We set off... eastward. After months of steady westward and mostly southbound progress, for the first time during our North American journey we were heading east. We had recently passed what in hindsight would be the halfway mark of our trip, and setting off eastward reinforced this fact. The most direct route between Los Angeles and Las Vegas is a 4-hour, 270-mile sprint along the interstate 15. We had very little interest in taking direct routes on this adventure, and decided instead to take the road that goes past Joshua Tree National Park. Ella and I knew nothing about it,…

Walt Disney didn't come up with the amusement park concept, but he certainly perfected it. Completed in 1955 for $17 million, on what was 160 acres of orange groves and walnut trees, Disneyland in Anaheim (just south of Los Angeles) became his masterpiece. Over decades, major renovations and expansions, Disneyland amassed a larger cumulative attendance than any other theme park in the world (attendance of 18 million per year makes it the second most-visited annually). So what's all the fuss about? That is what we were there to figure out. We headed straight to Critter Country, one of the eight…

We stayed a week with a good university friend of mine in West Hollywood ("WeHo"), a trendy part of LA. He's been super successful in a number of fields and has made LA his home for the last few years. Ella and I were keen to spend some time with him, catch a glimpse of his LA life, and do a little touristing. We started in LA's downtown. First stop was a Grand Central Market - a hundred year old marketplace with about 40 vendors selling a range of tempting stuff. It was classy. Nearby, we found a Blue Bottle…

We approached the City of Angels from the west, having traveled south from Big Sur on Highway 101, before switching to State Route 1 (i.e. the Pacific Coast Highway) that hugs the Pacific coast and passes through Malibu. Malibu is not part of LA itself, but being a mere 30 miles west of downtown, it may as well be. The small city (pop: 12,600) is home to many of LA's rich and famous. The narrow strip of land is sandwiched between the Santa Monica mountains and the Pacific Ocean, and the 27-mile stretch of coastline is blessed with beautiful beaches…

We set off from Yosemite National Park, cutting a path southwest through the central Californian plain towards the Pacific Ocean, passing miles of agricultural acreage. The state's three biggest agri-products: milk, almonds, and grapes. The state of California has a population of around 40 million. Illegal immigrants constitute an estimated 7.3% of that total, and provide a significant amount of the manual labour needed on the state's farms. But, the volume of illegal migration has dropped meaningfully over the last decade, as a result of increased enforcement and less job opportunities. The same is true of legal immigration. In 2010,…

Leaving the coast in our rear-view mirror, we set off east into the heart of California. We were soon surrounded by wind energy farms - hundreds and hundreds of tall turbines catching the wind. California has made a big push into renewable energy, more so than most states, with a goal of generating 100% of their electricity from 'renewable' sources by 2045. The state is currently around the 32% level, so they'll need to put up a couple more wind and solar farms in the coming years. Agricultural acreage then stretched on for miles and miles and miles. The whole…

Silicon Valley is a huge stretch of land that runs all the way down San Francisco Bay's southwest shore, south of San Francisco itself. What was once a fertile agricultural paradise (the largest fruit producing and packing region in the world) has been turned into an urbanised technological one. It's probably no overstatement to say that this is the most important and influential technology hub in the world.   Why here and how did this all begin? Well, there is probably a web factors and events involved, but here's my simplified take: A smart guy named William Shockley along with others…

One of the most scenic spots in San Francisco is Alamo Square Park. The tourist draw is the postcard-perfect row of Victorian houses facing the park called the 'Painted Ladies'. Beautiful colours and beautiful architecture. But moving uphill towards the middle of the park, the view improves as the city's impressive skyline comes into view. If you can remember the opening credits for Full House, you'll recognise it. While tourists were out in force on the Sunday we visited, it also seemed well-visited by locals walking their dogs. Traffic in and around the city is brutal. It's was a densely…