Travel Biography Photo Extravaganza - Part 2.

Introduction to Part 2 - North America 1977.

As already said, I aim to cover the whole Biography with a Photo Extravaganza, chronologically covering each venue. This means including never-seen-before photos and those already in the main biography. This will take several weeks.

This week, I'll be covering the 1977 trip to North America, including both Canada and the USA. Unlike in the Middle East, in the New World, there is little change between that year and the present, except for Hollywood Studios where there has been quite a massive development, including that of movie-based roller coasters. Two of them I tried on my second visit were the Back to the Future simulator and the Jurassic Park water chute where I got a thorough soaking. 

Another significant difference between 1977 and the present is the size of Salt Lake. Over the years, it has shrunk significantly due to industrial use of its inflowing rivers. This, to me, is a terrible tragedy and an abuse of nature. Where I was posing near the edge of the lake is now dry ground, the salt waters have retreated. In 1977, Salt Lake was a remnant of the much larger Lake Bonneville which would have submerged the nearby city. Instead, soon there be nothing there, just a barren desert.

Setting foot in Canada wasn't my original intention. Rather, I had my eyes on California, after watching a series of the 70s detective drama, Starsky and Hutch on television. However, the initial difficulty in getting an entry visa from the US Embassy in London left me with just two options, either to limit my journeys to within Canada and set my eyes on Niagara Falls, or abandon the idea of transatlantic travel. Or there was another way - to keep knocking on the US Embassy's door until I got what I needed.

I chose the third way and eventually received the visa. But by then, my flight to the Canadian city of Toronto was already booked. The staff at the Embassy, in trying to make everything difficult for me, instead had done me a favour. I could now visit both the Canadian Falls and California.

I travelled a loop which began and ended in Toronto, passing through Detroit, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Vancouver, before returning to Toronto via Calgary and Winnipeg on the Trans-Canadian Highway. After I had received the US entry visa, I bought a Greyhound Bus Ameripass booklet containing vouchers for each leg of the journey and travelled across the whole continent on the interstate bus without further fare payments.

After arriving in San Francisco, I made my way on a BART train to Walnut Creek, a town on the other side of the Bay, to stay with an Italian undergraduate from Turin, Valentino. He, with his American host family, took me to their home, where I spent the next few days. By car, it was possible to get to places unreached by public transport, such as Muir Forest. Also at Walnut Creek, I had a chance to taste the American suburban life untainted by tourism. Other than the stop in San Francisco, the rest of my travels was on my own.

However, it was after I arrived home that I began to wish that I visited the Grand Canyon, after studying the geological significance of this vast natural formation while I was learning the ins and outs of Biblical theology. Hence, the need to return to the States a year later in 1978 to fulfil this purpose, and pics from that trip will be posted next week. 

This week's blog contains 58 photos, all taken with a Kodak 110 Pocket Instamatic which I bought in Toronto after a shutter failure rendered my original camera unusable during the flight from London. However, with some editing, I managed to bring out the clarity of each photo, enabling you to enjoy browsing through them.

I apologise if you think that I appeared a little too often in this picture blog. In 1977, to have found myself across the Atlantic - I was astonished! I couldn't believe that I was in America, as back in those days, long-haul travel was confined to the chosen few. Also, I admit that there are far more pics of the USA than Canada, as my original intention was to visit the States. Therefore, I see Canada as a bonus, the icing on the cake. Yet my stay in both countries was roughly equal - two weeks in each, thus totalling 28 days.

To read about this leg of Travel in the main Biography, go to the Index by clicking here.

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Photos of North America 1977. 

Toronto and the Niagara Falls.

At Nathan Philips Square, Toronto.

Toronto City view from the CN Tower.

City view from the CN Tower.

A ferry to Toronto Park Island, Lake Ontario.

A water chute at Toronto Park Island.

I arrive at Niagara Falls on the Canadian side.

Close-up of the Horseshoe Falls, Canada.

Looking upstream from Rainbow Bridge.

Sitting on the Border at Rainbow Bridge.

The American Falls, USA.

A permanent rainbow when the sun shines.

Chicago.

At S Colombus Drive, Chicago.

Clarence Buckingham Fountain, Chicago.

Overground Metro, Chicago.

View from the Sears Tower lookout gallery.

Rear View from the Sears Tower lookout.

Salt Lake City and Lake.

Chief Mormon Temple, Salt Lake City.

At the city square.

Adam and Eve, the Visitor's Center.

View of SLC from a nearby peak.

Panorama of SLC from the Summit, after a hike.

What a poser! After a swim in Salt Lake.

Los Angeles and its Environs - Disneyland and Hollywood.

Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Main Street USA, Disneyland.

Gulliver's Travels.

It's a Small World.

Mississippi Steamer.

The Submarine.

View from the sub. Pity these aren't real.

Matterhorn roller coaster.

Indian Ranch.

Sensa Parole.

 The Boulevard - celebrity handprints are set in stone.

At Hollywood Studios, 1977.

Living quarters for a visiting film star.

Studio mock buildings, from the Glamour Tram.

Parting of the Sea, from The Ten Commandments.

Mock-ups, from the Glamour Tram.

Mock-up Street, the Glamour Tram.

The Bridge of the River Kwai.

A shark shoots out of the water. From Jaws.

San Francisco and Walnut Creek.

A famous Cable Car, San Francisco.

Downtown San Francisco.

The Pyramid.

Lombard Street - the world's most crooked street.

Golden Gate Bridge and a thumb!

Fisherman's Wharf.

Muir Forest, several miles north of SF.

Relaxing at a local pool, Walnut Creek.

Valentino bids farewell as I begin to move on.

Portland, Oregon.

Downtown Portland.

Sensa Parole.

Back to Canada - Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg.

Vancouver Skyline.

Stanley Park, Vancouver.

On the route to Calgary, the Rockies.

Heritage Site, Calgary.

Town Hall, Winnipeg

Winnipeg Gardens.

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Next Week: the 1978 Trip to the USA, featuring the first visit to the Grand Canyon