By Layla
When Roz and I came up with our holiday plan many months ago, we were inspired by two ambitions: to hike in a national park and to see some of one of our favourite performance artists, Taylor Mac, doing segments of his spectacular 24 hour show on a queer history of music in the last 24 decades. A strange combination. So we bought tickets to two six-hour segments of his show in Los Angeles... and on Saturday morning we set off to sunny LA.
Except it wasn’t at all sunny. We had managed to land in the middle of a very rare occurrence: a horrible rainy week in Los Angeles. Our AirBnB apartment for our first night in Venice was on a lane that was so submerged in water that we had to wade up to our ankles in rainwater just to get in... and soon out again for a delicious dinner and cocktails at one of our favourite restaurants, Butcher’s Daughter. It was worth it! So fun to be in London in the morning, then by evening dining in LA in a location dubbed America’s hippest street (Abbot Kinney).
The next morning we awoke at the crack of dawn and I was dispatched to Blue Bottle Coffee to procure Roz’s first stateside flat white coffee. Then we gazed dismally at the rain, and the mismatch between the weather and our plan to cycle along the beach. So we went for brunch at an amusingly hipster restaurant on Abbot Kinney, til the rain subsided to a drizzle. We jumped upon bikes provided by our AirBnB, and set off along cycle paths to the beach. Both of us really love this amazing cycle path that cuts right through the sand dunes and goes along the coast for miles. We’d only ever done it before in blazing sunshine. It was a whole different atmosphere in the rain and also very cool... though I confess we turned back when it started to get a bit... torrential. We stopped off for lunch in our favourite bike route-side sandwich cafe, Mendocino Farms. Mmmmm I am still dreaming of that delicious tempeh sandwich.
Ironically by the time we got back to Venice and dropped off our bikes, the sun had started to come out. We walked down to Venice beach and had a charming stroll along the boardwalk and out onto a pier, smiling at cute dogs and determined surfers and street art and people of every variety. Then we veered away from the sand and onto the network of canals that give Venice its name: a charming residential Disneyland of waterways. As we strolled up and down the bridges, Roz and I actually got sunburned!
We finished off our lovely afternoon back at Abbot Kinney Street, browsing in pretentious dog shops and the like, and picking up tasty salads for our dinner later. Then we grabbed our luggage, hopped in an Uber, and returned to the airport. We awaited the next stage of our holiday with beer to accompany our tasty salad dinner. Next stop: St George, Utah!
Where, you may ask? Quite. We landed at 10:30pm and it was tiny and it was pitch black but hooray and thank goodness: out of the darkness an Uber emerged. He drove us through pitch blackness for over an hour until we suspected we had fallen off the edge of the world and were now hurtling through space in a jetlagged haze of disorientation. Finally, a sign was illuminated: Zion National Park. Our home for the next three days.
We were staying in Zion Lodge, right in the middle of the park, and found ourselves in a charming little cabin, all cosy and rustic. And we collapsed into bed.
The next day, up far too early, we had a delicious breakfast in the hotel restaurant overlooking the soaring red peaks and cliffs of a canyon that we hadn’t been aware of at all on arrival. The Lodge was perfectly located for an array of hikes and we set off on the first one, an enchanting 4 mile circuit past waterfalls and pools and spectacular views (and many young people on spring break). We ate our lunch (which we’d bought the night before at the airport in LA) perched on the top of a cliff overlooking the Virgin River in the sun and it was all absolutely glorious. Later that day we took the free park shuttle to another trail, the Riverside Walk. It was incredibly lovely and scenic. It was also the jumping off point for The Narrows, a walk through the river that requires wetsuit type equipment at this time of year. We didn’t go, but enjoyed watching some intrepid hikers head upstream. We headed downstream, did another mini-hike, and spent the rest of the afternoon with icecream and beer and books back at Zion Lodge.
That night we shamefully went to bed before 9pm and were thus up long before the crack of dawn. Our mission today: Angel’s Landing, one of Zion’s most famous and beloved hikes. My impression: far too steep and full of spring breakers. Luckily Roz had the genius idea to divert onto the West Rim trail which was less attractive to the vigorously loud college students and we climbed up a mountain and found a lovely place for picnicking and reading our books in the sun before a long and rather steep descent. And then a sneaky repetition of that really charming Riverside walk before our ice cream and beer reward. That evening we kept ourselves entertained with chess and Dobble and dinner and cocktails until just after 9pm: very proud.
We woke up today to our last day at Zion National Park, and it was raining: boo. Luckily the rain was intermittent. We took the shuttle to the Watchmans Trail, which was a gradual uphill climb to the top of a little mountain with brilliant views. It was one of my favourite hikes. We had our elevenses at the peak and got down just as the rain started to fall again. So we hopped in the bus back to the Lodge for a quesadilla lunch. Then we returned to the trail and hiked the Pa’arus trail which was flat along the river and yet again beautiful. Zion has really incredible hiking trails, scenery AND transport options. Roz and I bitterly lamented that nobody had recommended we visit while we were living in the US.
As the rain fell once more, we caught a shuttle out of the park and into nearby Springsdale where we have ensconced ourselves in a cafe (where I may or may not have ordered a chocolate crepe) as we await a bus to shuttle us to our next location: Las Vegas. But not for the slots - just to the airport to grab a plane back to Los Angeles where Taylor Mac and his crazy 6-hour-long performances await!
When Roz and I came up with our holiday plan many months ago, we were inspired by two ambitions: to hike in a national park and to see some of one of our favourite performance artists, Taylor Mac, doing segments of his spectacular 24 hour show on a queer history of music in the last 24 decades. A strange combination. So we bought tickets to two six-hour segments of his show in Los Angeles... and on Saturday morning we set off to sunny LA.
Except it wasn’t at all sunny. We had managed to land in the middle of a very rare occurrence: a horrible rainy week in Los Angeles. Our AirBnB apartment for our first night in Venice was on a lane that was so submerged in water that we had to wade up to our ankles in rainwater just to get in... and soon out again for a delicious dinner and cocktails at one of our favourite restaurants, Butcher’s Daughter. It was worth it! So fun to be in London in the morning, then by evening dining in LA in a location dubbed America’s hippest street (Abbot Kinney).
The next morning we awoke at the crack of dawn and I was dispatched to Blue Bottle Coffee to procure Roz’s first stateside flat white coffee. Then we gazed dismally at the rain, and the mismatch between the weather and our plan to cycle along the beach. So we went for brunch at an amusingly hipster restaurant on Abbot Kinney, til the rain subsided to a drizzle. We jumped upon bikes provided by our AirBnB, and set off along cycle paths to the beach. Both of us really love this amazing cycle path that cuts right through the sand dunes and goes along the coast for miles. We’d only ever done it before in blazing sunshine. It was a whole different atmosphere in the rain and also very cool... though I confess we turned back when it started to get a bit... torrential. We stopped off for lunch in our favourite bike route-side sandwich cafe, Mendocino Farms. Mmmmm I am still dreaming of that delicious tempeh sandwich.
Ironically by the time we got back to Venice and dropped off our bikes, the sun had started to come out. We walked down to Venice beach and had a charming stroll along the boardwalk and out onto a pier, smiling at cute dogs and determined surfers and street art and people of every variety. Then we veered away from the sand and onto the network of canals that give Venice its name: a charming residential Disneyland of waterways. As we strolled up and down the bridges, Roz and I actually got sunburned!
We finished off our lovely afternoon back at Abbot Kinney Street, browsing in pretentious dog shops and the like, and picking up tasty salads for our dinner later. Then we grabbed our luggage, hopped in an Uber, and returned to the airport. We awaited the next stage of our holiday with beer to accompany our tasty salad dinner. Next stop: St George, Utah!
Where, you may ask? Quite. We landed at 10:30pm and it was tiny and it was pitch black but hooray and thank goodness: out of the darkness an Uber emerged. He drove us through pitch blackness for over an hour until we suspected we had fallen off the edge of the world and were now hurtling through space in a jetlagged haze of disorientation. Finally, a sign was illuminated: Zion National Park. Our home for the next three days.
We were staying in Zion Lodge, right in the middle of the park, and found ourselves in a charming little cabin, all cosy and rustic. And we collapsed into bed.
The next day, up far too early, we had a delicious breakfast in the hotel restaurant overlooking the soaring red peaks and cliffs of a canyon that we hadn’t been aware of at all on arrival. The Lodge was perfectly located for an array of hikes and we set off on the first one, an enchanting 4 mile circuit past waterfalls and pools and spectacular views (and many young people on spring break). We ate our lunch (which we’d bought the night before at the airport in LA) perched on the top of a cliff overlooking the Virgin River in the sun and it was all absolutely glorious. Later that day we took the free park shuttle to another trail, the Riverside Walk. It was incredibly lovely and scenic. It was also the jumping off point for The Narrows, a walk through the river that requires wetsuit type equipment at this time of year. We didn’t go, but enjoyed watching some intrepid hikers head upstream. We headed downstream, did another mini-hike, and spent the rest of the afternoon with icecream and beer and books back at Zion Lodge.
That night we shamefully went to bed before 9pm and were thus up long before the crack of dawn. Our mission today: Angel’s Landing, one of Zion’s most famous and beloved hikes. My impression: far too steep and full of spring breakers. Luckily Roz had the genius idea to divert onto the West Rim trail which was less attractive to the vigorously loud college students and we climbed up a mountain and found a lovely place for picnicking and reading our books in the sun before a long and rather steep descent. And then a sneaky repetition of that really charming Riverside walk before our ice cream and beer reward. That evening we kept ourselves entertained with chess and Dobble and dinner and cocktails until just after 9pm: very proud.
We woke up today to our last day at Zion National Park, and it was raining: boo. Luckily the rain was intermittent. We took the shuttle to the Watchmans Trail, which was a gradual uphill climb to the top of a little mountain with brilliant views. It was one of my favourite hikes. We had our elevenses at the peak and got down just as the rain started to fall again. So we hopped in the bus back to the Lodge for a quesadilla lunch. Then we returned to the trail and hiked the Pa’arus trail which was flat along the river and yet again beautiful. Zion has really incredible hiking trails, scenery AND transport options. Roz and I bitterly lamented that nobody had recommended we visit while we were living in the US.
As the rain fell once more, we caught a shuttle out of the park and into nearby Springsdale where we have ensconced ourselves in a cafe (where I may or may not have ordered a chocolate crepe) as we await a bus to shuttle us to our next location: Las Vegas. But not for the slots - just to the airport to grab a plane back to Los Angeles where Taylor Mac and his crazy 6-hour-long performances await!
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