8/3

We got up late and made our way to the Flyaway with George. We got to check-in just in time. (this will be the first of a few  It was a quick flight to Vegas and when we walked outside the heat just hit us. It was over 100F. We had to take a shuttle to the car rental place and from there we picked up our silver Camero. We were happy to get in the car or anywhere with A/C. It was sooo hot! 

From there we went to check in to our hotel the MGM Gand. We waited in a bit of a long line and got a key to our room. (Yay for free Wifi) When we went inside we realized there was one bed only. No couch bed even! And the room stunk of smoke. This was not what we had booked (obviously) so Nate went down to sort it out. Me and Bri were so tired we hopped into the bed anyway and had a nap. Soon Nate came back with a key to a new room and it was on a much higher floor which was cool to get a better view. When we entered the second room, it was EXACTLY THE SAME. Same layout, only one bed, so poor Nate sorted it out again except we just ended up staying in the room and they brought in a bed on wheels for Briar. As we were finally settled in our room, we just chilled for a bit as it was too hot outside to do anything anyway. I napped and the other two made full use of the free Wifi. 

When I woke, we decided to take a drive round Vegas during the day and to go find something to eat. The only thing we could think of was In-n-Out Burger. SO yum. We ate there (even though it was so busy and we had to wait for a table) but then we decided to take the car back to the rental place for them to fix the canopy (as it wouldn't go down). Turns out we were pressing the wrong button whoops, but when we finally got it down we had a cruise down The Strip even though it was stinking hot (seriously like a blow-heater in your face).

We made it back to the hotel room and picked a show to see at night: Cirque du Soliel! (which was on in our hotel at 9:30) In the meantime Briar napped, I checked out the rest of the hotel (not the casino part obv) and Nate edited some photos and booked the tickets. When it was nearly time to go out we showered and got all pretty and made our way downstairs to watch the show called Ka. It was soooo amazing. I cannot recommend going to see any Cirque du Soleil show enough. You will be amazed!!!

After the show we were hungry cos we hadn't eaten dinner yet but we weren't worried about finding something open late at night, i mean its Vegas right? Wrong, there was not much open in the hotel. We went to the food court and picked a salad that one cafe offered only to fin they only had pizza left. Nate had a slice of pizza but me and Bri were looking for something healthier. Bri ended up having a Nathan hotdog, and Nate join her and had one too, then as we were walking back thru the hotel we noticed there was a restaurant open, Wolfgang Puck was still open so we got chicken soup each, so healthy and so good. After dinner we took a drive down The Strip with the top down, and then came home to bed at 3am!

8/2

Over the previous weekend we had discussed and started organising our mini trip round California/Nevada so we knew we were leaving for Las Vegas on the 3rd. In light of the short time left in LA we got in touch with our old friend Geno to make a date to meet up in Hollywood - Today!

So to help us get into Hollywood to see Geno without having to take the time out to drive us there, George sorts us out with public transport. We have to take the Metro - Orange Line Busway from Canoga to North Hollywood, then get off, cross the road, go down into the Metro - Red Line Subway and ride it to Hollywood & Vine. Eassssy. So we set off to get the 11:30am bus to make our 1pm meeting with Geno. All goes smoothly even though its sooo hot outside - another 100 degree (38 Degrees C) day. We walk along the Hollywood stars to Sid Grauman's Chinese Theatre, a landmark of old Hollywood. In front of the theatre there are concrete tiles of celebrity hand and feet prints - i love that Marilyn Monroe was wearing high heels and all you see is the toes and two little holes. Soon Geno turns up and we go to the nearby Hard Rock Cafe for some lunch.

         

We have a great burger meal and cocktail and chat heaps about old times and what its like for Geno now he's on a current Disney XD Kids Show. Then he kindly pays for our lunch and teaches us a few ricks about tipping in America (never leave the customers copy for them to tamper with the amount of tip, rip it up instead). He has a launch event the same night which he has to go home to get ready for, but we still have some time after lunch to walk around. We go into the mini mall behind the Kodak Theatre (thats where they have the Oscars) and funnily enough, people start recognizing Geno and stopping him to ask for an autograph and a picture. I have a funny feeling he wanted to show us what it was like after having talked about fame over lunch. It was quite a weird experience but also fun to see how the kids eyes light up when he pulls out autographed photos of his Disney character for them.

We part ways with Geno after some Starbucks, as he has to go, but he promises we can come visit him on set when we get back from our mini trip. Exciting!!! Its still light and still relatively early so we do some more shopping across the road in H&M and Zara (Wish we had those stores here!!) then catch the same Metro lines back to where we started. It was a meeting night for the Friends, which is why we stayed (cos we realised we wouldn't make it back, get picked up and change in time for the meeting) and so the Pons pick us up after their meeting and we grab some In n Out Burger for dinner. Yummmm!! Early start tomorrow as we start our mini trip! Yay

8/1

So do u all get my date labels??? In America they reverse the day and month when writing the date so the 1st of August is written 1/8 in NZ and 8/1 in the US. Weird huh?

Anyway we go and attack the Topanga Mall again today and as usual we wake up late and end up getting there at 12.  The only thing different was Nate left us to ourselves and went to go play some basketball with Jo, Jared Josh and Miles. I dont know why they wanted to play in 38 degee weather! All we wanted to do was be inside in the A/C. Nate said afterwards that they had over a dozen bottles of water each - crazy balling nutters!

So Briar and I continued shopping together from where we left off but still didn't finish the top floor (let alone even start on the bottom floor) before the boys (Jo, Josh and Nate) came to meet us after showering after their game. It was getting on so we decided we would go check out Santa Monica Pier and 3rd St Promenade at night. We went home quickly to change (with a lot more purchases in hand, Briar!) then drove down to the pier.

When we arrived we walked down to the pier thru the promenade where there were several street performers. By this time it was about 9:30pm and we were hungry, having not had dinner yet so we checked in to Starbucks for a cup of tea and coffee. We then continued down to the Pier (which was a bit of a walk) only to find the rides had been closed for the night and we couldn't ride the ferris wheel :(

We walked along to the end of the pier which is actually the end of historic Route 66 and sat down to chat. Somehow we got on to the topic of dancing and we had a bit of a boogie right there on the pier randomly.

It turned midnight so we decided to get home as it was a week night and picked up some dinner from Jack in the Box on the way. We ate it in the car outside Josh's house and then went home to sleep.

7/31

Today we went to the meeting in the morning, which was quite hard to get up for as it was 10am, but luckily their Kingdom Hall is right around the corner so it doesnt take long to get there. It was a nice meeting (our second in America) and all of us answered during the Watchtower, which made us nervous cos the brother didn't know our names but it worked out fine. After the meeting we got the chance to talk to everyone again.

The main event of the day was our first proper trip to the mall. We went home from the meeting and basically went straight back out to the mall after changing and having a nibble of something to eat. We went to Topanga Westfield Mall which was huge! (Yes Westfield like our Westfield's) On our first day we went to North Ridge Mall (about the size of Sylvia Park) which they call a mini mall! So you can image if Topanga is one of their bigger ones how big it must be!

So me and Bri start in one corner and work our way around - going into shops we like the look of and Nate goes off to sort out SIM's/Phones for us to keep in contact without it costing too much! We dont make it very far before he comes back with a SIM for me cos we are so overwhelmed by the size of the stores. We continue on but dont get round even half of the top floor before we have to go to get ready for dinner at Kitty's. We come away with only a few purchases cos we are so overwhelemed with the choice and the size of things.

We ring George to come pick us up and wake him from his nap LOL. Once we get home we get ready and go to Kitty's house to have dinner with a few from the congregation. It is really nice to see everybody is a relaxed setting and we talk and talk so much that the whole night goes and we didnt even clean up! We met new people that Nate and I never met last time and they are all super nice. We go to bed buzzing and ready for another massive day at the mall again tomorrow.

 

7/30

Our third day in America started much the same, waking up late and leaving about 12pm to go to Universal Studios and City Walk with George and Marci.

Originally we were going to go to San Diego to the Zoo there so we could see a real live grizzly bear, but it was too far away to drive to and thats why we ended up at Universal. Anyway after another cooked breakfast, lovingly prepared by George and Marci we set out for Universal. It is about 30mins away (with traffic) and you have to go thru the maze of freeways to get there, but its so nice to be in the car because its so hot outside. A/C is a life saver.

When we got there we walked around for a bit looking at the stalls and restaurants. We talked to donkey from Shrek (a guy in a big costume) and had a picture with him and then we decided to go on the rides before it got too late. The one we chose to go on first was the Studio Tour, which is the longest ride there and you go on the sets in the back lot of the studios which they still use today. The wait to get on the ride took over 75mins! and that was was particularly hot. Luckily they had these mist-er fan things which blew water on you, but Bri and I hadn't put on any sunblock and we burnt a bit in that waiting line (only half of it was under cover)

So we finally got on the tram to take the ride. We saw the bell tower from Back to the Future, some car stunts, water stunts, the Desperate Housewives set and went thru some rides. The rides were like tunnels that the tram (4 carriages long) would drive into and stop then the walls would be projected with images that made it look like you were in another place. The main one was King Kong and you were placed in the middle of  fight between King Kong and Dinosaurs. They would roar at you and water would come in your face as if they were spitting. Pretty cool!!

We were a bit zonked after that long wait in the heat so we had some mexican takeaways from Cantina for lunch. After that we went on the rest of the rides, our favorite being The Simpsons ride - a virtual roller coaster. When we had done all the rides we walk back along City Walk and looked in some shops.

We hadn't eaten since we had some ice-cream between the rides so we decided to get some of the famous In n Out Burger on the way home. Words can't describe how good it was. And CHEAP too! $2.15 for a burger. The staff even wear little paper hats haha. We tried to take a picture of the lady serving us at the window but she was like "no photos" - she wasn't that photogenic anyway.

 

After eating In n Out at home we went to bed - pretty late again!

7/29 Part Deux

Sorry I've been so slack at updating this blog for you all. I'm trying really I am. Can I use sickness as an excuse? No one freak out, I don't mean morning sickness I just have a bit of flu from all the temp changes and aircon.

Anyway on day two after Randys Donuts we went to an outside mall called The Grove. There's heaps of shops and farmers markets there. Supposedly celebrities go to that mall so I was kinda hoping to see one. Haha. Anyway we looked around some shops for a while and bought some things from apple that people had requested then wandered down to the markets. There's lots of knick knacky stuff there so we didn't buy much Briar got a giant size mug and i got a toy combi van for Ngi cos it reminded me of theirs and their bach.

We had made a list of a few sights we wanted to see that day so we had to keep moving but we were hungry so our next stop was to eat at a place called Barney's Beanery

Barney's is like a pub with a few restaurants here and there but we went to the original one where Jim Morrison (The Doors), Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix used to go. They have memorabilia and you can see their names carved in the tables. We ordered one of each appetizer as they were cheap 'cos it was happy hour. We shared mozzarella sticks, buffalo wings, chicken bits and Irish nachos (with potatos not chips).

We weaved up thru some nice streets to get as close as possible to the Hollywood sign. Finally we got there when it was almost dark. We took some pics and headed to a place called Amoeba Music. Its like Real Groovy Records at home. But this store has such a reputation that even Paul McCartney played there live in store. After that we decided to go home cos Miles had to work. He does shifts from 11-3am. We got home and talked some more to George as Marci was already in bed. Another night that we got to sleep about 2am! It's quite hot at night so we sleep with the ceiling fan on and the windows open, but we get to sleep pretty quick cos we are soo tired.

7/29

Adventures with Jack and Miles

So we went to bed pretty late the first night (jetlagged) so we got up around 10am and had breakfast, George and Marci were so kind and made us a huge breakfast with bacon and eggs and Miles and Jack came over while we were eating. (Briar wants you to know we had "Canadian bacon" which is really lean with no fat - it almost looks like luncheon)

After breakfast we set out for the "Randy's Donut" sign. Its quite a way away and we ended up going to Walmart first to find composition books (at Porter Ranch near home)..........

By the way "Home" is George and Marciela Pons' house. The address is 10029 Nevada Ave, Chatsworth, CA 91311.

They live in the San Fernando Valley which is approx 1.3 million people. THATS LIKE THE SIZE OF AUCKLAND. LA county is over 3 mill. THATS LIKE THE SIZE OF NZ

...........anyway Walmart was an experience. Everything is 10 times as big. Instead of 2L milk they have 4L. Everything is just huge. Walmart is like {Kmart+Countdown}

We got a few things at walmart and then drove to Randys donuts. After taking a few photos we each got a donut, which tasted amazing.

7/28

sooo we had the longest thursday of our lives. We had about 10hours of day in NZ, boarded the flight at 7:15pm spent 12 hours on the plane and then stayed up until 1am US time. Thats 34 hours.

Nate and Briar got a little bit of sleep on the plane but it was really hot and stuffy. We were lucky enough to have the special treatment on the plane from Briars uncle Paul.

We landed on time and got thru the scary customs people, after having our finger prints scanned and photo taken. So we got thru and quickly met up with George and Marci who came to pick us up.

We were pretty tired and hungry so we went straight to a mexican restaurant for lunch Sol Y Luna

It was really good food. Nate, George and Marci had burritos and Briar and I shared 2 entrees which consisted of a tamali, taco and fried beans. SO YUM. We got some drinks which were huge and we learned restaurants always give FREE REFILLS. No wonder they are so big!

When we got back to George and Marci's, Miles came over and we went to the mall to get Briars new iphone. Then we rushed back to make it to the meeting. All the brothers and sisters were really nice, and one brother called Jack offere to take us around LA next day.