Rocket science and burgers

POSTED BY SI

Friday morning we just had time to see a spaceship then eat one of the finest burgers on the planet before we dropped our tank back and flew out of LA to end our trip.

When the shuttle programme was (criminally; shortsightedly; tragically) decommissioned a few years ago, the four remaining shuttles were dispatched to museums for their final resting places. Endeavour now resides at The California Science Centre in LA.

She flew 25 NASA missions, spending 299 days in space and covering 122,883,151 miles, most of which in orbit at around 17,500 mph. She is quite something to be in the presence of.

Endeavour’s heat shield, or “Thermal Protection System”, contained over 30,000 tiles constructed essentially of sand, to protect it against the fierce heat of friction upon atmospheric re-entry. Each one was a different shape and thickness, according to where on the structure they were and the level of heat they needed to take. They were bonded to a flexible structure attached to the outer skin, with gaps between them to allow expansion.

I had thought the upper body would be smooth, like the Saturn rockets, but the whole thing is a mosaic of tiles. Even the payload bay doors.

Each of the RS-25 engines produced around 500,000 lbs of thrust, equivalent to about 12 million horse power. Powered by liquid oxygen and hydrogen, which it burned at a rate that would empty an average sized family swimming pool in minute. Its exhaust was pure water. There were nine engines ready for each launch. Three for the shuttle, three in case a second shuttle was needed for a rescue mission, and three spares.

One of mankind's finest accomplishments.

Speaking of which, we needed lunch.

I don't know why, but you cannot get a decent burger in England. I've heard tell that UK law means we're not allowed to sell rare burgers (mince; not a complete cut of meat) because of mad cow disease. I don't know if that's true, but anyway. England does rubbish burgers. So no trip to the states is complete without a decent one.

Mary Ann & Blair recommended Umami burger. 

They were quite correct to do so.

A fine way to bid farewell to the city of angels.

Universal Studios

POSTED BY SI

Thursday afternoon after Roscoes we went to Universal Studios.

Perhaps because rain was forecast (the forecast was wrong) it wasn’t crazy busy.

It’s obviously geared up for queues – sorry: lines – of up to an hour on the studio tour and all the rides, but the longest wait we had was under 10 minutes. Blair, who works at Universal (the studio not the park), says at the busiest times the tour is constant, and you can hardly cross the road on the lot for buses. It is not a cheap thing to do – £200 for a family. Someone’s making some cash.

But it is very slick and done with the panache you’d expect from Hollywood. There’s a 360 surround 3D King Kong vs T-Rex fight on the tour that is quite something else.

The studio tour is very cool, with all the fake streets and sets.

This is the Jumbo Jet crash site from Spielberg’s War of the Worlds on the backlot. They left the whole set intact just for the tour. It’s an actual 747 they took to bits and strewed everywhere. It’s incredible, even from a bus.

Then we went on a few rides. The Mummy ride is a proper indoor rollercoaster in almost complete darkness that Mads was NOT impressed with. Not sure she’s ready for roller coasters.

Bit of candy floss, she was fine.

Roscoe's

POSTED BY SI

Brunch at LA institution Roscoe's: 'The home of Chicken 'n' Waffles'

at Sunset & Gower

Deep fried chicken and waffles smothered in butter and maple syrup. Sounds wrong, but it's all kinds of right.

If you're going to eat unhealthily, it really ought to taste this good. A, mazing.

LA LA LA

POSTED BY SI

Landed at LAX five hours before we left the hotel in Fiji, after 15 hours of travelling. Time zones mess with your head.

The girls have been singing 'Party in the USA' from Pitch Perfect on hard rotation with increasing frequency for days now. ("Hopped off the plane at LAX, with a dream in my cardigan..." can those really be the lyrics?! Apparently so...) They even sung it on the way to baggage claim.

We hired the most ridiculous car. 5.6 litre V8 Lincoln Navigator. It's more bus than car. Very big, very smooth, very comfortable, quite ludicrous. Totally LA.

We mooched around Hollywood for a bit then headed up to the Griffith Observatory. Cool working public observatory and mini science museum, with terrific views of the city.

The LA basin from the observatory

Eventually we made it to Mary Ann & Blair's for great food and way too much wine. Wicked to see them again.

They have a fantastic view from their deck. A view in constant motion.

Fiji is cool

POSTED BY SOPH

Eventful arrival in Nadi as Si's luggage didn't make it from Auckland. Some issue with him carrying lighter fuel which does not go down well with airlines - despite it being perfectly fine to take your zippo full of the same stuff in the actual plane cabin. Bonks. Anyhoo, bag caught us up at Outrigger, where we're staying, about four hours later - sans lighter fuel. Si was overwhelmed at the reunion. 

Fiji is all Bula (hello/cool/see you later), sun, rain, hair braids, Maddie fake drowning, piña coladas, Izzy insisting hair braids are removed at 4am, champagne & canapé delivered to room, hot, sweaty, frogs,  kids club, diet of chicken tenders n chips for Mads, card playing, swimming, sun bathing and sunburnt bits. 

The resort is a bit of a rip off, charging for Fijian water and to see some weird firestone walking "ceremony", but it's done the job of getting the camper out of our system. 

In an hour we're on our way to LA. Kids crazy to see Hollywood sign. Us crazy to spend time with Melon and Blair - we're craving a bit of adult company!

Fiji animals

POSTED BY MADDIE

I’ve seen loads of animals in Fiji.

In the zoo with kids club I held ssnaiks and iguanas and fed peekock and turtles.

Here there are Mynah birds.

It rains a lot.

And when it rains, frogs come out to play.

Some big

some small

And crabs. I don’t liik them.

And in ar room we saw 2 liitle lizards.

This one lost harf his tail

Golf

POSTED BY SI

No cricket in NZ, but golf in Fiji.

Ah yeah, here’s some golf porn.

This is for you Dave, Ads, Mark, H, Tim, Joel, Sean – and so many more of you back home, suffering with your “Course Closed’ waterlogged quagmires.

This morning I played Natadola Bay. Designed by Fiji’s own former world number one Vijay Singh, and August this year host to the $1mUS PGA Tour Fiji International.

It’s a monster.

They don’t have rough. There is golf course, and there is jungle. If the ball goes off the fairway, it’s gone. I lost one (one of five) that dribbled no more than a yard off. No chance.

Its defining feature though, is humidity. Yes it’s hot – 30 degrees plus today – but the humidity is crazy. I have never sweated more playing golf. In fact I’m not sure I’ve sweated more doing anything. And this from a guy who can happily sweat through and wring out three helmet sweat pads in a half hour innings full of forward defensives. In England. In May. I sweat easily, and I’ve sweated less in steam rooms.

The course was empty. The deal from the resort included round, buggy, club hire and four balls. The clubs were a very decent set of Cleveland CG16s. Couldn’t blame those too much.

After losing a ball and carding a triple bogey 7 on the first, the three remaining balls didn’t look nearly enough. I felt slightly better after parring the 2nd, and then slammed one into the ocean on 4.

Fortunately on the 5th tee a local guy was selling balls, $F20 for a dozen (50p each) which I enthusiastically took him up on. Strange how insurance works – now I could afford to lose balls I started hitting them straight.

I’d say the signature hole here is 6, a par 5 with an elevated tee and green, and as daunting a drive as you’ll meet anywhere. Fabulous hole.

There a more like it, carved out of Jungle. Loads of elevated tees and steep winding tracks.

After a little break at the turn to completely re-slather myself in factor 50, it was out towards the ocean again.

All I ever aim to do on any new course is break bogey: +18. I clawed back to +9 after 9, so all I need to do was par one on the back 9. Could I do that? Not till it was too late. Ended up 19 over. Not at all shabby for a championship course with someone else’s clubs in a sauna.

The first one didn’t touch the sides.