Tuesday 10th April

The approach into Vegas does not present you with the image of the city that we have been indoctrinated with from its representation within TV and film, that being that Vegas is a city of sin and corruption. English presenter, actor and writer Stephen Fry wrote in his 2008 travel book ‘Stephen Fry in America’, that Las Vegas was “a symbol of human kind’s perverse and remorseless will, a symbol of cupidity exploiting stupidity, of capitalism taken to its furthest limits, of gullibility, fallibility, optimism, cruelty, vulgarity and greed." In fact the first thing that was apparent to me, was the sheer vastness of Nevada’s deserts, truly awesome mountains and beautiful blue rivers, not the strip itself. I was told by people who had previously visited America to expect everything to be far bigger than it is in England, but still I was not prepared for the scale of the landscape. Although amongst this hostile environment I could make out winding roads and the occasional car which then gave way to the perfectly planned suburban homes. This was very surprising because Las Vegas is often thought of as a tourist destination, not a place to raise a family but statistics back this up with the city having a high number of schools and still needing more to be built as well as the planned community, Summerlin and the recent addition of Town Square which is calm and serene in comparison to the strip. Journalist J.R Moehringer said that “Vegas discourages everything prized by book people" however, in addition to the growing number of permanent residents filling the local school, Vegas is also home to its own University implying that it is not just flashing lights and a good time that attract people to the city. Suburban Vegas then gave way to the more traditional picture of the Las Vegas strip where the buildings are all unique in architecture to one another, all competing to be bigger and better than the previous with their neon signs visible from the plane. McCarran airport proved itself to be no different to the hotels with billboards and adverts on every wall and the ceiling being made up of reflective silver squares, making it glaringly obvious that you could not possibly be in any other city.

The perfectly planned suburbs of Las Vegas.

Wednesday 11th April

After an initial exploration of the strip where everything was new, exciting, inviting and loud, one thing struck me more than anything else and that was how Las Vegas tries to emulate other cities, predominately those from Europe with The Venetian being the most obvious example. However, there were more subtle imitations to be found particularly within the Bellagio. It had its own miniature Holland complete with clogs, windmills, upside down umbrellas and bicycles, a ‘Parisian’ café and other dining areas being named in a continental fashion such as Picasso. On the strip British telephone boxes and even buses could be spotted and within eating complexes the televisions were showing English football, not American. At first I thought that all of this copying could be equated to the relatively short lifespan of America, that it does not have such a long history as other countries and so it feels the need to compete to prove it can do just as well as Europe if not in fact better, because it can recreate such architectural feats with relative ease. However once I started to pay attention to the people around me I realised that there were relatively few tourists as I imagined tourists to be, the majority of people were Americans not foreigners. This therefore presented me with an alternative argument for the mimicry; many Americans do not travel abroad and so it is relatively easy to bring aspects of other cultures to Vegas for the Americans who would find international travel too expensive or difficult. It also provides a unique selling point to the city opposed to just rows and rows of identical casinos, which would not bring people back year after year.

A tiny piece of Europe found in The Bellagio

Thursday 12th April

Callaway Golf Centre, situated further away from the strip than where we were staying provided the chance to do something I usually do in England and compare it to playing in America. The landscape of the driving range is such a contrast to what I am used to and as I stood up on the range, about 20 foot from the ground below and surveyed the scene it was incredible. It was strange that you could turn to the right and see how Las Vegas as it is meant to look like without the interference of people with its clear blue skies and snow peaked mountains, and then look to the left and see the gaudy reflective gold of the Mandalay Bay hotel. In addition to this there was almost a continuous number of planes flying close overhead, approximately 15 in the hour I spent there. This just goes to show the huge number of people that come in and out of the city every day, and how they are helping to contribute to the 36 million people who pass through each year. This volume of people was reiterated at Hoover Dam along with the number of American visitors opposed to international. I had expected places of historical interest to be crowded with foreign holiday makers coming to see a work of engineering exceptionalism, but perhaps the increasing fear of water shortages by the rapidly decreasing water reserves in Lake Mead has created new interest in the Dam to those it would effect. Lake Mead is currently only 41 percent full and eventually when this falls to a certain point, there will not be enough water to power the Dam, plunging millions of Americans into darkness. I could not help but notice the irony of my day as I was staring out over the Dam, realising that I had spent my morning on one of Nevada’s 133 golf courses which unnecessarily uses water for decoration while the reservoir is reaching critically low levels. Levels made obvious by the white ‘bathtub rings’ highlighting where the water level used to be and by how much it has dropped in recent years, following an almost decade long drought.

The  'bathtub' ring highlights the alarming rate at which water is decreasing.

References:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/Las-Vegas-An-American-Paradox.html?c=y&story=fullstory.
‘Golf Link: Nevade Golf Courses’ - http://www.golflink.com/golf-courses/state.aspx?state=NV

Friday 13th April

Citizens of the State of Nevada are well within their constitutional rights to open carry guns on their person at any time, and many do as seen through public events like the Tea party rally which took place March 27th in Searchlight, where approximately a dozen members openly carried weapons. Scenes like this are almost incomprehensible for anyone who is not American unless those with guns are part of the country’s armed forces, so our experience at the gun store was therefore all the more important in attempting to understand what it is to be an American. Sources would tend to agree that guns and shooting are quintessentially American, with CNN listing going to The Gun Store on their compilation of top 10 classic American experiences. It was rather intimidating to begin with being in the relatively small range with bangs going off that were loud enough to deafen you if it were not for the ear protection, and the instructors who were all fully armed in case anyone were to become threatening but that gave way once it was time to step up and take your turn. Griping the SIG P226 Pistol with both hands, knees bent and arms stretched out you take aim, your finger then firmly squeezes the trigger and the adrenaline hits you with the same force as the bullet that shoots your zombie clown target between the eyes. It was definitely an exciting and addictive activity using a gun for the first time and feeling the rush it provides you, but after the combination of serotonin and adrenaline has worn off you are able to begin to get a more reasoned sense of the power they have and why so many Americans would object to anti-gun movements, and any proposition to take away their constitutional rights. A poll conducted in October 2005 by Gallup.com, a news website dedicated to opinion polls, politics and economics found that 4 in 10 Americans have a gun in their home with the purpose of crime prevention being the most popular reason for the ownership, something that I would not have understood let alone approve of before handling weapons myself.

Brings to mind the idea - phone for a pizza and the cops and the pizza arrives first.

A gun of every kind at The Gun Store, Las Vegas.

References:

 ‘Las Vegas Sun: Nevadans are free to don their arms in the open - Steve Kanigher’ http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/apr/07/nevadans-are-free-don-their-arms-open/

http://thegunstorelasvegas.com/archives/4704.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/20098/gun-ownership-use-america.aspx

Saturday 14th April

Driving is an inevitable part of life in America because of the country’s size and scale, but that fact did not make the six hour journey any easier to someone used to England, where a six hour road trip would allow you to cross into Scotland not just pass into a neighbouring county! However, while the drive may have been tiring it provided me with new insight as to just how empty and large the American West is, because at times we were the only car to be seen for miles around. In addition to this, the weather changed dramatically within a couple of hours as a result of the sheer distance we were travelling and the changes in height from sea level. We witnessed the weather shift from the rain in Las Vegas, to hail on the open road, from snow which at times made it difficult to see a few feet in front of us in Jacobs Lake, to the sun (albeit cold) in Marble Canyon. A short stop at Jacobs Lake not only offered a break, but a first glimpse at life for those Americans who choose to live and work in such isolated areas. So isolated in fact that the broken ATM had a sign stating it would not be fixed until the following month and outside the lodge was a parked snow plough showing to what extent the snow could fall in the area, making it even more remote than before.  The location and weather did make me question how the lodge is economically viable, the most likely answer being that it relies heavily on tourists heading towards the Grand Canyon, but only in the summer months when the road is open, as well as a few regulars in the area like the highway patrolman who entered at the same time.

Sunday 15th April

The most incredible and rewarding experience came on Sunday morning with the hike down Marble Canyon and as I reached the Colorado river I spent some time imagining how the first explorers of the American West had felt upon discovering this beautiful place for the first time. In particular I thought about John Wesley Powell who in 1869 led the groundbreaking first expedition through the Colorado river and its canyons. The marked out trail we followed enabled us to get a feel for the wilderness without too much danger but at the same time this took away from the experience because there is always the possibility of other tourists and the real wilderness would not have other people in close proximity, you would be isolated and more at one with your surroundings. The difficult terrain I had just finished maneuvering led me to contemplate the fact that the first explorers who navigated the canyon, did so with no prior knowledge or marked out trails. I would be apprehensive to hike without knowing my surroundings to some degree, but this did not deter Powell who was quoted as saying “We have an unknown distance yet to run, an unknown river to explore. What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls ride over the river, we know not. Ah, well! we may conjecture many things. After seeing and experiencing what Powell did I have a new found respect for him and others like him, something that could not be gained without participating and certainly not from studying text books.

References:

 ‘John Wesley Powell: Mapping the Colorado River - American History Magazine’. http://www.historynet.com/john-wesley-powell-mapping-the-colorado-river.htm.
‘Powell Museum’ http://www.powellmuseum.org/museum_about.php”.

Monday 16th April

Williams via Wupatki was our next destination with more open roads and dramatic changes in landscape and a surprising little reminder that America is older and full of more history than we often give it credit, with the appearance of dinosaur tracks and fossilised eggs not far from the Native American town of Tuba City. However, what came across the most strongly throughout the day was the divide between the cultures of the Native Americans and that of the Americans. Our guide was of Native American origin and sadly this was not the first time that day we had heard talk of the white man trying to claim everything as their own and for their own benefits. We had previously been spoken to by one man in Tuba City reminding us to respect the land and to remember who it belonged to, and as our dinosaur track guide explained what was happening in the area it was not hard to see why there is still so much animosity today between Americans and the natives. A small forest area on the rock cliffs was pointed out to us, the place were this woman and her family and friends live which also happens to be the home of natural water springs, water we were told has a special meaning and that is considered to be a life source. The United States wants to take this water to use for another city despite it being on Native American land and it is deeply upsetting to the Indians that they have to continue to fight in order to keep it. Later in the day our visit to the Wupatki National Monument brought to light other cases of cultures clashing, with the Pueblo people not being allowed to stay on the land and denied any recognition that the land belonged to them after the area became a park. More recent than that the Hopi people were denied access to the site for a religious pilgrimage they make annually. The director of the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office, Leigh J. Kuwanwisiwma made the following statement which brings into question whether the first amendment is really being upheld “On one hand, they eloquently preach about their relationships and partnership with the Hopi Tribe and on the other hand, they systematically interfere with and prevent practice of Hopi religion. We question their ability to be good caretakers of our ancestral villages. Their mistreatment of Hopi people will not be tolerated. We consider the First Amendment an important right for Hopis. If Hudson, Henderson, Tom Metzger and Kim Watson, all employees of the park, have their religious rights protected, why can't the Hopi?"

 References:

‘Los Angeles Times: Hopis Demand Right to Raid Eagles’ Nest - Matt Kelley’ http://articles.latimes.com/2000/aug/20/local/me-7462.



‘Northern Arizona University, Press Release: The Hopi Tribe’ http://www8.nau.edu/hcpo-p/wupatki.pdf?”

Tuesday 17th April

Forest coverage is not as low as the media would have us believe when they portray America has a resource guzzling demon, interested only in creating more corporations, as coverage is at around 50% of the entire country compared to England’s less than 6%. While the railways may have caused the destruction of a third of the trees within the Grand Canyon National Park area, without these railways the transportation of other materials like coal in order to advance during industrial years would not have been possible and today the Park is attempting to make reparations. These days they are making efforts to conserve the area with only shuttle buses being permitted in certain areas in order to prevent congestion and pollution from fumes, as well as the discontinuation of the airstrip that used to be on the North Rim. It is also hard not to notice the use of non flushing toilets where not only water is saved but presumably the waste is then used to fertilise the land. On the other hand with 1 million visitors passing through the park each year, and most stopping at the visitor centre located on the actual Rim of the Canyon it is argued that the National Park Act of 1916 to conserve scenery and wildlife is not being adhered to as well as it should be. While I can see the need for amenities within the park, I do not see the necessity for multiple gift shops selling the same things as shops outside of the park especially as many of the wares including those of Native American style had “not made in America” or “imported from China” stickers attached. The park understandably relies on money made from tourists buying souvenirs to say they have been to the Grand Canyon and not those who go to hike and camp, but it becomes questionable as to how helpful these tourists are when they compromise the naturalist elements of the environment. This difficult situation came to my attention more clearly when we witnessed a woman feeding a squirrel and then attempting to feed a raven despite numerous signs highlighting that anyone doing this is breaking the law.

 References:

‘National Park Service: Grand Canyon National Park’. http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/index.htm

‘American Studies at the University of Virginia: National Park Act of 1916 - Joshua S. Johns’. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/nps/nps4.html

Wednesday 18th April

Seligman, Arizona is one of the smallest places we visited with the entire town, for lack of a better description, comprising of one main road and a population of just over 450 people according to the 2000 census.With approximately 10 persons per square mile and a history of land use which means there are no villages only a few ranches, the surrounding areas are mostly empty or dispersed as a result of the railroads and makes Seligman an accurate representation of what rural America is. White, older ages, republican, conservative.  What was most interesting about this old Route 66 town was the history it was portraying, it had to invent itself in order to survive after Interstate 40 bypassed it. As a result Seligman is selling a false history of the fifties not the thirties as it historically should and has managed to prevent itself becoming a ghost town thanks to the support of the community and people like barber and resident, Angel Delgadillo who helped established the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona Continuing down Route 66 and the road of reinvention, we visited the old historic gold mining town of Oatman which shared a common element of interest with Seligman, motorbikes. I got the impression that today the motorbike, in particular the Harley-Davidson, is a symbol of Route 66, the open roads of the West and ultimately the freedom that is associated with America. It was therefore not surprising that all of the gift shops in these small towns were using that as a key selling point as well as attracting bikers travelling the length of America’s mother road. Bikers can be seen as a modern day representation of the cowboy which is seen through the appearance of Oatman as a town that looks as though it has stepped out of a John Wayne western mixed with signs promoting motorbiking and old memoribilia. Oatman has another more unique and somewhat irritating aspect which helps keep it alive, when the miners vacated the area in the late 1800's they left behind the burros they used in the mines, the descendents of whom roam the town freely today although whether they can really be called “wild” burros is a matter of opinion.

‘The Road Wanderer: Seligman, Az. Route 66 Town’. http://www.theroadwanderer.net/RT66seligman.htm.

Thursday 19th April

I found the atmosphere of Yucca Valley, California to be very different from previous towns because it manages to retain the feel of a small community whilst having more main roads, large supermarkets and a population of almost 21,000 people. Exploration found a large playground, baseball field, senior centre, library, skate park, rose garden and even a museum which as the town’s website describes it is a “family-oriented facility with collections and exhibits related to the desert’s unique natural and historical elements. A notable difference to the previous three states was the heat, by half ten in the morning the temperature was already at around thirty degrees Celsius making me wary of spending the afternoon at Joshua Tree National Park surrounded by desert sand which can reach heights of 82 or more on a hot day. I found it amazing that regardless of these conditions the desert was not as barren as I had imagined, quite the opposite actually with a wide range of flora, fauna and wildlife which we were privileged enough to see up close. One of the guides I purchased shows that there are 54 different species of wildflowers, cacti, trees and shrubs within Joshua Tree and explains how the vegetation adapts to survive the harsh conditions of the desert. The desert itself is an ever adapting ecosystem, mostly because of wind and rain but also sadly from humans, with fires and air pollution from cars being the primary factors. As a result, the rangers have to monitor air conditions closely which we saw from numerous boards displaying the days air quality and chance of fire. I had assumed that all of the plant life I saw in the park belonged there, but in fact several varieties of grass are nonnative and these cause problems because they are taking over much like weeds do in our gardens. The National Park service takes this very seriously and according to the Joshua Tree website they have been tackling the invasive non native species since the 70's, "Joshua Tree staff and community volunteers actively pursue invasive exotic plants. Since the 1970s, we’ve removed over 6,700 tamarisk plants, 15,000 Asian mustard plants, 1,000 tumbleweeds, and 1,200 bunches of fountaingrass."

References:

‘Town of Yucca Valley: Hi-Desert Nature Museum’. http://www.yucca-valley.org/departments/museum.html”

http://www.nps.gov/jotr/naturescience/nonnativespecies.htm

Friday 20th April

The drive from Yucca Valley took us to another small town like Williams and Oatman, one which is trying to sell a particular history. Lone Pine was appealing to the history and legacy of Cowboys and Indians with its western movie feel which has been chosen for the location of many a cowboy film, one of the bars Jacobs’ Saloon had saloon style doors at the front and another had saloon style bathroom doors. Frequent images of horses could be seen throughout the town, including the full sized replica horse which could be seen atop one of the buildings, and the hotel we stayed in was almost a shrine to John Wayne because he had stayed there whilst filming in the surrounding area.
Lone Pine is just a short drive away from Manzanar, and the fact that I considered it to be nearby shows that I was becoming accustomed to distances I'd normally struggle with but Americans find normal. Visiting Manzanar internment camp made for a welcome change of pace and provided an opportunity to learn more about a part of America's history I get the impression most people would prefer not to remember and is therefore not advertised. Personally I found the experience to be a very sobering affair, despite the internment camp being drastically different from a concentration camp the atmosphere within the recreated buildings and blocks felt similar. What upset me the most was entering the children's section, seeing the poetry and toys and reading about how sparse their Christmas' would be, this really made me question how an entire country could be okay with such a place as Manzanar. To put anyone in a camp was wrong but to force children to live there is even worse because they cannot understand to the extent of adults what is going on. I saw how they had to make use of a 'toy library' because there were not enough for everyone to own several different toys, and for this to be happening in the land of opportunities and dreams made me feel sick.

Saturday 21st April

Luck was with us Saturday as the Mount Whitney Trailhead or as most people call it, the Whitney Portal was open earlier in the year than usual. Driving up the winding roads of the mountain provided spectacular panoramic views of the granite walls and the surrounding Sierra Nevada Mountains and as it was off peak season gave us a sense of really being and getting deeper into the wilderness with fewer and fewer people around. Solitary log cabins could be seen perched almost on cliff faces here and there, begging the question of how they were built and how they will be deconstructed if the land is sold and why people would want to stay so far out of the way of civilisation. Once we reached the Portal I could see instantly the appeal of the surroundings and the isolation to be found staying there, opposed to cities. We had only seen Las Vegas as far as American cities go which is far from typical, but even so in comparison Mount Whitney was paradise. A sanctuary to get away from the hustle and bustle of American life, a place where you can escape to be alone and enjoy nature, something which is becoming harder and harder to do within towns as development encroaches on parks and the natural environment. I found that the mountain gave welcome relief to desert heat of the Alabama Hills where we had previously been, with the most incredible waterfall whose sides were covered in snow and ice, another contributing factor for why you might choose to vacation here.

Sunday 22nd April

The return to Vegas was much anticipated for me as there was so much to see and do there that I did not have time for it all in the previous week, I could not wait to be back amongst the bright lights and the novelty of outdoor escalators, to hear music being played in the streets and see fountains dancing. The drive back went via the lowest and hottest place in the entire United States of America, Death Valley, a place so hot and dry that I had to wear sunglasses and a cap inside the van to prevent headaches from the sun. It was remarkable that anybody would choose to work in such a hostile environment but they did as there were shops, a gas station and even a hotel! What was more astonishing was that Native American people, the Timbisha Shoshone used to live in the area (and still do) and in days before cars and air conditioning so their strength and ability to survive was remarkable to us, although to them simple because the Timbisha Shoshone felt a deep connection between the land and themselves. They found ways around the challenges that Death Valley posed as one website dedicated to the desert describes, "Traditional brush homes made perfect desert dwellings, allowing breezes to filter in through the arrowweed walls. Men hunted jacjrabbits and bighorn sheep, using arrows tipped with stone points. Women wove baskets so intricately coiled they could hold water." 

References: 

http://mojavedesert.net/timbisha-shoshone/