Home Sweet Homeeeeee! :D I miss my cat.

Dear Chibi,

Hubby and I have recently returned from our 3 week holiday in the States :D The trip was for our 3 year wedding anniversary which lands on November 15th. It was our first time venturing outside of Asia, so the long flight was quite the experience ;D (and a little daunting at first). During our stay we visited Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Monterey, San Francisco, Las Vegas, The Grand Canyon, Orlando, Miami and finally New York. I’ve got a lot to cover, so I’ll will be splitting up my blog entries into several parts as I make my way through all the photos. So, let’s get started!

Firstly, we landed in LA early in the morning. I only managed around 4 hours of sleep during the 14 hour flight. LA was 16 hours behind Sydney, so the timezone difference was messing with my brain XD. After the first day though my body clock seemed to have adjusted and it was all good from there :D Phew!

Our rental car for our drive up the West Coast.

Driving on the right lane and sitting on the opposite side took some time to get used to. I still don’t fully understand how it all works (LOL), but that’s okay since all I did was sit and snooze; while Hubby did all the driving 8D

On our drive, we kept seeing signs that read “Ped Xing”. I was so confused I had no idea what that was supposed to mean. I assumed it was some street named after an Asian man. But it was everywhere! That doesn’t make any sense XD! Eventually Hubby figured out it was an abbreviation for “Pedestrian Crossing”. Oh my god…lol ahAHHAHA XD Oh America, why?

I also found it interesting that we have to pre-pay at the petrol stations before filling up our car. I guess that prevents theft but it’s not something we’re used to in Sydney.

One thing that slightly bothered me was that the pedestrian crossing indicators don’t make any noise when its time to cross. You actually have to pay attention and look for the ‘walk’ sign to show up, otherwise you’d miss it. The sign is also in white instead of green. Talk about accessibility ;p

Santa Monica

Our first destination was Santa Monica, a coastal city west of downtown Los Angeles. The area felt quite spacious with a relaxed atmosphere. The name “Santa” sure is popular around here; Santa is everywhere XD

We stopped by Bruxie for our first US meal. Fried chicken sandwiched in a freshly baked waffle. YUM! Never had such a thing before.

With food in our stomach, we headed out to Santa Monica Pier. It’s got a theme park there right next to the beach.

This view sorrrrt-of reminds me of Gold Coast.

Bubba Gump! Turns out there were quite a few of these restaurants around the States.

Later that evening, after we napped a few hours back at our hotel (Oh gosh that felt amazing), we ventured out in search for dinner. We went to Philippe The Original for some French Dip Sandwiches! I’ve never had something like this before :O So coool!

While out exploring the city, we came across Staples Center, where the Lakers and Clippers have their home games. Outside the building looked pretty cool with statues of Hall of Famers :O Out of the arenas we saw during our trip, this looked the most impressive.

Directly opposite the arena were large billboards of Stranger Things! ^.^ (Yay, this series is awesome!)

The next day, we started to head up the West Coast on route to San Francisco. Downtown LA was more rundown than I thought it would be. I was quite shocked to see so many homeless people out on the streets. Rubbish was also a common sight…perhaps it was just the area?

It would be several hours drive between LA and San Fran, but we made two overnight stops along the way. Unfortunately due to road closures, we couldn’t travel on the more scenic coastal route we originally planned.

Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara’s Spanish colonial heritage gave this area quite an interesting vibe.

South Coast Deli ~The sandwich and drinks here were so tasty!

One of the few meals I had that was healthy :’D

The beach here was less hectic and more relaxing than Santa Monica.

I was so amused by these cute little water pump thingos I’ve seen in cartoons XD

Ohhhh, pretty~

We stayed at Cambria for the night, a seaside village half way between LA and San Fran. It was freezing here!

We had pork ribs for dinner at Main Street Grill, but I actually prefer my home-made American Pork ribs ;D

Coming to America, Hubby was super keen on trying as many burgers as possible. Up until day 3, we still haven’t had any~ what was going on?? (Well actually burger places seem to open fairly late and Hubby wanted it first thing in the morning so we couldn’t lol).

Five Guys~ The first of many burger joints we tried out!

Woooaahhh so juicy. And big ~ o__o;;

It tasted pretty damn nice. Even for me, lol. I also loved the peanut butter milkshake. Unfortunately, my system couldn’t handle the heaviness, and I started feeling nausea for the next 2 days. Oh my gosh, I have one burger and I’m about to die already, ahahahahAH..

Meanwhile Hubby hurt himself opening his mouth too wide trying to eat the burger xDDDDD

Point Lobos, Monterey

Our next and final stop before San Fran was Monterey. We decided to check out Point Lobos State Reserve and watch the sunset here :) It was a beautiful clear day, but still quite cold near the water.

Hubby proud of his growing belly ;D

So pretty. Worth the wait :)

Part 2: Exploring San Francisco