LA Nethercutt Museum April 30

This place deserves special attention. JB Nethercutt was a nephew of the Merle-Norman cosmetic company (still operational), took over the business and made a great deal of money. He became quite the collector of autos, furniture and antique music players (big ones and small ones).

His auto collection has grown to 250+ cars, and they have 15 full time people on staff taking care of them, restoring them etc. The results are spectacular.

In Sylmar, CA, just north of LA, next to the Merle Norman buildings are two large buildings that hold the collection. On the ground floor of the first building are the 20+ "fully functional fine art" autos; enclosed here a couple of examples, the 1904 Cameron, the 1955 Austin Healey and the 1918 Rauch and Lang electric car. I tried to match up the labels with the cars, but need additional learning on blog composition.

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The main floor of the original building has be built to resemble the fancy auto showrooms of the early 1900s, high ornate ceilings, magnificent beveled mirrors, all the while a player piano playing Gershwin tunes. The two audio clips at the end of this entry are attempts to capture the atmosphere, but, truthfully, you have to see it to believe it.

This floor of the original building houses 30 bueauties, including the most expensive car in the collection, a 1933 Dusenberg (it's the grey one), only one of its model in the world, current value roughly $12million.

Among others, this 1928 Isotta-Fraschini, built in Milano, Italy. Marlene loved it, said it reminded her of our friend Flavio, another Italian masterpiece.

In the other building are the balance of their current collection (about 200 cars), including this 1937 French Talbot Lago (the two tone one), which has won a ton of awards. Also, a 1925 steam powered Doble, purchased by Howard Hughes and a 1928 Bugati, shown unrestored, with the cab and part of the hood covered in an impressed fabric, appearing much like leather.

Believe it or not, the 1 1/2 hour tour was free, as was the main collection. Oh, among other things, they have a wurlitzer theater 5000 pipe organ with all the features that allowed the organist to make the sounds to accompany the silent movies. It was truly amazing. If you ever get out this way, make a point of seeing this place; you won't regret it.

SAN DIEGO April 16-27

Beautiful San Diego. We had never been here before. Very hilly, easy to see why earthquakes are a major concern. Everything was in bloom; wonderful vistas.

We stayed at an RV park overlooking Mission Bay, just north of the city. It had great bike paths all the way to Sea World and around the bay; great for a morning ride.

When you combine beautiful climate with a lot of money you get magic. San Diego has a lot of it. Balboa Park is a gift to visitors and locals alike, combining a mix of a dozen museums, beautiful gardens, restaurants, street entertainment, the San Diego zoo and athletic facilities. Below is a promenade called El Prado, filled with local color. We ended up spending a lot of time at Balboa Park, enjoyed all that it had to offer, including a wonderful IMAX film at the Fleet Science Center about the Hubble telescope. Talk about a great PR film for NASA! Got choked up watching the beginnings of the Universe. Amazing.

Bougainvillea everywhere, especially brilliant at the Mission San Diego de Alcala, the first of twenty one missions established in California.

Two of the museums at Balboa Park, the top one housing the History Museum of San Diego (balconies are great) and the bottom one of the Natural History Museum; had a great display re: the disosaur age.

This pic is from the San Diego Museum of Art; lucked into a couple of great tours with several docents. I think I understand a little better what all the fuss is about. Old masters as well as modern artists, they all have something to say in a different way.

Two pristine selections from the Automotive Museum; the top a 1928 Cadillac 452 roadster, the bottom a 1990 Ferrari, both "perfect".

"It's all happening at the zoo." The San Diego zoo is wonderful; spent a day here. They work hard to produce environments for the animals that are very natural. Saw polar bears, flamingos, "an ostentation of peacocks" and panda bears, among others. Tried to turn this picture of a panda so you could see it; couldn't figure out how to do it.

Along the coast on the way to La Jolla, caught a look at a place next to the ocean called "Gliderport", where para sailers hook up, run off the cliff into the wind and ride the wind for a while before landing again. Looks easier than it is.

La Jolla is a beautiful coastal town just north of San Diego; this is a pic of La Jolla Cove, with pelicans, gulls, seals thrashing about against a beautiful backdrop of waves crashing on the shore. Yes, there are people on the beach in the cove, protected against the cool breezes, swimming with the seals. La Jolla also is close to the Scripps Oceangraphic Institute, and the Birch Acquarium, great exhibit of an octupus, among other things.

Last, but not least, I got a chance to be a guest at the La Jolla Tennis Club, promptly got my butt kicked in singles; did better in doubles. Later in the week got a chance to play at the Balboa Tennis Center (Balboa Park); 24 courts, always humming with players. No problem picking up a game. Tons of tennis in San Diego. We will be coming back.

The below, if it opens, is a video of an interesting street performer at Balboa Park; the guy was hypnotic in his appeal to bystanders; I bet he makes a decent living doing this.

JOSHUA TREE-MOJAVE Apr 13-15

Left Death Valley southwest to Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve. The joshua tree only grows at higher desert elevations in this part of the country; it is a member of the lily family; Marlene is standing next to a rather large example above. The rocks here are monzogranite and pinto gneiss (very old); they form interesting formations that basically look like rubble, but are fun to climb.

Another desert cactus Marlene took a picture of. High season for wildflowers and blooms.

Many tried to tame the Joshua Tree area and failed. One ingenious conqueror was Bill Keyes, who, with his wife, from the early to mid 1900's raised a family here on a working cattle ranch and lived to age 89. Very clever guy, accumulated all he could from the homesteaders who abandoned their land, created all kinds of machines, gadgets, built this one room school house for his and other local kids to be educated; he and his wife were amazing creative survivors. Wonderful tour of his ranch with a park ranger.

Further north, in the Mojave desert, another bed of salt, though not at below sea level such as Death Valley, and much more vegetation outside of the salt beds.

Just outside of Mojave, the remains of the Amboy volcano crater, a recently created volcano cone (6000 years ago) in this area; you can hike to the edge of the crater, but we did not.

Lastly, we crossed famous Rte 66, the major highway between Chicago and LA until the US Interstate was developed. This diner/cafe is an often used setting for movies with the need for 1950's local color. You may not be able to see it well, the police car in the picture was in perfect shape.

DEATH VALLEY. Apr 11-12

Left Vegas for Death Valley, California. Wanted to beat the heat (only about 70 degrees high this time of year) . Death Valley is the hottest place in North America (once had temps as high as 147) and the lowest place (Badwater is 282 feet below sea level. It only gets 2 inches of rain a year, although it did sprinkle a little while we were there. The big flat basin was formed by a pulling apart of two geological plates, the Oceanic and the Continental. What is left at the bottom of dried out Manley Lake is salt (picture above), a lot of salt. The lowest point is Badwater (called that because the water is full of salt), which still has some little fish (pupfish) that survive today.

We were there during springtime blooming season; above a blooming cactus.

The geologic forces produced a churning of the rocks and minerals; above, an area known as the Artist's pallette, don't know if you can see the tourquoise and other colors in the rocks.

Do you remember "Death Valley Days" on tv, brought to you by 20 mule team borax? Well, Harmony Borax works mined borax here in the 1880s and shipped the loads via 20 mule team 165 miles away to the railroad depot. This was an actual wagon.

LAS VEGAS. Apr 4-10

Stayed at a delightful RV park in Las Vegas, similar in amenities to the Outdoor Resorts park on Arrow Road in HH, lots of room, concrete pads, everything worked, staff very helpful.

Next day, a trip to the RV doctor to fix a stuck slide out, among other things. They were great, did a lot of fixing, let me learn while they were working. Next was a visit to a college buddy of mine who is struggling with esophogeal cancer; that was tough. Next evening dinner with Bob and Joyce Toth; Bob and I went to the Academy and pilot training together. They took us to the Venetian, had a nice dinner; the Venetian has a great ceiling that looks just like blue sky and clouds, amazing how much perspective they produced with that painting.

A trip to Vegas wouldn't be complete for us without visiting the Bellagio (we love their cafe, among other things) . The picture above is from their ice cream shop; the display is a cascade of chocolate; people just watch it for a long time. The picture at the top of this entry is of a bug and snail of roses in their conservatory; as usual the Bellagio was at the top of their game; delightful.

An interesting side trip to Ethyl Ms chocolate factory and botanical garden; over 300 desert plants including the shaggy tree above called Screwbean Mesquite
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The last day we discovered a new casino south of town called the M resort, had a great time, lost $20 at blackjack. The wall of lillies (above) is from that casino.

Finally, Marlene and I ate at Chipotles for the first time; great healthy food; will they ever open one in Hilton Head?

CROSS COUNTRY RUN. Apr 1-4

Pulled away from HH on April Fools day; is that a message? 1st stop was supposed to be Birmingham; but it was only 3pm (with the time change), so let's push to Memphis; how tough can it be? Tough! Got in at dusk, construction everywhere. We wanted to stay at a Flying J (truck stop); very crowded and we were pooped. Next day we made it all the way to Oklahoma City; this time we found a nice campground; fortunately we missed the tornado warnings from the day before. Then westward, horrific 60 mph winds through Amarillo, made it to Albuquerque. Next day to Vegas, to stay for a few days and visit some friends.

GETTIN READY TO ROLL. Pre-April 1

Lots of pre-trip checklists. Engine check; battery check; slide out check; tires check; tvs/entertainment systems check. Start the fridge, get the food, clothes for every occasion and don't forget the bike, tennis racquet and golf clubs.