In the Spring of 2019, Elphie and I decided to travel to California for vacation and to add Utah to Elphie's list of states visited leaving Alaska as the final state of the union left for her to visit, or so we thought at the time. Elphie had lived in San Francisco and wanted to visit again. She also has wanted to go to Los Angeles and San Diego in recent years so we decided to make the trip. We flew on Southwest Airlines to California and visited the three cities using FlixBus to get between them. Elphie's friend Debbie, who we previously visited in Seattle, joined us for the second half of our trip. She rented a car from Avis and the rest of the trip was a road trip from Los Angeles through the scenic desert and mountain areas of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada. We returned to Los Angeles to commute home after the road trip. On the road trip, we also passed through some reservations and Native tribal land. We even stayed at Dine Inn, a Native run hotel, after visiting the Grand Canyon. We learned that there were some strict alcohol laws on the tribal land. We also learned Utah has strict alcohol laws as well, most likely due to the religious influence on the state. It is interesting that it neighbors Nevada with its seemingly much laxer laws on everything. Overall, we enjoyed the trip. We had tried to build in some rest time throughout the trip. Even so, we were quite exhausted when it came to an end. Most of the road trip was a scenic drive with a good amount of it centered around the desert and rock formations. At some point, you can hear Elphie remark in the video about how many different rock formations and types we had seen and just when you think you've seen it all, there is something else.
While I hadn't necessarily made a goal of it, after this trip I have inched closer to getting all 50 states in now as well so perhaps some of our future travels can make that happen for me as well...why not?!
We once again relied fairly heavily on Atlas Obscura to find interesting things to do throughout the trip and it did not let us down! Some things were small and didn't take much time or energy to find. Other things we just happened to come across while we were out and about without specifically looking for them.
We booked most of our lodging through both booking.com and AirBnB. We did not have too many contacts in the areas we visited to be able to utilize for sleeping arrangements and some that we had were not available to help us out but we had mostly good experiences in that regard. Thanks to Stephen Weese for couch space for a couple nights in Burbank, CA.
Mountain Dew had rolled out Baja Blast right before we left and it sort of became the unofficial drink of the trip. I was able to taste In-N-Out as well as Del Taco on this trip. In-N-Out ended up being more available in the areas we were so I ended up eating there several times. I decided to highlight these in my credits I created.
I did not bring my tripod on this trip. It is a heavy item and I felt it to be unnecessary as just another thing to carry around. At times, I can have somewhat shaky hands (I have learned that my left more is more shaky than my right but I usually hold the camera with my right so it is less of a factor). The Canon Rebel T6 has more weight to it than my iPhone and previous cameras. Also, the larger lens on my Canon Rebel T6 adds more weight and it does not have stabilization technology. As a result of those factors, some of the video, particularly the sunsets, are pretty shaky. Another factor was the wind in some locations such as the beach and cliff locations as well as the chill it brought caused difficulty in holding the camera still. I hope with future work, I can improve on my free hand shooting. My apologies for some of the quality of the work throughout the project particularly in regard to shakiness. I hope it does not result in motion sickness for anyone.
In picking the songs I wanted to be a soundtrack, I wanted the songs to relate in some way to what was being shown in the video. I wanted to use the music to help shape and tell the story. I'm not entirely happy with the end result of the soundtrack but I am able to move on from it as it is without much regret. I was able to use a lot of songs that I wanted and put them in places that I felt appropriate. Some songs did not get synced up exactly to where I wanted them. one example of this is "In God's Country" by U2. I had planned to use it around the time of the project that we were in Joshua Tree but it didn't quite fit there so I moved it. Others, I had forgotten that I wanted to use them at a certain point in the project until after I had finished that part. I did not feel like putting in the extra effort of rearranging the work I felt I had finished already just to add a song so I fit them in elsewhere. One example of this is "Californication" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. I sort of squeezed it in a spot during the San Francisco part of the project when I had intended to use it earlier in the Hollywood part of the project. I added the soundtrack after I had finished editing the video. There is probably a lot more I could say in regards to the soundtrack and why each song was selected but I'd probably take a lot more time than I'd like to invest. If there are questions about the songs, you can reach out to me and I will do my best to explain if there is anything to explain about the songs. I may highlight some of the soundtrack choices throughout the rest of this blog as well.
This is the video project of the trip as filmed (and photographed) by Elphie and Joel A. Swanson.
While I hadn't necessarily made a goal of it, after this trip I have inched closer to getting all 50 states in now as well so perhaps some of our future travels can make that happen for me as well...why not?!
We once again relied fairly heavily on Atlas Obscura to find interesting things to do throughout the trip and it did not let us down! Some things were small and didn't take much time or energy to find. Other things we just happened to come across while we were out and about without specifically looking for them.
We booked most of our lodging through both booking.com and AirBnB. We did not have too many contacts in the areas we visited to be able to utilize for sleeping arrangements and some that we had were not available to help us out but we had mostly good experiences in that regard. Thanks to Stephen Weese for couch space for a couple nights in Burbank, CA.
Mountain Dew had rolled out Baja Blast right before we left and it sort of became the unofficial drink of the trip. I was able to taste In-N-Out as well as Del Taco on this trip. In-N-Out ended up being more available in the areas we were so I ended up eating there several times. I decided to highlight these in my credits I created.
I did not bring my tripod on this trip. It is a heavy item and I felt it to be unnecessary as just another thing to carry around. At times, I can have somewhat shaky hands (I have learned that my left more is more shaky than my right but I usually hold the camera with my right so it is less of a factor). The Canon Rebel T6 has more weight to it than my iPhone and previous cameras. Also, the larger lens on my Canon Rebel T6 adds more weight and it does not have stabilization technology. As a result of those factors, some of the video, particularly the sunsets, are pretty shaky. Another factor was the wind in some locations such as the beach and cliff locations as well as the chill it brought caused difficulty in holding the camera still. I hope with future work, I can improve on my free hand shooting. My apologies for some of the quality of the work throughout the project particularly in regard to shakiness. I hope it does not result in motion sickness for anyone.
In picking the songs I wanted to be a soundtrack, I wanted the songs to relate in some way to what was being shown in the video. I wanted to use the music to help shape and tell the story. I'm not entirely happy with the end result of the soundtrack but I am able to move on from it as it is without much regret. I was able to use a lot of songs that I wanted and put them in places that I felt appropriate. Some songs did not get synced up exactly to where I wanted them. one example of this is "In God's Country" by U2. I had planned to use it around the time of the project that we were in Joshua Tree but it didn't quite fit there so I moved it. Others, I had forgotten that I wanted to use them at a certain point in the project until after I had finished that part. I did not feel like putting in the extra effort of rearranging the work I felt I had finished already just to add a song so I fit them in elsewhere. One example of this is "Californication" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. I sort of squeezed it in a spot during the San Francisco part of the project when I had intended to use it earlier in the Hollywood part of the project. I added the soundtrack after I had finished editing the video. There is probably a lot more I could say in regards to the soundtrack and why each song was selected but I'd probably take a lot more time than I'd like to invest. If there are questions about the songs, you can reach out to me and I will do my best to explain if there is anything to explain about the songs. I may highlight some of the soundtrack choices throughout the rest of this blog as well.
This is the video project of the trip as filmed (and photographed) by Elphie and Joel A. Swanson.
For the teaser trailer, I used the introduction/title sequence I created as well as some parts of the end credits with "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas And The Papas as a soundtrack.
On the introduction/title (which is part of the teaser trailer as well), I took a screen shot from Google Maps of the western part of the United States and using Motion 4 on a Macbook, I made an animated dotted trail. I followed the trail with images I had downloaded of the various forms of transportation we used including a Southwest airplane and a FlixBus. I created the text for the titles and its animation as well. I also used photos we had taken during the trip that highlighted each destination and downloaded images of flags to use as backgrounds of the states and some cities that we visited as well as Mexico. The idea I was going for was to appear as though the photos were being laid out to be viewed as though they were dealt from a deck of cards. At this point, this was as close as I could come to animating that sort of appearance. I am pretty happy with how it turned out.
I put the end credits over some of the footage Elphie had shot from the window of the airplane on our return to Chicago. I tried to put it over footage that was more sky than scenery when I could. The soundtrack information ends up going over our landing in Chicago. I decided that would be how I would do it since we returned in the dark and I felt that probably not too much of interest would be hidden behind the lettering other than lights passing by. I think it does look ok.
I used the "Rosewood" font in both the introduction and credits because it had a somewhat western feel to it. I had picked several ideas and asked Elphie for her opinion on the fonts. Together, we chose "Rosewood."
I put the end credits over some of the footage Elphie had shot from the window of the airplane on our return to Chicago. I tried to put it over footage that was more sky than scenery when I could. The soundtrack information ends up going over our landing in Chicago. I decided that would be how I would do it since we returned in the dark and I felt that probably not too much of interest would be hidden behind the lettering other than lights passing by. I think it does look ok.
I used the "Rosewood" font in both the introduction and credits because it had a somewhat western feel to it. I had picked several ideas and asked Elphie for her opinion on the fonts. Together, we chose "Rosewood."
Once again, I used Motion 4 on a MacBook and took some screen shots of Google Maps to show where we went on the trip to be used throughout the project. I created dotted trails and followed the trails with downloaded images from Southwest Airlines and FlixBus along with some generic images of subway trains, streetcars, buses, ferries, and an old timey style car.. I adjusted the timing then I fit them in where I felt they made sense during (by overlaying) or among video clips of commutes. I am still learning in this process but I do feel that there has been some improvement with each project and I hope it is reflected in the finalized work.
https://youtu.be/zJkqWU1E3AU
03.19.2019
The introduction/title is placed during my final day of work between the footage I captured on the commutes to work and then from work to the airport along with shots of my preparing for my work day and preparing to leave. We flew by way of Southwest Airlines out of Midway to San Diego. When we arrived in San Diego, our plan was to use public transit to get to our hotel but people we asked kept suggesting cabs or ride shares because "no one using public transit" and seemed a bit put off by us asking for that information. We eventually did figure out the bus out of the airport to downtown then a train toward our hotel. This was quite roundabout...the hotel wasn't all that far from the airfield but we had no way of getting there by walking so taking the bus to downtown then a train back toward the hotel was what we had to do. We walked from the train station because it wasn't too far from the hotel. As we walked I saw that there was an In-N-Out Burger along the way so we stopped and I was able to get my dinner there. I really did enjoy the In-N-Out Burger quite a bit! Right next door was a Del Taco so we planned to go there on another night. We got to our hotel, a Howard Johnson, that we booked through booking.com and got some sleep.
03.20.2019
https://youtu.be/zJkqWU1E3AU
03.19.2019
The introduction/title is placed during my final day of work between the footage I captured on the commutes to work and then from work to the airport along with shots of my preparing for my work day and preparing to leave. We flew by way of Southwest Airlines out of Midway to San Diego. When we arrived in San Diego, our plan was to use public transit to get to our hotel but people we asked kept suggesting cabs or ride shares because "no one using public transit" and seemed a bit put off by us asking for that information. We eventually did figure out the bus out of the airport to downtown then a train toward our hotel. This was quite roundabout...the hotel wasn't all that far from the airfield but we had no way of getting there by walking so taking the bus to downtown then a train back toward the hotel was what we had to do. We walked from the train station because it wasn't too far from the hotel. As we walked I saw that there was an In-N-Out Burger along the way so we stopped and I was able to get my dinner there. I really did enjoy the In-N-Out Burger quite a bit! Right next door was a Del Taco so we planned to go there on another night. We got to our hotel, a Howard Johnson, that we booked through booking.com and got some sleep.
03.20.2019
We got up early to get the hotel breakfast then brought it back to our room and slept some more. It was raining throughout the day. When we got up, we decided to walk to a somewhat nearby beach called Ocean Beach. Fitting, I suppose...it was on the Ocean. We walked on a bike./hike trial along a river that emptied into the ocean and encountered a snail and skate park. The river emitted a somewhat foul odor, we assumed it to be sewage. When we got to the beach, the sun was nearing sunset time so I captured it on video. Unfortunately, there were clouds on the horizon so we didn't quite see the sun set in the proper sense. It was a bit cool and quite windy. As I wrote before, I didn't bring my tripod so a lot of the footage using my Canon Rebel T6 was shaky. This includes the sunset shots. I did my best to keep it steady but between my usual shakiness, the weight of the camera, the wind itself and the chill it brought, I was quite shaky in my shooting. I think this sunset was probably less shaky than the others in the project though. Elphie and I both touched the Pacific Ocean...Elphie walked into it while I reached down with my hand and using the footage that both Elphie and I shot I documented this using the overlay feature. We hung around at the beach for a while. there had been surfers that I captured on video during the sunset. One guy seemed to be in a state of worship as the sunset and Elphie captured a quick clip of him that I included. There were folks with a fire pit. We probably hung around for about an hour after the sun had set then began to walk back toward the hotel. We didn't consider that this trail wasn't lit so it made Elphie a bit nervous. There was a full moon that helped with visibility (and I captured it on video as well). The skate park had also emptied out so there wasn't really anyone around. We made it back to the road and tried to figure out a bus we could take back toward the hotel. It appeared there would be at least two options. We walked to the stop that seemed would be the quickest option but the time came and went without a bus. We walked back a bit from where we came to catch another bus and it did arrive. We took the bus toward the hotel and went to Del Taco for dinner before going to our room. I also liked Del Taco quite a bit. It was like a Taco Bell but with better food and better options. Sadly though, no Baja Blast equivalent.
03.21.2019
We decided that we wanted to go to Lucha Libre Taco Shop for lunch/dinner. This was a listing on Atlas Obscura. It is themed after Mexican Wrestling. Elphie and I both got burritos and they were awesome! There was a booth one could reserve that was like a wrestling ring. It may have been for the purpose of participating in a eating challenge. There was also a guest book that we signed. We left the restaurant and headed toward Point Loma. We got to Sunset Cliffs just in time for the sunset and this time no clouds got in the way! Once again the footage is very shaky. Because I was standing (the day before I had sat on the sand while shooting) and free hand shooting using the longer heavier lens that does not have stabilization as well as because of the wind and its chill I think this is probably the shakiest of all the videos. I did capture the actual sun set though, despite it being very, very shaky. We walked along the cliffs and I captured video of the ocean crashing against the rocks. We ended up walking over to Point Loma Nazarene University by way of an unexpected nighttime nature hike. Once we got there, we walked into the Student Union area and found "America's Christian Credit Union" then watched a band perform for a little bit. We walked through the campus some more then headed down a hill to catch a bus back to the hotel capturing some night shots of the moon and the city along the way.
03.22.2019
We decided that while in San Diego, we would visit Tijuana, Mexico. We took public transit to get there. Transferring trains downtown, I captured video of the Harbor Drive Pedestrian Bridge, Petco Park, and a few other sites as we continued south. We arrived at the border and went into the McDonald's to get some food and use the restroom before dealing with border control and customs. We got into Mexico without too much difficulty and resulted in getting a stamp in our passport books then we walked toward Tijuana. We mistakenly took a wrong turn and lots of cab drivers were trying to get out business. Another person took us in the direction that we actually needed to go. It didn't help Elphie and her anxiety as the guy took us through what appeared to be an abandoned shopping center. Getting into Tijuana meant crossing a bridge over a highway and that also heightened the anxiety level as well as another guy trying to get us to go into a bar ended our visit. We sat for a while and once Elphie was able to calm down, we walked over to a ice cream street vendor. Elphie really wanted to get churros but the churros they were selling was not what she expected. We both got a snack then walked toward the way back into the United States where there was a cool sign for touristy pictures and such. While making out way through the line to get back in the United States, we got a glimpse of Trump's wall. We were also greeted by a goofy picture of him as we re-entered the United States. Once we got through that process, which once again wasn't too bad, we decided to go to a shopping center sitting at the border. We could see Trump's Wall pretty much up close as well as the border patrol. We could see where there was work being done further away from the more populated and higher traffic area to build the wall. We went to Taco Bell and relaxed a bit...I got some Baja Blast to drink. We ended up getting dinner in the shopping center food court after walking around it for a while then began to head north. We figured, with our transit pass, we'd just ride the train to the fullest extent that we could. There was apparently a soccer game at SDCCU Stadium where the Chargers played before leaving the city and so we rode with a large group of soccer fans. We continued to the end of the line then took another train that looped up a different way back into the city. We missed an opportunity to see a giant lemon and apparently mummies which was on Atlas Obscura...it was apparently not far from the transit line but I realized this after we had already passed it by. It was a fun little adventure on the transit lines then we returned to our hotel.
03.23.2019
Our friend Pastor David Hart met up with us in the morning and took us to the San Diego waterfront at Seaport Village to hang out. We got to catch up with him and visited some interesting stores. While getting lunch, I captured an old man dancing and trying to get the ladies to dance with him. We got to see the 1895 Looff Carousel which is over 100 years old and wooden. As we walked some more a speedster in his wheelchair nearly ran us over. We saw some other street performers and buskers then found the "Unconditional Surrender" statue as well as the Bob Hope Memorial and of course lots of naval ships. After we walked the waterfront area, Dave took us out to "Fashion Valley" to a mall. In that mall, we came upon a Tesla Car Store and checked out the Tesla Cars. It was a good visit with Dave but he had things to do so he dropped us off at the hotel. We ran to Target in the evening to get some things for our ride to Los Angeles the next day and I ran into my old youth pastor Shane Smith who had recently relocated to San Diego. I had been in communication with his wife about possibly staying with them while we were there but it didn't quite work out. It was good to see Shane for a few minutes though. He had just gotten into town after driving across the country with the moving van. We got some food at Del Taco again then returned to the hotel to rest up for a long day of traveling in the morning.
https://youtu.be/6gi_07TTrbI
03.24.2019
We checked out of the Howard Johnson and made our way to the nearby train station where we would be catching the FlixBus to Los Angeles. Once we got there, got situated, and figured out where exactly that FlixBus would be picking us up, I decided to venture into the nearby Old Town and check it out while Elphie waited with our luggage. It was a little touristy area appearing as it might have looked during early settlement or colonization by the European folks some hundred years ago or something. We boarded the bus and headed to Los Angeles. It was a decently scenic ride. I got to see SDCCU Stadium in daylight as we had to pass it picking up other riders in another part of San Diego. We rode up I-5 along the ocean most of the time. As we passed through Anaheim I could see the Angels stadium, possibly the Ducks arena as well...and I assume I could see some of Disneyland. We arrived in downtown Los Angeles and walked over to the Los Angeles River to get a glimpse of it and its concrete glory. We boarded public transit to North Hollywood where Stephen Weese met us and picked us up. While we waited for him, we noticed a street fair going on with "Cotton Eye Joe" playing over the speakers. We would be staying with Stephen for the first couple of days in Los Angeles. He took us to his church, Expression 58, then we went to Griffith Observatory where we had a great night view of Los Angeles. We also saw the Tesla Coil and a few other interesting things in the building of the observatory. Stephen mentioned that the Hollywood Sign was visible from the Observatory. I took a shot in that direction then in editing brightened up the image to try to see if the sign would show up. It sort of does actually show up. We stopped at a Ralph's to get some groceries for the week then we arrived at Stephen's house in Burbank, driving by Disney Studio.
03.25.2019
Elphie and I spent a good portion of this day relaxing at Stephen's house in Burbank. There were citrus fruit trees that one could reach out the window of his house to take the fresh fruit if desired. We decided to take a walk to Halloween Town that wasn't too far away. We passed by a Lincoln Park that we were told may have been the inspiration for the naming of the band Linkin Park and there is apparently a picture online somewhere of Linkin Park in a Lincoln parked in Lincoln Park...or something a long those lines. Halloween Town was pretty cool. We were able to get some souvenirs including a poop that we ended up leaving in Stephen's freezer for him to find later after we had left. He did find it later and it now sits in a cup...and has acquired a friend apparently. Later in the evening, we went to Geeky Teas and played some board games. Later, we got some dinner at the Coral Cafe. They had their own version of a Shamrock Shake so I indulged in that!
03.26.2019
Stephen took us on a drive up into the Hollywood Hills on Mulholland Drive to see some of the mansions. We stopped at an overlook of Universal City. We also got a partial glimpse of the Hollywood Sign from here and drove to a few other spots which didn't result in being able to see the sign but did see a number of signs telling us that we were not welcome there to view the sign. Elphie and I went on the Warner Bros. Studio Tour after this which was informative and fun. I shot some video that I was not permitted to shoot during the tour (which I suppose could result in my video being blocked or taken down by YouTube). Costumes for Wonder Woman and Aquaman were on display. We got to visit Ellen's studio. We also got to see the vehicles used in the Batman movies. These areas were permitted for video. The tour guide was fairly funny and gave a lot of information and tried to personalize the tour to the folks and where they were from. After the tour, we walked toward Stephen's house. In fact, we passed him as he was catching a ride home. We stopped at a Chik-Fil-A for dinner then as we walked, we passed the Disney Studios. When we got to Stephen's house, we helped him get ready for a trip he had the next day and went to the grocery store with him to get some things he needed for his trip. Because Stephen had this trip, we had to figure out some other arrangements of a place to stay the next couple of nights. I found an AirBnB that wasn't too far and also near the public transit lines. I booked it and arranged to meet the host to pick up the key the next morning.
03.27.2019
I had to wake up quite early so I could get the key for the AirBnB from the host. Ultimately it was for the best because Stephen had to leave relatively early as well. She was in Burbank for work so I walked to her place of employment. This gave me the opportunity to see a few things I wouldn't have seen otherwise. I also was able to load our transit cards for the next couple of days so we could get around. I returned to Stephen's house just as he was leaving so we said goodbye and then we made our way on the bus to the AirBnB which was in North Hollywood. Once we got settled in at the AirBnB, Elphie and I headed to Hollywood to see the sites there. The station that we arrived at came out to street level near the Capitol Records building so I got a shot of that as well as a couple of the stars on the walk of fame. Elphie got some Starbucks then we headed slowly toward the Hollywood Forever cemetery. Along the way, we passed a venue where Flogging Molly had played their St. Patrick's show. We also got our first glimpse of the Hollywood Sign straight on without any obstruction. When we arrived at the Hollywood Forever cemetery, we didn't buy a map so we were a bit lost on where the celebrities were buried. We saw some peacocks and some interesting grave stones and markings but nothing of celebrities at first. We ended up using some photos that friends of ours took a year prior to figure out where at least one celebrity was which happened to be with the rest. The first celebrity we found was Johnny Ramone. Among the others that we found and documented in the video was a crypt for the Swayze's, Dee Dee Ramone, Chris Cornell, and Toto. This area was called the Garden of Legends. We also saw the feral cats that live in the cemetery. I got a shot of the Hollywood Sign from the cemetery as well as the water tower at Paramount Studios. As we left, we encountered a couple more peacocks. As we walked to get dinner, we found a house that appeared decorated for Halloween, much like where we live. We got dinner at Lucifer's Pizza, named this because of the spicy sauce. We kept to a mild sauce, I suppose defeating the purpose of going there. While there, we decided we were going to visit the Museum Of Death which was nearby. I got some shots of buildings and businesses in the area and some interesting street art on the way as well as another view of the Hollywood Sign. I am glad I got it then, after we left the Museum of Death, there was fog covering the sign. We were not permitted to use cameras in the Museum of Death and it seemed to be closely monitored so I followed the rules this time. The Museum of Death was pretty cool...lots of memorabilia from famous serial killers, unusual deaths, and some general funeral related items and things of historical significance with regards to death. After we left, we walked along the walk of fame for a bit, capturing some interesting stars along the way. I also got another shot of the Capitol Records building and a sign at Hollywood and Vine explaining the significance of the intersection. We crossed the street to go into the Beetle House - a Tim Burton themed Pop Up Bar. We walked along Hollywood Boulevard for a while longer until we got into the more touristy areas. We saw some street performers and buskers then went to Grauman's Chinese Pagoda Theater and saw some of the hand and foot prints from celebrities. There was a light show on the outside of the building as well that I captured a short clip of. A guy was doing spray paint art closer to the street that I captured a clip from as well before we left to go back to the AirBnB. As we arrived in North Hollywood, we noticed a helicopter circling overhead. We watched this for a few minutes but at one point it circled over us with the spotlight on so we decided maybe it was time to move on. I captured a little bit of this police activity on video before it was all over.
03.28.2019
Elphie came down with a cold and it had kicked in a bit heavier on this day so we didn't really go out to do much. We decided to go to Ralph's to get some cold and flu medicine for her then to get tacos are the nearby Andy's which was a local shop. We found out while at Ralph's that my Kroger card worked to get us a discount. We also passed by a Carl's Jr. and the apparent scene of the crime from the night before. The tacos at Andy's were quite good. Elphie ended up ordering more than she could eat so she gave it to a homeless person on our way back to the AirBnB. We also passed an old timey car. Once back at the AirBnB, we began to pack up to head to San Francisco in the morning. We had to get up pretty early so we figured we should get ourselves situated as much as possible the night before. Elphie could not find a drink she bought at Ralph's for the morning. We figured she might have left it at Andy's so I walked back over and found it!
https://youtu.be/bsrkpxaKdU4
The soundtrack I selected for this section caused it to be blocked on YouTube currently. You should be able to view at this link:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ll50hbLZCG71_Onur_n5HAHjFkOKLIHs
03.29.2019
Elphie and I got up early to catch the FlixBus in downtown Los Angeles for San Francisco. We walked to the North Hollywood station and made it to the FlixBus pick up location with probably 20 minutes to spare. I noticed that most of the transit stations in the Los Angeles area were decorated with art relative to the locations and it was pretty interesting. The ride to San Francisco was quite long. There was a break in the middle to get food. The terrain changed quite a bit as we went as well through the hills, mountains, desert areas, and into areas that were green. There was quite a few farm areas and vineyards along the highway as well. It was quite the scenic trip. I noticed some bells along the highway and found out that they are Mission Bells which mark El Camino Real that was a road that historically joined 21 missions in California. In San Francisco, we stayed at the Admiral Hotel in Tenderloin. It was a pretty cheap hotel which probably often houses low income or even homeless individuals. We ended up walking from where FlixBus dropped us of to the hotel, got our room key, then relaxed for the evening.
03.30.2019
Elphie was still feeling the effects of the cold/flu she came down with while in Los Angeles. Eventually, I decided to get up after sleeping fairly late into the day and checked with Elphie if it was ok that I went out and about to do some sightseeing. She was ok with it so off I went after trying to take a shower. I had a little difficulty figuring it out as the mechanism to switch to the shower was not one I was familiar with. After looking at Google Maps and consulting Atlas Obscura, I headed out into the city. Not too far down the street from our hotel is the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption. There is a shadow caused by the unique structure that appears as a breast most pronounced at around 2pm and is called the "Two O'Clock Titty." I was a bit late for this phenomenon. I headed toward the bay, going through LaFayette Park. I got a few shots down toward the bay along the walk. When I arrived down at sea level, I found a park with soccer games and kite flying among other things. I saw and took a shot of the Palace of Fine Arts then a barge carrying Hyundai containers. Then I got some shots of the Golden Gate Bridge. I also captured some wind surfers just off the nearby beach. After hanging around this area for a little bit, I walked toward the nearby Marina and got a shot of the lighthouse. I walked along the Marina to the Wave Organ which makes noises with the tide and was created out of old cemetery stones from the time of the gold rush of prospectors who probably did not have nearby family. The noises that I heard and captured really just sounded like gurgling. I also took several shots of Alcatraz from here. While I was out, Elphie asked for me to pick up some things when I could a store. I found that there was a nearby SafeWay so I went there to get what she needed as well as a Mountain Dew for myself. As I left, I walked up a hill and saw that the sun was setting behind the Golden Gate Bridge so I captured what I could of that. Once again cloud cover obscured the full sunset but it was a good view anyway. I captured a few more shots toward Alcatraz with the darkness coming in. It allowed a good shot of the lighthouse light. I made my way to the Aquatic Cove and walked on the pier where I was able to get some shots of the Bay Bridge and downtown San Francisco lit up at night. I then walked along the water to where there are more grave stones used to make an Aquatic Park near the Ghirardelli building. I captured some shots of anchors outside of the Maritime Museum. At this point I needed to find somewhere to eat. I found a nearby In-N-Out Burger so that's where I went then headed up a hill to return to the hotel. I did not realize how steep this hill would be and I happened to find Lombard Street - a very steep part of the road with hairpin turns. I also found that the Hotel Vertigo was nearby so I got a shot of that and could mark it on Atlas Obscura. I got back to the Admiral Hotel and it felt good to be off my feet finally.
03.31.2019
On Sunday, Elphie was feeling better so we went out to see some sites. I took her the way I walked the day before so she could see the "Two O'Clock Titty" at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption then we walked down the street to where the Hotel Majestic stands. It is the oldest active hotel in San Francisco. We walked a bit further and found the McElroy Octagon House before heading toward Fisherman's Wharf. We went into the Ghirardelli shop and then passed by the Andrea's Fountain in the courtyard outside. We walked down the Hyde Street Pier a little ways and saw some cool older ships and also got another shot at the Golden Gate Bridge. As we walked through the Fisherman's Wharf area, was encountered various street performers and buskers. I noticed a Joe Montana wax figure as well. We stopped at a breakdancing crew before entering Pier 39 where the seals congregate. It was an area Elphie had enjoyed when she lived in San Francisco and she wanted me to see it. We got another shot at Alcatraz from here as well. As we went through another part of Pier 39 and tried to figure out what we wanted for dinner, I noticed a double decker carousel. We also noticed Lefty's - a store for lefthanded people. I got a shot of some dogs on skateboards being rolled through the crowd as well. We ended up walking a bit further and getting pizza at Queen's Louisiana Po Boy then we watched a spray paint artist for a few minutes. Elphie purchased a painting from him. From across the street, I took a shot of the Vaillancourt Fountain...I didn't realize we'd end up walking passed it later. As we walked further, we came to the Exploratorium and some skate boarding folks around there. We continued to Rincon Park where I got a shot of Cupid's Span, Treasure Island, and the Bay Bridge. We walked into a business area where we found the Hills Brothers Statue along with Google and Mozilla facilities. There was a Wharton University of Pennsylvania there as well which I thought was strange. Coming back down the road, we watched more skate boarding in a park between the Embarcadero for a while. We stopped at the Vaillancourt Fountain before walking into the downtown and got a better shot of this interesting fountain. Elphie tried to use a public restroom but found it was occupied. In the city, we found the offices of Imgur. We walked from there through Chinatown and ended up at Union Square where we came upon the Westin which is a hotel where you can launder money. We also saw the Phelan Building, an Irish pub, and Bourbon and Branch - the Anti-Saloon League speakeasy as we walked to return to the Admiral Hotel. I decided to end this day with filming us going up the elevator.
04.01.2019
On Monday, we decided to go see sights from Elphie's life in San Francisco. We got transit passes so that we could get around further distances easier. We went to various buildings that were the school she attended, some jobs that she did, and the place she called home while living in San Francisco. Elphie was told that a house near where she lived was the "Full House" house. We checked it out and I was fairly certain this was inaccurate. I hoped we'd get a chance to see the actual one, at least according to Atlas Obscura, later in the day. We also took a trip down Haight Street seeing some historical sights there as well as were other friends lived. We saw the legs hanging out of the Piedmont Boutique. We stopped into Amoeba Music. We walked to where Haight Street met Golden Gate Park. As we headed back down Haight Street, we decided to stop at Escape From New York pizza for lunch. After our time on Haight Street, we made our way to the "Full House" house. It was being renovated. Next we headed to Alamo Park where the Painted Ladies stand nearby. These buildings also were in the "Full House" opening credits. While we were there, Elphie enjoyed watching a bird bathe in a puddle. We decided to head to the ocean after hanging out in this park. We rode a bus along the side of Golden Gate Park. In the park, there are bison...it might have been fun to check that out but I don't think we had time. At the end of the line, we got off the bus and went into the nearby Safeway to grab something to eat. Nearby was an Old Dutch Windmill. We walked over to Ocean Beach (the second Ocean Beach we visited on this trip!) and I got some shots of the scenery along the ocean there. I got some shots of the nearby cliffs and probably an old battery on top. We decided to walk up the hill and visited Camera Obscura next to the Cliff House and I got some more scenic ocean shots. While we were standing there a paramedic came and asked us if we saw a man with a dog fishing. We had not but apparently there was suspicion of an emergency as we later would see a lot of emergency vehicles. A little further up the hill we got a view of the ruins of the Sutro Baths. As we walked even further up the hill toward where we could catch a bus back to the hotel, we noticed that the sun was beginning to set so I tried to once again capture that. Once again it came out shaky due to the wind, the chill, the weight of the heavier lens, and my general shakiness anyway. I captured it the best that I could. While I was capturing the sunset, a skateboarder went by down the hill. Elphie captured that. We ended up walking through a little bit of a wooded area to get to the bus. I took a few shots of the flowers as we went a long to the bus. We were able to ride the bus most of the way back to our hotel. When we got off, we saw some old timey cars in a showroom and I captured some footage of that. We walked back to the hotel and took in a little of the Tenderloin night life.
04.02.2019
On Tuesday, we went to Alcatraz. Before leaving for that and while we took care of a situation in our hotel room, we checked out the Tenderloin National Forest. On the streetcar over to where we needed to board the ferry to get to Alcatraz, I took a couple shots out the window of some sights from Atlas Obscura, mainly a couple of fountains: Lotta's Fountain and I think the Admission Day Monument. We stopped at In-N-Out Burger before heading back to board the ferry. While getting on the ferry, I took a shot of a hillside that appeared to have collapsed, possibly a landslide. I captured some footage as we made our way to Alcatraz Island of the city, of other boats, and of other islands and land masses around us along the way. I captured our approach to Alcatraz as well including some signs referencing a period of time of Native occupation of the island. When we first got to the island, a park ranger was describing to a group that the money we pay for the Alcatraz Tour is invested in restoration of the prison buildings and other improvements. The first couple spots we stopped in described more of the history of when Native Americans had lived on the island after the prison was closed. They had painted a welcome sign on the water tower and did so by apparently standing on shoulders on the small walkway after having climbed the water tower. We checked out the morgue and some gardens then eventually entered into the prison and took the audio guided tour. We learned of life in the prison, about some notorious inmates including Al Capone, about life as a guard, and about a couple attempts at escape and the dangers that came with attempts to escape. Among this footage is some shots of the city from the island. After we finished the tour in the chow hall, we stopped in the gift shop then exited near a bird sanctuary for western gulls. The tour was interesting to me. Elphie had done this tour some years earlier and recalled more focus on the Native occupation. Perhaps she found a different tour than we did this time. We left Alcatraz Island to try to meet with a friend of Elphie's at the Baked Bear. We got ice cream cookie sandwiches. Unfortunately, Elphie's friend went to the wrong location and did not have enough time to make it to where we were before she had to be elsewhere. We tried to connect with her later but it never worked out. It had been misty or very light rain most of the day but we got caught in a harder rain storm as we walked to where the trolley is manually turned by the workers. When the rain let up, we got over there to check it out. It was interesting and sort of funny to me that it took manual labor to do this. Elphie wanted to go back to visit at her old home again so we got on the streetcar to head over there. I tried to get some shots again of the fountains as we rode passed them but they didn't turn out so well. We also went to Safeway near the house Elphie used to live in before revisiting it. We headed back to the Admiral Hotel for one last night of sleep before hitting the road.
There is more footage of our time in San Francisco than in the other California cities (and really the whole trip) because, I think we did the most there of any of the places. I went out on my own the first day as well which I didn't do in other places. It may be possible that I left things in that could have been edited out as well. Sometimes I do struggle with that. It was an enjoyable visit to this city, even though it was certainly the most expensive place visited on the trip.
https://youtu.be/0CQJoB816HE
04.03.2019
We were leaving San Francisco on Wednesday to begin the road trip part of this vacation. Unfortunately, we were rudely woke up by construction on the street below. Loud construction. Jackhammers and all that. While I did not get video of the construction going on, I did shoot the results of it as we left. We got up and got ourselves ready to go then checked out of the Admiral Hotel and headed out to catch a bus instead of walking the whole way. We had paid for transit for the first day but realized one really can get away with riding without paying so we did that. When we arrived at the Flixbus location, I got notified that it would be delayed by 45 minutes. We decided to wait around and I am glad we did as it definitely arrived quicker than that 45 minutes, even though it was still late. I captured a couple helicopters overhead as well as the funny looking San Francisco parking enforcement vehicle. I also got a shot of the nearby CalTrains. As we left, I got a couple shots of the city and a lot of scenery along the way back to Los Angeles. I was able to capture a Mission Bell this time as well. When we made our lunch stop, I got some In-N-Out Burger again. As we got near Los Angeles I got a shot of Six Flags Over California. Of course, coming into Los Angeles, we got stuck in traffic. I tried to get a shot of the Los Angeles River as we passed over it but it was dark. I also tried to get a shot of the Dodgers Stadium in the distance. Once we arrived in Los Angeles, we figured out the transit to get to LAX to meet Debbie. It was a pretty long ride overall. We eventually did make it. There was also a service disruption for the train so we had to take a shuttle bus to the airport. We met a guy from Europe in all that confusion and we all worked together to get where we needed to go, we think. We did make it to LAX then had to get ourselves to the AVIS Rental Car place which was another shuttle. Once we got there, we met with Debbie, got whatever paperwork we needed to do taken care of, and finally began the road trip! We headed east toward Joshua Tree where we had an AirBnB for the night. I captured a few night shots along the way that didn't turn out real great and I'm not entirely sure what some of it was. We stopped in Corona, CA for In-N-Out Burger. It ended up being my last In-N-Out Burger for the trip but I am sure glad I got to experience it! We continued to Joshua Tree and I captured some more night footage along the way. We arrived late at night at the AirBnB and pretty much went straight to bed. It was a long day of travel for all of us. Elphie and I on FlixBus from San Francisco...Debbie on a plane from Seattle.
04.04.2019
After getting a little sleep (we probably would have liked more) we packed up to leave out AirBnB. I got some shots of the scenery around the house in Joshua Tree before we left. As we left I captured a Crow fly by us as I captured more scenery of the area. We actually backtracked a few miles to the nearest Wal*Mart so that we could load up supplies. Our idea was to return anything we could at the end of the trip. We got lunch meats, snacks, and Mountain Dew Baja Blast for the trip. We ended up getting breakfast at Taco Bell then we began to drive east. We stopped at the Joshua Tree sign and I captured more scenery footage from there as well as the sign and some Joshua Trees. I also tried to capture the love signs as we passed them. I feel like it is possible, in the editing process, this and some other things might have been cut due to forgetting what I had shot and not being able to decipher why I had shot it all these months later (and perhaps I should get to editing much quicker). As we drove through the desert of California, I continued to capture footage of the desert and mountain scenery around us either as we drove or when we stopped. We drove through what I assume was the town of Rice, CA...now a ghost town. There was remains of a service station and fence where people had left shoes and other things. We crossed into Arizona at the town of Parker. Once in Arizona, we began to see cactus. I got a lot of footage of the cactus as we drove this day. Pretty much this day is summed up with desert and mountain scenery and cactus scenery. We watched a glider go overhead in the evening as well. As we drove up and over another mountain, we seemed to be in a prairie likely on top of a plateau. We got dinner at Gabriela's Taco Shop which is next to the World's Largest Kokopelli, a roadside attraction we weren't even aware of when we stopped. After dinner, we headed for our AirBnB in Cottonwood, AZ which was on a road with roundabouts. I captured us passing through one and learned that they apparently drive Debbie crazy. The AirBnB that we stayed in was quite interesting. The hosts live upstairs and have several New Age healing type amenities available at an extra cost. If we had stayed longer, perhaps we might have considered checking some of the extras that they had to offer. They also had a theater room. We actually arrived early enough and we weren't too exhausted from the travels of the day so we ended up watching a movie before deciding to get some sleep.
https://youtu.be/ksw55rT5IE0
04.05.2019
Elphie and I slept in while Debbie went to visit the nearby town of Sedona, AZ. We packed up and vacated the AirBnB then waited for Debbie outside. While waiting I took some shots of the scenery around the AirBnB and Cottonwood from the AirBnB. We were up the hill from a Wal*Mart which is visible in the bottom of the footage I shot. When Debbie arrived and we got loaded up, we stopped at a gas station as we left Cottonwood then we began our drive to the Grand Canyon. As is the case each day, I got footage of the mountains and deserts as we passed through. We stopped near Flagstaff at another gas station with a snowcapped mountain nearby and got some footage of that as well as pictures. As we drove to the Grand Canyon, we stopped at another canyon just outside the official national park called Little Colorado River Gorge. I got quite a bit of footage here that I felt was interesting and it wasn't even the Grand Canyon! I also captured some footage of the ravens flying around. They made a weird noise. I think one of my better shots from the whole trip is one from the raven footage when it had landed on the roof of a structure. After spending a bit of time here, we then made our way to the Grand Canyon. The first stop was at the Desert View Watchtower. I got a bit of footage here including of the watchtower. I also documented a band-aid that appeared on the tire of the car. I got more footage at Navajo Point, Lipan Point, Moran Point, and Grandview Point as well. I think that was were we stopped but I'm not certain. I believe at Grandview Point, Debbie talked to the ravens. Elphie did as well and tried to get one to come in the car. These ravens were somewhat strange looking. I had always assumed that they were basically just bigger crows. While they are bigger, they make different sounds and have fairly distinct head feathers. We turned around because it was getting late. As we made our way out of the Grand Canyon, I got more footage of a mountain in the distance and as the sun was setting over the desert. I also captured some more interesting desert formations as we drove toward Tuba City, AZ. We were staying at the Dine Inn in Tuba City. It is a Navajo reservation and we learned there were strict alcohol laws there. We got ourselves checked into the hotel and then decided to go find dinner. We saw what appeared to be a fair happening in the distance as well. We decided to eat at the Hogan Restaurant. Elphie got a plate of Native American food that we split among us. I captured some footage of flags for the United States of America, Arizona, and the Navajo Nation. We hung out in the hotel room for a bit, watching television then went to bed.
https://youtu.be/pw-mr2VQINw
04.06.2019
We woke up, loaded up, and checked out of Dine Inn...well we tried to check out. There was no one working the desk. We were told to leave our key in the room. So we did then left. As we headed through the desert to Monument Valley, I captured a lot more scenery. At one point, while we pulled off to get some scenery pictures, some dogs came up to Debbie. When it was time to go, they didn't seem to want to let us go. We crossed the Utah state line as we made our way closer to Monument Valley. As we drove, we saw many similar rock formation as we would be seeing in Monument Valley. We turned to go to the actual park and decided to pull off to get a picture. We ended up sinking into the sand and getting the car stuck. Some tour guides ended up helping to get us out after a bit of a struggle. We went into the gift shop and museum first before driving around in Monument Valley. the roads were desert dirt roads and quite bumpy...it certainly didn't help me trying to capture footage of what we were seeing. I got quite a bit of footage while in the park. We saw some footprints in the sand that we figured to be horses after seeing some people on horseback. Other than it being very bumpy, it was fun to see these rock formations. As we were leaving we his a bump so hard it opened a bottle in the back. I assume it launched into the air and the cap came off! As we drove down the main road it became clear that we could have seen most of the rock formations without paying to go into the park. I got some more footage as we drove to the Four Corners of desert and mountains. We stopped at Mexican Hat and got a shot of that as well. We passed through a town where some horses were wandering free. At the Four Corners, I got some shots of all the flags, and we took our turn to be in the four states at once: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. There were monuments with information about the four states as well and a sign informing us to not spread ashes on the site as the Native folks find cremation to be disrespectful and the park is Navajo land. We left by way of New Mexico and ended up going by Shiprock. We also passed some sort of monument of a what appeared to be a warrior of some kind. Once we got to the town of Shiprock, we turned north and headed to Colorado. It seemed that there were storm clouds around us and I looked out the window and saw what appeared to be small tornadoes so I captured a shot of this. We arrived at the Colorado state line and took a driving break. I decided to walk back to the sign that stated we were leaving New Mexico then walked back to the Colorado sign. There were lots of broken bottles along the highway. I also think I saw some coyote tracks as well that I tried to document on my walk back to the car and the sign for Colorado. As we continued to drive, we passed a Native American style rest area and went through a town that had a junk yard with interesting metal art around it. We ended up stopping for dinner at a Wendy's in Cortez, Colorado then headed back into Utah. Our trip into Utah gave us the opportunity to see the sunset over a snow covered mountain. The sunset made the drive a bit difficult for Debbie visibility wise. We arrived at our AirBnB in Blanding, UT which was described as "The Tree House Suite." There was various pieces of art created by the home owner on display at the AirBnB and I got some footage of that. I found it to be pretty interesting. In the morning, I looked out the window and came to find out why it was called the Treehouse.
https://youtu.be/_MH8c4QQBVI
04.07.2019
We woke early on Sunday morning and began another long day of driving, with a quick stop at a coffee shop before getting on our way. I captured more footage of the mountain where the sun had set behind the night before as well as more desert and mountain scenery as we went along. I captured some more rock formation including some arches that were along the way. We passed Church Rock and Hole n" The Rock. We reached the town of Moab where I captured a little bit of footage while we figured out where we needed to go. We ended up in a detour that threw us off a bit but we figured our way through and headed to Arches National Park not too far away. We did not feel we had a lot of time to spend at the Arches but we drove out to one spot. Along the way we were able to capture some footage of the scenery in the park. The spot we drove to, we could see a very clear and distinct arch but we did not have the time to walk up the path to the arch. I was able to zoom in on it to get a decent shot of the arch. As we left Arches, we passed through quite a bit of different scenery in the desert and mountains. We happened to pass an Alien Jerky stand as we entered I-70. Along I-70, we came upon a scenic pull off for Black Dragon Canyon and decided to take a little break. I captured more scenery as we rested here. We continued to drive through the desert and mountains. Elphie remarked that "once you thought you've seen all the rock formations, there's another one." We took another little break at a gas station. I used a urinal that someone decided to write Trump 2020 on. We continued on our way to Bryce Canyon and arrived there with probably an hour of daylight to spare. We really only got to one spot to view the scenery which included rock formations called Hoodoos. These were interesting. We were at probably about the highest elevation of the entire trip during this day. As we left Bryce Canyon, I captured parts of another sunset. We arrived in Cedar City, UT and decided to eat at Panda Express. We actually hoped to find a real Chinese buffet but nothing appeared to be open as we arrived in town. We had an AirBnB in Cedar City and we headed there after getting dinner. From the AirBnB, I captured a night shot of the town including a brightly lit church building.
https://youtu.be/XLleKCIQifQ
Go to the following link if you can't view the video. There's an issue with copyrights on a song I picked for the soundtrack:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1SQm1O_yQQkYgIwLi5pOFpS6ODOIt12N4
04.08.2019
We woke fairly early at our AirBnB in Cedar City, Utah and made our way to Starbucks for Debbie to get her morning coffee then began the journey to Las Vegas, NV. I'm not sure if this day was a longer drive than the others we had done but it sure felt like a long day. We passed back into Arizona then into Nevada as we drove through the scenic desert and mountains. When we arrived in Las Vegas, I decided to add in a clip from Swingers when the guys drive to Las Vegas and shout, "VEGAS!" I did this in the background as transparent as I could so it wouldn't interfere too much with the video. We went to Palace Station Hotel and Casino to their Feast Buffet. Our options were somewhat limited on a Monday in the late morning. The food was pretty good but there wasn't as much variety as I expected. I also wasn't able to eat as much as I would have liked to try to get my money's worth. This casino was off the strip a bit and suggested by Elphie's friend Dan who met up with us while we ate. Elphie got to catch up with him for a bit and he seemed like a good dude. When we left, we decided to drive through the Strip. I decided to keep most of that footage and sped it up to save a little bit of time for viewing. Once we got through the strip, we headed back east to Hoover Dam. All the travel had taken a lot out of Elphie so she stayed at the car as Debbie and I walked up to see the view of Hoover Dam. I took a couple different shots. One with my iPhone 8 and used both lenses on my Canon Rebel T6. The view was from a sidewalk on the Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, a relatively new highway built to bypass the dam where a road goes over top of it. I think I captured the Winged Figures of the Republic monument from where I was shooting. We headed back west from here and mistakenly ended up driving back into Las Vegas which allowed me to see the new stadium being built for the Raiders. As we headed toward California, we were going to need to stop for gas and near the town of Jean, NV, we saw signs for the Largest Chevron Station which was also called a "Terrible's" and there was also a hotel and casino, apparently. As we approached, we saw the charred remains of a car that probably had recently burnt. We went to get gas but the gas station had lost power and hadn't yet gotten back online so the pumps were not working. We went in for a restroom break and to check out the place as well. It was interesting and certainly large. The men's restroom had funny jokes on the walls about making sure that you don't miss when peeing in the toilet or urinal. We left and there was a bird eating the dead bugs off the grill of the car as we approached it. The next exit had considerably higher priced gas but we needed to fuel up. There was an amusement park at that exit as well. It appeared to be a large pile of rocks near it at had a mine type look to it. I made a joke that rocks deserve amusement as well. As we crossed over into California, we saw a couple big solar fields with bright light emitting from it called Ivanpah. Next stop was in Baker, CA where the World's Tallest Thermometer sits at the edge of Death Valley. The temperature read 98 degrees. I didn't feel that hot but I recall from a previous trip in high school to the desert in Juarez, Mexico, that dry heat is different and doesn't feel as oppressive as humid heat. We went in the store for a bit. There was a ring game but I couldn't get the ring on the hook in the wall. I failed. Debbie bought a magnet because she felt bad for the town. It was pretty desolate. Many building falling down and looked like nearly a ghost town. I guess this is a fairly common sight in this part of California. As we drove to Apple Valley, and as I captured a little bit of scenery but I missed the sign for Zzyzx which has an interesting history. We passed an abandoned waterpark known as Rock-a-Hoola. We got to the AirBnB but the owner was not ready for us to stay yet. She said she needed to do some cleaning. Again, the trip had taken a lot out of Elphie and she just wanted to lay down but we had to leave. We ended up going to the Wal*Mart nearby where we returned the things that we used on the trip that we could return. There was also a Taco Bell so we got some dinner there. I shot another sunset from the parking lot. When we got to the AirBnB, we organized our luggage and Elphie went right to bed. I went out and got some shots of the moon as well as night shots of the town before going to bed.
04.09.2019
We woke fairly early to leave the "Flying Nun" AirBnB we stayed at in Apple Valley, CA. We made a Starbucks stop then traveled out of town on Route 66 to the interstate. As we made our way to Los Angeles, we passed by San Dimas (of Bill and Ted fame) as well as Riverside (home of the Martin Brothers - Starflyer 59, Joy Electric, etc.). As we drove we encountered an accident which slowed us down a little bit. We also hit some Los Angeles traffic. I got a shot of the city from the highway as well as a shot of LAX from the highway including its alien spaceship looking structure. As we made our way to the airport, I got a shot of an arriving flight passing just over our heads. We fueled up the car then returned it to AVIS. We did quite a number on that vehicle. Lots of sand on it and throughout it...not to mention some rough rides like the one in Monument Valley. We took the tram to the airport terminals we each needed so our goodbyes occurred on the tram. We were a bit early to check in so we sat and waited with the alien spaceship just outside our window. Once we were permitted to go into our terminal for our Southwest flight, we got through the checkpoint. Elphie got a bit more thorough search this time. We waited on our flight and got some lunch in the airport. Once we got on the airplane, Elphie took some video of the takeoff process as well as shots of from the air of Los Angeles including the new football stadium being built, the ocean, the deserts we had driven through including Bryce Canyon, the snow covered Rocky Mountains, and our landing in Chicago. The final shot is a view of Chicago from Midway as we made our way to the CTA station to go home. I added the text for the credits over parts of this footage but I tried not to cover the more interesting scenery in this footage. I did cover a bit more of the landing than I had preferred but the reality of what is shown in that footage was some lights passing by in the darkness and the motion of the impact.
This final day footage was the first part I worked on in the process of getting this project done followed by the first day's footage. I added the text for the credits after finishing the editing of the video for the rest of the project then after adding the soundtracks, I added more title to acknowledge the music that I used. Before I did this, Elphie suggested trying to add gratitude toward the Native people with regard to their land that we passed through or stayed on especially during the road trip. We tried to gather as much information on this as we could but I am sure we missed some. I chose to use "Hotel California" by The Eagles as the ending soundtrack sort of as an irony due to the line "you can check out anytime you like but you can never leave" being in a song as we are leaving.
This was a good trip. We covered a lot of the country and got in visits to places that we really did want to go to for one reason or another. In working through all the footage for this project, I was happy for the most part but I am very much aware that improvement is needed in my free hand shooting with the Canon Rebel T6. I also realize I need to clean some dust from somewhere in the camera...I assume it's on the mirrors inside. I think this is also true on the next project I will be working on from our trip to Alaska.
03.21.2019
We decided that we wanted to go to Lucha Libre Taco Shop for lunch/dinner. This was a listing on Atlas Obscura. It is themed after Mexican Wrestling. Elphie and I both got burritos and they were awesome! There was a booth one could reserve that was like a wrestling ring. It may have been for the purpose of participating in a eating challenge. There was also a guest book that we signed. We left the restaurant and headed toward Point Loma. We got to Sunset Cliffs just in time for the sunset and this time no clouds got in the way! Once again the footage is very shaky. Because I was standing (the day before I had sat on the sand while shooting) and free hand shooting using the longer heavier lens that does not have stabilization as well as because of the wind and its chill I think this is probably the shakiest of all the videos. I did capture the actual sun set though, despite it being very, very shaky. We walked along the cliffs and I captured video of the ocean crashing against the rocks. We ended up walking over to Point Loma Nazarene University by way of an unexpected nighttime nature hike. Once we got there, we walked into the Student Union area and found "America's Christian Credit Union" then watched a band perform for a little bit. We walked through the campus some more then headed down a hill to catch a bus back to the hotel capturing some night shots of the moon and the city along the way.
03.22.2019
We decided that while in San Diego, we would visit Tijuana, Mexico. We took public transit to get there. Transferring trains downtown, I captured video of the Harbor Drive Pedestrian Bridge, Petco Park, and a few other sites as we continued south. We arrived at the border and went into the McDonald's to get some food and use the restroom before dealing with border control and customs. We got into Mexico without too much difficulty and resulted in getting a stamp in our passport books then we walked toward Tijuana. We mistakenly took a wrong turn and lots of cab drivers were trying to get out business. Another person took us in the direction that we actually needed to go. It didn't help Elphie and her anxiety as the guy took us through what appeared to be an abandoned shopping center. Getting into Tijuana meant crossing a bridge over a highway and that also heightened the anxiety level as well as another guy trying to get us to go into a bar ended our visit. We sat for a while and once Elphie was able to calm down, we walked over to a ice cream street vendor. Elphie really wanted to get churros but the churros they were selling was not what she expected. We both got a snack then walked toward the way back into the United States where there was a cool sign for touristy pictures and such. While making out way through the line to get back in the United States, we got a glimpse of Trump's wall. We were also greeted by a goofy picture of him as we re-entered the United States. Once we got through that process, which once again wasn't too bad, we decided to go to a shopping center sitting at the border. We could see Trump's Wall pretty much up close as well as the border patrol. We could see where there was work being done further away from the more populated and higher traffic area to build the wall. We went to Taco Bell and relaxed a bit...I got some Baja Blast to drink. We ended up getting dinner in the shopping center food court after walking around it for a while then began to head north. We figured, with our transit pass, we'd just ride the train to the fullest extent that we could. There was apparently a soccer game at SDCCU Stadium where the Chargers played before leaving the city and so we rode with a large group of soccer fans. We continued to the end of the line then took another train that looped up a different way back into the city. We missed an opportunity to see a giant lemon and apparently mummies which was on Atlas Obscura...it was apparently not far from the transit line but I realized this after we had already passed it by. It was a fun little adventure on the transit lines then we returned to our hotel.
03.23.2019
Our friend Pastor David Hart met up with us in the morning and took us to the San Diego waterfront at Seaport Village to hang out. We got to catch up with him and visited some interesting stores. While getting lunch, I captured an old man dancing and trying to get the ladies to dance with him. We got to see the 1895 Looff Carousel which is over 100 years old and wooden. As we walked some more a speedster in his wheelchair nearly ran us over. We saw some other street performers and buskers then found the "Unconditional Surrender" statue as well as the Bob Hope Memorial and of course lots of naval ships. After we walked the waterfront area, Dave took us out to "Fashion Valley" to a mall. In that mall, we came upon a Tesla Car Store and checked out the Tesla Cars. It was a good visit with Dave but he had things to do so he dropped us off at the hotel. We ran to Target in the evening to get some things for our ride to Los Angeles the next day and I ran into my old youth pastor Shane Smith who had recently relocated to San Diego. I had been in communication with his wife about possibly staying with them while we were there but it didn't quite work out. It was good to see Shane for a few minutes though. He had just gotten into town after driving across the country with the moving van. We got some food at Del Taco again then returned to the hotel to rest up for a long day of traveling in the morning.
https://youtu.be/6gi_07TTrbI
03.24.2019
We checked out of the Howard Johnson and made our way to the nearby train station where we would be catching the FlixBus to Los Angeles. Once we got there, got situated, and figured out where exactly that FlixBus would be picking us up, I decided to venture into the nearby Old Town and check it out while Elphie waited with our luggage. It was a little touristy area appearing as it might have looked during early settlement or colonization by the European folks some hundred years ago or something. We boarded the bus and headed to Los Angeles. It was a decently scenic ride. I got to see SDCCU Stadium in daylight as we had to pass it picking up other riders in another part of San Diego. We rode up I-5 along the ocean most of the time. As we passed through Anaheim I could see the Angels stadium, possibly the Ducks arena as well...and I assume I could see some of Disneyland. We arrived in downtown Los Angeles and walked over to the Los Angeles River to get a glimpse of it and its concrete glory. We boarded public transit to North Hollywood where Stephen Weese met us and picked us up. While we waited for him, we noticed a street fair going on with "Cotton Eye Joe" playing over the speakers. We would be staying with Stephen for the first couple of days in Los Angeles. He took us to his church, Expression 58, then we went to Griffith Observatory where we had a great night view of Los Angeles. We also saw the Tesla Coil and a few other interesting things in the building of the observatory. Stephen mentioned that the Hollywood Sign was visible from the Observatory. I took a shot in that direction then in editing brightened up the image to try to see if the sign would show up. It sort of does actually show up. We stopped at a Ralph's to get some groceries for the week then we arrived at Stephen's house in Burbank, driving by Disney Studio.
03.25.2019
Elphie and I spent a good portion of this day relaxing at Stephen's house in Burbank. There were citrus fruit trees that one could reach out the window of his house to take the fresh fruit if desired. We decided to take a walk to Halloween Town that wasn't too far away. We passed by a Lincoln Park that we were told may have been the inspiration for the naming of the band Linkin Park and there is apparently a picture online somewhere of Linkin Park in a Lincoln parked in Lincoln Park...or something a long those lines. Halloween Town was pretty cool. We were able to get some souvenirs including a poop that we ended up leaving in Stephen's freezer for him to find later after we had left. He did find it later and it now sits in a cup...and has acquired a friend apparently. Later in the evening, we went to Geeky Teas and played some board games. Later, we got some dinner at the Coral Cafe. They had their own version of a Shamrock Shake so I indulged in that!
03.26.2019
Stephen took us on a drive up into the Hollywood Hills on Mulholland Drive to see some of the mansions. We stopped at an overlook of Universal City. We also got a partial glimpse of the Hollywood Sign from here and drove to a few other spots which didn't result in being able to see the sign but did see a number of signs telling us that we were not welcome there to view the sign. Elphie and I went on the Warner Bros. Studio Tour after this which was informative and fun. I shot some video that I was not permitted to shoot during the tour (which I suppose could result in my video being blocked or taken down by YouTube). Costumes for Wonder Woman and Aquaman were on display. We got to visit Ellen's studio. We also got to see the vehicles used in the Batman movies. These areas were permitted for video. The tour guide was fairly funny and gave a lot of information and tried to personalize the tour to the folks and where they were from. After the tour, we walked toward Stephen's house. In fact, we passed him as he was catching a ride home. We stopped at a Chik-Fil-A for dinner then as we walked, we passed the Disney Studios. When we got to Stephen's house, we helped him get ready for a trip he had the next day and went to the grocery store with him to get some things he needed for his trip. Because Stephen had this trip, we had to figure out some other arrangements of a place to stay the next couple of nights. I found an AirBnB that wasn't too far and also near the public transit lines. I booked it and arranged to meet the host to pick up the key the next morning.
03.27.2019
I had to wake up quite early so I could get the key for the AirBnB from the host. Ultimately it was for the best because Stephen had to leave relatively early as well. She was in Burbank for work so I walked to her place of employment. This gave me the opportunity to see a few things I wouldn't have seen otherwise. I also was able to load our transit cards for the next couple of days so we could get around. I returned to Stephen's house just as he was leaving so we said goodbye and then we made our way on the bus to the AirBnB which was in North Hollywood. Once we got settled in at the AirBnB, Elphie and I headed to Hollywood to see the sites there. The station that we arrived at came out to street level near the Capitol Records building so I got a shot of that as well as a couple of the stars on the walk of fame. Elphie got some Starbucks then we headed slowly toward the Hollywood Forever cemetery. Along the way, we passed a venue where Flogging Molly had played their St. Patrick's show. We also got our first glimpse of the Hollywood Sign straight on without any obstruction. When we arrived at the Hollywood Forever cemetery, we didn't buy a map so we were a bit lost on where the celebrities were buried. We saw some peacocks and some interesting grave stones and markings but nothing of celebrities at first. We ended up using some photos that friends of ours took a year prior to figure out where at least one celebrity was which happened to be with the rest. The first celebrity we found was Johnny Ramone. Among the others that we found and documented in the video was a crypt for the Swayze's, Dee Dee Ramone, Chris Cornell, and Toto. This area was called the Garden of Legends. We also saw the feral cats that live in the cemetery. I got a shot of the Hollywood Sign from the cemetery as well as the water tower at Paramount Studios. As we left, we encountered a couple more peacocks. As we walked to get dinner, we found a house that appeared decorated for Halloween, much like where we live. We got dinner at Lucifer's Pizza, named this because of the spicy sauce. We kept to a mild sauce, I suppose defeating the purpose of going there. While there, we decided we were going to visit the Museum Of Death which was nearby. I got some shots of buildings and businesses in the area and some interesting street art on the way as well as another view of the Hollywood Sign. I am glad I got it then, after we left the Museum of Death, there was fog covering the sign. We were not permitted to use cameras in the Museum of Death and it seemed to be closely monitored so I followed the rules this time. The Museum of Death was pretty cool...lots of memorabilia from famous serial killers, unusual deaths, and some general funeral related items and things of historical significance with regards to death. After we left, we walked along the walk of fame for a bit, capturing some interesting stars along the way. I also got another shot of the Capitol Records building and a sign at Hollywood and Vine explaining the significance of the intersection. We crossed the street to go into the Beetle House - a Tim Burton themed Pop Up Bar. We walked along Hollywood Boulevard for a while longer until we got into the more touristy areas. We saw some street performers and buskers then went to Grauman's Chinese Pagoda Theater and saw some of the hand and foot prints from celebrities. There was a light show on the outside of the building as well that I captured a short clip of. A guy was doing spray paint art closer to the street that I captured a clip from as well before we left to go back to the AirBnB. As we arrived in North Hollywood, we noticed a helicopter circling overhead. We watched this for a few minutes but at one point it circled over us with the spotlight on so we decided maybe it was time to move on. I captured a little bit of this police activity on video before it was all over.
03.28.2019
Elphie came down with a cold and it had kicked in a bit heavier on this day so we didn't really go out to do much. We decided to go to Ralph's to get some cold and flu medicine for her then to get tacos are the nearby Andy's which was a local shop. We found out while at Ralph's that my Kroger card worked to get us a discount. We also passed by a Carl's Jr. and the apparent scene of the crime from the night before. The tacos at Andy's were quite good. Elphie ended up ordering more than she could eat so she gave it to a homeless person on our way back to the AirBnB. We also passed an old timey car. Once back at the AirBnB, we began to pack up to head to San Francisco in the morning. We had to get up pretty early so we figured we should get ourselves situated as much as possible the night before. Elphie could not find a drink she bought at Ralph's for the morning. We figured she might have left it at Andy's so I walked back over and found it!
https://youtu.be/bsrkpxaKdU4
The soundtrack I selected for this section caused it to be blocked on YouTube currently. You should be able to view at this link:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ll50hbLZCG71_Onur_n5HAHjFkOKLIHs
03.29.2019
Elphie and I got up early to catch the FlixBus in downtown Los Angeles for San Francisco. We walked to the North Hollywood station and made it to the FlixBus pick up location with probably 20 minutes to spare. I noticed that most of the transit stations in the Los Angeles area were decorated with art relative to the locations and it was pretty interesting. The ride to San Francisco was quite long. There was a break in the middle to get food. The terrain changed quite a bit as we went as well through the hills, mountains, desert areas, and into areas that were green. There was quite a few farm areas and vineyards along the highway as well. It was quite the scenic trip. I noticed some bells along the highway and found out that they are Mission Bells which mark El Camino Real that was a road that historically joined 21 missions in California. In San Francisco, we stayed at the Admiral Hotel in Tenderloin. It was a pretty cheap hotel which probably often houses low income or even homeless individuals. We ended up walking from where FlixBus dropped us of to the hotel, got our room key, then relaxed for the evening.
03.30.2019
Elphie was still feeling the effects of the cold/flu she came down with while in Los Angeles. Eventually, I decided to get up after sleeping fairly late into the day and checked with Elphie if it was ok that I went out and about to do some sightseeing. She was ok with it so off I went after trying to take a shower. I had a little difficulty figuring it out as the mechanism to switch to the shower was not one I was familiar with. After looking at Google Maps and consulting Atlas Obscura, I headed out into the city. Not too far down the street from our hotel is the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption. There is a shadow caused by the unique structure that appears as a breast most pronounced at around 2pm and is called the "Two O'Clock Titty." I was a bit late for this phenomenon. I headed toward the bay, going through LaFayette Park. I got a few shots down toward the bay along the walk. When I arrived down at sea level, I found a park with soccer games and kite flying among other things. I saw and took a shot of the Palace of Fine Arts then a barge carrying Hyundai containers. Then I got some shots of the Golden Gate Bridge. I also captured some wind surfers just off the nearby beach. After hanging around this area for a little bit, I walked toward the nearby Marina and got a shot of the lighthouse. I walked along the Marina to the Wave Organ which makes noises with the tide and was created out of old cemetery stones from the time of the gold rush of prospectors who probably did not have nearby family. The noises that I heard and captured really just sounded like gurgling. I also took several shots of Alcatraz from here. While I was out, Elphie asked for me to pick up some things when I could a store. I found that there was a nearby SafeWay so I went there to get what she needed as well as a Mountain Dew for myself. As I left, I walked up a hill and saw that the sun was setting behind the Golden Gate Bridge so I captured what I could of that. Once again cloud cover obscured the full sunset but it was a good view anyway. I captured a few more shots toward Alcatraz with the darkness coming in. It allowed a good shot of the lighthouse light. I made my way to the Aquatic Cove and walked on the pier where I was able to get some shots of the Bay Bridge and downtown San Francisco lit up at night. I then walked along the water to where there are more grave stones used to make an Aquatic Park near the Ghirardelli building. I captured some shots of anchors outside of the Maritime Museum. At this point I needed to find somewhere to eat. I found a nearby In-N-Out Burger so that's where I went then headed up a hill to return to the hotel. I did not realize how steep this hill would be and I happened to find Lombard Street - a very steep part of the road with hairpin turns. I also found that the Hotel Vertigo was nearby so I got a shot of that and could mark it on Atlas Obscura. I got back to the Admiral Hotel and it felt good to be off my feet finally.
03.31.2019
On Sunday, Elphie was feeling better so we went out to see some sites. I took her the way I walked the day before so she could see the "Two O'Clock Titty" at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption then we walked down the street to where the Hotel Majestic stands. It is the oldest active hotel in San Francisco. We walked a bit further and found the McElroy Octagon House before heading toward Fisherman's Wharf. We went into the Ghirardelli shop and then passed by the Andrea's Fountain in the courtyard outside. We walked down the Hyde Street Pier a little ways and saw some cool older ships and also got another shot at the Golden Gate Bridge. As we walked through the Fisherman's Wharf area, was encountered various street performers and buskers. I noticed a Joe Montana wax figure as well. We stopped at a breakdancing crew before entering Pier 39 where the seals congregate. It was an area Elphie had enjoyed when she lived in San Francisco and she wanted me to see it. We got another shot at Alcatraz from here as well. As we went through another part of Pier 39 and tried to figure out what we wanted for dinner, I noticed a double decker carousel. We also noticed Lefty's - a store for lefthanded people. I got a shot of some dogs on skateboards being rolled through the crowd as well. We ended up walking a bit further and getting pizza at Queen's Louisiana Po Boy then we watched a spray paint artist for a few minutes. Elphie purchased a painting from him. From across the street, I took a shot of the Vaillancourt Fountain...I didn't realize we'd end up walking passed it later. As we walked further, we came to the Exploratorium and some skate boarding folks around there. We continued to Rincon Park where I got a shot of Cupid's Span, Treasure Island, and the Bay Bridge. We walked into a business area where we found the Hills Brothers Statue along with Google and Mozilla facilities. There was a Wharton University of Pennsylvania there as well which I thought was strange. Coming back down the road, we watched more skate boarding in a park between the Embarcadero for a while. We stopped at the Vaillancourt Fountain before walking into the downtown and got a better shot of this interesting fountain. Elphie tried to use a public restroom but found it was occupied. In the city, we found the offices of Imgur. We walked from there through Chinatown and ended up at Union Square where we came upon the Westin which is a hotel where you can launder money. We also saw the Phelan Building, an Irish pub, and Bourbon and Branch - the Anti-Saloon League speakeasy as we walked to return to the Admiral Hotel. I decided to end this day with filming us going up the elevator.
04.01.2019
On Monday, we decided to go see sights from Elphie's life in San Francisco. We got transit passes so that we could get around further distances easier. We went to various buildings that were the school she attended, some jobs that she did, and the place she called home while living in San Francisco. Elphie was told that a house near where she lived was the "Full House" house. We checked it out and I was fairly certain this was inaccurate. I hoped we'd get a chance to see the actual one, at least according to Atlas Obscura, later in the day. We also took a trip down Haight Street seeing some historical sights there as well as were other friends lived. We saw the legs hanging out of the Piedmont Boutique. We stopped into Amoeba Music. We walked to where Haight Street met Golden Gate Park. As we headed back down Haight Street, we decided to stop at Escape From New York pizza for lunch. After our time on Haight Street, we made our way to the "Full House" house. It was being renovated. Next we headed to Alamo Park where the Painted Ladies stand nearby. These buildings also were in the "Full House" opening credits. While we were there, Elphie enjoyed watching a bird bathe in a puddle. We decided to head to the ocean after hanging out in this park. We rode a bus along the side of Golden Gate Park. In the park, there are bison...it might have been fun to check that out but I don't think we had time. At the end of the line, we got off the bus and went into the nearby Safeway to grab something to eat. Nearby was an Old Dutch Windmill. We walked over to Ocean Beach (the second Ocean Beach we visited on this trip!) and I got some shots of the scenery along the ocean there. I got some shots of the nearby cliffs and probably an old battery on top. We decided to walk up the hill and visited Camera Obscura next to the Cliff House and I got some more scenic ocean shots. While we were standing there a paramedic came and asked us if we saw a man with a dog fishing. We had not but apparently there was suspicion of an emergency as we later would see a lot of emergency vehicles. A little further up the hill we got a view of the ruins of the Sutro Baths. As we walked even further up the hill toward where we could catch a bus back to the hotel, we noticed that the sun was beginning to set so I tried to once again capture that. Once again it came out shaky due to the wind, the chill, the weight of the heavier lens, and my general shakiness anyway. I captured it the best that I could. While I was capturing the sunset, a skateboarder went by down the hill. Elphie captured that. We ended up walking through a little bit of a wooded area to get to the bus. I took a few shots of the flowers as we went a long to the bus. We were able to ride the bus most of the way back to our hotel. When we got off, we saw some old timey cars in a showroom and I captured some footage of that. We walked back to the hotel and took in a little of the Tenderloin night life.
04.02.2019
On Tuesday, we went to Alcatraz. Before leaving for that and while we took care of a situation in our hotel room, we checked out the Tenderloin National Forest. On the streetcar over to where we needed to board the ferry to get to Alcatraz, I took a couple shots out the window of some sights from Atlas Obscura, mainly a couple of fountains: Lotta's Fountain and I think the Admission Day Monument. We stopped at In-N-Out Burger before heading back to board the ferry. While getting on the ferry, I took a shot of a hillside that appeared to have collapsed, possibly a landslide. I captured some footage as we made our way to Alcatraz Island of the city, of other boats, and of other islands and land masses around us along the way. I captured our approach to Alcatraz as well including some signs referencing a period of time of Native occupation of the island. When we first got to the island, a park ranger was describing to a group that the money we pay for the Alcatraz Tour is invested in restoration of the prison buildings and other improvements. The first couple spots we stopped in described more of the history of when Native Americans had lived on the island after the prison was closed. They had painted a welcome sign on the water tower and did so by apparently standing on shoulders on the small walkway after having climbed the water tower. We checked out the morgue and some gardens then eventually entered into the prison and took the audio guided tour. We learned of life in the prison, about some notorious inmates including Al Capone, about life as a guard, and about a couple attempts at escape and the dangers that came with attempts to escape. Among this footage is some shots of the city from the island. After we finished the tour in the chow hall, we stopped in the gift shop then exited near a bird sanctuary for western gulls. The tour was interesting to me. Elphie had done this tour some years earlier and recalled more focus on the Native occupation. Perhaps she found a different tour than we did this time. We left Alcatraz Island to try to meet with a friend of Elphie's at the Baked Bear. We got ice cream cookie sandwiches. Unfortunately, Elphie's friend went to the wrong location and did not have enough time to make it to where we were before she had to be elsewhere. We tried to connect with her later but it never worked out. It had been misty or very light rain most of the day but we got caught in a harder rain storm as we walked to where the trolley is manually turned by the workers. When the rain let up, we got over there to check it out. It was interesting and sort of funny to me that it took manual labor to do this. Elphie wanted to go back to visit at her old home again so we got on the streetcar to head over there. I tried to get some shots again of the fountains as we rode passed them but they didn't turn out so well. We also went to Safeway near the house Elphie used to live in before revisiting it. We headed back to the Admiral Hotel for one last night of sleep before hitting the road.
There is more footage of our time in San Francisco than in the other California cities (and really the whole trip) because, I think we did the most there of any of the places. I went out on my own the first day as well which I didn't do in other places. It may be possible that I left things in that could have been edited out as well. Sometimes I do struggle with that. It was an enjoyable visit to this city, even though it was certainly the most expensive place visited on the trip.
https://youtu.be/0CQJoB816HE
04.03.2019
We were leaving San Francisco on Wednesday to begin the road trip part of this vacation. Unfortunately, we were rudely woke up by construction on the street below. Loud construction. Jackhammers and all that. While I did not get video of the construction going on, I did shoot the results of it as we left. We got up and got ourselves ready to go then checked out of the Admiral Hotel and headed out to catch a bus instead of walking the whole way. We had paid for transit for the first day but realized one really can get away with riding without paying so we did that. When we arrived at the Flixbus location, I got notified that it would be delayed by 45 minutes. We decided to wait around and I am glad we did as it definitely arrived quicker than that 45 minutes, even though it was still late. I captured a couple helicopters overhead as well as the funny looking San Francisco parking enforcement vehicle. I also got a shot of the nearby CalTrains. As we left, I got a couple shots of the city and a lot of scenery along the way back to Los Angeles. I was able to capture a Mission Bell this time as well. When we made our lunch stop, I got some In-N-Out Burger again. As we got near Los Angeles I got a shot of Six Flags Over California. Of course, coming into Los Angeles, we got stuck in traffic. I tried to get a shot of the Los Angeles River as we passed over it but it was dark. I also tried to get a shot of the Dodgers Stadium in the distance. Once we arrived in Los Angeles, we figured out the transit to get to LAX to meet Debbie. It was a pretty long ride overall. We eventually did make it. There was also a service disruption for the train so we had to take a shuttle bus to the airport. We met a guy from Europe in all that confusion and we all worked together to get where we needed to go, we think. We did make it to LAX then had to get ourselves to the AVIS Rental Car place which was another shuttle. Once we got there, we met with Debbie, got whatever paperwork we needed to do taken care of, and finally began the road trip! We headed east toward Joshua Tree where we had an AirBnB for the night. I captured a few night shots along the way that didn't turn out real great and I'm not entirely sure what some of it was. We stopped in Corona, CA for In-N-Out Burger. It ended up being my last In-N-Out Burger for the trip but I am sure glad I got to experience it! We continued to Joshua Tree and I captured some more night footage along the way. We arrived late at night at the AirBnB and pretty much went straight to bed. It was a long day of travel for all of us. Elphie and I on FlixBus from San Francisco...Debbie on a plane from Seattle.
04.04.2019
After getting a little sleep (we probably would have liked more) we packed up to leave out AirBnB. I got some shots of the scenery around the house in Joshua Tree before we left. As we left I captured a Crow fly by us as I captured more scenery of the area. We actually backtracked a few miles to the nearest Wal*Mart so that we could load up supplies. Our idea was to return anything we could at the end of the trip. We got lunch meats, snacks, and Mountain Dew Baja Blast for the trip. We ended up getting breakfast at Taco Bell then we began to drive east. We stopped at the Joshua Tree sign and I captured more scenery footage from there as well as the sign and some Joshua Trees. I also tried to capture the love signs as we passed them. I feel like it is possible, in the editing process, this and some other things might have been cut due to forgetting what I had shot and not being able to decipher why I had shot it all these months later (and perhaps I should get to editing much quicker). As we drove through the desert of California, I continued to capture footage of the desert and mountain scenery around us either as we drove or when we stopped. We drove through what I assume was the town of Rice, CA...now a ghost town. There was remains of a service station and fence where people had left shoes and other things. We crossed into Arizona at the town of Parker. Once in Arizona, we began to see cactus. I got a lot of footage of the cactus as we drove this day. Pretty much this day is summed up with desert and mountain scenery and cactus scenery. We watched a glider go overhead in the evening as well. As we drove up and over another mountain, we seemed to be in a prairie likely on top of a plateau. We got dinner at Gabriela's Taco Shop which is next to the World's Largest Kokopelli, a roadside attraction we weren't even aware of when we stopped. After dinner, we headed for our AirBnB in Cottonwood, AZ which was on a road with roundabouts. I captured us passing through one and learned that they apparently drive Debbie crazy. The AirBnB that we stayed in was quite interesting. The hosts live upstairs and have several New Age healing type amenities available at an extra cost. If we had stayed longer, perhaps we might have considered checking some of the extras that they had to offer. They also had a theater room. We actually arrived early enough and we weren't too exhausted from the travels of the day so we ended up watching a movie before deciding to get some sleep.
https://youtu.be/ksw55rT5IE0
04.05.2019
Elphie and I slept in while Debbie went to visit the nearby town of Sedona, AZ. We packed up and vacated the AirBnB then waited for Debbie outside. While waiting I took some shots of the scenery around the AirBnB and Cottonwood from the AirBnB. We were up the hill from a Wal*Mart which is visible in the bottom of the footage I shot. When Debbie arrived and we got loaded up, we stopped at a gas station as we left Cottonwood then we began our drive to the Grand Canyon. As is the case each day, I got footage of the mountains and deserts as we passed through. We stopped near Flagstaff at another gas station with a snowcapped mountain nearby and got some footage of that as well as pictures. As we drove to the Grand Canyon, we stopped at another canyon just outside the official national park called Little Colorado River Gorge. I got quite a bit of footage here that I felt was interesting and it wasn't even the Grand Canyon! I also captured some footage of the ravens flying around. They made a weird noise. I think one of my better shots from the whole trip is one from the raven footage when it had landed on the roof of a structure. After spending a bit of time here, we then made our way to the Grand Canyon. The first stop was at the Desert View Watchtower. I got a bit of footage here including of the watchtower. I also documented a band-aid that appeared on the tire of the car. I got more footage at Navajo Point, Lipan Point, Moran Point, and Grandview Point as well. I think that was were we stopped but I'm not certain. I believe at Grandview Point, Debbie talked to the ravens. Elphie did as well and tried to get one to come in the car. These ravens were somewhat strange looking. I had always assumed that they were basically just bigger crows. While they are bigger, they make different sounds and have fairly distinct head feathers. We turned around because it was getting late. As we made our way out of the Grand Canyon, I got more footage of a mountain in the distance and as the sun was setting over the desert. I also captured some more interesting desert formations as we drove toward Tuba City, AZ. We were staying at the Dine Inn in Tuba City. It is a Navajo reservation and we learned there were strict alcohol laws there. We got ourselves checked into the hotel and then decided to go find dinner. We saw what appeared to be a fair happening in the distance as well. We decided to eat at the Hogan Restaurant. Elphie got a plate of Native American food that we split among us. I captured some footage of flags for the United States of America, Arizona, and the Navajo Nation. We hung out in the hotel room for a bit, watching television then went to bed.
https://youtu.be/pw-mr2VQINw
04.06.2019
We woke up, loaded up, and checked out of Dine Inn...well we tried to check out. There was no one working the desk. We were told to leave our key in the room. So we did then left. As we headed through the desert to Monument Valley, I captured a lot more scenery. At one point, while we pulled off to get some scenery pictures, some dogs came up to Debbie. When it was time to go, they didn't seem to want to let us go. We crossed the Utah state line as we made our way closer to Monument Valley. As we drove, we saw many similar rock formation as we would be seeing in Monument Valley. We turned to go to the actual park and decided to pull off to get a picture. We ended up sinking into the sand and getting the car stuck. Some tour guides ended up helping to get us out after a bit of a struggle. We went into the gift shop and museum first before driving around in Monument Valley. the roads were desert dirt roads and quite bumpy...it certainly didn't help me trying to capture footage of what we were seeing. I got quite a bit of footage while in the park. We saw some footprints in the sand that we figured to be horses after seeing some people on horseback. Other than it being very bumpy, it was fun to see these rock formations. As we were leaving we his a bump so hard it opened a bottle in the back. I assume it launched into the air and the cap came off! As we drove down the main road it became clear that we could have seen most of the rock formations without paying to go into the park. I got some more footage as we drove to the Four Corners of desert and mountains. We stopped at Mexican Hat and got a shot of that as well. We passed through a town where some horses were wandering free. At the Four Corners, I got some shots of all the flags, and we took our turn to be in the four states at once: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. There were monuments with information about the four states as well and a sign informing us to not spread ashes on the site as the Native folks find cremation to be disrespectful and the park is Navajo land. We left by way of New Mexico and ended up going by Shiprock. We also passed some sort of monument of a what appeared to be a warrior of some kind. Once we got to the town of Shiprock, we turned north and headed to Colorado. It seemed that there were storm clouds around us and I looked out the window and saw what appeared to be small tornadoes so I captured a shot of this. We arrived at the Colorado state line and took a driving break. I decided to walk back to the sign that stated we were leaving New Mexico then walked back to the Colorado sign. There were lots of broken bottles along the highway. I also think I saw some coyote tracks as well that I tried to document on my walk back to the car and the sign for Colorado. As we continued to drive, we passed a Native American style rest area and went through a town that had a junk yard with interesting metal art around it. We ended up stopping for dinner at a Wendy's in Cortez, Colorado then headed back into Utah. Our trip into Utah gave us the opportunity to see the sunset over a snow covered mountain. The sunset made the drive a bit difficult for Debbie visibility wise. We arrived at our AirBnB in Blanding, UT which was described as "The Tree House Suite." There was various pieces of art created by the home owner on display at the AirBnB and I got some footage of that. I found it to be pretty interesting. In the morning, I looked out the window and came to find out why it was called the Treehouse.
https://youtu.be/_MH8c4QQBVI
04.07.2019
We woke early on Sunday morning and began another long day of driving, with a quick stop at a coffee shop before getting on our way. I captured more footage of the mountain where the sun had set behind the night before as well as more desert and mountain scenery as we went along. I captured some more rock formation including some arches that were along the way. We passed Church Rock and Hole n" The Rock. We reached the town of Moab where I captured a little bit of footage while we figured out where we needed to go. We ended up in a detour that threw us off a bit but we figured our way through and headed to Arches National Park not too far away. We did not feel we had a lot of time to spend at the Arches but we drove out to one spot. Along the way we were able to capture some footage of the scenery in the park. The spot we drove to, we could see a very clear and distinct arch but we did not have the time to walk up the path to the arch. I was able to zoom in on it to get a decent shot of the arch. As we left Arches, we passed through quite a bit of different scenery in the desert and mountains. We happened to pass an Alien Jerky stand as we entered I-70. Along I-70, we came upon a scenic pull off for Black Dragon Canyon and decided to take a little break. I captured more scenery as we rested here. We continued to drive through the desert and mountains. Elphie remarked that "once you thought you've seen all the rock formations, there's another one." We took another little break at a gas station. I used a urinal that someone decided to write Trump 2020 on. We continued on our way to Bryce Canyon and arrived there with probably an hour of daylight to spare. We really only got to one spot to view the scenery which included rock formations called Hoodoos. These were interesting. We were at probably about the highest elevation of the entire trip during this day. As we left Bryce Canyon, I captured parts of another sunset. We arrived in Cedar City, UT and decided to eat at Panda Express. We actually hoped to find a real Chinese buffet but nothing appeared to be open as we arrived in town. We had an AirBnB in Cedar City and we headed there after getting dinner. From the AirBnB, I captured a night shot of the town including a brightly lit church building.
https://youtu.be/XLleKCIQifQ
Go to the following link if you can't view the video. There's an issue with copyrights on a song I picked for the soundtrack:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1SQm1O_yQQkYgIwLi5pOFpS6ODOIt12N4
04.08.2019
We woke fairly early at our AirBnB in Cedar City, Utah and made our way to Starbucks for Debbie to get her morning coffee then began the journey to Las Vegas, NV. I'm not sure if this day was a longer drive than the others we had done but it sure felt like a long day. We passed back into Arizona then into Nevada as we drove through the scenic desert and mountains. When we arrived in Las Vegas, I decided to add in a clip from Swingers when the guys drive to Las Vegas and shout, "VEGAS!" I did this in the background as transparent as I could so it wouldn't interfere too much with the video. We went to Palace Station Hotel and Casino to their Feast Buffet. Our options were somewhat limited on a Monday in the late morning. The food was pretty good but there wasn't as much variety as I expected. I also wasn't able to eat as much as I would have liked to try to get my money's worth. This casino was off the strip a bit and suggested by Elphie's friend Dan who met up with us while we ate. Elphie got to catch up with him for a bit and he seemed like a good dude. When we left, we decided to drive through the Strip. I decided to keep most of that footage and sped it up to save a little bit of time for viewing. Once we got through the strip, we headed back east to Hoover Dam. All the travel had taken a lot out of Elphie so she stayed at the car as Debbie and I walked up to see the view of Hoover Dam. I took a couple different shots. One with my iPhone 8 and used both lenses on my Canon Rebel T6. The view was from a sidewalk on the Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, a relatively new highway built to bypass the dam where a road goes over top of it. I think I captured the Winged Figures of the Republic monument from where I was shooting. We headed back west from here and mistakenly ended up driving back into Las Vegas which allowed me to see the new stadium being built for the Raiders. As we headed toward California, we were going to need to stop for gas and near the town of Jean, NV, we saw signs for the Largest Chevron Station which was also called a "Terrible's" and there was also a hotel and casino, apparently. As we approached, we saw the charred remains of a car that probably had recently burnt. We went to get gas but the gas station had lost power and hadn't yet gotten back online so the pumps were not working. We went in for a restroom break and to check out the place as well. It was interesting and certainly large. The men's restroom had funny jokes on the walls about making sure that you don't miss when peeing in the toilet or urinal. We left and there was a bird eating the dead bugs off the grill of the car as we approached it. The next exit had considerably higher priced gas but we needed to fuel up. There was an amusement park at that exit as well. It appeared to be a large pile of rocks near it at had a mine type look to it. I made a joke that rocks deserve amusement as well. As we crossed over into California, we saw a couple big solar fields with bright light emitting from it called Ivanpah. Next stop was in Baker, CA where the World's Tallest Thermometer sits at the edge of Death Valley. The temperature read 98 degrees. I didn't feel that hot but I recall from a previous trip in high school to the desert in Juarez, Mexico, that dry heat is different and doesn't feel as oppressive as humid heat. We went in the store for a bit. There was a ring game but I couldn't get the ring on the hook in the wall. I failed. Debbie bought a magnet because she felt bad for the town. It was pretty desolate. Many building falling down and looked like nearly a ghost town. I guess this is a fairly common sight in this part of California. As we drove to Apple Valley, and as I captured a little bit of scenery but I missed the sign for Zzyzx which has an interesting history. We passed an abandoned waterpark known as Rock-a-Hoola. We got to the AirBnB but the owner was not ready for us to stay yet. She said she needed to do some cleaning. Again, the trip had taken a lot out of Elphie and she just wanted to lay down but we had to leave. We ended up going to the Wal*Mart nearby where we returned the things that we used on the trip that we could return. There was also a Taco Bell so we got some dinner there. I shot another sunset from the parking lot. When we got to the AirBnB, we organized our luggage and Elphie went right to bed. I went out and got some shots of the moon as well as night shots of the town before going to bed.
04.09.2019
We woke fairly early to leave the "Flying Nun" AirBnB we stayed at in Apple Valley, CA. We made a Starbucks stop then traveled out of town on Route 66 to the interstate. As we made our way to Los Angeles, we passed by San Dimas (of Bill and Ted fame) as well as Riverside (home of the Martin Brothers - Starflyer 59, Joy Electric, etc.). As we drove we encountered an accident which slowed us down a little bit. We also hit some Los Angeles traffic. I got a shot of the city from the highway as well as a shot of LAX from the highway including its alien spaceship looking structure. As we made our way to the airport, I got a shot of an arriving flight passing just over our heads. We fueled up the car then returned it to AVIS. We did quite a number on that vehicle. Lots of sand on it and throughout it...not to mention some rough rides like the one in Monument Valley. We took the tram to the airport terminals we each needed so our goodbyes occurred on the tram. We were a bit early to check in so we sat and waited with the alien spaceship just outside our window. Once we were permitted to go into our terminal for our Southwest flight, we got through the checkpoint. Elphie got a bit more thorough search this time. We waited on our flight and got some lunch in the airport. Once we got on the airplane, Elphie took some video of the takeoff process as well as shots of from the air of Los Angeles including the new football stadium being built, the ocean, the deserts we had driven through including Bryce Canyon, the snow covered Rocky Mountains, and our landing in Chicago. The final shot is a view of Chicago from Midway as we made our way to the CTA station to go home. I added the text for the credits over parts of this footage but I tried not to cover the more interesting scenery in this footage. I did cover a bit more of the landing than I had preferred but the reality of what is shown in that footage was some lights passing by in the darkness and the motion of the impact.
This final day footage was the first part I worked on in the process of getting this project done followed by the first day's footage. I added the text for the credits after finishing the editing of the video for the rest of the project then after adding the soundtracks, I added more title to acknowledge the music that I used. Before I did this, Elphie suggested trying to add gratitude toward the Native people with regard to their land that we passed through or stayed on especially during the road trip. We tried to gather as much information on this as we could but I am sure we missed some. I chose to use "Hotel California" by The Eagles as the ending soundtrack sort of as an irony due to the line "you can check out anytime you like but you can never leave" being in a song as we are leaving.
This was a good trip. We covered a lot of the country and got in visits to places that we really did want to go to for one reason or another. In working through all the footage for this project, I was happy for the most part but I am very much aware that improvement is needed in my free hand shooting with the Canon Rebel T6. I also realize I need to clean some dust from somewhere in the camera...I assume it's on the mirrors inside. I think this is also true on the next project I will be working on from our trip to Alaska.
The soundtrack includes "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas And The Papas, "California Sun" by The Ramones, "Sunset (O Lux Beata Trinitas)" by Timbre, "Sunsets Are But Once A Day" by Dogwood, "Back To San Diego" by Some Kind Of Nightmare, "Boom", "Southtown", and "Hoolywood" by P.O.D., "Escape To L.A." and "San Francisco" by The Dingees, "Hooray It's L.A." by Blindside, "Cinematic" by Cool Hand Luke, "Soundtrack For Our Movie" by Mae, "I Am Hollywood" by He Is Legend, "Hollywood Babylon" by Misfits, "Reggae Hit L.A." by The Aggrolites, "San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)" by Scott McKenzie, "Californication" by Red Hot Chili Peppers, "West Coast Friendship" by Bon Voyage, "Tenderloin" by Rancid, "Everywhere You Look (the "Full House" theme song)" by Jesse Frederick, "All Shall Be Well" by Destroy Nate Allen, "Waiting" by Green Day, "Angry Sunset" by Crash Rickshaw, "American X" by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, "Prison Bound" by Social Distortion, "When You're In Prison" by The Offspring, "Bad Town" by Operation Ivy, "California Love" by TuPac and Dr. Dre, "Burning Catcus" by Black Swift, "In God's Country" by U2, "Desert Rose" by Sting and Cheb Mami, "A Horse With No Name" by America, "Wild Horses" by The Rolling Stones, "Sundown" by Gordon Lightfoot, "Painted Desert" by Pat Benatar, "A River Flows In The Desert" by So Long Forgotten, "Desert Hymn" by Pomegranates, "Tijuana Jumping Bean" by The Deluxetone Rockets, "Highwaymen" by The Highwaymen (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson), "Gangs Of Riverside" by Starflyer 59, and "Hotel California" by The Eagles.
This project was filmed using an iPhone 6 and 8 and Canon Rebel T6 by Elphie and Joel A. Swanson. Titles and animations were created using Motion 4 on a Macbook by Joel A. Swanson. All other editing was done using Final Cut Pro on a Mac Mini by Joel A. Swanson.
