Following on from the previous post’s photos, two busy days saw us take in the Warner Brothers Studio tour in Burbank near LA, spend a night in the curious town of Fresno, marvel at the beautiful Yosemite National Park, and visit the delightfully-addressed 1 Infinite Loop – Apple HQ.
All those photos here.
I’ve put up more photos from the USA trip in the last couple of days, this batch taking in Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Monica.
But mostly Los Angeles.
I took loads more but have been strict with myself and not uploaded too many (I hope). You can see these and others in my USA set.
The next installment to come in the next few days, including the spectacular Yosemite National Park and gorgeous San Francisco – neither of which I am sure my photos will have done justice to.
Photo-uploading is a slow process. Good job it’s the weekend…
It pains me to report a problem with an Apple product – especially seeing as how I may be a Mac owner very soon (more on that later) – but my iPod is playing up.
It seems the casing at the top, around the headphone port, has cracked a little, and one consequence is that I can now only get sound in one ear (even with different headphones). If I firmly squeeze the iPod in certain places near the top, the sound in both ears comes back intermittently.
A quick google of the problem shows up a page on the rather marvellous Wikihow, and the instructions on how to buy the replacement part and fix the problem seem clear. However, I am one of the most unpractical people around, and am rather feart of opening up a piece of electrical equipment without competent supervision, a pair of scientist’s goggles and a labcoat.
Anyone else experienced this difficulty? Any Appleheads’ advice would be gratefully received.
Since arriving back in Inverness, I’ve done little more than sleep.
On Monday night and into yesterday, I managed a somewhat spectacular eighteen hours in the land of Nod.
I think I’ve been shattered not just by the jetlag but also two immensely packed weeks of travelling.
Today, my last day before going back to work, I’ve finally got round to the important stuff, like washing clothes and uploading photos.
The first batch (of photos, not washing) can be found here, including some taken on the flight over and around Salton Sea while mullet-hunting.
However, one of the big highlights of the first few days, if not the whole trip, was Salvation Mountain (website | Wikipedia).
Essentially a mountain in the desert covered in paint, it is a kaleidoscope of messages from the Bible on the ground, in caves and on vehicles. It’s an odd, garish and remarkable place – a wonderfully off-beat and surreal contrast to the bleak, featureless desert around it. It’s one of the top must-sees of California, and I’d certainly recommend a detour for anyone in the area.
But what most impressed me, other than the detail, effort and bright colours, was the positive message. For a country like the USA where Christianity is often portrayed as a hateful, uncompromising, flag-flying, gun-toting, warmongering, homophobic and anti-Arab perversion of what the belief is meant to be about, Salvation Mountain instead spoke refreshingly of the love of Jesus above all.
A simple portrayal of the Christian message, and one worth dwelling on.
After this came San Diego, L.A. and San Fransisco…
