The Last Post :)

Well, the time has come, and this will be my last post from the great adventure.

We have spent 2 nights back in Waikiki generally chilling out either on the beach, by the pool, or (for me) at the shops today, where I purchased some designer bargains!!

All in all it has been a wonderful adventure and the main positive is that David is already talking about coming back here again some day, which means that I can and will get him on a plane for longer than 3 and a half hours yet again. We have visited some fascinating places, had extremes in temperatures, seen things we have never seen before, had lots of laughs with great friends and are back to the real world on Friday (sigh), but the times we have shared will stay with us forever, and no one can take them away!!

So, my friends, this is the last post from Janine & David from their Excellent USA Adventure 2009 - mahalo.

Happy Birthday Glenda!!!

Tonight we went out to celebrate Glenda's birthday, which is technically on 28th May, but as we will be in transit for the better part of that day we went out to Jimmy Buffets at the Beachcomber Bar & Restaurant, where Glenda and I had not one but TWO cocktails each! as seen in this photo.

We went on to dinner and Glenda had her birthday hat made by the Balloon Man and proceeded to wear it the entire night including walking back down to the hotel, which attracted comments by many people.

We had such a fun night and it was a wonderful conclusion to our time together.

We Went to Alcatraz and Escaped!!

Today we did our ferry trip and tour of Alcatraz. Once reaching Alcatraz you do a self-guided audio tour via MP3 Player (it was a Walkman 20 years ago!!), very interesting. They also dispel a few rumours as well, i.e. there was NO Birdman of Alcatraz (don't let the truth get in the way of a good movie!). Robert Stroud did spend time in Alcatraz but was not the almost good-guy that was portrayed by Burt Lancaster in the movie. Also Al Capone spent time there as well, but did not die in Alcatraz. 3 male escapees to date are still not accounted for but are presumed dead, and I would believe it as it is too far from the mainland to swim and the water is absolutely freezing so you would die from exposure. The prison closed in 1963 because it was deemed too expensive to maintain, not because prisoners escaped.

We then walked down to Pier 39 to the famous sea lion colony and Fisherman's Wharf.
It was pretty busy down there as it is Memorial Day holiday here today, so lots of people around.

Off to Honolulu again tomorrow to catch up with Glenda & Ken again and compare notes, and generally chill out before returning home on Thursday.

San Francisco Tour

We arrived yesterday in SanFrancisco and have settled into our very nice apartment which is walking distance from Union Square and down to the Port Area.

We went on our 5 hour SanFrancisco City Shuttle Tour today which was an excellent way of getting an overview of the sights of the city. We walked to Lombard Street (the crookidist street in the world), saw the Full House houses and actually went inside one of them which has been bought by a man who has restored them and was just beautiful.

We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and had lunch in Sausilito before catching the ferry back to the Port building, going past Alcatraz, and then walking back home.

Unfortunately, the city is pretty foggy today (and cold, I had to buy a fleecy jacket to keep warm), so it was impossible to get clear pictures of the city, the Golden Gate Bridge or Alcatraz, but hopefully it will be better tomorrow when we do our Alcatraz tour.

Apparently this weather is fairly normal for SanFrancisco (it only got to 51 deg F today which is 10.5 deg.C). David still walked around with shorts on, but did have a polo shirt and vest on as well (still too cold for my liking).

I cannot believe the extremes of weather we have had while being away - warmth and humidity in Hawaii, extreme heat (108 deg.F 42 deg.C) in Laughlin, nice 23deg.C in Anaheim, and now 10.5deg.C in Sanfrancisco. They say that the coldest summer anyone can have will be in SanFrancisco, I can believe that!!

By the sea in Cambria

Yesterday we ventured up the coast from LA (via Malibu, where we had coffee and saw no-one famous, but did see siliconed blond bimbo's!) to a quaint seaside town called Cambria, which is half-way between LA and SFO. It was nice to get out and go for a nice walk on the boardwalk along the beach and stretch the legs after a few hours in the car.

We stayed at the Little Sur Inn, where we had an oceanfront room (very nice) and I was fascinated by the little Squirrels that inhabit the beach here and seem to have no real fear of humans!!

DISNEYLAND

Yesterday, we headed off to Disneyland - a delightful 10 minute drive from the Hotel so no traffic!! It was a beautiful day weather wise as well, probably about 23 deg.

It was great to see the place again and for David to experience it for the first time. We had a ride on the Jungle River Cruise in Adventureland and rode the Rocky Mountain Steam Train around the park.

We visited Fantasyland and saw the Mad Hatter's Teaparty Spinning Cups which was of course Megan's favourite ride, and saw It's a Small World. Unfortunately could not convince David to go on any more rides, so just had to be satisfied with taking photos at these rides instead.

We came home after about 3 hours, and I must admit I was absolutely exhausted and slept for 10 hours last night, I think the big day of Universal Studios & Baseball the day before really got to me, I couldn't even read without falling asleep!!

Take me out to the Ball Game

Woo Hoo, tonight we went to our first ever live Baseball game, we had fantastic seats - about 20 rows back right behind the home plate - fantastic view.

The L A Dodgers were playing the N Y Mets - and the big bonus was an appearance by Matthew Mcconnaghy!!! Luckily I had the camera with me (of course) and got some fantastic shots - oh and I took pics of the baseball as well!!!

Fascinating that you have to stand to hear God Bless America sang before the game starts and then at the 7th innings stretch they actually do have an organist playing and the crowd sings "Take me out to the Ball Game"! (I thought things like that only happened in the movies). Also, they are a very orderly crowd - no abuse of umpires or anything, except that they constantly eat!!!!!

We had to have a Dodger Dog and were so disappointed that they were so small, and for $6 didn't fill you up at all, so had to do a McDonalds run on the way home!!

Interesting that it only took 30 minutes to get back to the hotel - freeway flowed beautifully, but still a lot of traffic for 10.00 at night.

What a great experience to behold!!! Take me out to the ball game.....

Traffic, Smog & Universal Studios

Today we made the epic journey to Hollywood, via car and the Los Angeles freeway.
Wow, according to the GPS it was going to take 35 minutes - not so, 75 minutes later we finally arrived at Universal Studios. We were bumper to bumper traffic all the way, and considering we didn't leave Anaheim until 10.30am we thought we would have avoided the rush hour, but obviously not. David has done a fantastic job of driving in this strange country and Janine has become a very nervous passenger and is so glad to have David doing the driving!!

We finally made it to Universal Studios and had a great day there, got the customary shots with the characters and saw the Special Effects stage and of course did the Studio Tour which included Jaws, Bates Motel, Flash Flooding & Broken Bridge and of course Magnolia Lane - quite fascinating!!

Well worth the slow trip and the smog.

Scrappin in the Hills

Today, I had to get my scrapbooking fix!!! Visited a great store in Anaheim called Scrappin in the Hills - they had a great range of travel papers and embellishments.
Managed to spend $68 in this store and I think I have enough to definitely scrap most of the trip - will have to order some missing papers online. Anyway, here's a picture of the store!!

Of course, David kept up the male end by staying in the car while I shopped - I tried to go as fast as I could, would have loved to have had a good look around, but didn't want to push my luck!!

Hot and Dusty in the Desert

We arrived in Laughlin in 108 deg.F heat - it was like a blanket of heat that you breathed in, luckily we went from the car to the hotel, so not much time outside.

Laughlin is nicknamed "little Las Vegas" as it is a casino town on the river that divides Nevada and California, so understandably the casino-hotels are located on the Nevada side. Great factory outlet shopping across the road, which I just had to spend some money in!! Our $39.99 deal was great, nice hotel room and a free breakfast as advertised was what we got - what a bargain!!

We had a 4.5 hour drive to Anaheim along the most boring stretch of freeway imaginable, with nothing but desert on either side. Apart from an unusual diversion by the GPS off the freeway for 3 miles, to get back on again down the track still makes me wonder about these machines, but seeing we are strangers here, did what we were told!

David negotiated the freeway system brilliantly (with the help of the GPS) and we arrived in Anaheim at the Lemon Tree Hotel quite safely. We went to Ralph's Grocery Store, where my customer card I received 3 years ago still worked amazingly, and we stocked up on supplies and had our first "normal" meal of steak, salad and a glass of Australian red wine for dinner - bliss!!!

Off to hit the shops tomorrow (to keep Janine happy!!).

THE VIEW FROM THE TOP OF THE WORLD!

Hey, today we drove to the Grand Canyon West Rim, with only 1 detour involved (damn GPS machine!!). We had to drive 14 miles up a dirt road to get there, and David was so p....d off with a slow driver in front who refused to pull over, in the end we were the second car with 6 cars and a tour bus behind us!!! Bloody idiot drivers everywhere in the world!!

Anyway, finally reached the Skywalk and it was worth the trip as you can see from the pictures. David was very nervous about how close I was getting to the edge to take photos, but I eventually managed to get a couple of him, and one of us on time delay just to prove that he wasactually there.

We are staying at Laughlin (pronounced lofflin) overnight at yet another casino in our $39.99 room - very nice as well.

Off to Anaheim and the City of Angels tomorrow. Cheers

Hoover Dam

Did a little excursion today to see Hoover Dam which supplies power and water to most of this area - it was interesting to see how far the water level has dropped over the years due to drought here as well.

An architectural feat here - and they are building a road to bypass this area as this is the way to travel to the Grand Canyon as well. Quite amazing.

David finally had THE bet which won!!! So Phil and he are happy campers at the moment!!

SIN CITY

Terry Fator Show

All I can say is this guy is fantastic - you can see why he won America's got talent!
His ventriloquist skills are unbelievable, he does so many different voices - and his lips do not move!!! He is also a great singer himself and a funny guy as well.

Also, he encouraged the audience to take photos - something you are never allowed to do in Melbourne!

Well, that's two of David's wishes down - Phil, he has not had THE bet yet, but we still have a night to go!!!

Viva Las Vegas!

Well now, we have arrived in Sin City - all I can say is you have to see it to believe it - totally over the top but spectacular as well. I would hate to pay the power bill here!!! You do see some interesting sights here, and I cannot believe how overweight a lot of people are and what they actually wear - I don't think they own a mirror!!! Said hello to Elvis at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Had a great night last night - off to a show then down the strip to see the lights and goings on. We picked up the hire car yesterday and made a visit to the Scrapbooking store - a bit disappointed, didn't get all the things I wanted there so will have to try again in Anaheim!!

Off to Hoover Dam for a drive today!!

At the Hard Rock Cafe!!!

Tonight we went to the Hard Rock Cafe in Honolulu for dinner, and I finally got to replace my Hurricane glass that I bought 18 years ago, which went to God many years ago. Of course the only way you can get a Hurricane glass is to ---- have a Hurricane cocktail!!!! A great night was had by all and hopefully it will not be another 18 years before visiting the Hard Rock Cafe!! Off to Vegas tomorrow - Woo Hoo!!

Aloha from Hawaii!!

Well, we made it, after an enjoyable flight on Jetstar, David has decided that flying wasn't too bad in Star Class, problem is, that he may get used to it too much and expect that class all the time - well, I've got news for him!!!

After settling in our Hotel in Waikiki we had a fairly easy day familiarising ourselves with the local area and having a swim in the pool, plus the first all-important cocktail at the pool bar (at $4.75 who wouldn't!!) and a relatively early night was had by all to combat the jet-lag.

Today, (Tuesday) we ventured out on "The Bus" down to Pearl Harbour and did a tour of the US Missouri ship (we were disappointed that Cher was not there at the time to re-do "If I could turn back time") also visited the Pacific Aviation Museum which was quite fascinating to learn about the attack on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese in more detail.

After that we returned on "The Bus" via Ala Moana Shopping Centre to get some DVD Box sets that we wanted and returned to Waikiki on the Trolley Bus for a very elegant dinner at 8.30 at The Cheesecake Factory, which is the in place to go here for dinner (we had to wait 45 minutes to get in), so Glenda & I just had to try another cocktail at the bar across the road to fill in the time (as you do!).

Keep posted for more....off to Vegas on Thursday! Mahalo!!

PANIC STATIONS WITH 5 DAYS TO GO

Tuesday was an extremely stressful day. The MOTH just happened to be flicking through the paperwork for the trip when he noticed that passports have to be valid for 6 months after you leave for your trip - mine expires in September!!!!

Picture it- Endeavour Hills, 8.30am - panic stations - deep breaths, laying on the bed feeling physically sick, while on the phone to Passport Office while they go through the "if you would like help with....press 2 etc. etc." FINALLY get to talk to a real human being in passport control who confirmed that this was true - ok Janine, calm down here, what can we do??? Made an appointment with them for 3.00pm that day to get a priority passport. Next step, get in the shower (its 8.50am at this stage, tennis starts at 9.45 in Berwick), throw the clothes on, drive up the street like a maniac to have passport photos done at the Post Office - look like a mad woman in the photos, then off to tennis at Berwick.

Arrived there at 10.00 after calling the girls to tell them I was on the way. Apologised to everyone there, briefly explained my morning and the fact that I will either play like a dog or like a champion (was somewhere in between), then after losing all my sets 8-3, 8-0, 8-2 charged off home, quickly got changed and drove into the city to the Passport Office.

Actually had time to go have a cup of coffee before my appointment, which I seriously needed, processed the passport renewal and paid an extra $78 for a priority passport. Left the building and paid $25 for an hour and a half park and headed home. We pick it up on Thursday!!! OMG - can you imagine what would have happened if I had just turned up at the airport on Monday - I wouldn't have been able to go, its as simple as that. So everyone please check your passports and don't make the potentially fatal assumption that I did - thank god for men - they do have their uses don't they!!!