Up early, today we were spending the entire day with Sam and Amber touring the streets of Vegas. They were staying at Circus Circus, so Mat and I decided we’d go have breakfast there with Sam & Amber, rather than waste time at our hotel. The food at Circus Circus followed the same trend as the rest of the USA; it was a massive serving that neither of us could finish (yet somehow we hadn’t learnt to only order one for the two of us). Following breakfast, we headed upstairs and prepared some drinks (aka poured Bourbon into some pepsi bottles we could take with us), finalised a rough plan for the day, then left. One thing to note, in Las Vegas it’s completely legal to walk the streets with open bottles of alcohol – awesome.
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Our last day at our beautiful hotel in LA I woke early, and reluctantly packed all our gear – it felt like I’d barely even scratched the surface of what the city of Angels was about! This morning we were going to do a quick tour of the celebrity homes in LA, before heading to Santa Monica Pier, and eventually fly to Las Vegas that evening. I was so excited to get to Las Vegas, not only because it’s sin city and packed full of exciting things to do, but because it meant I’d also get to visit my friends Sam and Amber. They used to live in Australia, but months before our holiday they’d moved to the UK. I dearly missed them, and was so thrilled they had decided to fly to the USA so we could meet halfway. What a treat! But back to LA.
Our first stop of the day was to grab a bite to eat at Canters deli (who also operate a twitter account – I followed them until it made me miss being in LA). I had actually never heard of the place, and we only went there on Amy’s insistence. Once again, she had managed to find an amazing place to eat; we ate sandwiches with the most amazing corned beef I’ve ever tasted. They certainly didn’t skimp on the amount of meat you got either, there was HEAPS. I went halves with mum, and was glad since I was quite full after eating just my bit. We all agreed it was definitely an amazing meal.
This morning I woke up in the hotel feeling pretty good. I was definitely on the mend, and with Vegas only a day away I really needed to shape up. Mat and I had decided to splash out and order room service, so I lazed around the room in my pyjamas until it arrived. I opened the door to a massive trolley and the happiest Asian man I’ve ever met. I was still relatively new to the whole tipping thing, so I grabbed some change but he refused to take it. He wished me well, then left, leaving in his wake he had left us an amazing hotel breakfast. On the mend from the flu, and with a full and satisfied belly, I was ready to tackle the day.
After showering and dressing we met everyone downstairs for our first full day in LA. We had decided to go straight to Hollywood and get on a jump on/jump off bus so that we could cover the basics of the city, and yet have the freedom to jump off where we saw fit. After buying our tickets and boarding the bus (it was a double decker but with an open roof – yes, THAT kind of bus), like cool kids we headed straight upstairs, and for the back seat. Back seat rebels!!
This morning I awoke a little bit groggy, but there was a huge improvement over the previous two days. I had a cough, and my throat was still burning but there was no desire to blow my nose every 5 minutes. My energy was coming back, my head was clearing, and I was on holidays. Things were definitely on the up.
After checking out of the hotel, the first car containing Amy, Pauline, Aunty Sue and Fiona made their way to Pismo Beach while our group (Madonna, Mum, Mat and I) attempted to find a post office. We had bought stamps back in Big Sur but hadn’t yet found anywhere to actually mail the post cards we had written to family and friends back home. We entered America Post into the GPS and within minutes we arrived at our destination. Mat dropped the post cards in the mailbox and we made our way to Pismo Beach to join the others.
When we arrived, Mat got a kick out of looking at the massive trucks in the car park while I got a kick out of looking at the lifeguard stations along the beach. It was exactly like Baywatch! If there are any americans reading this blog they’re probably shaking their heads, but it was still pretty cool for me. As we walked along the pier, I also enjoyed seeing a little shack with “rod rental” on it. Maybe I haven’t visited enough places in Australia, but as far as I know we don’t have shacks on piers, with big cool signs on it. I gazed at the people on the beach and the children playing beach, then turned back. I’ve seen the other side of the Pacific Ocean, so the water didn’t impress me.
Once I reached the carpark I was stoked to see a woody! I’ve only ever seen these cars in photos and movies (or on a t-shirt I had purchased for my dad back in Carmel – coincidentally my sister had bought Dad a nearly identical shirt from the same store the first time she had been to Carmel, I didn’t know that when I bought it). Seeing it in real life, I was in awe of the amount of love and care that had gone into keeping that car in such pristine condition. It definitely exceeded the amount of attention my Suzuki Swift received! I made sure Mat video taped it, then we were back in the car and on our way.
I awoke in the morning to the sound of a running creek, in the most comfortable bed I’ve ever experienced. I’d managed to wake up naturally before the alarm went off, which was especially pleasing. Being on a tight schedule with our holiday had meant most morning’s I’d set an alarm to ensure we weren’t late. I showered and packed up our gear, and made another hot lemsip drink I’d picked up at the chemist the day before. I was still feeling pretty fatigued from the flu, but I was determined to have a better day.
We met everyone up at the main lodge for breakfast; it was a big wooden cabin with quaint decorations. This place really cemented for me that I was in America, compared to anywhere else we had been. It resembled the small town places I’ve seen on the tv – the two bowser petrol station, the wooden cabins, the patriotic flag flying out the front. After breakfast everyone came down to look at our cabin and enjoy a cup of tea before we packed up and continued on our way. Unfortunately it was still quite foggy, so rather than redo everything we missed the previous day due to the fog, we continued towards Pismo Beach. The fog made for some beautiful moments though, where you could see the coast line and the fog over the Pacific Ocean.
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