterday, the sky was so clear, as opposed to last year when we were there.

Scary part....

this is from friday, when driving from las vegas to san diego. many parts were through the desert, and we didnt see that many other cars. it was very windy. very windy! what you see here is sand!! at first it was kind of funny, all that sand blowing around. we first saw it from a distance, huge clouds of sand.... but suddenly we were in the middle of it. at one point we literally could not see anything anymore, like sudden heavy fog.... but then of sand. i was really scared! perhaps the scenery was beautiful, but we could see only a few meters, at most. i think i took this picture while driving, but we also got out of the car, because tim "wanted to expeience it". result; sand everywhere. the car got a fine layer too (on the inside), and even after a thorough shower i still feel not all the sand is gone.

but aside from the 2 or 3 times that the sand was taking literally all sight, it was pretty cool, and something i never experienced before!

Driving.... driving...

today we got up early. and then drove. and drove some more. and even more... 

it was amazing. beautiful, ugly, sad, abandoned, funny, scary, impressive..... and then we arrived in san diego and are staying for the weekend with our friend sylvia!!

i guess i have a picture (many, actually) going with each adjective. but not now... time for bed!

Boston bruins

this evening we were fortunate enough to see a game in the td garden with frank & manon. it was very interesting to see real americans during a sport event. of course i did not know the rules and i missed the first 2 goals. but i did notice that americans cant sit still. they get up, they leave, come back, go again.... and they say f*ck very, very, very often. also, they scream a lot and called the players f*cking douchebags (especially some guy behind us got very agitated during the game. he might have lost his voice...). i am certainly not going to take up ice hockey as my new hobby; everything seems to be allowed and it was pretty rough. the excitement was at its top when 2 players started to hit each other, and if i remember correctly, the boston guy managed to pull of the shirt from the san jose guy.

when it was clear boston was not going to win, there was a massive run for the exits, something we have noticed before with any event.... as soon as something is ended, or rather, is about to end, real americans leave... perhaps to avoid getting stuck when all the other people are leaving as well?

Too close

biebkriebels placed this photo yesterday, so i thought to show you a similar one from san diego! when i arrived, i was, as always, looking down from my window (i prefer to have a window seat so that i can see whats going on), and the ground was approaching sooo fast! i couldnt see an airport, but i did see houses, streets, and it was all a little too close for me. it all went fine, and one of the first things sylvia asked me was how i liked the landing... as she knew ofcourse.... :)

later we were back there for the rental car, and i (also) had to be very quick to take a picture. now some wiki-facts about the airport; its the busiest single-runway commercial service airport in the us, but not in the world; thats london (and then comes san diego), with having approximately 600 arrivals and departures each day. august 16, 1928, exactly 83 years and 1 day ago, the airport was named San Diego Municipal Airport – Lindbergh Field, because San Diego was the city from which mister Lindbergh began the journey that would ultimately become the first solo transatlantic flight, in addition to being the place where his aircraft was designed, built, and tested.

besides, i am fascinated by the wall with the monkeys, no idea whether it was just decoration, or some sort of advertisement.

Holy drink.....?

sylvia and me went for some fastfood on tuesday at the in-n-out burger. although i am (slowly) getting used to the enormous amount of choices you are confronted with while ordering something ("what kind of salad? onions? tomato? what kind of dressing? on the side? small-large or medium? for here or to go?"), it was nice to go to a place where my options were very limited; only 3 types of burgers (hamburger, cheeseburger and double-double, which is double meat and double cheese), and/or fries & soda. and hmm, it was not bad at all! while drinking, sylvia told me to look underneath the cup. now zoom in.... can you see it? 

yes, it says "John 3:16". eeehhh? she told me that all cups have a bible reference. of course back at home i went to wikipedia to learn what this is all about.... well, as she already told me, this family-owned chain has been around for a very long time (the first restaurant opened in 1948 in california), and claims to be the first drive-through restaurant (which is different from a drive-in. want to know more? wikipedia will tell you all!). they pride themselves in always using fresh ingredients, including meat that has never been frozen. interestingly, they also have a "secret menu"; a 3x3 for example is 3 times meat and 3 times cheese, and you can order that in whatever number you want, at additional cost. so... someone once ordered a 100x100, and what that looks like, you can see here. now back to the bible; that started only in the 1980s, and is "a reflection of the Christian beliefs held by the Snyder (the founders) family".  so, our drink: John 3:16—"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." and our cheeseburger: Revelation 3:20—"Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me."

i do hope the lord likes fastfood....

Deserted place

another desert photo from anza-borrego. it was so amazing there..! here we were high up and had a view down on seemingly nothing but emptiness. i could not believe it! one moment we were driving on the highway, and just a bit later... total nothingness. and soooo terribly hot! there are several hiking trails, but we remained close to the car and only went out to take some pictures, that was more than hot enough. and in fact, down there it was not as deserted as it seemed, there were some resorts (is that for people with marital problems? ;)), and also actual people were living there!! the previous photo is taken somewhere down here too. we think we saw a roadrunner; at least it was running across the road, but wasnt followed by a coyote :), and it was a little small....

certainly, im not yet done with the desert and will show you more pictures later.

i got abck to boston this morning after an overnight flight without any sleep. i did see water for elephants once again during the flight; that movie is even worse when watching it for the second time., but at least this airline didnt make you pay for watching television. i do think the ban on water bottles is enforced by all airport shops. thirsty as i get from flying, i thought this time to buy some water at the gate. the lady even asked  "only this water?" well yes, it was more than expensive enough! 3 dollar 50... grrrrrr!!

the apartment was deserted too; tim only comes back on sunday....

Flying back....

... to boston.... :( this week went by so fast! sylvia just dropped me off at the airport, and now waiting for my flight..... 

today we did a boat tour and we saw lots of sea lions (i only ever saw those in the zoo!), and some seals. then we went to the beach again, another one this time, but.... the sun was behind the clouds and it was quite cold. nevertheless we went into the water, but not that many waves... ah well.... 

have to say that taking pics here was rather difficult. often it was quite cloudy, and although the weather was great, for pics it was not that great. ofcourse i did take quite some, so certainly you will see more the coming days.

and sylvia; thank you! it was great! now back to normal life, or whatever thats supposed to be... buuughhh.