California, Vegas and the Grand Canyon.

Aahhh…. Blogging about a vacation. It’s never easy because there’s just too much to say and soooo little time. Seriously though, I always believe you should write down your experiences during your travels, be it through an old-school diary, or through an electronic blog. These are the memories that will last you forever, and to read about it every once in a while will easily bring a smile to your face in no time.


Anyhow, here’s a rundown of my vacation and I’ll try to keep it as concise as possible!

==================================

June 24th:
We leave Houston from Hobby airport in the wee hours of the morning, with lots of thanks to Wen and Zhengkai for waking up early just to drive us there.

The moment we touched down in Las Vegas, jackpot machines greeted us outside our plane. Truly the City of Sin.

Sent Kee to the Stratosphere before driving toward the Grand Canyon. Friggin’ took us almost 4 hours but we made it there and found cheap inn lodging. I think we took the 2nd last room though. How lucky! Early night then as we were supposed to make it for the 4am shuttle at GC.

June 25th:
Whoops. Woke up at 315 and had to rush and prepare before driving to GC. Managed to pack our bags and bring them to the shuttle bus stop but missed the 4am bus by seconds. Argh.

We settled on the 5am bus then and by the time we reached the top of the South Kaibab Trail the sun was already up. No more sunrise! Haiz… Anyway we then took the road down… full of anticipation.


"The scenery was just amazing... even though I was so tempted to push him down."

Trail took longer than expected. What was supposed to be a 4 hour hike turned out to be 12 hours for us! After a long long route with little shade and carrying our ridiculously heavy bags, we reached the Bright Angel campground at around 7 plus. Insane.

June 26th:
Time for the route up using the Bright Angel Trail! The way up is surprisingly easier than the way down as it has a lot of shade and rest areas. We made friends with an Ang Moh, Craig, whom we took turns over-taking. Hahaha….

We managed to reach our destination, Indian Garden Campgrounds at a little over 3pm. All in good time and we had lotsa spare time to rest and slowly set up our camp. Tze Ying however, sprained her ankle just as we were reaching and it doesn’t look good for our hike up.

June 27th:
Just 5 miles from the top and we can see it! Sharon stuns everyone by taking the lead initially, and I stress, INITIALLY. Tze Ying manages to find a walking stick so now she has 2 pieces of wood to hold on to while making her way up….. haha

Amazingly, despite all our problems, we make it up at around noon. We are all feeling insanely tired but at the same time, tremendously proud of ourselves to have accomplished such a feat!! Time to move on back to Vegas then….

Drive to Vegas was a tough one as both Yiren and I felt sleepy, but we managed to do so safely. Managed to find Kee and check into the Stratosphere and take our long-awaited baths… hahaha

The night ended with a nice big Boston Pizza… well-deserved!

June 28th:
Just a regular walking day. It seemed like we had aged a decade as our bodies were aching everywhere but we still managed to walk around the Las Vegas strip, taking pics of the different casinos! Lots of nice themes and I wonder how the Singapore casino… I mean “Integrated Resort” will look like… hehe…

Sharon and I watched the Blue Man Group at the Venetian in the evening. One of the best live shows I’ve ever seen and I don’t even know how to describe it! All I can say is that it’s got good music, good visuals, lots of humour, and loads and loads of fun! Watch them if you can!!


"I'm BLUE da-ba-dee-da-ba-dai...."

June 29th:
Time to drive out of Vegas then…. Kinda sad to say goodbye to all that sleaze though.. haha. The drive to Los Angeles was supposed to take us 4 hours but in the end, it was more like 8 though coz there was a huge accident along the freeway, whereby we took 4 hours to travel 20 miles. Talk about an aching butt.

We reached the Venice Beach Hostel at night and sadly, we kinda got cheated of our money… those fuggers. Shall not say anymore coz I feel damn dulan when I think about it! Plus point though, we got a cheaper deal by staying at the Hilton, thanks to Kee!

June 30th:
Wen and Celia finally join us and we make it down to the famed Santa Monica Boulevard (anyone remember Sheryl Crow’s All I Wanna Do?). Lotsa happening people and a great beach to boot! I jumped in the ice-cold water despite not having my swim wear and the waves were really insane…. Didn’t take my clothes too long to dry either after I got out… haha

Next stop was Hollywood Boulevard… with the famous place where celebrities leave their hand and footprints. Lots of phototaking there but come to think about it, there’s not really much to do. Thus, we watched Superman Returns at Mann’s Chinese Theater. Brilliant cinema but the movie kinda sugged if you ask me.

July 1st:
6 Flags Day! Yiren, TY and Sharon wake up early to accompany me in my rollercoaster adventure at Magic Mountain! Sadly, after a whole day of queueing, we only managed to take 3 rides (4 for YR and TY). However, the wait was worth it as these were really insane coasters… check out youtube.com for vids of the rides!

Nothing much else for the rest of the day except looking at rich people’s houses and eating at the Singapore Banana Leaf Restaurant in Farmers’ Market. (It had the pic of President Nathan!!!)

July 2nd:
Today was officially the beach day, and we spent almost the whole of the morning and afternoon at Manhattan Beach. This time I was well prepared in my beach shorts and entertained myself by simply fighting with the strong waves. Wen actually went a step further to rent a surfboard and we both took turns to try surfing. I must say we kinda sugged but give us more time and we’re sure to improve!


"Beach babe and hunk...."

The evening was then topped off with a dinner at Gyu-Kaku, a brilliant little Jap BBQ Restaurant. Nice and cosy place and the food was absolutely fabulous!! A must-try for anyone who goes to LA….

July 3rd:
Another theme park today! This time it was all about movies… at Universal Studios! I’ve been here before as a kid but coming here this time was even better as I appreciated all the rides and shows even more! I think it’s really the kid in me that refuses to grow up which makes me enjoy all this theme-park stuff but nevertheless, I love it! We spent the whole day there and took all the rides except 1 (Terminator), which was an achievement in itself. Should I go to Universal Orlando in the near future? Hmmm….

July 4th:
Independence Day. And how do we celebrate it? By driving up the scenic Highway 1 along the Pacific coast…. All the way up to Monteray Bay. The mountainous views and the clear blue ocean really reminded me a lot of New Zealand when I was there in 2004.


"Everything looked unreal... especially this babe..."

Due to all the phototaking stops, we ended up in Monteray Bay at around 7pm…. Which was kind of ideal as the Independence Day fireworks would be going off at around 9-ish. We went to a nearby beach (which was insanely cold btw) to catch the fireworks and in a matter of 15 minutes, it was all over. It wasn’t too spectacular but I felt that it was longer than the ones we have annually at our NDP… hahaha

July 5th:
Time to move on and this time, we’re headed for Yosemite National Park! Took us about half a day to drive there and we reached at around 4pm. However, the moment we got into the park it was really a sight to behold. With the nicely sculpted Yosemite Valley and the many meadows, it looked totally unreal!

We managed to stop at a few waterfalls, namely Bridalveil Fall and Lower Yosemite Fall and I can’t recall ever being so close to a waterfall before. Have a look at the pics and you’ll know what I mean!


"One of the rare group pics we had...."

The night was spent in the tent cabin, whereby we had to make sure we had no fragrant items like food, perfume or toothpaste (!!?!) which may attract bears.

July 6th:
Day 2 of our Yosemite trip was spent driving to Tuolumne Meadows, which had yet more beautiful scenery. We managed a little hike up Lembert Dome and got some pictures (and a good exercise) out of it! Some of the dudes who have not seen snow before managed to find some near the tip of the Dome and managed a mini snowfight… with me. Hahaha….


"View from the top!!"

July 7th:
After another chilly night in Yosemite, we finally said goodbye to the place, but not before going on one last trek… which turned out to be an adventure.

We were supposed to hike a 2-mile roundtrip to Mirror Lake but the route was so riddled with horse shit and pee that most of the guys decided to cross the river and take the cleaner way back. What they didn’t count on, was the coldness of the water (think cold water from your fridge… with ice) and also the depth of the river. Kee was first to go and he actually managed to get himself waist deep! That did not deter the rest though and everyone managed to do so safely, while Sharon and I chickened out and decided horseshit was better than wet pants. Haha…

Everything else was smooth sailing then… for the drive all the way to San Francisco. There though, we wanted to try some fine dining but realized we only had 15 minutes to finish our food as our ferry to Alcatraz was going to head out! Amazingly, we made it on time (yes, even me the slow-eater) and we were the last ones to board the ferry.

Alcatraz was everything I thought it’d be, nice and spooky with a lot of history and the audio tour provided was really interesting and comprehensive. That was a great way to end our first day at San Fran.


"The Rock - Up close and personal."

July 8th:
Napa Valley was the order of the day, and we took the long drive up north to try the wines in the famous wineries. Funnily enough, we only had time for 1 winery and we went for the most popular, V. Sattui. Amazingly, Sharon managed to get drunk from wine-tasting and it took her a while, and some BBQ ribs, before she could sober up.

We also made a stop at the Old Faithful Geyser (1 of only 3 in the world) where we managed to catch the geyser at its highest of almost 20 feet. Actually thought it was dumb money to pay ($7) for watching spurts of water but oh well, I guess it didn’t turn out too bad.

A certain Miss Teo Peiwen then joined us when we went back to San Fran and we managed to have dinner at Chinatown before spoiling ourselves at Ghiradelli, the famous chocolate restaurant along San Fran Bay.

July 9th:
World Cup Finals! But first, we woke up early to have a look at Lombard Street, the crookedest in the world. After the standard ooh, aahs and photographs, we caught the final between France and Italy, which will forever be known for Zidane’s butt (VERB not NOUN please). Little Italy was filled with crazed fans after that… you’ve got to see it to believe it.


"Crooked evil Adidas twins..."

Lunch was at San Fran Bay where we had lotsa seafood stuff like crab, shrimp and fish. Peiwen ate the most I think, based on my photographs. We then got on a cable car ride which was kinda cool too with all the hilly slopes around.

Last but not least, we managed to go to the Golden Gate Bridge at night, although we saw absolutely NOTHING thanks to the fog and the darkness. Well at least we can say that we’ve been there right? Hahaha…

July 10th:
On the way home then…. from a memorable trip. Till the next time!


PS: Check out the links to my 3 Photo Albums on the Left!