Well, I'm back at home (and work) after three fantastic weeks in the USA. This trip was set to be our silver wedding anniversary celebration and Sandra made sure the airline staff knew it so the first thing they did once we left Heathrow was bring us a bottle of champagne. A great start! Our first port of call was New York for 4 nights. I've a feeling we tried to cram far too much into our trip as we left NYC feeling wrecked having spent the time touring around on open top buses (a great way to get to know where things are by the way). We managed to get to Liberty Island and Ellis Island, took in the view from the top of the Empire State building, walked around Central Park, visited the Guggenheim Museum and the 911 memorial garden(very moving), shopped, ate, drank and tried to sleep (the hotel was 30 yards from Times square - not recommended). We also managed a trip out to Brooklyn - quite hair raising sitting on top of an open top bus going over the manhatten bridge when it was blowing a gale! Next stop was Los Angeles where once again we took advantage of th open top buses for a day, riding out to Santa Monica via such places as the Chatau Marmont, the Whiskey a gogo, The troubadour, Rodeo drive and so on. I had a visit to the Petersen auto museum on the way back but sandra headed back to the hotel for a swim where she spotted Bob de Niro. They were also shooting a music video somewhere in the hotel and we kept spotting about a dozen dwarves in tuxedos - bizarre place (hollywood Roosevelt in case you want somewhere to avoid). Time for acouple of pics.. We'd pre-booked a car for a day in LA so that we could drive up the canyoins and head to the coast. I got quite a pleasant surprise when the car turned out to be a bright yellow 6.2 litre Camaro convertible..
we took it up Laurel Canyon, stopping off at the country store to take in the ambience..
Then headed up to the top of Mulholland drive to photograph the views. Imagine our surprise when the Shuttle Endevour flew over twice while we were there - couldn't have planned it better..
After that we headed down toe Ventura Boulevard (where the car computer was telling us it was 110 fahrenheit) then over Topanga canyon to Malibu (Jimmy's suggestion) where we managed to cool off in the Pacific. That evening we headed down to the Baked Potato to meet up with Jimmy and watch him play with Mike Miller's all stars. What a fantastic show!..
Our last night in LA we headed up to the greek theater to see Bonnie Raitt (supported by Mavis Staples). What a great venue - you really feel like you're in the forest - Paul would have loved the gig - bonnie was his favourite artist and he even named his bass after her. Next stop; San Francisco where once again we spenta day touring on open deck buses, first heading over the Golden gate bridge to Sausalito then taking an evening tour around the city centre, japan town, the painted ladies on alamo square and back to fisherman's wharf. No visit to SF would be complete without a visit to the haight so after a great walk around the japanese tea garden in the Golden gate park we headed over..
I even managed to find the old grateful dead house - 710 ashbury.. Of course, being in Fan Francisco we were only a short drive from Santa Rosa and I'd already arranged a visit to the mothership over the phone with Mica. I managed a brief stop at the Mesa Boogie factory on the way up and as we arrived, Mica was heading out for a short while so we were left in the more than capable hands of Uncle Bob who gave us a really good, in-depth tour of the whole shop. My Grandad would have loved the main wood shop as he was a master cabinet maker in his time and it looked just like I rememeber his workshop (although on a slightly grander scale...
At every station there looked to be a dozen or so instruments waiting for attention and with this being a small family concern it's no surprise that some instruments can take several years to complete. Remember this 12 string?...
I'm pretty sure this was started around 2004 and they're still having problems with the octave string tension. James told me they won't let it go till they get it absolutely right - that's what I love about our chosen manufacturer. I spotted this beautiful Walnut bass in construction - my favourite wood and Sandra even said if I was ever to get a new bass it should look like this...
Once Mica got back we sat in reception for some time chatting and playing the instruments on display - I really felt like one of the family at this point. After collecting Jazzyvee's DS-5 we managed the obligatory photo with Mica then said our goodbyes...
Later that evening I risked the Bay bridge and drove to Bill Panzer's house for a night of music and conversation with Bill and Harry who are two of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet. There are photos of the night on Bill's gathering thread so I'll just post this one..
While in San Francisco we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge 4 times and never saw it once due to the fog - a bit disappointing but it made our evening trip to Alcatraz a lot more atmospheric. The final part of our trip was a 7 day self drive around New England starting off with a full day in Boston where we 'did ' the Freedom trail, seeing how my forefathers lost the country before heading to the almost authentic Cheers bar on Boston common for a few beers. The first day's drive took us up the coast to Portland via Salem but not until I had found a way out of Boston - Mica warned us that driving n Boston was a nightmare - she wasn't kidding!. Day 3 saw some rain in the morning but we didn't let it dampen our spirits. After seeing the portland light we headed out to Conway then along the Kancamagus highway to Lincoln seeing some fantastic color (note the spelling Bil) along the way...
This was the main reason our holiday was so late in the year so we didn't rush. Nor did we rush the drive over to Stowe in Vermont the following day where we met some great folks who spent an hour explaining the rules of american football to us after dinner. (in fact we met loads of people on our trip and they were all really nice). Day 5 we drove down to Springfield via woodstock taking in some Maple syrup and Cheese farms on the way and day 6 was mostly spent in Hartford CT taking in the Mark Twain and harriet Beecher Stow houses befreo heading out to cape cod. Our last day was spent driving to the tip of cape cod to see where the pilgrim fathers first set foot on american soil then wandering around Plymouth doing some last minute souvenir shopping before reluctantly handing the car back and flying home. I'd just like to thank Mica, Bill, Harry and Jimmyj for their incredible hospitality and say I can't wait to go back. Graeme (Message edited by davehouck on October 10, 2012)
