Our trip to Los Angeles - shorter than expected...

After a few days without a car, we had already planned to rent a car to get out of the idyllic Palm Springs a bit. The plan was to drive along and explore the various 'beaches' south of Los Angeles. From Newport Beach to Huntington Beach and Long Beach.

The drive was somewhat 'boring' - not because the distance was too far - but because there wasn't much to see. You drive for what feels like hours through towns along the highway that all look equally bleak. You don't know where Los Angeles actually begins. Everything just blends together and you quickly lose your orientation.

Our first stop was Newport Beach. Here we made our first stop and observed the hustle and bustle on the beach and pier.

Continuing along the coast to Huntington Beach. On the way there, we passed numerous industrial plants. Oil was being extracted here and processed in the adjacent refineries. Large ships were waiting off the coast to be processed. So overall, not a sight that you would find beautiful. Who goes into the water here? Who knows what gets 'released' here...

A few miles further, we arrived in the town that has such a 'famous' name. Huntington Beach itself is a very beautiful town. Well-maintained, with a beautiful beach, hotels, and residential areas. But still...

Next and last stop for the day was Long Beach, where we had also booked accommodation. Checked in and down to the port where the Queen Mary has been moored as a hotel since the 60s. Nice sight, we just wondered who lives there? Besides the 'luxury liner' with the illustrious name, which is located in the middle of the container port, there isn't much to experience here. But there wasn't much to see for us either. Rather, be careful when crossing the streets. In our street directly, it was still relatively peaceful. A few streets further, as we were told, you have to be more careful. The many homeless people, whom we would see more of in LA over time, made us think a little...

The next morning we headed towards LA.

Oh, did I mention that the weather in LA was pretty cloudy and cool? No, then that's mentioned. And you can also see it in the 'colorful, radiant pictures ☹'

Upon arriving in LA, we were once again confronted, as we were many times on the way to the metropolis, with the immense number of homeless people. In LA, it seemed to be even more pronounced. We read that about 30% of the homeless people in the US live in California. It is so terrible to see how these people live there. They have set up their camp on the side of the road in the city and along highways. They set up makeshift tents with huge tarps to protect themselves from the sun and curious glances.

In the last four to five years, the problem has been getting bigger and bigger. More and more people are becoming unemployed and therefore homeless. Covid has exacerbated that. But synthetic drugs, like Fentanyl, are also a problem. Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin. It is usually deadly when combined with other drugs or medication.

In the last six weeks alone, 4.2 kg of Fentanyl was seized in San Francisco. This amount would have been enough to kill the entire population of San Francisco, about 800,000 people, three times...

We don't want to sugarcoat anything, there are also homeless people in Palm Springs who live on the side of the road, but not as many - proportionately - as in LA.

Even though the weather didn't cooperate, we still had to do something. Nothing looks really beautiful in gray weather. Taking pictures is impossible unless you can watch the 'pros' at the roller park on Venice Beach. Speaking of Venice Beach: the former flagship of LA has become an even more rundown place. Only homeless people and drug addicts are lying here. There is shouting and screaming in the streets, and the whole street is completely dilapidated. The houses are not being renovated, they are occupied by homeless people, and this is where they consume their drugs. You don't see any police here. They have probably given up and let it run...

'Obligation', because we had visited the start of Route 66 in Chicago, was also a visit to Santa Monica Pier to photograph the end of the legendary Route 66.

We had booked another night in LA, but considering the bad weather that was also forecasted for the next day, we decided to skip the points 'Close to the Hollywood Sign' and a drive on the legendary Mulholland Drive and instead drive back to our beautiful Palm Springs and continue to enjoy the constant sun and pool here.

Who needs LA when the sun always shines in Palm Springs.

We are now taking another travel blog break until June 28, 2023. Then we will continue the last of the three sections of our USA trip.